Cob: thermal efficiency

[goshawk at gnat.net]

Two principles in action
High thermo- mass value means it holds heat well.
but then it takes a bit to heat it up or cool it down.
When the wall gets warm it will continue to give off it's warmth.
WHen the wall is cool, it will continue to give off it coolness for 
period of time. Here when the heat is off in a eathen house with 
warm walls, the walls will continue to give off warmth for a period of 
time.

High thermo-resistance (as in R-value) means it does not allow 
heat to pass thru it easily. (holds the heat better in the room, but 
not in itself.)  Thus once the heat source in the room is off, the 
walls will not give off any heat since the heat is not stored well in 
the wall in this case (insulation)

Or at least that's the way this old chicken farmer sees it.
Pat

On 16 Feb 00, at 19:43, GrenSheltr at aol.com wrote:

> The recent Natural Home has a great cob building, but article says how
> "thermally efficient" the walls are -- I understood that one of the
> biggest problems with cob was the lack of thermal efficiency --- I am
> confused ???  Linda Lloyd
> 


Pat Newberry
http://www.gnat.net/~goshawk