Cooling tips

[noseall]

Does insulation make your house hotter?

"Insulating homes has very little, if any, impact on the risk of overheating," said Professor Kevin Lomas from Loughborough University, who led the largest national study so far into overheating in homes.

Insulation can even help keep your home cool, because most types - certainly external wall and likely also cavity wall - will stop your home from getting as hot in the first place.


Other energy efficiency measures work both ways too: insulating pipes saves energy in winter by preventing heat from leaking - and so helping keep your home cool in summer.

The exception when it comes to insulation is if you have it on the inside of your wall, which can create a "small additional risk" of overheating by one degree Celsius or so, but only if your home isn't well ventilated anyway, explained Prof Lomas

 

[Deleted member 317777]

Waffle.

Robustly insulated cavity walls don't eventually or inevitably heat up internally during the day to day occurrences on hot summers days. Utter bollax.

As for the rest of your blarney - READ YOU OWN LIKNKS BEFORE POSTING THEM!

A well insulated room with a large south facing window….

Would be a lot warmer than a poorly insulated room.

Ffs, Bob the builder could grasp it faster than Boyo

 

[MNW67]

A well insulated room with a large south facing window….

Would be a lot warmer than a poorly insulated room.

Do you mean on a hot sunny summer's day?

 

[Deleted member 317777]

Do you mean in summer during the day?

I do

 

[motorbiking]

Do you mean in summer during the day?

Did you understand why a window has a one way capability when it comes to solar radiation?

 

[MNW67]

I do

I'm still trying to get my head around all this. And I was actually thinking about this earlier, based on my own experience.

If you have the curtains drawn, and the internal temperature is roughly the same as the outside temperature, does it make any difference whether one room is insulated and the other isn't.

 

[MNW67]

Did you understand why a window has a one way capability when it comes to solar radiation?

I have no idea what that means. Can you stop asking stupid gotcha questions and try to have a constructive conversation instead. I have no dog in this fight.

 

[Deleted member 317777]

I'm still trying to get my head around all this. And I was actually thinking about this earlier, based on my own experience.

If you have the curtains drawn, and the internal temperature is roughly the same as the outside temperature, does it make any difference whether one room is insulated and the other isn't.

There’s too many variables, but the main difference will be when the temperature drops.

 

[noseall]

If you have the curtains drawn, and the internal temperature is roughly the same as the outside temperature, does it make any difference whether one room is insulated and the other isn't.

It does in terms of heat penetration through the masonry yes. Especially if they are solid walls or single leaf. Insulation prevents thermal 'activity' in both directions.

 

[noseall]

I have no idea what that means. Can you stop asking stupid gotcha questions

It's MBK and his deflection when he's out of his depth.

Illiterate moron springs to mind.

 

[MNW67]

There’s too many variables, but the main difference will be when the temperature drops.

One thing which might make a difference is the order of insulation. If all the wall insulation is internal, then it seems logical that the insulation would prevent the thermal mass of the walls from absorbing the heat from the sun. If that is true, that would mean the air in the room would get much hotter than if the insulation was on the exterior of the walls.

 

[Deleted member 317777]

One thing which might make a difference is the order of insulation. If all the wall insulation is internal, then it seems logical that the insulation would prevent the thermal mass of the walls from absorbing the heat from the sun. If that is true, that would mean the air in the room would get much hotter than if the insulation was on the exterior of the walls.

It’s a complicated subject. But for me I think in terms of heat source, natural and central heating

If your house was south facing and properly insulated, with the curtains shut how would it compare to a none insulated house, when it was hot outside

 

[noseall]

If you have the curtains drawn, and the internal temperature is roughly the same as the outside temperature, does it make any difference whether one room is insulated and the other isn't.

Greenhouses and conservatories have taught us the whole solar gain thing to us for decades. No surprises there. The myth that well insulated buildings are worse off during hot sunny days - is a myth...

Does insulation make your house hotter?

"Insulating homes has very little, if any, impact on the risk of overheating," said Professor Kevin Lomas from Loughborough University, who led the largest national study so far into overheating in homes.

Insulation can even help keep your home cool, because most types - certainly external wall and likely also cavity wall - will stop your home from getting as hot in the first place.


Other energy efficiency measures work both ways too: insulating pipes saves energy in winter by preventing heat from leaking - and so helping keep your home cool in summer.

The exception when it comes to insulation is if you have it on the inside of your wall, which can create a "small additional risk" of overheating by one degree Celsius or so, but only if your home isn't well ventilated anyway, explained Prof Lomas

 

[MNW67]

It’s a complicated subject. But for me I think in terms of heat source, natural and central heating

If your house was south facing and properly insulated, with the curtains shut how would it compare to a none insulated house, when it was hot outside

There are so many factors, which is why I think that the practice doesn't always match the theory. Hot sunny days usually come in spells. On the first day, I would say definitely the wall insulation would block the heat coming through the walls. So that would keep the insulated house cooler than the uninsulated house. But the insulation might also prevent the heat which has entered through the windows from escaping. Maybe these factors would balance out. It would depend on what proportion of heat gain is attributable to the walls and windows respectively.

 

[noseall]

There are so many factors, which is why I think that the practice doesn't always match the theory. Hot sunny days usually come in spells. On the first day, I would say definitely the wall insulation would block the heat coming through the walls. So that would keep the insulated house cooler than the uninsulated house. But the insulation might also prevent the heat which has entered through the windows from escaping. Maybe these factors would balance out. It would depend on what proportion of heat gain is attributable to the walls and windows respectively.

Any house that is robustly insulated and adequately ventilated with shaded windows etc will perform well on hot sunny days. It's not the walls and their insulation at issue.
It's far better to have insulated walls/floor/roof and mitigate the summer heat gains through common sense approaches than to have no insulation at all.