Comfortable Warm Autumn and Winter 2023 in a High-Performance, Energy-Efficient Sydney Certified Passive House
- RydePassiveHouse
- Oct 2, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 8
There have been a couple of occasions where ice has formed on the roof overnight. We usually know when this has happened because we hear a reasonable volume of water running through the downpipes, as it melts in the morning. My guess is that heat loss from the house is so low that the temperature of the metal roof drops below the dew point, which allows moisture from the air to accumulate and form ice. This seems to happen even if the overnight temperature and the dew point are a few degrees apart. We have had ice on the roof without any signs of a frost on the ground.
On one of these occasions, ice formed in the channels of the roof and created what looked like iceypoles, as the sections that were higher than the gutter started to melt and slide down. The indoor temperature on that morning was 17°c. This has been a revelation to me.
Some of the above was reasonably predictable if you are setting out to build a passive house. What I didn’t anticipate was just how much it would improve our lifestyle. It is no longer difficult to get out of bed and have a shower on a cold morning. The bathroom is the same comfortable temperature as the rest of the house. Dressing gowns, winter pyjamas and extra blankets on the bed are a thing of the past; as are cold hands, cold bench tops, cold dinner plates and cold bed linen. If anything, we have tended to slightly open a couple of bedroom windows overnight to lower the temperature by 1°c to 2°c. The gentle ingress of cold night air has made it very comfortable for sleeping and did not impact the core temperature of the house.
I have spent most of winter in shorts, t-shirt and a jumper. Oftentimes, the jumper wasn’t necessary, but put on out of habit. We have all been more active in the house; less time spent on the couch under a blanket or in bed. I have also noticed a change in our diet. The rich and heavy comfort food, soups etc., while always welcome, have almost disappeared. I have enjoyed no longer being cold to the bone and not having to deal with multiple layers. All of this has been a huge positive for my mood and wellbeing.
Comfortable warm Autumn and Winter 2023 in a High-Performance, Energy-Efficient Sydney Passive House
Its nice to see somene passionate and raising awareness, i have been building 8 months here now (coming from NZ). It's quite shocking to see how much money gets poured into the look of the house and nothing into performance.
The effect you have mentioned with frost on the roof and none on the ground is due to an effect called night sky radiation :). Flat metal surfaces emit radiation to space, dropping the temperature down lower than the ambient air temperature. Im a builder that has built a passive house and im looking for companies in sydney that are currently building decent homes.