My dad built some earth tubes out of corrugated black plastic pipe,
buried about 2-3' down. They worked great as a primitive AC in the
summer but then moisture built up in them and they became major
humidity generators so they were shut off. This was in northern
Illinois, I'm sure they would work better in drier areas like NM where
the airflow would not condense onto the tubes as much. I think the
nice and cheap corrugated tubes should probably also be avoided, and
instead use smooth pipes with drainage holes, and cleanouts (with pull
strings) so you could swab them out periodically (think moldy air, yum).
Depth and length is all dependent on your soil and what you're trying
to do, so I doubt if there's going to be a single answer out there.
Good luck,
Dave
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, Greg House <ghunicycle@...> wrote:
> Do you have any experience with earth tubes? I've found a lot of
contradictory information about their effectiveness and am wondering
if it's really a viable technology or not. It -seems- like it'd be
workable, but nobody seems to have information about how deep they
need to be, how long, etc.
>
> I found one website that had all these intense calculations about
airflow, ground temps, etc which sounded very positive...but then they
went to say they'd never actually BUILT one. Great, that's real
helpful. Other sites say the ground around the tubes gets heat
saturated and they stop functioning after awhile. So I'm confused.
This is something I think I'd like to use, but it's a lot of work and
money for all that excavation if it doesn't function.
>
> Greg
>
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