https://ipfs.cahlen.org/ipfs/bafybeihqjxjq6g2ik72dwsota3avwm72sjmlhazfzgmxzvq4egu3tmjbaq/CahlenLee_20260921_WinterShelterIdeas.jpg
I'm planning to build a dugout shelter using mostly scrap material i...
I suggested going for heat capacitance with a stone hearth before, but I was assuming a small shelter. 7'x9' is pretty big, you'd need to do a LOT of fire babysitting, and burn a LOT of wood. How much wood do you have? You might run out
Banking on heat capacitance also probably necessitates you waking up at least once or twice in the night to stoke the fire again, otherwise you'll be toasty in the first half and miserable the second half.
Insulation on the other hand is much more passively helpful, no chores to keep up once it's there. But it's hard to make sure you cover all the gaps, and is probably more expensive, like you said...
My main thoughts are:
1. Smaller shelter makes everything easier. If you go for insulation: less to buy, easier to get all the gaps. If you go for thermal mass: it heats up faster, less wood to burn, stays warm for just as long. The larger the shelter, the more heat waste, any way you slice it. Also makes the roof more complicated to have to span multiple pallets.
-you might consider a large-ish precipitation shelter (tarp/teepee), but then focus your heat-shelter resources to a smaller area within that, just for sleeping and maybe sitting. If things go warmer than expected, you could enlarge the heat area within the sky shelter. A warm bed within a cold, but dry, room.
2. The tractor is a bright spot, because the deeper you go into the ground, the closer the earth will stay to about 50°F, year round. This is another orthogonal dimension to play with along with heat resistance (insulation) and capacitance you add. It's basically free heat capacitance from the summer stored in the earth. For reference, in northern Montana, it stays at about 43F mid winter at 6 feet down. Keeping yourself warm in 45F conditions is pretty easy, as you know. Seems like you need to get down to at least 4 feet for any real benefit.
7x9 might be a pretty big bite to chew... Makes me nervous
Banking on heat capacitance also probably necessitates you waking up at least once or twice in the night to stoke the fire again, otherwise you'll be toasty in the first half and miserable the second half.
Insulation on the other hand is much more passively helpful, no chores to keep up once it's there. But it's hard to make sure you cover all the gaps, and is probably more expensive, like you said...
My main thoughts are:
1. Smaller shelter makes everything easier. If you go for insulation: less to buy, easier to get all the gaps. If you go for thermal mass: it heats up faster, less wood to burn, stays warm for just as long. The larger the shelter, the more heat waste, any way you slice it. Also makes the roof more complicated to have to span multiple pallets.
-you might consider a large-ish precipitation shelter (tarp/teepee), but then focus your heat-shelter resources to a smaller area within that, just for sleeping and maybe sitting. If things go warmer than expected, you could enlarge the heat area within the sky shelter. A warm bed within a cold, but dry, room.
2. The tractor is a bright spot, because the deeper you go into the ground, the closer the earth will stay to about 50°F, year round. This is another orthogonal dimension to play with along with heat resistance (insulation) and capacitance you add. It's basically free heat capacitance from the summer stored in the earth. For reference, in northern Montana, it stays at about 43F mid winter at 6 feet down. Keeping yourself warm in 45F conditions is pretty easy, as you know. Seems like you need to get down to at least 4 feet for any real benefit.
7x9 might be a pretty big bite to chew... Makes me nervous
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