Heat loss through bloc wall foundation

[Stephen Lagueux]

10 below, 2 to 3 feet of snow around the house except at the foundation. It'd be tough to quantify the amount of heat loss but I'd say the price to insulate properly would be worth it.

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[John Kogel]

Good picture, Stephen. I follow the weather stories on TV and the net. Our weather is a bore in comparison.

Just a suggestion - post foundation items such as this in the Foundations Forum. Maybe somebody searching there will find your posts someday.

Nobody in their right mind will search this Chit-chat forum for anything but nonsense. Just kidding.

[John Dirks Jr]

The melting could be from the sun reflecting and radiating its heat off the wall on the exterior.

[Stephen Lagueux]

The melting could be from the sun reflecting and radiating its heat off the wall on the exterior.

Allthough something to consider, I doubt this would be the case. Correct me if I'm wrong but since concrete has a very high emissivity, it's reflectivity is pretty low to the ratio of 95:5. Of course, concrete can absorb heat from the sun but unlike mirrors and with poor reflectivity ability, the small amount of heat reflected from concrete would scatter everywhere and dissipate in the outside ambiant air. Snow is melting from radiation coming from the blocs but since heat transfer travels from hot to cold, the heat radiated would be coming from the warm side of the bloc.

[Ben H]

I've got a great thermal shot of a poured basement wall glowing "hot" in the dead of winter. I'll see if I can't find it.

[Marc]

The melting could be from the sun reflecting and radiating its heat off the wall on the exterior.

Allthough something to consider, I doubt this would be the case. Correct me if I'm wrong but since concrete has a very high emissivity, it's reflectivity is pretty low to the ratio of 95:5. Of course, concrete can absorb heat from the sun but unlike mirrors and with poor reflectivity ability, the small amount of heat reflected from concrete would scatter everywhere and dissipate in the outside ambiant air. Snow is melting from radiation coming from the blocs but since heat transfer travels from hot to cold, the heat radiated would be coming from the warm side of the bloc.

Emissivity is high mostly on dark, non-reflective surfaces. Light colored or reflective surfaces generally have low to moderate emissivity.

I agree most of the heat is coming from the warm side of the block.

Marc

[Stephen Lagueux]

I've got a great thermal shot of a poured basement wall glowing "hot" in the dead of winter. I'll see if I can't find it.

Not to race you to it Ben,I just so happened to have one of those but I'd love to see your's. 1 inch of snow covering the ground, about 5 below. This part of the foundation is the furnace room and is not insulated.

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[John Dirks Jr]

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[David Meiland]

Emissivity is high mostly on dark, non-reflective surfaces. Light colored or reflective surfaces generally have low to moderate emissivity.

I don't agree that the color has anything to do with it. I guess it might when correlated with other factors, i.e. bright copper / non-oxidized vs dark copper / oxidized, but for many materials color has nothing to do with it.