This site is responsible. I saw the word "gabion" here and googled. WOW! Now I am very interested in using these things. I contacted a local architect who built a garage using gabions. I asked where he got them. He said he made his own from livestock panels. Another WOW! My future habitat building site is dug into a granite mtn facing south. My thought is to do a PAHS type setup, where the gabion is the thermal mass, with the exposed southern face internal to the habitat and the northern face buried into the mtn with a skirt of insulation extending north and covered with dirt. I am thinking of covering the south face of the gabion with a greenhouse plastic so air can be cycled through the gabions to utilize the heat in the winter and for cooling in the summer. I also see plastic layers so air flows in a labyrinth pattern through the gabions. This may make the gabion into an HRV or heat exchanger. Does this seem plausible??? Thanks for replies. Gary

I keep hoping some of our resident experts will reply to this thread.

Your ideas are intriguing and seem to have merit.

Thanks for a reply.
Since I posted this, I have found a product that may become part of my initial gabion efforts. That is basalt fiber mesh. The product comes from fine mesh to rebar. It is lighter and stronger than steel and bonds better with cement based products.

I have not bought that product yet, but will soon. I will get some coarse mesh and then line the cattle panels. Then I will bend the cattle panel every 8 inches by 30 degrees. That will make a ~30inch diameter cylinder that I will fill with granite backfill on site. The mesh will keep the fines in the gabion, enable more dense fill, and provide a surface to cover the external gabion surface with thin shell cement.

These first gabions will be used to hold steel poles for the corner supports of a shed.

I will see if I can put an air passage through one of these gabions. I have a small solar panel and fan. I may be able to see if the air funneled through the gabion is much warmer than the ambient air.

PAHS systems use a layer of insulation like an umbrella to bring the earth beneath the umbrella to a higher temperature. Then air in and out is ducted through the soil under the umbrella.

I may need to line the gabion with insulation. Since the mass of the soil beneath the umbrella is huge, it takes time for it to equilibrate. With small gabions, there is probably a lot higher temperature fluctuation. That raises questions related to how many gabions and where they get placed.

Thanks again.

If you want to use rocks for heat storage, I would build a room for them (ie, an active system) that will provide for more storage (greater delta-T) and much better temperature control. If you want to use rocks for cooling, expect problems with humidity (in most climates).

Plastic to force an airflow path is interesting - I would want to see data on whether it helps.

My understanding is that basalt fiber mesh and basalt rebar are not readily available in small quantities at a reasonable price in the US.  Most of us cannot afford to purchase a full container from China.  Please let us know what you find out about the availability of basalt products in small quantities in the US.  I am interested in using basalt rebar in lieu of steel rebar.

Alton,
Regarding USA basalt manufacturers: look at this company: www.sudaglass.com

I will call them tomorrow.

I read a posting in a ferrocement group from a Walter Jeffries in Maine who built a meat processing shop using basalt and a ferrocement process. (http://SugarMtnFarm.com/2012/10/09/basalt-bezier/)
Gary

jonr
Thanks for the reply. If I recall correctly, early 70's solar homes tried to put a large volume of rock beneath the home and would route air through the rock. Something about those experiences led the solar designers away from that approach.

A few year ago I read about storing the heat storage in the attic in small water containers. Warm air is ducted over the containers in the summer and then fresh air is ducted over the containers in the cold weather. Whether rock or water, the mass and thermal coefficient determine the heat stored. Although water has a higher heat coefficient, the challenge is to get the heat transferred to the air.

Placing an air flow path, small fan, and insulation in one outdoor gabion to measure temperature changes will not be an adequate test. (too many variables) Certainly, good tests would be required for others to give serious consideration to the approach.

I will monitor humidity of the air out of the gabion, too. Thanks for the comment. Fortunately, my climate is very arid. Still a cold glass on a summer day sweats, so cold air on a winter day moving through a gabion could cause the humidity in the living space to condense on the outside of the gabions. Hmmmm.

jonr
Oh yeah, I meant to say that volume of the gabion is easily varied.

One 16ft Cattle panel with (16) 15 degree bends would make a ~5.1ft diameter cylinder.

I would need an engineer, permit, and inspection to construct one taller than 4ft, but could stack them to the top of the inside of the Quonset.

Each cattle panel cylindrical gabion would contain 1.23 cu yds of granite. A stack of 4 would go to the top of the Quonset and contain about 5 cu yds of granite. If I need, say, 30 cu yds of rock, I would need 6 "columns". That just would not be architecturally simple or very interesting to me.

Thanks again.

Gabions have been around for a long time and there are good reasons why rocks for thermal storage aren't very popular, using gabions or otherwise. IMO, if you want to store heat, use a water tank. If you want to use solar energy, use PV panels to run a heat pump. And even these things aren't very popular as compared to things like adding more insulation.

Posted By Gary Olsen on 30 Jun 2013 07:36 AM
jonr
Thanks for the reply. If I recall correctly, early 70's solar homes tried to put a large volume of rock beneath the home and would route air through the rock. Something about those experiences led the solar designers away from that approach.

The reason they stayed in the 70's is because it soon became apparent there was no way to control dust, mites, mould and critters in rock piles.

Although I am not that really familiar about gabions and its uses, I have gathered that it is one of the more energy efficient and green material that can be used for green house or garden sheds. It is also a material that could be used to build around areas that may be subjected to erosion. I know that some have used it to build strong storage in large plots of land like farms.