I'm setting up a 20' yurt on a permanent foundation for a 60 year old single lady on some acreage in the SE corner of BC Canada. She is a simple lady with small demands as far as energy and space are concerned. This is in the middle of the rocky mountain trench, not far from the airport where their sunlight hour readings are some of the highest in Canada. She has a well in place and no grid access. She is open to building with conscientious ideas. This is where she is going to retire and grow old so simple and not too demanding is good. With the high amount of sunlight hours it would be crazy not to take advantage of the sun. Nill for trees to shade panels. She wants to have a wood stove to act as her primary heat source. There will be an insulated crawlspace underneath for some storage and potentially a great spot for a heat sink of sort and plumbing. Potentially a large garden to work so water volume is a consideration (like filling a water storage tank with any of the extra electricity ) .The well is about 80' away from the building site. I am a carpenter and I am familiar with standard building practices and with many of the concepts from this forum. I am a big fan of all sorts of the systems that are discussed here and quite inspired, but i am just not fully educated. Sooo, here is were you people come in with your expertise. What would you guys do for a heating system? Solar for heating and for electricity seems like the only way to go ( wood heat of course when she is able but can not be mandatory ). We need to keep it simple, no furnace or heat pumps I believe. ( correct me if i am wrong). PV and batteries for the electricity and solar tubes for supplementary heating. This supplementary heating is where I don't know what would be best. She wants to have a cork floor and hydronic heating is a great passive way to heat her space I believe. If a person went that rout would you want to try to add some thermal mass to the floor? It is an insulated yurt but the r value would be quite small. Can you do heat calculations on a yurt? I asume a gas boiler or space heater would be the only way to heat for a back up. Obviously cost is a big factor here but she plans on being here a long time. Is it efficient enough to go the solar rout or is it more cost effective to just burn fossil fuels (ugh). It will be a fun project to do and any input from anybody would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Kelly

I'm not an expert on any of this.

From what I have learned... Off-grid electricity with a battery bank is not simple or non-demanding. For batteries to last 5, 6 yrs they can't be drawn down very much before being re-charged to 100%. Determining how far down the battery bank has been drawn is not that easy. There is no gauge that tells you you've used 20% of your charge.

She would have to have a generator to charge the batteries when the sun couldn't. LP gas would probably have to be on the property. A propane boiler with warm water storage could be supplemented by solar thermal panels.

You say "not far from the airport". Does that mean there is grid power not too far from the property?

Chris

I thought yak dung was de rigueur for yurt heating.

If it's simple you want, the wood furnace is the way to go. If there is some question about getting too old to feed it, then a propane furnace might be a good idea. Steps up the ladder in complexity would be the solar panels, both thermal and PV. Having a battery bank would assure that she has constant issues with batteries and charging.

If the yurt can include a masonry heater, that seems like another very nice possibility.

A Propane stove that uses no electricity is about 70% efficient, for example, a Jotul Lillehammer (I'm sure there are others). Is there any reason you can't get an LP tank. While not the most efficient , there is nothing less simple I can think of that requires 0 work and 0 maintenance.

A Rinnai is cheaper and more efficient but requires electricity.

Been there, done that… She will want a small wood stove for primary heating and a small non-vent propane stove having a thermostat for backup heating. She will likely want to cook, so having propane for a propane stove will address that need. A couple 30 lb tanks that can be connected together to address vaporization pressure during cold temps and that can easily be transported/filled will get the job done. She will likely want to have electric for lighting, radio, TV, etc., so a small PV system and/or generator should be considered too. Will she be wanting pressurized indoor water in the yurt (i.e., cold and hot) and how will sanitary waste be addressed (e.g., a septic system)?

Yes, you can accomplish a heating load for anything… In this case the BTU/SF heat loss will be very big, but the total SF will be very small…like most dwellings humans have lived in for most of our history…

Thanks everyone,

She is too far from power to tie into it.
Propane will be used for cooking and back up space heating.
A small PV system will have to be used, she will have to learn how to maintain the system. If it is small I think she will do fine, she seems quite savy.
Pressurized indoor plumbing is required, septic system will be installed.

One problem I have noticed with my neighbours yurt is the potential mould buildup on the tent from condensation. Anywhere that would have a fold or flap would not dry out. So proper air exchange and ventilation would be a must.

What about solar water collectors and thermal storage under the yurt. Could a system be designed to tap into this relatively simple to supplement the heating demands.?

Thanks again

Condensation in tents can be very challenging to mitigate. Basically, you have to maintain the canvas temp above the dew point temp. Ventilation is a good thing, but a tent typically already has good ventilation! Condensation mitigation is more about the humidity and temp than the ventilation.

SWC and thermal storage could certainly be accomplished, but don't know if the additional cost and complexity would be worth it. I would expect DHW needs will be modest and just using using a small heat exchanger, small insulated tank for storage, and a small pump to extract heat from one of the stoves would get the job done. Yurt lifestyle is similar to sailboat lifestyle. You get in the routine of using your hot water when you have hot water... On a sailboat, that is after you had to run the engine for some reason (e.g., because there was no wind or you need to charge the batteries). In a yurt it would be after you had to use a stove for some reason (e.g., to cook or heat). If you have enough PV, it might make sense to augment the aforementioned approach with an electric water heater because when it is hot and sunny, you might not use the stoves as often as when it is cold. I think the right solution really depends on how much you want the DHW to be like a normal house and how much you are willing to spend to accomplish this.

I think a good RV store would be a good place to procure and re-purpose much of what is needed to successfully accomplish this project.

Use a wood boiler and an electric water heater (for excess solar energy) . Concrete/dirt in the floor might be acceptable as thermal mass, otherwise a water tank can be added for better temperature regulation and more time between firings.

There is no gauge that tells you you've used 20% of your charge.

Such gauges do exist. Some work on voltage, some work based on coulomb counting.