Camps Tours:Old Main Overview-Tunnels
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Block Tunnels
Old Main represents our first attempt at a heat storage system on Campus. Concrete blocks lined up on their sides form tunnels that hold the warm air pulled from the ceiling while the surrounding concrete and earth absorb the heat. Once cooled, the air rises out of the trenches lining the north wall.
Details
The tunnels are located 2-feet beneath the floor and spaced 4-feet apart the entire span of the building. Standard sized air filters placed at the end of each tunnel cut down on the dust. Fans located just behind the filter pull the warm air into the tunnels from above.
Results
It takes a significant amount of time to heat up that much earth, however, as the building cools overnight and on winter days when the sun doesn’t shine, the floor helps keep the building warm.
Yet Another Link to Cob...
The state's top electrical inspector said we could meet code by separating the electrical wires from the air flow, so we created a wiring trough out of cob. The floors of the north and south trenches are also made out of cob.
