The Bitter Cold and using it to Heat

Every now and then, winter comes in and serves a cold dish a little restricting on people's wallets and lifestyles.  Heating a home during a deep freeze is daunting, especially for people that lack sufficient insulation.  Homes struggle with rises fuel costs associated with heat, while the cold winter sucks the energy right from the structure.  But if the winter is cold enough and there is ample snow around, it could work to your advantage. 

Snow is a fantastic insulator, while ice is not.  Snow is made up of ice crystals, but as they pack together, air pockets form between them, which restricts the passage of heat, making it great for insulation.  For homes with constant dangers of freezing pipes from bitter winds, this snow can become the thing that prevents that.  And that method is a snow wall.

A snow wall is essentially a pile of snow that surrounds the structure to a certain level.  Snow walls can be made loosely or built vertically even using powder snow (it actually works better).  Using a snow shovel and tossing powder snow into one area will make a ridge.  By throwing the snow onto that ridge by letting it fall on it from above, builds that ridge into a wall, while the powder snow that falls down can be thrown up again.

There are three advantages a snow wall provides.  1) It's a great wind barrier and cold air buffer, which slows the transfer of cold temperatures to the side of the structure.  2) It traps heat that bleeds off the home in the air gap between the wall and the building longer, meaning less heat passes through.  3) looking at areas of the wall that are melting away from the side of the house faster means more heat is lost in that area, and can be addressed from adding insulation to an inside wall or placing heat reflective insulation in front of a window.  If the snow wall melts slower or not at all, then it means more heat is being retained by the inside.

I have built snow walls before and they do work great.  There was a noticeable slow to the drop in my home heating oil even though the outside air was in the negatives, and the downstairs portion was much warmer longer, which meant my floor was warmer.  It essentially takes the ground temperature and raises it to whatever the height of the wall is, which even though cold in winter, is far superior to the alternative.  

If in doubt, try it out.  It's a good exercise activity and might save you money at the same time.