Browse Forums Eco Living 1 Jun 14, 2011 6:30 pm How far off due north for living areas is OK for optimal orientation in central Victoria. Parents are looking at a house that according to the agent "has been positioned for optimal passive solar heating". The property is rural so the house could have been built at any orientation. It is 35 degrees from north towards the east. Main living area windows face either NE or SW, no windows on NW and only one small one on SE. From what we can gather from the road (they are not inspecting until the weekend) the front (NE) side does not have any eaves/awnings etc but awnings of course can be added. The SW facing living area windows do have some form of eave. What effect will this orientation have on the house if any? Thanks Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 2Jun 14, 2011 7:52 pm The house you describe seems a long way off optimal. Optimal is to have all the main windows facing north with shading/eaves equivalent to about 40% of the window depth. Windows facing east and west should be minimal, to avoid excessive heat gain in summer, and no major room should face to the south. This link provides more information http://www.anewhouse.com.au/?p=437 The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 3Jun 14, 2011 8:26 pm Thanks for your reply, you've echoed my thoughts exactly. Hard to convince my parents as the real estate spiel is all about "architect designed", "passive solar". We were thinking you could fit awnings for north east windows to avoid summer sun. Living area has SW window for a view. We're trying to work out how much retrofitting would be necessary if they fall in love with it. Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 4Jun 15, 2011 10:11 am It is generally easier to shade a house with excess solar exposure in summer than try to improve one with inadequate sun in winter. However, you will tend to need vertical shades for east and west aspects because of the low angle of the sun. They can be blinds or angled vertical louvres that allow some light in. In summer, the sun sets in the SW. The living area might get a bit hot during the afternoon. Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 5Jun 15, 2011 1:13 pm I read somewhere recently that 30 - 35 degrees East of North is optimal. I think this is due to the heating you receive in the morning when you most want to warm the house up. I think in Summer, it also reduces your sun exposure. If in higher latitudes in Vic, summer sun may be less important. If a good architect has designed it, they will probably done modelling to work out exactly how much sun energy will be received through the day and through the year and tried to find the best balance. Simply saying place all your windows in this direction may be good, but fine tuning may be good too. Check the place out first and see how comfortable it is and whether they are using the heating a lot. See more info here: http://www.yourhome.gov.au/technical/fs43.html Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 6Jun 15, 2011 7:37 pm The living room will be cold all winter. Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 7Jun 20, 2011 9:00 am I found my original source for the numbers I gave above. It is from the Readers Digest Back to basics book ISBN:0-86449-028-3 I quote: An orientation slightly east of north (about 12 degrees east) is best but anywhere within 20 degrees west of north and 30 degrees east of north receives useful exposure without creating shading difficulties in summer. This seems reasonable to me. Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 8Jun 20, 2011 11:04 am I did a bit of (very unscientific) testing at our current place the other day. It faces due north. Sun stopped coming into house at 4:26pm. Model I had (portable kids cubby house) was situated at 35 degrees NE, sun stopped coming into house at 12:37pm so lost nearly 4 hours of winter sun. Problem is now a non-issue as the house was inspected on the weekend and the layout is anything but practical for general day to day living. Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 9Jun 21, 2011 11:20 am indi I did a bit of (very unscientific) testing at our current place the other day. It faces due north. Sun stopped coming into house at 4:26pm. Model I had (portable kids cubby house) was situated at 35 degrees NE, sun stopped coming into house at 12:37pm so lost nearly 4 hours of winter sun. Problem is now a non-issue as the house was inspected on the weekend and the layout is anything but practical for general day to day living. indi, What time did the sun start coming in in both places? Personally morning sun would be more useful to me to rewarm the house after the cold night. Re: Orientation question - how far off north is still optima 10Jun 21, 2011 11:32 am Will have to redo the test to check this, only thought of it mid morning. Not too concerned about morning warmth as 6 days out of 7 we have all left the house before 8:00am, more interested in late afternoon when we are all home. 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