katiej (asker) Aug 26, 2020:

Many thanks for all your contributions - very interesting! I think I will go with "homes that leak heat" if it works in the rest of my sentence.

chris collister Aug 25, 2020:

@ Barbara Great poem. It could have been written just for Boris and his chums.

B D Finch Aug 25, 2020:

@SafeTex I'm afraid that I think the reference you have just posted is rather inaccurate. For a start, cold air does not enter a building via a thermal bridge. Thermal bridging is only concerned with heat transfer through conduction, not air leaks. A draught from a gap around a window or a badly fitting door is not a thermal bridge. An uninsulated loft is also not a thermal bridge, but an unprotected metal pipe that penetrated the loft insulation would be a thermal bridge. Metal or plastic double- glazed windows are also carefully designed to avoid thermal bridging.

SafeTex Aug 25, 2020:

@Chris and all Yes, that was my question in essence.

I see that Barbara got a neutral saying that her translation was essentially wrong but

Une « passoire thermique » est avant tout un logement mal isolé. C'est-à-dire qu'il comporte plusieurs ponts thermiques, faisant entrer l'air froid de l'hiver et la chaleur de l'été. A l'intérieur d'un tel habitat, il fait chaud en été et froid en hiver.

Source: https://www.voseconomiesdenergie.fr/actualites/economies-d-e...

Barbara's answer has the merit of the heat passing both ways however which goes well with "passoire thermique"

B D Finch Aug 25, 2020:

@SafeTex Indeed, when one speaks of a house "leaking heat" it necessarily means from inside to outside. If a pipe leaks, you don't generally mean that water is coming into it. On the other hand, if a ship leaks, you do mean water is coming into it. So, it all depends upon one's objective. As insulation is generally intended for both comfort and energy saving, the main concern tends to be keeping heat in. As Chris notes, keeping heat out is more important in a hot climate, but I don't think the meaning of house "leaking heat" is likely to change to incorporate that.

The leakiness is not "due to a passoire". "Passoire" is a metaphor for the leakiness.

They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, 'You'll all be drowned!'
They called aloud, 'Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'
http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ns/jumblies.html

chris collister Aug 25, 2020:

Hot topic? Barbara is correct. Heat "flows" down a thermal gradient, so if it's hotter on the outside, then heat will flow into your house in summer. Bizarrely, when I asked some Australians why so few of their houses were insulated or double glazed, they said there was no need as the winters were not cold. They hadn't realised that insulation works both ways!

SafeTex Aug 25, 2020:

@ B D Finch so you think that we can talk about "homes leaking heat" for a situation where the home can actually gain heat due to a passoire ???
I do admit that "leak" can work both ways (leak in and leak out) but this is not the sense we have when we speak of a house or loft leaking heat.

B D Finch Aug 25, 2020:

@SafeTex Cold is simply the absence of heat, not a thing in itself. So, the insulation to your South-facing wall stops heat passing from inside to outside in winter and from outside to inside in summer. I also suggest you check the meaning of "thermal bridge": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_bridge .

SafeTex Aug 25, 2020:

@ all Hello
Apart from the disagrees to my suggestion, I'm not sure about suggestions like "leak heat" as these "passoires" work in both directions
I mean I have an outer wall facing south in my French flat which we insulated to save heat loss in the winter but I noticed the flat was much cooler in the summer (an added benefit)
For that reason, maybe Barbara's suggestion (poorly insulated) works better than people seem to think?
Regards

B D Finch Aug 25, 2020:

@Chris I was about to post "homes that leak heat like a sieve", but saw your Discussion post, which I totally agree with. Why don't you post an answer so I can agree properly?

Suzie Withers Aug 25, 2020:

I tend to agree, I think we would say "it leaks like a sieve" but we wouldn't necessarily call it a sieve... I have found a couple of instances of "my house is a heat sieve" or "an energy sieve" but it doesn't seem particularly common

katiej (asker) Aug 25, 2020:

Hi, yes that was my worry too. Many thanks!

chris collister Aug 25, 2020:

The idea is that some houses that "leak heat like a sieve" can be transformed into low-carbon co-living spaces. I'm not convinced that any native EN writer would talk about a "thermal sieve", so some creative paraphrasing may be required.