Question:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->Novice desires info on how to build a solar heat collector for home >heating purposes. I want a 4ft by 8ft panel that has an air intake and >air output to the house with the air forced by a small fan… >I did this 15 years ago… > <= heated air out | > | | > | ^ > | >cool air in >- wood >= metal plate with high absorbtive, low emissivity coating ># insulation >+ duo pane glass (sliding door)
Seems like this might work better with some beer cans attached to the metal plate, in the sun, perhaps without the upper layer of insulation above, and it might be cheaper and more efficient if the air flowed through the absorber with a fan putting cold air in on the south side in at the bottom, and pushing warm air out thru the hole at the top of the north side of the asorber, which might be made of black aluminum window screen or shadecloth, and it might be bigger and cheaper if it were glommed onto the side of the house, 16′ tall, with holes in the wall instead of windows, and no insulation inside it, and no wooden backplate, and a 16′ long strip of 4′ wide polycarbonate plastic for glazing. This seems like a very nice starting experiment… Nobody could argue about the cost of your glazing materials. I have a big pile of old windows in the back yard too. Nick
Response:
Novice desires info on how to build a solar heat collector for home heating purposes. I want a 4ft by 8ft panel that has an air intake and air output to the house with the air forced by a small fan. I do not want to heat rocks or liquid. I want to keep it as simple as possible. Also interested in preheating hot water tank by solar means. I live on the Kansas-Nebraska border. Thanks for the help.
Response:
>Novice desires info on how to build a solar heat collector for home >heating purposes. I want a 4ft by 8ft panel that has an air intake and >air output to the house with the air forced by a small fan. I do not >want to heat rocks or liquid. I want to keep it as simple as possible.
I did this 15 years ago, using a thrown out sliding glass door (its companion door had broken), some scrap lumber and material, and made a window box solar heater. It basic layout, if laid flat, was; <= heated air out | | | | ^ | cool air in – wood = metal plate with high absorbtive, low emissivity coating # insulation + duo pane glass (sliding door) I don’t have any direct references, though I can point you to web sites that might contain the info you are looking for. >Also interested in preheating hot water tank by solar means.
If you have an oil or gas furnace, you can use the exhaust gas as a preheater as well (run a coil in the exhaust pipe and use a preheater tank). Home Energy magazine, Solar Today, and others have info on many solar hot water products and home projects. >I live on the Kansas-Nebraska border.
Great spot! http://www.eren.doe.gov/ee-cgi-bin/hem.pl Home Energy Magazine http://www.eren.doe.gov/ee-cgi-bin/ee_renen-solar.pl General Solar links page http://www.rt66.com/aaasolar/ a solar equipment vendor www site (many others out there) Cheers, Will Stewart
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