MaryB wrote:


Awesome, I love stuff like this! I am thinking of doing a water collector. I have to collectors, that I bought off ebay a few years back but never got to installing. Keep us posted how it goes......

Neat Air Heater!!! It's a shame that most builders in the U.S. don't understand how to build a house and utilize the sun to heat the home in winter. It's a no brainer but most builders are ignorant to this.

Maybe some day builders will wake up and realize we have free energy right in front of our eyes.


Stay Warm,

AR

The cover is a polycarbonate panel that Menards sells. Think is was $40

MaryB wrote:


Mary, what are you using for fan(s)? What are you using for control of the fan(s)? Do you have a link to the plans you used to build this? I wish my shop was not 35' from my south outside wall, seems like I would loose all my heat by the time it got there......

Mary what a great idea.........how well does it work on cloudy days?
do you get any heat out of it?

Nice job Mary! I have had a solar heater on my house (daughter is now living there) since the mid 80's. Love it. A neighbor was wanting to get a job as an installer, and the company told him he had to know how to pitch a sale, in case a passer by would be interrested. So we told him he could practice on us, so we bought it to put on our newly purchased home. Long story short, after install, company went out of business, and never paid for it. I felt bad about it, but there was no one at the business to pay.

May I ask what you used for a fan and a control? Pictures of that please?

Control is just a standard thermal snap switch, on at 110f off at 90f. Blower is a 110CFM unit I picked up from Surplus Sales you can find plans on www.builditsolar.com for all kinds of collectors. I kind of winged it with what I had available and what I think I needed to survive the winds here.

No output on cloudy days so far. Didn't really expect any.

Thank-you for that.. Snap switch hummmmmm

My shop heat is turned off - so I might just use a line voltage house stat set at maybe 60. That way whenever the box goes above set point - I can harvest any and all energy into what otherwise would be a 20 degree walk in freezer.

Sting wrote:


That is my thinking also, but my shed is 60' wide and my heated shop is only 30x30 and is located in the N.E. corner far from the south wall, long way to pipe hot air. Maybe build something like this and just pump the hot air in the basement, free hot air is free hot air. Once again, thanks Mary for the info and the ideas.........