Solar Heater – Solar Furnace
Solar Heater Solar Furnace
Solar powerhouse
A doctor’s passion for sustainability inspired him to build what may be the most energy-efficient home in the Midwest.
Is solar thermal heating using a water to air heat exchanger really efficient?
I’m considering doing a solar water heater and getting a large storage tank to let me partially heat the house by doing a heat exchanger from the tank for our furnace. Is it worth trying?
By installing a heat exchanger in your A coil you would pull heat from the solar first.In order to do this you need to size the solar properly.You’ll need more than just a 4×10 over an 80 gal. tank.More than likely you would at least need say 2-4x8s maybe even 2-4x10s over a 120. This all depends on where you live too. Below is a good site for figuring size and cost.
Solar Heater or Solar Furnace for home heating
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August 9th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
The heat transfer is done by the aluminum tubes. The platic components were only cosmetic. Besides, the temp is 50 elcius max. No gases escape the plastic at that temp.
October 8th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
What is the avg. temp inside the unit when the sun goes down? Do you have a mechanism to block the vents?
October 9th, 2009 at 1:27 am
The temp inside the unit with no sun is very close to the temp outside. You do need to block the bottom whole but I plan to try running the output to the same hight as the input at the top. This should cause the cold air to collect at the bottom of the unit.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
is the fan a solar fan?
December 14th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Hi, the fan is not run off of the sun. I may do this later but for now it plugs in. The control of the fan is done by a thermostat. Some people run it off the sun but that will run it even if there is not enough sun for good head. If you want to use the sun for the fan, combine the thermostat with it.
December 20th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Great Simple, and im guessing pritty cheap to. Good work Buddy. I like these kinds of inventive ideas. Though I dislike the way governments are currently trying to tax the hell out of every one of these ideas coming out. Or making Laws that say you need to Pay a Tax or Bribe to allow them to be fitted to your home.
December 21st, 2009 at 2:15 pm
I have not had to deal with any of that around here. I sure know what my answer would be if they said something. I will let you use your imagination on that one.
January 7th, 2010 at 4:43 am
I could make the same with black “stucco” paper, the expensive part is making the clear air tight chamber.
January 12th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Just installed mine a few days ago – i get 238 F out of it — and i am getting warpng also – so i had to place the screws in the acrylic about every 5 inches apart
Doing pretty good now
January 12th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
Glad to hear it is working for you. The plastics I had trouble with were covering the top and bottom headers, I swapped that out for aluminum sheeting. My acrylic has never warped.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:40 am
what cfm fan r u using?i use a snap disc controller on mine with an 80 cfm fan that gets me a 15-20c temp change. can u give me some examples of the hot air temp being blow out of your box and the intake temp along with maybe the outdoor temp. I used pop cans but maybe will try the dryer vent like yours. thanks
craig
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:25 pm
wow thats pretty impressive… do you have to stop it or seal it off at night?
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
I do have to block it for now. Can’t think of a good way to keep the cold out.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
I think adding something for turbulence is not needed. what that would do would make it harder to move air out of the unit and into your house. with higher temperatures in the unit you get MORE heat loss to the outside (higher temperature differential).
moving more air through the unit leads to less losses and also more heat and more even heat transferred to the house.
February 15th, 2010 at 7:39 pm
Just a thought but anyone thinking of making one of these should contact a glass company about 1″ insulated glass. I build commercial buildings and they frequently screw up the sizes of the glass or there is a change in the building that causes them to have extra peices. Frequently they trash them but sometimes they hold on to them for selling at a discount. I bet 1″ insulated glass on the front would boost the temp significantly as long as it didn’t have a coating on it.
February 20th, 2010 at 9:22 am
@ssiaudio I’d try sticking insulation or pillow stuffing in there for now.
February 27th, 2010 at 6:07 am
that is not as good as it sounds. polycarbonate is superior to glass as far as heat transfer, glass transfers heat like sh#t through a tin horn. That’s why they have to double or triple the panes, even the scam of argon inside the layers increases the R value by an insignificant amount. 1/4 inch polycarbonate is the way to go, you can drill it to mount it much easier than glass, It weighs alot less making the construction of the entire unit much lighter and eaiser to install, and overall save $
February 27th, 2010 at 6:10 am
Oh ya I almost forgot, never use plexi glass or any type of acrylic material, it will warp, melt, fog, drycrack, haze, etc.etc.
February 27th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Glass is cheap and found given away by many do it yourself week end home re-modelers, just search craigslist . o r g in your area.
A common two pane window has an r value of 3.0 where glass itself is 1.0 (Not good) you do not want tinted or “solar guard ” type glass, as it is designed to keep the heat OUT. Polycarbonate G.E’s trade name Lexan is great stuff, but I would reserve it for solar electric projects, unless you are well off $ wise.
Nice job, I need to put one together “still”
March 8th, 2010 at 7:52 am
-17c = 1.4f 21c = 69.8f 44c=111.2f
March 8th, 2010 at 7:54 am
-20c=-4f 44c = 111.2f 22c=71f
March 8th, 2010 at 8:00 am
my idea was this, and no one has tried this i guess, build a box in the yard all 5 sides have glass and use your vent pipe and make it loop around inside the box and have an insulated pvc pipe maybe 2 of them underground run to your house or where you want to heat with an electric fan. yes you loose heat in the pipe but you gain more heat with a 5 sided box let the bottom 6h side be black maybe even put mirrors on the bottom and paint everything inside black. do you think it would work since you
March 18th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Hey, where did you get the guide from to build this solar air heater?
March 19th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
There were no guides other than watching youtube videos and using my own ideas.
March 21st, 2010 at 3:49 am
You know what is so wrong about solar installations?? Never install anything on roof or on the exterior walls because they create shadows . This is a minus. All solar installations must be sited away from the house in order to maximize natural exposure to the Sun. Same goes for any trees that cast shadows on your house should be cut down. This is a very important efficiency factor in everything solar. I recently cut down a row of 60 foot tall Italian cypress trees to elminate shadows.