Solar Air Heater

tpolk · 11-29-2009, 09:25 AM

thanks justgreen much easier to see and thanks dave. it appears to me the one in daves is equipped to close at nite to stop warm air from leaving house and unless you have thermal mass in the heater I'm thinking thats needed thats why I was asking about being able to close house window sash which I did'nt see in your design. thanks timothy

justgreenhomes · 12-11-2009, 02:27 PM

Well, its 30 degrees and sunny today. The solar air heater is kicking out 85 degree air.

Yoyizit · 12-11-2009, 03:39 PM

Anybody make one of these disguised to look like dark window shutters, for a retrofit?

One on each side of each southern-facing window would have the necessary sq. footage, and with the slats at a 30° angle, depending on your latitude, they might do quite well. You'd then need interior vents.

justgreenhomes · 12-11-2009, 03:45 PM

Yoyizit - Interesting idea. I'll have to put that on my todo list.

Ron6519 · 12-17-2009, 04:33 PM

I wonder if you can do that(solar heating) to a brick house. Cut through the interior wall to the 1" space between the sheathing and the brick and use the upward convection in the space to draw heat from the brick. Maybe add a fan to pull the heat out of the space.
The brick is like a heat sponge in the summer so it might work. I need to drill a few small holes and insert a thermometer to see how warm it is.
Ron

Yoyizit · 12-17-2009, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron6519

I wonder if you can do that(solar heating) to a brick house. Cut through the interior wall to the 1" space between the sheathing and the brick and use the upward convection in the space to draw heat from the brick. Maybe add a fan to pull the heat out of the space.
The brick is like a heat sponge in the summer so it might work. I need to drill a few small holes and insert a thermometer to see how warm it is.
Ron

Heat Capacity brick = 900 Jkg-1K-1 Heat capacity stone = 800-900 Jkg-1K-1
You'd also need to know how well the surface of the brick absorbs sunlight; an emissivity hopefully close to 1.0.

Scuba_Dave · 12-17-2009, 05:04 PM

They actually use walls of stone etc as a thermal mass to capture & store heat behind a glass wall

Called a trombe wall:

justgreenhomes · 12-17-2009, 10:55 PM

Trombe walls work even better if there is no insulation between the thermal mass and the inside of the house, and if insulation can be placed on the outside of the glass at night.

DIYtestdummy · 12-18-2009, 10:14 AM

I've been kicking this idea around for 2 years now (our home anniversary was 12/17). The only obstacles are:

1. I have side-opening windows

2. Wife would rather crank up the heater than have anything "ugly" in the windows.

The trombe wall or a water wall would be great for my south wall made entirely of brick and no windows, but the summers here are blistering hot! I would have planted a green wall or built an "adjustible" pergola, but still have to match the sun's patterns and wait for the neighbor to decide on our party wall.