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super windy
Junior Member
217 Posts |
 Posted - 14/03/2008 : 16:12:21
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hello ben and all little gotwinds
finally installed my solar air heater, and made a little video, today for a good 5 hours the temperature comming into the house was 45 degrees outside temperature 19 degrees, am i happy yes, yes, yes, and that is a constant 45 degrees the house already feels warmer than ever:
here's a little video, ghurd is not allowed to see this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=173owKST-w4
cheerio
super hot windy
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gholt
Junior Member
USA
102 Posts |
Posted - 14/03/2008 : 17:51:16
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Congrats on your solar air heater and the videos are great! The solar gain may be increased by adding reflective wings (anything reflective, mirror, aluminum foil on cardboard even white or silver painted panels) on either side and the ground area in front of the panel. The increased solar gain should be seen as higher output temps going into your home. Great job, thanks for sharing your progress!
G. |
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ghurd
Junior Member
USA
309 Posts |
Posted - 14/03/2008 : 17:54:47
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Cool! Or should I say Warm?
sincerely,
anonymous |
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super windy
Junior Member
217 Posts |
 Posted - 14/03/2008 : 18:10:09
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cheers guys for your comments, man the house feels warm today, being a recent new build it's well insulated, and it keeps the heat in quite well, i see what you are mentioning gholt, and maybe i could build a set of doors for the front of the window, and on the back of the doors put more reflective material, I'm just scared thAt NASA AIR SPACE might pick this up from space and send a recovery crew to my house .
Cheers ghurd for your comment, you weren't meant to watch this, you naughty boy, but I guess curiosity is what killed the cat, and you couldn't help yourself, you see I didn't show no batteries, solar panels, shed, decking, turbines etc.., only pulling your leg mate, your wisdom is well appreciated here at gotwind, and I really appreciate your advice, has I am new to all this stuff, I have learned alot in this past 12 to 14 months, through glory and failure, and i love the feeling of building something and when it all comes together man does it feel good, got to go its so warm inside I might just put on my thongs, and think of the beach .
cherrio
super hot windy |
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Tim L
New Member
United Kingdom
70 Posts |
Posted - 14/03/2008 : 19:48:58
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"got to go its so warm inside I might just put on my thongs"
Hoping that you mean what we in UK call "flip flops", the sandals with a loop that goes round the big toe. Otherwise, oh dear!.....
Moving back onto topic, have you considered doing a DIY solar panel for heating water? I've been toying with the idea myself for a bit, was thinking of painting a couple of radiators black and putting them into insulated glass-fronted boxes at ground level, and letting them thermosyphon up to a secondary hot water tank's indirect heating loop. That way, perhaps they might not need to be drained down in the winter because they'd be filled with antifreeze, and when they are colder than the water in the tank then maybe they wouldn't self-circulate? Thinking about doing that in my next place, but got to get the wind turbine playing nice first. |
Edited by - Tim L on 14/03/2008 19:55:25 |
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chris_psmith
New Member
United Kingdom
77 Posts |
Posted - 14/03/2008 : 22:21:57
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Tim, exactly what i did last year, panel made of copper pipes on copper sheet, stuck on roof but at height below hot water header tank, uses thermal syphon to circulate when it is warm, able to pre-heat the water to about 50C in the summer, zero maintenance, zero energy consumption, love it, can send photos if you are interested.
Chris |
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steevo777
New Member
87 Posts |
Posted - 14/03/2008 : 23:40:01
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Hi Superwindy
I have watched alot of your videos over the past couple of months and I find them a real inspiration so thanks for that
How do you get the heat from the solar heater into your house ? I saw in the video that you had copper pipes around the window frame but where exactly does it all lead/connnect to ?
Does the solar heater work on cold days ?
Also is there a link somewhere which shows how the can "matrix" is all connected up ?
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Mertz
Starting Member
USA
42 Posts |
Posted - 15/03/2008 : 00:06:40
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It looks like you used a semi gloss paint. It would be much more efficient using flat black. There would not ba any reflection and most of the light would be absorbed.
I have built several solar panels one for hot water and the other for hot air. There is a special film that can be applied to a tank that will give it the most efficient absorbtion. Did it years ago so I don't know if it is still available.
My hot air system used a minilouver type screen material set at an angle from back to front of the panel. That allowed the air to circulate up though the screen to pick up heat. Incoming air came from a cool unfinished basement into my upper bathroom. I was getting over 90 degree air coming in from the top of the panel. Everything was convection so I did not have to use a fan.
I had a deciduous tree in front of the panel to control the heat during the summer and can close the window to stop the heat from getting in during spring and fall if it got too hot. The whole thing was basically a passive system with just a little fine tuning.
Try using some flat black paint and I think your temperatures will increase.
Mertz |
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BushWhacker
Junior Member
Canada
299 Posts |
Posted - 15/03/2008 : 07:51:55
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Well done Superwindy! You results were better than I expected, and on a tight budget too. I'll have to look into something similar when I relocate. All the same 'good on you mate'.
Cheers!
BW
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler. - Albert Einstein |
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Tim L
New Member
United Kingdom
70 Posts |
Posted - 15/03/2008 : 11:49:12
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Chris
Sounds interesting, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to see it
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Sundowner
New Member
Ireland
55 Posts |
Posted - 15/03/2008 : 13:58:38
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Super Windy,
This is excellent, I'm thinking that a long panel like this would keep my single skin uninsulated mobile home super warm and aired during the winter.
Time to start collect all those soft drinks cans.
Excellent idea, Well presented, Thanks.
Sundowner
Sundowner....huh.........thats what they call us.......Sundowners |
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super windy
Junior Member
217 Posts |
Posted - 15/03/2008 : 22:36:55
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cheers guys for your comments below I'm giving you a list of materials and where they might be gathered free.
1)double glazed window-this I think should be your first item that you should gather, has the whole box will be built around the sizes of the window, the window can be found at most pvc windows outletsm has when they fit there new windows, they always take the old ones back to their shop for scrapping, so ring around and ask them for a nice size window.
2)WBP 18MM PLYWOOD, WBP basically means water and boil proof, so its resistant to water and boiling or heat, offcuts can be found at a skip near by look for loft extensions around your area and you will find this ply there, brand new from wickes an 8 by 4 sheet is £30,
3) kingspan insulation, now this is heart of your box, you want to keep the heat inside the box so, I myself used 25mm, but they go from 25 to 50mm to 75mm, look for loft extensions again and you will find this type of insulation around the skip.
4) aluminium foil tape, this commes in rolls, is not necessary but it will seal all the joints between the back and sides and top, it stops the heat from travelling back to your box.
5) silicone and loads of it i used 4 tubes or silicone and a special heat resistant silicone to frame the window into the ply, normal or cheap silicone will melt i saw this in an area inside the box.
6) ALUMINIUM CANS, now I needed 108 cans, this can be found pretty much anywhere, but if you have a coffe shop near you ask the owner and he will keep them for you, remember though you want them in a good state and not crushed, its amazing how many people actually squeze the cans after they drink it, then you need to drill a 12mm hole at the bottom of the cans, get rid of the pulley thing to open the cans at the top, and really inportant wash them, or your house will smell of a sweet smell like sugar for age, just fill a bucket with water and when you drill the holes dip them in, to wash them, and to get rid of the bits of aluminium that falls in after you drill them.
7) EXPANDING FOAM- this is great stuff has any holes, or gaps you just blow these in there and it expands, carefull if using for the first time it really expands, sometimes up to 45 times the blob you sprayed, after dry ita easy to cut off excess.
8) solar panel and a little 12v computer fan, this actually works amazing since when it's hot outside the fan kicks in and pushes that hot air into your house and when its cloudy the fan stops but heat still comes in at a slower pace, altough slightly warmer.
9) PAINT- I used a barbeque black matt spray paint, and it works amazing has you can paint the cans very quick, let it dry for at least 2 days so the smell goes away, before you cover the box with the glass.
10)PLUMBING- Well i just drilled a 22mm hole at the top and used 22mm pipe from there then a reducer to 15mm into the house, but I suppose 22mm pipe would be better if drilled straight into the brickwork into the house, however I didn't want to do that so I used the window vent where I put a stop end on the end of the pipe and drilled loads of little holes on the pipe, it also allows me to close the vent from the inside at night when the air starts to camme cold.
The main thing is to once all materials are gathered to sit down and workout the sequence of how you are going to build this, so you then have a nice easy ride while building, and if you need any help or advice I might be able to help you or other gotwind members, I'm happy with my one, but I am not an expert, I am sure there is loads of people that will tell you that I did a coupe of things wrong or they would of donne it diferent , but I am happy with the performance of my one, and I know that all the materials that I used although free where the best for that specific task.
cheerio, got to go my fingers hurt.
SUPER HOT WINDY |
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super windy
Junior Member
217 Posts |
Posted - 16/03/2008 : 00:38:46
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Hi guys, guess what, my neighbour who thinks I'm crazy, cause I'am always up to something, has asked me to make him a solar air heater for himself, after I showed him my one working, so I guess I have to also search for all the materials again.
cheerio
super windy |
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Mertz
Starting Member
USA
42 Posts |
Posted - 16/03/2008 : 16:31:10
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On this panel don't use the double pane glass. It will be easier to get and be more efficient. The double pane glass actually reduces the amount of uv light that gets through the glass. If by accident you got a piece of low-e glass it would prevent the kind of light you need to get through. Low-e glass is more and more common and is designed to prevent heat gain. The insulation value of single pane glass is about R-1 standard double pane glass is R-2. I don't remember the solar transmission numbers but thin single pane will allow much more of the light spectrum you want to get to the cans, be absorbed and turn to heat.
Great job on the panel. They are an easy and simple way to make heat.
Mertz |
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gholt
Junior Member
USA
102 Posts |
Posted - 16/03/2008 : 17:59:27
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Hello All,
Super Windy, thanks for providing the spark, your videos and your scrounge list - very helpful stuff!
While looking for information on solar air heating systems I came across a couple of articles you may find useful - this pdf file of instructions.
http://www.green-trust.org/2000/solar/Homebuilt%20Collector%20Instructions.pdf
To me, the most significant aspect of the design was the material(s) chosen for the solar absorber -
1. Black Polyester Felt
2. Glass or Polyester Furnace Filter (painted black)
The design is such that air is passed through the absorber medium and these materials provide great surface area for heat transfer to occur.
While beverage cans have been used successfully by many as the absorber medium, and provide a good method to direct air flow and reuse discarded materials it's interesting to note there may be more efficient absorber materials available at a very cheap cost.
In a second article -
http://www.solarsponge.com/article.htm
there is valuable information on the aspect of fans (multiple fans in series versus parallel) to get the heat where you want it to go.
Here's another youtube video of a solar air heater installation - the significance being how the air is being transfered to the home -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NveshAa5qpk
You may notice the solar absober plate expanded inside the collector pulling things apart a bit and the lack of a cold air return from the home means only cold exterior air is being heated. Re-heating air from the home would increase the efficiency considerably.
G.
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super windy
Junior Member
217 Posts |
Posted - 17/03/2008 : 21:48:44
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cheers gholt, very good info in them articles, I have already new ideas for my new one that I am going to build soon when time and materials arrive.
cheerio
super hot windy |
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yes yes yes solar air heater finished
