solar heater free heat

[taamator]

this is the other project I built out of soda pop cans 2x4s hardie back board I still need to drill holes for the fan and intake from the house and put the glass on then add tubes I used fire barrier sealant for the cracks

 

[FirstChickens]

Are they full cans? Or just using the air and metal as spacing?

Seems like a good idea, I am interested in how well it works.

 

[DownRiver]

I'm currently collecting cans to build one myself. Seems like a great idea, and it's pretty inexpensive to try.

FirstChickens: Here's a link to the instructions I'm going to use on how to build one.

http://www.coloradowindpower.com/page.php?26

taamator: Love to hear how it works out for ya.

 

[taamator]

hello folks
the cans are empty now time to get the hoses and the fan today I just glued on the glass and drilled the holes waiting for stuff to dry then outside to test it

 

[MeepBeep]

I'm currently collecting cans to build one myself. Seems like a great idea, and it's pretty inexpensive to try.

FirstChickens: Here's a link to the instructions I'm going to use on how to build one.

http://www.coloradowindpower.com/page.php?26

taamator: Love to hear how it works out for ya.

With just one fan as they did you create a negative pressure (vacuum) in the heating chamber and although the chamber gets real hot, the fan can't pull the heat out as no return air duct to allowed air back in to replace the hot air coming out...

You really need channel on top and bottom, so you can 'circulate' the air... Look the guys design in the link bellow... Either install the fan on top pulling air out of the collector combined with a return duct on bottom or install a fan on bottom blowing the return air in and a hot air duct on top back into the coop...

http://rimstar.org/renewnrg/can_solar_air_heater_DIY_gs.htm

BTW, my mother supplements her house with a similar setup, her panels are 4 foot by 8 foot, and she has several of them chained together... Instead of pop cans she has 1" copper pipe zig-zaged inside the collectors... Inside her basement is something like a 500-1000 gallon water tank and water is circulated from that tank through the collectors but only when the collectors reach a certain temp... By the end of the day she has hundreds of gallons of HOT (generally in excess of 180° even in the winter) water in that tank, at night that hot water is circulated though radiators to heat the house overnight... She also has a separate collector that is hooked up to her hot water heater and circulated for near free hot water to shower and wash with... It's not a total replacement for her furnace but it helps a lot, and delays when she has to actually turn on the furnace in mildly cool weather...

 

[taamator]

here I sealed the cracks then let it dry before I sealed the glass on top


here it is outside and all sealed up and working

It was 2pm on 11/23/2014 temperature outside was 40f and windy in 3 minutes the out put made it up to 92 degree it rised out put really fast I didn't have a fan on here yet I also felt heat about 3 inches away these are 3 inch holes that I drilled now its time to scrap apart some computers and get the fan and go to harbor freight for the solar power

 

[FirstChickens]

I need to try this, it would be great for the coop and for the workshop once I get that built. Might even consider one of these to help supplement the heat in the basement area. Great post!

 

[CrazyTalk]

With just one fan as they did you create a negative pressure (vacuum) in the heating chamber and although the chamber gets real hot, the fan can't pull the heat out as no return air duct to allowed air back in to replace the hot air coming out...

You really need channel on top and bottom, so you can 'circulate' the air... Look the guys design in the link bellow... Either install the fan on top pulling air out of the collector combined with a return duct on bottom or install a fan on bottom blowing the return air in and a hot air duct on top back into the coop...

http://rimstar.org/renewnrg/can_solar_air_heater_DIY_gs.htm

BTW, my mother supplements her house with a similar setup, her panels are 4 foot by 8 foot, and she has several of them chained together... Instead of pop cans she has 1" copper pipe zig-zaged inside the collectors... Inside her basement is something like a 500-1000 gallon water tank and water is circulated from that tank through the collectors but only when the collectors reach a certain temp... By the end of the day she has hundreds of gallons of HOT (generally in excess of 180° even in the winter) water in that tank, at night that hot water is circulated though radiators to heat the house overnight... She also has a separate collector that is hooked up to her hot water heater and circulated for near free hot water to shower and wash with... It's not a total replacement for her furnace but it helps a lot, and delays when she has to actually turn on the furnace in mildly cool weather...

Is your mother's setup DIY, or something commercial? I know the commercial units are VERY efficient, as they're vacuum purged, so there's basically no heat loss. Something like the OP is building could be interesting (and could work quite well), but isn't going to have nearly the gain that a commercial unit does (not that it's needed to warm a chicken coop).

Curious to see how this turns out.

 

[MeepBeep]

Is your mother's setup DIY, or something commercial? I know the commercial units are VERY efficient, as they're vacuum purged, so there's basically no heat loss. Something like the OP is building could be interesting (and could work quite well), but isn't going to have nearly the gain that a commercial unit does (not that it's needed to warm a chicken coop).

All DIY... In time they might upgrade to a commercial system, but right now they wanted to see how feasible it was first and if it works, the good thing is all the plumbing and radiators can be up-cylced to a commercial unit, so now the house is boiler or solar heated water ready... My mom has no furnace or central heating in the house, primary heat is a wood burning stove with a few electric baseboard heaters in some areas, the idea was to supplement overnight heating as anyone that has heated with a stove can attest it's no fun to wake up in the morning to the stove being empty The solar collectors generate enough heat to at least keep the bite off the air all night...

 

[CrazyTalk]

Hey, if she's not real worried about space efficiency (IE, having a bunch of panels over 1 or 2 commercial), then what shes got works just fine. The commercials have some downsides to being overly efficient - they can heat steam to the point of melting pipes if not properly set up/configured/sized etc.

I've got an insulated (but not heated) 2400sqft barn/garage/storage building that I'm trying to figure out how to get a little warmer so working out there in the winter isn't so unpleasant. I'd rather not have to deal with exhaust/smoke/etc, so this is interesting to me.

Anyways, Tamaator, the floor is yours - I await your results.