Any Hints or Tricks to Making Solar heating for Coop

Here's what I did when I built my coop this last year.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=14471-coop-layout
The thermopane windows were purchased at a local farmers auction for a buck apiece. They face southward to let in sun on sunny days. I really works great. I have adequate ventilation for the summer to prevent overheating plus the walls are 6" thick and insulated.

 

I have four 24 x 30 windows that face south in the winter. It gets pretty toasty on sunny days. It's a movable coop so the windows face north in the summer.

 

i am going to try this heater on instructables (very fun website):
http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Heater/

i am just starting to work out a solar plan for my coop since i dont have enough chickens to keep each other warm. it involves copper and glass but i am definately going to look into this heater design.

vertical windows on the south is great passive solar during the winter day. one downfall is that the windows will let the heat out at night, even double paned. closing off the windows, or using insulated covers, nightly would help. but it will still get cold fast at night in humid climates. using thermal mass (like a concrete floor) works in dry climates like new mexico-the heat collected during the day radiates out into the room at night.

darker roofs stay warmer (handy if you live in the north,) and light roofs cooler (if you live in the south)

there is also a website that uses soda cans enclosed in glass. http://www.coloradowindpower.com/page.php?26

 

You all have good suggestions for solar heat. I saw an idea at Mother Earth News website that is a passive solar design. It is a framed heat catcher that hangs to the outside of the building (attached to your window), this is lined with reflective material to catch the sun & then the heat is channeled back into the house (or coop) thru the small space where the whole thing is attached to your window. The design was shown for use with traditional windows that slide open by pushing upward...I don't know if the design could be 'tweeked' for other windows ie... roll outs, etc. I hope this link works for you. http://www.motherearthnews.com/article.aspx?id=65902
If not visit the site & search for the article 'Mother's Solar Heat Grabber' it was an article from 1977.

 

check out his thread....https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=100552

 

Quote:I built two of these last year for my house and hooked up a small solar fan at the top to blow the hot air into my living room and back room. I put a dryer vent fan over the inside so cold air doesn't blow into my house at night.

It raises the air temp in those two rooms almost 20 degrees F on sunny winter days.

I built mine out of 1x4's, 1" thick styrofoam sheets covered in dollar store aluminum foil, double layer of black aluminum window screen, and used plexiglass / lexan instead of glass because I was worried about icicles falling on it and shattering it. IIRC, it cost about $40 to build one. This year, I'm building a much bigger version to go over the window to my bedroom.

I highly recommend them as space heaters if you have south facing sunlight at all. They're removable so you don't have to worry about them heating up your space in summer.

-Spooky

 

Excellent, spooky. I was researching this as an idea for our unheated garage, but I'm sure it can be used anywhere! You would be a great resource for those who want to try this themselves, since you have the first hand experience of puting them together!

 

I have small solar heating panels on my dog houses. They increase the temp by 10 to 15 dgrees even on days at -30 celcius.

They are cheap, easy, and work.