# has anyone made a solar heater?



## rainbowmoon (Apr 8, 2007)

like this one?
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Alternative-Energy/2006-12-01/Build-a-Simple-Solar-Heater.aspx

is this a project a beginner could accomplish?


----------



## Allan Mistler (Jun 1, 2004)

You should seriously consider asking the author...SolarGary.
He's a poster on this forum!


----------



## rainbowmoon (Apr 8, 2007)

get out! 
 awesome!

SolarGary where are you!?!?


----------



## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

I've been collecting the raw materials since last Summer when I bought a solar pool blanket @ a tag sale for $20. For now the version that best suits our urban environment is this type http://www.jrwhipple.com/sr/solheater.html.
Our Livingroom window although not exactly optimal is our best bet.
Here is a link to a very bright young 14 y.o. man who took his desire to provide warmth for his family using found materials to the extreme of what dreams are made of. Extreme Makeover's Home Edition freatured a Green episode showcasing Garrett Yazzie. 
This blog gives a great pic of his solar heater made from a '67 Pontiac radiator & soda cans - http://crusaderx.blogspot.com/2007/11/solar-heater.html

Here is the frugal green way via a great site Instructables -
http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Thermal-Water-Heater-For-Less-Than-Five-Doll/


~~ pelenaka ~~ 
http://thirtyfivebyninety.blogspot.com/


----------



## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

rainbowmoon said:


> get out!
> awesome!
> 
> SolarGary where are you!?!?


Hi Rainbow,

Its a pretty straightforward carpentry project.
Its certainly no harder that building a small deck for example.

There is one thing to be careful of ...

On the collector frame, the verticals have to be close to vertical, and the spacing has to be close what the plan calls for. If not, you will have trouble getting the glazing to install.
If you cut the vent holes first, then you can clamp the first vertical through the open vent hole to the wall. Get it where you want it, and lag it in. Then cut a spacer board that is the width of the inside of one collector bay, and use it to position each succeeding vertical. After you position the first two verticals, see if the glazing panels fit on them before going further -- that way they will all be correctly spaced and vertical, and the glazing panels will fit easily.

Other than that, there is not much to go wrong.

If you look at the collector you will see two light weight horizontal supports running behind the glazing. These just keep the glazing from buckling as it warms up. I used wood for these, but on my other collector I found that the half inch EMT conduit works better. Its nice and straight and its cheap.

Mine is on its third season now, and it still looks like the day it went up.

One thing I really like about it is that there is nothing to maintain. I also have a water heating solar space heater, and I spent the better part of two full days getting it going again after it sat over the summer.

Feel free to post or PM any questions on building it.

Gary


----------



## rainbowmoon (Apr 8, 2007)

thanks for the tips SolarGary! 
I need to read through the plans a few more times. I'm sure I'll be back with questions soon!

I have never built a deck either so I will have to find someone to help me I think! lol.

pelenaka- thanks for posting all the great links! will be reading these!


----------



## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

Hey Solar Gary, I have some leftover 8mm double wall polycarbonate. Would it work alright for the top?


----------



## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Ed Norman said:


> Hey Solar Gary, I have some leftover 8mm double wall polycarbonate. Would it work alright for the top?


Yes -- the dual wall polycarbonate is very nice stuff for collectors.
I like it better than the single wall corrugated polycarbonate.

I used it on my 2nd collector:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarShed/solarshed.htm

Those are 4 ft by 12 ft sheets of 10 mm dual wall -- still easy for one person to handle.
Even though the dual wall is stiffer than the corrugated, it still needs horizontal supports behind it about every 3 ft -- these can be very lightweight -- I use half inch EMT conduit.

Gary


----------



## Jennifer Brewer (Aug 3, 2005)

I was also wanting to build this panel- I've been pouring over the MEN issue- it seems like the design has a lot of flexibility to be customized to fit the situation. Have anyone used this in a residential home? My only south facing walls are my bedroom and my daughter's bedroom, both on the second floor. She's only 3, so I need to make sure it will work before I cut a hole in her wall!


----------



## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Jennifer Brewer said:


> I was also wanting to build this panel- I've been pouring over the MEN issue- it seems like the design has a lot of flexibility to be customized to fit the situation. Have anyone used this in a residential home? My only south facing walls are my bedroom and my daughter's bedroom, both on the second floor. She's only 3, so I need to make sure it will work before I cut a hole in her wall!


Hi,
There is some more information on the collector, including one built by Rob.
Rob's heats his living room.
More on the MEN one:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/solar_barn_project.htm

Rob's version:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/HouseTS/RobTS.htm

The size can certainly be changed to match the space you have available. Try to keep it as tall as possible -- this makes it draw air through more efficiently (I would guess the minimum height for good flow is around 5 ft -- more is better). Try to make the area as big as practical, since the area is what really determines the heat gain.

If you are going to heat a regular room in your house with the collector (rather than a shop space), about the only addition you have to make compared to whats shown in the Mother article is to make the vent openings look better. Rob used a set of vent doors, and that seemed to work well. I think that for the lower vents you could use some kind of decorative grill.

Building it up on the 2nd floor may be a bit more of a challenge.

I have some new instrumentation that allows me to make a pretty good measurement of efficiency now. I'm in the process of collecting efficiency for a few different weather conditions, but so far the collector has done quite well -- up in the high 60's to nearly 70% efficiency.


Gary


----------



## Jennifer Brewer (Aug 3, 2005)

WOW! Thanks for the additional info! I'm thinking I should rent scaffolding...

I have another question. My house is sided with the hardi board tipe siding, the lines go up and down. Should I leave it in place, and build my frame over the exterior of it as you did? Also, would it be preferable to paint the siding at the back of the collector black? My house is a light grey color.


----------



## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Jennifer Brewer said:


> WOW! Thanks for the additional info! I'm thinking I should rent scaffolding...
> 
> I have another question. My house is sided with the hardi board tipe siding, the lines go up and down. Should I leave it in place, and build my frame over the exterior of it as you did? Also, would it be preferable to paint the siding at the back of the collector black? My house is a light grey color.


If it were me, I'd just leave the siding, and build the collector right over it.

I left our light grey siding unpainted. You would get a little better performance out to the collector if you paint the siding black or any dark color, but I don't believe the improvement would be large. I left it unpainted to avoid the big black square look, and (I think) this works pretty well -- you see what looks like a darker grey when you look at the collector from outside.

The way the sun absorption works is that some incoming sun gets absorbed by the first screen layer, then more gets absorbed by the 2nd layer. What gets through both layers hits the siding where about 50% of what remains is absorbed and 50% reflected. The reflected part goes back toward the two layers of screen where it has two more chances to get absorbed. Not much gets out 

Gary


----------



## Ross (May 9, 2002)

These older posts might interest you too.


http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=113415
http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=113968


----------



## Jerry in MN (Dec 2, 2007)

Solar Gary, what would a vertical cross section near the base of the collector look like? I'm wondering whether all of the air rising through the collector must pass through the screen layer(s) toward the wall--seems that might help keep the glazing cooler and improve overall efficiency? Just a thought.


----------



## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Jerry in MN said:


> Solar Gary, what would a vertical cross section near the base of the collector look like? I'm wondering whether all of the air rising through the collector must pass through the screen layer(s) toward the wall--seems that might help keep the glazing cooler and improve overall efficiency? Just a thought.


Hi Jerry,
Right -- the entering cool air is directed to the glazing side of the screen, and has to pass through the screen/absorber in order to get out the top vent. This helps the efficiency by encouraging good airflow through the absorber, and also results in cooler air near the glazing for less heat loss.

Someone suggested running the screen on an angle such that it is closer to the wall at the bottom and angles slightly toward the glazing by the time it gets to the top. The thinking behind this (I guess) is that most of the flow is on the glazing side at the bottom and the wall side at the top. Seems like this might be a good idea. 
Its has also been suggested that the two layers of screen be separated by a little bit, and this also seems like a good idea to me.


The Home Power article has a good cross section:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarBarn.pdf

Gary


----------

