January 19, 2010 – The Home-made Solar Air Heater Quest Begins
We may be getting a new heat-pump water heater (this type removes the heat from the surrounding air to heat the water and uses 1/3 the electricity of a regular water heater). The downside (at least in the winter) is that it exhausts cool air. It runs more efficiently if it has relatively warm air to work with, so I was brainstorming about cheap ways to get hot air into the basement. I found some designs for a hot air solar heater – it’s a simple concept. Anyone who has found a car with all its windows closed to be warm, even in the winter, knows about the concept – capture warm air in an enclosed space and move it to the basement.
So Martin and I are taking it upon ourselves to make an experimental collector. First step is to make a frame to hold the air collector. The back was an old, grease-stained sheet of paneling from the garage and the sides are 1x4s.
Next we added insulation to the box – adding a layer of foam board insulation, covered with some of the bubble-wrap reflective insulation. That’s as far as we are so far, keep tuned for irregular updates as we move along.
one year ago…”Shrubbery Windbreaks”
5 Responses to “January 19, 2010 – The Home-made Solar Air Heater Quest Begins”
Anonymous says:
January 22, 2010 at 9:46 am
Is this used in warmer climates like San Diego? GJ
highhopesgardens says:
January 24, 2010 at 8:03 am
If you are talking about the water heater, yes. If you are talking about the solar air collector, probably not because you probably wouldn’ry want more heat when the sun was out.
Solarsfree says:
January 31, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Nice….there’s a guy in Iowa that built a solar heater and he’s on solarwindowheaters.com blog. You may want to take a look. He has a farm house and is keeping it heated. Heck… He might be living just up the road. There a some nice photos of his creation.
Solarsfree says:
January 31, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Also, if you want to blast your house with heat check out solarairsystems.com they have the best solar air heater in North America.
highhopesgardens says:
February 1, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Thanks for the site – I didn’t find this page on my google searches.