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Solar

Am really enjoying this thread and checking out the different ideas online.The www.cansolair.com one looks easy enough to do. Just save your pop(soda) cans.
 
But, with that cansolair, you still use electricity...he said in the video that he uses fans, etc.
 
prob to get all the hot air out :smirk:
 
Nutmeg....here's what I've got going so far...the photo is of the back of the collectors in the 2 center heaters from inside my garage.....there are 6 more haters on either side that I'm working on....those tiny strips of wood are only temporary until I install the OSB that will hold them in place from the rear...after that's finished, I'll go outside & start building the boxes:

solar01.JPG
 
Tony - looks like progress to me. Congrats!

I *think* I understand where you're going with this. Looks like you're making lots of changes from the design in that article from Mother Earth News? Looking forward to seeing how you construct the outside "box", etc.

I'm not a construction guy ... what's "blackboard" and OSB?

So you decided to use black painted board instead of the black aluminum screening in the article? How are you using the "tin, pegboard, off-white paneling" you mention?

Funny (?) story: Just heard from a guy who paid $1600 for a manufactured Cansolair unit. Says he saves over $5 a month in heating costs. Hmmmm ... should only take him 320 months of use to recover his initial cost. Yikes!

Tom
 
NutmegCT said:
Tony - looks like progress to me. Congrats!



I'm not a construction guy ... what's "blackboard" and OSB?



Funny (?) story: Just heard from a guy who paid $1600 for a manufactured Cansolair unit. Says he saves over $5 a month in heating costs. Hmmmm ... should only take him 320 months of use to recover his initial cost. Yikes!

Tom

And that would be using it every month of the year :cryin:
 
NutmegCT said:
Tony - looks like progress to me. Congrats!

I *think* I understand where you're going with this. Looks like you're making lots of changes from the design in that article from Mother Earth News? Looking forward to seeing how you construct the outside "box", etc.

I'm not a construction guy ... what's "blackboard" and OSB?

So you decided to use black painted board instead of the black aluminum screening in the article? How are you using the "tin, pegboard, off-white paneling" you mention?

Funny (?) story: Just heard from a guy who paid $1600 for a manufactured Cansolair unit. Says he saves over $5 a month in heating costs. Hmmmm ... should only take him 320 months of use to recover his initial cost. Yikes!

Tom
Tom, I will be installing the black aluminum screening - 2 layers like you said - in the 2x6 boxes I'm gonna build to slide in the window openings & will be then using my glass windows instead of the polycarbonate paneling.....so, they're pretty much the same as yours except that I'm using window openings instead of bolting them to the outside wall.

Black board is a 5/8"x4x8 fiber board that is used in construction around here...the outside is painted black with white lettering stamped on it...I repainted it flat black.

OSB is that 5/8"x4x8 fiber board that is used on the exterior of houses before siding is installed....I use it all around the interior of my garage as a base for my tin/pegboard/paneling....look at this photo when I was expanding into my "Midget Room" - that's OSB above the opening.

midgetroom09.JPG
 
Now, Tony, that's a nice photo. (Others were great, too. House and setting very nice)
 
hilsideser said:
Now, Tony, that's a nice photo. (Others were great, too. House and setting very nice)
Thank you, sir...you must've wandered through my virtual tour of the garage...
 
Just installed the screens today. Covering is a garbage bag at the moment. Thanks to Nutmeg for the idea.

Discharge temp. Outside temp 56 F.
 

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Goo on you, lee....I'm still installing backs inside the garage so I can go outside to remove my windows & install boxes with screen in them.
 
Lee - congrats on the project. How 'bout some pictures of the project itself?

I notice your output temp is good - over 100F. What's the "differential" - difference between output temp and temp at the cool air input? Outside temp isn't all that important; it's the "heat rise" (and the amount of air moving through it) that counts.

Tony - with all that heat mass in your garage (otherwise known as LBC's!), you'll find that whatever heat is captured by the collectors will keep the garage warmer even after the sun goes down.

Tom
 
Nutmeg-0800 43/97 F 1100 56/100 f differential temp No way to check flow as yet. Wind blowing up a gale outside and buffeting the plastic garbage bag. Makes the check flap look like it is breathing.
 

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Lee - looks GREAT! Bravo.

Just to make sure I'm reading you right ...

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]

0800 43/97 F 1100 56/100 f differential temp

[/QUOTE]

This means at 8am the cool air inside the room at the bottom vent is 43; the warm air output into the room at the top vent is 97.

And at 11am those numbers become 56 cool air inside at bottom is 56, and warm air output at top vent is 100.

Right?

If so, you are going for the gold!

And thanks for the picture. Looks *very* familiar.

Tom
Edit: so the 8am differential (heat rise) is 97-43=54 degrees, and the 11am differential is 100-56 = 44 degrees?
 
Tony, how is your system coming along and 1 question for Tom and Lee, how do you turn them off in the middle of summer?
 
I agree! Tony - is your system cranking out the btu's?

WW, as the days get longer and the sun gets higher in the late spring and summer sky, the tree planted in front of the box grows its leaves. So as the temps get warmer, the leaves begin shade the box. Then in the fall, the leaves drop, and the sun, dropping lower in the sky, shines through the bare limbs.

Over 2500 years ago, someone described the use of trees and south facing windows to provide summer shade and winter warmth. His name was Socrates!

https://www.californiasolarcenter.org/history_passive.html

Tom
 
System is working even though I've not yet opened the front side to add the 'heaters'...still working with contractor on studio apartment....but you can tell the difference.
 
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