Today's Temperature

[tony barnhill]

Here in north Alabama it's in the low-40's....but, to Jerri, that's low enough that she calls from our home phone to my cell phone to tell me lunch is ready....& all she had to do was walk from the heated house across 15 feet of breezeway into my heated garage...hehehehe...women!

Gotta go eat!

 

[TR6oldtimer]

80 degrees at noon in Santa Cruz, CA

 

[SilentUnicorn]

30 f°

you folks need to quit whining

mark

 

[DrEntropy]

Fifteen degrees below the season's usual.

Long pants and shoes.

...and SOCKS!!

<BRRR>

*whine*

 

[mailbox]

Here in north Alabama it's in the low-40's....but, to Jerri, that's low enough that she calls from our home phone to my cell phone to tell me lunch is ready....& all she had to do was walk from the heated house across 15 feet of breezeway into my heated garage...hehehehe...women!

Gotta go eat!

Too cold for me. Anything below 60 and I need a jacket.

 

[swift6]

You would be good without a jacket in Nothern Colorado today then. Currently 67 degrees, tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70's. Then a slow decline back to the upper 40's lower 50's by the weekend.

 

[tony barnhill]

High got up to a windy 50!

 

[weewillie]

0 Celcius here with flurries

 

[Silverghost]

Tony, be thankful she has the phone! Else the poor woman woulda had to hitch up the sled dogs and mush her way over there. Your food would have been frozen solid by then!!

 

[aerog]

Down in the 40s here this morning. I had to get up and close the windows. Supposed to be around 35 tonight, I might have to get a blanket out. Maybe.

To put it in perspective the weather this week is pretty much what I've had on my vacations in Maine. Perfection.

 

[Brooklands]

We hit a comfortable 42* but it was sunny most of the day.

 

[Stewart]

It was 17f this morning when I fired off the MG to take it to get the donuts and a stud in the exhaust manifold replaced. Never went above 23 today. I must say the guy that figured out to cover the fresh air intake and to open up the interior vents is a genius as the drive was nice and toasty.

 

[NutmegCT]

42F today, but heading down for the rest of the week - and sn*w for tomorrow.

Putting up a solar collector on the south side of the house - yippee!

 

[tony barnhill]

42F today, but heading down for the rest of the week - and sn*w for tomorrow.

Putting up a solar collector on the south side of the house - yippee!

Wouldn't it be better if the collector was angled?

What's the price? Size? Manufacturer?

You gonna use it to heat space or to heat water?

 

[vagt6]

It was 29F here this morning at 7am, so I rode the Kawasaki to work. Chilly!

 

[NutmegCT]

Tony - sun here is very low in winter.

Price, about $35.
Size: 8' w x 7' h
Manufacturer: me (I built it)

Deciduous tree to the south, so it's shaded in the summer, full sun in winter.

Heats the kitchen and dining room. Sun heats the black screening inside the clear cover. Air rises inside the box and enters kitchen through upper vents. Thin plastic anti-backflow flap in both vents.

Convective flow pulls cool air from kitchen floor into the box through the lower vents, then up through the screen and into the kitchen through the top vents.

Warmed air entering kitchen is around 120-130F in full sun, around 80-90F on a cloudy day.

T.

 

[Brooklands]

Way cool Tom! (or should that be HOT?)

 

[tony barnhill]

Tony - sun here is very low in winter.

Price, about $35.
Size: 8' w x 7' h
Manufacturer: me (I built it)

Deciduous tree to the south, so it's shaded in the summer, full sun in winter.

Heats the kitchen and dining room. Sun heats the black screening inside the clear cover. Air rises inside the box and enters kitchen through upper vents. Thin plastic anti-backflow flap in both vents.

Convective flow pulls cool air from kitchen floor into the box through the lower vents, then up through the screen and into the kitchen through the top vents.

Warmed air entering kitchen is around 120-130F in full sun, around 80-90F on a cloudy day.

T.

<span style="font-size: 17pt"> <span style="color: #FF0000"> <span style="font-weight: bold"> PLANS!!!</span> </span> </span>

 

[NutmegCT]

Plans? You don't know me very well, do you ...

I'm a cobbler! A retired teaching living on $1200/month!

The open wall space (no cabinet blockage) inside the kitchen on that south wall is about 8x7 - so the box outside is 8x7. You need intake vents that equal about 50% of the box width. Same for output vents.

Built a simple box frame (8x7) of 2x4's. Screwed 1x6 sides, and 1x8 top and bottom, onto the 2x4's. Caulked between clapboards and frame.

Run black aluminum screening from the bottom (attached to the clapboards) to the top (attached to the top outer edge of the frame). That way the rising air has to pass through the heated screening to reach the top vents.

Tack 1x2's across the outside of the box, one vertical, one horizontal. These support the clear plastic sheeting.

Finish by tacking 3.5 mil clear plastic sheeting across the box; reinforce the edges by tacking 3/4" molding onto the 1x edges.

Voila!

If you have to buy all new materials, might be over $50. Heaven forbid! So I scrounge what I need from the garage, cellar, workshop, and "town recycling center" (the dump). Only new thing I got was the $6.99 roll of clear plastic sheeting. (10' by 100').

Got the idea from Mother Earth News:

https://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/2006-12-01/Build-a-Simple-Solar-Heater.aspx

Tom
a/k/a Frugal Zealot

 

[tony barnhill]

WHOO-HOOO.....I can see one of those in every other window on this south-facing wall of my garage....so you have clear, corrugated panels covered by clear plastic?