Passive Solar Air Heater Heating System Alternative Energy

[freevideos051]

thanks for info I have been thinking about making one for my roof using antifreeze and two radiators and a pump ran by solar cells

[ncmmcn]

Nice, I'm a thermodynamics guy too. I would say run your duct as short and straight as possible, or the PC fan will be useless. In fact you may be seeing convection right now, not fan forced. If you use a fan force the air to the floor so you can sense the benefit. Supplying to the ceiling only works well when removing heat (AC). Good luck.

[quest33613]

AMAZING AND AWESOME IDEA....THANKS FOR SHARING.

[aofnyc]

I want to do it on my place.

[kwakman99]

Chad, I like it. Not sure if you still have it installed but if you do, think about putting a one way baffle on the intakes. This way when the sun drops cold air doesn't come back out through them. Remember the convection effect you are trying to take advantage of works both ways, the heat rising when the sun is up, the cold dropping when the sun is down, so you could in fact cancel all heat you captured during the day but cooling the building at night. It's a cool project.

[Shinertheantizionist]

@ everyone who thinks the outlet belongs on the floor... Look at the heater outlet in any modern house, they are all on the wall near the ceiling. The intake should be near the floor and the outflow above so the cold air will be forced through the system. Also I forgot to mention below you need to have both the intake and outflow in the room being heated so the warmed air can recirculate through the system.

[Shinertheantizionist]

The fan should be sucking the air through the outlet instead of blowing in. You are losing over half the fans energy. Otherwise you did a great job, I like how you used an existing window.

[brotherkantutta]

Just let the sunshine come in you idiot.

[TheBuilderguy1]

@brotherkantutta You are the idiot... He is doing a good job. The panel is heating an interior room, without creating a cooling problem in the summer. It is people like you that keep people like him from sharing ideas with the world, therefore making it a better place. You run your mouth, and make the world a worse place. If you cant improve on peoples work, let them be, instead of givin' them grief.

[sircygnus]

why would you pump heat from the ceiling down into the room? you need to pump the heat into the room from a vent in the floor as heat will rise. all you are doing is warming the ceiling.

[taruchansun]

@sircygnus so what would your suggestion be?

how would they make it go below?

[sircygnus]

@taruchansun; heat up a fluid such as water, and run it through baseboards. simple, effective, and is greatly more efficient.

[taruchansun]

@sircygnus Then that'd be "Solar Water Heating", ne?

[Thunderhook715]

The color white reflects heat

and black absorbs heat the absorbed heat is transferred to the air flow

and moved to someplace with little to no heat a passive heat pump

[moecat1000]

i got a better idea lets go over to the oil guys and kick some ass take all the oil and heat the house with oil ...oil for everyone in the usa

[Bobster986]

Your site came up as an Attack Page on my anti-virus software; why???

[egn83b]

I think this idea is novel but it lacks common sense here's why. Most rooms are cold at the bottom because cold falls and heat rises so why would you force warm air from above the room why not the bottom first to get the bitter chill out because as the bottom will warm so will the top as well. Plus the fan for that setup is way under powered but being free to use is awsome.

[porscheghcje]

The big Oil corporations are trying their best to stop free energy ideas from spreading to common ppl.

We need to put an end to this corruption ,start generating your own electricity now.

Visit LT-MAGNET-MOTORdotCOM and get the blueprints . Join the Revolution!!

[zehboss]

You will have no additional solar gain and will save no energy doing what you are doing. All you did was concentrate the solar gain that already came through the window. For a solar heater to work it needs to be incremental solar gain! All you did was move the heat around that was already in the building. Note I am just an Engineer and Thermodynamicist. It is alarming when the claim is so wrong.

[envirosponsible]

@zehboss Hold on now, I never made any claim about increasing solar gain. I said I wanted to direct the heat into the office that doesn't have windows. Still alarmed?

[upussey]

@envirosponsible better re-read your blurb then it misleading

[united4mi]

@envirosponsible hi done one myself, on a similar baciss, but made to fit on the inside of my window. cannot put it outside/dam/ but with20 tin cans got 80 degrees out of the top pc ventilator, 20 dollar solar panell that kicks in at 40 degrees,= 20 dollars,and free tin cans, =80 degrees if I am correct fantastic rooaaarrr,lol regards chris keep it going bro.

[cevod123]

@zehboss must be nice to be a know it all. You sound like an a**hole. Give constructive criticism without being such a douche bag. I don't even know the guy in the video but people like you are why the world sucks.

[rouelibre1]

@zehboss There could be a-round-the clock net gain anyway. My brother had bad windows. On a ceiling track he suspended rigid foam panels covered in aluminium, bagged in color faric that he slid in front of the window at night time instead of blinds. It blocked a lot of radiated IR from inside-out and insulated better.

Now with that panel permanently attached, It would pick-up as much sun's heat as a good window would and insulate day and night.

Back it with foam and foil.

[zehboss]

@rouelibre1 If you have a bad window fix the window. You can reduce the amount of thermal leakage, and air infiltration but those are different issues. You can move the heat around as well. If you trap high temperature air next to a bad window you would loose more thermal because of the higher delta T and the higher pressure because of the fan. 

[rouelibre1]

@zehboss You are right, but common sense still works. As far as fixing bad windows, an insulated box makes it. It's no longer a window, it's an insulated wall plus an outside passive heater.

As far as DT is concerned, a good circulation of air (photocell supplied fan) would keep the confined space cooler and reduce conduction losses while recuperating radiation heat. At night, you stop the vents.

At this point, it is a clever building conversion project....

Remember that

[crazymonkeyVII]

@zehboss not really true: a good solar air heater will concentrate the solar energy to make more heat. it converts the light to heat. if you just let it go through your window, the light will partly be used to lit up the objects in the room.

on the downside, if you have that massive thing in front of you're window, so you'll have to light up the room with an light bolt...... therefor, it would indeed be more practical to place it on the roof or somewhere where it's not blocking the window....

[zehboss]

@crazymonkeyVII The amount of energy that goes through the window is not a fuction of what is on the other side of the window. How that energy is managed is a function of what is on the inside of the window. Additional energy cannot be created. The energy can be concentrated, collected, moved, and repurposed but not created. Very little thermal energy is in the visible spectrum. IR spectrum is where most of the thermal energy is. You can reduce the energy lost out the window with insulation.

[express375]

@zehboss FAIL :)

[NOBOX7]

very neat trik with the solar fan, hey if you can get that vent on the floor it will heat the room better

[Umaxen]

The only reason I wrote that was because it looked like a business and wasn't sure if you were allowed to block the windows off like that. In my State, a storefront can have ony 15-20% of the direct view of the interior blocked.

[magicyte]

I'd say your temp coming from the pipe in the ceiling should NOT be considered valid. While I'm sure you're get a temp increase...it's also measuring air that never hits the floor...since all your hot air is at the ceiling..I'd say the unit maybe pushes out 29 to 35C...not 43C. Might be better to show a reading coming right from the start of the pipe from the hot air out on the unit.

[justdoitnowfawkoh]

In regard to being illegal there is a By-Law for covering windows in the area and we did not exceeded the percentage set out by the township.

[queball147]

I would like to see what you have connected 1.12 please thank you

[WasHighPingDuck]

This is fine but I believe that black floor covering inside in front of the window gives the same heat and you can see out the window.

If you need more heat than a window I suggest a beer-horse (beer can 1 hp passive collector) outside between the windows.

Black ceramic tile flooring (even better over concrete) will store a little heat even after the sun goes down and should make a good match for a beer-horse with it's quick heat.

Every little bit helps. :)

[justdoitnowfawkoh]

@WasHighPingDuck

The heat was piped to a room that did not get the benefit of natural sun light.

As well the room in question had all the windows covered for security.

[czarnianq]

@WasHighPingDuck having worked with concrete i can tell you it only has an R-value of one...no matter it's thickness. Concrete is a terrible material to store heat or insulate from it.

[garagecrap]

I've made system like this and it worked ok but the biggest problem was there was no heat at night so I've scrapped it. But yes it works good in day time.

[mrbrendons]

I would love to share mine but it is still a work in progress. My approach is this: My employer provides a lunch room and recycle bin for soda can. I take the recycle bin home and use a sideways battery operated can opener and pop the tops off some 130 cans (soon) currently I have some 110 cans finished. After popping the tops I tap holes to form a pi wheel type affect. This will slow thew air down and circulate it around the outside of the inner wall of all cans.

[dcbohn]

How is it more effective running a fan than just backing the board a few inches back and letting convection work? Same about of heat/solar energy absorbed and releasted.

[envirosponsible]

I don't know if it is more efficient to have a fan than just let convection work. That's a good question.

[Umaxen]

Probably not legal to block off a window like that though UNLESS you can gain access to the outside through the window. Don't think the city would like to see this type of blocked window...

[envirosponsible]

Great point. There may be some regulations on blocking windows. There were already bars on the window though. Perhaps they were a "no-no" too.

[magicyte]

@Umaxen There are zero regulations ragarding whether or not you can block a window anywhere on the planet. It's not the law to have windows...it's a law to have an entrance and an exit clear of obstruction. Do whatever you want to windows...windows shouldn't even be used needlessly anyways in ANY construction. They are a heat drain...a cool air drain. Having as few as possible is always best with what you're able to tolerate.

[czarnianq]

@magicyte any municipality can have bi-laws on store front design. In Beamsville, ON a new pharmacy being built was having a legal fight with the town over a 40% windowed storefront law.

[Gilbs2211]

@Umaxen Gain access?! The window has freaking bars blocking entry and exit. 

[Umaxen]

How simple, but effective. The bigger the window, the more heat. What I do not know is what type of glass is best for this type of set-up? Simple, uninsulated glass or? What if you have insulated, double pane windows? Would this still work?

[basilenglish]

have you tried the soda pop can way, it sounds like its more efficient??

[hugoriba14]

Great video! I'm doing something like that but a litle bit smaller and portable for one or two windows here at home. It´s just an experience.

Wat's that black material in the absorber??

Keep up the Good Work!

Hugo - Portugal.

[envirosponsible]

It's foam insulation painted with black high heat barbeque paint. Share your project with us on video Hugo!

[arodue]

I made a solar heater during the summer and finally hooked it up yesterday. I also choose to use "heavy material" but that is not the issue I am having.

The temp outside was 54 and sunny.

The temp coming out of the upper port was at 82.

I have no fans

I was totally satisfied with my results until, the sun went down. I then had to stuff a rag in the lower port to prevent the cold air from rolling in as the "convection" had reversed. how do you keep the unit from cooling the inside at night?

[envirosponsible]

We put flaps on the inlets that would only allow air to enter. Did I explain that well? If not let me know and I'll try to clarify.

[donepearce]

To shut off a window for solar heating is just ridiculous. Far better to let the sun shine through the window and heat the room directly. That saves on lighting bills too. No; a solar heater must logically be sited where the solar power would otherwise be going to waste.

[envirosponsible]

You must have missed what I said in the video and in the comments. I've addressed this several times. I wasn't using the room with the windows in it. I was using the room next to it, a room with no windows. Otherwise you're absolutely right.

[donepearce]

So leave the door open. Or switch rooms, of course.

[envirosponsible]

I see that our conversation is going nowhere fast.  Thanks for watching.

[TheDudeRulez09]

donepearce, i build these and other similar active solar pieces, i also build cob homes and other earthen solar mass homes, this is not ridiculous at all, the typical commercial building or home does not have the thermal mass needed to absorb the direct sun light and store it as heat to release into the building.

[TheDudeRulez09]

This augmentation is almost 100% more effective in this situation, as for the lighting yes I agree with you there, but this is a heating topic. Without thermal mass to store the heat then there is no way to absorb and keep it warm.

[Nature2Energydotcom]

That is so cool!

[ConditionRedDawn]

so how much heat can u produce in the winter time with a bright sun? how many would u need to warm a 15x15 room to 60 degrees.

[CodeBandet]

Its not about the window. Its about the themal mass of the walls.

[LucidRmot]

Yea Alt E is a great place. I got a solar oven there.

I've been constructing my own heater with a fresnel lens on some rocks.

[jacobchigung]

Hi

Looks Great - Im going to have a go - Is your window double glazed ? I have lots of aliminium surrounded single windows Ive been saving - Would the work

[funwithjamess]

I bought the slider for 10 dollars I then took the alum that is around it off and seperated the two pieces of glass 1/4 inch glass and used only one I am now building another one to use in my house this winter. I am using 1x6x6 pine this time my heating bill in the winter has been 330 dollars a month.

[funwithjamess]

a few more comments about my system I dont have a way to put the picture on here so I cant . I I used heavy material which was a mistake 2x8 and 1x2 in plywood and 2 inch hard and alumium flashing inside and somewhere close to 300 cans washed. and painted with a high heat paint. I should have used 1x6 and not 2x8 and 1inch insulation and not 2in. to save money I found the local second hand construction store and bought the 4x8 slider for 10 dollars.

[funwithjamess]

I built a 4x8 can heater like the ones they show on utube I put in a bath fan and a shut off switch on the wall used 1/4 inch glass the first day the sun shinned all day I turnned my temp down it was 65 in the house outside it was 39 I then turnned it on the temp stayed 72 all day in the house for the past two days the temp has been to hot so I had to shut it off. Im happier than a pig in the slop.

[envirosponsible]

I think we'd all like to see your system on YouTube. How about it?

[JustAn0bserver]

There are several Can heaters, Which one did you mimic??

With my last heating bill off the charts, I'm going to have a solar alternative this Winter. Do you have any temperature examples, ( in fahrenheit please ) 32C means little to some of us.

Good job

[junkyardnut]

do it make you wonder why there is still so many lazy bozos still relying on dirty firewood for home heating??

[envirosponsible]

Oh yeah.  When the general public realizes they've been robbed on the largest purchase of their lives-their houses, they're gonna be furious. Developers, builders and government have allowed the greatest misalocation of resources in human history-the suburbs. We're going to have to overhaul our lifestyles and our houses. It's mind-boggling.

[Sylvia441]

wood has it's place & we use it to heat our house which is off grid. Go to:"hawkhillfarmoffthegrid" to see it. Yea, it gets dusty, but that is what spring cleaning is all about

[jojo808]

I would say for efficiency the heat output should be at foot level as it will rise. Correct? Other wise you need a fan to circulate the warm air downward,but that would make the system Non-passive.

[envirosponsible]

Hey solarevolation, thanks for the comment.

I didn't think we were beating the laws of thermodynamics. The main idea of this setup is to divert that heat into the office where there are no windows and where we can close the door.

Ideally, I would dedicate a large portion of the southfacing wall to enclosed passive solar panels, leaving the windows for the view, light and direct gain.

Chad

[precycle]

That diverting is still a good idea... especially if the space with the windows gets too hot; use the heat somewhere else. Department stores could supplement heat that way. They have window displays that are like a little room with a big window.

[electrovideodude]

Hi

That's a nice demonstration solar heater/collector but you don't get more heat in the store than you would with the clear window.

Search 'direct Gain'

Keep up the good work and best of luck with your store.

solarevolution

[Carlstens]

You WOULD get the same gain from just a window... if everything inside the bldg. were painted black!

[electrovideodude]

I think we might disagree on other things as well (peak oil?).

Does a car with black seat covers get hotter inside than one with white seat covers? I will test that.

I do know a black car does get hotter inside than a white one.

I do, however, love your farm and respect your can do approach to "The Problems" we face.

------------------------------­----------

Paint it black (or actually Popular Science had a cover article saying elm green is better) if you have a thermal mass inside.

[Carlstens]

electrovideodude,

Appreciate Your comment on MY videos (btw, no farm, just 1 acre)

Maybe one of us could paint a pop can black, another white, and place both inside mason jars at the same time... testing air temps over time. Hmmmm interesting.

Sometime; I intend to do a vid explaining my theory that oil does not actually have to peak... to adversly affect economy regardless of current prices. Also why oil production problems (really) are the hidden cause of the current economic crisis.

[thejesters1975]

Cool! Or should I say Hot!

[DrZarkloff]

That's a great idea.