MY SOLAR FURNACE self standing solar AIR HEATER

[SunnyMoon2010]

How did you come up with the size of the structure ? 24x8 is huge.. Would you share your calculation ? thx

[Paul02111960]

Good on ya. Good informative video...

[redsquirrelftw]

How well does this work in winter, when you need the heat? I've been toying with the idea of doing something like this, would maybe help take the edge off on those -50 days (which tend to have sun)

[carverswoodshop]

@redsquirrelftw it does great but of course you will need another source of heat,, today it was a high of only 27 it was 68 in my home for most of the day with the sun,, but as the sun lowers it has to be heated,, i have propane furnace, and baseboard heat in the home,, i added the propane furnace when i bought the house,, base board heat was the only source of heat

[151Tomcat]

I did not understand you, what was the problem with the high temp paint you used the first time?

Thanks

[junkyardnut]

I use mirrors because I can manipulate mirrors to any level of concentration.. I like about 6X concentrated sunlight hiiting at me because it feels like fire!! without any need to chop and clean up the fireplace or stove everyday.. Easy does it!! Yours is just circulated heated air that is similar to central air systems through ductworks.. which is nice but not as warm and toasty as mirrors that you can concentrate in one room. I hit 150F in one room, sweating bullets!!!!! check it out

[junkyardnut]

I use mirrors because I can manipulate mirrors to any level of concentration.. I like about 6X concentrated sunlight hiiting at me because it feels like fire!! without any need to chop and clean up the fireplace or stove everyday.. Easy does it!! Yours is just circulated heated air that is similar to central air systems through ductworks.. which is nice but not as warm and toasty as mirrors that you can concentrate in one room. I hit 150F in one room, sweating bullets!!!!! check it out

[snoopy9949]

You could heat a city with your frame.

[kricotas]

my question is if you have a picture from the begining to the end of the construction of this beautiful solar heater...:)

i wanna make something like that...

thanks

[carverswoodshop]

@kricotas i did over 20 videos when i was building it and lost all of it when my laptop died , i was so disappointed , nothing i could to to recover it,, so the answer is no, that was also all the photos of the process

[kricotas]

@carverswoodshop

can you drowing how to designing and process??

my concern is how tick is the inside hot air..

sorry my english im spanish hoo well....

i hope you could made a new one and shoot a nice video

thanks for the video!

[junkyardnut]

This is exactly what I always had in mind. That trasnparent corruglated plastic film is very economical to scale up. I want to suggest that you can add some reflecting materials at the base to bounce up more sunlight into it. You can glue aluminium foil on plywood or OSB boards . I dont understand why some people use beer cans inside it.. I dont see the logic in it.. make no difference with cans !

[junkyardnut]

This is exactly what I always had in mind. That trasnparent corruglated plastic film is very economical to scale up. I want to suggest that you can add some reflecting materials at the base to bounce up more sunlight into it. You can glue aluminium foil on plywood or OSB boards . I dont understand why some people use beer cans inside it.. I dont see the logic in it.. make no difference with cans !

[junkyardnut]

This is exactly what I always had in mind. That trasnparent corruglated plastic film is very economical to scale up. I want to suggest that you can add some reflecting materials at the base to bounce up more sunlight into it. You can glue aluminium foil on plywood or OSB boards . I dont understand why some people use beer cans inside it.. I dont see the logic in it.. make no difference with cans !

[carverswoodshop]

@junkyardnut yes there is a lot you can do to improve,, there is always room for improvement

[goose79335]

Im just curious about the total heat loss in your duct work.. forgive me but from this video it looks completely uninsulated. I would also have to agree with your previous statement about using metal over wood. Also talk to someone about getting more curves into your design. Your CFM will rise a bit if you round your corners. I am a HVAC tech and this is interesting to me.

[carverswoodshop]

@goose79335 the box is insulated and the pipe to the house are also ,,

[junkyardnut]

@goose79335 oh you are a HVAC tech... you know what HVAC guys should do ?? Add remote controlled trap doors to every duct line leading to every floor register. You know there is a main duct wtih duct branches spreading out.. The trap doors should be in the main duct .. So you dont have to heat all rooms but selected rooms or occupied rooms. Most rooms are unused so why heat them?

[ttgrthomas]

If you're looking for a way you can store heat for cloudy weather or maybe even a day or so later, then use WATER or ideally a water/antifreeze mixture. Water holds more BTU's heat value than almost any other material. Hot air warms up the fluid in a radiator [heat-exchanger]. This very warm or hot water is then stored in large under 100 gallon or maybe even multi-hundred gallon insulated tank{s}. All you need for hydronic baseboard or in-floor heating is 90 degrees Fahrenheit fluid temp.

[carverswoodshop]

update, 11-20-11 today it was 37 degrees in the morning ,, in the house it was 61 with some heating from gas furance overnight,, today it went up the 74 degrees, and at 7 pm it was 67 degrees,, so the heavier fan is a big plus,, the heat coming out of the solar today was near 125 all day,, so its working great with the heavier fan without cooling it down,, i only wish i put this heavier fan on earlier,, :)

[DCraigTheodore]

Quite and interesting presentation Thank you! Yes water tubing in the unit could also add to the ambient temp in the house as it could be ducted in the flooring.

A materials list would be appreciated! A fellow artist.,

D'CraigTheodore

simpsonswhittlins@yahoo.com

[anoxxi]

Ha! you definitely mad woman .... we need more like you

[junkyardnut]

Carver, have you applied for solar tax credits... ? You should ! This will wake them up and broaden their understanding of solar energy which is not all about photovoltaics or watts.. It is also about Btus as well. Be sure to include your labor time .. Call your local utiltiy and have them come over to take a look . Or call your local TV newstation and have them come over.

[carverswoodshop]

hi everyone,, thanks for all the kind words, just wanted you to know i did an update on my solar heater, working much better with a heavier fan,, its super,, ck out the video click on the link above,, take care, arleen

[junkyardnut]

@carverswoodshop You can add some reflector on the bottom of your solar collector to boost performance.  by gluing aluminium foil on the plywood board and laid flat on the bottom for the sunlight to bounce up i

[carverswoodshop]

hi everyone,, thanks for all the kind words, just wanted you to know i did an update on my solar heater, working much better with a heavier fan,, its super,, ck out the video click on the link above,, take care, arleen

[SkunkTreeCarvings]

if you wanted to store some of the generated heat you could run black pool heater pipe (lots of it in a closed sealed system) to capture the heat in water then pipe it to a thermal mass...say concrete or stone or more water (55gl drums)...something like that...the thermal mass will radiate out heat after the forced air is too cold and gets turned off...just a thought....

[junkyardnut]

@SkunkTreeCarvings the best way to store is to heat your home as much as possible till the sun set .. then watch the temp sink over the night. then start all ove ragain.. dont work yourself to death trying to store the heat.. This iswhat really drags our altenrate energy movement.. people are mistaken for thinking that we must elminate traditoinal fuels outright which is unrealistic.. Just cut down demand as much as possible first then worry about storage much later. 

[crsbt]

outstanding



[lheartlondon]

can't figure out why you'd heat a house in sunny weather but ok

[Brians4x4Life]

great job. I think if I was going to make one that big i would take in to consideration the air likes to "Flow Smoothly" in the path of least resistance.

I think I would make smooth curved corners everywhere I could and have the exit hole be more like a funnel and on the end not the back.

Still who am I... I just found out about these like 30 min ago and like totally want to build my own test one to try and heat my garage in the winter. I see others use solar powered fans to, thats rad

[Brians4x4Life]

great job. I think if I was going to make one that big i would take in to consideration the air likes to "Flow Smoothly" in the path of least resistance.

I think I would make smooth curved corners everywhere I could and have the exit hole be more like a funnel and on the end not the back.

Still who am I... I just found out about these like 30 min ago and like totally want to build my own test one to try and heat my garage in the winter. I see others use solar powered fans to, thats bad ass

[LOOKlearnLAUGH]

Excellent work! I admire your effort, strength and persistence. One tough lady! :)

[DontFriendInviteMe]

I've been thinking about making something very much like this, but instead of propping it up on a frame, I was thinking about building it directly into an adobe or cob half wall. I'm thinking it would be aesthetically pleasing, solid & durable, the wall would also absorb heat, & the pipes leading to and from the house could be concealed within (further insulating them as well as the wall heating them) Now all I need is to build the unit and wall .... and property ... and a house ಠ_ಠ

[lurmot]

Very cool, but surely this doesn't work when you need it the most i.e at night or in poor weather? Now a way of storing the heat to be released later on - that would be interesting.

[carverswoodshop]

@lurmot i did look into it,, storing the heat,, but mold issues were a problem, its works just fine for those nice sunny days,,

[junkyardnut]

@lurmot relax.. no need to worry about storage... just let the sun do the work until it sets .. If the weather is foul, so what?? Use the traditonal way . If enough of us do that, then traditional energy prices will plummet enough to make storage unnecesary. I just dont understand why some people are fretting about storing solar energy.. I think that we should be focused on generating as much solar energy as possible first then worry about storing it much later after additional research

[magna59]

Great piece of work. One thought I had ....it may be of value to double glaze the upper sections, ie the area that gets hottest, but also the area that will be radiating heat back into the atmosphere, reducing that will maximise temperature. It may also be of value to build a passive solar store....ie a lump of mass, be it dense brick, or a lump of water, a ton which would aid longevity, ie after sunset, but some control gear would be required, be it hand operated flaps or somthing more hi tech.

[Mr420rush]

nice...how does it work in winter? Nice video and thanks for showing how it works

[junkyardnut]

@Mr420rush sunlight passin gthrough  glass or plastic film like shown hee will get hot no matter how cold outdoors is... I am not sure if glass is better than plastic film in efficiency. but plastic film is safer ..

[freeRideFl0w]

Awesome system, did you ever imagine replacing your whole roof with a system such as this? I wonder what the energy savings would be if every house had their south facing roofs turned into air and water heaters?

[gertie2u2]

I have not seen this system before. Have seen the type using cans before. Very informative. Cans have some odor issues in that you must get the cans washed out and dried well, we found.

[thegenrl]

very nice and very nice video! i love how you just tell us facts and your trial and error (save us all hundreds of hours). more people should follow your video practices!

[ssgo1972]

How much did it cost? Why didnt you use styrofoam to do the construction and steel mesh to hold it?

[2Bibleppl]

Is the clear roofing flexible?

[cahoonu]

Great work. I am seriously thinking of making one myself. Thanks.

[paparas78]

Great work. :D

You did an amazing job, good for you. :D

[a1mint]

Any light reflection you see is heat that you are bouncing back and throwing out !

Is that plastic cover really needed?

[bachhell]

Awesome! Heating water with sunlight works about the same way too.

[littlechefxxx]

very impressive

[libertyrdeath1]

Great. Thank you for sharing your ideas and hard work.

[eternalstarsurfer]

very cool



[geezfools]

cool idea, but who wants that in their backyard?

[ebertmadwoman]

would loved to have seen a video of you building the first panel for this, so I'd have an example of your materials.

[MrTpengineer]

Wow thoes btu's are close to our garage heater! good job :)

[grandmastermicochero]

too bad you didnt take videos of the construction work..

[SnowKitingVegan]

great work! thanks.

[dotcombatgames]

wow thats huge! how many fans do you have running? sorry my volume isent working

[ctgartland]

@dotcombatgames I think she said she has a single duct fan running to channel the air throughout the chamber.

[TheFreemanuk]

it looks amazing x but how will it withstand a really strong storm wind the supports look a little undersized ? good work x

[carverswoodshop]

ok just for answer a few question,, i would not use any black paint, only the metal that already had the black paint on it, i got mine from a roofing supply store, the paint is bake on the metal, and the heat is not store, once the sun comes up a fan kicks on and the heat in the box is forced into the house,, the fan is slow,, so it on the a timer and turn off a few hours later,, when no sun i unplug it for that day,, i can put a senor on it but i have not done this yet,, ok thank, arleen

[mangyscavenger]

Excellent video. Thank you for posting. I love seeing everyday people DOING something about energy costs rather than sitting back & complaining.

[magna59]

Great to see this unit. A couple of observations, 1 ) would it be a thought to look at the return, heated air duct to the house, could you straighton this so you are not tring to drive hot air down hill, If you look at the layout on early un pumped car coolent systems, convection works a lot better if its just up hill, would save some motor/ fan load. 2 ) Front cover only single layer, so you loose energy back out the system 3) Add a refector on the ground infront of it, white painted board .

[breakneck14]

A few q's. I am new to this stuff so be nice.

That solar box is where the air is stored and heated until your fan pumps it into the house right? There's no other storage of this heated air right?

Doesn't after say 10 minutes of running a fan and moving the air through, the air is now cool and you're moving cool air into the house negating the hot air effect? Or does any air that enters that hot box become heated before it gets to the top?

Thanks!

[prreed34]

What kind of paint would you reccomend using?

[craftmatic2]

How appropriate would this project be for lower latitudes, like in Louisiana?

We have lots of sun, entirely too much in teh summer, but seeing how much heat you get is amazing. Our heating bills are nowhere near what yours are, but it would seem like this project should pay for itself in several years...probably at least double or triple up in it's life time, even here, if not more...

[craftmatic2]

Wow. This actually looks ridiculously simple to make.

This is black sheet metal, wood, and some plexiglass with silicone/caulk...It doesn't even look like you had to do much cutting either.

Since your house is elevated and heat rises and cold air sinks, I doubt the fan is even necessary...unless it's making the heat so fast the air can't move itself, which could damage the device...ok...

This is a great project and so much cheaper than what similar power of photovoltaics would be...

[hooterman2828]

that's a great design you got there, simple and effective. i love it when ppl find ways of useing natural renewable ways to reduce the almighty electric bill. keep it up and keep videoing.

[MegaC62]

How do you calculate btu's of your heater?

[Bubblytubebob]

I really like your furnace . You're like me go big or go home. I built mine with clear poly carbonate suntuff also .Yours is the only one I've come across on the net . You used 6 4X8 sheets I also used 6 4 X 8 sheets so I was so happy with it , i went and built another one. And I,m going to build a third one when I get the time. I use water and polyproplene glycol in mine . Come to my chanel and check them out . "Bubblytubebob" I here exactly what you're talking about . BTDT.

[MegaC62]

how do you calculate btu's of this type of heater

[roaddog453]

First let me thank you for a job well done...next i would like to ask some questions what state is this unit being used in ..ie location sun angle ..how many sq feet house is it heating ...i will look for more post of yours....again thanks....your what america needs help us help ourselves though ideals that work

[carverswoodshop]

@roaddog453 well thank you,, I live in pa, about 30 mins east of lancaster pa, it heating about 800 of a 1000 sf home, my house is small but i heat it up in the morning to temp and then turn it off around 8am and let the heater take care of it ( if its sunny till i later in the day) its about 62-64 around 6-7pm at night depending on how cold it is outside, not sure of the angle, i just know that there are no shadows in the box when the sun hits it in the winter, i guess its right lol

[junkyardnut]

@roaddog453 Manufacturers could have helped bt they choose to ignore you! They are too cooperative with Big OIl, Natural Gas, Coal, Nuclear, ETC... They only manufactures photovoltaics becaues they pose no threat to Big Oil , Natural GAs, Coal, Nuclear, ETC.. photovoltaics is just an alternate red herring. We have enrough people with talents to start manufacturing.. Why they still dont get togehter. I will never understand!

[carverswoodshop]

hi folks just an update for the heater, its saving my about 900 a year in fuel cost, today i order propane at 2.99 a gallon wow,, when i started this project it was 2.32 a couple of years ago,, i use about 350 gallons a year vs, 500-600 before i install this system , i now am enjoying the savings, and it took two years to recoup my investment,, and it has withstand all the weather conditions, wind and heavy snow,,,

[ncautoman57]

Great solar heater. Great design! Thanks for sharing.

[watcherjohnny]

Very, very impressive!!

[VAspeed3]

You're getting almost 200 BTU per square foot of collector on a good day, so that is about 60% of the theoretical maximum, which is pretty good. Well done.

[Martaan66]

What is the clear corrugated material...where did you get it? Nice job.

[carverswoodshop]

@Martaan66  i got it at lows

[carverswoodshop]

@Martaan66 thank you,, i got it at lowes it cost about 20 bucks a sheet of 8 x 2 feet

[carverswoodshop]

@Martaan66 thank you,, i got it at lowes it cost about 20 bucks a sheet of 8 x 2 feet its used for roofing, you will find it in the roofing section of the store

[numberourdays]

@carverswoodshop Hi. Love the project. Do you have any problems with the corrugated plastic warping? Would you consider doing this project with duct work if you were to do it again? Thanks.

[ilovejesus4evr]

@numberourdays I am just taking a shot at this answer but it seems to me that if she said it was roofing material it would handle the heat pretty efficiently.

[NOCNOTCAUGHT]

Ingenious!

[greenenergyon]

I am impressed! We are looking at larger scale projects & aesthetics. I am looking at several designs & one integrates solar & wind. You are a fine example of why this country is great. Grassroots efforts. People who just do it. Best wishes.

[215alessio]

Wow simple buld ..and the most clever designs so far,  instead of bulding a small one with sodacans I can buy stuff and buld me a bigger sized one. In collecting solar energy size matters.

more surface to heat up is more air to blow trough it

I don't know if I can improve it, but i can share some ideas waterpipes concetrated on the top tunnel of the collector, where the collector is at his warmest insulation added outside at the back panel smallest on the bottom biggest top

[shartne]

I would be willing to bet on a sunny day it saves a lot on the gas bill. Is there metal in the back? If not it would work better with metal in the back.

[johncarl43447]

good job! 

[hardhatg69]

my only suggestion would be to deff insulate ur ducks to and from the house..another good idea i havent seen in any of these is to use sheet metal as the backing and make 2-3 horizontal fins runinng through it.....should help the backing to give off its heat (much like an air contitioning condenser coil or car radiator coil) and more surface to absorb heat,,which means you can increase the air flow a bit without losing heat output and inturn being able to heat ur house faster

[AweSomo84]

nice work , best of luck

[detvarsombarehelvete]

Cool. A really big project though.

This is something that the houses should be purposebuilt for, either with a big wall or a roof faced south where the panels should be mounted.

Tip 1: if you place another layer of the clear plastic on top of the other (1-2 cm distance) and block of the around the frame, the air trapped between will act as an insulater and probably double the heat generated.

Tip 2: use a PV panel to run the fan and a thermostat to cut the fan if it gets to hot.

[mrbr549]

Very nice! I remember seeing a design almost identical to this years back in a Mother Earth News magazine. Although that was was built into a shop wall. I commend you on all your effort and I hope it's been all you wanted it to be in helping you with high heat bills. Keep up the good work and great videos.

[MB031]

Excellent! I love it.Where do you live?Some insulation to your ducting maybe handy to give you even more efficiency.Depends where do you live so during summer you may use the high heat BTU for regeneration of desiccant dehumidifier...I just love it..

[bgbyer]

Hi: great job. Can you tell me what tubing you used inside the box. Thanks.

[nicensweet38]

Totally awesome!

[nicensweet38]

Good job with some know how!

[Slettej]

Absolutely magnificent

[iwantosavemoney]

that is a great project i think you could make it dual purpose if you used it as a awaning for a car or a back porch. 5 stars

[mikeac111]

Good work.!!! Little suggestion. You probably can get even more out of your design if you insulate the cold air vent. This way the air that is coming out of the house is sending already warmed heat. This should increase your efficiency by nearly 22%. Hope this helps and once again... GREAT JOB!!!!!

[IronHorsez88]

Brilliant idea! Good job! You deserve all the savings! But looks like you have to look out for winds! Otherwise insulation in your pipe? and behind the panels? etc. Thanks for this info!

[carverswoodshop]

@IronHorsez88 thanks for the comment,, the wind has not been a problem i have it anchored very well,, we had 60 mph winds and not a problem still standing,, and yes the pipe leading to the and from the heater to the house is insulated, and also behind the panels,, and sides,,

[bjrcboy]

Use a solar panel for the fan!

[214jcf]

My Uncle is disabled and struggles to pay heating bills. His house is VERY small. I want to make two for him. I like the idea of free standing. Please let me know what materials you used. I have no problem getting the stuff or getting someone to help me but I have no clue as to what I need. By the way, you are a genious!

[carverswoodshop]

@214jcf i just send you an email on youtube, i hope it helps, if you make it make sure it not over 25% sf of your home floor plan,,,

[jkt626]

This is quite brillient. It looks like you have aluminum panels inside your furnace, but I wonder if beer cans would heat more efficiently? I may well build such a furnace as well in my back yard and run intake and outtake underground into basement and connect to existing furance, which is wood, oil and coal. (i burn wood during day and kicks into oil at night).

I live in central NY state.

Anyone else try something like this and care to share?

[carverswoodshop]

@jkt626 i dont know about beer cans,, sorry there is alot on the internet about using cans , good luck

[alicenami]

wow...

[FishyMoe]

Good work! You must be strong woman haha.

[carverswoodshop]

@FishyMoe lol i am a farmer,, so i think that helped me,,, lol

[EdmundSquid]

I wonder how much it would help if you put big mirrors on the ground in front of it to reflect more light up into your collector? Great job!! Thats the biggest one of these I've seen yet.

[carverswoodshop]

@EdmundSquid thanks, yes i think it would help,, i tried it on a smaller one and worked great but as the sun move so the mirrors had to also

[bustherh]

Every Time I see these solar furnace videos I never see snow on the ground. I am very interested to know how efficient these are in the dead of winter? Will it still produce the same kind of heat when it is really cold outside?

[carverswoodshop]

@bustherh you have to keep the snow off of it, read above about the 24 inches of snow, they work as long as the sun is out,, not as hot as fall and spring but i use it all the time when the sun is out ,

[egn83b]

Still it's a nice idea to beat off the ugly utility bills.

[willjan1128]

How much have you saved on you utility bill, on average.

[carverswoodshop]

@willjan1128 my bills remain about the same, you have to factor that gas went way up about 30 percent or more over the past three years, i est i saved about 6 -800 a year, and the unit cost me about 2000, with some mistakes, the unit should have been around 1400 only, so you can recoup in about 2-3 years, it all depend how much sun is out etc,,,

[wyattlisadana]

you need to insulate the duct. trust me you will increase the heat. you are losing a lot of heat.

[carverswoodshop]

the pipes leading into the house is insulated, with 6 inch insulated duct into a 10 pipe to the house,  your right without it , it would not work well

[carverswoodshop]

up date, we had a huge 24 inches of snow, i had to go down and clear off the bottom of the heater yesterday today its was sunny it got up to 28 outside,,, my house was 71 when i walk in at 230pm so you will have to keep if free of snow, it will cool it off if you dont, plus it was coming out of the vent inside the house at 115 most of the day,,,

[carverswoodshop]

i did use it first but then went to a roofing company and got flat piece of tin in black bake on the tin not just painted, it works good

[centervilletn]

did you put some sort of aluminum inside the box?

[carverswoodshop]

i made smaller solar heater for the windows, and used wood and paint and never had problem i used just flat black panit, but NEVER use the high heat black paint, it will not cure unless it hits a high temp , like a woodstove is ok, it will cure,

[treborly]

I Also intend to put an air filter on mine, does yours have one?

[carverswoodshop]

i didnt use any paint, the first time i used rustolum high heat it not good to use stinks and has to cure, which the temps in the box never got over 275 for it to cure so , i put in flat roofing tin black color, cause the paint is bake on and has no odor to it,

[treborly]

Oh, i see. I already have some steel and aluminum sheeting laying around, but there not painted. Do you have any suggestions on what paint to use?

Thats why i prefer a closed system, use some sort of aluminum duct. You paint the out side duct black, but the air travels inside the duct , never mixing with the air in the box. You wont get the smell of paint, wood, or anything inside the box.

[treborly]

So, what paint did you use?

[carverswoodshop]

just an update the house was at 72 degrees at 130 pm jan 14 , outside temps 42

on jan 10 out temp was 28 high, and 64 inside, so i happy with it

[gregwest77]

That's a good looking heater. Next time you build one you might want to consider making three separate chambers behind a sheet(s) of aluminum with the inle/outlet opposite each other.

Don't make the air chambers behind the aluminum over an inch and a half deep. You'll be surprised at better erformance. If you would like a simple drawing of this shoot me an pm.

[mabtka]

Well done and very impressive! I would I had the space to do as well.

Thumbs up.

[water4fuelh20]

Thanks for posting. I'm hear to say there is a free standing heater, that being mine. I also chose not to mount mine to the house as well and posted a 12 video series on my build and with information that i could not find after there builds and that was temp's. I made my second tilt adjustment for the month of Jan and it was blowing in 140 deg. This is one advantage we both have. I'm glad to see another free standing box. Nice work.

[carverswoodshop]

thanks rob, i couldnt put this big system on my wall, my house is a bi-level home, and on a hill, , i would have if i could, but the size of it made sense to make it separate from the house,

[robwiley01]

You have the next big thing in home design here. Seriously now, consider this system, maybe use synthetic frames & modern materials and put together on a South facing wall could be rather nicely integrated into a heat system. Like a large window type fixture etc. The next wave in better home & gardens? Just a thought..

[carverswoodshop]

clear on the front , black metal on the back

[STARFIRESOLAR]

Wow! That's gigantic! Is that black and clear corrigated plastic?

[carverswoodshop]

we had an east coast snowstorm, and the only thing i had to do was remove the snow off the bottom of the heater, one advantage is that the heater in not on a roof , so it normally doest have snow on it, we had 14 inches and only had the clean off about 4 inches but its coming out at 115-120 today, and the house is 69 how nice,,:)

[carverswoodshop]

123x i used a 6 inch duct fan, 240 cfm i did use a larger fan in the house but i think it didnt make a different, there is a steady flow of heat from the 6 inch fan does not cool it down to fast, and from the vent its about 127 to 130 of heat all day,

[boat6868]

Nice...thanks for posting.

[123xboxman]

very nice set up.... about how many CFM's does your fan blow ??

[carverswoodshop]

today was 34 outside with wind chill in the 20s my home heated to 70 , it was a nice sunny day today,,, but cold ,,

[novlor]

Awesome job, very impressive! Definitely 5 stars!

[carverswoodshop]

thanks everyone!

[carverswoodshop]

thanks shane, it works well and so glad i made it, there is always room for improvement , and 58 yes email me that is fine , trail i made a small one with mirrors and your right its to big to do that with this,

[trailkeeper]

I guess you would like it to be moveable a bit with the sun changing position, there is a bit of a solution, and you probably know this and maby some people dont, and that is to use an adjustable mirror to reflect light onto your air heater. And with your large heater, it guess it would be hard to find alot of mirrors and stuff, but maby even a few square yards of mirror is possible to add a few extra thousand watts into the air.

[58belvedere]

real nice ,i have a few questions i would like to email you

[shane0000ice]

Hi and this is a great job a real credit to you.

Everybody will offer advise but for what and how you did it 5 stars

Shane

[bllwdcrvr]

Arleen, you amaze me with all your works carving and carpentry and heating and ventilation..You Go Girl!! God Bless you..I guess no grass grows under you!!!..LOL

[michael970]

great job it looks pretty neat to me .I hope you get many years of use out of it.

[carverswoodshop]

thanks my2cents0 for your message, good luck on your second heater,

[carverswoodshop]

didnt put it under the deck i wanted to but it slope to much for me to work on it, plus because the box is had insulated it doesnt lose that much heat

[carverswoodshop]

well if i had to do it over i think my design would be a bit different but not to much, plus its tied down very well it was standing after a storm of wind gust up to 60-70 miles lol its still there i not worried about it after that storm, plus is sooo heavy lol

[my2cents0]

its to bad you didnt build it against your deck,and used cans or aluminum gutters.you never want the air flow over painted surface also your losing lots of heat with air flow against the glazing.jimmas2009 is right,be careful the wind is going to slam that panel!

[jimmas2009]

Nice job! How is it in high winds? It looks like it may blow over. Something with that surface area needs to be anchered very well.