Solar Heater or Solar Furnace for home heating

[EarthElla]

How much black tubing did you use and could you give a description of how you did this? THANK you.

[ssiaudio]

@EarthElla In the other comments, I have said this before but I will save you some reading. The tubes are 10' x 3" dryer vent that you can get at most hardware stores. I painted it with high heat flat black paint.

[EarthElla]

How long did it take to make this? It looks a lot easier than the pop can solar heating system. This give me hope of actually doing it and benefitting. Thank you for the post.

[TheBerserker50]

Canadian company Cansolair makes an incredibly efficient soalr panel that 'looks' like this one ... but it literally blows this one away ... I am not a sales person or distributor for Cansolair.

[ssiaudio]

@TheBerserker50 I have seen that company and the product. I bet it does "blow this one away". He has spend 10-15 years developing it and he sells the for 2500 bucks. It better beat my garage hack version that cost me $600.00. They make a great product but that was not what I was going for. I was just building it for fun and I got a good working unit out of it and have made some money off of the video and saved money from the free heat. Thanks for the comment.

[whiteynut]

I'm curious to know what happens overnight. Will the unit also strip heat from the house if the sun isn;t shining? Do you have to block the vent overnight?

[ssiaudio]

@whiteynut Hi, you got it. I was using a pillow to cover the lower opening. i have moved and brought the unit with me. Before i install it on my new place, i will be redesigning it to have two fans internally and both holes at the top. I think this will give me more air flow and stop the airflow due to temperature differential between the two holes when not in use. R&D is the name of the game I guess. New video of the changes soon. Thanks for the comment. Don't forget to subscribe.

[fixt100]

@ssiaudio can you hook it up to a spring loaded switch for the fan and a door of some kind so it opens and turns on during sunlight or past a certain temp?

[ssiaudio]

@fixt100 I imagine that would do the job if you can figure out how to make it work and look good. I haven't tried that.

[fixt100]

@ssiaudio use a computer fan (12v) and a solar car charger(25$ or so) so the fan is on when the sun is out then it would be a self powering system?

[ssiaudio]

@fixt100 The CFM of a PC fan is not enough. I am going up to 120 CFM by using 2 fans.

I will have a video of the new design when I finish it. Subscribe to keep in touch.

[remember25october]

Can you make solar water pump?

[ssiaudio]

@remember25october Not sure I know what you mean.

[remember25october]

@ssiaudio Device which moves water and works off solar radiation. Not off solar electricity, but directly off solar rays energy.

[Mrinfoone]

what was your saving on your electric bill just about?

[ssiaudio]

@Mrinfoone Hi, because I did more than one thing with my heating, I am unable to know this. I have recently moved and i will pay more attention to this when i get one installed at the new place. What I did was install electronic thermostats which keep my house more comfortable as they have a better way of managing temperature change. So my bill did not change but I am warmer. I guess we can assume a small savings.

[ssiaudio]

@Mrinfoone If you have time, read down through the rest of the comments. To save you time, the front is Lexan and is UV stable. The plastic that was an issue was the headers. They have been changed to aluminum. No more problems with plastic.

[jennifer171986]

amazing. i had no idea these existed. these should be mandatory on all homes in Canada. hell...every country should have this. Oil companies would crap themselves but, thats ok they've made lots of money. Can still make money, plastic still needs to be made, chemicals, toys....cars still need gas...why arent these on every house?! man, these and solar panels, and rain water collection systems?? theres a town in texasRUNNING OUT OF WATER, they have until christmas before all their water runs out

[Loganthered1]

@jennifer171986 These arent on every house because they only work during the daytime. An effect you can get with some large properly placed windows and no extra holes in your walls. Another thing is no sun no heat. You will still need a way to heat your home on cloudy days and at night.

[MrTpengineer]

nice, altho are thoes plastic tubes being heated by the sun? If so you should go with metal, plastic like that tends to give off gasses when heated :(

[ssiaudio]

@MrTpengineer Hi,

The tubes are not plastic. They are aluminum painted flat black.

The only plastic was the header covers but they are now aluminum.

Matt

[MrTpengineer]

@ssiaudio Oh ok.

[eldrama2]

"the trees are all screwed up" LOL! Is that man code for "pretty?"

[ssiaudio]

@eldrama2 Ha...I had no script...LOL

[SolarizeYourLife]

Instead of looking through 114 comments, have you updated this panel with a glass front?

[ssiaudio]

@SolarizeYourLife The front is Lexan. Always has been. The plastic that warped was the cheap black ABS that I used to cover the headers. It is now made of aluminum flashing.

[ssiaudio]

I does not provide heat at night.

The idea is to get free heat from the sun when it is out and available.

This is not built as the only source of heat. it just offsets the electric heaters while the sun is out.

[Gambit690]

This might seem like a silly question, What do you do when the sun goes down? I can see the benefits behind what you've done, I'm just not sure how it will hold the heat in your house overnight?

[razblack]

but can it cool your house? :D

[ColeFried81]

00:05 - "Trees are all screwed up" - why because the leaves are turning red in the autumn?

[ssiaudio]

@ColeFried81 LOL you got it.

[ColeFried81]

@ssiaudio Interesting. Autumn is the best BECAUSE of the trees, you weirdo.

[ssiaudio]

@ColeFried81 I like Autumn...LOL I just mentioned the trees in the video for some unknown reason. There was no script. HA

[ssiaudio]

Where do you live?

[swjslj]

I'm not sure I see the point. Even on a zero degree fahrenheit day my furnace will not come on if I have the shades up and curtains drawn on my south and southwest facing windows. Enough heat comes in through the windows to keep my house at 70 to 74 degrees in the daytime all winter. Wouldn't it be just as useful to put in more south-facing windows?

[cyranoff]

Use of flat black paint will help.

[ssiaudio]

@cyranoff that is flat black, high heat paint.

[yourunclehank1]

do you think this might work better using black schedule 20

pvc pipe filled with water capped on both ends - not completly

full to allow a little expansion?

[Tanarus20]

ssiaudio

Hey,do you got a fan or something blowing in the bottom hole? (Intake) just wondering.

Also. The tubes you used were tubes you use on back of dryers tube yes? Spraypainted with heat resistant paint?

[MovingUpp]

thank you for this video.

[monkey911t]

best heat conductor "basic home test"

go over to your stove with a variant of different metals. an a stopwatch.

turn your stove on high heat.

start the stopwatch an hold the metal in your hand at one end an touch the other to the hot stove until it hurts to hold it. stop the watch an write down the time.

repeat this proses with all the metals.

in the end you will see for cost an recycle ability that aluminum is the winner.

[KELICODEIRO2010]

PAZ E SUCESSO.....BRASIL

[magna59]

Great vid.Look up a thermal conduction chart. In terms of easily avaliable tube materials, copper is best, and can be soldered. Aluminium is good on conduction, but it like steel (easily rusting) of stainless (less good as conducting) are more difficult to join. I was thinking that using the wax controled thermostat out of a car cooling system would allow this sort of system to vent only up to a good running temperature, usually about 80 degrees C. Ignore the fan. Let convection do it.

[biomansoil]

would stainless steel tubes work any better? and does the plastic have a smell from the heated tubes.

[ssiaudio]

@biomansoil I have no idea if stainless would be better. The important part is that it be a metal that transfers heat fast and will attract the heat well. painted flat black is the best for getting the heat in so i doubt that stainless would be better. Again, I am just guessing and really have no idea. The plastics never get too hot to become unstable. Besides, they are sealed off from the air tubes.

[Pernisface]

@ssiaudio Steel would be much worse. You want something that is conductive, like the stuff wires and electrical contacts are made out of (copper, silver, gold). Aluminum is a good compromise since it's widely available and relatively cheap (recycled cans for instance). It's also lightweight so a productized version would be cheaper (and more environmentally friendly) to transport.

Google 'thermal properties of metals'.

[burtonlegand]

@ssiaudio silver would work best, but obviously thats not practical. aluminum is a better conductor of thermal energy then stainless.

[dotcombatgames]

@biomansoil no aluminum is a better conducter of heat energy

[biomansoil]

@dotcombatgames a week ago I made a box with copper coils in it, with aluminum sides and had water running through it with a water pump to a DC heat exchanger with a fan. I could not be more pleased with the results.

[ssiaudio]

@biomansoil do you have pictures or a video of the unit you made?

[SVKmellow]

@biomansoil No they would not... Stailess steel has a horrible heat transfer. The only reason people don't use aluminium in cooking is that it's not healthy. Actually the best cooking-ware has a two-layer bottom made up of aluminium/steel where only a thin film of steel protects the food from the aluminium. But maybe copper would be better, check out heat-trasfer data.

[shutinanxiety]

@biomansoil the outside of the tubes are heated by radiation from the sun that heat is then transferred to the inside of the tube by conduction every material has a conductivity constant the higher the constant the faster the heat will transfer here are a few so you can compare ;) the units are J/s*m*C silver=420 copper=380 gold=317 aluminum=200 steel=40 fiberglass insulation=.05 for the price use aluminum copper if your rich silver if you're bill gates steel if you're crazy :P insulation =dumb!

[shutinanxiety]

@shutinanxiety heat flow divided by change in time=conductivity constant times surface area of the object times (temperature difference divided by thickness of object) or more simply .... Q/t=kA[(T1-T2)/l] this is the equation for conduction. the larger the diameter and the thinner the walls of the tubes and a bigger temp. difference the better! my three comments here are cited from Giancoli, Physics Volume I fifth edition pages 429-432 ;) it's a descent, easy to read college level physics book

[MrNepau]

@shutinanxiety decent college book... descent college books are the ones you read while walking downstairs :-)

[fishnetproductions]

I have watched many videos on solar heating = and = I am completely baffled as to WHY everyone vents / exhaust up instead of down....It seems to me that it would be MORE efficient to vent DOWN as hot air rises.....WHY hasn't anyone tried this.....

[ssiaudio]

@fishnetproductions if you read all the comments on this video you will see a few that cover this topic.

I tried both and after this video was made, i decided to vent at the bottom.

It is the most comfortable because my feet are right beside the vent that way.

[tkd4zgqg]

@fishnetproductions - You said it yourself - Simple thermal dynamics, Hot air rises.

[SVKmellow]

@fishnetproductions Because venting at the top makes it possible to use gravity to feed the air into the panel as well (so really no fans needed)... but you are right, if you use fans, it should be possible to vent from the bottom.

[shutinanxiety]

@fishnetproductions the intake into the furnace from the house should be near the floor, pulling the cold air at the bottom of the room in the furnace, exchanging the heat, and then exhausting it back into the room at a higher elevation near the ceiling in my opinion. natural convection moves in this manner anyway. trying to reverse the natural flow of the air would be less efficient. you would be fighting the forces of gravity on the different densities of air masses.

[sejmb]

@fishnetproductions Because then you have to force the air (since its nature is not to move down). You need tighter seals and stronger fans to vent down. Single story set ups, or whenever the panel is installed on the lowest floor, it will equalize close enough. A ceiling fan can probably mix the air better than venting it low.

[rdekraker]

@fishnetproductions Becouse like you said hot air tends to want to rise and so it will be more effective / require less power (fan power) or whatever to just leave the exhaust at the top in stead of at the bottom. Also you want to GET the cold air OUT of your room from the bottom couse there's where the cold air is and to also blow hot air at the bottom there is not efficient couse youre simply re-heating your just heated air that way. So you add hot to the top and subtract cold from the bottom.

[chickenpoper]

@fishnetproductions Yes you are right, that's how it should be, but the intake would have to be somewhat far from the exhaust so that it doesn't just circulate the same air.

[ssiaudio]

@chickenpoper I have tried it both ways. I prefer from top to bottom as the hot air hits my feet. The whole room get warm closer to where i am sitting. The other way was fine bit I just preferred it that way I have it now.

[MrNepau]

@ssiaudio Hello..

first of all thanks for speaking Celsius.. it makes this more usable anywher outside the US. I would like to know:

1)what kind of tubing diameter

2)what lining of the box (actually a list of materials would be very useful)

3)what to prevent cold air inflow at night

4) I hate background noises. Have you tried quiet fans and or just passive circulation ?

many thanks in advance , Stefano

[ssiaudio]

@MrNepau

1)what kind of tubing diameter - 3" flex dryer vent

2)what lining of the box (actually a list of materials would be very useful) - 1" pink foam and an aluminum (like thick tin foil) laminate, painted flat black

3)what to prevent cold air inflow at night - Stuff a pillow in the bottom hole. Still working on a proper baffle.

4) I hate background noises. Have you tried quiet fans and or just passive circulation ? it is not too loud but I am considering putting the fan inside the box.

[DCVU2]

@fishnetproductions heat rises

[ssiaudio]

@fishnetproductions I have tried it both ways. I prefer from top to bottom as the hot air hits my feet. The whole room get warm closer to where i am sitting. The other way was fine bit I just preferred it that way I have it now.

[fjtoys]

@ssiaudio What about left to right. Does it even matter which way it goes?

[ssiaudio]

@fjtoys I really don't think it matters that much. Not from what I have seen from my setup anyway.

[bryanrick]

Only problem is that now you have poor insulation to your house in that area and you are letting more cold air in especially at night.

[ssiaudio]

@bryanrick How is that? We just block the holes.

[bryanrick]

@ssiaudio

What methods, and materials do you use to prevent heat loss at night thought the routing into tube to the house? I would think you'd need the tube and whatever else you use to have good insulation on it or you will get a sufficient cold air draft leaking in.

[ssiaudio]

@bryanrick because my panel is on my wall, the tubes are in the wall and are only 4" long. The wall is insulated.

[my2cents0]

some one(2vtrazoraz)posted this video as theirs;Dif name but maybe same person posted mine also and shoestrings and others;kinda sad I guess; Just check (solar heater)and go for most recent vid's you will see your vid;

[ssiaudio]

@my2cents0 I have reported this. Thanks!!

[dpgreen11]

your intake and output are reverse

[SSIMONCTON]

@dpgreen11 If you read the comments from days gone by, there is an explanation as to why they are, "reverse"

[jack042065]

I built this and my plexiglass all warped and and broke the seals and was ruined any tips

[ssiaudio]

@jack042065 Don't use the PLEXI brand. You need UV stable stuff. Lexan is better. I know there are other manufacturers.

[jack042065]

@ssiaudio thanks

[donsjuand]

@jack042065 Check the temperature rating of the materials in question with the manufacturer product specs. Glass tolerates heat a lot better than plastics like plexiglass or acrylic etc.

[CWojewodzic]

Very nice project with excellent benefit. You might consider a thicker gauge of plexi. but in the end there is not substitute for glass. My question though is any thoughts as to whether or not the plastic might emit any kind of heat related release of chemical compounds? I dont think it does, but worth an inquiry.

[CWojewodzic]

@CWojewodzic oh, just noticed the post above....scratch that about the plastics.

[HostileHST]

You guys think a heavy black blind like this guy has would help pull some heat?

[ssiaudio]

@HostileHST are you asking if my blind helps with heat?

[HostileHST]

@ssiaudio I meant to say, if his blind was black, do you guys think it would help pull in some heat. I know white reflects and black absorbs, but I just realized, the black would also absorb your indoor heat, might be a lose lose or just simply not offer any benefit using black.

[ssiaudio]

@HostileHST It probably would help.

I just leave it open on sunny days. I had it closed for the video to block the sun from heating the room just to see the heat from the solar unit better.

[rsouthern4004]

Please do not heat up PVC or plastics, it will release dioxins into your living area and give you cancer, use steel air duct pipe.

[ssiaudio]

@rsouthern4004 Nothing in the airflow area is or was plastic.

The plastic that WAS in the unit was only for looks. It is now aluminum as the plastic warped.

[impazzitoinvolo]

Very nice! Congratulations!

[mauricera]

is that the correct exhaust and intake order ? Hotter air use to move up...

[ssiaudio]

@mauricera Hi, it is reverse to what natural airflow would be but I prefer that as I have a seat close to the floor and the heat passes by my feet and i feel it better. Some call this a cross-flow. I tried both ways and this is my favourite.

[theavailablenamessuk]

Thats a cool setup. Way to beat the dirty utility company.

[wushujia]

@ssiaudio Yes it does, I wanted to know a way to run heater at night. I guess the only way to do it is have a powerful enough solar + inverter system that can run a heater at night. A good size solar panel system can run AC there is no reason it cant run heaters. I guess I will have to try it out to know for sure.

[zeineguy]

@wushujia there is a video on youtube where your system would pass thru rocks during the day and there by, storing the excess heat till it is needed at night. It was just a video to sell the design but am sure with search you can find more resourses on how to accomplish this. Am thinking the same kind of rocks that are used in saunas. Am sure a system with baffles, to close some circuits during the night and open other circuits during the day. am thinking just day use will save

[wushujia]

how do these work at night?

[ssiaudio]

@wushujia The unit runs on the heat from the sun. At night it offers not benifits. This unit is just a help on sunny days. Most of my heaters shut off when this thing gets going on a sunny day. even when it is -30 celcius or colder. Does this answer your question? Let me know if I can help in any other way.

ssiaudio 5 days ago

Block User

[wushujia]

@ssiaudio thank you, actually I'd like to use it in a Green house when needed. should work ok as an additional heater.

[qsk2pc602]

@wushujia they dont.may work backward. one has close the vents with something.. cold air in the box will drop in the box then into the house being replaced at the top by warm house air.

[junkyardnut]

You know what is so wrong about solar installations?? Never install anything on roof or on the exterior walls because they create shadows . This is a minus. All solar installations must be sited away from the house in order to maximize natural exposure to the Sun. Same goes for any trees that cast shadows on your house should be cut down. This is a very important efficiency factor in everything solar. I recently cut down a row of 60 foot tall Italian cypress trees to elminate shadows.

[MrNepau]

@junkyardnut If trees loose their leaves in winter you have the double benefit of shade in the summer and light in winter. As for solar installation away from the house, it is for sure that the exchange rate of flat black aluminum tubes is by far more than a properly insulated house wall

[NeosKortexXx]

Hey, where did you get the guide from to build this solar air heater?

[ssiaudio]

There were no guides other than watching youtube videos and using my own ideas.

[CTOL1]

Glass is cheap and found given away by many do it yourself week end home re-modelers, just search craigslist . o r g in your area. A common two pane window has an r value of 3.0 where glass itself is 1.0 (Not good) you do not want tinted or "solar guard " type glass, as it is designed to keep the heat OUT. Polycarbonate G.E's trade name Lexan is great stuff, but I would reserve it for solar electric projects, unless you are well off $ wise.

Nice job, I need to put one together "still"

[vpbubbies]

@CTOL1 Glass is NOT "cheap",,, its "FREE!!", you just need the know. Go to any window & door company, they install new patio doors every day and just throw out the glass from the old patio doors, in fact, they actually pay to have that glass disposed of, so just ask them for it, tell them what your making & Im certain they'll give you more then you'll ever need.

[CTOL1]

@vpbubbies Right, as I said, I meant glass is free, if you find it being given away, I have had no problem getting patio doors for free, it does not get cheaper than free.

Good tip Window & door company, thanks

[xpsyclonex2002]

Just a thought but anyone thinking of making one of these should contact a glass company about 1" insulated glass. I build commercial buildings and they frequently screw up the sizes of the glass or there is a change in the building that causes them to have extra peices. Frequently they trash them but sometimes they hold on to them for selling at a discount. I bet 1" insulated glass on the front would boost the temp significantly as long as it didn't have a coating on it.

[7777dmith7777]

that is not as good as it sounds. polycarbonate is superior to glass as far as heat transfer, glass transfers heat like sh#t through a tin horn. That's why they have to double or triple the panes, even the scam of argon inside the layers increases the R value by an insignificant amount. 1/4 inch polycarbonate is the way to go, you can drill it to mount it much easier than glass, It weighs alot less making the construction of the entire unit much lighter and eaiser to install, and overall save $

[7777dmith7777]

Oh ya I almost forgot, never use plexi glass or any type of acrylic material, it will warp, melt, fog, drycrack, haze, etc.etc.

[bobo888bobo]

I think adding something for turbulence is not needed. what that would do would make it harder to move air out of the unit and into your house. with higher temperatures in the unit you get MORE heat loss to the outside (higher temperature differential).

moving more air through the unit leads to less losses and also more heat and more even heat transferred to the house.

[kchedville]

Just installed mine a few days ago - i get 238 F out of it -- and i am getting warpng also - so i had to place the screws in the acrylic about every 5 inches apart

Doing pretty good now

[ssiaudio]

Glad to hear it is working for you. The plastics I had trouble with were covering the top and bottom headers, I swapped that out for aluminum sheeting. My acrylic has never warped.

[bioh20water]

what cfm fan r u using?i use a snap disc controller on mine with an 80 cfm fan that gets me a 15-20c temp change. can u give me some examples of the hot air temp being blow out of your box and the intake temp along with maybe the outdoor temp. I used pop cans but maybe will try the dryer vent like yours. thanks

craig

[okbye1]

I could make the same with black "stucco" paper, the expensive part is making the clear air tight chamber.

[MrWombatPPC]

Great Simple, and im guessing pritty cheap to. Good work Buddy. I like these kinds of inventive ideas. Though I dislike the way governments are currently trying to tax the hell out of every one of these ideas coming out. Or making Laws that say you need to Pay a Tax or Bribe to allow them to be fitted to your home.

[ssiaudio]

I have not had to deal with any of that around here. I sure know what my answer would be if they said something. I will let you use your imagination on that one.

[basilenglish]

is the fan a solar fan?

[ssiaudio]

Hi, the fan is not run off of the sun. I may do this later but for now it plugs in. The control of the fan is done by a thermostat. Some people run it off the sun but that will run it even if there is not enough sun for good head. If you want to use the sun for the fan, combine the thermostat with it.

[linuxxxunil]

What is the avg. temp inside the unit when the sun goes down? Do you have a mechanism to block the vents?

[ssiaudio]

The temp inside the unit with no sun is very close to the temp outside. You do need to block the bottom whole but I plan to try running the output to the same hight as the input at the top. This should cause the cold air to collect at the bottom of the unit.

[Olegserov2]

Plastik is bad bad idia. Cupper, aluminum or iron much better transfer heat coeficient and not poisen like plastic.

[ssiaudio]

The heat transfer is done by the aluminum tubes. The platic components were only cosmetic. Besides, the temp is 50 elcius max. No gases escape the plastic at that temp.

[1dschamp]

Quite good. How much of an effect does it have on the heating of the entire house? have you found your use of heaters have gone done significantly or not much (obviously depending on clear sunny days)? Also, nice use of celsius as opposed to that farenheit crap

[ssiaudio]

In the winder when it is -17 outside and a clear cold day, the heater will reach 44 celcius. After some time, I have had the living room (where the heater lives) come up past 26 Celcius. The rest of the house will be close to that. the farthest rooms were about 21. The heaters are all off at that point.

[ncbookz]

-17c = 1.4f 21c = 69.8f  44c=111.2f

[MrNepau]

@ssiaudio Is that with ONLY the one panel you show in the video ? I am planning to install 7.8 square meters of panel for a 110 square meter house facing 155 degrees south and 245 respectively. Would that surface be too much ?

[ssiaudio]

@MrNepau That is one panel in one room. two or three would do a whole house on a sunny day.

[JustAn0bserver]

You may have found the fix for the warping plastic but, I am reading that HEAVY plastic or clear shower curtain material should work quite nicely.

Do you have any Fahrenheit readings or give both when you compare.

One sight built a huge collector and they only use 3mil plastic that cost pennies and lasts years.

Thnx

JAO

[ssiaudio]

I did fix the warping by using aluminum flashing.

I have not seen the site where they use the 3 mil plastic.

For Farenheit numbers, double the celcius and add 30 I think is correct.

Thanks for the comments.

[vatrenikrug]

for scale farehhait celsius go to gogle and searc,there are cites that do that.. the scales are not simetric,2 farenhait is not 1 celsius so scales dont mech...

coper or some metals are beter then the plastic,plastic is toxic when heated.

[ssiaudio]

The plastic used in this heater were for the black covering on the top and bottom of the init. I have since changed it and used black aluminum flashing. The tubes are all aluminum dryer vent.

[gehngus]

Very Nice!

does the fan come on only if it is hot? or is it manual?

I have seen some one use a solar cell panel to power a fan so it only works if there is enough light.

Also, how do you turn it off in the summer when its roasting inside and out?

many thanks

[321ozzy]

gehngus , you can use a thermostat in the house and control the switch of the fan with it. With the thermostat you control a relais, which on its turn switches the fan on and/or off. You can also use a thermostat in the solar funnel, use it in combination with the thermostat in the house. So when it is too hot in the house, or the air too cold in the funnel, the fan will not blow air into the house.

[kwikflikz]

i would be curious to hear how your solar furnace performed through the winter?

great video ~ would like to see another!

[0urGaia]

Did you put anything inside the pipes to create airflow turbulence to improve heat transfer between pipes and the flow of air.

[ssiaudio]

There is nothing in the pipes. That was not something i thought of.

[0urGaia]

Yours works and looks great, congrats on good job.

[321ozzy]

The structure of the pipe itself provoques some turbulence as it is not a smooth surface. Painting the tubes black could increase the efficiency too.

Thank you for sharing; the idea of recycling air from inside is great.

What do you think about the following: I would change exhaust and inlet from position. Hot air rises; having the hot air coming in from below enables the natural heating process from low to high. I am impressed with the results of your design. Thank you for sharing : - )

[ssiaudio]

Just an update.

It has been around -20 celcius for about 3 days now with clear blue skies.

I am getting about 44 Celcius inside the heater and the house gets up to about 22 celcius over the day.

I have a couple ideas to try for the fan etc.

i will post updates as i get them.

[bkscdw]

wow thats pretty impressive... do you have to stop it or seal it off at night?

[ssiaudio]

I do have to block it for now. Can't think of a good way to keep the cold out.

[WizzleThump]

@ssiaudio I'd try sticking insulation or pillow stuffing in there for now.

[tcseeme]

@ssiaudio Do you have to block it in the summer too?

[ncbookz]

-20c=-4f 44c = 111.2f  22c=71f

[RMPCTek]

Very nice project!

[LPGfan]

Was the outer part of the frame the only part that warped? Warping is something that I am trying to prevent.... I just saw a note below that you switched to aluminum flashing. I'll have to use that.

I'm planning something similar for next year. I think I'll use smaller air vents to prevent heat loss at night. Do you have insulation plugs for those holes?

Also, this is a passive solar heater. A solar furnace involves concentration of light by reflection or refraction.

[wonderwolfdog]

I am in the process of building one myself.

What exactly is them material that you use instead of the tin cans. I saw some aluminum expandable tubing at home depot . expands out to 8 feet and cost about 9 bucks ....3 inch diameter ...is that the stuff..they had some other stuff but it seem like it was covered in a very thing plastic

[ssiaudio]

You are correct.

The 3" aluminum tube is it.

I used bbq paint on it.

[my2cents0]

Nice panel!How did you fasten lexan on to panel?does being flat,make lexan move in the wind?I made mine curved,but it made it harder to build.might make next one flat.thnx in advance;

[1joecool1]

cool;-]

[mostvideosolar]

nice to see a variation from the can concept, my perspex warped to, I used 4mm, will upgrade to 6mm & give that a try.. enjoy the heat..

[ssiaudio]

My lexan did not warp. The warped plastic is the black crap i had to use to cover the headers. I have since changed it out for aluminum flashing. Works much better. Thanks for the comment.

[matrixm777]

Nice job...

I would like to find a thermometer like that to check my numbers.

Your house has great southern exposure too. That should help keep those utility bills down.

Nice work...

[ssiaudio]

Thanks,  I got the meter at wallmart. I hate wallmart but I was there and saw it. It does both celcius and fahrenheit. I used the outside probe to detect inside the unit. It went up to 67 degrees Celcius then the next reading said HI. I guess it is out of range at that point.

[westkan]

Sounds like it has a fan. In the event you are using a fan, is there a reason why you didn't use it in a counter flow configuration?

[ssiaudio]

I am using a fan.

Without a fan it get too hot inside the unit.

I must admit i do not understand what a counter flow configuration is...

[westkan]

Counter flow as in forcing the heated air to travel in direction it doesn't want to go naturally. Using a fan to force the heated air to exit out the bottom vent. That way the heated air warms at the floor level first before it rises to the ceiling.

[ssiaudio]

I first used the fan sucking in at the floor and blowing up to the ceiling. A guy recommended that way to "destratisfy" the room. I have since swapped it to suck from the ceiling and push it to the floor. Both work about the same overall but i can feel the heat go across the floor passed my couch using the counter flow method.

[westkan]

No matter the heating method, I have to believe, there will be stratification. Personally I find counter flow the most comfortable, again no matter the heating method. To me an a central heating system with the outlets in the ceiling. Anyway you are doing something, and experimenting. Thanks for sharing the results

[ssiaudio]

The tubes are 3" aluminum dryer vent.

Keep it simple.

Where are you located?

[dennjack1]

I want to build one. Did you use plastic tubes? Any tips? Is there pretty good constant heat flow?