solar collectors..plans , Web links?

• modified lower vent

Passive solar (lots of south facing windows) catches lots of sun. Even on days when you need no heat. Then the living space overheats. You have to add lots of heat storage for lots of windows, then on days when you need lots of heat, it all goes to storage and you never warm up.

A couple centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson experimntally worked out that for conventional construction, south facing windows no more than 15% of the floor area was a reasonable compromise between not enough and too much solar into the home.

Going with TJ's limit on windows, insulation pays off much better than active or excess active solar. Been there, tried that the active bit. Putting the solar panel money into insulation, tight walls, and good windows would have paid back far sooner.

Gerald J.

Using your website example so what are your plans to deal with 115º air at the ceiling area for 4hrs/day? What's it going to feel like when you stand up from sitting in a chair when all that heat hits you? How's the wife going to like doing housework sweating? What happens when summer rolls around and it's now at 170º or 180º in that wall area?

I'm not trying to be a a$$hole but just asking about some design considerations.

Air is a wonderful fluid to work with but boy does it create some design work. Can the above concerns be controlled with a $100 bill install? Not in my life time.

Mold and bacteria is a major concern with homes being built as tight as they are in areas of high humidity. Be very careful here no matter what system you use in any area.

You'd think the dry areas are easier to deal with like AZ, but we have a bug that lives in the soil that will make you think you died when your still breathing and only wishing to die, called Valley Fever. Try not removing the dust in a solar air collector and see what the results are.

For a $1000 you can have a solar hydronic/air heating system that's climate controlled 24/7. It all depends on how big of storage tank and collector pannel you have depends on how long you can heat with it.

Add another tank and a few pipes to the above system and you now have cooling available. Can your air only system do that?

T_Bone

For what little cost difference there is on a collector pannel, I like CU. Black poly pipe would be another choice.

What you might consider doing is building a small collector, maybe 2ft x 4ft, and use that for testing your designs. This would also tell you how much collector area would be required for your location.

The best collectors I've seen use 2"x4" frame rails, a solid back board then insulated with 1/2" rigid fiberglass (sides too), then collector piping, then cover glass or twin polycarbonate. Cold in at the bottom, hot out at the top.

I would never install a hydronic solar collector on the roof unless space was at a premium.

A basic electronic differential controller costs about $150. As the name says, it comparres A with B(sensors) and when the set point difference(usually 5º) is met then controlls a operator(pump relay).

You can use a heat pipe, (a pipe that contains refrigerant), with a hydraulic cylinder(s) to automaticaly track the sun thus dramaticly increasing your solar collector output ability thus requiring less collector area.

T_Bone

Your missing my point of solar air systems. There great and can be a good asset "if" the design is correct for that area.

Solar air has more engineering concerns for a given design to preform correct too human comfort when comparred to a solar hydronic system.

T_Bone

• Mobile home space heater

The tilted wall gathered water and rotted. it would have been better as a vertical wall depending on snow or a ground reflector (foil faced foam) to enhance the solar gathering.

Iowa State extension did publish a set off drawings, whether they still have them, I don't know.

Gerald J.

• Space heating