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as another thought, do you think daylight water heating would work in a similar fashion, or would I need to have a completely different setup?
http://www.google.com/search?q=solar+air+heater
This kind of solar collector has been around for some time -- decades ago in Mother Earth News, I remember -- but you seem to have been able to improve it significantly. Congrats! It just astonishes me that every house here doesn't have such things, but then very few houses in Taos have windows that open like that. (I'm sure this must sound loony to people who actually live in America, which northern NM is not.) ANYWAY, good for you, and does your landlord still have another house like yours for rent?
:-)
Maht- I havent tested it in winter yet - have to wait a few more months. But at this altitude, the sun is VERY warm even in the dead of winter. 10 degrees outside feels more like 45.
Larry - It would require a pretty big awl to punch a decent-sized hole in the bottom, but that could work. Also, your indoor air idea could work, for sure.
John - Nope, he rented both his houses the day after they went on the market. Gotta be quick for these great properties! :)
The other flaw in your reasoning is that you failed to take into account the fact that the overall collector is much larger than the wooden insert for the window. That alone means that the collector will deliver more heat than the window un-aided.
What about making a bank of them big enough to cover a wall or section of a roof? Seems the cost would be fairly low? How efficient would that be? Could you heat a whole house?
As in the U.S. most homes are forced air I wonder how hard it would be to connect it to the existing ducting system that distributes air around the house? If you made a stack of them, say 10ft high how hot or how fast would the air be?
Have you considered getting these manufactured and selling them on the internet? Sounds like a small business idea?
Would love to help…
Sonja - the problem with the whole house is that there is no heat at night from these, so they do work better for garages/workshops/etc, where you work during the daylight hours.
I'm no engineer but would foil inside improve the performance?
And thank you! You and people like you are an inspiration of effort for me and my projects! :D
Happy 4th!
http://www.coloradowindpower.com/page.php?26
note: this is not an ad - I just like 3M products and find them reliable (but pricy)
http://www.theworkshop.ca/energy/collector/coll...
Also if the cans are touching the window the box can be made significantly thinner, stick some wood/paper/whatever behind the cans to hold them in place and you don't need any duct tape to hold the cans in place, plus it works as insulation. But it'll be annoying cutting the cans in half.
Here's my solar heater project. http://drobicho.com/blog/solar_furnace_instruct...
About two years ago I came up with this. This solar energy project received second place in the 2007 Bordeaux Energy Colloquium's Annual Sustainable Energy Futures Casestudy Competition, an international competition for the most innovative renewable energy initiative.
Thanks for reading!
In Africa the sun shines all day in winter but its usually cold in houses during the day because of poor insulation. Average temperature in my house is no more than 12 C on average as our winters are becoming colder.
And of course cost is an issue here.
Any way to make the hot air boil water and a steam driven device charge batteries for power use at night?
Our power supplies are erratic as our power grid becomes older and fall apart. Now they are hiking electricity by 35% a shot to get money to so call upgrade the system, most of it is "lost" however.
Will give this a try for sure!
You'd have better luck using a corona discharge to charge the moving air, harvesting the high-tension DC from the top of your solar chimney (which could be made of compressed earth) in the fashion of a van de Graaf generator. This voltage could then be stepped down to suit the needs of your battery charger. Sort of like one of those ionic filters, running as a turbine instead of a fan.
You'd need someone who knows what they're doing to design the circuit, but the components won't be all that expensive, and a lack of moving parts would be a very good thing. Step-down transformers can be a lot more efficient than step-up transformers, and energy could be stored as heat (since convection is stronger in cold air) rather than in batteries.
Excellent idea
A few small thoughts from me:
One could use corrugated tin cans with different diameter - one fitting inside the other.
(In some countries there's a deposit or refund on soda cans.) In addition, making it from tin cans would open up for using other techniques holding things together, as they are more sturdy than soda cans. The corrugated surface would also provide more area to absorb heat.
Tin foil covered shutter(s) working as mirrors focusing more sunlight into the device.
The hot air can heat bricks or stones which would work as heat reservoir.
All jokes aside though, that's a really cool idea. And while I'm not lacking heat in my own home (it usually gets TOO hot) I can think of a few people who would appreciate such a thing.
i used non-perforated sewer pipe for my heat chamber and it worked pretty well.
I put a youtube together if interested. Not fancy but it worked
http://gravitygarden.com/powergarden/?page_id=11
Now of course if this collector was outside, in front of the wall or on the roof, and you piped the warmed air into the house, thats a whole different thing, and you would have a net heat gain.
Note to self - pay attention!
Radiant Heat Experts
I have been experimenting with a freestanding version of a passive heater. It heated up pretty quickly, but now trying to figure out the best way to pipe the heat into my garage or living space. I used black pipe (the same as my heat chamber) but it was a bit clunky.
Anyone have this type of design and if so did you use something like a vacuum hose to transfer the heat into the living space several feet away? Just curious.
You can see some of my pics @ http://gravitygarden.com/powergarden/?page_id=11 if interested.
change its form from solar to thermal energy. I know what you mean but it peeves me and i find
if a 12 year old cant say it with out being lectured in school nor should others be aloud without being lectured.
how much does the heat cost?
that's right, it costs nothing.
it is free.
you're confusing the conversion of energy, which is clearly happening here, with the cost in dollars of said energy. The energy is not being created from nothing, however it is not being paid for. hence it is free
Anyone use this set with a greenhouse?
thanks
His was about 30"h x 60"w x 3"d thick. The sides, one masonite and one aluminum were painted a lime green. Pop cans were cut in half and attached to the aluminum side, with pop rivets as I recall, several inches between them. Also attached to the aluminum side were 4 baffles also made of aluminum, that ran not quite the width of the box, dividing it up into 5 areas approx. 12" x 30". The cans were all attached within the center 3 sections. Two regular floor heat registers, one at each end and both on the masonite side allowed for air flow; one vent had a computer cooling fan attached.
I have several photos I took while dismantling it which I would be willing to share with you if you like. Let me know.
Thanks for solving the mystery!
http://www.homebrewpower.co.uk