Solar Heater

http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-Heater/
introSolar Heater
This is a solar air convection heater for my garage that is powered by the low angle winter sun. It's easy to build and it works very well. With enough building insulation, this can be a primary heat source with a secondary needed for cloudy days. The idea and design is from Mother Earth News December/January 2007

Ingredients:
2x8 lumber
2x6 lumber
2x4 lumber
2x2 lumber
glass, plexiglass, or some kind of clear material.
black aluminum window screen
caulking, paint, screws, lag screws, staple gun + other tools

I have some results on temperature differences from the first weeks of operation. Just like when you put up your first wind generator, the wind won't blow for days/weeks, I had overcast and mostly cloudy weather the first few days operating this thing. The heater puts out 87 to 104 degrees F at the vents on partly cloudy days to sunny days. The uninsulated garage hits about 17 to 30 degrees F above outside temps, very comfortable for me. It seems the colder it is outside, the bigger the temperature difference between the garage and outside. If you want more heat in an uninsulated area I would recommend possibly 1/3 more collector area than the ratio I give in the instructions. Seal up any drafts, it will do a lot to hold the heat. This thing works great.
Solar Heater
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step 1Frame and Fit
Make a box to mount on the wall of building (A south wall, SE and SW also can work.) This should be mounted vertically on a wall; the higher in the sky summer sun won't hit it as directly as the low winter sun. The walls of the box are 2x6 lumber; the angled "roof" of the box is a 2x8. I found it good to prebuild the box on the ground and then mount it to the wall. Make the box based on stud spacing in the walls; I have 24" studs, so my box is 8' wide with vents cut into four sections.

I sized the solar collector based on the numbers from the Mother Earth article where the guy built 160sq ft. of collector for his 700 sq ft building; using that ratio I built a 48 sq ft collector for my 200 sq ft garage.

Frame and Fit
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Is this the new coop?
robbtoberfest
Sloped top for shedding rain.
robbtoberfest
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