This $30 Solar Setup Heats a 30 X 40 Workshop for Five Hours or More Every Sunny Winter Day
(Page 7 of 9)
November/December 1977
By the Mother Earth News editors
THE BOTTOM LINE
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Despite our enthusiasm for the solar heating system we've added. to my father's workshop, we do want to be painfully honest and say that our 8' X 30' collector has proven slightly too small to completely heat the whole 30' X 40' building as much as we'd like. If the insulated structure had only been turned the other way (so that one of its 40' sides faced south), however, the solar heater would probably be just big enough to supply all the warmth we'd ever want on almost any winter day that we'd care to work in the shop.
This is not to say that the solar furnace doesn't do a bang-up job. It most certainly does. With no supplemental heat at all, the sunpowered system will bring the workshop up to a very comfortable temperature for at least five hours a day ... from 1:00 in the afternoon to 6:00 that evening. And if a small propane burner is turned on for 45 minutes just once about mid-morning to warm the shop to 55 or 60 degrees, the solar heating system will then maintain and gain on that temperature throughout the rest of the day ... topping out right at 70 degrees about 4:30 in the afternoon. (The building's insulation then keeps the shop's inside temperature from dropping below 35 or40 degrees during the following night. The lower figure doesn't concern us, though, since we only use the shop during the day.)
We think that's pretty good performance for a total installation cost of $30. As a matter of fact, it'd still be darned good performance if we'd have bought everything new and spent, perhaps, $100 on the solar heating system. The bottom line, then, is that for very little cash outlay we're tapping a meaningful amount of the sun's energy for use in our family workshop.
The question I'd like to ask you, then, is: Are you sure you don't have a workshop, playroom, or other enclosed area that you need heated only during the day ... for which this very simple, low-cost, nonstorage sunpowered system that can be largely constructed from scrounged materials wouldn't be ideal?
Once it's up, you know, all you have to do to keep this solar furnace working for years is [A] supply its blower with a small amount of electricity, and [B] replace that plastic every two years. Which is a pretty inexpensive way to heat in this day and age!
AN AUTOMATIC CONTROLLER FOR YOUR ACTIVE SOLAR-HEATING SYSTEM
Some sort of device that will automatically turn the blower used in the accompanying solar heating system on and off is a handy thing to have. It can ensure that your shop or room or whatever will receive its full quota of sunny days' heat (but no nighttime or cloudy days' cold) from its collector.
Perhaps the simplest way to control your blower is with one of the readily available, low-cost, automatic timers on the market. Just estimate the most effective period for the fan to be on (say, from 10: 00 a. m. to 5: 00 p. m.) and set the timer to operate it for that length of time. The only problem with this setup, of course, is that it's "blind" to any external changes which might take place and that can influence the operation of the blower. If the sky is heavily clouded over, for instance, when the timer dumbly switches the blower on ... the fan will just as dumbly sit there for seven hours, blowing cold air into the room.
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