Solar Heating Plan for Any Home
(Page 7 of 8)
December 2007/January 2008
By Gary Reysa
Other Opportunities
RELATED CONTENT
On-demand water heaters provide an “endless supply” of hot water, but are they really “green”? Ther...
An indoor pool with this system can actually pay for itself in reduced utility bills, including wir...
Conventional water heaters heat water and store it until it’s used, but a lot of that heat is waste...
Want to know how to build your own photovoltaic system, how to construct a solar water pump, or eve...
Research into a new heat pump that works with solar energy....
Solar heating of water for domestic use could be included in the design. By preheating water when the full output of the collector is not needed for space heating, the system would earn a greater return.
You may want to use some of the collector heat to warm your new collector building. You could use the venting scheme described above to provide heating. By using some of the collector output for heating the new building, somewhat less heat is collected for the house. But, the collector will operate more efficiently with air flowing through the vent system. If you choose to do this, be sure to insulate and seal the new building well.
Resources
Gary Reysa’s Web Site
Solar Site Survey (to check for shading)
Collector Absorber Plates
Differential Controller Goldline GL30
Electronic Thermostats
Johnson Controls A419
(available from multiple sources)
Twin-wall Polycarbonate Glazing
(also available from other greenhouse supply outlets)
Collector Pump and Circulation Pump
www.radiantsite.com;
www.grundfos.com/web/homeus.nsf/Webopslag/UGRD-5E9BXF
Lessons Learned: You Can Build Your Solar System Even Better!
While the project has been a success, and we are quite satisfied with how it works, there is always room for improvement. Here are some things we would do differently:
- Use vertical collector panels (rather than tilted at 70 degrees). This would:
• collect nearly the same amount of energy
• be less likely to overheat in the summer
• collect much less snow during snowstorms
• be easier to build and easier to fully integrate the collector into the wall
- Include a small overhang with a gutter above the collectors. This would shade the top of the collectors in the summer, and the gutter would prevent snow melt from dripping on the collector glazing.
- Make the collector frames from 2-by-6s instead of 2-by-4s, which would allow room for more insulation behind the absorber plates and a little more space between the glazing and the absorber plates.
- Fully integrate the collector into the shed wall, so that the collector framing is the same as the wall framing. This could be done with 2-by-6 studs at 4-foot spacing — perhaps with a heavier top and bottom sill — depending on the size of the shed. The combined sheathing and collector back could be applied to the inside surface of the studs. This would save some additional money, material and labor.
- Include a layer of the polyisocyanurate insulation inside the storage tank plywood walls. This is the best place to put insulation, since there is no tank framing to fit the insulation around, and no thermal bridging. The tank could be made a bit taller to make up for the lost volume.
- Reduce losses in transferring heat to the house by building the solar shed closer to the house and/or insulating the underground pipes even better.
- Connect the collector manifolds together using either unions or high temperature silicone hose instead of the soldered couplings.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 | 7 |
8 |
Next >>
