How to Build a Simple Solar Heater

It could be done, but would take a LOT of pedaling to produce
enough current to run a hot water heater, you would use 12 v DC
heater coils to heat the water inside a container.. power them
through a breaker relay switch to put amperage into the heaters and
thus create heat.

Does anyone know if it is possible to heat water for your home
by use of batteries (for stored energy) and a bicycle?

your guidlins are very usefull to comman people to make use of
renewable energy.

It seems to me that if the hot air inlet and cold air outlet in
the house wall are the same height, probably the top of (or higher
than) the heater, the problem of cold air syphoning back at night
would not exist. The cold airfrom the house could then be ducted
down to the bottom of the heater. I expect there is an obvious flaw
in this thinking, but so far I've missed it. In my case the floor
of the house on the southside is a few feet above the ground.Also
would it be better to have a relatively high air flow warming the
air slightly above the input air temperature rather than a lesser
restricted flow giving a high output temperature? My thinking is
that you don't want that high a temperature in the house and the
increased heat losses from high temperatures would need more
insulation. Again, I could be wrong, but why?

To D.Weber, I am in the middle of experimenting with a lens made
out of an old projection screen TV. You wouldn't believe all the
heat that is generated by it and very fast too not like the smaller
magnifing glasses. My only concern is you need to have water or
some kind of fluid running through it because it will get the metal
too hot and cause fires. I was thinking about having a system that
would have motors that would track the sun only if the pump was
running and would move the panel down to an off/out of focus
position if it wasn't running or if the power went off through
battery back up. Still a work in progress though.

i need to build a solar water heater as a school project. ive
been asked to construct and then compare the effectiveness of
different insulating materials.ive noticed that glass seems to be
the most common.does anybody have any other insulating materials in
mind??

HAS ANYONE EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE USE OFA MAGNIFYING GLASS TO
SPEED UP THE HEATINGOF THE WATER IN A METAL TANK...

Need an effective way to warm my workshop in the winter. Last
winter I was able to winter my goldfish in the workshop using a car
warmer that I turned on and off by monitoring the temperature with
a remote thermometer. Although the temperature here can get very
cold the air in the workshop only fell below freezing once during
the winter. With solar heating I could , perhaps, dispense with the
car warmer.

Solar heating panels work specially well on manufactured housing
units since they are higher off the ground so you can get a better
heat rise to the imput heat insertion point.. also it is easier to
make a small cut in the MH exterior/Interior and not have to use a
window. Even better is to put a cheap fan at the exit point to suck
the warm air out of the collector and disburse it throughout the
room.the wizard

After both of us read the "build your own solar heating
article", I continued on to read hundreds of pages about building
our own. I had bought 3 insulated glass panels {cheap}at a yard
sale 2 years ago -stored them-and knew I would use them for
something down the line. They are about 5 ft. tall,2 1/2 ft wide.
One of them will be used in the new back addition thats going on
the house this summer-strategicaly placed for winters sun gain.The
other 2 will be made into solar panels to help heat the
house-attaching them to the side.We are going to build the solar
collector wall as the addition goes up. I have since acguired 2
more glass panels-reasonably priced to do the same.Doing the solar
power thing from re-cycled materials as much as posible is
especially cost effective. We are never bored thru our winters, as
we are both avid readers, and I for one am always seeking an
alternative to chop the living exspenses down a bit. Our plan is to
also solar collector wall the garage & workshop thats being
built this year. At present time we have just got on board our wind
aneometer to study whats going on for the next year, as our winds
here are pretty good.Now, even though I may not understand alot of
how something may work or how to build it,when 2 or more people are
together,something good is bound to get built.Our contractor on
board,who hasn't done anything solar,is curious about this, and
more than willing to help us build it.It was "Mother Earth's"
article that got me started on this roll-and my constant dismay
with the oil bill,so keep up the good work!!