WARM YOUR SWINE WITH SUNSHINE

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The final step was to rig two thermostats in series. The first-in the collector itself-turns on when the inside air temperature climbs to 75°F. The other, located in the farrowing house, is activated when the mercury down there drops to 55°F. The fan only runs when both switches are "on".

FACTS AND FIGURES

We calculated that the collector generates about 60,000 Btu's per hour. (One hundred Btu's per square foot of collector surface per hour is a safe bet for a good installation—on a clear day—in this climate.) For our particular farrowing operation—16 sows in a 1,500-square-foot area—we need a minimum of about 30,000 Btu's. The collector's extra capacity has allowed us to force additional warmth into the building ... the walls and floors of which act as primitive heat retention mediums. That storage, albeit inefficient, is still adequate to tide us over at night and on cloudy days.

Of course, sows and baby pigs give off body heat, and we use a heat lamp to help newborns through their first few days. But these sources alone are not sufficient during a cold Wisconsin winter. For us, solar heating has made the difference. The temperature in the building never drops below 45 deg F (the coldest that farrowing sows can tolerate) and on clear winter days—when our collector can operate from about 9:30 or 10:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.-the inside of the "furnace" can get up to 160°F!

Our collector also gets a nice boost from the metal roof of a low-lying hog shed that we'd built just south of the barn. Rode estimated that this ready-made reflector adds as much as 50% to the system's efficiency.

SOLAR PHASE II

We're now into "Solar Phase II", during which we'll double the collector size and add more efficient heat storage. The latter will involve some 300 feet of 4-inch perforated pipe set in a concrete floor, which will also serve as a step to help the sows climb into raised crates. The heat will be ducted into the buried pipes to provide better distribution and a more even supply of warmth during sunless days.

Our most important "new" project, however, the construction of a solar grain-drying operation. We've designed a junction for the ductwork so that—with another fan—we can pull the heated air down to an underground duct that will run to two grain storage bins about 50 feet away from the barn. Since we'll need a large volume of air for this operation, the new "passageway" will be made of 50-gallon drums buried end to end. (They'll also be strong enough not to collapse if we drive a tractor over them.) The air will be forced into the bottom of the bins—below a perforated false floor that will serve as a plenum—and then will rise through about 10 feet of she lled corn.

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