Trying to find super cheap way to collect solar

[TechStuf]

I have had good results with simply making use of SR after it enters one's already insulated home.  Afterall, why reinvent the window if one doesn't have to....

Stand up a piece of sheet metal painted with stove paint inside a window and install a mylar covered plywood panel horizontally outside just beneath the window to increase the amount of reflected SR hitting the sheet metal.  Stand the metal on a couple blocks to facilitate convection and voila.  Also, if one has a storm door, then they have probably experience how hot even a shiny lacquered, light colored wood front door heats up appreciably even on cold days.  Imagine making use of that surface area as well.  Not purdy, but it's easy and practical.

Of course, a better solution would be to install vertical blinds and replace the slats in winter with black chrome slats with short focus fresnel sheets in front of each slat, then install a small tracking motor to the spindle rod blind adjuster so they track the sun across the sky!

Of course, evacuated solar tubes are very efficient and great for use even in the extreme northern U.S.


Peace,


TS

[triffid]

I have often felt that corrugated cardboard could be used to heat up air with if it was used in a solar hot air heater.Just paint it black and let air flow through the little holes in the cardboard.Triffid

[TechStuf]

Perhaps the cheapest way to convert solar radiation that I've ever heard!  Given the insulative properties and small corrugated convection pathways, however, it is a comparatively inefficient choice......but it's way better than nothing at all.

TS

[jeanna]

Actually, as long as it stays dry, cardboard is a really good option.

I used it as insulation once when I was very poor and lived in an uninsulated barn. I stapled it onto the rafters. The heat rising from the heater in the tenant's apartment below mine kept that room toasty. The rest of the rooms with sheetrock walls and ceilings were frigid. (This was Concord, Massachusetts. oo ee baby reallllly cold!) Not that room.

So, keep it dry and go for it.

Also, in an earlier post about the hot air heater (I remember this thread is supposed to be about water!!!) I didn't go into the detail about the greenhouse effect happening inside the unit. This is the reason the unit heats up so well. You know, long rays IR not able to escape etc...

jeanna

[TechStuf]

Actually, as long as it stays dry, cardboard is a really good option.

And cheap too!  However, for nominal added cost, try comparing it to black metal, which will radiate heat effectively from both sides.  


If one can afford sheet metal, the decision is a no brainer, really.  


TS