DIY Passive Solar Heaters can be an economical and energy efficient option for garages, sheds and greenhouses. In addition to heating the air directly, these systems may include tubes embedded into dense materials such as sand or bricks which absorb extra solar energy before dissipating it once nightfall comes.
Paint or cover a wooden tray in black plastic or roofing felt to trap more heat, or wrap it with clear plastic tarpaulin to heighten its effect.
Frame
Passive solar heating occurs when sunlight penetrates windows and transfers its heat energy directly into a home or building through windows, where it is then absorbed by an absorber coated in dark color to be stored as thermal mass heat storage for use later. Passive Solar Heaters should be designed such that their temperature stays steady over time and for best results should be situated facing south.
As part of creating your DIY solar air heater, the first step in building its collector box should be creating its frame. 2x4s should be used with plywood backing for this step, with Plexiglas serving as front cover. You should spray paint all frames and pipes black to maximize heat absorption; copper should be chosen due to its superior conductivity.
Window film comes as part of a kit with double-sided tape and can be cut to size with scissors. After sticking the window film to the inside face of your frame, adhere a clear plastic tarp overtop, using zip ties to secure it to wood structures if possible. A helper might come in handy as the weighty material requires time for proper adhesion.
Install a fan to circulate air through the system. A heat sensor should then be attached to it in order to trigger when temperatures fall below an established threshold; additionally, this sensor can also be linked with a thermostat for additional control options.
If you want to take your DIY solar air heating efforts a step further, there are plans online that you can download. "Build it Solar" offers a pdf version with lots of detail and great pictures; using aluminum pipe mounted inside polyiso rigid insulation with twinwall polycarbonate glazing on the outside as part of its system.
Thermostat
Utilizing natural laws of physics, this system harnesses winter sun to heat indoor living spaces. It's an effective alternative or supplement to heating using oil, gas or electric heaters.
DIY solar air heater projects don't get simpler than this! All it requires are basic tools and materials for this DIY solution to work, including wall-mounted collector boxes covered with clear plastic or black paint to absorb sunlight during winter and push hot air back out during the summer when not in use.
First step of this process involves having windows facing south to allow the sunlight into your building, where its warmth can be absorbed by wood or glass frames and transferred through conduction - when touching a hot stove handle you feel its heat!
Once solar heat has been captured, it needs to be distributed throughout the home. One way is through infrared radiation from the sun which travels through air currents to heat objects - much like how fireplaces operate and most electric radiant floor heating systems operate.
Though passive solar heating is an attractive concept for many people, it hasn't quite found widespread acceptance as has solar electricity or panels. Still, passive solar heating offers a viable alternative to fossil fuel heating while helping reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs.
While there are various kinds of solar heaters out there, this model stands out as an easy and cost-effective way to reduce heating bills. Construct it from scrap wood and polycarbonate sheets found around your house or garage - and enjoy low cost solar heating solutions for rooms, sheds, or small workshops!
Absorber
Forced convection solar air heaters can be built at a fraction of the cost of commercial models, and are best suited to smaller homes in climates with long sunny days. Furthermore, they can be combined with high efficiency wood burning stoves for backup heat on cloudy days.
An easy DIY solar air heater project for most experienced do-it-yourselfers to assemble is a solar air heater system using a fan blowing interior air into a south-facing wall mounted panel containing an absorber on which sun-heated air is stored before being circulated back to conditioned spaces at an increased temperature.
Absorbers come in various designs. A popular one utilizes stacks of aluminum cans as an easy, cost-effective solution. Simply cut down, remove tabs and glue together in layers before painting black to protect from rusting. Air is forced through the bottoms of cans towards an absorber plate where hotter air rises before being forced back through to return out through top vents.
Another design option uses panels of commercially available perforated soffit material that can be cut to size for precise installation in wall mounted boxes, making installation much simpler than using screen absorbers. "Build it Solar" website offers an in-depth step-by-step pdf download on how to construct such a solar air heater featuring aluminum plenums enclosed within polyiso rigid insulation and twinwall polycarbonate glazing panels.
Conductivity of absorber materials is vitally important to the effectiveness of any system. Copper provides higher heat production compared with lower conducting materials like plastic. To optimize system performance, painting all absorber assembly walls (inner and outer walls of collector box) with Rust Oleum flat BBQ paint can increase both its heating potential while protecting it from rain, mold growth and UV rays.
Fan
Making a solar space heater on a budget requires little creativity or expense, with results exceeding $100 achievable with some creativity and ingenuity. This straightforward design can easily heat swimming pools, garages or workshops using convection to warm water that passes from pool through sump pump into coil of black tubing heated by sun that circulates back to pool via sump pump and is then back into pool via sump pump.
Water is stored within tubing using a closed loop system, while air blown into it from a solar panel-powered fan keeps the circulation going. As a result, on sunny days it will be warmer than its surrounding air; on cloudier ones it may even feel cooler.
Doing your own solar project of heating air with a solar air heater is another straightforward DIY solar project, using an affordable box painted black, connected with a hose allowing airflow from bottom to top and fan blowing air through it during the day and back out during night-time circulation.
Solar heaters can help save both energy and money while decreasing dependence on fossil fuels. There are countless designs and assembly techniques for this type of solar heater available on the web; YouTube videos will offer ample guidance as to their construction. Some are more precise, ingenious or expensive than others but all save energy, money and carbon emissions.
Some DIY solar projects involve using old pop cans as heat absorbers - an excellent reason to purchase larger bottles of pop! Other DIY air heaters utilize standard eaves trough downspouts painted matte black so as to maximize sun absorption while simultaneously pushing warm air back into your room with a fan.
A solar air heater should depend on your time and money available for expenditure as well as local weather patterns, so experimentation may be required in order to find one suitable to your circumstances and needs. Before covering it with glass or plastic sheets as this can severely diminish efficiency levels.