4 foot by 8 foot Solar Air Heater
Well it’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally done. I have been building this solar air heater for a couple of months now, and just got it installed this afternoon. I’m looking forward to see how well it heats up the house.
Solar Air Heater Plenum connecting the tunnels.
Air Intake and Output Vents.
Window Intake and Output from solar air heater
I take it the inserts are the new profiles? I watched the YouTube video on these. Do you have any other pictures? Was it easy to assemble? I’m thinking of building one too but I don’t think it will come out as nice as yours. Any help with pictures and diagrams would be great….thanks in advance.
Yes I used the new profiles. And I will be adding more pictures later. The box is made from 1″x6″’s (actual dim. is 3/4″x5 1/2″) the back is 1/2″ plywood 4′x8′ sheet, and the face is 3/16″ plexiglass. I’m also using the window heater kit on this unit. The thermostat on/off switch is a real nice feature. The box was not hard to build at all, the hardest part for me was finding time to work on it. When I found time, it would rain. And the heater got to big for my small workshop, so I hard to drag it outside to have room to work on it. But it turned out really nice, I’m very happy with it.
Hey that looks great. I’m thinking about putting one on the side of my garage. How does the air enter and exit the unit? Do you have a reading on how high the exiting air temperature is?
Thanks
I was wondering…how hot does this get and is there a reason why you used 3/16″ plexiglas? Also, those “solar air heater profiles” are they any good? I know you bought them and spent alot of time building your air heater but are they worth it? Don’t get me wrong your build looks GREAT, I’m just wondering……
I made a plenum to fit a window in my front room. It has the cold air return from the house to the bottom of the heater box and a hot air return from the top of the heater box back to the house. I used the heater fan kit that kicks the fan on at 120F and will run as long as the temp does not drop down below 90F, if it does the fan turns off. This morning it turned on at 9:00am at 120F and has not turned off. I just check it at 10:30am and its 140F and the plexiglas on the front is starting to sag a little not to bad, so I may have to put a bigger fan on it.
Ecoist,
I used 3/16″ for several reasons: First because I know this winter at night its going to snow and have a heavy load on the face of the box until the morning when I get up anc clean it off. Second the thicker the plex the higher the continues operating range (it holds its shape without warping at a higher temp) 3/16″ range is 180F. Third is I have to very active young boys and I have no doubt that at some point a baseball or some other projectile is going to make contact and I wanted it to be able to take a hit. The last thing I want to be doing is replacing the plex in the dead of winter.
The solar air heat profiles are great. I’ve used aluminum tube on a past project and it did not get as hot as these profiles do. I’m glad I spent the money on them.
Yesterday the high temp outside was 58F and no wind, clear sky:
Heater details for the day
9:00am 120F fan turned on
10:00am 140F
11:00am 148F
12:15pm 156F
1:30pm 146F
2:30pm 132F
3:40pm 111F
4:12pm 90F fan turned off
Temp in the house was a steady 71F all day. Furnace is set at 68F. So thats 6hrs my furnace did not have to run. I have a 100yr old 1900sqft 2 story farm house. Last year I used 900 gallons of LP for the heating season. The furnace is the only thing using LP. So if I can supplement 1/4 of my heating bill to solar air heat, thats more money in my pocket. Gotta like that.
Those temp. readings you posted, are those from the output side of the heater or inside the unit? I hear you on the 3/16″ plexi. Thanks for all the information. You must be happy! Keep us up to date this winter… Thanks again.
The temps are inside the box. The distance from the box to the house is only 5′, so there’s not much of a drop in those numbers for whats being pushed into the house.
No, its open. The air temps coming from the box into the house are only dropping, maybe a degree or two. And that could just be the difference between the two thermometers.
I was looking at your design, why did’nt you put the hot air exhaust and cold air return at the same end if this was going to be a window type unit?
I would like to build one but my windows open sideways. How would we modify this?
Bob, I don’t think this is a window unit.
Bob,
Ecoist is correct, this is not a window unit. It sets in front of my deck, which has a full roof over it. I had to get the unit where the sun was going to hit it.
Also with my longitude / latitude the panel needed to be mounted at a 41 degrees to maximize the winter sun.
Gina,
You should be able to take what I have done in my window and turn it on its side and have it work the same.
Your heater design looks great! I’m thinking making one myself. How did you choose the size of your heater? What did you use for sealing the plexiglass? Please keep us posted on your savings!!!!!
In the 1980s while still teaching, I had my students screw 160 soda cans, onto a 3′ x 6′ piece of luan, spray pained them flat black,and put an old storm window over it. no insulation. We set it up outside leaning against the building and within 6 minutes or so a thermometer indicated 98 degrees
put and surrounding air temp of 50 degrees. It was just an experiment as part of a study of solar energy. It got junked and forgotten. Now 30 years later I was dumbfounded to see on you tube several people making soda can solar heaters–very advanced from my early attempt, which worked too but was only an experiment I am so pleased to see it come back for real. Now if only someone could get it to store the heat for night time.
By the way I actually had a mini grant to build a window mounted solar room heater, but alas my shop kids sabotaged it and my retirement was looming.
Nice job on the construction.Curious how you joined the tubing lengths together,do you get connectors with the kit,or can you just use some ac tape.This is exactly the type of kit i,m looking for ,was dreading the idea of drilling ,washing, & gluing 200 odd cans together.Would you advise buying the layout plans,to save time figuring out the baffle configuration?
Very nice job! I’m glad to see you using it for your home. For some unexplained reason many who build these things don’t heat there homes but there sheds or garages, Why? I won’t even ask. On you tube under this user name I’m currently posting heater temps for Dec and Jan. Though my temps outside are more colder, 10-28 degrees the box is blowing in 140+ degrees. Great job!
What about degradation of coca cola cans material?
How long will it last?