Solar Heating?

As you know there are tons of solar pool heaters here and my thoughts are based on what I know about our systems. I know that much information from here does not apply to your area due to the extreme difference in the weather so I will eliminate anything that would not apply to you.

First I would not try to build my own solar panels. The commerical panels are very efficient and UV resistant. You could spend a large percentage of what a commerical panel would cost and only get a small percentage of the heat available. The commerical panels will probably last much longer than anything that an individual might construct.

The only other point that I would make is that I would not attach them to my roof if there is any other option. You mentioned being pounded by weather and winds and if these panels start tearing off you could have some expensive damage to your roof, not to mention any water damage inside your house. There are a lot of new regulations here due to the damage caused by roof mounted solar panels. Of course we live in hurricane country but your winter winds might not be a whole lot less.

Some companys gurantee the hold down systems up to a certain wind speed but I say take those sort of things with a grain of salt.

Down here the solar systems work incredable well and I would not do without mine but I only use mine for heating the pool. For some reason water heater systems are very rare. I do no know why unless it is not cost effective.

Good luck in your quest! Allen

Actually Tod the frost line is not that deep around here...48 inches to be exact. I think they have some fudge factor there too as the ice seldom gets deeper than 36 to 42 inches on the lakes. In the ground its less depending upon the snow cover for that year. It seems around here though, that the colder the winter, the less snow we have making for a deeper freeze.

As for the wind, that is good advice as the wind up here is pretty fierce, but thankfully it hits me from the north side of the house and so my solar panels would be spared the wind.

I think financially I would have to build these panels myself. I doubt I could afford enough panels to make it worthwhile up here...besides I like trying to build new things.

This is a bit off topic, but its interesting to note something my company is doing. As most people know I work for a high-end yacht building company. Well they designed this solar power plant that is self contained. Their thought was, if it was small enough, light enough, and wired right, these small self contained collectors could be built and used in disaster areas.

Well after some thought, they decided they were the best company to build these things. After all we are well versed in making carbon-fiber, solar collectors on yachts is very common, and we have electricians thatcan wire these things.

So now they are building them. They are about the size of a cord of wood, are super light, well wired and are being sold to FEMA. They can helicopter/ parachute these solar power units into disaster areas. They are only about a KW in size, but they can be coupled together to provide more power as needed and of course are wired for 110 volt, 220, shore power and other types of outlets.

As I said, its off topic from solar heating, but pretty cool nonetheless.

Travis,

Have you thought about a air based system? I did a lot of research a while back and decided a air based system was the best route for shop heat. They are simple, appear fairly straight forward to build and virtually maintenance free. Here's a link I found for a high efficiency unit with plans to build it. I'm going to try and build one to go over the full glass storm door on the shop. I figure it will be a good test while not making any permanent holes in the house.

http://www.green-trust.org/2000/solar/Homebuilt Collector Instructions.pdf

Mike

M Toupin said:

Travis,

Have you thought about a air based system? I did a lot of research a while back and decided a air based system was the best route for shop heat. They are simple, appear fairly straight forward to build and virtually maintenance free. Here's a link I found for a high efficiency unit with plans to build it. I'm going to try and build one to go over the full glass storm door on the shop. I figure it will be a good test while not making any permanent holes in the house.

http://www.green-trust.org/2000/solar/Homebuilt Collector Instructions.pdf

Mike

Click to expand...

That is very interesting, in fact I found this to be VERY intersting...

Sol-Air Company Tel (207) 338-9513
129 Miller St. Fax (208) 978-7839
Belfast, Maine, U.S.A. 04915 - 3 - Email kreamer@adelphia.net

Belfast is a mere 15 miles from my house and is in fact in the same county I live in. Heck my daughter was born in Belfast and my brother and I own some land there as well...I will certainly investigate this option some more, so thanks a lot for the link. Nothing like having a resource close by to ask questions and get some advice...again, thanks.