Generating heat with cheap (or free!) energy
For millions of people heat is way more expensive than power.
In places where heating oil and natural gas availability are limited there are many people that pay nearly $1,000 per month just to keep their home at a reasonable temperature in the winter months.
Fortunately the sun’s rays can provide heat inside and out even during the cloudiest and coldest of days. In many ways, heating your home with solar is actually easier than powering your home with solar! Here are some easy ways to harness the sun’s radiant heat:
- Passive solar. Your windows and window coverings can help heat your home. Keep the window coverings along the south side of your home open during cold, sunny days. Keep the north-facing window coverings closed during the day and night to limit heat loss. Remove trees and obstructions along the south side of your house to keep shading to a minimum. You can also make sure to plant only deciduous trees, so that there will be less shading in the winter when the leaves are gone, but still have shade during the hot summer months. I’ve also seen people who have a green houses actually pump the warm air into their homes since they don’t grow as much in the winter months.
- Solar thermal systems. If you heat your home with hot water, there are now affordable solar water heating options. These involve placing a collector on your roof that will collect solar radiation to heat a fluid similar to antifreeze. As the fluid heats up it is then circulated into a tank where the fluid, without mixing with the water, heats water for use in showering and home heating. These kits are getting more and more affordable by the day, but do require some plumbing expertise to install.
- Wood stove. It may seem a little old fashioned, but they are really making a comeback. Independent folks are turning back to their roots and finding that cheap timber and clean, efficient stoves mean that you can have extremely affordable heat. The new stoves are so much cleaner and don’t give off 1/10th of the smoke and soot that the old stoves did. It also gives you a certain ‘living off the land’ satisfaction and as they say ‘wood heats you twice, once when you cut it and again when you burn it.’
- Solar air heater. My favorite way to heat the home with the sun is practically free and super-efficient: the solar air heater. The materials can literally be free if you do it right. Even if you purchase the materials it should cost you less than $100 for what can provide you free hot air for decades. They work by creating tubes of air in a solar collector that is installed on the sunny side of a home. Cool air enters the bottom of the unit and is then heated in the tubes, which allow the air to rise and recirculate into the room. It’s completely powerless and ingenious. I know a gentleman in Newfoundland, Canada, certainly one of the cloudiest and coldest spots in the world, who had so much success with this he is now selling, building and installing them for his neighbors.
I bet with some of your creativity and ingenuity you could come up with a way to generate heat using the sun, and tell the gas and oil company you don’t need their high prices and monopolies. Do you have experience with any of these heating methods? Tell me about it in the comments!
My one concern now is: How would the EMP effect the solar panel setup? Would it wipe it out? Neutralize it? or no effect that you may know about? I like the idea of solar hot water for washing my boy-toys, and the car. My house has a ‘gas’ hot water heater that may stop with the power outage of the Borough water system via the EMP. My garage hot water will use the well water and either my generator, is still serviceable, or by a hand pump I may have to install. FYI: your www. address omitted the ‘g’ on generating.
This would have been a great column if there was any information on how to do any of this. I’d especially be interested in the solar air heater where it says it can be built for less than $100. Where can instructions be found?
These always seem to be teaser articles, with marketing eat the bottom. I get inspired here and then go to you tube and do a search.
Mike, you can find a number of methods on You Tube. The least expensive methods are ones that use a box of plywood, 2×4’s, foil, a clear cover of Plexiglas, glass, etc, and a bunch of cans. (aluminum soda seems best, but any metal works) The cans are usually painted with some dark paint. Most use black, but be sure to use flat instead of glossy paint. Anyway, there are many different methods shown for heating the air.
I once used four foot fluorescent light tubes with the ends cut off, the inside white cleaned and some lamp black coating the inside. I mounted eight in holes drilled through 2×4’s cut in half down the middle to hold the bulb glass. I left about six inches of space at each end in a four foot long box that was 2 1/2 foot wide. Four inch holes were drilled, one at each end, but opposite each other. The sun heated the air in the tubes (just as it does with cans) and air pulling the heated air out at one end is blown into the home. No matter which type of system you use, be sure to either mount the panel on the home directly, or heavily insulate the pipe used to carry the heated air into the home.
I live in the woods in Michigan between Detroit and Lansing propane is outrageous so I got a wood stove cut all the dead ash trees for cost of gas. FREE HEAT AND LOTS OF EXERCISE
Sunwise Solar system. No longer in business. Thirty years ago when I built my house I installed a panel System -air collector. It actually heated my house most of the time. It consisted of a 4″ Box 6′ long about 30″ wide. It had 4 separations in each panel .Air from the house entered the bottom and exited the bottom on the other side. The air had to go into the individual troughs in an “s” pattern to go through the panel. That section was covered with polycarbonate about 1/4 ” thick. On top of that was another layer of 3/8″ polycarbonate shaped like an inverted “U”. Both the bottom and top were not connected but sealed at the edges as were the troughs. The troughs were painted not black but very dark green with what looked like hair paint. The paint was all bristly. Why green you ask? Look outside and what do you see? All the forest and most plants have a greenish color right. I tested some left over paint against black paint and the dark dark green was actually hotter. Probably the hair thing. From the last panel the air would enter the house via a very insulated hose about 8″ in diameter then through a110v fan system that would pull the air through the system and exit it into the house. Sounds all well and good. The system was controlled by a Delta T thermostat with a sensor in the collector and another in the house next to the controls. All was grounded to keep static to a minimum. In the 30 years I only had to replace the single integrated circuit 5 times. It was the part that did the switching of the fan power on and off. The only draw back I had to the system was after about 20 years the polycarbonate outer layer would turn a bit cloudy, hence lowering the efficiency. The other thing would be the amount of heat that was being put out. On a sunny day, wait aren’t they all sunny, Some not as bright. That heat that was being put out would overload the fan to its thermal shutoff points. So after about two years those motors would not turn on. I kept spares and made heat spreaders for the incoming shaft of the motor. That helped. I also took aluminum stove pipe and fashioned a collar for the motor and clamped that to the side motor housing. It looked like a porcupine. That would dispel extra heat from the motor casing. Finally after about 22 years the inner polycarbonate started cracking. I have to remind you that polycarbonate is one strong item. Before I purchased the panels there was one set up in a show room. You could test it bu putting on face shield and then handed a baseball bat. I tried several hard hits and it just bounced back, amazing. My final comments are it would have been nice to find a way to store that heat that you could have collected all summer. One thought was of output the collectors into a small room filled with Calicum Chloride rods. Calicum chloride is used in tractor tires for weight. A log heaver than water. Then draw from that room in the summer. I even thought of 50 gallon drum just filled with water. I never followed through with those.
The only draw back was the motors getting hot and then need replacing. Thanks for reading. The panels were made by Sunwise Solar Systems.
Using a wood stove for years–During February’s Ice storm thousands of trees were “lost” We have an abundance of fire wood–well for 2 or 3 years. A propane gas grill with a side burner for coffee when electric goes out. Wood stove can not only bake potatoes but a variety of foods. Hot stove surface will make pancakes or eggs. Unused rooms are closed for the season. Crawl space and attic has been insulated as well.
The best site I have seen for most of our present and future needs at a reasonable cost. I would hope for truly charitable organizations with extremely low overhead or administration to buy the foot supplies for the needy.
I don’t see any information about how to build the inexpensive solar AIR HEATING unit you speak about. I know my son would be interested in augmenting his system in Nashville, TN! Please update this thread and let us know if the system plans are yet available. You talk about some people in Newfoundland who are saving tons using them, but no details or links to purchase the plans. Why?? Thanks, Gwyn Guess, Memphis, TN
Plans and how-to video are included for free with my new Power4Patriots CD. http://www.power4patriots.com
I bought a nice used Franklin wood stove and was excited to install it. Then I found out the insurance company was too. The wood stove would have tripled my insurance rates ( more than any savings from using wood).
What insurance co. did you have. Here in NH they don’t care. They absolutely don’t care, and give a discount if there is a fire extinguisher next to the stove. I have been using a wood stove as my sole source of heat for 30 yrs. No difference in premium between wood stove or non wood stove, but a discount for having extinguishers.
Solar Air Heat,can we get the mans name or web.site if he is selling them?
This is my first comment or request to you.
Approximately when, do you think you may have the detailed instructions ready for the Solar Air Heater. I’m in hopes of having one put together for this next heating season in plenty of time. It gets pretty cold here in NH. Thanks Frank, keep up the good work. Sarce
I’m looking at June 1, 2014 to have them in hand.
1976 – 1984 we lived on the north slope of Cold Mountain in NC at about 4000 feet. On the south-est facing side of the house I built a box 8″ deep about 100 square feet, slanted about 45 degrees, covered with transparent acrylic, insulated, and with a horizontal divider the top surface of which was painted black. Air entered this trombe below the divider, fed from an low opening inside the house (about 4″X16″opening in the foam insulation between studs), was drawn by convection around the space at the bottom of the divider and over its painted top surface, and re-entered the house through a similar inter-stud space about head-high. When the sun went down I would replace the chunk of foam insulation, top and bottom. Result, while the sun shone: 17 degrees outside and 68 degrees inside. 1400 seuare foot house.
I’ve used some simple things like gallon jars (painted black) and set in south facing windows –you would be surprised how much heat they can radiate…. you could also use bricks to accomplish they same thing and then you can use them as foot warmers after the sun goes down ( any high density items work) you cant heat the whole home but every little bit helps to stay comfortable
When I was a little girl growing up we lived out in the country we raised hens both for laying eggs and to eat! we also raised 2-3 pigs in a year to make ham/sausage/bacon and pork liver for my momma(yyyeewwww!) and pork chops! pork barbeque we would put all this up in our deep freezer along with some veggies we raised just in time for winter! we would start loading wood up in our yard every fall so by the time it got cold we were all set for the beginning of winter!! Mr.Bates we had not one wood stove but two wood stoves and I had the warmest room in the house!!
The Solar Air Heater sounds efficient & would like more info on that as living without power for a week in SC during the ice storm was a wake-up call for many & generators were sold out everywhere, thanks for all you offer for us to be more prepared!
Even the desert can be a bit cold in the winter. I have built an 8ft by 2ft solar heater. I went with the non passive, and installed a 175cfm 12 Vfan. (not solar powerd yet-but will be soon) I get about 6 hours of 90-115 degree hot air every day. It takes the chill out of my 1100 sqft house and My gas bill was 27% lower last year. Still think water offers more efficient heat transfer, but the little air heaters not bad.
I’m sure it paid for itself the very first year. Send us pictures! we’d love to show off your hard work.
I used a wood burning stove for years, great heat. Switched to propane stove because of age mainly. Much better heat with wood but propane is O.K. Watching the news in Idaho I have noticed more areas closing down wood stove burning to meet EPA air quality standards.
This can’t be good for grid freedom.
I find the solar air heating very interesting. Hope to see you put something together for us.
I am looking for a solar water pump for my well and solar panels Thanks Fay
Try Williams Windmill in Texas, I hVe one if their solar pumps and panels and it works great
Hi, can you tell us more about the Solar Air Heater? I am using solar to heat and light my greenhouse and will use Solar to heat my water as soon as I can afford the installation.
Thanks, Pat
I’ve been working on putting together detailed instructions on this. Keep an eye out for the announcement.
I have a 2800 sq.ft in ground home with concrete floors and walls. I have a sun room on the southside where there are 4 large window the room is 12 x 16 that gets really warm even in the winter and i use to woodburnlng stoves that keep my cost way down . I thought i would share that with thanks bill
it’s all good if you own a home. what about people who live in apartments? i always get theses ideas from you guys, but you never address survival for apartment liveing people. i made my own solar generator. I had the roll up solar panel hanging off the roof on the sunny side of my unit and the owner got mad. said it made the building look shabby. he also said it would not be fair to your tenets having electricity when everyone else didn’t. so i laid it in the window. the bastard gave me a 90 notice to vacate my apartment.I’m on housing and they wont do any thing but help me find a new place. sincse we have no rent control, i cannot sue him for violations of the ADA act.
Good mornin’, I haven’t spoke with you at all in the past but have visited the power4patriots website many times. I purchased some of the material that is available, to see if I can afford to save any money. well at 15k net income and a 500 dollar a month house payment, I have not been able to come up with the money to put in the solar panels and system that is needed to power my house with electricity. I will be able to hook it up myself as I have worked as an electrician in the past for about 25 years. I heat my house totally with wood and I am looking into possibly hooking up the electric system as DC instead of AC. Hey it works in campers and motor homes. Just thought I would touch base with ya and let ya know I am behind you and pretty much all your stuff. I live in SW Mo. and an American rebel. keep it up.
see me later
We used to run DC. but have found AC to be much more satisfactory. DC appliances tend to be expensive and not as efficient – particularly refrigerators. Most DC refrigerators have an inverter built in. You’re better off just getting an efficient AC fridge and an inverter. Same goes for lights, t.v., radio, computers, etc. With the availability of good inverters today, I’m appalled that campers still run DC. I have been off-grid for over forty-two years, and I’ve done it all. I personally now run everything AC, with the exception of a couple of small DC fans. It’s nice to have a pure sine wave inverter, but a modified sine wave will do nicely. (If you want to run computer-controlled appliances such as a washing machine or a monitor heater, you may have to keep a light or two running so the inverter senses a draw, or the appliance may not be able to kick in.) If you have the battery capacity to run DC, then you have the battery capacity to run AC. You want deep-cycle batteries that are good for a solar array. Aside from batteries, your biggest expenses would be a small inverter (1,300 watt), an iota battery charger, (55 amp max,) and a Honda EU 2000 i generator or equivalent. You can always buy panels later and hook them in as you get them. You will need a charge controller to go with them. With solar panels it is wisest today to go with as high a voltage as you can (i.e. series connection) because it reduces the wire size needed from the panels to the controller.
That comment was from my husband, not me. I forgot to switch the name when I typed it for him. I can’t take credit for understanding how to hook these things up!
Roberta,
Now that’s funny!!! I was really impressed with how much knowledge you had about AC, DC, Solar, and all the other brilliant fandangled stuff you were describing!! I had decided you were very educated – probably as a Nuclear Physicist or something similar. Then you tagged-on about forgetting to put your honey’s name on all the info!! Thanks for the belly laugh!! Anne
very interesting on solar tube heating
Appreciate your informaton will give to my husband see if we can use any this winter.
Wood burning is really warm heat. One drawback is it cost more on your home insurance. My husband got up at night to stoke and add more wood. If we were to do it again it would be an outside unit that would hold long logs.
You might want to find a way to check the air temperature in that gap during the colder months before you go through the effort of indoor venting. You might find that it doesn’t get as warm back there as you are hoping.
Solar Air Heater – just wondering. My brick facia house has an airgap between the brick and the weatherboard/insulation-board. Already has weep holes at the bottom but no (current) means of exhausting the risen heated air out the top and into the house. Would seem wise to install select-able vents to allow air to enter home during winter and vent out the top during summer. Sealing off the top of the airgap between the vents could be a workload but certainly possible.
jjm123- What you described in your comment is standard technology for “Trombe’ walls”. Much of the ‘How-To’ information for the DIY-ers on Alternative Energy applications can be found online at the Dept of Energy’s Technology Transfer page or their topic specific page searches. If you can find and re-apply/re-tech items like aluminum cans, 2-liter plastic bottles, corrugated sheet metal, 4″-Diameter or larger PVC pipe, the large concrete-pillar cardboard forms (6″ Diameter or larger) or scrapped HVAC ducting,…you can build passive air AND water heating panels, drums or walls. Just add elbow-grease and matte black heat-paint (for grills & stoves). Heck I even went as far as to scavenge old photovoltaic cells, solder them into strings then adhere them to “Iron-Glass” with a thermally-conductive/electrically-insulative epoxy so I could lay thin-wall copper tubing along the back surface of the panel. Photovoltaic [aka solar] cells get extremely hot as they produce electricity from the sun, so keeping them cool makes them more efficient. running 50-50 ethylene-glycol & water through the tubing drew 80+% of the heat away from the cells while pre-heating water through a small heat-exchanger where it went through a “heat-loop” to all the hot water faucets, before it entered my gas water heater. The water pump for all of this was powered by the 2 deep-cell batteries kept charged by the solar cells. The air heater simply needs a means to absorb the infra-red spectrum which should be shaped in such a way as to cause as much air to contact its surfaces as possible [“tortuous-path” e.g.: S-patterns, corrugation, tubes/pipes cut in half mounted alternately, OR kept in tact and filled with some sort of solar-heat retaining mass [e.g. glycol solutions, sand, concrete, etcetera]. Happy experimentation to all!
I eat a lot of Mexican food, I figure we’ll have the learn the language anyway, what with out traitorous politicians, anyway, when I get home, I find I have a lot of gas… Well, with my bic lighter, I light my own flatulency and have found this to throw off a lot of heat!
People like you should waste your own time. Dont flaunt your stupidity here. Those who are here, are invetsed in the info. If you are not, then dont make a nuisance of yourself. Just go away.
I am very interested in solar. Is there anything out there about portable solar generators?
These are great and I will check into them.
Thank you Frank, I use wood along with gas and electrical.Please give any update on natural purification of water ,possible producing electricity of grid any up dates..I thought Glen Beck mentioned something.
Dear Frank,
Could you send me detailed information on how to build this solar heater or where you can get the kit? Thanks in advance, Ruth
Hold tight, Ruth, I’m working on putting together detailed instructions and I’ll be making it available to all current Power4Patriots customers in the next few weeks.
Will you be selling the Solar Air Heater system or the designs to build one?
Carolyn, there are many resources online for building a cheap solar air heater. Like this one: http://youtu.be/FtfaZMahSUU
where can we find out more about building this Solar air heater? It sounds like something we need for our trailer, our heat bills are outrageous. Carol
I am interested in the Solar air heater. Could you please send me more information on this?
Thank you.
all excellant info———keep up the good info for all that do not know———i have used some of this already———have taken a skylight and put a fan in it and installed a circular configulation in it at one end coming out of the house and blowing it out the other end and back into house
How’s the progress on the solar air heater video coming? I’m interested in checking that out.
Good reminder, Mike. I’m going to check on it. I believe it’s done…
Portable solar panels are quite reasonable and with the propped inverter you can heat or cool your environment. Please respond if you wish to see my systems.by
Do you have a website for the solar air heater you talk about I would very much like to read up on it . Thank you for the great tips James
I’m actually working on that right now – videoing the whole building process. Keep an eye out for the announcement when it’s ready.
I am very interested in this Solar air heater please email me any information you may have that has instructions on how to build one..
Thanks,
Leo
Awesome job_Butch that answers to ornery. love your ideas. And resourcefullest keer up the grrat work anf comments. csuse I’m shor listing
Hi Frank, This weeks tips are good for the fellow Patriots to learn more about, as passive solar does make a lot of sense and the priced is so cheap it’s affordable for all who wish to pursue the knowledge to build both air and water heaters using solar power. Of coarse I had my plans all laid out wrong for a hot air heater. My plan was to catch a politician and put him in a big box then just pump the hot air out into the living space, however the smell of wind blowing over bovine feces was to overbearing, so maybe I will go with some of Butch’s good ideas. Thanks for the heads up,many of these ideas will help people to exist in an independent life style. Life must go on even after a economy crash that just may make the great depression of the thirties look like a Sunday school picnic. So it seems a solar heating system is what I need, and the Politician can stay in DC. Maybe some of that hot air will help warm the cold hearts of our political leaders. Old Hugh (from the thirties)
What if it isn’t sunny out, will the solar panels still collect enough energy to power the solar heater?
Hi,
I would like the plans for making the solar air heater. Thank you.
I would also like the plans to make the solar air heater. Do you have the information or is there a website available?
I have been living off the grid for 9 months now. It is a fascinating adventure. I am using many of the ideas and information I have recieved from power4patriots. I do have your book and video on building your own solar collector and wind turbine. Right now I am using passive solar heating and solar lights. I do agree that it feels great to be independent of the electric and gas companies. My summer project is to make a solar water heater. I have the plans and am ready to implement it. Thanks, Cheryl
Where can I get plans to make the Solar air heater?
I’m very interested i the solar heater tecknology ! Please respond !
I would like to know how to build solar air heaters
I have an outside wood boiler and love it! I live on 44 acres of land and have plenty of “fuel’. However, If I couldn’t get to it due to severe whether, illness, or invasion; I could burn almost anything in it. I know a guy who throws tires in his. Not recommended due to environmental reasons, neighbor’s feelings, and the clean up. But, if I had to, I know I can heat my New England home, in the winter time, as well as my domestic water. In the summer months, when the boiler is shut down, I use an on demand propane water heater that uses very little fuel and heats in seconds. This past summer, a near-by high school disposed of out dated text books that the recycle plant wouldn’t take. Instead of filling land fill, I burned them all summer, to heat my domestic water and used almost no propane.
I have been experimenting with passive solar heating for some time now. Essentially a person needs windows with a South facing exposure. I have used scrap pieces of corrugated metal and have painted them flat black and placed them with in the interior window spaces inside a room and have gotten results, Typically the temps inside my house inside the window frames can be typically 10 degrees cooler than the air inside the house and away from the windows during the heating season. Placing the corrugated flat black painted pieces of metal inside the window jams when the sun is shining will raise the temperture of the metal to over a hundred degrees F. The corrugated metal pieces are rough 30 by 36 inches and only cover the bottom half of the windows.
My windows in the house are 6030’s, so I can still enjoy recieving sunlight through the upper portion of the windows. This is a really inexpensive option, the metal was left over scrape metal and the paint was about $2.00 bucks.
I also have built a 2 X 6 framed box insulated it with 5/16″ foil/bubble/foil insulation on the back interior side ( framed a piece of 1/2 inch plywood with 2 X 6’s ) I caulked around the joints of the frame. Placed a piece of corrugated metal painted flat black and raised it up from the back of the box with 1 1/2 inch furring strips to elevate it from the back side of the box with the insulation ( I only paint one side of the corrugated metal, the side exposed to the sun ). I then covered the frame with clear plastic so the sun can shine directly upon the corrugated black faced metal. I caulked the top of the frame before I attached the clear plastic to form a seal. I cut a hole in the bottom of the box though the 2 X 6 frame and attached one of those solar operated fans ( $12.95 US on the internet) that people buy to place on the window of a car to circulate the air inside of your car and exchange it with the outside air to keep your vehicle from getting super hot during the summer months in southernly climates. I cut a slot in the top of the box to allow the air to escape the solar chamber. The slot is 1″ by 20 “. I built the frame to sit inside the window jam of my work shop building. The frame is 60″ X 36”. You don’t need the solar operated fan for this thing to work, but I think it works better with it as far as producing more heat. The fans volume is really low but keeps the air moving a little faster than just convection. I have measured the heat inside of this solar box on a sunny day at 160 degrees F.
AM still experimenting and toying with ideas about using mass to absorb heat and exchange it during non sunny periods. Will post somthing on it if I can get some results out of it, cost and ease of implementing the thing are my top priorities with this project
Soloar Air Heater sounds very interesting; could you provide more detailed info ?
Yes, we built our home with a Southern Exposure, 8ft., sliding doors, full-on sunny days. My thermostat is rarely set above 65 degrees in the winter and we live in SD. I actually learned this in Real Estate School…living in the North, you want a Southern exposure. Live in the South, you want a Northern Exposure.
For those of you considering burning wood, look up “rocket stove mass heater” on internet and youtube. Burn 1/5 the wood AND store the heat for later.
Very intereting !!! Where do I find how to build the solar air hater.
I have a friend who uses cement dust from the refractory process to make cement that is thoroughness away to heat his home. The dust is thrown away in fields and then buried to keep people from touching it as it is so hot and it stays hot for days. If you can get a supply of the dust and trap it underground you can heat it during the day and take the heat off at night because of no sun to generate solar heat. This friend has been doing this for years. He uses a wood burner during the day to also add the heat to the dust. He has made deals with wood mills for there slab wood and uses that for heat also at very cold times in the year. The best part of this is to use the waste from another process that is just buried on the land and it just needs to be put in a Pitt and covered with pipes going in and out of it to keep it hot and take the heat as you need it.
I met a lady who lives on the border of California and Nevada where it gets below 0 on a regular basis in the winter. She has a greenhouse they built over a 4 foot bed of rocks. She says they only have to heat it at night when the temp stays way below 0 for over a week at a time. What they did was did a hole 4 ft. deep, put in 2 ft.of river rock and install 4 inch pvc pipe with holes in it (french drain type) weaving back and forth over the rocks and a pipe coming up into the greenhouse in opposite corners then covered the pipe with more rocks. fans blow the warm air down into the rocks in the daytime and pulls it out again at night, I am going to try it, the principle could be used to heat the house using attic heat or a greenhouse on the south side. What could be better than heat and food at the same time!
Oh that’s clever! thanks for posting, Jackie.
I am extremely interested in gaining all the info necessary for making solar air heaters – supplies needed, blueprints, diagrams???
Back in the early 1980’s we installed passive solar air heaters on cottages of the elderly on Cape Cod – as well as doing insulating etc as part of the first LIHEAP (low income heating energy assistance program) mostly done by VISTA volunteers.Nowadays most of the funding for LIHEAP seems to just pay heating bills, I think. Too bad. the alternative programs did a lot more good and really helped people reduce their heating costs and dependence on fossil fuels.
We built simple framed boxes, lined with tar paper inside, and glass or plexiglass on the face creating an airspace as deep as a regular two by four on end; then mount the boxes on the south walls of cottages – often these buildings were single wall construction – and cut vents in through the top and bottom to allow the air to flow from the cottage into the box and out again. Very simple design with covers for the vents for nighttime; and it worked just fine for folks who had no reliable heat source they could afford.
Of course we also installed insulation, weatherstripping and window coverings whenever possible and jacketed hot water tanks etc. as budget would allow. Always simple, inexpensive materials and low tech; but it worked.
wood pellet stoves are great. I put one in for my girlfriend and it even came with a thermostat. She supplemented her gas heat with it and used about 3/4 ton of pellets ($200) for the winter here in Denver. It was kind of pricey stove $2000 but was top of the line.
what are the voerall cost of each of these systems and how do you determine which is the best method for you?
I would like to see a how-to with needed supplies, etc. to make a solar air heater
very informative
Thanks to ‘Rain Lady’ and I used to have one of those reflective ‘sheets’
for camping, but someone lost it. They sell that here at a good price.
It reflects body heat, and I think it is a must, but yes, the
poster beds were used in England and Scotland!!!…brrr…and people
were quite healthy. Need the zones, as you said, or insular pockets.
Appreciate the reminder.
I have been using solar for a while, my winter energy bill for Dec 17 to jan17 was $79.99 I am happy with that for now. Vic.
Also….In the days of cold and dreary castles they had 4 post canopy beds draped in fabric for a reason….They were creating a “ZONE WITHIN A ZONE”. This is the same method they use in passive green houses. They drape the plants in the green house to create a secondary thermal heat zone. So in an emergency….Pitch your tent in the house if you have no other method of heat. Then wear clothes in your sleeping bad. You create a ZONE (clothes) within a ZONE (sleeping bag) within a ZONE (tent) within a ZONE (house). The more zones you create, the warmer you will stay. So many people do not have a secondary heat system. So if the grid goes down…Think ZONES and you can also buy some reflective mylar bubble wrap insulation to help shield your tent zone. You can buy it at Lowes and it is a must for your emergency supply kit.
Go to Youtube and type in “pop can solar heaters”. There are lots of links on how to turn soda pop cans into solar heaters. It is a fun project. And cheaply built. Not as attractive as expensive solar tubes, but they really do work.
For all of those wanting more information on solar air heaters as well as other solar projects go to builditsolar.com . There are a lot of diy projects and lots of information. Enjoy.
My nephew in NW Wisconsin, heats his entire home with what is called a corn stove. They burn efficiently on dry corn with little smoke. One full hopper of corn will last an entire cold Wisconsin night. He buys his corn in large plastic barrels with sealable tops to keep out critters when left outside the house and keeps it dry. His house was built in the 1800s and the walls have very little insulation and are almost impossible to re-insulate due to the home layout. (post and beam inside) I think there is a corn stove dealer near Barron, WI. When the stove is hot, only the front of the stove is hot to the touch so one doesn’t need a lot of clearance from walls.
The solar air heater principle has been practiced in green houses for a long period of time. If you utilize this same principal in an underground formation, you can pre-cool your house in the hot summer months, as under ground temperatures are cooler than surface air during summer months.
I would love to find instructions with pics on. How to make your own solar air heaters. Anyone have info about a reliable source?
Okay, I did a search, and came up with the following links that might be helpful.
A video of the guy in Newfounland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRZvAAqzXIw
A page that rates and links to several different designs:
http://stonehavenlife.com/7-diy-pop-can-solar-heaters/
Some more designs:
http://greenterrafirma.com/solar-air-heating.html
Now this is a timely topic. The thermometer outside reads 17 below zero as I type, and it is supposed to go down to minus 21 tonight. I would like to know if there is any wood stove or method that will safely burn softwood (hemlock, fir, etc.) I have been told it will quickly build up creosote deposits, which make a chimney fire likely, but that is mostly what I have growing here. I also understand that the newer, more efficient stoves can further increase this danger by burning more slowly than the older ones.
Also, Frank, do you have plans for the solar air heater described in the article?
I also would like info on the solar air heaters.
I would like to also have the info for the guy in Newfoundland, Canada.
Thanks for the info.
what about cloudy/cold and often rainy areas? Does it still work then,
the solar air heater?
I have the same question as Bill
I would like more information on the solar air heater – like where to purchase etc.
I need help buying, purchasing and installing a wood burning stove. I found an old one that is actually a stove and oven and has a water broiler on the side. however I am afraid that it is too old and I may not be able to get the proper tubing to vent it etc… I would really like to find an item like this that is tested and able to be installed and used right away. The new ones in the stores are far beyond my budget, but none of them provide a top stove heating and cooking area or even an oven. I want to invest in an item that will be multi-purpose for my family. Heat, cook, bake, boil water, even if it is just on the top surface and I boil in pots…. I need the basic necessities…. fire, water, food….
Frank,
I lost a few sentences on my post. After sentence about “10 degrees above outside temp.” I need to make 5 more and a large one for outsied wall on back porch.
Thank you for providing the info to help us take care of ourselves. It has been a learning experience.
Am remodeling a home. Turned off all utilities. Have made two of these passive solar air heaters using soda pop cans, high temp black matte paint, high temp adhesive stuff in a tube, scrap lumber. Found directions on youtube. Googled “passive solar heater”. Spent a day going thru videos. Made them to fit inside windows on south wall. Keeps temp tolerable, for my area that would be about 10 degrees above outside wall on back porch. These do take time to make. So far they work for me.
Frank,
Where do I get the plans to build this solar heating or is it in the DVDs that I bought from you?
Bill