http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11 ... d_easy.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Watch the video!
BTW anyone have any experience with this? I've built a solar hot water heater back in high school, but airflow is a bit different. I just moved to a new place and finally have a garage! It is uninsulated and unheated, plus since its a rented house, I cannot add a fixed vented gas heater, and I refuse to pay that much for electric heating.
MX3 Spotted while searching for a DIY solar heater idea!
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onlytrueromeo
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- Location: Albany, NY
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_-Night-Shade-_
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Re: MX3 Spotted while searching for a DIY solar heater idea!
Lmfao "hot air effect" it's called the greenhouse effect.
Also:
Also:
Paul D. wrote:Too bad putting it right in your window will do absolutely nothing to add heat to your house. Any sun that is being absorbed by the box is just heat being stopped from getting to the rest of your house. Sure the box will heat up, but the rest of the house will be cooler. I don't mean to harp on this guy, but its no wonder we have an energy crisis when 99% of people don't understand simple science. Energy in = energy out. One thing that would work is putting the clear plastic over the south outside wall of the house to create basicallly a passive solar envelope that increases solar gain.
DougO wrote:Yeah, Paul D. makes my point, the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) tell us that this device is most likely just intercepting energy that would enter the room and warm the house anyway. The only arguable benefit would be that the black painted box has lower reflectance than the average average albedo of the room behind the box, but I think that is a very questionable value.
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onlytrueromeo
- Senior Member
- Posts: 2756
- Joined: May 16th, 2007, 10:05 pm
- Location: Albany, NY
Re: MX3 Spotted while searching for a DIY solar heater idea!
Haha, didn't know they missed the greenhouse effect. This wasn't the best video/article I found, but it had an MX3 in it.
As for this idea not working? that's stupid.
I'm not putting one in a window, I would be building a separate system to heat a garage. I have built a solar hot water heater as a high school project way back in the day...clearly it worked in the summer the best, but it still tested to heat the water ~30 degrees on a cold winter day. We were pushing a bunch of water through it too, and it was only a mediocre design.
Also, just having light come in through a window will not necessarily heat a house. It will heat the OBJECTS in the house, but not the air. Most objects in a house will not be good conductors, so they will not get heated. Also, the outside of a house is most likely going to be more reflective because of the material (vinyl siding?) and typically lighter color. If someone has a dark aluminum siding, then sure.
I have a concrete, uninsulated garage attached to my house. I cannot use a propane hookup since it's a rental. I do not want a ventless propane/kerosene heater unless I HAVE to get one, since they will cost me a bit to refill, and have the possibility of introducing carbon monoxide. Electric heaters will cost me a bunch to use, plus I cannot run a 240V line to run them since it is a rental. The south side of the house IS my garage!
I don't want this thread to turn into some sort of engineering argument over the worthlessness of this project. I love clean energy, but am simply looking for a way to keep my costs low.
As for this idea not working? that's stupid.
I'm not putting one in a window, I would be building a separate system to heat a garage. I have built a solar hot water heater as a high school project way back in the day...clearly it worked in the summer the best, but it still tested to heat the water ~30 degrees on a cold winter day. We were pushing a bunch of water through it too, and it was only a mediocre design.
Also, just having light come in through a window will not necessarily heat a house. It will heat the OBJECTS in the house, but not the air. Most objects in a house will not be good conductors, so they will not get heated. Also, the outside of a house is most likely going to be more reflective because of the material (vinyl siding?) and typically lighter color. If someone has a dark aluminum siding, then sure.
I have a concrete, uninsulated garage attached to my house. I cannot use a propane hookup since it's a rental. I do not want a ventless propane/kerosene heater unless I HAVE to get one, since they will cost me a bit to refill, and have the possibility of introducing carbon monoxide. Electric heaters will cost me a bunch to use, plus I cannot run a 240V line to run them since it is a rental. The south side of the house IS my garage!
I don't want this thread to turn into some sort of engineering argument over the worthlessness of this project. I love clean energy, but am simply looking for a way to keep my costs low.