just found a good way to heat a small building using the sun and anitfreeze. first you run a bunch of pipe up and down the roof of a building, preferably pex as it can withstand the cold and hot better, painted black to capture more heat. then you run the pipe to a small coil, such as one from a furnace or small air conditioner. you can put a small fan on the coil for more even heat distribution but from what i read they do a good job without a fan. then you find a small, about 1 gpm 12 volt pump hooked or hardwired to a battery that is recharged via a solar powered battery trickle charger and from there on you make heat. the magazine said on a cold but sunny day you can get water temperatures of 200 degrees which is roughly about 120 by the time it reaches the coil. but is still enough to heat a smaller building to 90ish degrees. i was thinking of putting a system like this in a small cattle shed. what do you guys think?
- Thread starter blue924.9
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Janicholson
Well-known Member
It works. use black Poly tubing for collection.
Insulation on the shed is key, you will get heat, but it will not scorch you. Jim
Insulation on the shed is key, you will get heat, but it will not scorch you. Jim
Check out this site. In Sweden you can go to any lumber yard or home improvement store and buy panels that do just that,along with insulated tanks to store the water after you heat it. Try doing that in this "civilized' country. It's just the norm over there. No big secret to them.
Nibe heating and cooling systems
Nibe heating and cooling systems
Russ from MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Bemidji MN
Sounds like something right out of mother earth news! Think about it, if it really worked that easy, wouldn't it be more common? Yes it would work, but you should have a large insulated storage tank so you will have some heat at night when you need it the most. For guys that just want some heat in there shop on a sunny day it might work fine, along with a big window on the south side. Why don't you do it and let us know how it works, along with some pictures!
Nate V. IA
Member
1. The insulation would be paramount.
2. There could be almost no air exchange for this to work.
3. Not having ventilation wouldn't work very well for a cattle barn.
4. If it were this easy everyone would be doing it.
You would get some heat out of it, no doubt, but how much is the question.
I am dumping all the heat generated from 2 200k btu boilers into a new chicken house with 6 inch sidewalls made of SIPs panels (plywood-6 in of Styrofoam-plywood. A large 3/4 horse pump pushes 170 degree water thru a 2 in pipe that transports the water to all the zone pumps (5 of them).
Then I have infloor heat for the entire building, 35 x 300 AND fin tubes above the cages 4800 linear ft worth and I have trouble keeping it 95 when its 10 below outside with almost no air exchange.
2. There could be almost no air exchange for this to work.
3. Not having ventilation wouldn't work very well for a cattle barn.
4. If it were this easy everyone would be doing it.
You would get some heat out of it, no doubt, but how much is the question.
I am dumping all the heat generated from 2 200k btu boilers into a new chicken house with 6 inch sidewalls made of SIPs panels (plywood-6 in of Styrofoam-plywood. A large 3/4 horse pump pushes 170 degree water thru a 2 in pipe that transports the water to all the zone pumps (5 of them).
Then I have infloor heat for the entire building, 35 x 300 AND fin tubes above the cages 4800 linear ft worth and I have trouble keeping it 95 when its 10 below outside with almost no air exchange.
Bryce Frazier
Well-known Member
We have a very large stem wall green house, it has a clear plastic roof and a bunch of windows are the sides. Inside, we have 6 black, steel, 55 gallon drums that are full of water. The sun hits them directly all day, heats the water, then they radiate the heat off all night. Bryce
rd 2N in mo
Member
cover it with glass and a tank below, eliminate the pump and you have a closed loop system.
The heat transfer into your building is a lot more complicated than suggested here.
What's missing is the efficiency of heating to a particular temperature.
In other words, how long does it take to get a gallon of water (or antifreeze) up to 200 degrees.
There's an enormous difference between a system that can do it in 1 minute vs. one that takes 3 hours.
Then there's the thermal mass of what you're heating vs. what you're heating it with.
How many 120 degree gallons would it take to offer up enough heat to the space to raise it one degree?
A candle burns at about 2500 degrees, but it's so small it's never going to heat a barn, despite it's high heat.
So if you're only getting a gallon of 120 degree water every hour, it might be more cost effective to buy a few more cows to heat your barn : )
To really evaluate the value of such a system, you really need to break it into units such as BTU's, and those aren't mentioned here.
What's missing is the efficiency of heating to a particular temperature.
In other words, how long does it take to get a gallon of water (or antifreeze) up to 200 degrees.
There's an enormous difference between a system that can do it in 1 minute vs. one that takes 3 hours.
Then there's the thermal mass of what you're heating vs. what you're heating it with.
How many 120 degree gallons would it take to offer up enough heat to the space to raise it one degree?
A candle burns at about 2500 degrees, but it's so small it's never going to heat a barn, despite it's high heat.
So if you're only getting a gallon of 120 degree water every hour, it might be more cost effective to buy a few more cows to heat your barn : )
To really evaluate the value of such a system, you really need to break it into units such as BTU's, and those aren't mentioned here.
johndeerefan
Member
They sell kits very similar to this for heating swimming pools. Only difference is on the pools the water hose is connected to the pool filter system and is actually heating the pool water while it is in the tubes. Then it discharges back into the pool. Says this method can raise pool water up to 4 degrees.
Ken Macfarlane
Well-known Member
Read up at build it solar . com
You will want some glazing over that black pipe or the loses to the
air in winter are terrible.
You will want some glazing over that black pipe or the loses to the
air in winter are terrible.
Buddy of mine hooked a black rubber garden hose to his pull pump and had the hose coiled up on a black painted piece of plywood to warm up his pool. I don't know how long it took to get the pool temp comfortable, but the water coming out of the pipe was so hot you couldn't stick your hand under it.
Cattle shed? What is that?
Seriously, I had a friend who added some lexan(SP?) panels to a portion of his metal roof. He built a well insulated black painted enclosure under the panels, and filled the area with black painted 5 gallon cans of water. He used a small thermostat controlled fan to extract heat out of the enclosure. On the day I visited him, it was keeping his wood shop at 70 with an outside temp of 30. This is in Southern Illinois - probably wouldn't work in Minnesota where it gets cold at night. There's lots of ideas for passive solar, but it meets with a lot of ridicule in the modern world. Right up there with windmills generating electricity. . .
Seriously, I had a friend who added some lexan(SP?) panels to a portion of his metal roof. He built a well insulated black painted enclosure under the panels, and filled the area with black painted 5 gallon cans of water. He used a small thermostat controlled fan to extract heat out of the enclosure. On the day I visited him, it was keeping his wood shop at 70 with an outside temp of 30. This is in Southern Illinois - probably wouldn't work in Minnesota where it gets cold at night. There's lots of ideas for passive solar, but it meets with a lot of ridicule in the modern world. Right up there with windmills generating electricity. . .
Heat Houser
Member
You do not want a tight building for cattle unless you are ready to lose a bunch to pneumonia. My cattle do well even at minus 20 F as long as they are dry and can get in out of the wind. The neighbor was losing 3-400 lb calves until he took the ridge cap off of the roof to increase ventilation. A tight building for cattle is not good.
not looking to set the shed on fire, just get it some warmth if needed. building has plenty of ways for air and get in and out, also i will be coupling this sun system with a 12 volt powered heating element that is hooked to a wind turbine, round here if it isnt sunny its windy, and if it is sunny its windy lol
Brown Swiss
Well-known Member
You just find the Farm Show magazine?
With all that's been said about the heating system and whether it will or won't work,all you need to know is,you don't need to and shouldn't heat a building for cattle. Just build something three sided,open to the south,high side of roof to the south and sloping off to the north and that's all they need. They'll get out of the wind,when the sun is shining in the winter it will shine in to the building. In summer,the sun won't shine in to it and they'll have shade.
Geo-TH,In
Well-known Member
That's all we had for our cows, 3 sided, opened to south and free stalls for cows to lay down in and not get stepped on by other cows.
We would leave some cows in the milk barn over night to keep the pipes from freezing. Cows give off a lot of body heat.
My sisters both have solar panels on the roof to warm the water in the pools. Big bucks for little heat gain in spring and fall. Worthless in winter.
We would leave some cows in the milk barn over night to keep the pipes from freezing. Cows give off a lot of body heat.
My sisters both have solar panels on the roof to warm the water in the pools. Big bucks for little heat gain in spring and fall. Worthless in winter.
there is only one problem, the building is on the south west corner of the property, so the opening is either going to have to be on the north becuase that is where the doors are, on the south and north side, or i have to make one on the east which will require may more reinventing of the buildings structure and frame than what it is worth. so i figured with the north wind blowing in all the time i would put the solar heat in there to help them out, it also gets very cold, yesterday night it was -15 with -35 windchill and the lowest low of the year was -38 with -49 degree windchill
showcrop
Well-known Member
Like Russ said, sounds like right out of Mother Earth News from forty years ago. I think that their stuff is great. It is low tech, low cost DIY. It doesn't work like the expensive stuff but the ROI can be just as good if not better. I built a little solar heater for my shop. I put a big double thermal glass window in the south wall, built a little tromb wall of black painted cement blocks two feet inside, and made insulating shutters of two inch foam board on the inside for night. The tromb wall keeps the heat from rising to the seventeen foot ceiling. The building is 40x50x17, and on a 30 degree sunny day the temp will increase by two degrees just from that window.
Geo-TH,In
Well-known Member
I just came from my pole barn. It's 30x40x10. Shingles on roof, metal sides, very well ventilated. It's 38 and sunny. Inside barn it's 45. No insulation. Last night it was 9. Used IR thermometer, the metal on south measured 49.9 and the roof decking measured 50.2.
The barn and shingles are a blue/gray color to match the house.
Save your money and paint your barn black.
The barn and shingles are a blue/gray color to match the house.
Save your money and paint your barn black.
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