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Jaden · Mar 2, 2010

I appreciate the ideas on solar heat. Keep it up.
This is a quick experiment I made. Raises the front of the stall 15 to 20 degrees above outside temperature, and there is no ceiling in yet. It"s just double layer of 4 mil poly.

TimV · Mar 2, 2010

Kinda fun to use the sun"s energy, isn"t it? The nice thing is that with proper design, many houses can offset a significant portion of their heating needs with passive solar at quite modest cost. Do your doors face south?

showcrop · Mar 3, 2010

I added an oversized insulating glass window on the south wall of my shop. I painted concrete blocks black on one side and stacked them six high 20 inches from the window. The blocks are up on some wood slats so air can get in at the bottom and rise up through. I get a 12 degree rise through the blocks on a sunny day, at the rate of about 70 cfm. Any body know how to figure oil heat equivalent to that?

Jaden · Mar 3, 2010

Yes, that is a south facing door. I can tell that it doesn't work as well as a month ago, because the sun is getting higher and so doesn't shine in as far.

circus · Mar 3, 2010

It's a start. Now here's the next step.

TimV · Mar 3, 2010

Could you move the bottom outward? Couple of side pieces out of cheap plywood at a 15 or so degree angle might catch more sun longer.

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If you'll excuse my terrible ASCII art!

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Jaden

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TimV

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showcrop

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Jaden

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circus

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TimV

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