I have a heated garage that I keep at 50 for my vehicles and dogs, but between that and heating my house, I'm disgusted with the electric bill. I've been interested in making a solar heater to heat the garage in the winter, has anyone on /diy/ made one before? How much heat do they put out? Seems like most designs are pretty similar but do you guys have favorites?
>InB4 turn down heat
If you are keeping it that cool then you might be better off with a geothermal system.
Bonus is in the summer it will cool your garage
>>955177
That's true, but am I right in thinking that the pipeline would have be 4-5 feet underground? I have ample yard space, but that much digging would be quite the project... Quite a bit more invasive than something top-soil but I would love to someday have one of these setups.
>>955174
Invest a little bit more in buying actual pipes, dont waste your time to save few cents to make it out of cans, been there done that, thats my only advice.
>>955174
>>955219
Me again, also, they are great to heat your boiler and use the panels for hot water in general purpose or even bath with it, I need like 2-3 h of sunlight (regardless of the season, the summer ofc its faster) for hot boiling water, but if you are going to do that I discovered (yeah I know I am being silly here) that its cheaper and more rational to use big galvanized barrel painted in black that stands on the rooftop.
As for house heating, well I heat my house with HVAC system and its really cheap, cheaper than making radiators, installing them and using this system.
If it was new house I would probably try to do it that way tho, it should be good, but during the night (or as fast as the sun is gone from the sky) I can't imagine more than 2-3 hours of warmness if you dont conserve the heat in some really rational and good way that I cant think of, I use normal stock boiler and it keeps the water warm enough to be used the next day sometimes, but if it circulates around the house etc I am guessing its going to get cooler by the minute.
So final conclusion is, its OK to be used in combination with other heating DURING the day when its sunny, but after the sun is gone you are left with your other option, and its definitely good for boiler substitute.
And my next project is to actually make it rotate (follow the sun during the whole day) with arduino and some sensors
>>955221
>arduino and sensors
>sensors
Sensors for what? Our celestial modrls are accurate enough to tell you inclination and declination for the sun at 3:36pm and 17 seconds on January 13th 80 years from now when you're standing at the handicap parking stall at a fucking walgreens. 41.2926005 -96.1190146
Solve this in code. Not with sensors
>>955245
Lets not divert this thread to this.
On the other hand, sure I could do that, but then, if there is no sun I need sensors to put protective shelter on. Or to retract it in case of strong wind or hail :^)
glass roof + dark surfaces will give you maximum solar heat gains
a doggy door helps and seal all drafts
Not to derail the thread, but if your garage isn't well insulated like most garages ,good insulation will do wonders on how much it cost to cool.
>>955174
>I've been interested in making a solar heater to heat the garage in the winter, has anyone on /diy/ made one before? How much heat do they put out? Seems like most designs are pretty similar but do you guys have favorites?
Cansolair advertise their pop can heater as ready for 8000 to 10000 BTU. Be Prepared to pay over $2800 for their Cansolair 240. That's expensive but their technology is rugged and toroughly studied. The whole thing should pay itself in about 36 months.
>>955419
I'm assuming that their product isn't made out of literal pop cans though? That would make for quite a lot of profit for them. Seems like something that a person could make themselves for a hundred bucks.
>>955221
Yes, I'm thinking that it would be best as just a supplement to a person's existing system. Nobody wants to go a few days freezing because of overcast, but with as much potential energy that just falls on us from the sun, its compelling to try to harnes it.
>>955174
So what we have here is a Trombe wall , yes ?
A lot of people on the net have built one ; An interesting option seems to be : Aluminum Insect-screen rather that pipes or cans ;
Multiple layers of the mesh separated by a small gap means that the sun penetrates into the layers ; the screen is black powdercoated so it absorbs , not reflects.
A backing layer of Reflective-Foil-Laminate returns any rays that do get right-through.
Obvbiously it has to be in a sealed/insulated box as for the Cans/Pipes , with intake at the bottom and hot-air out the top ; and you probably need about Ten layers of mesh.
Realize that the Cans/Pipes thing partly comes from peoples unconscious mental analogy to a solar water heater where the water "has" to travel in a pipe ; But air does not need to do this.
>>955610
Very informative, do you know if there would be a need for a fan on either the intake or outlet? I'm thinking that the hot air rising up and out through the top would pull in cold air from the bottom?
>>955545
>I'm assuming that their product isn't made out of literal pop cans though? That would make for quite a lot of profit for them. Seems like something that a person could make themselves for a hundred bucks.
They are indeed made with pop cans and this is not cheaper when you include paid hours to collect, clean, drill trough and silicone together the cans, But yes it could be homemade by a mildly skilled person for cheap.
>>955174
i made one for my garage on a 4x8 sheet of plywood, i used eavestrough downspouts instead of pop cans. Also i used two 120mm pc fans and a wall wart to move air through. it worked good, but not enough sun everyday.
>>955174
Skip the pop cans, its a horrid pain in the ass. Use sections of gutters, form them in one long continuous piece, snaking its way up. Insert metal parts in the tube to make the air more turbulent, exposing it to more heat and surface. Put mylar or reflectix behind the gutters, insulate the box with something that can take heat and not catch on fire. A low hole and a high one. Low is attached to dryer duct, through the wall to a manifold, above it another dryer duct work so the hot air rises. Use two cheap thermostat to drive a fan, one when the inside of the box reaches a certain temperature and one inside to shut it off when it gets hot. I've seen some the size of ops pic get a unheated garage to 50 degrees when its -20 outside.
>>955174
Go for it, but please PLEASE don't use those shitty soda can solar heaters. They are fucking SHIT. Like top tier level SHIT. They are a waste of resources.
Instead, replace the soda cans with some cheap metal roofing tin/scrap sheet metal and paint it black. You'll use far less paint, spend far less time making it, and have top flow rate for the air. See pic.
However, if you really want to use a solar soda can unit, you need to design it correctly. I suggest the next image I post....
>>955177
I do think this is a good suggestion, but usually out of most people's price range and/or level of physical output in a fast amount of time. The piping is the largest expense. Renting a small excavator for 2 days will run less than $300 probably.
>>955189
It needs to be below the frost line in your area. Normally 2 feet further down.
>>957688
...Continued.
With this unit you can omit using soda cans and instead use a piece of scrap sheet metal or piece of metal roofing. Which will reduce building time by a massive amount. If you want to still use cans, go ahead, but spend the extra time to use this method. Don't drill holes like most methods, that isn't needed. And, if you want to do it quick and dirty, don't cut them at all, just use the whole can.
>>955419
It is like they built a bicycle with octagonal wheels and charge you through the nose for it. Shit like this perpetuating very poor design makes me sick.
Most of these things even have a wee tiny hole for air flow and even have a fucking solar powered fan to help move the air. Which isn't needed at all if you use a LARGE hole for proper air flow. Thermosiphon flow is amazing in properly designed solar water heaters and air moves much faster and quicker when you are not choking it off with poor as shit design.
>>957697
>It is like they built a bicycle with octagonal wheels and charge you through the nose for it. Shit like this perpetuating very poor design makes me sick.
Felt / flyscreen offer the best efficiency according to some testbeds. But more often than not they look sloppy and airflow blows dust particles in direct contact to the inner polycarbonate surface. I still prefer the pop can / downspout design for this reason.
>>957688
>dawl
>>958838
Just use some roofing tin and call it a day.
Hijacking this thread for future reference.
Next year I'm going to be building a garage, and I need a way to heat it. I'm going to insulate everything I can. Since its new construction i can do anything, really. I'm thinking dimensions will be 24x24 to 24x30.
The considerations. I live in michigan, sometimes the temperature drops below 0°f in the winter. We had a cold snap 2 winters ago where the windchill was -30 for days. The second, I'm a wood worker, and I intend to use this space as a shop. There will be sawdust, and occasionally vapor from from flammable solvents and varnish and the like. Also, humidity will be a bad thing because ill be storing my lumber supply in there. I may only spend a day or 2 a week in there, or maybe every evening depending on my schedule, so being able to turn it off would be nice(our NG company will rape you in the winter).
Would it be possible to connect a bunch of these to boil water and run a steam generator?
>>961767
I think somewhere around 150F is as much as you can get from these without the use of mirrors to concentrate the sun.
However, you can make a "solar steam generator" instead. Or, simply a "solar water pre-heater". Just google the terms with, "DIY".
