Solar Heating

dwaller
dwaller Registered Users Posts: 18 ✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
As I've mentioned before, I am looking at creating a year round greenhouse in midwest MN. I think I have the design of the house pretty much figured out. It will be a 12'x14' with the east, west and north walls insulated, and glazing on the southern facing roof. Solar panels will give me the electric I need. I'm now trying to figure out how to heat it economically. Here is one of the ideas that I have:

Solar collectors with a small water heater to heat the water in the night when the heat from the solar collectors is spent.

Has anyone else attempted this, or achieved this in a similar application?
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Comments

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,622 admin
    #2
    Re: Solar Heating

    Take a look at this Work FAQ thread... We have been throwing anything solar RE related into it--Including information on solar heating. Links to some very interesting projects.

    Regarding insulating East/West walls--Look at how much energy you can collect from morning/evening sun... It might make sense to collect energy during that time too (tough call--typically increased losses from solar collectors at night, vs extra heat gathered during the day).

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • kurt
    kurt Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭
    #3
    Re: Solar Heating
    dwaller wrote: »
    As I've mentioned before, I am looking at creating a year round greenhouse in midwest MN. I think I have the design of the house pretty much figured out. It will be a 12'x14' with the east, west and north walls insulated, and glazing on the southern facing roof. Solar panels will give me the electric I need. I'm now trying to figure out how to heat it economically. Here is one of the ideas that I have:

    Solar collectors with a small water heater to heat the water in the night when the heat from the solar collectors is spent.

    Has anyone else attempted this, or achieved this in a similar application?

    Have you considered a " Trombe wall " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombe_wall
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Solar Heating

    Using PV to heat with is crazy. Using solar to convert PV to electricity, and then convert that electricity back to heat is hugely inefficient. Consider using solar heat directly, either passive or active.

    Tony

    Ps Sorry, I misread your previous post,,, please disregard!
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