Solar Heating Idea

dherscher
dherscher Registered Users Posts: 17 ✭✭
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Our house has a rather large greenhouse attached on the southeast side that really isn't used to grow plants much anymore and I have been thinking about how I could use it to help heat our home in the winter (I live in northern Wisconsin). I can open the doors and windows on the greenhouse on sunny days to help heat the rest of the house.

My other thought was to paint empty milk jugs black and fill them with water and a bit of salt or antifreeze and use them as a way to store heat past when the sun is out. It might also help keep it a bit cooler in the summer time.

Can anyone tell me if this is a crazy idea or a waste of time?
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #2
    dherscher wrote: »
    Our house has a rather large greenhouse attached on the southeast side that really isn't used to grow plants much anymore and I have been thinking about how I could use it to help heat our home in the winter (I live in northern Wisconsin). I can open the doors and windows on the greenhouse on sunny days to help heat the rest of the house.

    My other thought was to paint empty milk jugs black and fill them with water and a bit of salt or antifreeze and use them as a way to store heat past when the sun is out. It might also help keep it a bit cooler in the summer time.

    Can anyone tell me if this is a crazy idea or a waste of time?

    Friend of mine has a rather large greenhouse attached to his house. In Winter, especially when the sun shines, the temp in there is a LOT warmer than outside air temp. So he uses a heat pump with the "outside" unit (mini-split) located high up in the greenhouse to take advantage of that warmer air. This results in far higher efficiency than if it were installed outside in the real cold. Works wonderful for him!
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  • Alex
    Alex Registered Users Posts: 12 ✭
    #3
    Metal can get up to 70 degrees hotter than the surrounding temperature. So some metal sheets might help, unlike "solar" covers for pools which don't really generate heat but only keep heat in.
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  • dherscher
    dherscher Registered Users Posts: 17 ✭✭
    #4
    Cool idea Wayne. Do you know of a good heat exchanger? I have no idea what I would be looking for.

    What do you think about the idea of adding jugs of water as a heat sink?
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  • BilljustBill
    BilljustBill Solar Expert Posts: 219 ✭✭✭
    #5

    Using solar electric panels, this idea lets them heat a standard electric water out of the box using the heater's elements using an MPPT controller.  I don't know about this specific company's products, but the concept is well worth looking into.

    http://www.techluck.com/

    Bill
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  • Alex
    Alex Registered Users Posts: 12 ✭
    #6
    The website doesn't look very professional but otherwise seems trustworthy with a very detailed FAQ.

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  • Johann
    Johann Solar Expert Posts: 245 ✭✭✭
    edited October 2015 #7
    BilljustBill said:

    Using solar electric panels, this idea lets them heat a standard electric water out of the box using the heater's elements using an MPPT controller.  I don't know about this specific company's products, but the concept is well worth looking into.

    http://www.techluck.com/

    This device does not perform magic, it will keep the voltage of an panel closer to the open voltage of an panel. But it still will not be efficient since you may have an open voltage of about 80 volts with 2 panels in series and your heat element needs 220Volts to get the most power/heat out of it. Looks like you get less than a 1/4 of the solar power energy into heating the water.   And remember, you can not get more power out of a panel than the panels can produce.

    Here is a link that will explain it better, just read through the posts.http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/comment/349197/#Comment_349197







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