Solar Heating System
After shivering through a few winters
with only a wall natural gas heater and small electric heaters,
we decided to install solar hot
air. http://www.AAAsolar.com has a great site with everything imaginable
and I had their catalog. After some study we decided to store hot
air. My mom has friends in Jaffrey NH that built a solar hot air
house about 40 years ago with glass and metal roof and rocks in an insulated
box in the basement, so I was inspired by them. I poured a 4x8 foot
concrete slab and stacked 4 tons of concrete blocks on it, with galvanized
baffles every other row, then glued 4 inches of foam insulation onto the
outside. I put 2 solar panels and 2 362 cfm blowers on the patio
roof and sucked the attic air into the panels and blew it through the storage
where it serpentines through the blocks, and exhausts through a valve when
the house blower is not on. When needed a 488 cfm house blower sucks
hot air from storage and distributes it through the house through the ducting
and registers I installed (crawlspaces are great!). X-10 modules
are used for control. The back bedroom and bathroom are on a separate blower
to take the chill off in the morning. When running the hot air comes
in at 85-95 degrees. Each blower is about 125 watts, so even when
all three are running it is still about a quarter of a small electric heater.
With this solar hot air heat and all fluorescent lights we should be below
the more expensive utility rates that start at 241 kwh per month and 41
therms of natural gas all year round. Our expenses are about $3000.
4 tons of concrete blocks on a 4x8
slab
Me on top of blocks
Solar panels from the deck
Intake from attic
Solar panels and blowers
Blowers
Storage
