A simple solar heater that is cheap and easy to make. When there is direct sun on the unit it produces heat like a hair dryer.
According to the creator it produces a stream of air of around 120 degrees.
Some suggested tips for improvement:
– Make sure your black paint is matte so it doesn’t reflect the sun.
– The air moves by convection, however, you could add a small computer fan on the outlet and wire it to a 12 volt solar cell the unit to control the air rate.
– The intake size could be adjusted to control air rate as well. Making the intake smaller will give the air time to heat up while passing through the dryer ducting but it will slow down the rate of air flow. You can run it hot and slower or with more air and not as warm.
– A flat plate could be added between the intake tube and inside wall up to a little pulley inside the house. You could then adjust the air rate like this as well and have an on/off option.
– Add insulation to help maintain heat running through the system. Could prove vital for very cold areas.
That would work good on a day like today
Tim Masteller
Michael Armstrong
I can’t see that producing enough volume of hot air, but did see a guy put a whole piece of metal duck work across his roof. It worked good when the sun was shining. I’m staying with my wood burner. I may do solar hot water.
On the solar pretty heater for your hot water tank they used reflective insulation inside the box to make it hotter . I think I read it got to 180 degrees
Chris Carroll
A simple solar, battery storage, fan works well thru the night. This concept works even better using stacked aluminum cans behind single pane glass. Insulated box and inside painted flat black. Can opener the cans tops and hole saw 1″ in bottoms. One unit made from a large ‘re-store’ casement window’s glass and a sheet of 2″ foam board, etc, heats a room.
What about cold nights?
Some kind of heat sink. Feed the output of the solar furnace to an inside wall of hollow cinder block with the holes fed to recycle the heat. Small solar fan to circulate during the day, shut off at night. during the day the hollow brick wall heats up, then gives up its heat at night.
F
David Hall Crystal Hall