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’s great now if we could just get the sun to shin all winter
It’s no more surface area than a typical window. I’d just spend a little extra and put in an additional window that size, get the same results, plus have additional light.
Needs a min. of R-39 foam insulation, triple pane thermal gas filled glass, multiple black metal fins, needs heat absorbing mass like concrete painted black to hold heat, all pipes need to be insulated with a simple solar fan or you will just be cooling the air flow when its real cold. Plus air from the house needs to come in the bottom n out the top and diverted back and forth across the metal fins. Must be mounted at roughly 45 degrees to capture full sun. And a air flow shut off for night time. Just food for thought I’ve built a similar design to yours for a customer but it was roughly 48 ft. by 18 ft.and it did not work.
Also look up $8 air conditioner
These work better than most people think and you can also use aluminum downspouts and if you insulate the box you will be surprised at how much heat can be produced as well as how much water you can heat this way. Many of these designs will work when it is very cold outside.
Very interesting
Now feed the exhaust air from the clothes dryer into the box. You recycle the hot air and add moisture back in.
@Gerald that’s genius
Intake pipe is too small
I’ve built these with old sliding glass patio doors. One thing to note you need a way to shut off/stop up the air intake as it will pull cold air in on very cold nights.