Tim's Solar Air Heater

Here are some quick pics of my heater... note the temp rise. I believe it is a 100 cfm fan, but I can't seem to remember the conversion factor with temp rise/cfm=watt to find the output. Today I looked at the temp rise and it went from input of 40degrees F to 135 degrees F. Pretty amazing for a sub $200 heater.

Old sliding glass doors are amazingly cheap at used building material stores (and are often older non-low e for better solar transmission). In fact I used one from a brand new low e door (other side was cracked so I got it for $25) to make a great window for my walk out basement.

Anyway, enjoy the snow and stay warm! Happy New Year!

Tim

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll just note here that I think that collectors that use 2 or 3 layers of screen for the absorber are nearly as easy to build, and will be more efficient and produce more heat...  Tim's design could be easily adapted to use the screen absorber. 
Gary