Solar Panel Heater
I’ve been searching into the ability to build an effective solar panel heater. I had always assumed that you’d need to pipe liquid, like water through it for it to be effective, but I’ve come across a couple of videos on you tube that totally have altered my thinking.
Here is a video of one fellow who as created a solar panel heater with tin cans painted with barbeque paint to make them exceptionally capable to absorb heat from the sun, even during cooler times of the year.
Click Here For The DIY Solar Water Heater Guide
One of the people who commented on this design did mention that you need to create a pretty big solar panel heater or several panels of solar heaters for it to be effective.
To illustrate his success, this commenter mentions that he’s using a 4 foot by 8 foot solar panel heater and he’s piping the air into his house with a six inch pipe and a big fan.
…he is able to heat five of the rooms in his out at around 64 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit…
But he is able to heat five of the rooms in his out at around 64 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit, which is quite comfortable. The outside temperature was at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
That’s quite acceptable! If one was to create several of these solar panel heaters, it wouldn’t take long to heat a whole house.
I think that you would still have to depend on conventional heating methods on cloudy days or during the night. But this would permit you to cut your heating bills by one third to one half.
What is also interesting is the author of this video made mention that it only cost him about $8 to build this small unit.
So this design of a solar panel heater is excellent because of it’s simple and inexpensive design.
Here’s a neat idea for you. Most furnace systems in North America use an input fresh air source from outside to ensure the air in the home is kept fresh.
Let’s say you pipe this fresh air makeup through your solar panel heater to raise the temperature by twenty or thirty degrees can really help to make your furnace more efficient.
Reduce your heating costs by $300 per year or more
You may be able to see a 10% or more improvement on your furnace. Equating that the general cost of energy, that could reduce your heating costs by $300 per year or more!
It doesn’t sound like much, but find four or five ways to save $30 per month and your savings could really add up.
I really think that this idea has merit. If there is no gain, then there is no risk. But if there is a gain in temperature, you win. No risk and a ton of upside! And you could literally spend under $100 to create a solar panel heater for this application.
To conclude, I hope that this article has given you food for thought. With a little bit of ingenuity, you could create a solar panel heater that puts money into your pocket and you can tell your friends how ‘green’ you’ve become!
Click Here For The DIY Solar Water Heater Guide
