Solar Heating with the Heat Grabber

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Re: Solar Heating with the Heat Grabber

Postby mannytheseacow » Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:18 pm

Builditsolar.com is a great resource. I built a similar system a few years back and it worked well. I actually found the performance to be best when built vertically. Be careful to have a well insulated way to block it off when the sun isn't shining. A friend of mine is using one of these on a small shed to act as a kiln to dry rough sawn hardwood boards. It works amazing for this, keeping the inside temp 15-20 degrees above the ambient temperature year round. Oh, I should probably include... we're in NW Illinois.
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Re: Solar Heating with the Heat Grabber

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Feb 28, 2013 7:46 pm

I would love to see some pictures of how you built the unit, or of the completed unit at work. I have a front door that is recessed back under a small porch roof, the one bedroom wall extends out maybe 12 feet past the porch on the east side. Putting a unit on the door back under the roof would not work very well for me. If I moved it out to the edge of the porch and made the unit larger, maybe 7 or 8 foot wide to enclose the entire porch it might work a lot better. I would loose the door which I do not use anyway, and I would loose the light from the windows along the front door that light up the entranceway. To get the heat inside I would just open the door, at night just close the door to keep out the drafts. I would have a problem sealing the unit around the 2 brick walls that it would be up against. it would be hard to remove in the summer when I would not want the heat, but would want the cross draft that the front door provides and it would have to be pretty much vertical so that the door would open and close properly. One wall of the house would shade it in the mornings, but it would get full sun the rest of the day. I do not know if the experiment is worth the effort and the trouble. The expense of trying to build the larger unit needed to enclose the entire porch vs using standard size glass that is already available would be substantial and I hate to take a Big flyer just to see if it will work or not, I think it should work, but the shading wall and the sealing of the bricks could really be problematic. I still LOVE the idea though. I do tend to take more flyers if I really Love an idea, :lol:
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