Crude, free heat.
For quite some time I’ve been meaning to take a stab at making a solar heater. For those who think this is fancy way of saying sitting in the sun you’re half right. Basically you create a sealed box with glass on the front, dividers on the inside and the inside paint black. By having the inside painted black it helps to absorb heat and therefore heat air that passes through the sealed chamber. A simplified part of the law of thermodynamics states that hot air rises. If you have an opening on the bottom for air to enter, as it warms in the sealed chamber it will naturally rise to the top and exit through the top port.
Here is my really simple and quickly and slapped together attempt at a solar heater. I have placed this in the window of my south facing enclosed porch. This also happens to be where the access panel for my shower/bath tub plumbing is located. My thinking is that any increased temperature can only help to prevent those pipes from getting really cold or freezing. My house was built in the 1880’s and therefore my bathroom was added to the existing structure of the house with three of its four walls being exterior. I will eventually be excavating underneath the tub in my bathroom. Until then I will keep it warm. Here goes.
Cut a piece of foam board that will fit inside the window which you would like to place it in.
Cut the side pieces to fit the depth of the window.
Attach the sides with a hot glue gun.
Next glue in channel baffles of the same height as the sides. This will direct the hot air through the sealed heater.
Next I cut out air inlet and outlet ports at the top an bottom of the box as well as primed the entire inside. Since spray paint will eat foam primer is the key to avoiding that.
Next I glued pennies to the bottom of the box. I had seen this on another solar heater how-to. Pennies are copper and zinc and very cheap. Great conductors of heat, especially when painted black.
Also, this picture doesn’t show it well but I have placed panes of glass on top. I used caulk to adhere the glass to the heater box.
Here I have painted it black.
Finally after the assembly and painting I have placed it in the window. Now it may only increase the room temperature 5-10 degrees it cost very little and produces more heat than the cost I have invested.
