Mrs. Beasley and the case for solar radiant energy

Mrs. Beasley is our 10 year old grey, tortise cat. She likes warm things, and food, and more warm things. In the old house, her favorite spot was the south sliding glass door--and the tivo. The tivo put off a lot of heat, and she would sleep on that all day if the sun wasn't out. I share Beasley's passions, so when we went looking for a home, it had to have windows that faced the south. Our new house has one wall with 9 windows on a vaulted ceiling in the great room. That wall faces southeast. Our bedroom is adjacent, and its large picture window faces southeast as well. So in the middle of winter, first light comes right through these windows and begins to heat the walls and the carpet. And that is where you will find Mrs. Beasley at about 10 minutes after sunrise--laying on the carpet against the wall in our bedroom soaking up the sun. With a smile on her face.



So in the morning around winter solstice, our southeast wall is getting maximum solar gain as the sun rises in the southeast and arcs over the southern sky. About 1pm, there is no more gain from the southeast windows, as the sun is on the southwest side of the house. The southwest side of the house is the second ugliest of the four walls on our house. It faces our neighbors and only has two medium small, and one very small window on it. So not much solar gain (or heat loss). I have gone outside on a 30 degree sunny winter day and touched the southwest side of our blue house, and the wall is very warm--like Mrs. Beasley in the morning sun. So my simple plan is to use a radiant / convection heat pump to capture that solar heat.



I am building solar collectors which will transfer that heat into our house during the day, reducing the heat we use in the evening. My plan is to have solar heater boxes that are attached adjacent and parrallel on southwest wall. They will be finished with shingles and siding so that they match the architecture. They will be about 120 square feet. This will be a closed system in that I will pump air from the house into the heater and then back into the house. I plan on converting a window in the unfinished basement as the demarcation point where insulated ducting will go into and out of the house. The air will then be pumped into the 'great room' in our house.



Glass: Glass is heavy. Tempered glass can't be cut. I found some 3/8" glass on craigslist that was 4' by 6' and weighed about 150 lbs a piece. Another guy that was interested in it and I hauled some of this out a basement with the professional suction cups. I was sick that day and after helping him load 4 sheets onto his truck, without breaking a single one, i decided i didn't want it, even though it was free.



A couple of weeks later I found a guy with sheets of 3 ' by 3 ' tempered 1/4" glass. Perfect, although he didn't recommend stacking them on each other, so I had to build a saw horse for the back of the pickup and transport them like that. Need to give him a call.


Wood: Found a guy who 'scraps' trussess that aren't up to code. So I can get 6 ft lengths douglas fir 2x4's and 4x6's for half price. Loaded up the truck with lots of wood.



Solar Collecting: My plan is to use black aluminum screen as the medium between the glass and the back of the collector for capturing the heat and transferring it to the air.



Duct: Found some 8" insulated round ducting on ebay.



Fan: found a fan on ebay.



Thermostat / regulating : Theoretically I beleive using two thermostats in series should work. One set to "heat" and one set to "cool": The "heat" one will measure the temp of the house and will usually be set to on at a higher temperature, maybe 80. IN other words, during the winter, the plan will be to heat the room up as much as possible during the day, so the heat lasts during the night. The one set to "cool" will be measuring the temp of the solar collector air, so when it gets warm enough, the fan will come on and actually cool the collector by pumping air into the house.



Regulations: We live under and HOA. However, CO law says you can't prohibit solar panles, essentially, but you can make them look good. I need to submit plans. They will be no higher than about 7 feet, so they won't be visible from the road or the park to which our house is adjacent. The southeast wall with the windows faces the park, so the only the profile or sideview of the solar collectors will be visible from the community park. A road runs partway on our property line on the southwest, and there is a 6 ft privacy fence there, so you won't be able to see these from the street, unless you are 7 ft tall. I also have a commitment to make these look good enough for my wife, although she said I could have solar panels if I let her have a kitten.

Foundation: This is the biggest unknow for me. Probably will wholes and sink fence posts with concrete, and have these weight bear the solar panels. Then brackett the solar panels to the concrete board as well.

Measuring: I have plenty of wireless outdoor thermometers for measuring weather, but don't know how to measure volume of air: ie I can measure the difference between input air and output air, but have no way of measuring how much air.