Hi all,

I have a very cold room in the house, never gets any direct sun, but it is the "family room" so its frequented quite often.

Its currently heated with a Samsung aircon, "inverter / heat pump" type, but it does consume 2kW/H.

I also have a gas heater but that's not really cheap and it tends to consume to much oxygen as well. The ventilation in that room is not ideal for gas.

Anyone dabble with heating a room with another method but still using the sun somehow?

Heating water via solar (tube or flat panel) --> store water in a tank (old geyser) --> water pumped through radiator -->, fan driving hot air into area?

Make hay while the sun is up ;-)

There are nice new hybrid inverter split aircons available that can run off 3 x 330 panels during the day and a mix of battery and eskom power at night.

1 hour ago, Ronnie_V said:

There are nice new hybrid inverter split aircons available that can run off 3 x 330 panels during the day and a mix of battery and eskom power at night.

tell me more

3 hours ago, Antony said:

fan driving hot air into area?

Two ideas I've considered. This one:

 

And there is this guy: https://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

2 hours ago, Antony said:

tell me more

Look at https://www.acsuperstore.co.za/solar-air-conditioning

I have 4 running and they work great. They use around 550w each during the day and 800w  each during the night on a mix of battery power and eskom. My house has a slate roof on which I have twelve panels mounted, I got the bright idea to put above ground pool heating pads under the panels to heat water circulating through them to heat the pool. Even now in winter at around 12:00 the water temp reach 52C entering the pool. During summer it can reach 76 degrees. Think one can feed a radiator in the room during the day which should heat it enough for the evening. I keep my pool of 37000 liter at 34C without a cover in the summer. Those pads are cheap and comes in 600 x 600 and 1.2 x 600 compared to other heating panels. 

Hi Ronnie,

did you put the heating pads (is it the pvc tubes?) under your solar PV panels?

Doesn't it effect the efficiency of the panel, I heard the hotter they get the worse the perform.

Just now, Antony said:

Hi Ronnie,

did you put the heating pads (is it the pvc tubes?) under your solar PV panels?

Doesn't it effect the efficiency of the panel, I heard the hotter they get the worse the perform.

The pads are made of durable plastic/rubber, like the old fuel bladders one used to get. Actually it absorb heat from the panels which cool them down and increase efficiency. Intex make them, can buy them at Makro.

1 hour ago, plonkster said:

And there is this guy: https://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

WOW, here's plenty to experiment with.

Makes my retirement a lot for intersting...

 

15 minutes ago, Ronnie_V said:

The pads are made of durable plastic/rubber, like the old fuel bladders one used to get. Actually it absorb heat from the panels which cool them down and increase efficiency. Intex make them, can buy them at Makro.

https://www.sportsmanswarehouse.co.za/product/intex-solar-pool-mat

sportsmanswarehouse is much cheaper, for a 1.2 x 1.2 its only R320 where wantitall is R1945!

I got mine for 290 because I took 12 from local pool shop.

I have been toying with the idea of moving the hot air inside my roof ( Got a tin roof) into the living room during the winter months. 

Here is some data collected 

This was a fairly cold day ( as you ca see it started well below the 10 deg in the roof. Day time the lounge got to about 20 deg ( I worked out that 22-23 deg is fairly nice) At the same time the roof was peaking well over 30 so there is a 10 deg difference. 

Couple of challenges that I am not sure of:

• How much airflow will you need to heatup ar 4x5 room ( I would also assume that you will need to close the doors , if you can)
• Once you heated up the room during day time will the room keep the temprature
• You will need to cut a hole in the ceiling to push the hot air in will thet not make the room even colder at night as hot air rises 

On the last point I am in a bit of a split because as you can see after 16h30 it is quite a bit colder  in the roof and maybe the cold air will "push" against the hot air but not sure at all.
So far I haven't made the leap into cutting a hole i the ceiling as it can not be reversed once done.
Last questing would be will it be worth all the effort? 

25 minutes ago, PaulF007 said:

I have been toying with the idea of moving the hot air inside my roof ( Got a tin roof) into the living room during the winter months. 

Here is some data collected 

 

Ideally you want to store that heat for nighttime as well, like in a geyser like cylinder then run it through a radiator of sorts

Folks I visited in New Zealand had a system that heated the house with filtered air drawn from warm roof space and a controll system that  monitored the temperature difference in the room and roof and ran the blowers accordingly .

3 hours ago, seant said:

Folks I visited in New Zealand had a system that heated the house with filtered air drawn from warm roof space and a controll system that  monitored the temperature difference in the room and roof and ran the blowers accordingly .

That's really smart! I have a room where I can implement that. You could probably use a solar geyser circulation pump controller to switch the fans on and off.

Edited August 13, 20187 yr by DeepBass9

21 hours ago, Antony said:

water pumped through radiator

That was another idea I looked at back in the day. Even further back, when I was fresh out of University, I had an old Jetta MK-II that had a leaking heater. The previous owner simply bypassed the heater circuit, so it was my job to fix this (I remember my first winter trip without it... the passengers were all under blankets!). Past experiences colour your thinking, and this little heater core was precisely what I had in mind for my heater. I would put a cheap(ish) low pressure solar geyser on the roof, and cycle the hot water through such an automotive heat-exchanger (aka radiator).

Never got around to it. Eventually added more PV panels, blew in some ceiling insulation, and presently the summer heat in the living area is a bigger problem than the winter cold... so nothing happened beyond those plans and dreams.

I'm not sure that a solar geyser will provide much heat if circulated into the room. I circulate my generator cooling water through radiators inside the house, which takes the chill of the room, but I wouldn't call it warm. The cooling water heats up to 50-60 degrees in a 100 liter tank, and then a circulation pump moves it through copper radiators, which get quite warm, maybe the space is too large for them. In theory if the generator is making 2kW, it should be putting 2kW into the cooling water as well.

I find the best way to warm up is to go and split some logs, and then make a fire in the fireplace or the wood stove. Much more effective! 

Edited August 13, 20187 yr by DeepBass9

If you have space , and talking about chopping wood . Have you looked at Rocket mass heater? Or the Germans build with great skill and amazing craftsmanship something called a kaggelofen (sp) which works by heating a mass efficiently and the thermal mass gives off a cosy heat long after the fire is out.

2 hours ago, seant said:

kaggelofen

Kachelofen. I'd just go with a closed combustion fireplace.

The cheapest / most economical option would be to put a skylight in the roof, if possible. 

16 minutes ago, SilverNodashi said:

The cheapest / most economical option would be to put a skylight in the roof, if possible. 

Mmm... interesting, its a darkish area so that may also help, but how much heat can I expect...

10 minutes ago, Antony said:

but how much heat can I expect...

About 1kW/M^2, so remember to have a mechanism to close it off in summer!

12 hours ago, pilotfish said:

About 1kW/M^2, so remember to have a mechanism to close it off in summer!

Agreed. Some models have a "flap" that you move in front of the light, in summer. We have a couple installed, in various family's homes and it makes quite a difference.