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Offline Wilbur

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A Passive Solar room
« on: December 13, 2016, 04:46:40 PM »
So I'm a fan of alternative energy ideas not because I am a global warming guy (I'm not....in any way!  ::) But that's a subject for another day....er thread). But I AM a fan of finding ways to use the sun as a heat source if we can do so in a way that makes sense. This would work in any SHTF scenario and would save money right now which is also a really good thing.

So sort of like the solar collector in Don's post, this is a similar sort of idea albeit one that a friend of mine did. I mention it as it may stimulate some thoughts or ideas. This was done by a friend of mine in CO where he has the advantage of 300 days of sunshine per year whereas in MA I am lucky to get 200. So this is clearly something that would work better in the west but I have to believe any help would be good and can save some cash.

His house is a typical two story modern kind of home (4 bedrooms I think) in the suburbs of Denver. He bought the lot and "designed" the house himself (I put that in quotes as he's not an architect but had one do the plans for what he wanted). The long back side of the house faces south so he gets sun all day on the back side. Along the back side (inside the house) is his kitchen and a small room probably 10 x 10 or so (I'll call this the "solar room").

The solar room has sliding glass doors for one whole wall to the outside of the house. It also has sliding glass doors into the rest of the house (to the kitchen). The floor of the room is a very dark colored tile, almost black, and the walls are dark also. But nothing unique about the materials, just dark. The room also has a reflective sliding set of vertical blinds to the outside slider that can be opened or closed.

The ceiling of the "solar room" is 2x6 boards which are also the floor of the room above the solar room. And the boards have 1/2" or 3/4"  gaps in them allowing the heat to rise into the upstairs of the house. The floor plan is pretty open - the kitchen extends (away from the solar room) into the dining area and then around to the front of the house to the family room. There is a wall between the family room to the kitchen but the open dining area connects them.

The second floor has a balcony looking down into the family room, and all the bedrooms are off the hall that runs the length of the second floor.

I hope you can picture that but ultimately why this works is the openness of the floorplan. So the sun heats the solar room and the heat rises up through the floorboards on its own. As this air rises it pulls colder air from the kitchen, which pulls it from the dining area, which pulls it from the family room, which pulls it from the 2nd floor. He has some small fans on the ceiling upstairs which circulate the warm air into the bedrooms.

By adjusting the reflective shade to the outside they can allow more or less sun in which regulates the temp rise in the solar room. Also by adjusting the slider into the kitchen they can also adjust the airflow as well. 

When he explained it to me I asked him how efficient it is and he said he uses about a third of the oil in the winter that his neighbors with similarly sized houses do. So its a pretty serious cost savings all because he designed a floor plan to get airflow and a little room that acts as a solar collector. As I said this works best in places where there is tons of sun but I have to think this would have merit in other places as well. 

There are lots of ways to do this. I have also seen drawings of barns that have a large glass wall on one side along with a shade that can be drawn down in the summer. Most barns don't need a lot of heat as the animals do a decent job on their own but in some areas it makes sense.

Also some will have windows on the first floor and an overhanging roof from the second floor that extends out a certain distance. This will shade the windows in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky but in the winter with the sun lower then the windows "collect" the suns rays and thus the heat.

If anyone else has ideas on this or has seen something like this used please feel free to comment. I love learning about alternatives that can save some money and also would still work in a SHTF scenario.
   

Offline Flyin6

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Re: A Passive Solar room
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2016, 07:56:21 PM »
Something like that on the Mother Earth hippy page you sent me to. In fact loads of great info and projects there
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Offline Wilbur

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Re: A Passive Solar room
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2016, 11:09:45 PM »
Something like that on the Mother Earth hippy page you sent me to. In fact loads of great info and projects there

Yeah....a lot of that site you need to have a tie dyed shirt and round glasses on to read. But some of the stuff is good. I like co-opting it for conservative needs. ;)

 

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