Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Passive solar experiment, part two

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This post will go into the Power and electricity sub-series of the off-the-grid main series of posts.  These posts can be accessed from a table of contents and watched individually or in series from beginning to end.

Cooler weather is on the way, and I'd like to try out these experiments in order to get some first hand knowledge before I go out and try to make it work for real.

Last post, I found that the water will stay warm if insulated.  It therefore has the capacity to warm the insides of a dwelling after dark.  Now the trick is to get it to do that when and where you want.  It must be outside, then be transported inside.  Hence the gallon jugs.  If there were enough of these jugs, it could be sufficient energy stored in them during a sunny day which will heat up a room at night.  Such is the theory.

How to make these jugs?  I don't want to buy ice chests.  That would get too expensive.  It may be possible to buy insulated pieces that can be fabricated into a box which will hold a gallon jug.  One box for each jug.  Each jug will be covered with black material, like garbage bags, but with one side uncovered to face the  sun.   The black material will heat up the water in the jug, and the insulation will keep it warm during the day.

When night approaches, take the jugs inside and place them on a stand constructed for that purpose.  A fan can be set up so as to do a heat exchange via the air inside the dwelling.

This may be a crude mechanism, but its simplicity may make it effective enough.  Worth a try, anyway.

The materials are easy enough to obtain, and to put together.  It shouldn't cost a lot, and it should deliver some heat, at least.

I may work on this today, but there are other things that are on the list as well.


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