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We do have two small dogs that love to sit by the door when it is open and the sun is shining in through the storm door. The Storm door is glass from top to bottom. I wasn't looking to spend a small fortune in order to save a small fortune. I was just thinking about what I could do on the cheap to get a little benefit from the sun when the temperature is cooler.
Moderator cut: Inflammatory Low temperatures like that may be found in systems using in floor radiant heating. Standard baseboard heating is minimum of 140 but typically ran at a minimum of 160 at this time of the year. The high limit could be as high as 190.
Running a boiler that low just means you're going to pump a lot of water which is very inefficient and simply wouldn't work in most systems because of the lack of radiation. They would never keep up.
Moderator cut: Personal insult
My system has a outdoor temperature sensitive control system. At 40 degrees outside you need heat but don't want a high boiler water temperature. At 0 degrees outside mine might be up to 180 but I haven't ever seem that. In the heart of winter mine rarely exceeds 150.
The system saves money and provides better temperature regulation in the house. Check out Tekmar controls. Moderator cut: Personal insult
Last edited by MissingAll4Seasons; 02-01-2014 at 01:13 PM..
We do have two small dogs that love to sit by the door when it is open and the sun is shining in through the storm door. The Storm door is glass from top to bottom. I wasn't looking to spend a small fortune in order to save a small fortune. I was just thinking about what I could do on the cheap to get a little benefit from the sun when the temperature is cooler.
After thinking about my OP a little more, what I am actually looking for is just a little something to further offset any losses due to the smaller amount of "insulation" by having the (inner) door open.
The problem with the radiater is it will only store a very small amount and then emit it in just a few minutes.
A perfect solution in these applications is a solar air heater. They are sold under the Canadair brand or you can build your own, and they work. I have had one for about 4 years that I built. A recent example, last week it was 16 degrees outside and the air heater was taking cool air from my basement heating it, and returning it back into the house at 110F. This at a rate of 150 CFM, which is higher than Canadairs by 50%. It runs for about 6 hours per day and cost about 4 cents. Power consumption is 75 watt. The main heat absorber is made from aluminum cans.
When I built mine I put up a website to show the process: www.homesolar.webs.com
Instructions to build your own are there. This is a not for profit personal site.
I don't remeber if I got the blower from Grainger or McMaster Carr. I took a little digging as I wanted 150 CFM in a 4 inch outlet size, that didn't fall on its face with a small amount of static pressure. That is why an axial blade fan does not work well for these. The blower and the Lexan cover were the most expensive parts, they contributed about $270- $300 of the total $500 cost.
BTW the Special Solar collector paint is also not worth it, If I do another I will just use flat black spray paint.
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