Solar Heater question: Best glazing product?
Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 7:45 pm
Hi all. Glad to have found this great resource and board!
I built a little screen-style solar heater that I can put into my office window. It's my first alt. energy type of DIY project I've ever done, and it works (kinda)! Now that I've proven to myself (a) I can do it and (b) it actually functions, I am going to work on optimizing it a bit. I put some of it together on the cheap.
There are a few things I think I can do better, but the first on my list is to replace the glazing on the front with something better. I literally just used some Warp's plastic wrap because it was less than $10 for the size I needed. Stapled it on the front and tested.
Obviously that's not great because (a) it probably won't hold up to the possible heat in the box and (b) it has tons of heat loss being as it's thin, not a solid sheet, and simply stapled to the edges of the box.
I started looking at what to replace it with. There are a ton of options, so I need some help getting down to what is best balancing cost with longevity, performance, and ease of installation in a 1x4 pine frame (I ended up putting two 1x4 frames together to make it a bit deeper, which seems like it would help heat more air). The height/width dimensions of the frame are about 45" x 45".
So, what have you found to be the best balance between cost, longevity, performance, and ease of installation?
Here's what I've found so far:
* Glass seems hard to find at the right dimensions and expensive to get if you go custom ($200+)
* Clear Polycarb roofing seems to be able to withstand potential high temps ($30-40 for corrugated + ??? cost of closure strips, ??? for flat)
* Clear PVC roofing seems to be a risk because of it's inability to handle high (200deg F) temps that might be possible
If you know of others and their approximate cost and/or other attributes, I would love to hear from anyone with experience with these.
Thanks!
I built a little screen-style solar heater that I can put into my office window. It's my first alt. energy type of DIY project I've ever done, and it works (kinda)! Now that I've proven to myself (a) I can do it and (b) it actually functions, I am going to work on optimizing it a bit. I put some of it together on the cheap.
There are a few things I think I can do better, but the first on my list is to replace the glazing on the front with something better. I literally just used some Warp's plastic wrap because it was less than $10 for the size I needed. Stapled it on the front and tested.
Obviously that's not great because (a) it probably won't hold up to the possible heat in the box and (b) it has tons of heat loss being as it's thin, not a solid sheet, and simply stapled to the edges of the box.
I started looking at what to replace it with. There are a ton of options, so I need some help getting down to what is best balancing cost with longevity, performance, and ease of installation in a 1x4 pine frame (I ended up putting two 1x4 frames together to make it a bit deeper, which seems like it would help heat more air). The height/width dimensions of the frame are about 45" x 45".
So, what have you found to be the best balance between cost, longevity, performance, and ease of installation?
Here's what I've found so far:
* Glass seems hard to find at the right dimensions and expensive to get if you go custom ($200+)
* Clear Polycarb roofing seems to be able to withstand potential high temps ($30-40 for corrugated + ??? cost of closure strips, ??? for flat)
* Clear PVC roofing seems to be a risk because of it's inability to handle high (200deg F) temps that might be possible
If you know of others and their approximate cost and/or other attributes, I would love to hear from anyone with experience with these.
Thanks!