Michigan: cheap solar space heaters (local small scale production.)

[skids]

It's not quite the <$20/unit that would be possible with mass production and a simple styrofoam/hardened polycarbon design, but it is good to see someone who isn't gouging for a change. Also a nice mom and pop story and good to see Michigan manufacturing something new.

It's an idea he has been kicking around for 30 years, said Sanborn, who runs a recycling business, Material Management, from an old factory building where renovations are being interwoven with solar-powered designs.

While the panel is exposed to the sun, the temperature of the air entering it can be raised 30 degrees before it flows back out into the room, Sanborn said.

The amount of heat it will generate will depend on factors that include how well the panel is exposed to sunlight, he noted. The price of the solar space heaters begins at less than $80 for the smaller models.

Production started last week at Earth Energy Options in Union City, Sanborn said, to fill orders being taken through Sanborn's Material Management retail store on Mechanic Street and through the manufacturer.

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/solar15e_20050915.htm

...unfortunately no online website for either business, that I can find.

[wryter2000]

1. I want some!

Maybe I'll call information and see if I can get a phone number.

[Team44Car]

2. Leaves me with questions:

How do they attach?
How does the warm air enter the home?
How hard is installation?

[skids]

9. They don't show the top in the photo.

...but if it is like previous designs, the top is angled. You open the window a bit on the bottom, and put it in and close the window back down on it, with some foam stuffed in there and in the gaps created between window panes to reseal things. A well constructed unit like this probably holds heat at night just fine. Less professional bodge jobs will need to have an extra peice of foam stuffed in the opening at night.

The heat gets into the building through convection, no power needed. The hot air rises along the glass on the top of the unit, and draws house air in along the underside.

I've got a couple tiny units halfway completed made from CD jewel cases, old PC case metal spraypainted black, and some styrofoam to isolate the hot/cold air channel. I still have to seal the back air channel and figure out what to make the mounting lip out of to be a bit more durable than fragile jewel cases, but an experiment with just a pizza-box backing verified air flow.

[formercia]

15. Plain old window works too

and you can still see out.

[skids]

16. Prior units are installed below the window.

...increasing your solar exposure.

I would hope that these units are too, but I do wonder why he's lifting it in the picture. Even so, at this price it might be worth it to pick some up and adapt it to under-the-window use with a small dab of carpentry.

I suppose a look at his brochure would clear that point up.

[Team44Car]

18. I want some

[BR_Parkway]

13. It looks like an adaptation of this design:

[niyad]

3. phone number below

Material Management
109 Mechanic Street, Hudson, MI 49247
[phone]

[wryter2000]

4. LOL

He says he's getting phone calls from all over. He asked me where I heard about it. I asked for an e-mail so we don't have to be calling him, but he prefers talking to people.

He's sending a brochure. This sounds like a great way to heat my bathroom. He said it'll be $80 + shipping. Shipping should be stiff, but I still think the thing will pay for itself.

[mzteris]

8. did he tell you anything else

like how hard is installation?

Is this something you put up in winter and take down in summer?

Would you want more than one?

[wryter2000]

10. I didn't get too much information

I want to read the brochure. I don't think you'd want it second-hand from me, anyway, because I'd probably screw something up. :)

He sounds like he wants to talk to people, so give him a call.

I'll probably get only one for starters. Some of my windows are really large, and a unit for them would be expensive and unwieldy.

[skids]

12. Well I can answer two of those.

You don't *have* to take them down in the summer, but you would want to block them off, unless they have a "summertime vent" on the outside which allows them to be used simply as an air circulator when the window is closed.

You'd want as many as you have sun-catching south-facing windows in rooms that would benefit from space heat. A unit like this looks heavy enough and big enough that second floor windows would need a porch roof underneath for support. Check the amount of sun the wall below the window gets (and do remember the sun continues to sink a bit more from where it tops out now.)

[mzteris]

5. DETROIT FREE PRESS

www.freep.com ahhhhhhh..... I wondered what the HECK a conservation item was doing on FREEPERS... :rofl:

[louis-t]

11. Yeah, every time I gotta type that address

a little chill runs up my spine.

[Botany]

6. Even if this got 10% more heat into a house these

are very cost effective ..... and no greenhouse gases too.

:bounce:

[wryter2000]

7. Nominated

I'd like to see this on the greatest page because it can save us all some $$$ in a responsible way.

[skids]

14. Hey thanks...

...just one more :-)

[dweller]

17. make your own, courtesy of Mother

Jones.

3 types

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1977_September_October/Mother_s__Heat_Grabber_

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1980_November_December/Solar_on_a_Shoestring

http://www.motherearthnews.com/top_articles/1982_November_December/Solar_Rise_Your_Apartment_with_a__75_High_Rise_Heat_Grabber_


there should be plans available either through MJ or the Dulley site above.

dp

[wryter2000]

19. Thanks

But if I have to do it, it'll be fubar.

[dweller]

20. then, in that case, whatever you do

don't attempt this at home. :)

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1978_July_August/At_Last__A_Low_Cost_Solar_Furnace_
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1978_November_December/Mother_s_Solar_Furnace_Takes_Shape
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1979_March_April/Mother_s_Solar_Furnace_Frame
http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1979_May_June/Plumbing_Up_Mother_s_Solar_Furnace

dp

[jeanarrett]

21. Okay, guys, what is "fubar?"

I can probably guess that it's something like f**ked up big ass royally or something, but will you enlighten me for future reference?
Thanks!

[phantom power]

22. "fucked up beyond all recognition"

[brystheguy]

23. I like your FUBAR acronym more than the original! n/t

[philb]

29. For those with a little mechanical ability and time; these are a good idea

they can provide cost effective options .

[NJCher]

24. thanks for the links, dweller!

I can't wait to show them to a builder to see if I can do one of them.




Cher

[amandabeech]

25. Was born and spent my first 22 years in Michigan.

Still travel back frequently.

Is there enough sunlight in Michigan to make this worthwhile? Western Michigan is one of the cloudiest places in the country, and I don't recall Ann Arbor as being any sunnier in the winter. I still have very vivid memories of what we used to call "Ann Arbor Creeping Crud," also known as a drizzling rain/snow mix that kept coming down for days at a time.

Perhaps these are for export. Once you're out of the lee of the Lakes, you get fewer cloudy, mostly rainless, days.

[skids]

26. Depends on what's worthwhile.

Say you have a 1 square meter collector. That's 1000W per hour on a clear day. Say the collector is 50% effective. That's 500W. Or about 1500BTU. Run it for 100 hours (conservatively about two clear weeks),
and that's one gallon of heating oil, or two to three dollars worth of heat.

So one square meter pays back $1 to $2 per solid week of clear weather. (And in actuality a well designed collector will collect a small amount of heat even on a cloudy day.)

Basically it depends on the price of the collector. Most commercially available products are designed by people who worship at the alter of efficiency. So they overengineer it, spending way past the point of diminishing return and end up with products in the hundreds and even thousands of dollars. That's why I singled this one out.

Mass produced, made out of a polycarbonate shell, pre-formed styrofoam innards, and foil, it should be possible to bring the cost of a 2 square meter under-window unit down below $20 and still maintain at least 25% efficiency. But noone does it.

[amandabeech]

27. Thanks for the explanation.

Two clear weeks in winter where I grew up would cause the locals to believe that the second coming of Christ was upon us!

This device and others like it could make a lot of sense in some locations, like the northern plains and rocky mountain and basin areas that are both cold and sunny.

[philb]

28. another simple solar heating system that would be cost effective

You could locate a passive solar hot water heater at the outside base of the south wall of such a building, that heats baseboard water based heating system or a wall mounted water heating system or radiator. This would also be simple and cost effective and reliable, low operation and maintenance cost; and work anytime the sun is shining. It could use natural gas or heating oil as backup.

I took a training course in working with such at the Florida Solar Energy Center a while ago, and have played around with such units for heating hot water where a location for the collector below the level of the hot water tank is available. They are simple, reliable, and cost effective in such circumstances- even at past energy prices.

[philb]

30. For those with swimming pools; passive solar is most cost effective way

to heat them; and most reliable. so don't need a pump and electricity.

But you need a pool area that slopes down on the south side of the pool so you can locate the solar collector below the level of the pipe sending heated water into the pool. And a return pipe from the pool to the top of the collector.

[philb]

31. Another passive solar heating system that works for some situations

If you have big south facing windows; you can locate decorative water containers inside the lower parts of the windows to have the water heated by the sun and heat radiated into the room. The mass of the heated water stores energy that is released at night as well. It carries over the heat for when you need it even more.

You can use aquarium to carry heat over; or a metal tank dark on the window side.