/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>310576
I know there's some odd attraction for the can panel, but I don't recommend it since it is a very bad design.

I do recommend replacing the cans with used metal roofing, especially the kind that is corrugated, but any metal roofing will do so long as air flow across both sides. It is faster and easier to make, requires far less paint, and the air flow off of one is a lot faster.

I also don't recommend plexiglass. Try to find an old sliding glass patio door instead. The glass for it will be tempered so it won't melt or crack which can happen with non-tempered glass and plexiglass respectively. It also has two pieces of glass which will help insulate the hot box and give you warmer air and faster air flow. You can get used patio doors and used metal roofing usually for free from your local freecycle.org group, craigslist, bulletin board, local renovation construction site, or similar source. People replace them when their seals let in moisture and you can grab them up for free usually.

The down side are it is a lot heavier. FYI, for a mere 800 square feet you can totally heat your place with a passive solar air unit like that. You can also do hot water with it.

I would use Guinness or Monster cans instead of painted cans. I've heard that painted cans tend to weather poorly in the box. The paint flakes off and stuff.

>>310639
Not OP, but eventually want to get into solar. Can you give me a comparison so I can get a better mental picture of how big 800 square feet is?

>>310576

i wish i could find the URL, but a brilliantly simple and effective system i saw was basically a tall, thin box (like 8' high 3' wide, 6" deep) plastic front painted black inside on the sunny side of the house outside. A hollow box filled with air, that heats in the sun.

At the bottom, and the top, is a duct through the wall, about 6 - 8" diameter.

Operation is simple. Sun heats the box, warm air rises and convects cold in the bottom and hot in the top, entirely passively.

A simple fan inside the room circulates air (since you dont want to heat the top of the room).

I'm just posting this for other people that might be interested in solar heating that is on a larger scale than what the OP would be making,

>pic is from this

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarShed/solarshed.htm

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/2007-12-01/Solar-Heating-Plan-for-Any-Home.aspx

>>310661
Here's an 800 square feet floor plan if that helps you get an idea of what the OP maybe heating up.

>>310658
>>310639
Thank you for the advice, i had been wondering just how weatherproof/durable the cans would be but it was the only real layout i could find that im capable of as i cant weld or solder.
>>310685
Thank you for this as well i will try to find and study this
>>310789
Thank you for the links
>>310792
im mostly wanting to heat the main part of the house as we keep most of the bedroom doors shut to keep the cats outta them so the 800 sqft is the rather large kitchen and mid sized liveing room

Thank everyone for all the help all the research iv done prior to comeing to /diy/ turned up alot of the same stuff and none of the info i realy needed i will take all of yalls advice into consideration as i continue to build this later i will be working on a solar water heater as well.

>>310792
That's a pretty decent apartment layout.

>>310804
I plan on making a passive solar water heater some time soon. For my collector I'm going to use an old glass patio door, old sheet of roofing metal painted black, and copper piping painted black inside it. Since my area freezes down to -15F in the winter, mine will have a closed loop for the heating side and it will have antifreeze in it.

There's a chance I may hook a small VAWT up to it to pump it with wind power if the flow is too low otherwise.

One big tip. The larger diameter of your piping and the fewer the elbows and turns the faster and better it will flow for heating if you are using a passive non-pumped design.

>>310805
What?

The kitchen is far from the entrance. It has terrible flow.

>>310837
>It has terrible flow.

Agreed. Walking in and being presented with a wall at the end of the foyer is top tier shitty ass layout. The entire thing seems like it is made randomly.