Originally posted by Amy@altE
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I had thermal storage in a sunspace I added to an existing dwelling in the early '80's. it consisted of the Kalwall fiberglass cylinders (18" dia. X ~ 10 ft high) containing black dyed H2O against the back wall of the space were it got close to max. solar exposure - somewhat less biased to morning sun for slightly more afternoon storage potential. There was a black curtain directly in front of the cylinders that could be raised/lowered via a thermostat w/ a manual override for partial exposure of the H2O or as wanted/needed. The curtain was usually down in the A.M. and went up if/when the ambient temp. in the sunspace reached ~ +80 F. or so if/when the sun was shining, which was about 60 useful hrs./month during Buffalo, NY winters. I estimate I got most or more of the storage and temp. mod. benefits of a Trombe wall and still got to use the space as more than a dark room with a warm monolith on the south wall (warm on sunny afternoons/evenings anyway, but I'd speculate colder than a welldigger's ass on winter mornings).
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