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Earlier in the year I went to the booths for the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) annual meeting and in a whole room full of solar vendors, not one air panel.
There is definitely a lot of heat energy on the protected side of a south facing house wall.
As a test, I taped some charcoal color asphalt shingles on the south side of my white stucco home. The shingles quickly heated up to about 30 degrees hotter than the white surface. When the white surface was 80 degrees, the shingles were 110+. I believe that covered Trombe walls get about a 60 degree difference so 30 degrees hotter was not bad for the uncovered shingles.
However, as the shingles got hot, they became very flexible and not easy to keep on the wall. Also, the air passing over the hot shingles smells like asphalt.
I've thought about painting the south side of the house black for winter and then white for summer, but sounds like a lot of work. I was wondering about a paint that went on black but could be easily removed, perhaps by water or warm soap and water - any ideas? Anyone know where I could get some black mud? (the south side is pretty sheltered with an overhang).
Maybe some kind of inexpensive and removable Trombe wall or air panels might work.
Definitely a lot of heat reflected from the south wall in the winter that could be put to better use.
Also, debating setting up my home cooker again. Does give heat, but when need it most in the winter, produces the least heat, partly because of the angle of reflection:
http://negawattchallenge.org/challenger/bean.html (scroll down a little on the linked page) For general information on our little challenge, go to www.NegawattChallenge.org - perhaps start one in your area?
Innovating to be competitive for the www.NegawattChallenge.org
Dave
There is definitely a lot of heat energy on the protected side of a south facing house wall.
As a test, I taped some charcoal color asphalt shingles on the south side of my white stucco home. The shingles quickly heated up to about 30 degrees hotter than the white surface. When the white surface was 80 degrees, the shingles were 110+. I believe that covered Trombe walls get about a 60 degree difference so 30 degrees hotter was not bad for the uncovered shingles.
However, as the shingles got hot, they became very flexible and not easy to keep on the wall. Also, the air passing over the hot shingles smells like asphalt.
I've thought about painting the south side of the house black for winter and then white for summer, but sounds like a lot of work. I was wondering about a paint that went on black but could be easily removed, perhaps by water or warm soap and water - any ideas? Anyone know where I could get some black mud? (the south side is pretty sheltered with an overhang).
Maybe some kind of inexpensive and removable Trombe wall or air panels might work.
Definitely a lot of heat reflected from the south wall in the winter that could be put to better use.
Also, debating setting up my home cooker again. Does give heat, but when need it most in the winter, produces the least heat, partly because of the angle of reflection:
http://negawattchallenge.org/challenger/bean.html (scroll down a little on the linked page) For general information on our little challenge, go to www.NegawattChallenge.org - perhaps start one in your area?
Innovating to be competitive for the www.NegawattChallenge.org
Dave