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I've done worse . . .
I might even try the corrugated panels idea and say it's just "temporary." Amazing how quickly "temporary" can become "permanent."
I like the idea of putting the pipes on top of either wood or metal pieces. That might be the only way to go. The architect wants me to put 2"x6" boards on edge on there, at 6" centers. I coulp put pvc pipes on top of that, but that doesn't make for a lot of pipes. Maybe 9 or so. That's a total of only about 400 linear feet. I wonder if it's even worth the trouble at that point.Comment
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From that description, it sounds like the goal is to block low angle sun which would be hitting the windows or doors, without blocking as much of the high angle sun which is just hitting the area under the screen.
In that case, I think you are right that the total heat gain from the pipe network would not justify the bother.SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.Comment
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400 ft is a fair length and would collect a useful amount of heat.?? And not a lot of work to add the piping to the tops of the boards.
If you go the wood on edge then I think 2 x 4 would look better as 6in plus the 2in pipe makes 8in and I think its going to look very heavy when viewed side on??
Really if you use 2x 4 then you have a perfect mount for the pipes..Comment
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I think that one reason for the 6" tall wood at 6" spacing was to be able to completely block sunlight coming in shallower than about a 45 degree angle. So the combination of 2x34 and 2" pipe would do the same thing. But that also means that the 2" pipe will be completely visible, bends and all, sitting at the top of the wood.SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.Comment
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There is no way you can have any type of solar system that is completely hidden from view.. If it looks neat I think its acceptable.. Like a solar hot water system on a house or solar panels.
Unless you are going to have a gas or grid electricity heater you are going to have some parts of the system visible.
Inet dog mabe you have a better solution?Comment
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Not really. I was mainly addressing the use of black poly pipe instead of PVC, as was being discussed earlier. Going with the 2" pipe, I would go for PVC, nice and straight and neatly installed rather than curvy black poly clamped down somehow at intervals. But since the PVC has no UV resistance it would have to be kept painted.
The last suggestion along those lines was that maybe running black poly on top of the slats of the shade bars would keep it out of sight where the curves would not be an issue. If the bars had been 2x4s flat instead of 2x6s on edge that could have been a solution.SunnyBoy 3000 US, 18 BP Solar 175B panels.Comment
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For an idea of how much heat can be collected you might try http://rimstar.org/renewnrg/solar_po...ter_diy_fp.htm
also http://rimstar.org/renewnrg/solar_po...ing_diy_ds.htm[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Comment
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Is this still just possibly a fence? Excuse my fast crappy drafting ability but if you used 2 pieces of corrugated black steel front to back and screwed them together with 1.25" PVC between and screwed some fence boards at whatever spacing to the steel opposite the tubes, you could get a partial solar absorber. make a header across the top and bottom and get a metal U channel to cover the header. It could look like a fence, and be UV stable as it is not directly in the sun. You will need some imagination with this drawing LOL.
fence.pdfComment
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I haven't had much chance to check in, but wanted to give an update that we're now planning on 2"x4"s instead of 2"x6"s. Inetdog is right about the shading reasons for this. We might put black pvc on top of these 2"x4"s at some point, but right now, this whole remodel is getting so overwhelming that that won't be until later. As several people have suggested, the return might not be worth the effort, so I need to it down when I have some time and figure that out.
I really appreciate the help I've gotten here. When we do finally figure out which route to take, I'll report back.Comment
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