Installed Cost of Solar Hot Air Panels
user-1091831
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
I’m doing a little research, to get myself more up to speed on lesser known technologies such as solar hot air panels. Does anyone have experience or knowledge of how much these systems can go for professionally installed? I know there are DIY-ers out there making them, but I’m interested in a price range for a good quality installation, and I’m not sure by what means they are priced (ie solar panels are priced by the watt/kilowatt). Any thoughts?
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Replies
mike,
i can't speak to cost, but i worked for a firm that was doing this on a much grander scale, and pairing it with wintergardens and thermal storage for lower energy buildings in the sunny part of germany.
http://www.mh-bauingenieure.de/chameleon/mediapool/1648.jpg
on the project above, the glazed section is a double wall (the other half is brettstapel, basically vertical car decking). the interstitial airspace heats up, and the occupants have vent panels (the little squares just to the right of the glazed corner) they can open if they need more heat. it's a really interesting concept, and was cost effective (on the commercial scale) and significantly better looking than the hot air panels. in summer, the cavity vents directly to the exterior.
Mike,
I'm a skeptic. These are mostly a gimmick. They only provide heat when the sun is shining -- and if you have designed your house according to passive solar design principles, you don't need any heat when the sun is shining.
If your house is cold on sunny days, something is wrong. And if you need more glazing on your south side, for heaven's sake -- put in a window, not a big ugly black box that you can't even see through.
I agree with Martin. They can be a fun thing for DIYers to play around with but I cant imagine doing it commercially or on a residential scale in new construction. I think it could be an interesting thing to try on an existing home that was a rental or if too poor to renovate. You just wouldnt want it in a very visible location.
Here is a good link to solar food dryers which is almost the same technology.
http://tec.appstate.edu/sites/default/files/HPImprovingSolarFoodDryers.pdf
Thanks for the input guys. I agree as well, not for new construction, but maybe a low budget alternative to an existing home at best. I'm just researching these kinds of things so that I have a more well rounded background in some of the less popular subjects, certainly not looking to get into anything like this myself. Thank you for your input.