Is it practical to use solar to warm a slab in my shop?
charlied63
| Posted in Green Building Techniques on
I am currently in the process of building a shop 3/4 of which will be below grade and have a poured slab with radiant coils in the floor, I have equipment which I will be working on and consequently be lying on the floor. My question being in Southern New England on the coast will it be useful or cost effective to try and supplement the heat in the building with solar thermal panels to heat the concrete floor? thanks Chas.
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Replies
Chas,
I can't answer your question directly, but I suspect it would be interesting for you to visit this Guy's website: http://www.arttec.net/
Chas,
No, it won't be cost-effective. If you want to take advantage of solar heat on sunny days, install more windows on the south side of your building and fewer on the north side. During the coldest months of the year, when you really need the heat, you won't get enough sun to justify the cost of the solar thermal equipment.
Take the money that you would have spent on solar thermal collectors, pumps, and controls and spend it instead on better insulation, better air sealing details, and high-performance windows.
What Martin said. With a mostly sub-grade well insulated room/building in southern New England with reasonably designed passive gains the lighting equipment could carry the heating load, and if you have much equipment running in that shop you'd be looking at managing cooling loads more than heating loads.