My hot air panel project
 

This is a project I started collecting materials for in the fall. It is based off this design.atlanticenergy.ca > projects > Wayne Langille - Solar Air Collectors
I'm doing a much much lower budget version of it though. I picked this project after researching many DIY heaters because of it's seemingly proven performance. Looks like quite a bit of R&D went into the design and I wanted to be as successful as possible the first try.

The project sort of hinged on my ability to source cheap polycarbonate panels. I found $20 clear corrugated 2'x8' sheets on-line and my local hdw store said they could get them since it was thru thier parent company. I was excited, so while waiting for the polycarb to come in, I bought whatever else I needed. A few days later I checked in with the guy at the hdw store. He said he messed up and they can only get a minimum of 10 panels and 100 end seals :mad::confused:. NOT cool, I only needed 2 panels and 4 end seals.

So since then I put the project on hold while I finished my PV array and sat thru the coldest winter since I moved into this house. Now it's time I started looking for a suitable glazing. Many of the home improvement stores can special order only in wierd sizes at high cost. I need to find a cheap local source of either tempered glass or polycarb (not acrylic) because they have to endure high levels of heat.

I have also had a chance to observe the sun on the south side of my house where I plan to mount the heater. It looks like I will have some shading problems part of the day from a small deciduous tree and my old mesh sattelite dish. The tree is still holding most of it's dead leaves even now in march! If it would drop them like a normal tree, it wouldn't be too bad because it's small. The dish can come down and maybe even the tree. I'd hate to cut a tree, but it will probably come back. The rabbits killed it one year and it shot up suckers that I thinned to one good shoot. Now it's probably bigger than it would have been.

Very cool. I've been wanting to do this with my garage for... well since before I had a garage! I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens.

A tip I got from another site was to try your local greenhouse supply place. They should carry these sorts of things.

Have you tried any local window repair or sign shops? They might be able to bundle your order in with their regular order.

FYI here is another commercial design for a solar hot air system - AAA Template. There may be some good ideas in this design that you could use.

FWIW,
Tim

Good ideas guys . I'll have to look and see what greenhouse places there are near me. I haven't tried a sign shop yet either.

Here's a cheaper version that uses beer cans.
Beer Can Solar HeaterBeer Can Solar

Just remember to start your project with empty beer cans.

I just was given 2 framed panels of tempered glass. They are about 32" by 67". I'll have to do some figuring to see if I can work them into my design.

I looked at many designs including a 32 ft^2 active beer/pop can panel, but decided it wasn't enough cheaper to merit all the extra work cleaning, cutting, and sealing the cans together. In fact, it could be more expensive. I live in Michigan where drink cans have a 10 cent deposit, so getting 300 some cans isn't exactly the cheapest way to make an aluminum absorber, especially since we don't drink pop or beer in my house :).

Good reason. However, I know a coworker of mine gathers cans from the local bar. I'm not sure how he worked it out. We don't have the deposit here, but he turns them in for scrap money. Perhaps talk to the owner and see if he would let you have X amount of cans?

it looks like the free glass should work out OK for my plan. It will be around 30 sqft instead of 32, and the shape will be closer to square so the 8ft ducts will have to be shortened. I'll have to see how well the glass cleans up and do some more calculations.