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Old 09-02-09, 11:28 PM   #7
cdig
Helper EcoRenovator
 
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Hey there, I too have a big ol' dish in my back yard that I thought would make a great heliostat... I think it would collect alot of sunlight, but do you really want to direct all that into a window on the back of your house? Yer gonna burn yer house down man! Not to mention that's ALOT of sunlight... you'd blind yourself everytime you walk in the room.

That said, there are other pitfalls as well. Like you said, accurately tracking the sun is going to require another axis, and unless your a decent hand at building circuit boards, a controller is going to set you back about a pretty penny. On top of all that, the biggest problem is going to be keeping the mirrors clean all winter... dirt and snow will accumulate fast.

While I think heliostats are by far the coolest and biggest heat payoff, from what I've seen so far, passive solar collection seems to be the easiest and cheapest source of heat. Just my buckand a quarters worth...
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