Hey everyone its been a long time, but I want to bring everyone up to speed on the state of the apartment solar project.
I've broken the project into 3 large panels (roughly 3ft wide by 2 stories high each) on the southern exposure of the building.
I've finished work on the first panel. Its an aluminum screen type hot air collector that feeds directly into one of the lower apartment units.
Here is the unit before any work was done. The panels will go the tall spaces between the windows on the far left, right middle and far right.
I decided to build the panel directly on the side of the building as I had no means to hoist up a completed panel. The sides are 2"x8"s that i screwed into the wood siding. The lower air intake part was built over the stone foundation.
I had to break a hole through the foundation (an ordeal in itself) and ran 4" metal ducting into the basement where the blower will be situated. The hole in the foundation and gap between plywood backing and the foundation was filled in with spray foam. The inside of the panel was covered with 3/4" polyiso insulation. It was sealed with silicone caulk and painted with flat black primer spray paint.
Intake closeup. Not pretty, but it will be painted black and covered by the baffle anyways :P