Personally I like active air systems due to their simplicity and reliability. An air leak is much less of an issue than a water leak. An aluminum screen collector is dead simple and cheap compared to a hydronic system. Considering the sheer amount of btus required for space heating, IMO forced air is a better solution. Forget complicated heat storage (except maybe some thermal mass in the living space where you can incorporate it), and just try to offset your fuel use as much as possible. Why use the "higher quality heat" of hydronic system when a higher volume of "lower quality heat" from an active air system gets the job done just as well? Being more economical will allow you to maximize your collector area. Just my $0.02
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