Been meaning to build one of these for a while to reduce my heating costs for the garage. I have used almost entirely surplus material, things I had to buy was the polycarbonate window for 10 euros and a fan for 25 euros, I basically have the remaining material from before.
Started with the frame for the window, as I would size the rest of the collector after that:
Then the frame, surplus paneling from the house & garage construction.
Some insulation that was left over, I will add more in the back of the collector to insulate against the wall too:
Assembled and mounted on the wall. I have painted the inside matte black. The outlet and inlet are in the lower left and upper right corners respectively.
The window frame is attached with hinges and locks, also added weather stripping to seal it up. There is a subframe with a mesh inside the collector that the air will pass through.
Then I started on the electronics, an old 230v -> 12v 1amp power supply and a cheap temperature controller from ebay, I will set it up so the fan starts once the temperature in the collector goes high enough, currently I have it set to 35 degrees.
Next step is to install the pipes and also to seal up everything with the polyurethane foam.
Fan installed in the lower port:
I made a box for this filter I have so I wouldn't pull dirty air into the collector:
Filter box mounted around the intake:
What it looks like now:
Now I have to wait and see if it makes a difference, it is a bit on the small side and the design can be optimized further yet. I only intend for this to provide additional heat when the sun shines. Hopefully the end result will be a lower electricity bill.
Started with the frame for the window, as I would size the rest of the collector after that:
Then the frame, surplus paneling from the house & garage construction.
Some insulation that was left over, I will add more in the back of the collector to insulate against the wall too:
Assembled and mounted on the wall. I have painted the inside matte black. The outlet and inlet are in the lower left and upper right corners respectively.
The window frame is attached with hinges and locks, also added weather stripping to seal it up. There is a subframe with a mesh inside the collector that the air will pass through.
Then I started on the electronics, an old 230v -> 12v 1amp power supply and a cheap temperature controller from ebay, I will set it up so the fan starts once the temperature in the collector goes high enough, currently I have it set to 35 degrees.
Next step is to install the pipes and also to seal up everything with the polyurethane foam.
Fan installed in the lower port:
I made a box for this filter I have so I wouldn't pull dirty air into the collector:
Filter box mounted around the intake:
What it looks like now:
Now I have to wait and see if it makes a difference, it is a bit on the small side and the design can be optimized further yet. I only intend for this to provide additional heat when the sun shines. Hopefully the end result will be a lower electricity bill.