Basic solar heating for a small system - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-28T09:13:15Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/basic-solar-heating-for-a?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A103412&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI am at 34 degrees South, and…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-09:4778851:Comment:1078502011-05-09T15:41:23.247ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
<p>I am at 34 degrees South, and am targeting winter sun angles only. I will research it to see what is the most effective angle for my position. Thanks for the feedback Mitchell.</p>
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<p>Mudvet - no, the back is now black and the front clear (no new picture). I did the first test to see what can be done before I went down to the hardware store to get the black spray paint. The picture is of the multiwal with its original white backing. I thought that the light should get in to the…</p>
<p>I am at 34 degrees South, and am targeting winter sun angles only. I will research it to see what is the most effective angle for my position. Thanks for the feedback Mitchell.</p>
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<p>Mudvet - no, the back is now black and the front clear (no new picture). I did the first test to see what can be done before I went down to the hardware store to get the black spray paint. The picture is of the multiwal with its original white backing. I thought that the light should get in to the panel, thus I left the front clear. I'll paint both sides black and give it another run. </p> I can't really see from the p…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-09:4778851:Comment:1080502011-05-09T14:08:06.798ZMudvethttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/Mudvet
<p>I can't really see from the picture, but with the back side painted black, is the front side (pointed to the sun) white as in the picture? You should avoid this being white as it would reflect most of the sun. All sides being black should be best I think.</p>
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<p>On optimum orientation, please see</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html" target="_blank">http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html</a></p>
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<p>I can't really see from the picture, but with the back side painted black, is the front side (pointed to the sun) white as in the picture? You should avoid this being white as it would reflect most of the sun. All sides being black should be best I think.</p>
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<p>On optimum orientation, please see</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html" target="_blank">http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html</a></p>
<p> </p> That angle is dependent on wh…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-09:4778851:Comment:1080492011-05-09T13:52:58.947ZMitchell Lowellhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/MitchellLowell
That angle is dependent on where you are; northern or southern hemisphere. It also depends on weather you are going for winter sun angles, or summer sun angles. Also you want to be a maximum of 20 degrees of true south (northern hemisphere) either east or west. Look up basic solar design on the internet and you should easily find the correct panel placement angle for your location..
That angle is dependent on where you are; northern or southern hemisphere. It also depends on weather you are going for winter sun angles, or summer sun angles. Also you want to be a maximum of 20 degrees of true south (northern hemisphere) either east or west. Look up basic solar design on the internet and you should easily find the correct panel placement angle for your location.. Well, after getting around ha…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-09:4778851:Comment:1081282011-05-09T13:10:32.181ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
<p>Well, after getting around half our average annual rainfall in just two days, the sun is out agian and I can continue tinkering with the little panel. It has been painted black at the back, and depending on the angle at which it is turned towards the sun, I can get the water to between 45 and 50 degrees Celcius. Now to set up the jig with which to cut 5 mm slots into 32 mm PVC pipes to accomodate the panel, and to test it in its completed configuration. I have enough pmultiwall for around…</p>
<p>Well, after getting around half our average annual rainfall in just two days, the sun is out agian and I can continue tinkering with the little panel. It has been painted black at the back, and depending on the angle at which it is turned towards the sun, I can get the water to between 45 and 50 degrees Celcius. Now to set up the jig with which to cut 5 mm slots into 32 mm PVC pipes to accomodate the panel, and to test it in its completed configuration. I have enough pmultiwall for around 4 of these, and I'm sure that will be enough for a basic (read primative) set-up to heat the 300 liter aquarium.</p>
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<p>Anyone with suggestions for the perfect mounting angle between the panel and the incoming sunlight?</p> I think you will get some hea…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-06:4778851:Comment:1057142011-05-06T13:52:58.923ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
<p>I think you will get some heat gain on sunny days at least and yea, you may be able to balance it with the timer. Hope it works well for you.</p>
<p>I think you will get some heat gain on sunny days at least and yea, you may be able to balance it with the timer. Hope it works well for you.</p> I will be able to get hold of…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-06:4778851:Comment:1057132011-05-06T13:47:06.430ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
I will be able to get hold of one if need be, but I was first and foremost trying to get an idea of the heating potential of the panel. I am hoping that short rotations on the pump timer during sun hours will do the trick. The water will trickle back into the sump, where the temperature will balance a bit before going to the aquarium. Only experimentation will tell me if I need the thermostat....... A single panel holds less than 2 liters, thus it is not a huge inflow of hot water at a…
I will be able to get hold of one if need be, but I was first and foremost trying to get an idea of the heating potential of the panel. I am hoping that short rotations on the pump timer during sun hours will do the trick. The water will trickle back into the sump, where the temperature will balance a bit before going to the aquarium. Only experimentation will tell me if I need the thermostat....... A single panel holds less than 2 liters, thus it is not a huge inflow of hot water at a time. At most, with three panels, I am expecting to trickle around 5 liters of 45 degrees Celcius water into the sump.<br/><br/><cite>TCLynx said:</cite>
<blockquote><div>Tricky part on the small aquarium set up will be how to operate it and avoid the risk of cooking the fish on a sunny day. Do you have any way to control with a thermostat?</div>
</blockquote> Tricky part on the small aqua…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-06:4778851:Comment:1060022011-05-06T12:18:18.826ZTCLynxhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/TCLynx
Tricky part on the small aquarium set up will be how to operate it and avoid the risk of cooking the fish on a sunny day. Do you have any way to control with a thermostat?
Tricky part on the small aquarium set up will be how to operate it and avoid the risk of cooking the fish on a sunny day. Do you have any way to control with a thermostat? Thanks for all the interestin…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-06:4778851:Comment:1053242011-05-06T07:03:17.003ZKobus Joostehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/KobusJooste
<p>Thanks for all the interesting responses and linkes. I'll definately go through them as soon as I have a bit of reading time.</p>
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<p>Perhaps I should just add some more info on this little tinker project. I'm in a temperate region, thus not too cold in winter. If I chose to go with goldfish, I would not need to heat the water at all, but I am trying to keep plants and bacteria happy by attempting to keep system temperature at 25 degrees Celcius in winter. The system I'm trying to…</p>
<p>Thanks for all the interesting responses and linkes. I'll definately go through them as soon as I have a bit of reading time.</p>
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<p>Perhaps I should just add some more info on this little tinker project. I'm in a temperate region, thus not too cold in winter. If I chose to go with goldfish, I would not need to heat the water at all, but I am trying to keep plants and bacteria happy by attempting to keep system temperature at 25 degrees Celcius in winter. The system I'm trying to work a heating solution out for is a small aquarium, thus also not a large volume of water. I'm somewhere in between aquarium heater and very basic solar heating country. I have painted the panel black at the back, and then the clouds arrived. I reached 42 degrees Celcius in a burst of direct sun, but I'm sure I can do better. Thus for this project, the really basic will work. On my larger system, I will definately look at all the suggestions here.</p>
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<p>Thanks for all the replies.</p> http://www.youtube.com/watch?…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-06:4778851:Comment:1055142011-05-06T04:34:17.909ZJon Nosehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JonNose
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm-cbOWvSs&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm-cbOWvSs&feature=player_embedded</a><br />
Here are some vids on solar heaters that are inexpensive to build
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm-cbOWvSs&feature=player_embedded" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm-cbOWvSs&feature=player_embedded</a><br />
Here are some vids on solar heaters that are inexpensive to build Good morning Kobus, I have be…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2011-05-04:4778851:Comment:1041522011-05-04T16:35:13.975ZMitchell Lowellhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/MitchellLowell
Good morning Kobus, I have been fortunate to have done much work within this field with one of the largest project being a solar domestic water heating system for a resort in the Caribbean for 26 rooms. The challenge to solar is storage once there is no more available sun light. This was an issue in the Caribbean as well even with the beautiful weather there. There are different ways to address this need throughout the system design, and materials to do this with. Water is a great storage…
Good morning Kobus, I have been fortunate to have done much work within this field with one of the largest project being a solar domestic water heating system for a resort in the Caribbean for 26 rooms. The challenge to solar is storage once there is no more available sun light. This was an issue in the Caribbean as well even with the beautiful weather there. There are different ways to address this need throughout the system design, and materials to do this with. Water is a great storage medium providing you have enough volume. In new England where summer temps can reach +100, and winter temps -30; the coastal ocean surface temps very around 20 degrees. Phase shifting materials are another medium that allows heat to escape at a slower rate then water. I am in the north east and am dealing with cold as part of my design issues. I have decided to to build my own fish tanks out of fiberglass with an inner, and outer shell. My tanks are going to be set into the earth and use the earths insulation value as part of the overall tank heat retention. The space between the inner and outer shell will have PEX tubing running through a phase shifting material. Warm water/glycol is run through this closed loop system to heat the medium to the desired temp. Dry packed sand is a decent inexpensive storage medium as well. My tanks will be in an environment that will average 55 degrees, but the tanks will be about 20 degrees higher. Most of my structure will be underground employing ground loop environment conditioning to make space climate control efficient, inexpensive, and in time self sustainable with systems to be added.