Quote:
Originally Posted by A264172
If you did that, you could close the east one in the afternoon and keep the west one closed in morning when possible.
It seems like the wider ones would have a chance to collect some more serious heat.
What kind of btu's do you think you might get out of them?
|
I was planning to make them 3' x 5' so I'd have 15 sq.ft. of collecting area.
I've read that standard glazed windows get 1,300 btu/sq.ft. Using that figure I would expect at least 19,500 btu per unit, maybe more since it will be black inside and insulated. I've read that a well insulated box can deliver a stream of 120˚ air as long as the sun is shining on it.
I have a 2000 sq.ft. of living area needing heat and at 166.67 btu needed per sq. ft. I need to have 333,340 btu to heat the house. I believe I should be able to get 78,000 btu from the 5 units considering that 2 won't be as effective in their placement. That's 23% of the heat I need.
I'm not an expert so these are my amateur figures. Once I build the boxes and test them this winter, I'll have actual data to report.