solar panel and a block heater
 

I am an electrical dummy. But I am wondering if I can use a solar panel to run the block heater when I am at home? Or if it is even worth the expense of a solar panel. Have any of you figured out what is costs you a month to have the block heater plugged in?

Thanks
Andrew

take a look at how many watts a solar panel output is..and the voltage it puts out...then look at how many watts the heater takes..and the voltage....it will take an array of panels at least as large as your car to put that much out....and being very expensive. You will see why this is not a cost effective idea. Solar power is very costly per watt generated. with solar you have a very high equipment charge..then you need storage batteries and an inverter to convert its DC output to A/C, and allow for the losses in that conversion. Thats as simple as I can explain it to someone with no electrical background.

I believe 400W is what was stamped on my heater. Does that sound right?

yes 400Watts at 120v AC not take a look at what the solar panels generate...which is DC current at a far lower voltage.

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/Sample_Projects/Ohms_Law/ohmslaw.html this will let you see some of the math involved.

this is a simpler link you can plug in numbers... but also gives you the formulas.... http://www.angelfire.com/pa/baconbacon/page2.html

cool, thanks for you help

You are welcome....I put a second link up...check that one out if you haven't yet.

people run their hot water heaters off of solar panels, I can imagine a block heater uses or pull more electricity than a wate heater. Am I wrong.

No need to use AC for the block heater. Just series a bunch of panels to get 400 watts to it. P=E^2/R
Might get costly.:eek: Although, in a few hundred yrs they would haved saved enough to pay for themselves. :D

This post makes me wonder... how you guys up north with oil fired furnaces ignite them.
I hear they have solid state ignition. How does that work? Does the oil ignite with a 'spark'? Can't imagine that working.
Texas temps in the teens makes me think of other uses for wvo. ;)

standing pilot
 

in areas wo electricity. also may be available with a diazo lighter like my barbicue grill.

tom w

Whoa most solar water heaters use a contained box with a heat exchanger built into it to pre heat the water before the water heater. Solar to electric has way too many losses for a block heater as BHD has explained in simple terms. Nice idea but unless you have a hundred square feet or so of solar panels, pretty $$$$$ then maybe a solar panel to a battery bank then an inverter......but still too expensive, 110V is cheaper and more reliable.

The only reason solar power works well for heating water (or preheating it) is becuase the solar energy from the sun into the water is faily efficent whereas solar panels have no way to convert the heat they collect back into eletricity easily.

The guy I work for heats his pool with a large heat exhanger on the roof of his house and it works rather well...I believe they also might use it for indoor heating boosting..not sure.

110AC would be the best way to power your block heater (although DC would work similarly since it is just a heating element).

As started on the other threads...if you need to heat your car without eletricity first make sure everything is in good working order and then if you still need some juice, look into propane/diesel fired heaters...

Espar makes nice units...and they are german made.

And they just SIP fuel :)

Solar water heaters are a far different thing that a photovoltaic array....

Solar water heaters heat the water directly via heat sinking focusing and concentrating the heat from the sun and do not do any electric conversion.

Well, if the block heater is 400W or 0.4kW, all you need to know is how much you pay for electricity. If we assume $.10 per kW-hour (about average), we get $.04 per hour. Based on this, you can run your block heater 8 hour per day for less than $10 per month.

they used to say active solar vs. passive. passive solar is heating up your water on the roof, your rooms facing south, your car at the beach. active is (actively) changing solar rays into electricity. heat is very crude, and electricity is very clean. try running your computer off heat. taht's why it would be costly to run your block heater off solar panels. electric heat is expensive.

maybe a couple cans of sterno underneath...


plus, it's pretty cheap. and that's at 8 bucks a day. i only do it for 2.

david