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

Just did the math. My electricity cost $0.05/kWh. If I had the car plugged in 24 hours a day for a month it would still only cost $14/month. Definetly not worth the expense of a solar panel. Just thinking out loud. Thanks

sometimes thats the best way to figure it out....sit down and calulate it out once you know the formulas....assuming its not Calculus or something the average person won't know.

Like our own version of mythbusters :)

Three years ago I sat down and figured out for myself why you cant take a Japanese Market Civic SiR engine harness and plug it into a US market Civic when it will plug right in....with the connectors in the correct places and being the correct type....I was told to forget it , it won't work but not why....so I spent a week maping out the differences between the two harnesses and saw that it was impossible to even repin it to make it work...so I sat down stripped off all th econnectors and rewiered a new harness from scratch.....

Sometimes "it won't work" isn't enough to keep you from figuring out WHY it won't work.

i read that the stock block heater is 400w...i've heard stories of people's block heaters heating the engine so well that it melted snow on the hood...mine never gets that hot...so they must have aftermarket ones eh?

Mine doesn't get that warm either, but it allows the car to start immediately in sub-0 temperatures which is it's function. My Temp gauge will still read 40C, but the car will start easily and the heat will work within less than a minute.

Mine does!
 

My block heater is stock (as far as I know). It draws 378 watts (according to my special plug-in watt meter) and heats the engine enough to melt a doughnut ring of snow around the valve cover area. Radiator stays ice cold though (won't even melt snow in the vanes.) The engine will be warm to the touch.

Another idea for saving money,

If you usually leave around the same time everyday then you can get a block heater timer which you can set to turn on the block heater about an hour before you leave.

"you can set to turn on the block heater about an hour before you leave"

I'de proly forget to unplug it then, just drive away :D :rolleyes:

after many
 

bad experiences i just rig my cord so that i can back away without unplugging first.

it is a bother driving around with 20' of extension cord dragging!

it is just better to assume i WILL forget to unplug.

tom w

How about looping the extension cord to hang off the drivers door handle....can't forget that.

Or mirror...

I just always park in a position that if I happened to forget, all it would do is unplug it at the car :)