Haw y can make a solar station for my home?

Question

some thing easy and simple

Answer 1

A thin box of black pipes covered over with fibreglass can connect to a water tank and make hot water. That is the easiest to build. If you want electricity there are commercially made solar photoelectric panels and even shingles. Not exactly cheap. For some real fun though you could try to make a solar powered generator. Convert a small 2 cycle engine to run on steam and hook it to a generator. Build a sun tracking solar boiler to run the engine. [An auxiliary fuelled boiler would allow nighttime operation.] Except for initial cost and a little maintenance you could have free electric power. There are plans available if you check on the Net..



Use low-voltage lighting and power converters for small appliances. Don't use anything that draws a lot of power at night and use a gas stove, refrigerator and hot water heater. A bank of deep cycle 12 volt batteries will allow moderate use of electricity at night.

Answer 2

Living in a very sunny place, I have tried this over the years. It sounds good and easy to wrap a few black plastic pipes under glass and enjoy loads of hot water but it doesnt work very effectively. The manufactured solar water heaters use UV resistant materials and that is the first problem with any DIY. The sun destroys most plastic after about a year. It really is worth investing in a proper solar water heating panel but dont follow the advice to "pre-heat" the water for a gas fired boiler as the boiler will not be able to control itself. Gas boilers are designed for a cold water intake. A good water solar panel on the roof will provide all the hot water you need throughout the summer and you keep the boiler circuit in parallel to switch over when the sun doesnt shine. Producing electricity at home is not yet at all cost effective. Charging 12v batteries is commercially available and viable but anything more is a waste of time. Better invest in energy efficient usage to begin with.

Answer 3

Can't answer your question - too "girly" - but just to say that we had commercial solar panels put on our roof about 8 weeks ago and haven't had to put the boiler on for any hot water since - the water from the tank is coming out at around 60 deg, in spite of the current weather.

We don't see it paying for itself in our lifetime but it seemed like a good way of spending some of the kids' inheritance while "doing our bit"

So - good luck to you - hope you are successful. There is no better feeling than knowing you are getting all your hot water for "free"

You would think that the Government would encourage the use of alternative energy sources in the home, a little more.

Friends working in Israel, heaven help them, tell me legislation demands that all new houses be built with solar water heating systems.

Answer 4

Without knowing whether you want hot water or electricity from the solar power, i will go for the most important. Warm water. Put a water tank on your roof, and paint it black, with a pipe to your sink, the black paint will absorb any solar energy and hopefully heat the water. You would have to empty it when it gets cold as it might freeze and crack the tank and pipe. Just don't ask me how you'd fill it. Probably through the same pipe. Or maybe filter rain water.

Answer 5

What kind of Solar Station are you talking about? Solar water heating? Solar electricity?



For water, running some copper tubing back and forth before it gets to your water heater will Pre-heat it and then you won't need so much gas.



Solar panels are available to charge batteries but if you need 110 vac, you'll need an inverter.



Have some fun experimenting.

Answer 6

How about a solar space heater. It is low cost to make and even free to make if you have some wood and sheet metal laying around and a can of black paint.



Check out this page and download the drawings in PDF if you like. It is something I made a few years back to see if it would work. After it did work I made some drawings and put them online as a free download.



http://www.oynot.com/solar-heater.html

Answer 7

the area station is an particularly high priced project, and the fee of hauling gasoline up there is prohibitive to assert the least--you like some form of renewable power. of path, i'm constructive that image voltaic panels in area would be lots extra efficient with out all that environment to get interior the way. those info make the area station a unfavorable candidate for assessment to an more suitable half and childrens. i think of that the marketplace for image voltaic power will improve as panels become much cheap. At this component it infrequently makes financial sense for a individual to place in them, so they frequently do not.

Answer 8

I've toyed with the idea of heating the cold tank in the loft , I know from rough experience that even on a cool summer day you can heat water enough to wash in so if you can get a system set up using a down pipe 10 or 15 feet would be enough, and a return to your tank you will save quite a bit of cash on hot water since it will only have to be heated from warm and not from cold. As to the system,either direct in which you will have to drain down in winter ,or indirect which would need a small header tank a coil of pipe in the cold tank for a heat exchanger and a liquid which wouldn't freeze in winter.(Not anti-freeze)

Answer 9

recomend visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales to find the sort of project that suits you.



they also have lots of solar kits & bits http://www.cat.org.uk/shopping/searchx.tmpl?subdir=shopping&init=1&selected=Solar%20Products&reinit=1