Solar radiant Heat

[philbuilt]

Today started with rain till 1pm and even in the rain the temp went up.
5:20 am 59.5 top 63.9 bottom 59 degs outside
9:00 am 80.1 top 70.1 bottom 61 outside and still raining
12:00 pm 84.5 top 73.1 bottom 62 outside and raining
2:10 pm 94 top 78 bottom 63 out and clouds
4:30 pm 93 top 84 bottom 64 out clouds with a peeking sun.
24 hrs and it raised the temp from 51 d to 84 d
I like
Phil

 

[randydupree]

good info!
keep us advised!

 

[DRL]

Great data, keep it up. I knew there was still solar energy when it was cloudy but didn't think it was that good. I wonder if it will be that good when it is zero outside. Reread the whole thread and then read the "Solar Shed" link. Very nice. Thanks for sharing your project.

DRL

 

[philbuilt]

thanks,
Today was sunny but I wasn't home to check the specs.
12M Top 154d and bottom 110d outside 80
4:30 pm Top 112d and the bottom 104d outside 78

The best news was that the furnace did not start after the dish washer and 2 showers.
The temps are from the solar loops and caused me to be concerned. at 7:30 pm the temps were 74/71 So I was thinking that the bottom reading was giving a close proxcimity of the tank temp. I found this to not be true by touching all the pipes on the tank. The hot out of the tank was hot to the touch where as the bottom loop pipe was cool 71d. This weekend I will install a temp Gauge on the hot out pipe for a more accurate read on the tank.

Is there a way to connect some electronics to this so we can have up to the minute data with out going to the basement?
Phil

 

[mwb]

there are lots of products available for recording / displaying / transmitting temperature. Maybe a transmitter would work for you, this one gives you the probe temperature and ambient (for each sensor installed) Complete Wireless Thermocouple System

This may be a little pricey but it does allow you to install your own thermocouples (surface mount, etc) and it interfaces to your PC through USB.

 

[philbuilt]

mwb, thank you but thats a little on the high side. I think maybe a small web cam that I can pan.

On Wednesday the sun was out and the temp was 154 at noon. that night when I got home I noticed the pressure in the sys. was on zero. I added water and it seemed to hold. Thursday night it was down again soI went looking for a leak. It was one of the connectors between the 1" pex and the copper. My guess is the heat helped to set things Now all is good.

I will install the tank temp sensor in the am. I just can't to bring my self to dump all that hot water.
The furnace hasn't been on since Wednesday Very Cool!!! or should I say HOT

Phil

 

[randydupree]

anything new?

 

[Maxfli]

What a great thread, would like something like this some day. My closed loop radiant floor runs off of a 80 gallon heater now, and it maintains a tank temp of around 120 during the heating season (I think it is 190k btu's). Originally it was set up with a 60 gallon tank and couldn't maintain the temp, so the heating guy had to swap it out. Your top and bottom temps are impressive. Do you have an expectation of what those numbers will be in January.

 

[philbuilt]

randydupree,
This past week has made me smile The furnace has only started 2 times. The high temp at the panels so far has been 155.9 and the tank temp seems to max out at 138. To me this is all good.

Maxfli,
I thought that the highest temp would be in the summer. But the angle of the panels help restrict that. I was told that in the winter months the temps will go higher because of the lower angle of the sun. The system has a heat dump valve on the home domestic hot. This is for the winter months. when the tank get to hot the valve will open and dump 2 to 3 gals. of hot water to help the tank from overheating. Time will tell.
(Do you have an expectation of what those numbers will be in January. ) 170 to 195 ish
Frame angle is 60 Degrees In the winter the sun should be hitting the panels straight on.


Now does any one make a flow meter to put on my oil line so I could track the amount of oil use per week?

Thanks
Phil

 

[RonMar]

You can probably get a pretty close estimate on fuel consumption using the manufacturers figures for the orifice size you have in the burner X the number of hours it runs. You will need to add an hour meter to the furnace wired off of the burner/pump power so it only counts when the burner is running. I think that would be far easier and less expensive than fitting a flow meter to the fuel line. Also if you know the hours it runs during a week, you can sound your fuel tank and divide the run time into the gallons used. You will need the inches of fuel to gallons conversion chart for your fuel tank.

You can get a DC hourmeter here. Surplus Center Item Detail The only other thing you would need is a small DC power supply to power it, that you can connect to the controller that powers the burner when in operation.

Cool thread, thanks for sharing your results.