A few years back I came a across a guy that made a homemade solar heater on
the side of his house. I went to his house to see how he had made
it. I decided to talk my husband into helping me make one for the side of
our house.
The guy design called for using plexiglass, but I thought we could get some old patio doors. Take the glass apart & use them like that. So I started looking out for some doors. So we found some for around $200 for several doors. This was a much better price than the $250 for single piece of the plexiglass that we would have had to pay.
We decided to put a wood frame made from treated boards around the outside to seal it up tight. My husband & I worked on this project together & got it made for around $600. Still a lot cheaper than buying all the plexiglass we would have needed. My husband wanted to wait on putting the fan in it till we knew wither it would work or not. We would have to cut 2 holes in the side of the house to bring the heat from the solar heater into the house. So we waited till winter time to try it out.
The surface of it did get hot come winter. But we didn’t think it was hot enough to go ahead & cut the holes into the house for it. But I tell you what you couldn’t go hold your hand on it for a full minute without getting very hot! The inside wall that the heat box is on, that wall also got very warm. So this project of mine did work. But come the next summer when we went to cut the holes we notice that the treated boards had warped & they weren’t holding a good seal anymore. So we didn’t do anything more to the box. It’s still on the side of the house even.
So I knew we could find a way to make something that should work. I started looking on the internet. Guess what, we had a solar place not to far from where we live that makes & sells solar heaters. They also sold the plans to make your own solar heater. So I bought the plans, spent around $1000 on building the heater. Guess what my heater made out of the patio glass doors & not sealing very good. It worked BETTER than the one I paid $1000 to build. Such a waste of money!!
I’ve found something that’s not a waste of money though. If you’d like to know what I found, click here & I will tell you what I’ve found!
The guy design called for using plexiglass, but I thought we could get some old patio doors. Take the glass apart & use them like that. So I started looking out for some doors. So we found some for around $200 for several doors. This was a much better price than the $250 for single piece of the plexiglass that we would have had to pay.
We decided to put a wood frame made from treated boards around the outside to seal it up tight. My husband & I worked on this project together & got it made for around $600. Still a lot cheaper than buying all the plexiglass we would have needed. My husband wanted to wait on putting the fan in it till we knew wither it would work or not. We would have to cut 2 holes in the side of the house to bring the heat from the solar heater into the house. So we waited till winter time to try it out.
The surface of it did get hot come winter. But we didn’t think it was hot enough to go ahead & cut the holes into the house for it. But I tell you what you couldn’t go hold your hand on it for a full minute without getting very hot! The inside wall that the heat box is on, that wall also got very warm. So this project of mine did work. But come the next summer when we went to cut the holes we notice that the treated boards had warped & they weren’t holding a good seal anymore. So we didn’t do anything more to the box. It’s still on the side of the house even.
So I knew we could find a way to make something that should work. I started looking on the internet. Guess what, we had a solar place not to far from where we live that makes & sells solar heaters. They also sold the plans to make your own solar heater. So I bought the plans, spent around $1000 on building the heater. Guess what my heater made out of the patio glass doors & not sealing very good. It worked BETTER than the one I paid $1000 to build. Such a waste of money!!
I’ve found something that’s not a waste of money though. If you’d like to know what I found, click here & I will tell you what I’ve found!
