Free Heat for Your Home

[go2printgreen]

Most people concerned with rising utility cost will open and close windows to moderate the temperature in their home.

On cool days when the sun is out, you can take this a step farther if you have a non-insulated garage by opening the door from the house into the garage. Since the garage isn't insulated, it traps heat on sunny days. I open the door mid afternoon and heat the house for free.

[greenmom]

Great idea. Every little bit helps

[zach]

That's pretty clever!

[Mason]

If only my garage was attached to my house, I would try it :P

[zach]

That might not work so well!

[Matt Johnson]

Some day I'll have a garage. Until then, I'll keep brushing the snow off our car.

[martina_green]

Actually I'm from Germany. Right now I'm staying in Australia with a hostfamily. We don't have many airconditioning in Germany, but here in Oz they'll have it everywhere. It's crazy! And my hostfamily cracks down the shutters early in the morning and when it's getting too cold, they just turn the airconditioning on instead of opening the shutters an let some sun in!
Somebody should tell the Australians how to heat up your house for free... I think I'll write a mail to this website: http://www.greentimes.com.au/index.php Maybe they write an article about it...
Cheers, Martina

[thegreenlivingplace]

I have a couple of solar heaters that I use, that I built for almost nothing. They don't look very pretty but they sure do warm the place very well.

Measure the inside of the window that you want to put your heater in.

Materials:
Cardboard boxes
Flat Black paint (I use Rust-Oleum High Heat)
duct tape (again I use high heat)
1/4 inch metal backed A/C insulation (optional)
wooden BBQ Skews (only need if you have to tape boxes to make your heater)

I gathered cardboard boxes (that probably where not going to be recycled) from some local business and flattened them. Tape together enough boxes to match the outline.

If your lucky enough to find 1 box big enough to make your heater from then great. If not this is where the wooden skews come in. Insert 1/2 dozen between the corrigation of the boes along the line where the 2 box pieces are to be joined. This will make you completed box MUCH stronger.

See attached pic. Or I will be happy to email it to anyone if it is not large enough to read.

If your window is 20 x 24 your cardboard outline will need to be 28 x 32. You need 4 inchs extra cardboard on each end. This will be bent down and taped into place to create the walls of your box.

After the box is folded and taped, cover the inside with insulation. I used 1/4 in AC insulation on 1 heater and none on the second (but any solid insulation will do). If using a metal backed insulation use a very fine grain sandpaper and rough up the metal.

Cut 1 inch high slots along the top and bottom of the box about 1 inch below the top and above the bottom. This will allow your heater to pull cool air from the room into the heater and return the heated air to the room through the top.

Paint the inside of the box with the black paint. I put 3 coats.

Fit the box in your window. Caution: If you tape it into place change the tape often or it might remove the paint when you do.

I get consistantely 4 to 5 degrees difference between the insulated box and the box without insulation. If I am getting 8 degree temp rise on the uninsulated box then I get 12 to 13 deg rise from the insulated box. If i'm getting a 20 deg temp rise from the uninsulated box then I get 24 to 25 on the insulated box.

Your actual temp rise from the bottom of the box to the top will depend on the height of the box and the intensity of the sun on that day.

[LivingGreen]

Wow! Thanks for that bro! I'll try it when I have time. I should try every way to make our environment more suitable to live. This is not just for us but for the generations to come. So I hope we can do it. Yes, we can! As long as there are people like you, I won't give up. Let's help our earth.