solar hot air heater on top of patio covering?

[pengyou]

I live in an apartment in Shanghai and am thinking of enclosing the south facing balcony. The balcony is about 12' long and 4' wide. The living room is about 190 sq. ft. I have planned to put about 4" of styrofoam on the roof and was just wondering if I could modify the roof panel to use the sun to heat air for the living room. What would be the best kinds - and cheap - of technology to use for hot air? I often wish that I lived in Washington D.C...it seems that there is a surplus of hot air in that city

Shanghai is 31 degrees north. I would ideally like to include a small solar panel to provide the electricity to power the fan that will circulate the air through the collector. One of the main reasons I am doing this is to learn, but I also hope it will be somewhat "effective" though I know it is difficult to define effective. Ideas?

[LucMan]

Or you could just install (2) 4' x 4' sky lights in the roof and keep the south side all glass. The solar gain would keep your living room and rest of the house nice and toasty during the day.
Do a search on passive solar design for more ideas.

[raydias]

Here is a great resource on Solar Space heating

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

[Alessandro8100]

Or you could just install (2) 4' x 4' sky lights in the roof and keep the south side all glass. The solar gain would keep your living room and rest of the house nice and toasty during the day.
Do a search on passive solar design for more ideas.

I'm totally agree with you man.My living room is about 192 sq. ft.I have installed (2) 4' x 4' sky lights in the roof and keep the south side all glass. Now my living room and rest of the house nice and toasty during the day.

[Mike90250]

Well, California has eliminated solar winter heating ! So much for my plans for extended roof overhangs, to shade the windows in summer, and let sunlight in for the winters. The "title 24" energy saving calculations came back, saying I had too much south facing glass, and that it has to be reduced, and converted to 3 layer, low E glass. Bastards, there is no winter heat gain with low e glass ! And they want me to install auxiliary propane heaters, a Masonry Heater is not enough apparently for the softies in California, but fine in Finland) and air conditioning ! Off grid !

California truly is The Nanny State. Along with mandatory indoor fire sprinklers for new construction, smoke and Co alarms (hard wired to 110VAC) are not enough!

[russ]

I'm totally agree with you man.My living room is about 192 sq. ft.I have installed (2) 4' x 4' sky lights in the roof and keep the south side all glass. Now my living room and rest of the house nice and toasty during the day.

Is that how they do it in Islamabad?

You got your 5 posts but we are watching for spam coming.

[russ]

Well, California has eliminated solar winter heating ! So much for my plans for extended roof overhangs, to shade the windows in summer, and let sunlight in for the winters. The "title 24" energy saving calculations came back, saying I had too much south facing glass, and that it has to be reduced, and converted to 3 layer, low E glass. Bastards, there is no winter heat gain with low e glass ! And they want me to install auxiliary propane heaters, a Masonry Heater is not enough apparently for the softies in California, but fine in Finland) and air conditioning ! Off grid !

California truly is The Nanny State. Along with mandatory indoor fire sprinklers for new construction, smoke and Co alarms (hard wired to 110VAC) are not enough!

Those people are totally nuts! Masonry heaters are neat, efficient and clean - couldn't find anyone here that knew what they were or anyone that was interested in learning.

The Triple pane glass there - the payback must be 99 years -

[Naptown]

Well, California has eliminated solar winter heating ! So much for my plans for extended roof overhangs, to shade the windows in summer, and let sunlight in for the winters. The "title 24" energy saving calculations came back, saying I had too much south facing glass, and that it has to be reduced, and converted to 3 layer, low E glass. Bastards, there is no winter heat gain with low e glass ! And they want me to install auxiliary propane heaters, a Masonry Heater is not enough apparently for the softies in California, but fine in Finland) and air conditioning ! Off grid !

California truly is The Nanny State. Along with mandatory indoor fire sprinklers for new construction, smoke and Co alarms (hard wired to 110VAC) are not enough!

There are 2 types of low E glass. There is one for northern climates that will keep the heat in and one for southern to reflect the heat out. It depends on which side is coated I believe.

Sprinklers for detached single family homes is a scam brought on by the sprinkler industry. Yes they reduce property damage but do not save lives. (well maybe for first responders). By the time the sprinklers go off the smoke has already killed you.

[Mike90250]

There are 2 types of low E glass. There is one for northern climates that will keep the heat in and one for southern to reflect the heat out. It depends on which side is coated I believe.....

Sadly, none of the window vendors seem to know this (ones in northern climes)

[russ]

There are 2 types of low E glass. There is one for northern climates that will keep the heat in and one for southern to reflect the heat out. It depends on which side is coated I believe.

Sprinklers for detached single family homes is a scam brought on by the sprinkler industry. Yes they reduce property damage but do not save lives. (well maybe for first responders). By the time the sprinklers go off the smoke has already killed you.

Whether low E windows are designed to keep heat in or out depend on which face of the glass the low E coating is on. The coating (film) is on one of the inside surfaces - if I remember correctly, if the film is on the outer pane then it is to keep heat out and if on the inner surface it is to keep heat in.

I should have some information on it stored somewhere - will look for it.