Solar Thermal
For shop.
V1
Use glass sheet from coffee table. Water tank will be an insulated garbage can ~50gal. Use a solar panel and a 12v pump to circulate water.
Could this be done without a pump? If the lines were connected near the bottom and the top of the water tank, convection might be enough to get the water to flow. Yes this is call a Thermosyphon. My concern here is energy loss and freezing. I think the thermosyphon will run backwards at night. This could be good because it will keep the pipes from freezing, but it could lose a lot of energy.
A separate pump (run off wall power) will pump water through another pex pipe in front of a box fan as the radiator.
V1.5
Add micro controller to log
- tank temperature
- solar power output
- outside temp
- shop temp
- radiator operation
to answer
- is insulation sufficient that water stays hot over night
- when is water hottest
- what temperature
- how quickly does it cool down when using radiator
- how quickly does it heat up