More solar space heater stuff

On August 28, 2007 in water heating

Just killing some time here in the library at school, doing some research for the solar space heater.

The tank enclosure will be similar to this:

Which was taken from this article at Mother Earth News. This article is full of great information regarding “Integral Passive Solar Water Heaters.”

I also found a page with some good information on the efficiency of old cast iron radiators vs. newer, pressed steel radiators:

“It left me thinking that if there are differences in overall performance then they are probably minor.”

“What we do know is that cast iron is denser than sheet steel, so it will take somewhat longer for a cast-iron radiator to absorb and transfer heat from circulating hot water. Cast iron also retains heat longer. As a result, cast-iron radiators should show a “flatter heat curve,” as one manufacturer put it, meaning fewer fluctuations in heat output.”

This article about converting from a steam-radiator heating system to a water-radiator heating system has some of the best information I’ve found yet, with regards to heating with radiators.

Here is a decent article regarding thermosiphon type water heater systems, as well as a link to the Wikipedia article. Another article directly relating to thermosiphon water heaters is here.

Also related, is this article about the “Design and performance of a thermosiphon heat recovery system” from H.I. Abu-Mulaweh Department of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University at Fort Wayne, 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd., Fort Wayne, IN 46805, USA.

Particularly interesting in the above article, are the data tables: Fig. 6. (a and b) Temperature variation in the storage tank in heating water (concentric heat exchanger).  as well as Fig. 7. Temperature variation in the storage tank in heating water (coiled heat exchanger).

Figure 8 shows Concentric heat exchanger inlet and outlet temperature, and Figure 9 shows Coiled heat exchanger inlet and outlet temperature.

“employing the thermosiphon effect has an advantage over other heat recovery techniques. It eliminates a source of potential mechanical problems and noise, namely the circulating water pump.”

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