Solar heating panels

[ShelleyAnn]

Steve -

Just been there/done that. You'll notice that if there isn't a border around the mat, a hard rain will kick up all kinds of dust and mud all over the solar panel that will need to be washed off to maintain the blackness/efficienty of the panel. If you don't mind that...nothing else is needed.

Shelley

[matt4x4]

yes! Keep it clean AND keep those pesky dogs off it, I had to repair mine this spring, didn't use the typical plug it method, just "welded" it with some of the same plastic so i could keep teh trace working and not lose efficiency.

Poconos - wrt your field system, I understand why you have the black under it, but with the mats you would get a slight negative effect.
have you ever tried reflective under the field system? I'd be interested to see if it improves - it probably would because instead of the underneath absorbing heat, it would reflect it back onto even the undersides of the pipes.

You can get thermal blankets at camping stores that are reflective plastic sheets big enough to wrap a person up - very thin, but very effective and cheap - they'd work.

[Poconos]

Never tried the reflective stuff. Probably would be more efficient but I'm wondering how it would hold up. The area is quite windy at times and even the tarpaper would blow and tear sometimes. I'm also not interested in squeezing the last % of efficiency from the thing either. I've got a lot of space back there so if I ever decide I need more heat I'll just add more pipe and roofing. Can you imagine a couple acres covered with 1/2 black pipe?
Al

[medvampire]

That settles it… I tossed them on the ground for now and next year I will add some reflective material under them when I build the racks.
Al.....I am trying to picture a few acres of reflective surface with black pipe. I bet you would blind the air planes as they flew by.

What if a guy did something like this? Think the panel would melt? Have the top adjustable so you could get a ball park aim at the lower solar panel. I have about 5 hours a day due to trees so I want to get the max I can get out of the system.
Steve

[matt4x4]

The more light you can reflect onto it, the better your gain - that would work well.!

[poolbuoy]

Here is my set up easy to build and stays clean. also can be used to store wood under.



here is the solar valve:

[ShelleyAnn]

I have 2, 9' x 3' panels on black plywood that run east/west the long way. In an attempt to eeeek out every 1/10th of a degree of temp I can here in the mile-hi city, which do you think would get me more: proping the long edge up to angle south to the sun, or proping up the short end to face east in the am and west after noon as the sun passes? Currently, they are mostly flat on the ground north/south and I prop up the west end about a foot torward the sun in the am and switch it the other way after noon.

Yes, it's a big pain in the patoozie, but at least I can still get my Florida born behind in the water. Hey, a degree is a degree!

Shelley