Other books in the Energy Series: Understanding and Maintaining Burners | All About WOOD: As A Fuel, Heating, Stoves | Wood Pellet Handbook and Buyers Guide | Best Use of Fuel, How To Get The Most Heat From Your Fuel | Energy Tips, Coping With energy Problems In A Power Hungry Culture | Emergency Power From Solar Electricity, Vol 1 | Emergency Power From Solar Electricity, Vol 2 | Cooking Without A Kitchen- Survival Cooking | This Book

How To Build and Benefit From A PASSIVE SOLAR Collector As A Space Heater, Second Edition, by Ralph W. Ritchie

We have used this space heater design for over 30 years and finally got around to documenting it for everyone. With snow on the ground and temperatures to match, these units heat the house without furnace or woodstove help. Sure, it quits when the sun goes down, but it really cuts the heating bill while the sun is shining. In the summer, the sun doesn’t shine on it and it doesn’t work, and that’s just the way we like it. We know how to use it for cooling, too. When I think of all those people sitting in their homes, without power, trying to become popsicles, I moan for their plight when a device such as this could have saved a lot of misery.

Blackout ? Power Failure ? This heater keeps on working because it does not need electrical power to keep on working

It is perfect for:
Reducing heating bills
Conserving energy.
Keeping warm when the power fails.

You can buy one, ready made, but they are expensive and they do not work as well as this one. We have found no other heat exchanger that works as well as tin cans.

Solar Collector?

Tin soup cans? Right. On the South Wall? Right. This is a passive solar space heater that you cannot buy. You must collect the cans, whether from soup, beans, or pet food, so long as they are nearly alike. All you need is a South-facing wall exposed to sunlight, but the cans are the key to success. There is a 400% heat transfer gain over a flat heat exchanger panel.

The greatest cost is the corrugated plastic cover. The longest job is dip painting about 250 cans. The most complicated job is making two sheet metal ducts. The hardest obstacle is deciding to put two holes in an outside wall. The greatest reward is feeling 140*F-plus heated air coming back into the room without a fan. It amounts to about 10,000 BTU per hour on a sunny day, in the middle of winter! Need more heat? Build two units. It works on the house, the shop, a barn, anywhere. Barn animals love it.

What Was In It For Me?

We work at home, so we are here all day, but we don't have to heat the house using heating fuels during the day. Here is a solar application that is simple, inexpensive- under $100 dollars, and costs nothing to operate. I’m proud to have this on the front of my house, all the way to the bank. Power out? Short of fuel? We get some heat, even on a cloudy day. At least, it cuts the energy/fuel bill in half.
We invested one weekend to gather materials and paint the cans. The second weekend, we cut the two holes and mounted the cans, touched up the paint, and covered it. Payback? The cost was two weekends and a fuel bill cut in half. I think it had payed for itself before the first month was over.
There is nothing to maintain.
Even circulation of the warm air is accomplished by convection within the collector. It draws cold air off the floor and heated air re-enters the room at the top.

Say, did you get a hint that I’m trying to sell this idea. Believe it! This is the greatest thing since sliced bread and when you finish it, it just keeps working. I like that and I want everyone to have one. It’s all in the book.

Excerpts From This Book

ISBN: 0-939656-61-2, $21.95,

Quick Buy

Also Available as an EBOOK in Adobe, PDF format: ISBN 0-939656-93-0, $7.95, to download; 8.6 MB ( Many drawings and illustrations)
There is a 90 - day refund period on all ebooks. See The Ordering Page for details.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction. What It Does. Simplified Version. How Do We Get This Marvelous Thing? Example. Congratulations! What About Summer? A Simple Solar Collector. What It Costs To Build. What This Book Is About. Not Enough Heat? Barns And Garages. Beforehand. Construction. Admiration Time. Examples. Mohawk Valley. Springfield.

2. Performance. The Problems. Check Valve. Check Valve.

3. Operation. Thermometer. Double Plastic Cover. Add A Blower.

4. Preparation. Beforehand. Cleaning The Cans. Dipping The Cans Can Be Fun. Can Selection. Painting Cans. What You Need. Thin Paint Too Far? The Collector Box. Here Is A Procedure. Here Are Things You Will Probably Try. Sheet Metal Work. Layout. Materials. Fasteners. Bending Sheet Metal. The Sheet Metal Brake. Practice Metal Box. Brake No. 1. Brake No. 1 Refinements. Brake No. 2.

5. Construction. Rules To Live By. Procedure. Locating The Openings. Wall Sections. Wall Sections. Wooden Frame Assembly. Vertical Switch. Horizontal Switch. Vertical and Horizontal Switches. Solar Switch Box Assembly. Switch Box End Plate. Switch Top and Bottom Plates. Switch Flap. The Studio Collector In Encinitas. Duct Details. Installing The Ducts. Box To The Wall. Fasteners. Screw Types. Cans. Note On Caulking. Weather Stripping The Plastic. Hey! It Works!

6. Tools And Materials. Tools. About Acquiring Tools. Materials.

7. Variations. Window Unit. Window Unit Details. South Wall Substitute. If There Is No South Wall Space Available. Sliding Door Replacement. You Can Take It With You. Portable Heater. Dry Foods. Dry Clothes. No Limits.

8. Options. Options. Night Cooling. Second Cooling Option. Other Cooling Options.

9. Conclusion. Fine Tuning, Reflectors. Aluminum Foil Problem. Unsolved Ideas. Building Codes. Solar Water Heating.

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December 13, 2008

This page contains the copyrighted works of Ralph Ritchie and Fern Ritchie