Build Yourself A Solar Collector

Build Yourself A Solar Collector ENERGY Solar 5-3-28 Here's a versatile, portable solar collector you can build yourself for drying grain, and for heating your home or livestock barns. Designed to be a "multi-use" system, it has it's own wheels for "go anywhere" portability. The collector is built on a frame of 2 by 4's and measures 2 by 10 by 24 ft. Aluminum sheets painted black absorb the sun's rays. A clear fiberglass coating over the painted aluminum lets 90% of the rays through, yet prevents the heat from radiating back out. Fiberglass insulation, 3 1/2 in. thick, prevents heat from escaping out the back. Heated air is pulled out of the collector with a fan in the building to be heated or with standard dryer fans when drying corn. "Anybody can build it," says Gary Young, a McLean, Neb. dairy farmer who built one over the winter of 1978. He estimates he spent about $1,300 to build his collector, not including some salvaged lumber, and a junked wagon running gear he used to make it portable. The collector can produce up to 150,000 btu's per hour, according to Young. He notes that the temperature from the collector averaged 105?F last winter while heating his house. He was moving 550 cfm of air through the collector at the time. He recorded a high temperature of 189?F in direct summer sunlight once. Since temperatures that high may deteriorate some components, he stores the collector in a shed in the summer. Young dried his entire corn crop with the solar collector last fall. He had about 3,700 bu. averaging 22% moisture which he dried to 16% at a rate of about 400 bu. per day. Last winter, Young figures he saved about 50% on his propane bills by heating his home with the solar collector. "Of course, last year we had a mild winter," Young explains, "but even in a normal winter, I think we could average a 40% savings." In 1979-80, his savings amounted to 255 fewer gals. of propane for a total of $105, even though the collector was used only 4 months of the winter. Young purchased plans for his home-built collector from the Small Farm Energy Project in Hartington, Neb. for $2. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Small Farm Energy Project, P.O. Box 736, Hartington, Neb. 68739 (ph 402 254-6893).

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