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Home > Archive > Alternative Power sources > December 2006 > Re: Elementary question on Increasing Solar Heat Gain thru a Window
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Re: Elementary question on Increasing Solar Heat Gain thru a Window
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| hal@nospam.com 2006-12-26, 9:25 am |
| On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 01:41:37 -0700, "buck" <nowayjose@covad.net>
wrote:
>If I want to collect as much solar heat through a window as possible, and
>don't care about insulating values will I be better off with a single pane
>or a double pane glass? Where I live in the southwest we get a lot of south
>sun through some small fixed upper windows and I would like to maximize the
>heat during the day to heat the house for the colder winter night........ I
>probably should know the answer but I am not sure. Or would a double pane
>save more of the heat loss at night and therefor it would be a wash???
>-TIA
>
Far more significant than comparitive window pane gains, you need to
look into storage. You need thermal mass to store the heat during the
day and release it slowly at night. Insulated curtains over your
windows at night would help immensely, but I do not think you will
have any significant difference in solar gain between dual or single
pane. Of course the duals would lose less at night, but again you
need thermal mass. If you don't care about appearance 55 gallon steel
drums painted black and filled with water are ideal (water is an
outstanding thermal mass). Get food grade plastic drums and you can
can make them doulble as emergency water supply. Stone walls. Dark
slate if you have living space you want to look nice. Google "Trombe
Wall" for more info.
Hal
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| nicksanspam@ece.villanova.edu 2006-12-26, 1:25 pm |
| <hal@nospam.com> wrote:
>... Google "Trombe Wall" for more info.
Yuck.
Nick
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| hal@nospam.com 2006-12-27, 9:25 am |
| On 26 Dec 2006 11:32:09 -0500, nicksanspam@ece.villanova.edu wrote:
><hal@nospam.com> wrote:
>
>
>Yuck.
why is that a "yuck"? Trombe walls are an excellent representation of
the principle of thermal mass storage.
Hal
>
>Nick
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| nicksanspam@ece.villanova.edu 2006-12-27, 9:25 am |
| <hal@nospam.com> wrote:
>Onicksanspam@ece.villanova.edu wrote:
>
>why is that a "yuck"? Trombe walls are an excellent representation of
>the principle of thermal mass storage.
And very poor solar collectors, since they store and lose heat back through
the glazing all night, like a direct gain (aka "direct loss" :-) house.
Nick
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