New Solar Room Heaters Lower Energy Costs

Traditional room heaters use a lot of energy and tend not to be very efficient, but a new kind of solar room heater reduces home heating costs dramatically without using any electricity at all. The heater is made by using ordinary aluminum pop cans as heat conductors, and can be purchased from solar entrepreneurs or made at home.

Jim Meaney, a resident of New Foundland (where it gets really cold), has invented a solar air room heater in the form of a panel that is installed in any sun-facing wall. A You Tube video made to promote Meaney’s company, Cansolair, shows how the panels are made.

Meaney starts by washing ordinary aluminum pop cans and painting them with a dark color to absorb the sun. The cans are then lined up in a panel covered with photovoltaic polyethylene material, where the heated air inside the cans begins to move and circulate within the unit. The heated air is released into the home, and another vent removes the cold air from inside the home, causing the temperature inside to increase.

By maintaining a steady warm temperature inside the house by means of the solar heater, the thermostat on the furnace kicks on less and less often, sometimes not at all, saving big money on conventional heating bills. The solar heater available through Meaney’s web site www.cansolair.com costs $2,695.00 plus shipping and taxes. Given the current high cost of a single winter’s gas or oil heat, that single investment can pay off really fast.

If you can’t afford $2,695.00 right now for any of the new alternative room heaters, it is also possible to make your own out of simple materials for under $10. A UK man recently made his own version of the pricier model for less than five British pounds (about $8 USD) and displayed the device on a You Tube video anyone can watch at no cost at all. Instructions for making the simple solar panel room heater are also available online at no cost.

To make the solar room heater yourself you will need a sheet of ordinary plywood, enough aluminum pop cars to fill the unit, black paint to help the cans absorb heat, and a sheet of tempered glass or plexi-glass (plastic) to cover the cans.

Tempered glass lasts the longest and is really the best choice for covering the cans in a homemade unite, but tempered glass is expensive. Using tempered glass will increase the cost of the homemade solar room heater to more than $10 but it will also make it last much longer. Plexi-glass works fine for collecting heat, but it degrades much faster than glass when facing the outside elements, so you will have to replace it sooner.

Once the homemade solar room heater is finished; the unit is then attached to a window or set into a wall. The solar room heater can be attached to a small fan to circulate the heat. Meaney recommends professional installation of his retail solar room heater to insure maximum heat flow. Building or purchasing a solar room heater is only part of the process of reducing energy costs: the solar room heater has to be installed in the best place both for collecting heat and distributing it throughout the home.

A well placed solar room heater will heat approximately 1000 square feet of living space and dramatically cut or even eliminate heating bills. Solar room heaters are popular for garages and outbuildings. When used as a primary source of heat a solar room heater provides warmth that is essentially free. The main reason for not using a solar room heater as a primary heat source in a home is that during very cold whether, when there is not a lot of sunshine, the heat generated may not be sufficient to keep the home comfortable.

Combined with other alternative room heaters like hot water baseboard heat and wood or pellet stoves, a well-thought-put solar room heater installation can save thousands of dollars in only the first few heating seasons. Thinking differently about heat and efficient and low forms of heat can usually present a low-cost, low-carbon solution for almost any home application.