Solar Radiant Wall Heat Question

[Hydroman22]

Today I was working on insulating the south wall of my 30x36 pole shed using 6" by 6' rolled unfaced batts and I stuck my hand down between the vapor barrier (styrofoam weathermate plus) on the inside of the tin and one of the batts that I had installed last night and it was hot in there, maybe 80 F? The temp outside the tin was 19 F. Just from a couple of hours of direct sun. I want to capture that heat..

I have been toying with the idea of some sort of solar heating for my newly installed infloor radiant system (1100 ft of 1/2 pex in a 30x36 4.5" slab on 2" foam). I have a natural gas Reznor hanging heater that will warm my shop up quick but would really like to find an efficient way (preferably solar) to maintain the floor slab above freezing. So I am wondering if I can run pex horizontally in loops on the outside of the insulation just following the girts along the wall. I figure I could get 300 feet of tubing in the south wall (11 ft).

Would this work? Would I have trouble bleeding the air? Thanks for any thoughts?

 

[jlckmj]

I would think it would work (maybe) don't forget that when the sun is not shining you have to figure a way to keep the water warm, or place some sort of anti-freeze in the system.

It is more complicated than just running pipe inside the siding. As far as air in the system goes, that should not be a problem if set up with the right components.

Jim

 

[CNGsaves]

Friend of mine had "poor man's" solar radiant heat for above ground pool with similar setup but had tubing across roof of small shed that had corrugated tin (ie shiny and obviously hot when sunny out). Roof was pretty flat and was only about 8 ft off ground so not too hard to pump the water around. This was summer only setup that had to be drained in winter obviously.

Curious when the pex tubing is vertical if that will be harder to pump around for the OP idea above?

Any one actually poured vertical concrete walls that had pex radiant tubing inside the vertical walls? Likely would work both ways (heat and cool) depending on what season and which side of garage (ie south side in winter would be warm, and north in summer would be cool). Could supplement with normal idea of buried geo-thermal pex in earthen trenches.

 

[BadgerBoilerMN]

We use radiant wall occasionally, but we are talking about radiant heat transfer panels here. Like any solar driven panel, it will only work when the sun shines. You would need aluminum heat transfer plates lots of tube, time and of course anti-freeze, timers, controls and a reliable heat source.

As for heating the shop up "quick" with a unit heater. Most shops can be heated full time for less (unless it is just a weekend thing) with a condensing boiler or water heater controlled with outdoor reset.

 

[S_O_B_]

Google; "Solar heat grabber" They are a diy "green" project. Basically take a door frame put some kind of black materiel in side, cover it with glass or plexiglass and attach vertically to the exterior of the south wall. Openings are made through the wall to the top and bottom of the box. sun heats the black material in the box, warm air rises out into the shop and draws in cooler air from the bottom.
-S

 

[Jackfre]

Google; "Solar heat grabber" They are a diy "green" project. Basically take a door frame put some kind of black materiel in side, cover it with glass or plexiglass and attach vertically to the exterior of the south wall. Openings are made through the wall to the top and bottom of the box. sun heats the black material in the box, warm air rises out into the shop and draws in cooler air from the bottom.
-S

I think this is a winner for Solar wall heating. this is an easy diy job without getting into the tubing/radiant side of things. You get what you get from the "solar heated air side" at minimal expense and about the only control you have is the damper to prevent it being open at night and radiating heat back to atmosphere.