Solar Air Heating

Solar air heaters heat the unheated garage space. Solar air heaters are installed in the windows, and one is mounted on the garage door windows. These heaters maintain an average temp of roughly 50 F in this unheated space during the winter season. The solar air heaters are powered by a 20 watt photovoltaic solar panel. This allows the solar air heaters to be completely solar powered. Solar air heaters are the one technology that can be homemade on a practical level. The purpose of heating the garage is to keep the space above warmer. This reduces the heating load during cold sunny days during the winter months.

Above: Homemade solar air heater with a 20 watt photovoltaic solar panel. This model uses large fresnel lenses to focus more sun light on the black surface.  

Above: This a unique adaptation of a solar air heater mounted on a garage door. The 20 watt photovoltaic solar panel allows the garage to be opened at anytime while running since there are no external cables to power the small fan.