Solar kiln for drying lumber and heating the home.

[Peterrum]

Okay, I am going to think outside the box here a bit.   I would like to have a small solar kiln to dry small amounts of lumber but when it is not in use can i use it for heating the home.  I have seen the designs for solar air heaters on S facing walls and the same principal could apply to a kiln.  Build it against a S. facing wall and have diverters built into it so that when it is not being used to dry the lumber, the warm air which is produced could be used to heat a home.  The best dying time for kiln drying lumber is in the summer and in the winter it slows right down.  The way i see it, I could dry my lumber in the summer and when I need the heat for the home, divert it to the inside in the winter.  Has anyone else thought of this.

[peterduncan]

I think they call it passive solar heating

[Handy Andy]

  I had a room like that on the south side of the house.  Built the floor down so the air from the basement could flow up into it, and had windows and doors into the house so the heated air could flow up into the house.  Worked pretty good in the winter, during the mid part of the day.  Got tired of the thing and built it into the living room.  Thought if I build a new house, I'd build one on the back, south side, and make it 2 stories high, and only put some good top soil in the thing for a floor and grow plants out there all winter.  Maybe put some kind of palm tree in there for looks.  You have to keep the thing closed off from the house during the summer because of the heat, so I guess you could put a few boards in it for the summer.  But they wouldn't be cool in your garden during winter.  Jim

[solidwoods]

Black tubing a few inches inside the roof covering, shouldnt bother solar collection at all.  Infact a black surface just inside the roof cover may add btu.

Pump water through to heat exchanger in home (radiator, air sys. heat exchanger, or my fav. infloor heat).

If you have a small loop/qty of water it may reach a max temp.  In that case use a thermostat to heat a storeage tank to bank the excess heat.

The pump is 1/25 hp.
The system is low/no pressure so pex. tubing works good, also junk ac. heat exchangers can be moded to work just fine.
My shop is heated with a lg. btu. split system outdoor condenser.  Remove the freon, compresser, fit the main 3/8" copper tube runs with fittings.  Run hot water through the tubes to a threaded pipe manifold and back to the rtn side.  I saved the Fan and its relay, and xformer so the unit can be hooked to a room thermostat.  Warm but noisy fan.
jim