Any backyard tinkerers out there?

[tech3149]

I've been kicking around ideas for the last few years for a budget passive solar heating system. The first and simplest was the window box concept, but it can't be applied if you don't have casement windows. Since I rent, I didn't put much thought to it. Another idea was using a fluid solar collector connected to an old water heater for storage. It would work best with a forced air heating system. Take the hot fluid and run it through an old radiator installed in the duct work. It wouldn't take much to kick on the fan of the primary heating system before it reached a heat request.
My latest concept is going back to the window box idea. The simple concept is a linear parabolic reflector with a fluid feed tube at the focal point. Plumb the system to an old radiator and put a check valve on one feed. As the fluid is heated, it will force itself through the radiator. My initial ideas seem to indicate that this could work for almost everyone and could be scaled to meet your needs. A parabolic reflector system should be able to capture a better percentage of the solar energy available and a small scale system could be set up with no alteration to the physical structure.
I hope to put together a few prototypes in the next few months, so long as I can scrounge the bits and pieces to build them.

Any other good ideas to kick around?

[scubadude]

1. Well insulated south facing windows....

You would be surprised how much passive heat you can get from just windows alone. Dark flooring
will soak up the heat energy and radiate it into the house. Of course if the windows are poorly
insulated you just lose the energy right back out the window... Parabolic systems are fine, but
you must take lots of factors into account. Wind loads, water loads, upkeep... We have a long way to go
but probably at this point solar powered hot water heaters are the easiest thing an average person
can do.

Not to mention earth ships, double walled houses, underground homes. There is a whole lot you can do, if you've got the money...

Scuba

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Put the parabolic reflectors inside, behind the windows

& avoid problems with wind, rain & snow?

[mac2]

3. Underground home

Friends of ours had a underground home in E.Tennessee. It was set into the hill. They said, they had very low heating and cooling bills.

The only problem here is to have enough light. South facing would be best for that. You would also have to make sure the builder knew what he was doing regarding the weight on the structure, sealing it from water, etc.

Strange that we should go back to living in cave like structures once again eh? How many centuries of humans lived in them?

[ingac70]

4. Check this out...

http://www.hotboxsolar.com/solarshades.html

[DangerDave921]

5. Tinkering

My only tinkering is with my home-brewing apparatus.

[skids]

6. Heliostats...

If you have windows you already have a solar collector.
You just need to put more light into them. Backyard
heliostats (mirrors that track the sun) can keep
an extra constant stream of sunlight going into your
windows on sunny days.

If you actually start getting too hot put gauber
salt tanks in your living areas. They'll absorb
heat and release it later when there's no sun.

Cloudy days is another matter, but then as far
as solar collectors go you are either looking at
low-heat large surface area, or an omnidirectional
collector. The latter is hard to build for a tinkerer.