| Author | Message | ||
     Old_school (Old_school) Senior Member Username: Old_school Post Number: 137 Registered: 01-2009 |
Briliant minds must think alike! That is exactly what I was talking about. very good link guys! Well done! | ||
| Kwhord (Kwhord) Senior Member Username: Kwhord Post Number: 220 Registered: 10-2006 |
That is the best example of integrating a new technology with traditional construction that I have ever seen. | ||
| Jonma (Jonma) New member Username: Jonma Post Number: 4 Registered: 05-2009 |
Ahh... nice, thanks for the info, Slate_Man! It looks like you could even install their system without removing the roof (straight from the attic), as it's placed right between the purlins! Here's a pic if anyone is curious:  | ||
| Slate_man (Slate_man) Senior Member Username: Slate_man Post Number: 407 Registered: 01-2007 |
Dawn solar makes a system that goes under different roofs includeing slate for solar hot water. | ||
| Old_school (Old_school) Senior Member Username: Old_school Post Number: 135 Registered: 01-2009 |
A black slate roof is hotter than hades in the summer, that is for sure. How much of that heat will transfer through the wood substrate and into the collector I am not sure. There would be some loss there, but it does get hot in the attics in the summer. In the winter I am sure you wouldn't have that much success. If your slate was nailed to purlins, and you ran your heat collector hoses in the slots between the boards so that they were in contact with the back of the slate, that would be another matter. It might work! | ||
| Jonma (Jonma) New member Username: Jonma Post Number: 2 Registered: 05-2009 |
There are a ton of government subsidies available now that make residential renewable energy very, very attractive. However, throwing any sort of solar panel up on a slate roof just seems sacrilegious! I was thinking, though... slate tends to heat up fairly quickly, right? Anyone know how efficient it might be to install a solar hot-water system UNDER the slate in the attic? So instead of the sun directly heating the water, it heats the slate which transfers the heat to the water. Or, to take things even further, how about building a solar collector in which slate is built into the condenser? i.e., the circulating water would be in direct contact with the underside of the slate. That'd increase the efficiency of the unit by quite a bit, I'd imagine. Plus, the current cost of most solar hot water units is due to the design of the condenser -- in trying to make units more efficient (thus smaller, so they look prettier for homeowners) they use all sorts of relatively complex engineering for the condenser. For someone with a slate roof, though, the whole roof is your condenser! Efficiency isn't nearly as important when you're not limited by condenser size. Anyway, I'm just "thinking out loud", so please go easy on me if I've said something stupid. :p |
