sun lizard

[andrew29]

Hi,

I was watching the new inventors on ABC the other week and saw the 'Sun Lizard' which is a solar heater/ventilator.

Has anyone had any first hand experience with one? I live in hobart so am really only interested in the heating aspect. apparently it'll heat 100m2 to 4-6 degrees above the outside temp thus minimising heating costs.

I'd be wanting to retrofit it to a double brick place (1950's) with a good sunny northerly aspect.

I think they are about $2.5k ish.

any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

Thanks

[Pat]

Have a look Here (http://www.alternativefuels.com.au/) This may answer some of your questions.

[andrew29]

thanks pat, I've read all the stuff I could find on their website and a couple of other websites that refer to them.

What I'm hoping for is someone that has actually got one. I reckon you often get a different story from a buyer than you do from the person selling them.

cheers

[Priemsy]

Trouble is it says it will moderate the temperature a few degrees. By the sound of it you still need to have adequate heating or cooling in the first place. Or am I reading it wrong?

Paul

[Ashore]

If your in Hobart then $2.5K it a fair expence for the 8 Sunny days that you could use it each Winter :D :D :D

[andrew29]

yeah you are right, it moderates the temp by a few degrees, but somewhere like hobart has a maritime climate and we get few days below 10 degrees. on a day of 12 degrees if the temp can be moderatred to 16 or 17 any supplementary heat needed would be minimal (during the day at least).

Apparently hobart is the 2nd sunniest capital city in oz so its more a latitude issue for amount of sun i'd reckon.

of course i could be completely barking up the wrong tree but i like the idea of it.

Thanks

[OBBob]

There are a few websites discussing making your own if you're keen too!

It has always interested me but I have no first hand experience I'm affraid. Problem is too that it would take quite a few years to recoup the $2500 in gas bill savings.

[Priemsy]

Where are they Bob.

Paul

[Mcblurter]

Hi.
I got a sun lizard a few years back. We live in Melbourne. We don't have a switch to turn from summer/winter (have to do it manually)
In general it works well, sometimes the heat coming into the room is around 40 celcius on a sunny cold day. We have 4 bedrooms, bathroom, lounge, laundry and kitchen. When we got it installed we had the inlet split into two and was told it would not be as productive and it wasn't. We have a concrete house and at least we got some heat in there. It worked best in early spring and autum, on days when we probably would have put a heater on. In winter though still needed heating but probably not as much on sunny days. In summer it does circulate air and if we organised a vent from the floor probably would work even better. Have only used our air con a few times in last few years.
We now have ducted heating and have shifted the sun lizard vent to above our clothes rack and it certainly helps the drying of clothes. I know the machine has been refined a lot since ours (bigger solar panel summer/winter switch) and we did try something different that didn't really work. If I was to do it again I would make sure the inlet is in the room you heat the most so at least it gets heated during the day. we paid about half the price and in general am happy with it. Not sure though if I would pay $2500. Environmentally we now have ducted gas, so less use of little electric heaters, we never use the dryer on our washer/dryer and have very little use of our portable air con. Mind you I think all office buildings should have them, can't see how they could work any worse than our terrible ducted heating system!!!!
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Cheers
McBlurter

[OBBob]

Where are they Bob.

Paul

http://teachingtreasures.com.au/solar-energy/solarroomheatereg.htm

http://www.solar-components.com/SOLARKAL.HTM


Sorry I had a couple of links for people doing it in Australia with tests and calculations etc. but they don't appear to up any more ... maybe the patents are being enforced?

[Priemsy]

Thanks for that Bob, they are different to the ones I already have so they're bookmarked. The problem I have is a 3M verandah lol, but I'll work on that. I've always been interested in solar engines and air displacement. Thanks again.

Paul

[OBBob]

I had grand plans of building this sort of thing into the roof of my extension and running SHS as part of the wall frames so I could duct down into my large living room. But ... I ended up with enough to do just building the room! :)

[Priemsy]

Know what you mean. Still building our mud brick.

Paul

[andrew29]

Thanks for the feedback mcblurter and for the links obbob! I like the idea of makiing one, lots cheaper than 2.5k.

Now for the obvious question... Has anyone out there had a go at making one themselves??\

thanks again for all the comments

[OBBob]

http://www.ata.org.au/articles/68heater.htm This is the link that I have that no longer works ... I'm also pretty sure the details of a house near me were in one of their issues. If you e-mailed them they could probably tell you which one and you could order it. If you are serious it would be worth while because it had a lot of claculations etc. and there is a bit of development that goes into these systems.

[sleeping-wood]

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm
Have you looked here. Loads of DIY for heating and cooling.
Main page is here http://www.builditsolar.com/

You need to look through the many designs for what you want. This site has some detailed plans http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/article17solar.htm

[andrew29]

thanks for thos elinks sleeping wood.

looks like there are quite a few very similar systems out there...