outdoor heating

[TheCobbler]

I was wondering if thermal heating would be effective for an outdoor tort house. I live in southern california and the temps get down to the 40s F. If I were to build a house that was fully black and stored heat through solar heated water pipes, would you guys think heat would last through the night? (i'd insulate the enclosure well)

 

[Biff Malibu]

Hard to say without specifics. You'd have to do some research on how much heat they can produce for how long. Depending on enclosure size, will this be enough to bring it up to the temperature you need?

I can't really help, I have no experience with "Solar Heated Water Pipes"

 

[Dizisdalife]

It probably can be done, but the question is if it would be economical to build. Tom has built a night box that he discussed here on the Forum that was buried in the ground, a form of solar heat since the earth is a solar battery. I really like the concept since it is similar to what they might have in the wild. It provides a cool safe place for their daytime use and a warm safe place for them at night. An electrical heater is installed for those winter nights when it is just too cold.

Here is the thread:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread-28662.html?highlight=burrows

 

[TheCobbler]

thats an interesting thread. thanks. I wouldn't be able to put it into the ground, but the concept is similar i guess. I'd just paint the house black and use plexiglass to heat up the house. I guess it'd look like this thing (http://test5-img.ehowcdn.com/articl...s/a02/16/2k/build-solar-dog-house-800x800.jpg) but would additionally have black pipes full of water which would be heated during the day and then heat the house at night.

 

[Tom]

There is only one way to find out my pioneering friend!

Build it and stick a thermometer in there. Show us how to do it. Personally, I would still have a back up system with some form of electric heat on a thermostat for days like the last few we've had. Daytime temps in the 50's. Little or no sun to warm the water in your pipes, etc... I think your idea could greatly reduce the electricity needed, if it were executed well.

I just finished adding some insulation to Scooter's 4x4 box this morning... He'll be warm and toasty all winter now.

 

[Yvonne G]

Before I moved here to this house, I had a jury-rigged green house with no electricity. It was built onto the back wall of the garage, and only had one plant shelf running along the outside wall. Under the plant shelf I placed 6 55 gallon plastic drums filled with water. The drums were up against the west wall and if there was any sun at all the sun shone on the outside of that wall. So the water would usually warm up a bit. The temp inside the greenhouse never got cold enough to freeze the plants. The water barrels worked pretty well in that situation.

 

[Len B]

I think something like this would work, but you would need is a large storage tank that is insulated to hold the heated water and a small circulating pump to circulate the water thru the pipes and back thru the storage tank, with each cycle the water temp would drop some, depending on how hot you could get the water during the day and the tank size would determine how long it would heat the house.There are small 12 volt circulating pumps that could be run using a deep cell battery that could be recharged with a small solar panel during the day. sounds interesting, Good Luck.