Finally got the solarium sealed up. The north wall isn't as I would like it to be in the end but had to conserve finances for now. Have a major expense next week. So, I applied tarps to the north wall on the outside to seal out the wind.
Got on the roof this evening and covered up a small opening where cables run through. It was only about 8" square. Plus a smaller space around a plumbing vent pipe.
Installed a thermometer this week which records the highest and lowest temps every 24 hours. The ambient high temperature today was 64. The high inside the solarium was 107! Now, that was at about 6' elevation. The apex reaches about 12' high, so the temperature is much higher at the apex.
I haven't installed the improvised heat pump system yet. That will just be black PVC, flexible vent pipe and an inline fan but I think should seriously recycle the heat. I'm thinking of letting it blow into the crawl space, so it warms the house from the floor up. I already have a thermal switch so it will turn on at 85 degrees and off when the temperature drops below that.
The tomato plants are loving the warmth. They were fading out until I brought them in. Now they've perked up surprisingly! They had stopped flowering but I found new flowers on it today. That's a nice surprise when the outside temperature at night has been in the 20's. I am keeping a radiant heater pointed at them on low setting at night (several feet away) and have a Mylar blanket behind them, to catch and reflect the heat back.
Planning on applying more Mylar blankets to the inside of the north wall. Since the sun shines from the south, that will reflect the heat and light coming in back and amplify it inside the solarium.
Probably going to be a little while before I get the rocket stove built. But until then I think I'll move the cinder blocks for it into the solarium. Just the mass should help absorb more heat during the day. If I direct some of the air flow from the heat pump system toward the cinder blocks, it would increase and extend that effect. Of course, the goal here is to not have to keep the electric heater running but still retain as much heat as possible.
Got on the roof this evening and covered up a small opening where cables run through. It was only about 8" square. Plus a smaller space around a plumbing vent pipe.
Installed a thermometer this week which records the highest and lowest temps every 24 hours. The ambient high temperature today was 64. The high inside the solarium was 107! Now, that was at about 6' elevation. The apex reaches about 12' high, so the temperature is much higher at the apex.
I haven't installed the improvised heat pump system yet. That will just be black PVC, flexible vent pipe and an inline fan but I think should seriously recycle the heat. I'm thinking of letting it blow into the crawl space, so it warms the house from the floor up. I already have a thermal switch so it will turn on at 85 degrees and off when the temperature drops below that.
The tomato plants are loving the warmth. They were fading out until I brought them in. Now they've perked up surprisingly! They had stopped flowering but I found new flowers on it today. That's a nice surprise when the outside temperature at night has been in the 20's. I am keeping a radiant heater pointed at them on low setting at night (several feet away) and have a Mylar blanket behind them, to catch and reflect the heat back.
Planning on applying more Mylar blankets to the inside of the north wall. Since the sun shines from the south, that will reflect the heat and light coming in back and amplify it inside the solarium.
Probably going to be a little while before I get the rocket stove built. But until then I think I'll move the cinder blocks for it into the solarium. Just the mass should help absorb more heat during the day. If I direct some of the air flow from the heat pump system toward the cinder blocks, it would increase and extend that effect. Of course, the goal here is to not have to keep the electric heater running but still retain as much heat as possible.
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