If you are interested in building your own solar collector, then the first thing you are going to need is proper solar energy plans that you can follow step by step. Building your own solar collector may sound like a difficult thing to do, but if you have solar energy plans that you can follow then it is really not that hard at all.

The First Step

The first step, before you even examine any solar energy plans, you need to make sure that you clearly understand the difference between solar collectors and panels. Solar collectors are what actually harvest the solar energy in the form of heat, while it is the solar panels that harvest solar energy in the form of electricity.

Another difference is that solar collectors make use of the greenhouse effect, while solar panels instead convert radiant energy into electricity and are today only really cost-effective in remote off-grid areas with a price of about $5/watt.

Materials

There are quite a few different materials that you are going to need for your solar energy plans, including: 2 rolls of 50 foot 20" aluminum flashing, 4 .060" thick 4×8 sheets of Kalwall, 20 1×4x8 pine with few or no knots, 4 1/2×4x8 CDX plywood, 4 1×4x8 sheet insulation R value 5 or better, clear silicon caulking, aluminum foil and some felt paper, 1 gallon of roofing tar, 1 gallon of oil base paint, angle iron for mounting, 16 1/4×3 lag bolts, 16 1/4×1 1/2" machine bolts with nuts and washers, 1 1/4" and 2" drywall screws, 1 pound of 1 1/2" galvanized nails with small heads, and plumbing supplies.

The actual process that will take place here will depend on what specific solar energy plans you have, however the advantages that you will gain will typically remain the same, regardless of the particular plans that you are using.

Advantages

If you have $2000 and a few weeks of labor available that you can invest into this work, then it is really going to pay off because you could save more than $50,000 in hot water and home heating costs. Solar heating is very feasible today, and the average American household consumes between 1000 and 2000 gallons of number two fuel oil per year. Efficient use of the sun's energy could easily cut this consumption in half or even be able to eliminate it entirely even, which would obviously be just that much more ideal.

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