Fancy News - one solar hot air collector nears completion

Well, I finally am making progress on the solar hot air collectors - are you? I swear, at the Springfield, Vermont, Recycle center enough tempered glass panels show up from old windows to make a double-glazed 4' by 8' collector every day (the trick of course is to get to these windows before mr. cranky bashes them to smithereens). I think that everyone with some kind of four or five daily hours of good sun exposure should put together their own solar hot air collector, using their local recycle center as a source of quality tempered glass for low cost or for free. Now then, moving them is another thing, you will do well to plan the actual retrieval and conveyance and storage of these (especially if you are going for the big sheets).
The main thing with the whole solar hot air collector idea is that it involves no plumbing, and little or no electric work, and most anyone can approach the technology. Of course a solar hot air collector only works while the sun is hitting it's absorber. And it's product is not considered "best grade" heat. But heat it is, and if the rule of thumb is true that every square foot of well made solar hot air collector absorber area equals 1 to 2 gallons of fuel oil in a heating season, then there is a cash value to the exercise as well. Considering that the fuel is free (however capricious), and that the mechanism requires little or no maintenance, I call it a bargain.
The one solar hot air collector that is coming along nicely will serve to keep pellets dry in their storage area in the basement. This collector will work continuously all year-round, mainly to ventilate the pellet drying chamber.

Por fin, algun progreso en tema de las placas solares, y con la elaboracion en metal de las diversas partes del aparato mismo de controlar el aire ya calentado. A ver si me explico, (que a proposito subire' pronto alguna foto), para aprovechar de un espacio estrecho, alto y bien colocado en relacion al sotano donde se almanecen los pellets dichosos, he construido un colector de aire calentado que incorpora no tan solamente el panel negro absorbador y el vacuo detras de el, pero detras aun hay lugar suficiente como para incluir un canal que vaya desde la parte mas alta, donde habra que llegar el aire ya calentado, y llevarlo hasta la camara de secar pellets, cuatro toneladas, si, cuatro, preguntaselo a Alva y te dira'!!