Let the Sunshine In
Ernestine Gravley
Question: What can a men's group do with a pile of old aluminum cans, lumber, glass, and a little black paint? Answer: Cut the church's heating bill by more than 60 percent. At least that's what happened in the small town of Washingtonville, New York, when the men of First Presbyterian Church built their own solar heater. Lee H. Poole, pastor, proposed the idea back in 1978, and a small three-panel unit recouped its cost the first winter. A larger eight-panel unit was installed two years ago. Does solar heating require cutting a hole in the roof and making major changes inside? "Not at all," says Poole. "Generally, roof units are not a good idea: they're hard to service—to brush off the snow and scrape the ice—and it's hard to pump hot air down to where you need it. "Our unit sits at the back of the church at ground level, with nothing but a parking lot in front of it." The panels, facing south, consist of wooden frames some 4 by 7 feet and one foot thick. The top side is two panes of glass separated by a quarter-inch space for dead air. On the bottom rest the cans, cut in half and painted dull black. Insulation fills a small space behind the sheet and on all four sides. Ducts allow the building's cool air to enter the base of the panels, where it is heated to 140 degrees. Fans draw the heated air out through another duct at the top and distribute it throughout the building. A thermostat below is linked to a thermo-coupler atop the unit to activate the fans when the sun appears. "The slant of the panels is determined by how far north you are," Poole adds. "Obviously, this is a subsidy system—it can't do the whole job. But there are many winter weekdays that our oil furnace never kicks on; the solar unit warms the building enough ...
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