Anyone knows about solar power and heating?

[isee]

I am looking for a way to heat a portacabin type building (though much much larger and adjacent to a full on hangar).
It's in eastern europe and though it gets plenty warm during summer, winter temps can go as far as -30C. Although the building does have electricity, I think heating a building off electricity alone would be financial suicide, so would need to install some sort of heating solution.
As far as I know the cheapest(at least the cheapest to run) solution is woodburning industrail scale furnace, but it is not too cheap to install to begin with and is not particulalry sightly nor neat.

That got me thinking: would solar power be the answer? If so, what sort of cost would I be looking at if I were to buy the panels in UK? how many panels would i need to heat 200 sq/m say?

As far as I know there is also something called solar heating? It does not actually convert sunlight to electricity but is a specialised device that converts sunlight to heat? (anyone knows how it works?)

I assume it would probably require a bigger financial outlay, but would then be free and unmetered. I would love it for the occupants not to have to juggle comfort vs cost, so always on, free heating would be fantastic!

[HOGEPH]

Maybe underground heating? I know nothing about these, but like the idea of free heat.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-...

[BoRED S2upid]

Underground heat pump is more efficient than solar and cheaper you just need a big hole.

[isee]

HOGEPH said:

Maybe underground heating? I know nothing about these, but like the idea of free heat.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generate-your-...

I like the idea, but since it's a portacabin style building, i don't think it will be insulated well enough. And it also seems to require electricity to run. At first glance it does not seem suitable for my needs or at least not without further work/modifications

[Floor Tom]

I think from the little reading up I have done on the subject heat a heat pumps struggle when it gets to really low temperatures. -30 would be a problem I think. My mum and step dad have solar pannels on their house for heating the water. They were not cheap but they are not planning on moving so they should pay for themselvs in the long run. Not hepled by the fact that my little brother broke one playing with a catapult though.

[davido140]

Possibly worth pointing out, solar panels dont work when covered with snow.

Get a furnace.

ETA if a ground heat exchange pump isnt going to work becase its too cold, there's no way a water heating solar panel on the roof is going to.

As far as generating enough electricity to heat what sounds like a fairly large building, even on a nice sunny day, it sounds like a stretch. on a cloudy/snowy winter day, you'll all freeze.

Edited by davido140 on Friday 18th December 10:10

[John MacK]

Floor Tom said:

I think from the little reading up I have done on the subject heat a heat pumps struggle when it gets to really low temperatures. -30 would be a problem I think.

An air-source heat pump might struggle at -30 but a ground source should be okay, the ground is 'normally' a stable temperature, but in the location the OP may need to watch for permafrost etc.

But I think the capital costs would be pretty high for heating a porta-cabin.

I'd go for lots of insulation on the building first. And then even a relatively small electric heater should be able to cope.

[isee]

John MacK said:

Floor Tom said:

I think from the little reading up I have done on the subject heat a heat pumps struggle when it gets to really low temperatures. -30 would be a problem I think.

An air-source heat pump might struggle at -30 but a ground source should be okay, the ground is 'normally' a stable temperature, but in the location the OP may need to watch for permafrost etc.

But I think the capital costs would be pretty high for heating a porta-cabin.

I'd go for lots of insulation on the building first. And then even a relatively small electric heater should be able to cope.

No permafrost over there, it CAN drop down to -30 but it hasn't done so in the last 3 years or so.
Will read up a bit more on the pipe solution and see if perhaps it can be done and how much for. BTW what sort of temp does the ground source heat it up to?

[John MacK]

isee said:

BTW what sort of temp does the ground source heat it up to?

Any Ground Source Heat Pump should be able to heat water to about 60 deg C, some can do higher.

The air temperature has very little affect on the performance of the heat pump. Ground conditions are the main factor, e.g what type of ground/soil depth of soil, level of water table etc, etc.

But as I said I would make sure the building is very well insulated, that will cut the amount of heat you will need.

[John MacK]

isee said:

As far as I know there is also something called solar heating? It does not actually convert sunlight to electricity but is a specialised device that converts sunlight to heat? (anyone knows how it works?)

Solar heating works quite simply by heating water by direct sunlight through the panel mounted on the roof, the water is then pumped through heat transfer coil in a storage tank/cylinder. The water in the storage tank/cylinder is what you use.

(hope that makes sense) I think you would need consistent strong warm sunlight for this to work efficiently.

[Fish]

If a portacabin for work the only answer for where you are is wood burning. I would suggest traditional stoves... Definately the cheapest.

Solar where snow is...not great

Ground source heat pump... VERY expensive to install and not that efficient

Air Source heat Pump.... Do not work well at -30c

No question go open plan and put traditional log burners in, you can get models with air blowers to distribute the heat.

Other self contained options are gas fires and oil boilers/ warm air heaters.