How much would it cost to install solar heating for a 1700 sq ft cabin?

Question

Our cabn started out as 600 sq ft and we have slowly added on over the generations. We live in Manitoba which is in Canada and it can be very chilly in the winter.

We have southern exposure.

Answer 1

You are making a wise move... Manitobe is the province that receives more days of sun per year than any other province in Canada! I wonder if you'd do well with wind power? I know the wind is stronger in the coastal provinces, but Manitoba has flat areas that might maximize what wind there is.

The cost of converting your cabin to solar will depend on the state it is in at present. My 3400 square foot home is a solar home. The house is very toasty during the day in the middle of our Canadian winter. I'll explain my setup and it may help you out.

Our house is built on a thermal slab, which is a series of duct work inside concrete. This is poured directly on the ground with no basement. From the slab, the house is built like a bathtub... a concrete wall 3 feet high forms the perimeter of the house, and ground level is just below the top of the wall. The concrete wall at the back of the house extends to roof because the house is what is known as "earth-bermed", meaning it is dug into the side of a hill. The ground encasing our home keeps it cool in summer and warm in winter.

The roof has 11 skylights which make up for the lack of windows at the back of the house. The front of the house is a series of 15-foot windows, side by side, while the adjacent main wall is a series of 9 glass patio doors. These are positioned for exposure to maximum sunlight for warmth.

The duct work in the floor extends upwards into the house filling the walls. The main chamber is a tower forming the wall of the stairwell. Vents near the main series of windows and main skylights draw heat from the sun and circulate it through the duct work in the walls, floor and through other vents which warms the air. The open concept design allows for easy flow or air throughout. A switch on the air system converts circulation of heat in winter, to ventilation of heat in summer.

Another aspect of our solar home, is an all-glass triangular greenhouse enveloped on two sides by our dining room and living room. This creates another pocket of warmth which helps to heat the home. Air is taken from this source and circulated as well.

Solar panels on the roof are used to heat our hot water.

I live in Nova Scotia where winters are very cold and damp, but our home is completely heated during winter days only using warmth collected from the sun (the house gets so warm, I sometimes have to switch to ventilation or open windows in the middle of winter!) We do need to supplement our heat at NIGHT in the coldest months (we choose from a wood stove or electric furnace).

That's the basic setup.

I understand you want to use solar panels to somehow power heaters in your home, but as you can see, there are many ways to create a solar home and an energy efficient home.

Good luck.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Costs and performance in UK

Typically, Active Solar Heating systems installed into existing households are priced in the range of £2,500 to £4,000 (depending on the size of house, type of collector, etc.).
For DIY or new build system installations, costs can be reduced - particularly in the case of large scale new building projects.

Answer 4

Here are some contact numbers for more information:

Manitoba Energy and Mines
Petroleum and Energy Branch
1395 Ellice Avenue, Suite 360
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3G 3P2
Telephone: [phone]
Long distance Toll-Free: 1-800-282-8069
(ext. 3760).

Solar Heating Systems in Manitoba
http://www.gov.mb.ca/est/climatechange/pdfs/solarheating.pdf

Answer 5

Canadian Tire in Ontario has started offering solar & wind power items. Their alternative energy website has a calculator function for you to figure out how many watts of generation you need, how much backup you want, and the cost for that. I figured out a plan for my 1400 sq ft home, both sources & a 3 day battery bank at around $7000 CAD.

There are also solar cell shingles now available, each producing 15-17 watts, but I haven't found a canadian retailer yet.

Answer 6

1

Answer 7

Whew, sure a lot of answers, several excellent ones. However here is other offer perspective that seems to have been missed.

a few hundred should do it, here are some thoughts

first a bit of research is in order:
1.) find best solar angle for your location
2.) determine average gallons per day per person

your key parts can be found at the local Home Depot and most any auto supply.

looped copper tubing strapped on metal sheets, (old transmission coolers ?) then all sprayed with hi-temp flat black, assembled under double glass, and fully insulated. that's a cheap collector, modular at 4' x 8' (use NO WOOD)

all that's left is a few radiator hoses, an automotive thermostat, some valves, CPVC and insulation, a bi-metal household thermostat, a compatible electric pump, insulated storage tanks.....

if you look around it can be had for next to nothing, add a fair amount of sweat and your in.

you can get very high efficiency for super high prices, or
you can have reasonable efficiency for low and very reasonable costs.

if you spend 300 to 600 you can salvage and construct a system with a good flow volume and minimal recovery time, having a short ROI

I hope this helps

Answer 8

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Answer 9

The correct answer depends on many variables.

For example:

What is the location of this home? The State that your in might have a very pro-solar program. Location also determines hours of direct sun and periods of lower level sunlight.
Do you have a south facing roof or area for installation?
How much of your energy usage do you wish to displace in your home ...all of it?

For budgetary reasons you should use an $ 7.00 a watt for total system, as a high number to start before Federal and certain State buy downs, incentives, and credits.

You could easily spend $15,000.00 before any incentives for complete system. Even at these numbers depending on your electrical costs your payoff could be good or not so good.

Please note that there are very important distinctions between solar technologies, silicon, poly-silicon, amorphous silicon and thin film technologies. All have unique properties and uses. Please note that panel efficiency is not the critical number, as low rated panels can deliver more usable power over than high rated panels because they work in low light conditions and have less heat loss on hot days.

I hope I helped.

Answer 10

Stan is talking crap. He's talking about Solar PV which generates electricity. You would never heat a home with a system like this. PV or a Photovoltaic system generates electricty for low voltage lighting and energy efficient home appliances, you can't use it for heating, it will cost toooooo much money and you would NEVER buy it.

You can use a Solar Thermal system for heating, it uses the suns energy to generate heat not electricity.

You have to decide what type of solar heating you want installed.

Do you want underfloor heating or warm air heating or just solar heating for hot water for washing and bathing?

Either way you will never cover your whole heating needs with a solar system and it won't heat your radiators, just underfloor heating and/or water for washing only.

With solar assisted underfloor heating you will get max 30% of coverage per annum in typical home.

With a eco-home with very good insulation values you can get higher %, I've seen 100% solar heated eco homes but these are designed from the outset with solar thermal heating in mind and built 'around' the system.

With solar water heating (washing etc) you will still need another heat source for winter but will get most of your hot water from May to October supplied by solar if you get a good system. In the UK a system like this will cost around £3,500-£4,000.

You will need to decide what system you want and how many people it needs to supply hot water for.

If I was you I would use a log/pellet burning boiler (biomass) with will burn CO2 neutral for your heating, this is renewable energy. And a solar thermal system for hot water heating only, not space (room) heating.

Answer 11

Basically it depends on two things:
#1, what your daily usage is..
#2, how much sun light you get every day.

You'll want more solar power than your daily usage. You'll have to keep in mind that you'll have to store up power for cloudy days. Also, you'll need to keep in mind that winter time usually has less sun light hours than summer.

DIY had some pretty good shows last summer. A guy in CO put a light and outlet in his garage for about $800. They basically bought him about 6Hrs of usage per day. A guy built a solar house in VA. It cost him about 30K above the cost of the house. Ofcouse, he had meter back up in the event the solar power did not provide enough power. I am sure that made the price go a little higher.