Subject: Re: How to make a house energy independant in Belgium ?

From: Pete Brown <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 13:46:29 +0100

on Fri, 18 Oct 1996, Philippe BRUNO wrote:
>Hello there !
>
>I live in Belgium. Eastern part of Belgium, near Germany.
>
>This is definitely not the sunniest place in the world... :-)
>
>The house, here, is on top of a hill, in the middle of nowhere...
>It's very well located to get all the wind, and all the sun, when it
>shines... :-)

You didn't say whether you were going to be spending thousands on it or
were going to do it on the cheap.

So...

Re. solar collectors on the cheap;

I had a friend (in England - similar weather to Belgium) who a made a
solar collector using an old hot water storage tank (with the internal
spiral of tubing) and and old central heating radiator.

The radiator was painted black, and housed in a thermally-insulated box
with a glazed front (made from dismantled wooden pallets and an old
metal window).

This was mounted lower than the tank (only by a foot or so) and
connected to the tank via insulated pipes.

In the summer, the water is heated to about 75 degrees centigrade and
needs no more heating. In the Spring and Autumn it is just about hot
enough to bath in. and in the Winter he needs to heat it a little bit
more in order to have a bath.

Hope that helps.

>
>So, I would *really* appreciate if you could give me as much information as
>possible about what would be the best solution, as well as where to find all
>necessary products.

He got all the stuff from a scrapyard. Cost him about ten pounds. :-)
-- 
regards,
          Pete Brown