Okay, so I'm trying to build a heating system for the ground floor (to start) of a small garage. I have acquired two solar evacuated tube water heaters 30 tubes each with heat exchanger. I have a circulating pump and thermostat. Now I'm about to pick up a cast iron radiator or two. The garage is insulated and has concrete block wall for two walls and a concrete floor (hoping the thermal mass of the radiators and concrete will help retain heat after sundown.
I'm hoping to do what I believe is what they call a "closed loop" system if I understand correctly...in which the water/glycol mix will circulate through the system/radiator and hopefully heat up the space enough to keep it at least above freezing in the winter. I live in Pennsylvania for reference.
The issue I'm having is that after the sun goes down I no longer want the water to circulate through the radiators or inside pipes sucking heat away. I'd prefer to keep it circulating occasionally (if at all?) on an isolated outside loop after sundown - which this outside loop would also be used to dump excess heat in the summer or heat potable or non potable grey water (depending on setup) via a copper coil on the closed loop system submerged or wrapped around in an insulated tub or something like that.
If I have my circulator pump on a thermostat to run when the temp gets to the setpoint for the inside zone or loop - how do I make it switch zones automatically at sundown?
I should also add for reference this is an off grid solar powered garage so any power must come from my 24v battery bank therefore I'd like to keep power usage to a minimum. There is no access to running water (I have a rainwater collection system with 275 gallon totes) I also am not there everyday to manually switch the flow from one zone to another when the sun goes down.
Is this even possible? If I use the glycol mix do I have to circulate the water to keep it from freezing if, it's in the outside loop, if not it'd save my batteries.
It seems most people who install these solar water heaters are using them for domestic water heating and have storage tanks, and running water that fills automatically etc. I simply want to heat a space with a radiator - and in summer use it to heat water for various uses with the dumped heat.
I've searched and read and only found bits and pieces and so far I'm still struggling to figure it out. I wouldn't have made a new thread if I didn't think the circumstance/setup was unique needed explanation to understand what I'm trying to do, so hopefully this is in the right spot.
Thank you all in advance, I truly would appreciate any help/suggestions in an get.
I'm hoping to do what I believe is what they call a "closed loop" system if I understand correctly...in which the water/glycol mix will circulate through the system/radiator and hopefully heat up the space enough to keep it at least above freezing in the winter. I live in Pennsylvania for reference.
The issue I'm having is that after the sun goes down I no longer want the water to circulate through the radiators or inside pipes sucking heat away. I'd prefer to keep it circulating occasionally (if at all?) on an isolated outside loop after sundown - which this outside loop would also be used to dump excess heat in the summer or heat potable or non potable grey water (depending on setup) via a copper coil on the closed loop system submerged or wrapped around in an insulated tub or something like that.
If I have my circulator pump on a thermostat to run when the temp gets to the setpoint for the inside zone or loop - how do I make it switch zones automatically at sundown?
I should also add for reference this is an off grid solar powered garage so any power must come from my 24v battery bank therefore I'd like to keep power usage to a minimum. There is no access to running water (I have a rainwater collection system with 275 gallon totes) I also am not there everyday to manually switch the flow from one zone to another when the sun goes down.
Is this even possible? If I use the glycol mix do I have to circulate the water to keep it from freezing if, it's in the outside loop, if not it'd save my batteries.
It seems most people who install these solar water heaters are using them for domestic water heating and have storage tanks, and running water that fills automatically etc. I simply want to heat a space with a radiator - and in summer use it to heat water for various uses with the dumped heat.
I've searched and read and only found bits and pieces and so far I'm still struggling to figure it out. I wouldn't have made a new thread if I didn't think the circumstance/setup was unique needed explanation to understand what I'm trying to do, so hopefully this is in the right spot.
Thank you all in advance, I truly would appreciate any help/suggestions in an get.