Chapter 4

A solar chimney is an air-heating solar collector that runs

automatically, on sun power alone. Of all the passive heating
systems, it loses the least heat when the sun is not shining.
Except for solar windows, solar chimneys (also called
convective loops) are the most common solar heating
systems in the world.

Variations on the design are used to heat water for

domestic purposes. Hundreds of thousands of pumpless,
"thermosiphoning" (heat convecting) solar water heaters
have been used for decades. In fact, convective loop water
heaters were patented in 1909. By 1918, 4,000 such water
heaters were in operation in Southern California.
Solar chimney wall-mounted collectors can
complement south-facing windows in supplying
additional solar heat directly to both new and existing
houses. In conventional wood-framed houses, up to 25
percent of the heat can be supplied by combining solar
windows and solar chimneys without supplemental
thermal storage. A combined system of
52

Solar Chimneys 53

roughly 200 square feet can achieve the 25 percent figure for
a well-insulated 1500-square-foot house in a cold climate.
Half as much area is needed in a mild climate.

Basic System Design

A solar chimney wall collector is similar to a flat-plate
collector used for active systems. A layer or two of glass or
plastic covers a black absorber. Air may flow in a channel
either in front of or behind the absorber, depending on the
design. The air may also flow through the absorber if it is
perforated. The collector is backed by insulation.
In the figure on the next page, the collector is mounted on,
or made a part of, the insulated wall. Openings at the bottom
and top of the wall permit cooler air from the house to enter
the hot collector at the base of the wall, to rise as the sun
heats it, and to vent back into the building near the ceiling.
The slow-moving collector air must be able to come in
contact with as much of the absorber's surface area as
possible without being slowed down too much. In fact, the
amount of heat transferred from the absorber to the flowing
air is in direct proportion to the heat-transfer capabilities of
the absorber and the speed of the air flow by or through it.
Up to six layers of expanded metal lath is used in some
absorbers. In these, the air rises in front of the lath, passes
through it, and leaves the collector through a channel behind
the lath. Flat or corrugated metal is also used, but it does not
transfer heat as well. However, the air flow channel in this
case need not be as deep. The metal should

Solar Chimneys 55

be placed in the center of the channel, if possible, so that air

flows on both sides. This is more difficult to do and requires
two glazing layers instead of one.
Construct the collectors carefully and insulate them well}
particularly the upper areas that are likely to be hottest. Avoid
insulations or glazings that will melt. If the collectors flow
should be blocked for some reason on a sunny day, its
temperature can reach over 300F. Wood construction is
usually satisfactory, but be sure to provide for wood shrinkage
and for the expansion and contraction of materials as their
temperatures fluctuates.

Systems with Heat Storage

Collectors that are large enough to supply more than 25
percent of the desired heat require heat storage. The storage in
an air system is usually a large bin of rocks. It must be
designed to maximize heat transfer from the air stream to the
rocks without noticeably slowing the air flow. Rocks with
small diameters (3 to 6 inches) have large amounts of surface
area for absorbing heat} and yet allow passages for air flow.
The rocks should be roughly the same size (that is} don}t mix
1 inch with 4 inch) or most of the airways will be clogged.
Storage should contain at least 200 pounds of rock (1 1/2 cubic
feet) per square foot of collector. As shown in the diagram}
storage should be located

56 Passive Solar Heating

The cross-sectional area of the rock bed

receiving air from the collector should range
from one-half to three-quarters the surface
area of the collector. The warm air from the
collector should flow down through the rocks,
and the supply air from storage to the house
should flow in the reverse direction. Optimum
rock size depends on rock bed depth. Steve
Baer recommends gravel as small as 1 inch for
rockbeds 2 feet deep and up to 6 inches for
depths of 4 feet. * For best heat transfer in
active systems, bed depths are normally at
least 20 rock diameters. That is, if the rock is 4
inches in diameter, the bed should be at least
6 1/2 feet deep in order to remove most of the
heat from the air before it returns to the
collector. This should be considered a
maximum depth for convective loop rockbeds.
* See Sunspots by Steve Baer, Zomeworks

Corporation, Albuquerque, NM.

above the collector but below the house. This permits

solar heated air to rise into the house and cooler air to
settle in the collector.

Air Flow
Designing a convective air loop system is a somewhat tricky and
difficult task. If you aren't very respectful of the will of the air, the
system won't work.
Steve Baer

As with active collectors, the slower the air flow, the hotter
the absorber and the greater the heat loss through the glazing.
This results in a lower collector efficiency. Good air flow
keeps the absorber cool and transports the maximum possible
amount of heat into the house flow.

Solar Chimneys 57

channels should be as large as possible, and bends and

turns in the ducts should be minimized to prevent
restriction of air flow.
Conventional air heating collectors use fans and have air
channels only 1 to 1 inch deep. Without fans, air channels
in convective loop collectors range from 2 to 6 inches deep.
Convective flow of air is created by a difference in
temperature between the two sides of the convective loops,
for example, between the average temperature in the collector
and the average temperature of the adjacent room. It is also
affected by the height of the loop. The best air flow occurs
when the collector is hottest, the room is coolest, and the
height of the collector is as tall as possible.
The vertical distance to the top of the collector from the
ground (this is not necessarily the collector length, since the
collector is tilted) should be at least 6 feet to obtain the
necessary effect. It should be tilted at a pitch of not less than a
45 angle to the ground, to allow for a good angle of reception
to the sun and for the air to flow upward.

Reverse air convection

In an improperly designed system, reverse air convection can
occur when the collector is cool. A cool collector can draw
heat from the house or from storage. Up to 20 percent of the
heat gained during a sunny day can be lost through this
process by the following day.
There are three primary methods of automatically
preventing reverse convection. One is to build the collector in
a location below the heat storage and below the house. A
second is to install backdraft dampers that automatically close
when air flows in the wrong direction. One such damper is
made of lightweight, thin plastic film. A lightweight "frisket"
paper used in the photography industry has also been used
successfully. Warm air flow gently pushes it open. Reverse
cool air flow causes the plastic to fall back against the
screened opening, stopping air flow. Ideally, both top and
bottom vents should be equipped with such dampers.

This is discussed in more detail in two excellent magazine articles by W. Scott

Morris (Solar Age, September 1978 and January 1979, Harrisville, N.H. 034501.

58 Passive Solar Heating

Solar Chimneys 59

The third method of reducing reverse convection is to place

the intake vent slightly lower than the outlet vent near the top
of the wall. The back of the absorber is insulated and centered
between the glazing and the wall. Inlet cool air from the
ceiling drops into the channel behind the absorber. The solar
heated air rises in the front channel, drawing cooler air in
behind it. The warmed air enters the room at the top of the
wall. When the Sun is not shining, the air in both channels
cools and settles to the bottom of the "U -tube." Only minor
reverse convection occurs. Because of the longer air-travel
distances involved, the U-tube collector will not be as
efficient, aerodynamically, as the straight convective loop. It
will also be more expensive to build.

Costs and Performance

Materials costs of solar chimney collectors can be as little as a
few dollars per square foot. Materials are usually available
locally. Contractor-built collectors can cost $7 to $15 per
square foot. Operating costs are nonexistent, and maintenance
costs should be very low.
Performance depends largely on delicate, natural
convection currents in the system. Therefore, proper design,
materials, and construction are important. In a well-built
collector, air flow can be low to nonexistent at times of little
or no Sun, but will increase rapidly during sunny periods.
Average collection efficiency is similar to that of low
temperature, flat-plate collectors used in standard active
system designs.

Collector Area
Only a small collector area is needed
to heat a house in the spring and fall
when the heating demand is low.
Additional collector area provides heat
over a fewer number of months, only
during the middle of the heating
season. Therefore, each additional
square foot of collector supplies
slightly less energy to the house than
the previous square foot.
The useful amount of heat supplied
from a solar collector ranges from 30,
000 to 120,000 Btus per square foot
per winter. The high numbers in this
range are for undersized systems in
cold, sunny climates. The low
numbers are for oversized systems or
for very cloudy climates. In cold
climates of average sunshine such as
Boston, Massachusetts, 80,000 Btus
per square foot per heating season is
typical, when the solar system is sized
to contribute 50 percent of the heat.
The output of the collectors drops to
50,000 Btus when sized to provide 65
to 70 percent of the heat. (For
comparison, roughly 80,000 Btus are
obtainable from a gallon of oil.)