On Strange Lands - Solar Space Heating II

On Strange Lands - Solar Space Heating II

This was a Character defining Moment

So here I was lying midway on my staircase, "No, I hadn't sold off my bed," thinking to myself and cursing my old slippers, "Oh, and you thought I was in love with them," these slippers had betrayed me today,"damn why do we fall in love ?" I was in pain and couldn't move, I knew I had to,"after all I had a walk to go to didn't I," and get to a doctor.  I had slipped ten steps on the old staircase, the house was empty, I was alone, the only sound was of my own labored breathing and this wicked staircase had claimed another victim.

Just 2  months ago somebody else in the family had slipped  on it,"

spilled some good tea too," and almost broken their neck.  Lying in the prostrate position that I was, I wasn't sure whether I had broken my neck, "and if I had there were no angels singing over my halo," but my back pained badly.  I turned to the right to get my hand out of under me and try and apply some pressure on it to get back up, "Aaahhh," the scream was involuntary and my mind broke up into a million pieces under the pain.  It shattered my peace so thoroughly, I had been cool and calm when just lying on this staircase, "wicked too," and just the bare movement of a muscle caused ten thousands needles to prick my back.  Fortunately I hadn't fainted or lapsed into unconciousness, I picked myself up somehow and limped to the couch and plonked myself on to it.

It pained even to lie down, what was I to do, do I call Kalpana, I thought immediately but she lived far off and by the time she reached here I might be dead already, she might even have a heart attack thinking of me lying here all alone with a bad back,"it wasn't broken, I could walk."  On a hunch I called her, she picked up after two rings, "I am dead," I said in an uneven tone, and then went on to explain what had happened, my voice was cracking up even as I spoke, she hushed me up and promised she would be there in 1/2 hour, "what’s half between life and death," I thought to myself, I continued lying on the couch, if I managed to curl up my legs and outstretched my arms it was weirdly comforting.  In 15 minutes at the couch, I was up again and limped to the medicine cabinet, I took out Anacin, the only pain killer I found with me and popped in three of them, "self prescription, but damn did I have a choice," and curled up again on the couch and waited.  There was this dream I was seeing when suddenly the door bell rang.

It was Kalpana, "and she sure was a sight for sore eyes," as she walked in and started mothering around me and realising that the situation could get out of hand, "to put it minorly," immediately helped me to the car. "The keys," I shouted, "I have got them," why did I remember all these things now, "how about the medical kit," I pointed to the medicine cabinet, "We don't need it now," she shouted back.  I was blabbering like a new born baby, "wailing is the right word," as I managed to cram myself up into the cars front seat.  If I didn't reach the hospital fast enough, I thought I was going to faint, "my back seemed to cramping," and I was swooning, "in love again huh?" I managed a seat belt, though I was sure nobody dare stop us with me wailing like a banshee all the way to the clinic.

The doctor turned out to be young guy, and he had a female intern with him, they poked my back like I was some specimen from Pluto and pronounced me not fit to move, "at least the way I am used to," for a month.  It seems I had a muscle split near the side of my back, "why was I thinking of my freaking neck then," and it would require pain killers, the prescription variety and muscle re-builders to get me up on my feet like I was used to.  I got up, "actually they wouldn't let me sit," and walked down with Kalpana to the medical shop, bought the medicine and she drove me back home to sleep peacefully.
              

“I got this Tattoo on My Sleeve”

The Intent is to Enchant

Space heating is the concept by way of which we can heat the flooring of the house to generate overall heating in the space.  It would be alright to assume to that an average home in winters requires space heating, sizing the requirement is easy if we understand the mechanics of the house, the insulation, the panelling and even the windows and shades.  The following points are important to understand :

1.     The total heating required in the house

2.     The existing ambient heat within the house

3.     Estimation of the house temperature required on a cold winter evening

4.     No. of collectors required to reach that temperature

5.     Sqft of area required to install the additional collectors, apart from the water heating requirement as mentioned in my previous post Space Heating – I

6.     Estimation of the increase in size of the reservoir

7.     Other miscellaneous things include installation techniques for the collectors as the sun is at a low angle on the horizon, this we will talk about in the next post.

Sizing the Additional Collectors

A simple procedure to do this is to write down the equation and reach a conclusion, for instance in this case :

1.     Collector Size for 100 Ltrs = 2mx1m

2.     Convert the collector size from sqm to sqft 
 2sqm = 21.5sqft

3.  Calculate the size per sqft for 100ltrs
21.5 sqft = 100ltrs

4.  Estimation of gallons
26.41gallons will require 21.5sqfts of extra space

You could say in conclusion that 1.25gal of extra heating will require 1sqft of extra collector space

                        “If It Were Me, I d Say This Concludes the Series.”