Daily Home Renovation Tips

In Part 16, we had finished with the exterior installation of our new solar air collector.

With this accomplished, we could now work on finishing the installation on the inside of the house for the Cansolair Solar Max 240.

This began with the connection of the temperature line which originated from inside the unit that was passed through the blower assembly unit through our use of the speaker wire and out on the inside of the blower assembly unit.

So,  the temperature wire was connected to the wiring in the electrical component at the front of the blower assembly. In the picture below, the temperature wire is the grey wire coming out of the upper left grommet directly underneath the upper left screw.

To ensure it worked we plugged the blower assembly unit into the electrical outlet on the wall and turned the thermostat clockwise. Yea! Since it was a sunny day the unit came on immediately.

Next, the 4 inch round metal duct was inserted into the hole in the upper back of the unit cut by Bennett during our testing of the exact location needed for this opening.

Once it was affixed and sealed in place, the next step would typically have been to install the 4 inch draft blocker onto the end of the above 4 inch round metal duct through which the heated air would return to the house. On a typical installation of a solar air collector, the unit is installed on the outside of the area inside the house or building to receive the heat.

However, if you recall from our prior article for the solar air heater, this was not our overall plan. Our installation plan was to connect a flexible insulated duct line to the above pictures metal duct coming out of the solar air heater and have connect it to not one but two, yes, two separate vents in the ceiling of the basement.

So, we chose the furthest away location to install the vent.

First, the hole was made in the drop ceiling tile to fit the plastic vent cover. Imagine how much more work this would have been if our basement was finished with drywall vs a drop ceiling.

Next, a hole was drilled through the drill guide at either end of the vent cover.

Through these holes a screw was inserted to hold the metal duct vent in place.

Lastly, the drop ceiling tile with the vent cover and metal duct vent opening screwed together was put in place.

Next time we continue the interior installation of our solar air collector.

To continue to the next article in this series, simply select this ling to Part 18.