Been thinking about building a huge solar heater. Could I run a water from a solar collector to a cob bench to store the heat like a rocket stove? I think for this to work, I would need a huge collector. With a thermosiphon this would be complete passive and very appealing to me.
That is a great idea as storing more than a couple hundred gallons of water is quite difficult and thermal losses from the tank are typically not delivered to the interior of the home. I would however recommend full electrical control, i.e. pumps, etc.
The tank belongs inside the house and therefore all energy is delivered to the home. If weight is a major concern, put it in the basement. The weight of water can be 1/5 that of cob for an equivalent amount of heat storage.
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