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Passive Solar wall for Farm Shed

 
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I'm Rebuilding a farm shed on an existing foundation. The south wall is primarily an overhead door. The west wall is completely solid. We are located in Ontario, Canada. Will we get enough solar gain on the west wall to make it worth building it as a passive solar? The wall is a little bit south of west.
 
Harry Stoddart
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Just measured the direction of the wall - it faces 20 degrees south of due west.
 
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I'm sorry to say that in my experience of solar buildings, as well as everything I've read about solar design, only the south wall (or up to about 15 degrees E or W of south) is effective for solar gain. West walls in particular are considered annoying because they admit long hours of afternoon light in the summer just when you're wishing that your house would cool down. And in winter when the sun rises and sets considerably south of east and west, you really only get any gain from the south wall. Especially in Canada because it is pretty far north, so the sun is pretty low to the south all winter.

What do you mean by the south wall is an overhead door? What's that? Assuming the house has right angles, your south wall is 15 degrees E of S, which should be good for solar gain, so you'd do best to use it. Any chance of attaching a greenhouse to the south wall? That's my favorite method..
 
Harry Stoddart
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It's a farm shed, the south wall only has 8' of width that isn't a door.
 
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I bet 8 feet is plenty to build a couple pop can solar heaters to help heat in the winter. Provided the sun comes out of course. Research solar pop can heaters. They are really neat and cheap to build
 
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