17 DIY Solar Air Heaters-Keep Your Garage Warm With Little Cost

Building a DIY solar air heater is a cost-efficient way to heat your garage during the winter months. Draw the energy from the sun to produce heat so you can continue to work in your garage or out building all winter without increasing the cost of your monthly utilities. A solar air heater is also an eco-friendly way to heat a garage (or home) with a renewable energy source so you will be leaving a smaller carbon footprint on the planet.

Check out these 17 easy to build solar air heaters and choose the plans that are right for your heating needs this winter.

1- DIY Solar Garage Heater

Check out these free plans that will show you how to install solar panels on the roof of your garage so you can have electrical power for a heater and charging your battery operated car.

Free electricity is what you will get when you follow these solar air heater plans. These plans are detailed and the solar panels won’t be an eye-sore on top of your garage but will actually look very nice.

Not only will these solar panels provide you with enough free electricity to power a heater in your garage during the winter, you can stay cool running an air conditioner in the garage during the summer. Charge your electric car, power your tools, and whatever other electric appliances you want in your garage for free. You can keep your garage warm with little cost this winter so you can enjoy spending time in it.

Many people have hobbies they enjoy doing in the garage but the cost of heating the garage during the winter months makes their hobbies inaccessible when it’s cold. Change that and enjoy your hobbies year-round by installing solar panels so you can have a DIY solar heater like this one by instructables for the garage.

For some people a garage is more than just a place to park the car and store Holiday decor, it’s their sanctuary. The garage is the place where they can go for a little while each day and have some alone time. But if it’s cold and dreary outdoors and the garage does not have heat, it’s not the sanctuary they need.

Building a DIY solar heater for the garage is essential for being able to use the garage during the cold winter months. Follow these plans so you can have electricity and heat in your garage.

2- Solar Air Heater

Stay warm in your garage without spending any money on electricity with a solar air heater like this one.

Follow these detailed plans so you can build a DIY solar heater for your garage or other outbuilding. You can harness the warmth of the sun to provide heat inside your off-grid garage or another outbuilding that you need to be in during the cold winter.

Work does not stop because the snow fall and the temperature dips below freezing so you need to have heat inside your garage so you can continue working year-round in a comfortable environment.

These free plans for a DIY solar heater for garage by instructables provide written instructions, pictures of the building process, and a construction video so you can all the information needed to build one for yourself.

Don’t work in a cold garage this winter, stay warm with a solar heater you can build yourself. You may also like to check out diy solar pool heater.

3- Solar Powered Heater For Garage

You won’t have to work in a cold garage any longer after you install this DIY solar heater made by instructables for your garage.

You will be able to stay warm and be productive throughout the winter when you have a heated garage to work in. You can keep your garage warm for little cost when the power is coming from the sun and it’s free.

Complete all those projects that you have been putting off and enjoy the winter more inside a warm garage. If there is no heat in the garage or workshed, projects do not get done during the cold winter months. This results in way too many projects that need to be taken care of in the spring and summer. It’s impossible to get them all completed before winter begins again so the cycle of not being able to work in an unheated garage starts all over again.

Break that unproductive cycle and get the most out of your garage by installing a DIY solar heater and stay warm and productive this winter.

4- Desk Top Solar Air Heater

Every garage needs a desk and a chair so you can sit down and draw up your work plans. The desk can also be used to hold your computer and a space to eat lunch. Sitting at a desk during the winter can also get cold without a nearby heater.

Stay warm while you’re sitting at your garage desk with a desk top solar heater. These free plans will show you how to build a DIY solar air heater like this one on youtube that is small enough to sit on top of your desk yet powerful enough to keep you warm.

The off-grid design will not cost you anything to use and the building cost is minimal. Ideal for use in your garage so you won’t have to go indoors to get warm when you sit down. This desk top heater is great and it can be moved as needed to keep other areas of your garage warm.

5-  Pop Can DIY Air Heater

These free solar air heater plans will show you how to build a heat collector from pop cans like this one by builditsolar. It’s easy and those aluminum pop cans will heat the garage for you free of charge.

Here are simple steps to build this diy air heater

• Collect and clean enough pop cans.
• Cut the tops and bottoms out of each can.
• Glue the soda cans together in columns.
• Paint with a high-heat black paint.
• Build and install a manifold plus inlet and outlet vents.
• Build the frame and assemble the absorber.
• Install screen and baffle and place the pop can heat collector in full sun.

6- DIY Soda Can Heater

If you drink a lot of soda, recycle those used cans into an efficient DIY solar powered air heater with these plans by hemmings. The DIY build process is much like the previous one.

Here are simple steps to build this diy air heater

* Clean empty cans and remove the tops and drill holes in the bottom. Drill side holes in the bottom of 5 cans too.

* Build a shallow wood box that can hold 5 stacks of 10 soda cans and caulk the seams.

* Paint cans with black BBQ paint and glue into the box.

* Recycle parts from an old shop vacuum to create an air disperser.

* Build a frame for the box from PVC pipe. Attach box and place in full sun.

7- DIY Solar Panel Air Heater

Another ingenious design that enable you to build a solar garage heater like this one by freeonplate using recycled soda cans.

Steps to build this diy garage heater are:

•  Clean the cans and punch out 3 holes in the bottom of each can. Paint can with high heat paint.
•  Build a large box with six sections with a sheet of plywood and 1×1 wood strips. Create hole for intake and exhaust hoses.
•  Use heat-resistant adhesive to glue to adhere cans inside the box.
•  Attach a sheet of Plexiglas over the top and mount on the south side of the garage.

8- Homemade Steel Can Solar Air Heater  

Learn how to build an affordable steel can diy solar room heater in this step by step video on YouTube that will save you a ton of money on heating costs.

9- Shop DIY Solar Air Heater

Watch this instructional video for the details on how to build a solar space heater like this one by treehugger that produces enough hot air to heat an outdoor shop. Great for an art studio or shop that is detached from the main house. You may also like to check out wood burning heaters.

10- Window Heater

Window air conditioning units have been around for decades providing cool air for one room. With these diy solar air heater plans by motherearthnews you can build a DIY window heater that will provide dependable, efficient heat for one room.

•  Create an aluminum frame (an old storm door frame is ideal) that will reach from the ground to the house window.
•  Add blackboard and foam insulation board to collect heat from the sun.
•  Place at a 45 degree angle in a south-facing window and enjoy the free warm air coming in the window.

11- Screen Absorber DIY Solar Air Heater

This unit may be small in size, but it’s big in heat production. These easy to follow DIY solar heater plans are detailed in this YouTube video.

12- Convection DIY Solar Heater For Garage

These plans will show you how to create a large diy solar heater like this one by instructables that fits securely on the exterior of your home. The large size enables this DIY heater to provide warmth for the entire house.

13- Cheap DIY Solar Air Heater

Recycle aluminum storm windows, aluminum cans, a couple of fans and some insulation board into an efficient diy garage heater like this one by sites.google.com. If you have the materials on hand, this solar heater could cost you almost nothing.

14- Easy To Build DIY Solar Air Heater

Lower your home heating costs significantly with this easy to build solar air heater by homepower. On sunny winter days, home heating costs will be slashed to zero. These plans allow you to build an efficient DIY heater for under $100.

15- $100 DIY Solar Water Heater

These diy solar air box heater plans by instructables will show you how to build a large heater for around $100. The large size enables the box heater to produce enough warmth harnessed from the sun to heat a large garage. You may also like to check out diy solar water heater.

16- Large DIY Solar Air Heater

This large diy solar air heater by rimstar also utilizes empty soda cans in the design. The large designs provides enough solar heat to keep a 1,000 square foot garage or home warm.

17- Solar Thermal Collector

A solar thermal collector like this one can be built very cheaply using recycled materials. It’s efficient and can easily provide enough power for a DIY solar heater like this one by instructables for a garage.

This solar thermal collector is reliable and you can depend on it to collect the solar energy needed to heat your garage. Depending on the size of the solar collector, it might collect more than what a heater will need so you will have extra electrical power to use for other things in your garage.

It would be great to have a warm place to work during the winter without increasing your utility costs. These free plans will provide you with detailed instructions so you can build a solar thermal collector that is just the right size for your garage. The location and tilt of the collector will determine how much solar energy it can collect. You want it to collect the maximum amount of solar heat during the winter and the minimal amount during the summer.

These plans will explain all that you need to know for building and installing your own DIY solar thermal collector. You will be able to keep your garage warm with very little out of pocket building expenses and no monthly heating bill.

References:

Science Direct, Volume 228, 25 June 2023, “Experimental study of a solar air heater with modified absorber plate through square obstacles with threaded pin fins”, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359431123005732

IOP Science, Singuru Rajesh et al 2019 IOP Conf, “Performance assessment of a sustainable Solar Air Heater (SAH) by using different profiles of absorber plates”, https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/312/1/012023

MDPI, Energies 2021, “Eco-Friendly and Economical Solar Heater Design Using Internal Structure and Phase Change Materials”, https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/21/7423