Heating a Barn With a Solar Panel

I have a small solar panel designed to be used with electric fencing for live stock - which I no longer have.The solar panel has a 6V battery with connectors to the fencing.I would like to repurpose the panel for heaters in my barn. I think the spec on it says .15 joules output. Will this work?
- Mike Burton (age 50)
River Falls, Wi, USA

Hello Mike,

The power out of your solar panel is not enough to heat an outhouse, let alone a barn.  Typical outputs are in the range of 175 watts per square meter, and that's on a bright sunny day. The electric fence required only a very small amount.

LeeH

If you hooked it up to a heat pump, that 175 W could get up to maybe 1 kW of heating power on a cool day, maybe enough for the outhouse but not the barn. On a cold day, when it really matters, heat pumps don't work so well. So basically I agree with Lee. Mike W.

(published on 04/24/2014)