Solar Heating Questions

Hello again, all! I’m writing this post to ask for feedback, comments, concerns, or even more questions regarding solar heating panels.

YouTube will be my downfall, I am sure. Having watched a few videos on the aforementioned site, I was all fired up about getting some solar panels made for each side of the house, getting them in place, and maybe even looking into some sort of modified system for air transfer for a proposed root cellar I have in my head.

The concept was quite straightforward and simple. Then I watched a few more videos, and suddenly it became rocket science, with guys that have graduated from MIT talking about air mass, air transfer, cycle volumes, and such things as that. Then they start looking at this design versus that design, and this old man is beginning to wonder if this stuff really works. How does someone that knows nothing about computer fans, wiring (other than knowing how to grab the wrong wire at the wrong time when working here at the house), and snap switches (what is a snap switch anyway?) make this contraption work, if it works at all?

And so the question begs: downspout or aluminum soffit? And, going back to my old days in construction, would copper screen painted black be better than anything else as far as screen goes? Sure it costs more, yet if the end result is a better product and it will basically never wear out, why not make the splurge up front?

And how big? I am thinking of these as daytime alternatives to my wood stove (save on the firewood issue!), and although I’m by no means in the coldest part of the world, central North Carolina does have its winters. As we all know, the inside of an unheated structure gets colder than it is outside. More of that air mass, air transfer, air movement, CFM stuff that is way beyond my pay grade.