>>1648891>more about maintaining warm air temps than it is warm soil temps, fyi.I meant to use the soil as an insulator to keep the barrel warmer longer. It wouldn't have a marked effect on soil temperatures outside of a few inches' range.
>reflectors outside that strike on the barrel will be more efficient than added barrels as far as space goes.Uh, no. Even if the relative position of the sun was stationary and the mylar was a perfectly aligned parabolic reflector, no reflective surface is 100% efficient, so any given area of light is more efficiently converted to heat directly than being reflected.
>The difference between Mylar and white paint isn't enough to warrant using Mylar.While white paint will reflect more or less the same amount of light as reflective mylar, the paint causes the light to scatter, which is the exact opposite of focusing light, which is the whole purpose of having a reflector.
>>1648893>I was going to use the mylar to reflect more light on the plants.I thought you were the AUS poster, so the light would have been coming from the north; my bad.
> It would block to much light going to the barrel.Definitely. You need a lot of direct light in order for a solar>thermal to work. Silver mylar also isn't good for plants, and even white I don't think would necessary.
>I think I'll go with this designI think pic related would be your best option. Putting mylar in might actually cause more problems than it fixes.
