Man's Best Friend Gets a High-Tech Home

Doghouse comes complete with a solar heating system, LED lights and a Wi-Fi security camera

By John B. Carnett Posted 04.18.2011 at 11:00 am 8 Comments

Animal House Illustration: Greg Maxson; Photograph John B. Carnett

Pearl, my beloved labradoodle, dutifully watched me build myself a new house for the past three years. So when I was almost finished, I decided to build her a place of her own. A standard model just wouldn’t do, though, so I went a little overboard. After creating the design with CAD software, I added a solar hot-water radiant-heating system and made a green roof that retains rainwater, creates oxygen, and improves insulation. Then I decked it out with a few other touches, including some colored LED lights to brighten things up and a Web-enabled wireless video camera that lets me keep an eye on Pearl from my computer or phone. That’s plenty of features for her, but the doghouse has one extra benefit for me: The battery that powers it also powers all the low-voltage exterior lights on my property.

Time: 70 Hours
Cost: $1,500

Frame: I chose a size that would be comfortable for a medium-sized dog. I started with a frame made from two-by-fours and added structurally insulated panels to the sides and exterior-grade wood for the porch.

Solar-Run Electric System: A box houses the solar controller, voltage reducer, and switches. John B. Carnett

Solar Collection: The wall with the solar panel has a window and faces south. The opposite side has no windows, so it retains heat.

Electrical: Charged by the solar panel, the gel battery is mounted inside the house. A solar charge controller, switches and other parts are inside a waterproof panel mounted on the exterior for easy adjustment.

Roof: To waterproof the plywood, I covered the roof with a polyethylene film and coated it with a liquid rubber called EPDM.

Heat From Below: Fluid-filled copper pipes under the floor radiate heat upward. John B. Carnett

Heating: When the photovoltaic panels are exposed to sunlight, a pump circulates glycol fluid through evacuated tubes to a series of copper pipes underneath the floor. The pipes heat a concrete backing board below them, which in turn disperses heat through the hardwood floor into the house.

Cooling: The entire house is insulated. During warm weather, air can flow from vents in the rear through the front door when it’s left open.

Lighting: The porch ceiling contains a waterproof 12-volt LED light. The two interior lights go on automatically when it gets dark outside.

Security: A motion- and heat-activated Wi-Fi security camera is mounted inside the front wall so I can see when Pearl is inside the doghouse. The camera I used is only for interior use; for an added home-security measure, a model that’s rated for exterior mounting and that pans around would work as well.

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8 Comments

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drchuck1

04/18/11 at 12:33 pm

this is very cool, is there a market for high end dog houses that could support a small business?

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suddenmischief

04/18/11 at 12:58 pm

No thank you....I would never see my dog again if she had a house like this!

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rodstockwell

04/18/11 at 2:57 pm

What permits are needed with this house? Can a tv be added if I upset my wife bad enough that I have to sleep there?

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TonyB

04/18/11 at 8:43 pm

drchuck, there is a market but it is highly dependent on location. I have seen (but don't recall the exact businesses) a few places selling dog houses in range from a few hundred dollars to one over $5,000.

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Kingkiser666

04/18/11 at 8:56 pm

do they make these in people sizes? who knows if the economy gets any worse you could put wheels on them and give them to the homeless.

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archstanton

04/19/11 at 11:32 am

Very nice work! For another solar-heated doghouse I built independently around the same time, see:

http://www.destinationdiy.com/episodes/episode36.html

It also uses a glycol solution pumped through a south-facing wall (roof, actually) and then to a copper coil in the floor. In this case, though, the copper coil is encased in concrete to form a heat capacitor so that the heat will be released more slowly after the sun goes away. This eliminates need for gel cell (i.e., system stores heat rather than electricity).

Mr. Carnett, I would be very interested to know more about the pump you used, and also the glycol solution. I had a hard time finding a suitable pump. My solution is 18% ethylene glycol and 82% propylene glycol. I would have liked to eliminate ethylene glycol altogether due to poison hazard, but found it necessary in order to keep solution liquid down to 0 degrees F., so still had to make darned sure that no leaks could develop anywhere accessible to dog.

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unlimited4x4

05/09/11 at 10:16 am

Great Project. I was wondering what the specs are for the solar charging control and solar panel? Also, where did you purchase these items? I am going to do what you did, regarding powering the landscape lights in the yard.

Thanks

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sunmaxxsolar

06/22/11 at 3:36 pm

Hi unlimited4x4 - The evacuated tube collector is from us SunMaxx Solar We are happy to provide you with more information on the product, please contact one of our solar thermal specialists 877-786-6299

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