Monday, November 10, 2008

How to build cheap solar heater / solar panel (Beer Can Passive Solar Heater)




How to build cheap solar heater (Beer Can Passive Solar Heater).

First of all you need some empty beer cans (beer cans are made of aluminum generally)
Next you need some tools:
  • drill (or better table drill) to drill each can at the top and the bottom of the can
  • 44mm (1.73 inch) Bi-Metal holesaw to drill in aluminum
  • some kind of hand-made tool to protect your hands while drilling cans

  • heat-resistant adhesive to glue the cans, I used black Soudal silicone, it's heat-resistant up to 200 °C (392 °F)
Instruction::Building solar heater made of beer-cans in a few steps:

  1. tests of the solar energy temperature measurement, etc.
  2. drilling cans
  3. gluing drilled cans together
  4. testing matt black lacquer which is better for "collecting" sun energy
  5. painting the solar heater
  6. making the stand for the solar
  7. solar heater - first part is ready
  8. test of the first part of the solar
  9. second part of my solar is ready
  10. whole solar panel is finished
  11. final tests
  12. how my solar heater is working

Thursday, November 6, 2008

My solar heater::how it's working



On the image below, you can see how my solar panel works and how does it affect temperature inside my house.