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.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Beer Can Passive Solar Heater::Final Tests

So, after a few days I can present final tests results.


maximum measured air temperature at the top of the solar heater :: 44.6 °C (112.28 °F), temperature outside - about 7 °C (44.6 °F)

I think it's quite good, my first solar heater is working great!!!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Beer Can Passive Solar Heater::Finished

My first Beer Can Passive Solar Heater is finished, up and working :-)

Friday, October 24, 2008

Second part of my solar heater

This is the second part of my solar heater

Thursday, October 23, 2008

First real tests of my solar heater


Now it's time to make some real tests, let's check what that crazy solar heater can do...

First test::partially cloudy weather


  • measured air temperature at the top of the solar heater is about 23 °C (73.4 °F)
Second test::some more sun, but not the "clear blue sky"


  • measured air temperature at the top of the solar heater is about 32 °C (89.6 °F)
Third test::almost clear blue sky :-)


  • measured air temperature at the top of the solar heater is about 41.5 °C (106.7 °F), temperature outside - about 10 °C (50 °F)

My solar heater::up and "running"

First part of my special beer can solar heater "is up and running" :-)

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

The stand for my solar heater

The stand for my beer can solar heater.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Beer Can Solar::Let's paint it

First part of my "professional" Beer Can Passive Solar Heater is almost ready!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Testing matt black lacquer

Testing matt black lacquer - which one is "more matt".

Solar Heater::Yet another day of glueing...


It's yet another day of glueing... but as you can see on the photos, the solar is almost ready...

Friday, October 17, 2008

Solar Heater::Another day of glueing...

It's another day of glueing, I can't drink beer, I only want to glue all cans, glue cans, glue cans...


Thursday, October 16, 2008

How it's made::let's glue it together

A few days later. I have first part of cans drilled, so it's high time, to glue it all ;-)


Monday, October 13, 2008

How it's made::Let's drill...

How it's made::Passive Solar Heater -> to make my solar passive, I'll drill all cans, so the air'll be allowed to pass freely, that's why my solar will be passive!


If you plan to drill empty cans - be very carefull, destroyed can can hurt you.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Another tests...


Another day of testing :-) the solar heater efficiency

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Beer Can Passive Solar Heater - the beginning

My first crazy eco friendly project::Beer Can Passive Solar Heater


Why solar heater?
- first, to see how efficient can be that "crazy solar"
- to do something with my collection of empty beer cans (so... this is when one drink beer and throw away empty cans to the garage, I had almost 500 empty beer cans, and to do this solar I needed exactly 286 cans)

Now, description, how to build such kind of Beer Can Solar Heater :-)

Very first step: Temperature measurement, hmm... not bad...