Free Heat using Pop Cans and Plexiglass
Using empty soda pop cans, a wooden frame, vacuum hose, and plexiglass you can build your own solar heater that boosts temperatures by 15 degrees!
I decided instead to take advantage of the south-facing side of the garage and build a solar furnace to collect some of that sunshine just bouncing straight off my garage. My dad built one years ago and said he recorded a 110-degree temperature differential between inlet and outlet. And I had enough scrap materials around the basement to do something similar.
February 2nd, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lysBkzlspp4
a home made solar furnace project in Canada
This solar energy project received second place in the 2007 Bordeaux Energy Colloquium’s Annual Sustainable Energy Futures Casestudy Competition, an international competition for the most innovative renewable energy initiative.
The project exceeded proof of concept.
The furnace helped heat a 250sq ft room and did so quite well even in intermittent sunlight. It does not replace conventional home heating. While the results were impressive, I have chosen to wait another year before rebuilding it.