How to Make Homemade Solar Water Heaters out of Junk
Solar energy is not only eco-friendly, it's free -- especially if you harness it correctly. Whether you need hot water while camping or want to lower your fuel bills, heating water with solar energy costs almost nothing if you make your heater from found parts. Junkyards often sell off pieces of different appliances for very little. When you assemble them correctly, you get a water heater that can heat water several gallons at a time. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Shallow rectangular cardboard box
- Black plastic garbage bags
- Scissors
- Aluminum foil
- White school glue
- Refrigerator radiator
- Silicone caulk
- Old cinder blocks
- ¼-inch-thick surplus rubber tubing
- Old bucket
- Garden hose
Instructions
-
-
1
Paint the inside of your cardboard box with white school glue. Press a black plastic garbage bag into the glue, pushing it into the corners and creases of the box with your fingers. Cut away excess plastic with scissors. The double layer of the bag acts as insulation.
-
2
Paint the plastic bag with glue. Press aluminum foil into the glue, smoothing it as a reflective layer over the plastic. Make sure the shiny side, not the brushed side, faces out. Let the entire box cure overnight.
-
-
3
Set the refrigerator radiator into the box. It should fit snugly with the open ends of the radiator pressed up against the inside edges of the box. If not, glue the radiator down with silicone caulk. Let the caulk dry overnight.
-
4
Punch holes in the sides of the box with your scissors where the radiator's open ends touch. Slip one end of a 4-foot piece of surplus rubber tubing through each hole and over the ends of the radiator. Seal the tubing with more silicone caulk. Let it dry overnight.
-
5
Stack two cinderblocks on top of each other. Lean the top of your box against the blocks so it sits at a 45-degree angle. The radiator should be facing out.
-
6
Fill an old bucket with water. Place the open end of your lower tube into the bucket. Force water through the upper tube with a garden hose. When bubbles come up through the water in the bucket, place the upper tube into the water very quickly. The water should siphon through the radiator as the sun warms the box.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
You may bend any kind of metal or plastic tubing into a curving zig-zag shape and place it in a reflective or dark-colored box for this kind of water heater. Use a pipe bending tool for copper pipe.
References
- Photo Credit Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images
