man builds $300 solar furnace from pop cans and old window

[jeffrey]

A Fredericton-area man says his heating bills are decreasing thanks to a solar furnace that cost him $300 to build.

Randy Buchanan, of Lower St. Mary's, modified plans he found online to build the heating unit from soda cans, aluminum eavestrough downspouts and an old double-pane window.

Buchanan is an environmental consultant and depends on heat and clean air to raise rainbow trout for his aquatic toxicology studies.

He began looking for heating alternatives after his bills for heat and an air exchanger soared this winter...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fredericton-man-builds-300-solar-furnace-decreases-heating-bill-1.2527065

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Cool! At one time my spouse was saving cans from evaporated milk to set up something similar. We used the milk in coffee every day. He never got around to it. Maybe I can nudge him to give it a try, though we recycled the cans we'd initially saved for months and months.

An acquaintance in Wisconsin has also made a similar system but it passively dumps heat into the house, rather than using an electric blower. He also has an outdoor wood furnace in an insulated hut, and a propane furnace in the house, so his heat sources are duplicated.

I wish I were smarter and more confident about these things.

[FrugalTexan75]

Our middle school students have been doing something similar. They have built a number of solar heaters using soda cans which are being placed in homes around the reservation.