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soda can passive hot air panel, worth the hassle?

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  • green
    replied
    Originally posted by a10fjet View Post
    I saw a few people saying they were using drills or knives and a grinder to open the cans.
    All you need is a can opener for the top and a drill for the bottom. The can opener cuts the top off perfectly, no sharp edge at all. They stack super easy and you save loads of time
    Yes but you want some turbulence of the air and removeing the bottom cuts down on turbulence. I'm currently experimenting with different techniques and will report my findings when I've tried a few. A sharp punch and a hammer is my fave so far.

    Green

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  • a10fjet
    replied
    just use a can opener

    I saw a few people saying they were using drills or knives and a grinder to open the cans.
    All you need is a can opener for the top and a drill for the bottom. The can opener cuts the top off perfectly, no sharp edge at all. They stack super easy and you save loads of time

    Leave a comment:


  • martinmarion999
    replied
    Originally posted by russ View Post
    Don't get suckered in to paying for a design - they are available for free on the net.

    Polycarbonate has reasonably good light transmission characteristics and some formulations are UV resistant - the mfg tells you this.
    Thanks

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  • SolarHeater
    replied
    Sounds very interesting. Yes, get a patent. I have a product patent pending and it's surely not an easy or cheap process. Do your homework on affordable and reputable attorneys. And then it comes time to market to a manufacturer. Keep us posted. I'd be very interested in seeing it someday. I would be happy to sign a non disclosure if you should ever need assistance.

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  • green
    replied
    Originally posted by SolarHeater View Post
    Hi Green, Yes there's Solar Air Systems, if that's who you refer to. They have a patent on the "Stepwise" technology as well as their heat plenum tubes. Theirs is the fan controller I have referred to.
    That's not who I'm refering to. I do like their stuff though. I'm actually repurposing an engineer's idea I saw. I can't say how because that is the major patentable difference here. I really can't believe noone thought of this before. I don't have a large scale facilty in which I can test this under winter like conditions. It's been 90F outside here every day since I got this idea and made a prototype.lol. If my theory is correct, it could mean huge energy savings for a small unit and small $$$.

    I can't wait to share it. But first I must test, document everything, and talk to a patent lawyer. This time I need to do it right. I had an idea 15 years ago called the solar powered attic vent. I talked to Broan before I had a patent. Not one of my smarter moves.

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  • SolarHeater
    replied
    Patented Solar Heater

    Hi Green, Yes there's Solar Air Systems, if that's who you refer to. They have a patent on the "Stepwise" technology as well as their heat plenum tubes. Theirs is the fan controller I have referred to.


    Originally posted by green View Post
    I design my own stuff. It's just how I am. I borrow the best I can find and make it my own. I actually have a design for a solar heater(not one of these big ones) I might want to patent. I need to see how it preforms this winter. I can't say to much about it because I haven't seen anything like it but there is one guy that is getting close.

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  • SolarHeater
    replied
    That is not a problem, Russ.


    Originally posted by russ View Post
    If you wish to advertise your ''commercial venture'' contact the site sponsor.

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  • russ
    replied
    Originally posted by SolarHeater View Post
    I of course love to get things for free and borrow ideas.
    If you wish to advertise your ''commercial venture'' contact the site sponsor.

    Leave a comment:


  • SolarHeater
    replied
    Time and materials cost

    I of course love to get things for free and borrow ideas. When one spends money and time in designing something of value to others such as I have, I don't think "suckering" anyone into buying my manual is a fair assumption. In fact, the odds of me recouping the costs for building several test units on top of the cost I paid for editing is very likely. Asking $4.95 for a book I've written is certainly acceptable and the Million books now on Amazon can support this fact that authors are deserving of payment for their work. I paid $30 for a manual showing me how to assemble solar panels for example. I'm glad to have paid the author for his time and expertise.

    A manual such as mine goes farther than a video in that it lists all the parts needed and gives a step by step process for assembly, both of which save time. And time is money for most people. I'm happy to hear your opinion, and this is mine. Have a happy day guys.

    Leave a comment:


  • green
    replied
    I design my own stuff. It's just how I am. I borrow the best I can find and make it my own. I actually have a design for a solar heater(not one of these big ones) I might want to patent. I need to see how it preforms this winter. I can't say to much about it because I haven't seen anything like it but there is one guy that is getting close.

    Leave a comment:


  • russ
    replied
    Don't get suckered in to paying for a design - they are available for free on the net.

    Polycarbonate has reasonably good light transmission characteristics and some formulations are UV resistant - the mfg tells you this.

    Leave a comment:


  • SolarHeater
    replied
    Build a Can-free, Wood-Free and Glass-Free Solar Air Heater.

    Hi guys, it's Eric and I also built a soda can and a downspout style heater. I should say, I started the soda can one. But I gave up after immediately insisting there had to be a better way. I wasn't yet sure how, but I knew there was a better design to be made. The second time around, I skipped the soda cans altogether and built a downspout style plenum. I still have this heater and it works great. However, I'd have a hard time believing anyone else would like to go through that process again or be able to follow it easily. I certainly wouldn't want to again. So again, I went back to the drawing board.

    I used to be a metal fabricator for an industrial oven company as well as another large machine manufacturer so it was not a real problem for me to build any style heater, but, after building one and a quarter solar heaters similar to what I found on Youtube, I decided that the easiest and SAFEST way to build an efficient heat-capturing plenum was to build it like we did at the oven company. My problem was, I no longer had access to a sheet metal sheer (cutter), a sheet metal break (bender), welders, and etc. and neither do most homeowners. So I set out to design a homeowner-friendly solar heater that could be reproduced easily with easy to follow instructions and without all the expensive, dangerous tools and without the time consuming hunt all over town for materials.

    Then the ideas came to me for the perfect choice of materials that were readily available at the local building centers. All the materials should be able to be picked up in one stop. Because stock of certain materials may differ from store to store, you can ask your local store to order an item if not in stock.

    Safety was a major concern. I cringed when I watched folks on Youtube drilling cans with hole saws and drill presses while wearing gloves (a big no-no), loose-fitting gloves no less! This is very dangerous and great way break one's wrist or fingers or worse. The factory I spoke of had an accident where a female worker got her glove caught in a drill press and it nearly killed her. So skip the gloves when using power drills. Ok, and the average homeowner isn't going to be too keen on cutting a zillion cans (or 101) as in the video in this thread. Although I love his ingenuity and his heater sure heats well, I'd not want to build it that way for sake of speed, safety, and other factors.

    My manual teaches my design that is wood-free, can-free and glass-free. Wood is heavy, expensive, isn't weather resistant, and for many, dangerous to saw. So I decided right away that there would be no wood in my solar heater design.

    Although beer and soda cans might become the only materials left to scavenge from the rubble in coming years (I hope not), today the average homeowner's neighbors really aren't going to be very excited to stare at that "beer can sculpture" you built across the street for the next 30 years. If you're up in the north woods, you might be fine. But in the city, no way. So I wanted the design to look professional "factory" as my former boss liked to call it. So cans and wood boxes are out, for now.

    Okay, glass was the next obstacle. For the first two heaters I made, I scavenged for glass, I searched on Craigslist for it, and ended up paying $50 for a dual pane patio slider door (super duper heavy!), and had to dig the second out of a 40 yard dumpster I happened to see near my home. Both had to be taken apart and carefully moved around. A huge pain. Again, the average homeowner isn't going to want to hunt for glass like this and then have to "build to" the size of the glass they end up with. And how easy is it to hang a 200 plus lb. box on one's home or move to a new home someday?

    My solution to glass was a super light weight dual-walled 4'x8' polycarbonate panel readily available for just $39. It's surprisingly inexpensive at less than half the price of a 3'x7' piece of plexiglass that's $99 at the same store. The polycarbonate panel is 'bomber' and I think it says something like 100 times stronger than glass on the package. You can throw a baseball at it with all your might and it just bounces off. Plus, it's two layers and offers an insulating value and super rigidity to the heater itself. And it looks great from across the street!

    Because my design is built in the same manner as a typical oven plenum, there aren't a whole lot of parts to it and therefore the heater can be built much faster, safer and much much easier. Plus, there's very little mess afterward. No sawdust or foam particles all over the place. My first two heaters destroyed the entire garage!

    My heater is made from only light weight parts you pick up at the store. Everything you need fits right on those lumber carts you are certainly familiar with. My manual lists on one page everything you need to pick up from one store (depending on their stock of course), remember you can order all of the parts to your one location. I also show you where to order a computer-controlled fan controller that is specifically designed for solar heaters. The controller reads the internal temperature of the solar heater and slows the fan down if a cloud passes in front of the heater, speeds it up when the sun is strong, and shuts off the fan when the sun is not shining. The fan comes with a sleek inlet and outlet grate with a filter so it looks like any other air vent in your home, and keeps the interior of your heater and your home filtered. The other fan I show you is about $18 and is available at the same building store and it certainly does the job. Both can be run with a solar panel if you want to or need to be off-grid. I show you my simple set up and everything is available at the one store.

    The end result is a heater you can pick up and carry by yourself, bring along on your next RV trip or connect to the ice fishing shack. It's rock, baseball and hail-resistant, and it looks like a standard skylight or window when completed because the flashing you'll use is powder-coated and looks fantastic. . It will be easier to build than the soda can and/or downspout styles. And when it hails, you won't be biting your fingernails praying all your hard work won't be in a million pieces.

    How hot does it get? Last winter during my testing in Minnesota, I had 22.5 degree F outside air pumping directly into the bottom of the heater (normally, you'll pump floor level air from inside your home outside and into the heater), the air coming out of the heater during the test held at 155 degrees F. That's 15 degrees hotter than your standard furnace.

    During the fall, I tested it with 55 degree air pumping directly into it and the output was over 220 degrees F as it buried the needle on the meat thermometer. Too hot to even touch. Amazing.

    Don't forget, you can easily connect yours to the inlet on the back of your clothes dryer all year long, so build one for your dryer as well. (Although you do not have to alter your dryer at all, do ensure that your warranty will not be adversely affected before taking this step). We're installing one to the clothes dryer in Phoenix at the moment. I'm simply taping a turkey basting tray over the inlet on the back of the dryer and running the tube into it. So no permanent alteration. No more sending air conditioned air into the back of the dryer to be reheated and sent outside! How ridiculous is that when you think about it? Also, this heater has been sitting in the Phoenix sun for 4 months now and the polycarbonate panel still looks great and has not yellowed or cracked whatsoever. So I am confident that this design will last for many years. I hope you will want to build it for your home.



    Originally posted by green View Post
    I just found two big sheets of tempered glass for free, and I was already considering building one of these. I'm going to go with the soda cans slid inside of the downspouts idea I saw Rich Allen use on YouTube. You get the good heat transfer from turbulence of the cans and the ease of building with downspouts. Looks like the way to go, no gluing the cans together. Check it out.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm-cbOWvSs
    Last edited by inetdog; 11-05-2014, 09:34 PM. Reason: removed links and advertising If you wish to advertise contact Jason. Also removed dead attachment link.

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  • green
    replied
    Easier way to use cans for heater

    I just found two big sheets of tempered glass for free, and I was already considering building one of these. I'm going to go with the soda cans slid inside of the downspouts idea I saw Rich Allen use on YouTube. You get the good heat transfer from turbulence of the cans and the ease of building with downspouts. Looks like the way to go, no gluing the cans together. Check it out.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cm-cbOWvSs

    Leave a comment:


  • confused
    replied
    Originally posted by russ View Post
    Solar air heaters work well - the soda pop can version is just the cheapest version around.

    The fan is to get flow through the unit - nothing to do with turbulence.
    Thank you for taking the time to the reply but I will have to convince the Mrs ( 'er in doors ) that me bashing yet another hole through the wall of the house is
    a) a good idea
    and
    b) that it will work this time

    In the interests of machismo I should point out that I had to drink large quantities of strong hearty ale, not soda pop, to manufacture the beast.

    Regards
    Confused (or is that hungover?)

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  • russ
    replied
    Solar air heaters work well - the soda pop can version is just the cheapest version around.

    The fan is to get flow through the unit - nothing to do with turbulence.

    Leave a comment:

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