Cheap DIY Solar Collectors Made From Recycled Soda and Beer Cans

How would you like to have a lifetime supply of free heat? Imagine reducing your annual heating costs by using empty beer and pop cans!

Two resourceful people, Ward Miner and 10-year-old Rashel Cortez, have designed and built inexpensive solar collectors made out of recycled aluminum cans. Solar collectors absorb the sun’s radiation and generate heat. Solar panels, on the other hand, convert the suns energy into electricity.

Ward Miner, a 61-year-old man from East Peoria, Illinois has plenty of time on his hands these days. Currently on disability after several strokes and open heart surgery, Miner loves to tinker. So, Miner put his tinkering skills to use and designed and built two solar collectors for his home out of recycled materials.

The main component of each collector is comprised of 300 recycled aluminum soda and beer cans. Once the cans were cleaned and dried, Miner cut out the tops of the cans and punched several holes in the bottom. The cans were then spray painted with flat black grill paint able to withstand high temperatures.

The cans were then stacked end-to-end to form a continuous seven-foot tube that eventually builds solar heat as the air moves up the tube. The panels take in air from the basement which rises in the columns of cans as it is heated by the sun. When the air reaches 110 degrees, several vent fans blow the heated air into the dining room.

The cans are mounted on a sheet of particle board and the sides are covered in a white vinyl fascia. The system is covered with Plexiglas. The maintenance-free system is mounted on a south facing wall at the back of the home at a 57-degree angle.

And due to the pitch, snow or ice slides off or can be wiped off. According to the Peoria Journal Star, Miner’s inexpensive project cost about $400.

During the sunny months, Miner estimates the 4 x 8 foot collectors will cut his heating costs in half. From December through February, he’ll save about one-third to one-sixth of his heating bill costs. And with the hot and humid Illinois summer coming up, Miner is contemplating reversing the system to pull cool air from the basement and blow it into the home.

Even 10-year-old Rashel Cortez built her own solar heat collector, sometimes called a solar furnace, to warm the shed for her three kitties. She used 136 aluminum cans, stacked in 14 rows and covered in polycarbonate sheeting. Rashel’s project cost under $140 and took about 25 hours to complete, with a little help from her dad.

If this do-it-yourself project has sparked your creative side, check out these other DIY projects for making your own solar collectors. One word of warning – wear gloves when cutting aluminum.

• How to Build Cheap Solar Heater with Recycled Aluminum Cans – This project requires 240 aluminum cans, plywood sheets, 3 foot 2 x 4s, plastic tubing, high temperature silicon, heat-resistant flat black spray paint, drill press, screws and 4 x 8 sheet of Plexiglas. Three videos are also included.
   
• How to Build a Cheap Solar Heater with Recycled Aluminum Cans
   
• DIY Passive Solar Heat for Your Garage – Step-by-step instructions from the Discovery Channel

Image courtesy of Ben+Sam

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