Warm Up with Beer Can Solar Collectors

http://www.greenjoyment.com/warm-up-with-beer-can-solar-collectors
Posted by lindseyshoe

So you sometimes collect, um, beer cans? No doubt you usually recycle all your aluminum cans, but you may want to check out this unique way to reuse beer cans.
You’ve probably heard the ditty “Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall,” but how about 126 beer cans on the window? Or put to good use that beer can pyramid you designed in your college dorm.


A beer can solar collector fits in the category of a solar heater. A solar heater is simply a device that utilizes heat from the sun. Solar heaters may be passive or there are also active solar heaters, which use a motor or a fan to force the warm air to move to the desired place.
To build a beer can solar heater, you’ll need to collect, wash, rinse and dry out aluminum cans. No, they don’t actually have to be beer cans (no matter what your boyfriend says). Coke, Pepsi or other drink product aluminum cans will do as well. Some drink cans are actually made of iron but a simple magnet test (does it attract the magnet?) will let you know if the can is in fact aluminum.
The Green Advantages of a Beer Can Solar Collector:
-raise the temperature of a room without using your furnace, which saves money and natural resources
-reusing, rather than recycling materials from cardboard to soda or beer cans eliminates the addition to the landfill or the energy used to recycle them
Can you really build a DIY Beer Can Solar Collector?
Individuals, families and even a ten-year-old homeschool student have done it.
Rashel Cortez, a ten-year-old girl of Aztec heritage from San Juan County created a solar heat collector to warm a room where her three cats like to hang out.
Solar Heat CollectorDetails of Rashel’s Solar Heat Collector:
The box frame is 57 inches long, 40 inches wide and 3 ½ inches thick.
It holds 136 soda and beer cans stacked end to end in 14 rows.
She sprayed the cans and the interior of the box black for better heat absorbtion.
She covered her solar heat collector with overlapping clean polycarbonate sheeting.
It took her around 25 hours over two months to construct with help from her father.
The total cost of her solar heat collector was $133.75.
The Beer/Soda Can Collector was placed on the south side of the shed for maximum heat.
Did it work? Yes. On a cloudy, rainy day the inside temperature of the box rose to 98 degrees and raised the ambient temperature in the annulated shed to 47 degrees in general, and warmer near the vent where the cats quickly learn to hang out. Rashel has reported the highest temperature in the collector to be 172 degrees.
There are several versions of a DIY Beer Can Solar Collector. Another family created a DIY Solar Collector that hung in front of a window. This family DIY beer can solar collector was created with:
-56 aluminum cans
-aluminum adhesive to stack the cans
-a cardboard frame
-styrofoam sheets to keep the cans from shifting in the frame
-cellophane wrap
This DIY Beer Can Solar Collector was hung from a heavy duty curtain rod in front on a window. The final product weighed just over 4 lbs.
Did it work? You betcha. Results varied depending on cloud cover and whether windows were facing southeast or Southwest but when input temperatures were 79 degrees, solar collector temperatures rose to up to 110 degrees.
The size of the beer can solar collector and the amount of cans involved are up to the imagination of the builder but there are some important consideration for the glazing, or opaque material covering the beer can solar collector.
Choosing Glazing Materials for Beer Can Solar Collectors:
Cellophane is of course a cheap, easy to use glazing (cover) material for a beer can solar collector that is being placed in front of a window. For stand-alone beer can solar collector, there are several glazing material options and each has advantages and disadvantages.
Glass:
Glass is the most commonly used material in beer can solar collectors. Glass has high temperature capabilities, reduces heat loss, transmits light well and is somewhat impact resistant. On the other hand glass is breakable, heavy and expensive.
Corrugated Polycarbonate:
Polycarbonate sheets shaped in a corrugated pattern are often used for greenhouse and are another option for bear can solar collectors. It offers high impact resistance and good temperature capabilities and is easy to use, lightweight, widely available and inexpensive. The disadvantages of using corrugated polycarbonate are that the corrugated ends must be sealed and is usually only found in 2 ft. wide sheets.
Polycarbonate is sold under the GE trade name LEXAN and wiggle strips are available for sealing the corrugated ends.
Corrugated Plastic:
Corrugated plastic is the material commonly used for sign boards. In a horticultural grade the corrugated plastic has some UV inhibitor. It also comes in a greenhouse grade that is translucent. The advantages are that corrugated plastic offers good transmittance and temperature capacity up to 180 degrees and is easy to work with and inexpensive. The cons with corrugated plastic are that it may not last more than three years.
Others have tried using common fiberglass materials for greenhouses and found that they cannot stand up to the high temperatures produced by a collector. One experimenter warned, “Trust me on this, they melt.”
DIY Beer Can Solar Collectors warn that there are some safety issues involved. They encourage those puncturing aluminum to wear gloves and be careful of shards and also to follow directions carefully when using aluminum adhesives and make sure you have plenty of ventilation and avoid smoking or any open flames.
Beer Can Solar Collectors take some time and effort but they can be a fun and educational green project that can make any family feel all warm inside and outside too.

Jim Meaney, owner of Cansolair Inc. displays how he converts pop cans into a powerful solar heating panel.


Dr. Obichio’s solar can collector (If you click that link, be aware that it’s a bit difficult to muddle through all the information available there.)


The BreezeDynamics Beer Can Solar Collector
This is my version of a solar hot air heater made with beer cans.on the first test outside ,with full sun and an outside temp of 35 degrees F. with both inlet and exhaust vents open, the temp inside panel went to 120 F in 8 min. to 158 + F. in 11 min. I then hooked up a small fan to the cold air bottom vent and the temp in the top vent hovered around 114 F. with the fan on.
Other helpful links:

* Hemming’s Auto Blogs Beer Can Solar Collector
* Planet Green’s Beer Can Solar Collector (Discovery Channel runs Planet Green)
* http://www.sorkollektor.hu/eng/ Great stuff on beer can solar collectors here… in Hungarian and broken English
* Mother Earth News’ article “Build a Simple Solar Heater“
* The Instructables Solar Heater (not from beer cans, but similar concepts