Soda pop beer can Solar Powered heater furnace panel The Test -- Part 2

[KoalPilot]

Very nice job, I am glad you have my patience and determination, if you collect enough cans, you can do the whole house !

[Robots4Sale]

why have fins????

[thatstheone87]

would it not work better if you intake was from inside, so it was heating air it had warmed previously? sorry, just an observation, i have never made one before. Great job why the way.

[zsnowshredder]

@thatstheone87 See my Part 3 video.

[Nomad22280]

my cousin(electrical engineer) is making one of these, pretty impressive! gotta love engineers!

[mosbysmen]

where did you get the lexan ? how big is it ? how much did the lexan run you ?

thanks

[zsnowshredder]

@mosbysmen Got it at a glass shop. 4' x 7' 225 dollars

[denmarcbros]

Are you using a thermostate to control when the system (fan) turns on and off? Is it mounted in the pannel or is it by the house temperature? The fan is driven by the solar pannel? Cool stuff!

[zsnowshredder]

@denmarcbros When the sun hits the heater, it also hits the solar panel, so no thermostate is needed. Watch part 3 for more testing.

[specialks1953]

I stumbled across this because of the relatition to the topic of beer & watched your first video when you were making this. My comments there didn't reflect that I am glad you had fun making this device & are getting good resluts. I would like to add a possible helpful hint if you have not thought of it already. You need some means of closing the inlet & outlet when it's not producing heat to avoid heat loss from the conditioned area. Thermostatically controled would be best but manual would do.

[Ilovecatbinlady]

Hi,

How does your assembly preform in overcast days as we often get in the UK. I presume it would need direct sunlight even if it cold but it would not work if it is cloudy.

[zsnowshredder]

@Ilovecatbinlady It will create some heat on overcast days, but it works MUCH better in direct sunlight.

[Ilovecatbinlady]

@zsnowshredder

Thanks. So on an overcast day, you could redirect warmed up water into am immersion boilers and it will be cheaper to heat up than cold water from the mains.

[ariana29x]

any thoughts on tin can cans instead? soup, baked beans etc

[zsnowshredder]

@ariana29x Aluminum transferes heat WAY better than Tin!

[ariana29x]

@zsnowshredder yeh but the tin and aluminium would surely heat up at the same rate in direct sun. but wouldnt the thicker tin hold the heat longer (whilst clouds move over briefly) thus releasing heat during this time. acting kinda like a capacitor??

[zsnowshredder]

@ariana29x Aluminum heat up alot faster than tin, but you should build it and give all of us the test results! Watch the Cansolair Video, I'm sure that guys done a ton of testing.

[215alessio]

@ariana29x they are made of iron and get rusty? 

[HayenMill]

Hey, great work you had there! I was just wandering what sort of materials you used to cut the bottom of the pop cans. Did you use some sort of machine like the owner of Cansolair, or do you do it manually with pliers or something else? Thanks in advance for replying!

[zsnowshredder]

@HayenMill I cut each can with a drill & a wood hole drill bit. It was a major pain in the @ss. You can by a drill press at Home Depot for 125 dollars (like the cansolair owner shows in his video) If I had to do it again I would definately by drill press!

[artsychic2000]

Great Jpb!! I bet there's more beer cans than pop cans : P

You could probably use a couple of patio doors too. Or glass door inserts. Again, great job!

[qcages]

How thick, and how expensive was he piece of lexan you used for this panel? All of the suppliers i have found are really expensive :(, where did you get your piece?

Awesome panel btw.

[zsnowshredder]

@qcages It was pretty thick, I think 3/8 inch??? The lexan cost me 225 dollars, It was 50% of the total project cost. Smoe people are using recycled glass, but I have not tested that.

[BIGSKYHAL50]

Well, I like it. So on hot days you have a switch to keep it off? I am curious what kinda temps you can get out of it in clear cold winter days, I think you are onto something here. Besides inital cost, its cheap heating. Nice idea about the fan running on solar power. Pretty bright guy!

[JahrunChilamBalam]

Which end of the can is toward the intake? The bottom or the spin-fins? Really great project thank you for taking the time to document here!

[svr962]

Do you have any updates as to specific performance?

[zsnowshredder]

Everything is working great, no issues. CD tech solar fan is still running like a top. The unit heats my shop to about 50 degree's on a 30 degree day. Exhaust temps depend on what time of day it is.

[svr962]

How many sq ft is the shop and what would the inside temp be with out the panel?

Trying to get an idea what degree increase can be achieved per panel.for X sq ft.

[tdirtpor]

very nice What is the benefit of cutting the fins verses cutting it out completely? Your panel looks great ! Like a commercial product if I didn't know better

[zsnowshredder]

The outside of the cans are the hottest so you want the air to swirl through and collect all the heat from the cans. If the air blows right through it will not get as hot.

[souleeze]

@zsnowshredder I have a question and maybe its a dumb one but do you stop the heat coming into the shop in the summer. Even if you unplug the fan i would think residual heat would still come in and if you capped off the vent then wouldn't the heat build up in your box and possible warp, melt, damage your project somewhat? Thanks

[MSGDREWRY]

Where do you find such a large sheet of lexan?

[zsnowshredder]

I got mine at the local glass shop, check the phone book

[andrew0901280]

put your air intake on the inside of the building so your not recycling the outside air and its no wasting heat and the building will get alot warmer

[zsnowshredder]

Watch part 3

[misanthrosteph]

Did you put any sort of sealant around the Lexan?

[zsnowshredder]

I put a bead of high temp silicon around the boarder of the box and laid the Lexan on top. I also drilled little holes in the lexan and screwed it on as well.

[TravAss1983]

Hey. Do you have any video of you mounting the heater? My uncle and I and looking to make one of these heaters so we can just trying to get as much info as possible. Have found bits and pieces here and there.

[zsnowshredder]

I used heavy duty "L" brackets to hold it on the wall, measure your box & mount these 1st.. Then measure the intake & exhaust and make the holes in your wall the same distance. See my othe video part 3 for more info.

[iamkaven]

are you located neer the rockies cause in the reflection of the solar panel you can see mountains with snow

[zsnowshredder]

Near Durango, Colorado

[dougdog82]

This is a very nice design.I am currently building some thing very similiar. Thanks for posting this vid and please give updates on your trials and tribs. Thanks to everyone who does not feed the machine. LIVE GREEN!!!!!

[the1969info]

hi there, this is a really good video, well done. I was wondering do you know what time of day, on a full sunny day, your fan kicks on and when it will usually shut off. I am curious how many hours of heat you get?

[zsnowshredder]

As soon as the sun shines on it, (about 8 am) the unit starts running. It starts out about 85 degrees and should hit about 150 degrees by noon. I guess it shuts down around 4 pm in the winter. Last winter I noticed the shop was about 40-45 degrees in the morning before the sun came up (when it was 20-25 degrees out side) By heating the shop all day, you are heating everything in it and that must radiate during the night to keep the inside temperature warm. There are benifits after the sun gone

[fergawdsache]

Do you need the fan, doesnt the warmed air rise and suck colder air in ?.

[zsnowshredder]

Yes you need a fan. See part 3

[jetztisfeierabend]

good job how many off these can did u use?

[zsnowshredder]

204 cans, see my other videos for answers

[jeevespreston]

Nice project, well documented, thanks for the info!! Can you provide any commentary on the amount of in-the-home space you are heating with this unit? I am curious as to how much area it will heat and what heating costs you have avoided by installing this. Thanks!!

[Kntryhart]

Very nice job!

Do you get any reverse airflow at night or do you have something that prevents that?

[zsnowshredder]

The unit is sealed and insulated, so there is no place for cold air to come in. It draws air from inside the building (not the outside) and blows it back in. I guess you would have about the same amount of heat loss as a regular window.

[321ozzy]

digiman97, Great idea.

I first will go for a similar unit as the example here, with the difference that the inlet air will be taken from the inside of house, instead of using outside air that in winter is more humid.

Like this the condensation problem will be less.

I would like to thank the placer of the video and the people who think about improvements for future models.

[richallenmusic]

hi do you have condensation build up ?

[zsnowshredder]

A very small amount on the lower header cover (about 1 square inch), but none in the can area. It does not seem to affect anything.

[zsnowshredder]

You should build it and let us know how it works. One of the main reasons I built mine was I very skeptical of some of the videos on here, and now I know it works.

Please share your video with all of us once you have finished your project.

[zsnowshredder]

The clear plastic is Lexan, you can find it at most glass shops

[bobtracey]

White-Rodgers makes small fan control thermostats. Do a Google search for 3F01-110. That one will turn a fan on at 110 degrees Fahrenheit, off at 90 degrees. They run around 8-12 dollars each.

[zsnowshredder]

Not enough CFM

[39knights]

Great looking system. Building a similar system myself. Anyone have ideas for a cut-in cut-out thermostat? I would like the system to automatically operate when there is a call for heat. I was thinking a regular indoor thermostat coupled to a solar powered fan might work, but perhaps there are better ideas out there. Thanks.

[zsnowshredder]

All you need is a solar attic fan. It will speed up and slow down with the amount of sunlight (and heat) it gets. I am testing a new 200CFM solar attic fan from CD Technology. Will post results soon.

[wobmed]

Thanks a lot. I am going to research that. I used silicone on my unit and just notice that a couple of cans have pulled apart after about a month. I don't know if it was expansion and contraction of the unit or the cans or just a couple of bad seal job on a few cans.

[wobmed]

Nice job. What did you use to glue the cans together? Look forward to your future videos to see how it is working.

[zsnowshredder]

I used Surebond SB-1800 everflex Bondaprene. Can be applied down to -20 degrees. Once cured its good for -80 to +480 degrees.Takes 24 hrs to cure. I got it from Mor heating assoc in MICH 616-784-1121 ($6.54 a tube) you'll need 4 tubes. Good Luck

[my2cents0]

I sent you a link,in a private msg.there are a bunch of dif fans there.

[bestchess]

hows it working

[zsnowshredder]

So far so good, I am going to take my2cents advise and get a 120cfm fan (or mabey a little more) before I do the install. I am looking around for a solar powered fan with a little more cfm than what I have now. Some solar poweredcattic fans are 1600 cfm, which is over kill, so I'm just trying to find the right one.

[my2cents0]

be sure and let us know what you end up using and how its working, thanks:)

[acarcim]

nice Job. Bravo!!

[my2cents0]

Looks good,I like your going solar w/fan but,i had to up my fan to a 120 cfm,to get temp down when operating,you want it to run appx 100 deg-f.lots of 100 deg air is way better than a little 200 deg air.trust me.but it looks first class!

[zsnowshredder]

Do you know where I can get a 120 cfm solar powered fan??