Home made design in out of scrap materials form a motel we are turning into a hostel in south lake tahoe. i am an environmental science/Outdoor adventure leadership major at sierra nevada college in incline village nevada.

Design/materials/tools[edit | edit source]

  • 4X3 plywood
  • 3 foot pallet wood frame piece(4) cut to fit the inside edge of 4x3) box 4x3, 4x3 glass window single pane (1)
  • 2 screw (12)
  • 25ft 1/4in copper tube
  • 12sqft insulation material or black paint to absorb heat
  • screw gun
  • insulation 12 sqft
  • 1 or 2 tubes of caulking

Total of 2 hours build time with basic skills. The box is simply constructed using a hammer, plywood, pallet frame wood, 2screws to hold the frame together, a piece of glass, 1 or 2 tubes of caulking to seal the entire box with glass, insulation/ black paint, and copper tube, or easier to get black garden hose( more chemicals in material that handle your fresh water. The total product weighs 25lbs (estimate)

Description[edit | edit source]

This system is A designed but untested solar hot water heater. The 1/4in copper tube is snaked evenly through the inside of the 3x4 box. The box should be placed in maximum sunlight, and let sit for an hour or so to heat up the inside. The flow of water should be controlled by a 5-gallon bucket gravity feeding the system a large diameter copper tube. The showerhead can be any of choice that fit on the outgoing hot water 1/4in tube, the insulation material in my box acted as the heat absorber/reflector to heat the box. It also insulates the box from the ground up like a backpacking sleeping pad.

This system can theoretically produce enough hot water for quick hot shower on the road. The box can be placed on the roof of the car to heat up, after 1 hour fill the 5 gallon bucket, turn on the shower head, and it may be slow, but hot water will flow!

any questions/comments you are welcome to email wolfman91423@hotmail.com

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Authors wolfie shapiro
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 0 pages link here
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Created December 14, 2013 by wolfie shapiro
Modified March 2, 2022 by Page script
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