How to Construct a Inexpensive Solar Oven
Numerous different solar oven designs have been developed and are cheap and easy to make in contrast to learning how to build homemade solar panels. Use MDF to make a box for your cooker. I discovered tiny veneer pins to be especially invaluable since they are easily hammered into the end grain of thin MDF while the wood stays intact.
For this application they’re completely strong enough.
Measure how big the cube inside the lined polystyrene box is. You need to cut the mirror plastic to this size, and further line the box with it. Duck Tape is more than perfect for making good all the joints and securing things into place. The next step is to cut out the mirrored reflective material. Use a bandsaw to cut a 2 foot wide strip of mirror plastic.
Mark from the long side of the mirror to the corner of the mirror, a line which makes an angle of 67 degrees, forming a right-angled triangle in the scrap piece of plastic. You now need to mark out a chain of trapeziums along the length of the mirror, where the shortest side equals the length of the interior of the cooker box. Use some duck tape to join together the mirrored reflectors to form the reflector that may sit on the top, be sure it is on the non-reflective side. Using Duck Tape permits you to make flexible hinges, which permit the reflector to be folded and stored out of the way. You should use the stove in a sunny area. Working together with another person greatly facilitates assembling the oven parts as you try to hold and attach the rods and reflecting portions in place correctly.
For more efficiency with your oven, and the ability to heat at greater temperatures, you need to trap the heat. If you don’t cover it up, all the hot air will escape. Oven heating bags are both cheap and simple to cook with. Using a glass pane, ideally the double-paned type, is another method. The glass should be barely wider and longer than the smaller box, but small enough so you can simply remove it from the inner box. An alternative way to make the stove better is to use specular film rather than tin foil for the outside reflectors. It won’t last in the heat, so you can’t use it in the stove. If you are pressed, you can heat up foods that have already been cooked (like canned goods) with the double zip lock bag trick. The food should be placed within a smaller zip-lock sack nestled inside of a bigger plastic zip-lock.
Whenever possible, place them on a reflective surface such as the reverse side of a bag of chips or a car sunshade. Of course solar ovens will not generate electricity, to do this you will need to learn how to build solar panel.
Wish to take a hot bath while on a camping trip or power outage? Fill two litre soda bottles with water and place them on your vehicle’s dash board in the sun. Keep the heat in by closing the doors to the car. The best time to take a bath is when the sun is at its highest. If you need the warmth for nighttime bathing, store the preheated containers in an insulated thermo box. Alternatively you can learn how to build solar panels to power your appliances
