Here is a little bit of what I did.
All the cans had to be drilled, cleaned and glues together. I had to make 10 rows of 10 and then painted. At each end of the row of cans there is a board with holes in it to hold the cans in place and to let the air enter through the bottom and swirl it's way up through and out the top. Just a note, you want to make sure to clean the cans because of the hot, sour beer smell.
I could have left it at that and just leaned the heater up against the outside wall but you know that is not how I roll. I have to go above and beyond.
I decided I did not want to man handle this heater all day to maximize it's potential by keeping it faced to the sun so I decided to build a swivel frame. With one finger I can turn the heater to face the sun all day long.
One reason for this is because this heater is independent from any electric. I have seen some built where they use a powered fan to push the air. If I am building a solar heater then it needs to be powered by solar. The solar panel I have on this needs to face the sun to turn the fan on. You can see the cords running down the side of the frame in this picture.
And here you go. A 100% Solar Beer Can Heater. In this picture you can now see the two air collector chambers at the top and bottom and where the solar panel is mounted.
To finish this project I need to run a flex tube from the top of the heater frame to the shop window and that will be that.
If you look close you can see I installed a thermometer just below the air outlet to see how hot this get the air. Once this is in use I will give feedback on how it works.
All I need now is some sun.
