{"id":14870,"date":"2012-09-13T07:57:54","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T13:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=14870"},"modified":"2012-09-13T07:57:54","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T13:57:54","slug":"how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make a Soda Can Solar Heater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/soda-can-solar-heater.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14871\" title=\"soda can solar heater\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/soda-can-solar-heater.jpg\" alt=\"soda can solar heater\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/soda-can-solar-heater.jpg 500w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/soda-can-solar-heater-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re finally cooling off after a brutal Summer here in St. Louis. While I&#8217;m thoroughly enjoying the temperatures in the 60s and 70s, they&#8217;re a good reminder that Winter will be here soon, and that we&#8217;ll be paying to <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2012\/06\/what-is-a-heat-pump\/\">heat the home<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That got me thinking about a concept I first encountered a couple of years ago: the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.permies.com\/t\/6580\/energy\/Aluminum-pop-beer-solar-heater\">soda can solar heater<\/a>. Very similar in design to Gary Reysa&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.motherearthnews.com\/Renewable-Energy\/2006-12-01\/Build-a-Simple-Solar-Heater.aspx\">thermosiphon air collector<\/a>, this concept uses aluminum cans to build columns that collect and transfer heat from the sun. While I&#8217;ve come across a number of variations on the concept, most tinkerers who&#8217;ve tried this project point to Rich Allen&#8217;s video walk-through of building one of these heaters as their starting point.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"HOW I MADE A SOLAR POP CAN FURNACE \/ HEATER\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QLNViUsRCVU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Rich has played with his own approach; a later video shares his &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-l21RYRK6oI\">final thoughts<\/a>&#8221; on building one of these solar air heaters after making a number of them. Some other directions (or partial directions) I&#8217;ve found:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.hemmings.com\/index.php\/2007\/04\/26\/almost-free-garage-heat-just-drink-a-lot-of-soda\/\">Dan Strohl&#8217;s plans<\/a>; his <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.hemmings.com\/index.php\/2010\/06\/22\/soda-can-solar-heater-v2-completed\/\">updates of his approach<\/a> were\u00a0featured on <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.makezine.com\/2010\/06\/27\/soda-can-solar-heater\/\">MAKE<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/lifehacker.com\/5574597\/build-your-own-soda-can-solar-heater\">lifehacker<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Instructable&#8217;s member falling_stone shared <a href=\"http:\/\/www.instructables.com\/id\/How-to-Build-a-Soda-Can-Heater\/\">his plans on the DIY site<\/a> &#8211; this is the best step-by-step instructions I&#8217;ve seen.<\/li>\n<li>Blogging buddy David Quilty <a href=\"http:\/\/thegoodhuman.com\/2009\/06\/09\/solar-space-heater-made-from-soda-cans-an-old-window\/\">made one of these a few years ago<\/a>, and took lots of pictures.<\/li>\n<li>Permies member Jocelyn Campbell <a href=\"http:\/\/www.permies.com\/t\/6580\/energy\/Aluminum-pop-beer-solar-heater\">points to this video<\/a> of a Canandian man who may have first invented this concept:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Brilliant Newfoundlander Invents the Solution!\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bRZvAAqzXIw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I probably won&#8217;t try this myself; I can&#8217;t imagine trying to install this on my brick home. But I&#8217;d love to hear from those of you who have tried projects like these. I&#8217;m guessing it would function much like a <a href=\"http:\/\/ecolocalizer.com\/2011\/03\/15\/solar-thermal-water-heating-israel-and-the-future\/\">solar water heater<\/a> in the sense that it doesn&#8217;t necessarily provide all the hot air you need\/want, but keeps the main furnace system from working nearly as hard as normal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credit:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/westbywest\/1468790955\/\">westbywest<\/a> via <a href=\"http:\/\/photopin.com\">photo pin<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/\">cc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The soda can solar heater is a DIY project that uses aluminum cans to build columns that collect and transfer heat from the sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":16879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,7],"tags":[6021,4,218,6022],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DIY Soda Can Solar Heater<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to cut your heating bills the Winter? The soda can solar heater is simple to make, and uses solar heat to keep your house warm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DIY Soda Can Solar Heater\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Want to cut your heating bills the Winter? The soda can solar heater is simple to make, and uses solar heat to keep your house warm.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-13T13:57:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-hea.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\"},\"headline\":\"How to Make a Soda Can Solar Heater\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-13T13:57:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-13T13:57:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/\"},\"wordCount\":327,\"commentCount\":17,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"aluminum cans\",\"diy\",\"heat\",\"solar heater\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Living\",\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-make-a-soda-can-solar-heater\/\",\"name\":\"DIY Soda Can Solar Heater\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-13T13:57:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-09-13T13:57:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Want to cut your heating bills the Winter? 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