Solar air heater. Phase 2. Heat exchanger construction.

The build commences...

After collecting the required amount of cans, 72 in my case, I made a start by cutting the bottoms out of the cans with a holesaw.

Cans with the bottoms cut out.

Once all the cans have had the bottoms cut out a decent bead of adhesive was run round the tops,

All glued up.


The cans are then stuck top to bottom to form tubes to the required length.

All 72 cans stuck together into tubes. 

The view inside a tube.

Next I cut out a couple of bits of plywood and cut equally spaced holes to hold the cans these will act as headers to join all the tubes into one unit.

Top and bottom headers.

It was then all dry fitted together to check the fit and alignment.

Top header dry fitted

The headers have not been sealed to the tubes yet as the tubes will need a light sanding to provide a good key for the paint to stick to later, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow for the adhesive to properly cure before sanding.

Next time,  Insulation and case building.

Poundland solar light scavenge.

At the moment Poundland have a range of solar powered garden lights in stock. These lights come in a range of colours and sizes all have more or less the same components inside. The lights I am scavenging parts from are the colour changing solar light.

A £1 source of parts.

Solar air heater. Phase 1, Introduction, prototype design and required materials.

After seeing several websites giving instructions on home built solar energy collectors I decided to have a go and build one for myself out of recycled or scavenged materials for as little cost as possible.
I don't know who to credit for the original design as there are so many variations on different sites, but if anyone knows I'll be happy to credit the original designer.