The warm summer months never last forever. Soon it’s time to look for a way to bring a little extra warmth into the home and this simple solar heater is a great project to do just that. It’s made of metal cans, steel or aluminum, and can produce a surprisingly strong and consistent airflow upwards of 140F.
Even on a heavy snow day you’re looking at somewhere around 75-85F.
Best of all, this simple project requires just a few common parts and many of them can simply be re-purposed from your regular recycling. Watch the project come together in the fully-detailed video on the NEXT PAGE:
Tom Hedgepeth can you share eith kate?
James Gano Nick Savoie
, snoozville
I wonder…if the cans were painted black if they wouldn’t give off more heat?
Mother Earth News did a bigger version of this 30 yrs ago . This one was positioned outside a window w/ a 5in opening at the top the window set on. It was 4×8 ft w/ black plastic lining. I’m sure they still have the plans and I heard it worked great.
Thanks for sharing this!! I live in an all electric home and heat is a concern in the dead of winter when it ices up around here. I’m always looking for safe alternative heating and projects I can do this with my youngest son, awesome!!
I wish I had that back when I lived in Tahoe Donner : ))
wouldnt it be easier just to pull the curtains away from a window?
My Dad made one of these in the 70’s!
The engineer at the TV station on the farm We had in Nebraska did this in the late 60s!!He painted aluminum(works better then tin cans) cans black and sealed them in a large 4 x 12 box and hooked thermostat controlled fans to the system!!He then made a large 4x4x12 foot sealed bin in the basement!!He filled it with coarse crushed rock!!When the heat on the collector was above the heat trapped in the crushed rock the fan would turn on and warm the rock!!Then it was hooked to the duct work for the furnace which another thermostat controlled fan then transferred the heat to the central heating system!!Worked great!!