Solar and Wind Power

Using aluminum cans to help heat your home sounds like a nutty idea at first, but a company in Canada has turned the idea into a profitable business. The company, Cansolair Inc., has been building solar-powered heating panels out of recycled aluminum cans and even won awards with their design.

Why Use Aluminum Cans?

The company’s pop can heaters have been described as “green energy and recycling all rolled into one”, and have proven to be very cost effective and efficient as well. One customer reported “on the coldest days of winter I need no other heat source as it easily produces enough heat”.

The Cansolair unit, which measures a little under 4 ft. wide by 8 ft. tall, produces up to 10,000 BTUs per hour and can raise the temperature of the air passing through it by 50F or more. It uses a blower to move the air through, increasing it’s efficiency.

How They Work

The heaters are typically attached to the outside of a wall and provide heat for the nearest room. To be effective, the unit needs to face south (or north if the building is in the southern hemisphere).

The idea is to draw air from near the floor of any room in a building, and pass it through the solar heater, which contains several columns of cans. The air is then returned to the same room near the ceiling and at up to 50F higher temperature. The cans are stacked and have large holes cut in both ends to allow the air to pass inside them while the outside of the cans is getting hot from the sun.

The cans work well because they are constructed of thin-walled aluminum which has excellent thermal properties. Black paint on the outside to aid in heat absorption. Other materials could work as well, but would be much more expensive.

Make Your Own

Cansolair has the facilities and materials to produce sophisticated units on a large scale, but the basic concept is simple enough that virtually anyone can build their own with commonly available materials.

Daniel Strohl of Vermont constructed a unit to heat his garage, and Frank Gombik of Ontario, Canada, who built one to heat his workshop.

Daniel noted that the south wall of his garage was receiving a lot of sunshine, but the temperature inside was still cold. He constructed a modest free-standing heater, containing 45 aluminum cans. He used a vacuum cleaner hose to pipe to and from the garage.

Frank had two goals in mind – he wanted to heat his workshop and also replace the old double-door entry leading into it from the outside. His design included a total of 176 cans and some special temperature sensing equipment to measure the system’s efficiency.

Construction of an aluminum can solar heater is not very difficult. The materials are readily available and inexpensive, you’ll be doing your part to conserve natural resources, not to mention you get free heating in the winter!