Grid Runner Adventures

It never fails… any time you build something solar powered or buy anything with the label of solar, the sun does not show for days! I finished my new portable solar water heater over this last weekend.

I cannot wait to test things out before I do finish and paint work. You can read all of the details about the construction over at the How-to
s section.

The plan – to use this solar collector to heat water on the the various adventures for showers and washing clothes. Possible upgrades I can make to this unit, mylar skin on the collector array because aluminum oxidizes creating a hazy appearance

especially around salt water. The mylar will help concentrate the solar radiation onto the copper coil without oxidizing over time.

In the How-to’s section you will learn how I did the carbon black finish on the copper coil (it allows the copper to absorb much more solar radiation then just using black paint) as well as construction details and a few action photo’s