Solar thermal panels

With a DIY solar thermal panel, you can heat up air or water for free. They come in really handy when you do not have electricity or gas to heat up the water or air. Building a DIY solar thermal panel isn't as difficult as you may think. You can try building a small scale DIY solar thermal panel for a start and once you get the hang of it, build a bigger one. The bigger it is the more solar heated volume of air or water.

You will need the following materials and items:

• A heat dispersal from the back of a broken fridge (black preferred). If you can't find one that's black, you can paint it black. It works just as well.
• Tubes small enough to first the pipes of the heat dispersal.
• Some supplies of wood to make a frame.
• A black rubber mat.
• Aluminium foil.
• A glass panel.

First you will need to make a frame big enough to fit your heat dispersal. Remember to drill a couple of holes for the tubes to run through.

The black rubber mat should be cut to fit the wooden frame as well. Once you have done that, wrap it with aluminium foil. Nail the wrapped mat to a wooded board. This will be the back of the DIY Solar Thermal Panel.

By now, you should have a frame big enough to fit the black heat dispersal with a rubber insulated back.

Time to install the heat dispersal. When you install the heat dispersal, make sure it doesn't touch the back. Make sure there is some gap between the back and the heat dispersal. Find a way to hold and support the heat dispersal so that in the middle between the back and the a glass panel (when you cover it later)

Don't forget the inflow & outflow tubes.

Once everything is in place, seal the frame with the glass. Make sure the glass panel has also been customized to fit the frame.

When you are basically done with your DIY Solar Thermal Panel, it should look like the photo on the right:.Now test your DIY Solar Thermal Panel out. Put it under a sun for a while like 5-10 mins, then run some cold water through the inflow tube slowly. When it reaches the out flow point, it is going to be HOT so be very careful!

To run the water through, you can use a small water pump. You can also use gravity to do it. Have a pail of cold water place up high and the pail to collect the warm water way below. Put a little bit of suction to get the water flowing by sucking the output tube. Don't suck too hard and make sure the heat dispersal is clean inside.