DIY Solar Refrigerator Water Heater

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With millions of people’s wallets being drained by household appliances and heating/cooling, energy saving mods are very popular these days. Mother Earth News .com and Miles Free elaborated with each other to develop a cheap but very awesome household mod.

 

"So the boys pulled the liner out of the Hotpoint’s door and replaced it with the heat exchanger. Then a couple of holes were drilled through one end of the door and a couple of pieces of scrap copper tubing (also scavenged from the refrigerator) were used to extend the exchanger’s coils through the insulated wall. (It was exceptionally easy to slip the recycled 3/8-inch tubing right over the ends of the 1/4-inch plumbing and solder the "splice" into a watertight junction.)

Next, six holes were drilled through both the exchanger plate and the "back" of the collector box (actually, through the main body of the old refrigerator door) and the two were fastened together with stove bolts. Some odd pieces of cardboard were then used to cover the insulation that was still exposed around the "rim" of the exchanger (this was done purely for appearances), and the heat exchanger and its surrounding paperboard trim were all painted flat black.

Finally, two pieces of glass were cut to fit as a "top" for the collector box. The panes were mounted just under the old door’s rubber gasket (how’s that for having just what you want just where you want it?) and seated in place on a bead of silicone caulking."

 

Link: Mother Eath News

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Patrick Servello

Patrick Servello is one of the several new writers picked to write for Hacked Gadgets, we welcome him and expect some good material. Patrick is currently in the schooling process and plans on attending MIT to major in Software Engineering or Electrical Engineering. Patrick plans on going into the IT Security field as a career. He also has his own small home based computer repair and networking business. Patrick has an enormous amount of hobbies, some of these include programming, whether it is an application or a program designed for a robotics platform. Patrick is very into the IT Security scene, he has found vulnerabilities on popular websites such as Myspace.com and NYtimes.com. He loves helping individuals secure their networks and teach them how to be safe. Automotive technology is also a big thing for him, he loves tinkering with engines trying to make them more efficient. He wants to help develop alternate fuel powered cars, several plans have been made by him and a few colleagues to try to design a more efficient vehicle. You also can't forget electronics, this is what brought him to this website. As Pat likes to say, he is a knowledge sponge, he soaks up everything he can. To do this he reads a vast amount of literature, everything from books on philosophy, to books about different religions. One of his favorite books is "A Brief History In Time" written by Stephan Hawking. Along with reading literature Patrick likes to write himself. He is a writer in the local newspaper and has one several writing and poetry competitions. He has also published some tutorials online about various subjects. Patrick Servello started his electronic lifestyle around the age of 13, he just started tinkering with some electronic devices and found out he could make them work differently, maybe even more efficiently. Shortly after Patrick got into the computer security scene also, this fueled his need to learn more about electronics. Embedded software in electronics can be just as vulnerable to attack as web based software. Patrick currently doesn't have his personal website online, however is working on it.

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10 Comments


  1. That’s one way to do it. Pretty much anyone can find a free fridge in their city by checking Craigslist or Freecycle.


  2. Mother Earth News .com and Miles Free elaborated with each other

    Do you mean colaborated?


  3. Just wish they could make a solar refrigerator. Heating water is good, but
    making keeping my stuff cool in the summer is much more of a challenge.


  4. Patrick Servello,

    Thank you for mentioning us on your Web site! We’re happy you enjoy Mother Earth News.

    Loved the post about energy saving mods. We’re glad we could help.

    Laura Evers
    Mother Earth News

    Check out this link to our Web site for more “Do It Yourself” projects!
    http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself.aspx


  6. good day!!!! I’d like to inquire about solar freezers sizes and prices.


  8. Why not a solar fridge? My motorhome fridge runs on heat from propane, so heat can make cold.


  9. It can be done. But the task is a bit more convoluted than doing a water heater.
    Even the ones for a motor home typically run on an ‘ammonia cycle’. Yes, like
    household cleaning ammonia but more concentrated. The ammonia gas getting out
    can be a significant health hazard (i.e. death – no, I am not exaggerating). Even
    the pro’s (professional HVAC and Refrigeration folks) treat it with a lot of
    respect for the health of themselves and their customers.

    Ammonia cycle has been used for over a century to have refrigeration at places
    that don’t have cold both for making ice (like old-time ice houses that were to
    far south to stockpile river/lake ice during the winter) and even movie theaters.
    In many places movies were the first places the public found refrigerated air
    conditioning. I am talking late 1800’s and early 1900’s period.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigeration

    It can be done, but currently an ammonia absorption cooler is a VERY sophisticated
    DIY project. Not one to be taken on lightly.

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