Make the sun work for you in the kitchen...

dolly_day_dream

Thank you so much for a brilliant idea. I have a south facing garden and am just about to place pans of water outside to heat up for when I need it during the day. Anything that will cut down on my consumption of gas has got to be a good thing!

[Deleted User]

I have ordered a sunlinq solar panel, which comes with a kit so that I can plug in items that I could plug into a car cigarette lighter

I already have a re-chargeable lantern which I can use with the sunlinq and also a uniross 700 battery charger

I have ordered a 12v car kettle so I can have hot water on the go

next step will be a camping re-chargeable battery so that I can run a 12v fan

I wish all these things were easy to find. Take the sun and black containers of water. All it takes is a row of black bottles in a rack

[Deleted User]

I put two grey pans out this morning and it is very windy and cooler. I just put one on the gas hob for two minutes and used both for washing all the lunch dishes. The water was warm enough to do a good job

Big thanks to the OP. This is working incredibly well

Rebob

When camping I put the filled kettle outside regulary. I got the idea from the solar showers available for camping. It also works it you put a black sack around the container for larger amounts. (did this to bathe with when camping in an events field)

gromituk

kittie wrote:

I have ordered a 12v car kettle so I can have hot water on the go

It will take hours to heat up water from a photovoltaic solar panel - in fact the kettle will probably lose heat more quickly than the panel provides it, once the water is more than luke warm. Far better would be to heat water directly using one of the methods already suggested. You are then not losing 90% of the energy in the conversion to electricity.

EagerLearner

Like Quasar, my mum had a crumbly cottage, but In Portugal - she had an outside shower in addition to the one indoors (as the water supply was often very low pressure) - the outdoor one was basically an old shower tray with hole in for drainage, canes around it for privacy and the shower insode was a metal bucket with small holes in it. The bucket had a pulley so you could hoist it down to fill up. She had around 10 large, large bottles (around 10 lites each) that would heat up in the day and once you'd filled the bucket and hoisted it up, we could shower with this perfectly, at no cost at all.

Great suggestion Quasar - we have a west facing garden so will try this too.

[Deleted User]

no harm done gromituk re the kettle as I can use it when travelling. I will be very interested in experimenting with it as I can put the photovoltaic panel in a south facing window. I may look at insulating the kettle as well

I like the black sack idea rebob

SusanCarter

There's a related thread here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=196338
about solar cookers which you might be interested in.

Ken68

Yes,Susan my solar cookers are still going well, hot water every day in this heatwave, lukewarm when no sun.As someone said, only needs a pinch of hot water from the kettle to bring it up to hot.
Quasars bottle idea brilliant, cheaper to set up, more controllable, could paint demijons black, and place in the greenhouse.

robellett

I discovered the benefits of a black hose in the sun, whilst trying out my trickle irrigation system off a water butt. in the hot years of the mid 70's. I loved the heat then. It's a fabulous way to shower, when hooked-up to a simple kit.

2006 and not enjoying the heat much at all. A variation on the heating washing up water in bottles is to put the whole, coloured, washing-up bowl into the window sill. Ok, heat rises from it, or cover with a tray or something to trap some of the condensing water back, as well as heat.

When planning baths, part fill the bath with cold water earlier-on. This will warm up in the heat and/or sun meaning you need less hot water when you take your bath.

Worried about water temperature? Aquarium thermometers cost a couple of pounds.

Does whitening windows stop rooms heating as quickly? Thanks.

Rob