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The DIY Solar Water Heater You Can Create With Aluminum Foil
By RON BAKER
There are a lot of DIY solar water heater designs out there, but you'd be hard-pressed to find one simpler, cheaper, and easier than this aluminum foil water heater.
With a bit of foil and some black paint attached to a frame made of wood, YouTuber @sergiyyurko2110 heats water by simply running it through some black foil tubes.
The contraption is fed by gravity and requires no power. The series of aluminum foil tubes basically acts like an evaporator coil you'd find in a modern HVAC system.
It exchanges heat from the environment, warming the tubes and their contents. Aluminum is a good thermal conductor, but even painted black, the foil won't collect much heat.
The user recommends using thicker sheets of aluminum or steel for a permanent installation, but the foil method is useful for building a model if you desperately need warm water.
The final temperature of the water is about 97.5 degrees F, which is far less than the 140 degrees F recommended for electric water heaters.