The mechanism is simple: Throughout the day, the sun heats the water inside the bottles, which are connected to each other. When a member of Ma Yanjun's family wants to take a hot shower, hot water slowly runs through the attached bottles into the shower piping. The three family members can each take a hot shower every day.
In Ma Yanjun's Qiqiao village, which is in the Shaanxi province, several of his neighbors have asked him to build them the solar-powered water heater, as well. (Sounds like they'll have a good time collecting their supplies.)
While innovative, Ma Yanjun's invention is not the first do-it-yourself success story for a solar-powered device. Other backyard enthusiasts have used other materials, such as soda cans and other metals, to create solar water heaters.
The Department of Energy also has a page on solar-powered water heaters for environmentally and economically minded people interested in learning more about this heating solution.
Lisa Zyga
Science Blogger
InventorSpot.com
Read: Homemade Soda Can Solar furnace
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Very Cool!
Submitted on July 1st, 2007 by Gloria CamposI love your find. Very cool!
Gloria Campos-Hensley
InventorSpot.com
just 33 more bottles...
Submitted on July 1st, 2007 by Steve Levenstein... and he could sing "99 bottles of beer on the roof, 99 bottles of beer"... i gotta get out more.
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