Solar Cookers

[Bitser]

Built the first one 40 years ago, for my mother who didn't want to use the oven on hot days. When she died, I got it back and still have it. The reflective stuff is from a discarded wildfire shelter.

Here's a similar one built for a recycling contest (it won). The top is polycarbonate instead of glass.

GoSun sells a range of solar stuff. Here's their Pro Cooker, based on an evacuated glass tube originally designed for heating water. I built a simple mount to aim it sunwards.

Bought a kit and built a reflector with a plastic bucket.

Just got a GoSun Fusion cooker, which is larger and has an electric element so it works after dark or on cloudy days, powered by a battery.

Loading it with stuffed red bell peppers and rice, which cook in a bit over an hour.

 

[GotGarlic]

Wow, that's pretty cool [emoji41]

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Using the Parabolic equation, and graph paper, you could draw a parabola with the focal point where you needed it, transfer it to wood, cut it with a jig, or scroll saw, and use reflective Mylar film to increase your solar oven's heat potential greatly. Here's an interactive link for the solar equation - https://www.mathwarehouse.com/quadratic/parabola/interactive-parabola.php

Nother version of the same - https://www.mathwarehouse.com/quadratic/parabola/interactive-parabola.php

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Bitser]

You should build one. On another forum, someone asked if there was a solar pizza oven available. I remembered a portable oven/pizza cooker I have that fits on a backpacking stove.

Out the window is a small satellite dish that's no longer in use: a circular parabolic reflector. It could be easily covered with heavy-duty foil. With a dense, heat-absorbing base (a circular cast-iron griddle) and a means to adjust the height/focus, it might make a good solar pizza oven.

I love this sort of crazy improvised stuff.

 

[MM73]

Definitely worth building one. It's a fun process (if you like woodworking that is!). I recently built a solar oven for my wife and I and documented the build process as a video for anyone who is interested to do the same. It works surprisingly well. Perfect for the Portuguese heat!