Saturday, April 23, 2011

Solar Cooking in the Valley of Fire.

     We stayed at the Valley of Fire a few days. Very interesting and scenic place to hang out.













Patty tending to the cooking.


Our campsite for 4 days.

A mini twister passed by our camp.


Cooking a Chicken.

Chicken is done rolls ready to put in cooker.






A cactus near the visitor center.


More Petroglyphs


Patty's Banana Bread

Butternut Squash with brown sugar and butter.

Solar cooked Dinner. Butternut squash, sirloin tips, Italian sausage, Banana bread.
                             Check out older posts.
I put together a little book on how to build this thing.





Monday, April 18, 2011

Lake Mead

 This is where "Pawn Stars" is located in Las Vegas. We couldn't get in, the line went around the block.
Beavertail Cactus

These are a type of live worm that
choke out the plant it lives on.

Nice little Barrel Cactus

One little flower trying to grow out of the clay.

Some monks feeding the fish and ducks.

The fish is much bigger than the duck.

The walk back to camp.

View of the lake.

Click on older posts at bottom of page.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Cooking 101


2 lb. Pork Roast after 2 hrs a little overcooked in good sun.

Internal temp. 202, Oven temp 297

Cooking hamburger stew.

Cooked 1 lb hamburger 1 and 1/2
hrs. Drained grease. Added  water, turnips,
1 onion, handfull baby carrots, cup of cut corn, 1/2 veggie boullion
cube, johnnies seasoning salt, pepper, minced garlic.

Mixed it all together, put it in the roaster with full sun. Took
three hours but well worth the wait. 

Steaming hot. ready to eat. I didn't use any propane and
it didn't overheat the camper

Thursday, April 14, 2011

New Solar Oven

 This is my newest project. A Solar Oven that pivots to track the sun. Like most of my projects it is made of recycled materials. I started by cutting 2 half circles and 2 arcs. Glued and screwed together. These will be the end pieces.


  Sorry the pictures are not in order. This is a close up of the pin to aim unit at sun. Legs are 1" PVC from habitat for humanity thrift store. The pin is a 1/4" cement stud I put red tape on for a knob later. Drilled some holes to lock unit in place.
   Put a piece of tempered glass in a hinged frame and chain for a stop. lined inside with heavy aluminum foil glued in with elmers glue and water mix. Pan is gimbled to a bolt with wire so pan always sits level. Drilled a hole and inserted a digital thermometer. Added strip of D shaped rubber weather strip.
For the reflectors I used elmers foam poster board. Glued on mylar from emergency space blanket with water glue mix. Used aluminum tape to wrap edges and make hinges.
                                                                                                       Taped the back so they would hinge.  The 4 small pieces hinge in so the large ones will fold flat for storage.                                 


 Found some small brackets to bolt reflectors to lid. I did a test and put in a pie. Came out great. The temperture reached 333 degrees. Hottest I've had it so far.                                              





 

This is bending the inside into place. Had to soak the wood paneling to keep from splitting. I lined inside between the inner and outter panel with cardboard for insulation. I use a long dowel to aim unit at sun. when the shadow hits the lines painted on the frame it is aimed at its best focal point. Adjustable up and down and east and west.

A very simple unit to build and gets pleanty hot. I cooked a 2 lb. pork roast in it yesterday and it came out a little over cooked.


Checkout Older posts Below.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Cardboard Solar Oven

 This is a Solar Oven I made a few days ago. It is made out of 2 cardboard boxes with crumpled newspaper stuffed between them. I used a picture frame from Goodwill for the door with a duct tape hinge. Used aluminum foil taped to cardboard for the reflectors. I inserted a thermometer in the back to check the temp. It has made it to 278 degrees so far. Today I cooked hot dogs, some small rolls and used a ceramic pot inside and cooked a beef stew with baby carrots, onion, corn, turnips, a potato and some spices. Turned out great, and NO fuel costs.
Stuffed the small box into the big one.

Hinged glass lid with duct tape, foiled inside and taped seams.

Cut and foiled reflectors.

Cooking a couple hot dogs.

278 degrees. Not bad for an almost free oven.