DIY Steam Generator FREE HEAT! Heat Battery - Cooking, Brewing, Distilling, Heating

Wastefree23.org has developed this DIY system using components to enable anyone anywhere to collect and store solar power to be used for cooking or heating. energy is stored as heat. BUT why collect solar power with photovoltaic then convert to heat! when heat could be collected directly? Several reasons. 1. PV produces less heat at peak but a lot of heat overall..unlike thermal solar which produces A LOT of heat when sunny and mid day. Other times not so much. 2. PV to electricity to heat and moved from roof to the thermal heat bank is wires and a fuse or two. moving the solar thermal from the collector to the heat bank requires ??? a fluid. super hot. which is much more difficult to install and manage then 2 wires carrying 50 amps of DC 3. PV produces electricity so lights, pump phone charger - many things can run off the same power source as the steam generator.

For the system shown:

1. a heat resistant pot or ? about 3 gallons. - 10 or 15 liters
2. 30 meters / 100 feet of 1/4 - 6mm stainless steel tubing
3. a one way valve
4. 100psi + pump. volume is very low..so 1 or two liters per minute is plenty
5. a TEE and a ball valve at the lowest point in the tube to collect and drain the pipes if needed - condensate
6. a pressure relief valve or two.
7. a pressure gauge
8. a resistive heater
9. a 200 to 500 watt solar panel any voltage is fine
10. a couple thermometers to monitor the system
11. rock wool insulation

prepare the components..this is the swing gate one way valve..fitted to work with the 1/4" tube. The coil of tube to go in the pot/sand with the heatter

The 1000 watt resistive heater. this one is from a water tank heater.. It had a built in temp control that I removed. Connect the wires from the power source..cover with ceramic or ? insulation so wires do not short. BEWARE...if you put the full 1,000 watt of power in this or other heaters that are buried in sand they are likely to burnout and make glass! the sand does not conduct heat very fast so these heaters will get hotter than they are designed to.

This system is for cooking. So a cook pot is wrapped tightly with the stainless steel tube. The tube could be put into the water/liquid for even better heat transfer. if you just need the steam skip this step

place the stainless steel tube in the 3 gallon container, place the heating element in the sand as well..and a thermometer so you can monitor the temperature. cover with sand, gravel, rocks...