Solar Cooking Archive Discussion Forums

SharonID · Joined: 24 Jun 2007 Posts: 74 Location: northern Idaho

Ok, so it was a very haphazard experiment, but it was way to cloudy for any serious cooking. Then, as we moved into the afternoon, occasional clear breaks in the clouds began appearing ('glory hole' is a regional colloquialism for this phenomena). Too late for any real cooking this time of year, but I'd been wondering what would happen if I parked the EZ3 in my big southwest window. I filled a pint cooking jar with water, took its temperature (about 71F), and put it on a rack in the cooker, then sealed it up (the EZ3 is just small enough so that the whole thing will fit in a turkey size oven bag) and propped it on the windowsill, as close to the glass as I could get it. (FWIW, ambient temperature in the house this afternoon was around 68-70F.)

Glory holes were few and far between... almost too small to qualify for the 'glory' part. That cooker was probably getting full sunlight (through double-pane glass and an oven bag) less than 25% of the time, but I just left it there to do whatever it did. I thought to pull it out shortly after the sun dropped behind the near ridge, and the water had risen to 113F! A clear rise of 40 degrees F with only a little bit of sun here and there, and mid-to-late afternoon sun at that! I'm sure on a clear day I could at least reheat leftovers for my late lunches... possibly even cook fruit or easy veggies that don't need to reach the boiling point to soften up.

The EZ3 is very compact, so I can do this much suncooking inside the house without any rearrangement of our overcrowded living room. It will cook at least up to a quart of food, if you can give it a little time, and does a pint with relative ease. This is a very cool thing, if further testing proves me right.

And while I'm on the topic of EZ3, I just made the second one today (in maybe twenty minutes, not counting going out to the garage to pillage my cardboard stash), and I made this one so that it can be stored flat when not in use (which also made foiling it much easier). It's got a few more square inches than the first prototype, but will still fit (with some care easing it in) inside a turkey bag. It will probably become my primary lunch cooker/heater this fall, especially if it will cook through a window. Pretty cool. Cool

Regards,
SharonID
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coconino · Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 77 Location: Sunny Brixton

That's very interesting. I've often thought that if I had a south-facing window I'd build a cooker to fit it so it could be used indoors, or even with reflectors poking out the window, something like window shutters. I've read about through-the-wall cookers being built in, for instance, Bolivia, and I don't see why some version of that sort of thing couldn't work here. I'd like to try it.

Whenever I pass building with good sunlit windows my imagination shows me a vision of walls blossoming with solar cookers. Around here, in inner-city London, there are many tall apartment blocks which could provide excellent opportunities for through-the-window cookers. Here's a local view of the sort of place I mean:

Where I live is more enclosed than this, so it would be harder do at home even if I was facing the right direction, but wouldn't it be great to see reflectors sprouting from the sides of places like these?