Sand doesn't boil, but it also isn't quite as refreshing. So there's a trade off.How is sand better than water?
Yes there are trade offs.Sand doesn't boil, but it also isn't quite as refreshing. So there's a trade off.
Sand has 20% the specific heat of water so you either have to get it really hotf, or use 5x the amount by weight to get the same performance as water.Sand doesn't boil, but it also isn't quite as refreshing. So there's a trade off.
I love it!and I am having fun trying different ideas.
What a fun project! How many pounds of sand? I might try to play around with the math about how many BTU's you've got stored there.
I see you've got a bunch of the military grade solar panels that got dumped to the market. I was asked by a non-profit in Puerto Rico to check them out. They were offered to them but the panels had something big time wrong with them. I tested several and could never get more than 10 or 15 watts out of 200+ panel. (from a shaky memory since this was at least 5 years ago).
What a fun project! How many pounds of sand? I might try to play around with the math about how many BTU's you've got stored there.
I see you've got a bunch of the military grade solar panels that got dumped to the market. I was asked by a non-profit in Puerto Rico to check them out. They were offered to them but the panels had something big time wrong with them. I tested several and could never get more than 10 or 15 watts out of 200+ panel. (from a shaky memory since this was at least 5 years ago).
Sand has 20% the specific heat of water so you either have to get it really hotf, or use 5x the amount by weight to get the same performance as water.
So if your water if boiling maybe you're not using enough??
If you get to expanding it, a Fafco Solar Bear pool heater provides a lot of square footage with very low resistance.
why not just use a greater amount of water? cheaper, easier to dispose off and i dare say safer.This is not my first experiment. I first started with using a 240 V stove heating element in the sand with over 1,000 watts of power going to it. Sand got up to over 1,000 F when i put a leaf in it, it instantly caught fire. That was very fun, and I burnt the coil up doing that, but I have an idea of how to fix that for long term use.
This experiment is targeting a system that I just use solar heated water to see what it can do, and test various elements of this, I just wanted to get an ballpark of what this system can do....... Now lets say I was to add a solar panel with a coil in the sand, I could push that sand temp to over 180 degrees very easy with not much effort, then I could cook with this system, or have a very very long shower with the amount of shower temp water I could make with this setup.
I also have in mind using my coil with my rocket stove to run in line with this setup...... so that 130 degree water could be also brought up to a more handy temp...... I need to switch to a metal container instead of the plastic one I have now before I venture in that direction.
How is sand better than water?
Sand doesn't boil, but it also isn't quite as refreshing. So there's a trade off.
Yes there are trade offs. Water that just sits can get bacteria to multiply in in which can cause problems if you are bathing in it or taking a shower in it.
can you take a shower with sand???... whereas sand doesn't grow bacteria? ... so it's OK to bath or take a shower in it ?? ??
Yeah one has to match the ohms to the solar panel. I am going to test a voltage booster as I am hearing they help get the most out for a heater coil.What a fun project! How many pounds of sand? I might try to play around with the math about how many BTU's you've got stored there.
I see you've got a bunch of the military grade solar panels that got dumped to the market. I was asked by a non-profit in Puerto Rico to check them out. They were offered to them but the panels had something big time wrong with them. I tested several and could never get more than 10 or 15 watts out of 200+ panel. (from a shaky memory since this was at least 5 years ago).