Using aluminum cans to help heat your home sounds like a nutty idea at first, but a company in Canada has turned the idea into a profitable business. The company, Cansolair Inc., has been building solar-powered heating panels out of recycled aluminum cans and even won awards with their design.

Why Pop Cans Work Well

The company’s heaters, made with recycled aluminum cans, are not only cheaper than other types, but have proven to be very efficient as well. The company reports exponential growth over the past few years.

The Cansolair unit, which measures a little under 4 ft. wide by 8 ft. tall, produces up to 10,000 BTUs per hour and can raise the temperature of the air passing through it by 50F or more. It uses a fan to move the air through, increasing it’s efficiency.

How They Work

The units are usually attached to the outside of a wall and provide heat for the nearest room. To be effective, the heater needs to face south (or north if the building is in the southern hemisphere).

The heaters are designed to draw air from the floor level of a room and pass it directly to the solar panel outside, where it is forced through the columns of cans, which have holes cut in the tops and bottoms to allow air flow. The air is then returned through the wall near the ceiling level and at up to 50F higher temperature.

Thin-walled aluminum, which is what the cans are made of, has good thermal conductivity, making it an exceptional material for transferring solar heat to the air as it flows past the cans. Flat black paint on the outside of the cans aids in the process by absorbing the sun’s heat more quickly.

Great Project For Do-It-Yourselfers

Cansolair may be the only company that is producing these units commercially, but there have been many other people who have built their own using easily available materials.

Daniel Strohl of Vermont made a unit to heat his garage in the winter, while Frank Gombik of Ontario, Canada built one to heat his workshop.

Daniel used the south-facing side of his garage as a location for his solar furnace after noting that sunshine was just bouncing off the garage and being wasted. He built a modest free-standing heater that contains 45 pop cans and uses vacuum cleaner hoses to pipe air to and from his garage.

Frank incorporated his solar heater right into a set of double-doors that he need to replace anyway on his workshop. He used a total of 176 cans in his design, and also added some electronics to measure and record temperatures inside and out.

Building this type of solar heater is well within the ability of the average handyman. All the materials are either inexpensive or free. Not only are you getting free heating for your effort, but you’re doing your part to help conserve natural resources.

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