Anyone ever tried DIY solar panels?

[prairiemom]

Here are some ideas I've seen recently:
http://www.thesietch.org/projects/solarthermalpanel2/index.htm
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/GregCanCol/GregCanCo.htm

This one is for a water distiller: http://newskillsforsurvival.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-to-make-solar-still-make-your-own.html

Just wondering if you've done anything like this and how it worked (or didn't)?

[ZDMZ]

I have been working on the soda pop can version for a while. I was hoping to have it completed before winter set in and test it in the garage - but alas - it did not happen.

I have had some trouble getting the cans to stay glued together. Probably operator error!

[thomasusa]

For the last 30+ years, my father has had a panel on his roof.
4 by 8 foot box covered with glass.
Inside the box was 1/2 inch copper pipe soldered into a network with some tin attached to the pipe.
This panel was positioned on the lowest part of the roof.
The inlet and outlet pipes went up the roof and into a 120 gallon tank that was (mostly) inside the attic.
The heated water would rise in the pipe and circulate through the tank.
(We found out later that much of the heat gain was from the 120 gallon tank in the warm (summer sun) attic.

A second set of pipes allowed the fresh water that would be entering the gas fired hot water tank in the basement to be diverted up into the attic tank.
Solar heated hot water then would flow from the attic tank and into the basement tank.

This system could be made with heat exchangers and antifreeze but that would take away from the cheap Rube Goldberg approach.
The solar panel and the tank needed draining for the winters.

The single panel was sufficient to make enough hot water for mom and dad in the summer months.

[prairiemom]

I have been working on the soda pop can version for a while. I was hoping to have it completed before winter set in and test it in the garage - but alas - it did not happen.

I have had some trouble getting the cans to stay glued together. Probably operator error!

So the caulking or silicone whatever that he recommends doesn't work? Or at least, not easily?

I really would like a year round (or most year round) greenhouse and am hoping that something like this would do the trick for keeping it warm enough. I'd really like to try it but it looks like a lot of work, and I'm not that handy. So just wondering how effective it is.

I was also thinking of the water heater thing for keeping chicken's water from freezing.

[ZDMZ]

In typical fashion I did not use what he recomended. I found a high temp caulk and tried that but when it dried it was pretty brittle and did not stick to the cans well. I cleaned the cans but did not buff them or rough them up before caulking so the surface may have been too smooth to provide enough gription.

I also tried some high temp gasket sealer from the atuo parts store and that seems to be working better.