Solar Heaters on a Church

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The Revered Poole (left) and two members of his congregation in front of the homebuilt solar heaters that send warmed air to either the Sunday school building or the church sanctuary as it's needed. The heaters save the organization some 55% on its fuel bills.
The Revered Poole (left) and two members of his congregation in front of the homebuilt solar heaters that send warmed air to either the Sunday school building or the church sanctuary as it's needed. The heaters save the organization some 55% on its fuel bills.
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The black-painted, cut-in-half aluminum cans used in the project were donated by the local fire department.
The black-painted, cut-in-half aluminum cans used in the project were donated by the local fire department.
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Fans pull air from the collectors and push it through the building's ducts and vents.
Fans pull air from the collectors and push it through the building's ducts and vents.
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Rev. Poole's solar heaters have attracted attention from all around the world.
Rev. Poole's solar heaters have attracted attention from all around the world.

Inexpensive solar heaters (made with sliced-in-half beer and soda cans) have cut the Washingtonville, New York First Presbyterian Church’s fuel costs by 55 percent!

The project got under way in the fall of 1978, when the Reverend Lee H. Poolea — longtime solar advocate — convinced the church’s council to put up $110 to build a solar collector. He drew up the plans himself, and the first unit was constructed over the course of a single weekend in a member’s back yard.

“We tested our creation on a sunny October afternoon,” the minister recalled, “and the temperature inside the collector reached 203 degrees Fahrenheit. So we knew then that my design would work, and as a result the council agreed to fund two more units.”

A Quick Payoff

The Reverend’s system was hooked into the church’s Sunday school building by air ducts and a fan that drew cool air in from the basement and passed it through the collectors and into the building again. It reduced the church’s fuel oil costs by more than $650 that first winter, almost exactly what it cost to construct and install the complete solar heating system.

  • Published on May 1, 1983
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