He did it using green bottles!  I bet brown bottles would get hotter in
the sun, so drink up!
I want one!   This rig would be fairy heavy with the box, all that glass and
the water (8 lbs/ gal).
  I'm wondering how it's done?  It seems that each bottle would have a cork
with an inlet and outlet for closed system?  My only problem is that I don't
like beer; I guess I could find root beer or something in a brown
bottle.........

Mike B.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:11 AM
Subject: [NVC] Beer bottle solar heater

> Not related to Vanagons except in the "useful for camping" sense...
>
> "A Chinese peasant has made a solar water heater - using only beers
> bottles and hoses."
>
> http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2850151.html
>
> It's very nearly the most perfect invention ever in so many ways. A
> cheap source of solar-heater water for showering, and the inventor "...
> will build a public bathroom for the village using his invention when he
> has the money to buy enough beers." What makes it so nearly perfect is
> that any money you spend on beers can be expensed as cost of goods sold,
> and the "manufacturing process" needed to convert beers into empty
> bottles involves drinking those beers.
>
> Maybe there's a way to make a Westy version. Hey Buese? You want to help
> develop this into a product? You figure out from the photo how the rig
> works. I'll start "making" beer bottles right away.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus - for sale
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> KG6RCR