Build Your Own Solar Oven

Solar Ovens the Basics

It is fun and easy to build your own solar oven. The basic box oven is the simplest and can be made from everyday materials such as wood, plastic, aluminum foil, and Styrofoam.

The body of the oven needs to be insulated to retain the heat. This means that you must construct two boxes – one to fit inside the other. The two boxes will have an insulating material such as Styrofoam in between them.

The boxes can be made from plywood or even from cardboard. The heat of a solar oven will not be enough to make the cardboard burn.

Construction

Construct your boxes so that the inner box has at least a ½ inch airspace all around. When the boxes are ready, line the insides of both boxes with aluminum foil. The foil can be glued to the boxes.

Place Insulation Materials at the Bottom

Place insulating material on the bottom of the exterior box and put the interior box in position. Fill the spaces on the sides with the remaining insulating material.

Prepare the drip pan - And the Heat Absorber

The bottom of the interior box needs a drip pan which can be fashioned out of sheet metal or cardboard. If you use cardboard, cover it with aluminum foil. The drip pan should be painted black. This is where your cooking pot will sit.

The Cover for your Solar Oven

Next, you need a cover for the solar oven. This can be made from plastic or glass sheets. Plastic is easier to cut, of course, and is suitable for this type of oven.

The cover is transparent to allow the infrared energy of the sun to heat up the oven. The cover also serves to keep the oven hot.

This oven can be used as is, but its fun to experiment

The solar oven can be used as-is, but to increase its efficiency a reflector is usually fitted to concentrate the energy of the suns rays on the cooking pot. A reflector can be made from aluminum covered wood or cardboard or sheet metal. It is angled to reflect sunshine down into the oven.