Sixty Six Bottles of Beer on the Wall Provide Hot Water
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 06. 5.07
Hot Water heating it is one of the most cost-effective uses of solar energy. If you are ingenious like Ma Yanjun, of Qiqiao village, Shaanxi province, you can make it yourself and its completely free. "I invented this for my mother. I wanted her to shower comfortably."
66 beer bottles are connected to each other so that water flows through them; it looks like thin plastic tubing is going in and out of each bottle . Sunlight heats the water as it passes slowly through the bottles before flowing into the bathroom as hot water. Ma says it provides enough hot water for all three members of his family to have a shower every day, although we doubt it will push the volume for any jazzy shower heads. ::Annanova
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Like this too http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/04/how_to_almost_free_garage.html
I like Ma's method. I produce water with 500 feet of coiled 3/4" blacl plastic irrigation tubing on my roof. I turn on the water so it runs slowly when the sun is hot and it produces about 1 liter/minute. I run the water straight to the bottom of a 48 or 50 qt. cooler and change to another cooler when the water starts to overflow. Total cost was under $60 without the coolers.
I used to have a regular solar heater but the expense of maintaining it was getting high so, since I am retied, I thought I would try this much simpler method as it helps keep me busy with diligence to the system. Any left over water I give to the plants the next day before I start up again.
I think this system would also work well with 1/2" tubing because the flow rate is slow. If I wanted to increase the rate of production, I could just add another 500 foot coil in series.
Coolers keep the water hot for a good 8 hours.
adrianakau2aol.com
The title is misleading! It's 66 beer bottles and NOT 66 bottles of beer that produce the hot water. After 66 bottles of beer you won't need showers anymore-your body will be 6 feet under.
My grandfather and great uncle built a similar setup in the 1920s. It didn't work too well because it was one big fat black tank, which didn't heat easily. The more surface area for the sun to heat, the better.
Priceless :D
My hats off to this guy. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter what income level or what country you belong too, responsible people will do what they can to be responsible citizens. Westerners can generally more easily afford to adopt systems and technologies that are environmentally responsible, but even poorer people in poorer countries try to do what they can. Next time some poor rich Westerner tells me: what can I possibly do? I'll tell him to ask Ma how to hook up 66 beer bottles.
I remember seeing something similar in the 70s which always stayed with me.
Someone was using old milk bottles to heat the water for their swimming pool, but instead of laying them out flat like Yanjun above, the bottles were formed into a tall coil with the black hosepipe running through them. A simple cage made of waste timber kept them in place. Always seemed such a great idea - glad the idea has re-emerged.