NEW STUFF: Solar pump, Portable solar jar cooker, Mist cooler, Strawbale home site

New Taco Pump for Solar Hot Water Systems Integrates Controller

This new series of pumps from Taco combines one of their regular circulator pumps with an integrated differential controller.  This makes for a bit less wiring and a more compact system.  The pump is also variable speed, and the controller takes advantage of this to use lower flow rates at low sun levels -- this (presumably) saves some pump power and allows the collector to operate in lower sun levels where short cycling would result with non variable flow controllers.

I've also separated out tanks, pumps, and heat exchangers on their own page and expanded the number of items and explanations.
(thanks to Jan and Sean for pointing this item out)

Details on the new solar pump with integrated controller...

Compact, Simple Portable Solar Cooker

This is a neat little solar cooker sent in by Tony.  Just the thing for a hot beverage or a hot dog at the job site, camping, ...

Its made from cardboard with aluminum foil glued to it and a couple of jars that nest inside each other with the inner absorber jar painted black.

Details on the Solar Jar Cooker...


Mist Cooler Kit

This is an inexpensive mist cooling kit from DripWorks.com.

If you've not experienced outdoor mist coolers on a hot day, you might be surprised by how effective they are -- they cool well without feeling wet.

Each mister head uses about 0.75 gallons per hour, so there some water use.
The kit costs $25 and is said to cool 25 lineal feet of space.
I've ordered one to evaluate it.

Details on the Mist Cooler Kit...


Strawbale Home Site

This is a nice site for potential owner builders of strawbale homes.

Workshops, videos, articles, ...  looks like good stuff from people who really build strawbale homes.


Strawbale home site details...


Gary