Solar wall oven designs

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Barbara Kerr's solar wall oven from the outside

Barbara Kerr's solar wall oven from the inside

Solar ovens can be built into the south-facing wall of any house. (Photo: Rosa Thorns)

German scientists have extensively worked on thermosiphon type of solar cookers, which can be used indoors as well, the photo shows such a design.

The Solar Wall Oven has been Barbara Kerr’s pet project for nearly two decades. Since 1985, when she first built one into the house she designed and now lives in, she has wanted to make this cooker available to the world. The main impediments have been how to draw up plans for constructing the oven, and how to instruct people to correctly install it. Now, Do-It-Yourself Guidelines for design of the oven have been drawn up to appeal to designers, architects, builders, and remodelers so they can create their own variations to suit their circumstances. It does not provide detailed construction plans either for the cooker or its installation. This leaves wide latitude for selection of materials that are locally available and/or compatible with the type of home construction. This document also contains instructions on how mount the oven in the south wall of a house positioned to receive sufficient sunlight to cook properly. Over the years there has been a continuing interest in the Solar Wall Oven from people desiring a truly practical solar cooker. We hope these guidelines will at last succeed in making it possible for them to incorporate one into his or her lifestyle.

To build a solar wall oven you need a kitchen (or other convenient room) with an unshaded south facing wall. Yes, it would be less expensive to incorporate this "feature" when building a new home. Still, for those with the ability to do so, I believe there is ample reason to consider knocking a hole in your wall and adding one to an existing home. Here is why.

The obvious benefits of using a solar oven are these:

1. It does not use up non renewable fuel resources
2. It does not create or cause to be created any kind of pollution.

Another benefit that you would come to appreciate more when you use it is the way a solar oven cooks food, slowly and without burning, much like in a crock pot.

But perhaps the most important benefit that you would gain in addition to these others listed is that the "heat" of your oven can be kept outside the house and insulated from the interior. When you turn on a conventional oven, virtually all of that heat is working directly against the energy you spend to cool your home in the summer. How many times did your mom serve soup and sandwiches because she didn't want to heat up the house with the oven?

If it isn't obvious, the reason I suggest building the solar oven into your south facing wall is so that accessing the food is as easy as if it were cooking in your conventional oven, and not requiring a trip outside to the back yard.

See also

• Environmental Feedback and Anthropometrical Results of a Solar Cooker for Houses in Arid Zones

External links

• The Terra Foundation's data sheet on this cooker
• Do-It-Yourself Guidelines
• Barbara Kerr's US Patent for a Through-the-wall oven
• Through-the-wall ovens: Weather-proof ovens that allow access from inside the kitchen - Dr. Paul A. Funk

In French Des fours qui traversent le mur

In Farsi اجاق هاي خورشيدي ديواري

Contact

• Barbara Kerr