Wolf-Kim
Lovin' The Homestead
Hm. I was thinking a way to heat the water through solar heat. I know that many times heat can be magnified and trapped through use of mirrors and glass. Perhaps through some concave mirrors directed onto the livestock tank you could melt the ice?
If this works, it would have many downfalls. Number one, you would need the sun to be out and bright, cloudy snow days are a FAIL. This would probably look AWEFUL! Huge concave mirrors directed into livestock tanks.
My father in law created a solar heater through the use of an old truck camper shell and a sliding glass door. He created this metal box, which he painted the inside black. Then place the glass door over the top, when it reached a certain temperature, a fan would kick on and pump the air inside the house. It worked quite well, even though it was an eyesore and the mother in law had it removed.
Exploring the rest of the forum and I found a link to this site for solar ovens. Same idea, just larger scale. If it can cook food, it can de-ice water!
http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/
-Kim
If this works, it would have many downfalls. Number one, you would need the sun to be out and bright, cloudy snow days are a FAIL. This would probably look AWEFUL! Huge concave mirrors directed into livestock tanks.
My father in law created a solar heater through the use of an old truck camper shell and a sliding glass door. He created this metal box, which he painted the inside black. Then place the glass door over the top, when it reached a certain temperature, a fan would kick on and pump the air inside the house. It worked quite well, even though it was an eyesore and the mother in law had it removed.
Exploring the rest of the forum and I found a link to this site for solar ovens. Same idea, just larger scale. If it can cook food, it can de-ice water!
http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/
-Kim
