Build a solar hot dog cooker

Step 5 Cook your weiner.

On a sunny day, lean your parabolic cooker up against a fence or deck or whatever you have available (or you can design in an adjustable stand). Adjust it until it is aimed directly at the sun.

The easiest way to tell when it is aimed correctly is to look at the shadows cast by the two skewer mounts. When you can see a shadow cast on the inside surface of each side, then the cooker is aimed in the right direction. When both shadows pass through the origin of your parabola then the cooker is tilted to the right height. You will have to adjust the cooker from time to time as the sun moves (or rather as the Earth rotates).

Shove your skewer through up to 3 hot dogs, stick it on your skewer mounts and wait.

Be patient. My experience with solar cooking is that it looks like nothing is happening (you don't hear anything or see anything) until suddenly, your hot dog starts blistering and/or your skewer catches on fire. It takes a bit of practice to learn when you should rotate your skewer.

I find it takes about 6 minutes to cook ordinary weiners, and 8-10 minutes to cook the large smokies you've seen in these images. I try to rotate the skewer about once every couple minutes.

For more ways you can reduce your environmental impact and save money, visit my website www.IWillTry.org. Thanks for reading.

Comments

[rogueleadr]

 I like the house heater.... Fire Hazard? Can you explain more how it is built? Thanks

[iwilltry]

You can find an explanation of its construction at my website, www.iwilltry.org. Yes, it is a potential fire hazard, depending how you build it, what you aim it at, and how many of them you point at the same target ;-)