A Solar-Heated Church

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Inexpensive solar heaters (made with sliced-in-half beer and soda cans) have cut the Washingtonville, New York First Presbyterian Church's fuel costs by 55 percent!

The project got under way in the fall of 1978, when the Reverend Lee H. Poolea — longtime solar advocate — convinced the church's council to put up $110 to build a collector. He drew up the plans himself, and the first unit was constructed over the course of a single weekend in a member's back yard.

"We tested our creation on a sunny October afternoon," the minister recalled, "and the temperature inside the collector reached 203 degrees Fahrenheit. So we knew then that my design would work, and as a result the council agreed to fund two more units."

A Quick Payoff

The Reverend's system was hooked into the church's Sunday school building by air ducts and a fan that drew cool air in from the basement and passed it through the collectors and into the building again. It reduced the church's fuel oil costs by more than $650 that first winter, almost exactly what it cost to construct and install the complete solar heating system.

The church then offered to "spread the word" by sending information about the solar heater design to anyone who'd mail in $1.00. A few months later, the New York Times and other newspapers, as well as a number of church magazines, publicized their offer — and that attention brought in more than 13,000 letters, from all 50 states and 29 foreign countries.

"During the peak of our mail-answering period," the pastor noted, "we were printing plans in lots of 2,000, and we had five youngsters and three mothers sending them out and taking money to the bank."

After taking care of the printing and postage costs, the church found that it had made a profit of $7,000, which was then used to build a much more elaborate eight-unit system, dubbed "Solar II." These collectors were put into operation in October 1980.

While installing the enlarged setup, Lee and his helpers decided that they needed some professional assistance, primarily help in installing ducts and fans and tackling the necessary electrical work. The fee for that labor came to $2,400, and brought the total price of Solar II to about $6,700 — but as the following figures show, the system has already proved to be a bargain.