AMERICAN INTENSIVE SOLAR GARDENING

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Solar hardware and glazing are available from Solar Components, 88 Pine Street, Manchester, NH 03103, 1-603-668-8186.

How to Build the Solar Appliances

The Solar Pod
The Solar Pod is the primary appliance of the American intensive system. It is the most versatile of the solar appliances, useful for shading plants in the summer and for warming them in the fall, winter, and spring. If you have only one appliance, the Pod is the one to choose, because it is the most thermally effective, represents the most efficient use of materials, and is a manageable (four by eight foot) size.

Accessories for the Pod include the Pod Extender, the drop frame, the permanent insulated base, and the Pod lifter peg, all discussed later in this chapter.

Materials for the Pod

The Solar Pod requires the following materials (see diagrams bellow):

14' x 4' sheet of 3/4" AB exterior grade plywood (for A, B)

2 pieces of 8'-long 2" x 4" pressure-treated pine (C). Select the straightest, most knot-free lumber possible, since it will greatly simplify Pod assembly

2 8'-long 3/4" x 3/4" wood strips, to be used as the outside pressure strips (F)

1 8' piece of 2" x 2" wood, to be used as the end of the plate stiffener (E)

16 feet of 5'-wide .040-inch Sunlite fiberglass, used as glazing (I, J)

40 square feet of angelhair fiberglass insulation (H)

1 bent piece of conduit piping, used as a snow support (K)

1 4' x 4' piece of 1" rigid foam board insulation (D)

2 6" metal handles, optional (G)

1 tube clear silicone caulking compound

The fasteners include:
110 #8 3/4" aluminum pan-head (sheet metal) screws
28 #8 1½" plated flat-head wood screws
8 #8 2" flat-head screws
9 #14 3" plated flat-head screws
6 ¼" USS plated flat washers 12 to 14 roofing nails
20 (approximately) 1½" finishing nails
4 3 / 4 " x ¼" round-head machine screws with tee nuts to match. These are used to fasten the handles to the Pod.

A small amount of wood glue 1 quart of polymer, to coat and maintain the fiberglass glazing
1 quart of Cuprinol #10 wood preservative and/or oil-based exterior paint

Fabrication of Pod Parts

We recommend fabricating all of the Pod parts before assembly.

Make a paper or cardboard pattern of the plywood end (A) and the plywood glazing supports (B). The glazing supports need not be made out of one continuous piece but can be made with several pieces from plywood scraps. Trace the end plates onto the plywood sheet and cut out with a saber saw. On the plywood scraps, trace the end glazing supports and cut these out.

Glue the glazing supports to the end plates and fasten them with small finishing nails. When the end plates are assembled, clamp them together, back to back, so that their glazing surfaces can be sanded smooth and made exactly the same on both ends of the Pod.

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