PLUMBING UP MOTHER'S SOLAR FURNACE

(Page 6 of 6)

May/June 1979
 
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Since the hours of daylight will vary throughout the year, you'll have to adjust the position of the control arms to compensate for seasonal changes. As a rule, though, the sun can only provide substantial energy from one hour after sunrise to one hour before sunset, so—regardless of when you're calibrating your furnace's tracking system—tune in" the switches with this fact in mind.

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When you're satisfied that the tracking system will operate without a hitch, it's time to give the furnace its first test. Close the steam outlet needle valve and crack open the fresh-water inlet control. This will allow the liquid to partially fill the "flash" chambers in the heat exchanger, where it will be vaporized. After a few minutes, open the steam control valve ... a steady stream of pressurized water vapor will burst from the outlet pipe, ready for whatever use you might care to put it to.

Like Charles Curnutt, MOTHER's research crew chose to run a steam engine with the free power available from the apparatus. Unfortunately, hunt as they might, the boys couldn't come up with a powerplant that was [1] large enough to drive an electrical generator, [2] efficient enough to make full use of the steam, and [3] costeffective. So—while continuing

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