Tribewanted: Vorovoro

Jim mentioned the existence of a solar hot water system on top of the kitchen roof which consists of a dark blue hose pipe connected to the mains. I discovered that said device works marvelously as long as bright sunlight is present, but that it also loses its heat quickly (due to its high surface area) when the sun disappears behind clouds etc. Normally by about 3:30 to 4:00pm, the water has become cool again. I remembered seeing in a book somewhere that this design could be improved somewhat by cutting lots of clear plastic bottles in half and then threading the neck half onto the hosepipe to form a long “snake” of bottles. This creates a sort of greenhouse effect and locks the heat in for longer. Knowing this, I delegated the mindless task of cutting the bottles to a couple of unsuspecting tribe members and a few blisters later they were threaded onto the pipe.

A week later, I’m happy to report that there is a marked improvement in the performance of the system. A further improvement of course would be the addition of a storage drum insulated by coconut husk to the line with the main aim of giving me hot water for bathing and a cup of coffee at night, but I’ve been told these are not priorities right now… how rude!