(outside temp 102 F)
Again, the components of my solar cooker so far have included a cardboard box, a picture frame with the included glass, a little foil on the inner box sides, a black t-shirt, a $5 oven thermometer from the grocery store ... and not much else.
So I took 10 minutes on my lunch break and tried to fashion some sort of gasket to make up for the hastily cut edges of the cardboard box. The solution I came up with was simply building each of the cardboard walls up a bit with some duct tape, and hoping that by laying the glass on top there would be enough pressure to for a bit of a seal. Was there? I can't really say.
The verdict? No change. Now I'm torn .... I'm not so convinced there was a whole lot of loss there anyway ... but I'm also not so confident that if there was any loss, that this may have actually remedied it.
On another note, though - while contemplating what I could use that was made of metal and a dark color to line the bottom (as opposed to the tee shirt) I came up with what I thought was genious. (other opinions may vary) It just so happens that the top of the broiler pan (you know, the part with the slots cut in it) is a perfect fit.
It's been in there now for about 15 minutes and we've already broken that pesky 225 degree ceiling we have been up against. Sure, it's only at about 230 degrees (F), but that's promising. I like to see at least a little progress each time I fiddle with the solar oven.
(update, it's been an hour now, no measurable improvement. Maybe it's just too late in the day. I'll check again tomorrow when the broiler pan has a running start at the midday sun.)
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