Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
Solar water heaters are used around the world and
are not very difficult to build. The system we are
going to describe is based on a design developed
some years ago in Afghanistan. Since then, it has
been built and used in many countries. It can heat
seventy liters of water to sixty degrees Celsius. It
can do this between sunrise and noon on a clear day
with an average air temperature of thirty-two
degrees Celsius.There are two parts to the solar
water heater. One part is made of a sheet of metal
painted black. Black surfaces become hotter in the
sun than surfaces painted any other color. This
black metal plate is called a collector. The
collector is placed in contact with the water. There
are several kinds of metal sheets that can be used
for the collector. Corrugated metal will work very
well. Corrugated sheets are often used as roofs on
housing.Once the water is heated, it is kept hot
with insulation material. This allows the water to
stay warm for a long time. The second part of the
solar water heater holds the water for the system.
This storage tank can be a container that holds
about one hundred liters. Two rubber pipes are
attached to the water storage tank. One pipe lets
water flow into the system. The other lets water
flow out.When the water heater is working correctly,
water will flow from the storage tank to the
collector and back again. You can use the hot water
at the top of the tank for washing and cleaning. You
can change the flow of water so that the temperature
is hot or warm as desired. This solar water heater
is easy to build and operate. It will last about two
years before the rubber pipes need to be replaced.
There is also something else you will need to make
the solar water heater work -- the sun. As you might
expect, the heater will heat water only on sunny
days. You can get more information about solar water
heaters and other projects from EnterpriseWorks/VITA.
This group works internationally to fight poverty.
The website is enterpriseworks.org. Choose the link
for News & Resources, then click on Publications.
For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villareal. To read
and listen to more stories about technology and for
English teaching activities, go to
voaspecialenglish.com. We're on Facebook, Twitter
and iTunes at VOA Learning English.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
