GULFPORT, MS (WLOX) -
Thursday is the first official day of winter, which means a lot of cold weather is still ahead for us. And while we all like to stay warm, many homeowners are looking for ways to reduce heating bills.
A Gulfport man, who's been inventing things his whole life, recently took up that task and created a solar heating system for his home.
"It has three panels," Russ Cameron said, showing off his invention. "I did it this way because I wanted to be able to catch sun early in the mornings, all the way into late in the afternoons."
The completely hand made solar system collects heat by using some basic rules of science.
"Dark colors, flat blacks especially, will absorb more heat than anything else. And I painted some sheet metal flat black and covered it with a clear roofing to trap the air inside that's heated and duct that into my house," Cameron said.
From there, a fan blows that hot air directly into the home, allowing for full coverage and a constant flow of warmth.
"It's been overcast a lot, so we haven't gotten a real benefit out of it. But one day it got up to a hundred and something and it was, yeah, we had no heat on in the house," Cameron's wife said.
Its taken two tries to perfect the device, but finally now Cameron says he's created something that he can be proud of.
"Once I get through with it, it will be all totally automatic. Once the sun gets it hot enough, the fan will kick on and start putting heat in the house," Cameron said.
The system has only been in for about two weeks, but for anyone else thinking about adding one of Cameron's solar systems to their home, you just might be in luck.
"I'm hoping to retire probably in a couple of years and I may do this on the side. Build solar panels and I may even check into the electrical stuff. I'm fascinated with that, too," Cameron said.
Cameron is a 30 year veteran aircraft mechanic, so he partially credits that for his natural ability to build things. A couple of his other creations include natural bee traps, and handmade electric truck that he drives to work every day.
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