light in a jar

well here goes

i don't know if this has ever been posted but i think its neat

 

In Third World locations, they fill water bottles and affix them into the roof of a house. Here is a video showing what is done.



Maybe not a prepper's first choice. But, in a situation where something is needed / necessary, one may have a pile of empty water bottles laying around that are doing nothing but taking up space.

 

So, purified water and 3 tablespoons of bleach...makes sense, doesn't work at night but could use to light up a wood shed or something. I will remember this. Simple and effective...and cheap.

 

Those third world locations would probably be temperate or tropical locations?? May not be so good if one can expect a heavy snow load.. Even on an outbuilding..

 

Yep. Everywhere I have lived (in SE Asia) has been tropical. I am no structural engineer. But, perhaps the rise and run of your roof, and how well the bottle were mounted into the roof system, would have bearing on that? Not sure.

 

Have seen woodstove pipes layed flat on the roof from snow slidding off..

 

Clever idea.

 

Add a diverter, upslope, and that will not happen again. Make it as wide as what you need to protect , and heavy enough material to cover the weight it will hold back. Usually, 2-3" × 1/8" is plenty strong enough.

 

I do not have as much trouble with how my stove pipe is set up.. The snow flows around it very well. Even during one of the real heavy snow years when I was out of state for the winter there was no damage.. The diverters are nice for short run, as those over the entry door.. I still question having that plastic bottle stuck through the metal on the roof..

 

It's just a low-tech version of one of these:

 

Looked at those light pipes years ago.. Great idea, I just had visions of those plastic bottles being pushed through the roof or just scraped flat when the ice slides off the roof.. Now, if they were set close to the peak of the roof??? Three or four of those five gallon plastic water cooler bottles, Hmm?

 

Due to the freeze and thaw cycle, and the expansion of water as it freezes, i do not believe that these water bottles through the roof are a good idea anywhere it is possible they may freeze.
The heatloss, the risk of leakage, and the snowload above shifting, makes this a warm weather only kind of fix.

 

I have read in other forums , that there are those that use the cheap solar lights in their place almost exclusively .
They put them out side to collect the charge and bring them in at night for light, and they will work for several hours .
In a tent /camping situation this is ideal and you can have as many of these lights going as you want especially around camp, especially if you get up at night . They don't weigh much and are very small .

 

I would agree. The only areas I have ever seen these, were in Southeast Asia, and only in warmer (tropical) climates.

 

Here's mine, made from Pace Picante jars, hole in lid for solar cell & light, which are $1 each, then I seal them with caulk, silicone, whatever to keep water out. I put a bail handle made from a coat hanger on this one so I can hang it up or carry it around like a lantern. Have experimented with aluminum foil reflectors inside and brightness increases with one at the top, but if you want one to set on a floor or step then another piece of aluminum foil on the bottom works well. I've brought them inside on several occasions when the power was out at night and it saves from lighting a candle. The small Pace jars make a pretty good flashlight with a foil reflector on the inside lid.