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Last edited: 19 November 2025
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Paul Hedrick
Paul Hedrick is the Administrator of the Solar Cooking Wiki, and the designer of the Panel-Box Cooker.
The Panel-Box Cooker
Thoughts on thru-wall solar ovens
This is another approach to the thru-wall design style of solar cookers developed by Paul Funk and Barbara Kerr. It has a self-supported base, which allows for glazing on the sides of the cooking chamber. The side glazing has been slanted for better solar orientation throughout the day. Like other south-facing fixed designs, it is probably better suited in locations away from the equatorial zone.
It will need to be highly weather resistant, so no wing reflectors are exposed to wind and snow loads, and it should not require seasonal refitting. Some mass, possibly a few layers of dark slate, at the bottom of the cooker will help to even out the thermal flywheel. The oven is always on. Glazing would be similar to typical residential windows, with argon-filled insulated glass with a heat-reflecting film reversed to reflect back into the chamber. Winter space heating for the house can be augmented by opening the south-facing oven door to interior spaces when not cooking. In hot summer weather the heat needs to stay outside. The oven would not necessarily need to be in the kitchen if a southerly orientation was better in an adjacent room.
Audio and video
- NEW: November 2025:
See also
Contact
Paul Hedrick
Email: paul@solarcookers.org