Villager Sun Oven

Last edited: 9 March 2024

Paul Munsen Flickr — Paul Munsen demonstrates a Villager Sun Oven.

The Villager Sun Oven is designed for large-scale feeding situations requiring cooking great volumes of food. The Villager Sun Oven was inspired by the smaller version of this design called the All-American Sun Oven produced by Sun Ovens International,

Originally, the Villager was developed by Tom Burns with technical support from Dave Menicucci. Even though it is called an oven, food can be baked, boiled, and steamed at cooking temperatures of 260 °C (500 °F) with no fuel costs. Over 1,200 meals a day can be cooked. For use at night or on rainy days, the Villager is equipped with a propane back-up unit. This oven weighs 980 pounds / 444b kg. and comes mounted on a trailer.

Today's Villager Sun Oven features a propane cooking capability designed so that this unit is not dependent only on bright sun. In under two minutes, one person can convert the Villager Sun Oven into an efficient propane-powered oven that cooks for eight hours on just over a pound of propane. When the sun rises the next day, it only takes a few minutes to go back to solar-powered cooking.

Villager Sun Ovens are currently in use in 55 countries around the world. The primary use is in large scale feeding or in bakeries. An optional 150 piece Sun-Bakery package, enabling the creation of a self-sustaining micro-enterprise to turn out fresh baked goods while creating jobs and eliminating the cost of fuel, is available. Some schools use a VILLAGER to cook lunches and then bake bread in the afternoon. The bread is sold to help generate income.

The VILLAGER SUN OVENS are made in the U.S. and shipped to the country in which they will be used.

Each VILLAGER SUN OVEN® when utilized as a Sun Bakery can save over 150 tons of wood annually which results in the reduction of 277 tons of CO2 green house gas emissions annually.

Fact sheet[]

Even though it is called an oven, food can be baked, boiled and steamed.
Bake… hundreds of loaves of bread per day
Boil… countless liters of water
Cook… Virtually Anything: Rice, Beans, Maize, Dahl, Vegetables, Pasta, Fish, Meat...Up to 1,200 meals a day
Sterilize… medical instruments
Pasteurize... Villager Sun Oven can pasteurize large quantities of unsafe water making it fit for consumption

Features[]

High temperatures… in excess of 260 °C (500 °F)
Rugged durable construction… designed to last for 15 years or more
Easy Track tracking system…enables precise manual adjustment to follow the sun
Propane back up system…operates on rainy days or at night
Trailer mounted… easy to transport and secure for storage
Simple to operate…operators can be trained in a matter of hours
Collapsible reflector assembly folds for easy transport and storage

Dimensions[]

Height:

Trailer mounted folded for storage 74in 187.9cm

Trailer mounted open for use 109.5in 287.2cm

Ground level folded for storage 55in 139.7cm

Ground level open for use 99in 251.5cm

Width:

At bezel 25.8sqft 2.37sqm

At base 14.7sqft 1.35sqm

Cooking chamber 7cuft . 20cum

Cooking shelf 6.53sqft . 60sqm

Reflective Area 91.75sqft 8.44sqm

Reflector diameter when open 109in 276.9cm

Glass 16sqft 1.47sqm

Trailer:

Deck 4 x 6ft 1.22 x 1.83m

Overall width at fenders 64in 162.5cm

Weight :

Oven and trailer 980 lbs. 444kg

Standard Accessories[]

1 Trailer leveling leg
1 Trailer dolly
2 Jack Stands
2-20 lb. propane tanks
3 Oven thermometers

Current Usage[]

School feeding programs
Retreat centers
Refugee camps
Missions compounds
Orphanages
Emergency relief
Sun-bakeries
Hospitals (Cooks food for staff and patients and sterilizes medical instruments.)

In some cases, the same VILLAGER SUN OVEN can be used to serve a number of purposes. Orphanages use them to cook food for the children. In addition, they bake bread which they sell to generate income. The children are able to learn the usable job skill of making bread, and the orphanage benefits from the additional income and money they save by not purchasing cooking fuel.

Villager