Solar Cooking Australia Solar Cookers and Cooking

Solar Cooker Test / Review

Decide which to use - or buy...

We recently did a test between 3 common solar cookers to report on the findings.

We have long used the Global Sun Oven ® and purchased a Tulsi Solar Oven and a Tulsi Parabolic Cooker to test. We will add more to the line up once they arrive on the scene. (please contact use if you have a solar cooker to add!).

We will do full reviews of each in the articles section.

After both the Tulsi units sat for nearly a year without ANY use what so ever we thought we had better test them and move them out of our way!

The Line Up:

The Global Sun Oven ® - a Solar Oven with built in 4 way reflectors
Tulsi Solar Oven - a solar oven with a one way reflector
Tulsi Parabolic Dish - a large solar cooker with no 'oven'


The Test:

3 Solar Cookers would be used side by side over a number of hours to heat up 2 L of water in identical pots.

The oven temperature was to be measured every 5 minutes, and the water temperature every 1 hour.

After 2 hours the solar cookers being tested would all be turned away from the sun to see how well they kept the water hot.


The Figures:

2L of water in a black pot
Air Temperature = 21ºC
Water Temperature = 24.5ºC
Conditions - fine for 55 minutes then intermittent clouds


Notes:

The Tulsi Solar Oven could not fit the pot inside that had been chosen for the test due to it's restricted height. Two smaller flatter pots were used which gave the Tulsi a slight advantage in water temperature readings.

The Tulsi Parabolic cooker is not an oven so the temperatures were obtained in the sunlight next to the pot. This would give this cooker an advantage and inaccurate figures in the air temperature readings.



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The below test is the temperatures in the ovens recorded every 5 minutes for two hours. at the 55minute mark cloud cover moved in with some breaks. The ovens were not moved to track the sun

At 2 hours the ovens were turned away from the sun altogether and the temperatures were taken every 15 minutes.

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It can be seen that the Parabolic cooker heats up very quickly, but also cools off very quickly when cloud passes over. It can also been seen near the 2 hour mark that it does not get as hot due to the position of the sun. As with all parabolic cookers, it needs to be adjusted very precisely to get the highest temperature.

The Global Sun Oven ® gets to very high temperatures and remains very constant throughout the cloud cover. It also stays hotter longer.

The Tulsi does follow the same pattern but with lower temperatures and faster cooling rate.




The below are the results for the water temperature on the same test. The water temperatures were measured every hour
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The Parabolic cooker suffers terribly from the scattered cloud cover - with the water temperature falling below that of the two ovens.

The Global Sun Oven ® gives the best results. While the Tulsi doesn't look far behind, it has the added help of the water being in two separate black containers that have very thin walls compared to the roasting dishes in the other two ovens.
Summary:

Here is a brief outline of the things that stand out for each unit. A more thorough review can be found on the articles pages.

The Global Sun Oven ® - Very Hot temperatures, Best Insulation, Easiest to load and use, Most even temperature with cloud cover, Largest cooking area, Lightest and easiest to move, Highest Quality.

Tulsi Solar Oven - Reasonable temperatures, Good insulation, wide but limited height cooking area, poor quality.

Tulsi Parabolic Dish
- Very hot temperatures, prone to burning food / uneven cooking, Too big, Very tedious construction time before use.



If you were only going to heat water on very clear days the parabolic cooker would be the obvious choice and would do a much faster job. But for actual cooking it is prone to burning and uneven cooking. It is also very dangerous, large and needs constant adjustment. To top it off the initial construction is tedious and delicate. Quality is quite low as well.

The Tulsi oven is very attractive to look at. For us this is the only positive. Our test unit came damaged - a common problem with it's low Indian build quality. When we initially opened it - the smell was enough to resign us to never use it for actual food. It smelt very, very poisonous. After nearly a year with no use the interior black paint has started to chip off. It does have a wide cooking area - but too shallow to be of use for breads or most of our normal cook pots. It is also quite heavy for it's size.

The Global Sun Oven ® really is hard to fault and a long way ahead of the competitors in our opinion. High Quality, Easy to use & adjust, Very hot - but even heat so as not to burn the food, Great insulation, Light, Compact and an adjustable base, Odour free.
This unit is voted the World's Best Solar Oven by people who use it, not just the advertisers!

DISCLOSURE:

This review was written by someone who is involved in the distribution and sale of the Sun Oven®

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The World's Best Solar Oven - The Sun Oven ® available worldwide from www.sunoven.com.au

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The Global Sun Oven was designed to defeat the problems of solar cookers. It is well insulated to keep food hot - but is light to carry. It has built in reflectors but is easy to fold up & compact. It has the benefits of extra heat but doesn't burn food easily. It is safe and very easy to use - your best choice!

Sun Oven Solar Cookers - the Worlds' Best!

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