ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Uses For Old Glass Panes

Updated on June 14, 2013

Earth Day Garden Projects

So last year my buddy from work was remodeling his house and redoing all the windows. He asked me what he should do with the old glass panes and I told him I'd take them off his hands. Now I have 13 old window panes stacked up in my backyard without any projects for them to go into. This is the year for me to try some things.

I'll make a list of projects and let you vote for which project gets priority. We'll document the projects in future lenses.

(I'll put a photo here of the old glass panes as soon as I can get the snow off them. )

My Projects - My Ideas

... fill my days with wonder.

The first thing I plan to do is lay out the old glass panes over my raised garden beds to solar sterilize the beds. I left them to summer fallow last year and all they grew well were grass and weeds so I'm going to cook the soil for the first while and start fresh this year.

I have a stack of old glass panes all with a simple aluminum frame. They are single pane glass that is not coated or treated to reflect heat so I rescued them with the thought of making a solar heater of some sort to melt snow off my deck or heat a tub for relaxing this summer.

Who knows what I'll make from them. This will be a way to challenge both my creative skills making how-to lenses as well as my technical construction skills at actually making things. So far I've proven to be an armchair inventor.

New Amazon

DIY Solar Projects
DIY Solar Projects
This one looks as cool as the projects I have in mind :)
 
Solar Cooking: A Primer/Cookbook
Solar Cooking: A Primer/Cookbook
Cooking with the sun? Who'd of thunk it up...
 
Jewel 20 047 Windows Machine for Cold Frame
Jewel 20 047 Windows Machine for Cold Frame
One could use these to automatically vent the cold frame. I love labor saving devises
 

My Solar Heat Module

Basically a solar heater is an insulated box that channels the warm air over a black painted surface so it heats up.

I found plans like this all over the net I'll be making my box out of recycled plywood plywood, recycle tin from an old shed and recycled glass panes. The only thing I'll have to buy is some rigid insulation.

I also plan to put a solar powered circulation fan on the unit as well. We'll see if it will be needed.

Dehydrator Accessory for the Heat Grabber

Dehydrator Accessory for the Heat Grabber
Dehydrator Accessory for the Heat Grabber

Glass Topped Cold Frame

I've made raised beds before but the growing season is too short here. Topping the raised beds with glass would extend the growing season and make the project more worth while.

Solar Slow Cooker.

Solar cookers are simple to make and use. I once made one by just taking a cheap Styrofoam cooler and painting the inside black and clamped a sheet of old window glass on the top. I them propped the whole thing up so the glass faced the sun. I put a jar of tea to steep in the sun while I was working doing the lawn I remember. I was impressed on the results.

A Solar cooker is not a quick meal maker for sure but it is a few source of heat and use recipes that work for a slow cooker and they should work out.

I plan to make this cooker much the same way except I'll add reflectors to increase the reflected heat into the cooking chamber..

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)