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Systems & Self-Sufficiency

Heat, water, power and air.

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The sun house that ran out of salt

The Dover Sun House stored the sun's heat in Glauber's salt. It worked, then it didn't. A 1948 experiment and what it still teaches.

Library records

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Dwelling · D-03 Dover Sun House A 1948 house in Dover, Massachusetts, heated by sunlight stored in 21 tons of Glauber's salt. It worked for about two and a half winters. Historical System · S-03 Phase-change heat storage Storing heat in a material that melts when warmed and gives the heat back as it freezes again. Tried with Glauber's salt in 1948. Historical Person · P-03 Mária Telkes Physicist who designed the Glauber's-salt heat storage for the Dover Sun House, then founded a solar-energy lab at New York University.