Kid Builds Solar Water Heater From 1967 car parts

[Okwes]

ARTICLE: Kid Builds Solar Water Heater From 1967 Pontiac radiator

Betty Reid
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 10, 2006 12:00 AM
Garrett Michael Yazzie pried a rusty radiator out a 1967 Pontiac in a landfill and invented a
solar water heater to warm his mother's hogan.
The contraption is a godsend in his community in northeastern Arizona on the Navajo
Reservation, where temperatures dip to nearly 7 degrees.
Garrett's home, an octagonal hogan connected to a trailer, lacks a central heating system
but has electricity. Georgia, mother of the award-winning 14-year-old, is an employee at
Pinon Middle School and calls him "my little inventor."
Garrett's radiator turned solar water heater placed seventh in the Discovery Channel Young
Scientist Challenge in October. The project also snatched many first-place awards at the
Arizona American Indian Science and Engineering Fair in Chandler.
It earned a top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair middle school
outreach fair at the Phoenix Civic Plaza Convention Center in May. The young man from
Pinon received an invitation from General Motors to tour its plant in Detroit.
Garrett, an eighth-grade student at Pinon Middle School talked to us about his project and
life on the reservation.
Q. How did you become interested in science?
My teacher, Douglas Davis, asked, "Who wants to be part of the science club?" I raised my
hand. Then he said, "Pick a project, and we are going down to Chandler and enter the
science fair." I wanted to get out of Pinon badly, and I wanted to see what Chandler looked
like.
Mr. Davis, a special-education teacher, helped me with power tools. He taught me how to
use them and helped me make a box.
Q: How did you know to go to the landfill?
A: Out here, when trucks and cars die, they get parked in somebody's yard or they go to
the landfill. It was a Sunday afternoon my mom and I took some tools and looked for a car
with a radiator.
We went to seven trash dumps. We were looking for a complete radiator. We found one
Pontiac that had everything.
Q: How do you stay warm in the winter at your home?
A: We use a lot of blankets and a wooden stove to keep ourselves warm. Like the
community around here, people cut down trees, haul wood and heat their homes and use
it to cook. They also burn coal from the Black Mesa coal mine.
I've learned that type of heating can ruin the environment, and the smoke from coal can
hurt people and the environment if it is overused.
Q: What type of research did you conduct?
A: I researched on the Internet, and I learned about how a radiator works in a truck. People
drive a lot of trucks around here, and sometimes the warmest places are in the cabs here
in the winter. I thought, what should I do with it?
I came up with the idea of a water heater. Then I asked myself, how would I use the rays of
the sun to warm the water? There is plenty of that out here, too. I answered those
questions, and that's how my project came together.
Q: What fun activities are available for teens in Pinon?
A: There's plenty to do. Teenagers go to school. I hang out after school at my cousin's
house, and we ride BMX bikes on dirt roads. Pinon has a Bashas', a gas station and three
stop signs. I listen to rock and heavy metal music.
My favorite artist is Slipknot. I read Transworld Motocross Magazine. I don't have a
scientist I admire, but I enjoy building things and seeing how they work, and I like math.
Q: Do you have other projects in the works?
A: My mother complains about the electricity bill. The highest bill she received was $156
last year.

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