NORWAY — Two organizations will once again hold a workshop on homemade solar heating systems after one earlier this year proved popular.

The workshop will be taught by Larry Jordan, maintenance manager of The Progress Center, and Ken Hamilton, director of Healing of Persons Exceptional, and run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 31 at the Progress Center’s workshop. Registration is limited to 12 people.

Hamilton said the previous workshop in February attracted 17 people. The solar hot water collector at that workshop was constructed using materials purchased by Hamilton, and was later installed at his home.

Hamilton said such a collector can be constructed using about $100 worth of equipment. He will also be purchasing the materials for the upcoming workshop, and hopes that the second collector will take care of 90 percent of his hot water needs.

“We see opening up this experience to the whole Oxford Hills,” he said. “There are thousands of homes that can benefit from this.”

Jordan said the collector’s panels will be able to raise the temperature of the water to a certain degree, even if a nonrenewable source has to heat it further.

“You’re always getting a contribution, whatever it is,” he said.

The cost of the workshop is $50 per person. The money will be divided among The Progress Center, Jordan and Hamilton, and Richard Komp, who is the founder of the Maine Solar Energy Association and designer of the collector. Participants will also receive a copy of Komp’s layout of the system.

“Everyone who attends the workshop, they’ll leave knowing how to build a collector,” Jordan said.

For more information, contact Jordan at 743-8049 or [email protected].

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