Water Vitalizer with a new motor

 Originally my prototype Water Vitalizer was using a motor that was salvaged from a broken Ryobi drill.  It was a good use of salvage parts, but not practical in that I would have to find an obsolete Ryobi drill, and salvage the motor out of it.  So,I got an off-the-shelf surplus drill motor, and adapted it to the Water Vitalizer.  This required that I modify the mounting bolt pattern for the new motor, and modify the air vent holes in the mounting plate to accommodate the vent holes in the new motor.  So I marked up the motor mounting plate, and then used the Z.Monkey Mini Mill to modify the Motor Mounting Plate on the Water Vitalizer.

I call this process Nibbling, or making Nibbles.  There is a tool called a Nibbler, and it is different than what I am doing here.  I literally mark the plate with the areas I want to cut using a Blue Sharpie, and then use an End Mill to nibble out the areas I want to remove.  The Milling Table let me make some very precise little cuts, and I can sneak up on the patterns, or shapes I want easily.  This motor mounting plate is 1/8" aluminum, so it is relatively easy to cut.  Then after I get the new motor pattern cut into the motor mounting plate I put the Water Vitalizer back together for a test.  It's been running for a few days now, so I think I'll say it is working good...

Clear the Drain Pipes

 Am I considerably disappointed with plumbers at the moment. I've had three independent plumbers out to my house to look at the sewer pipe issue. All three of them told me the sewer pipes are shot, and the only option is to replace them. This would be a considerable expense, like $20K. So, since I got these estimates my mind has been stewing on this problem. I formulated a plan, executed the plan, and got the sewer pipes working again. AND... The cost was negligible. I already had a fifty foot pipe snake, and the only expense was hot water, dish soap, and my tenacious labor. Within a few hours of "working the pipe" it was free flowing again, and now the study bathroom is back in service, as well as the laundry room. Here is a video of the free flowing drain at the service cleanout...

My process partially depends on the clogged drain pipe.  The pipe isn't flowing, so I can fill it with hot, soapy water.  Then I use the Pipe Snake to work the pipe.  This breaks up the stuff that it clogging the pipe, and suspends the stuff in the water so I can flush it through the drain pipe.  This doesn't happen instantaneously.  You have to work the pipe to get the stuff clogging the pipe suspended in the water, and help push it out of the drain pipe system.  The four inch pipes under my house empty into much larger pipes in the city's sewer system, so if you can get the krud out of the local drain system, it can be pushed downstream easily.  So, after many iterations of my clean out process the result is a clear flowing drain pipe.

Over the weekend I cleared the drain pipe for the study bathroom, and laundry room.  Then, also, I cleared the kitchen drain pipe which has been clogged for many years.  I ran a bypass drain that went around the kitchen drain pipe before I had the fifty foot pipe snake.  I was using a different clean out method before, which didn't work on the kitchen drain pipe.  Now, with the pipe snake, I was able to clear out the kitchen drain.  It had been sitting dry for many years, and was rather krunchy.  After applying my new drain clearing method I was able to soften up the clogs, and flush them out.  Now the kitchen drain is running clear also.  Yeah, this process is werkin' good...
 

Washer Drain Workaround

 The main sewer pipe is compromised.  We tried to snake it out, and it is very gunky.  I'm kind of bummed out about this, but not surprised.  These pipes have been in the ground since 1978, so 42 years...  That's a lot of shit, LOL!, and other stuff too...  So, we need a work around.  This affects the Laundry Room, and the Study Bathroom.  We have two other bathrooms, so the Study Bathroom isn't such a problem, but the Laundry Room is necessary.  Then the only thing in the Laundry Room that has been compromised is the Washing Machine Drain.  The fresh water supply, and the electricity work fine.  So, I needed to find a way to drain the Washing Machine without using the sewer pipe.

So, I needed a way to adapt to the Washing Machine drain hose.  It is a specialized hose, and I started looking for some sort of coupler so I could adapt the Washing Machine drain hose to a garden hose.  Well, didn't find much there.  Then I had an idea that I would use a compression fitting to adapt the Washing Machine drain hose to a similar size hose.  I did find some compression fittings that were meant for gas lines, and they were very expensive.  Also the gas line hose was very expensive.  OK, that's out.  Finally I found some tubing that is meant to be drain hose for landscaping.

The Washing Machine drain hose is 1.25 inches outside diameter.  It has a nice long cylindrical flat on the end of it so that it can interface with the drain pipe in the house that goes down to the sewer pipe.  I figured that we can take advantage of this in our impromptu drain setup.  So, I went searching for tubing with a 1.25 inch inside diameter.  I found a lot of relatively expensive types of tubing that had a 1.25 inch inside diameter.  But as I kept digging I found some tubing called drain tubing.  Drain tubing is a low pressure, high flow tubing used to drain things.  Uh, Big Duh!  With a little more digging I found some of this drain tubing that had a 1.25 inch inside diameter, and it it was relatively inexpensive at $1.25 per foot.  I figured I only needed to add a hose clamp to link the two tubes together.  Well, once I got the drain tubing, and tried it, there was an interference fit.  The new drain tubing fit the Washing Machine drain perfectly, no hose clamp required.  So, then I ran the drain tubing through the garage, and down the driveway to the alley.  It worked perfectly!  Whoo Hoo!

Sewer Pipe

 Saturday Night...  I'm fixin' to watch Buck Rogers, working on cleaning up the house after Christmas, making some food, and doing some laundry.  Kim had some issue we needed to talk about, and then I heard the sound of a waterfall.  Water pouring out onto a stone surface.  WTF Batman...  So I went to look for the source of the sound, and it is the toilet.  The toilet was pouring water out of the bowl onto the floor into the study bathroom...

Fucking Yay!  I just love sewage backups, especially on Saturday Night when I'm fixin' to watch Buck Rogers...  I've got this crappy old sewer pipe system that was built in 1978, with iron pipes.  The pipes pretty much disintegrate with oxidation, then are subject to penetration by roots, or just being crushed by the shifting of the house.  Fucking Yay!

Hey!  Lets throw in some collateral problems as well...  I renewed this toilet maybe three, or four years ago, and the hardware is rusted shut.  Yay!  I just love cutting rusted bolts off plumbing, most especially toilets...

I've got a drain auger that I use to clean out sewer pipes.  The screwy thing there is attached to 50 foot long cable.  I push it through the stuck pipe, and it can usually bust the clog.  This time it didn't work...  I went through maybe 35 feet of pipe, very gunky, and didn't open the drain.  So, I'm kinda stuck here at the moment.  I don't know what else to do but call the plumber.  That is going to be very expensive...

West Fence Repair

 I've got this same problem all around the fence.  The old cedar posts have been saturated with water, and are starting to decay.  The lateral forces on the fence panels cause the posts to bend back, and forth right at the base of the post.  Then over tine the post will start to break right where it meets the ground, and will ultimately fail, and break.  When I started this process I had about eight posts that were in this condition.  Here the two posts in the foreground are broken in this manner, but the fence is still standing because of the steel reinforcements I added, and the recently renewed gate section close to the house.

So, there are two things I want to do here simultaneously.  First, repair the broken posts, but also redouble the strength of the fence in general.  At the moment I am concentrating on replacing the broken parts of the fence.  In the near future, after the posts are repaired, I start renewing the fence panels, and integrating my Flow Through Privacy Design where the pickets are spaced apart, and staggered on opposite sides of the fence.

First, I planted the posts in the new locations making sure they are plumb, and level.  I want to have really solid footings for these new posts, so after planting them I leave them alone for several days to make sure the concrete is completely cured before I put any stress on them.  I have experimented with planting posts a lot in the past.  Before I had some novel ideas that didn't work out so well.  This method has worked the best.

Now in this last shot I have removed the braces that were holding the new posts, and attached the fence to them.  Each post is attached to the fence panel with six, 3.5 inch screws.  Now the fence panels have a very solid feel.  They will flex a little, but overall very solid.  Next I am working north along this same part of the fence to the Northwest corner of the fence.

North East Fence Corner 2

 The first post I was working with on this corner seemed to go fairly easily.  The original post had decomposed inside the concrete slug, and the concrete slug was partially intact.  I was able to use this partially intact concrete slug to hold the first post to stabilize this corner.  I had intended to return to this post, finish cleaning out the hole, and then pour a new concrete slug to hold a new post that is square to the rest of the fence.  Easy right?  Not...  Down in the bottom of this hole was the remainder of the concrete slug that was wider at the bottom of the hole.  It was very difficult to remove, and I wound up breaking my shovel trying to remove it.

So it took several hours to finish cleaning out this hole.  After I removed the old concrete I was able to set a new post, and refill the hole with some fresh concrete.  Now the North East fence corner has four fresh posts to support it, and it is solid once again.

This one corner has taken about three days of work, and it is not done yet.  I plan on adding a pressure treated 2x8 footer board to seal the bottom of the panel to the ground.  Then I want to replace the runners with 2x4 pressure treated boards so that all the support structure is pressure treated wood.  Last I want to replace the pickets with pre-stained 6 inch Cedar Boards to make it pretty.  So, maybe another day, and this prototype panel will be done.

North East Fence Corner

 Old Fence...  Big Puppy Sigh...  My Fence was built with Cedar Posts.  While they look nice, they don't last very long.  They seem to break most often where the post meets the ground.  That is where the most stress is.  Lateral forces (wind mainly) push the Fence back and forth, and the place that the Post bends is where it meets the ground.  There are other forces that act on this area as well like the String Trimmer, and ground dwelling Insects.  When the Post breaks at this area usually two Fence Panels are affected because the Fence Panels are joined at the end with a Post.  The end of the Fence Panel is the weakest place to put the Posts.  The ends of the Rails deteriorate first, and it is better to secure the Rails to the Posts in the middle of the Rails.

When you place the Posts at the ends of the fence Panels, each Panel gets half the Post.  This means each Fence Panel get two halves of a Post, or one Post per Panel.  So you get a six foot by eight foot Sail with one Post to hold it.  No wonder they fail right at the point where the Post meets the ground.  When it is windy you could have some significant forces bending your Posts back and forth considerably.  This puts considerable stress not just on the Post, but also the ends of the Fence Rails.

Then this is what you get over time.  The two Fence Posts on this corners are broken at the ground.  The Fence would have fallen over because the ends of the Fence Rails are deteriorated, but I used Steel Joiners to reinforce the joints at the Fence Posts.  The Steel Joiners were a previous reinforcement idea, that worked, but the Cedar deteriorated anyway.  Going forward I am going to use two Posts per Fence Panel attached in the middle of the Panel.  This will double the strength of the Fence to Ground connection.  Also I plan on making a Flow Through design with the Pickets so that air can flow through the fence, but we retain the "privacy" fence design.  I need to draw something to elucidate this.  There will be Pickets on both sides of the Rails which are staggered to block light, but with wide gaps to allow air flow.  The North East Fence Corner is my prototype for this design.  More forthcoming...