bits

We were building this the last two days out of 1 inch hexagon chicken wire and 1/2 inch 600 psi schedule 40 pipe.  We glued the panels together, then zip tied the 4 foot chicken wire to the frames.  There is one corner open that we can close with bungee cords, and we will be working on a netting roof to clip on.  This way our chickens have a mobile place we can move them around - like a chicken tractor.  Mark is going to be working on a house and nesting box for them that is light enough we can move it around with the pen.  The pen is also expandable this way, so we can add more panels and make more space if we need it.  Then our chickens can get plenty of grass and weeds and bugs and we can move it when an area gets too sparse for them.  The nesting box and house will give them a place for shade and to get out of the rain.  I have this weekend off and it shouldn't rain until then.  They still fit inside their barrel cage for roosting but they are getting to the point they need more space and they need gravel and grass.

Hot days call for tents...

the tent kit put 'somewhat' together

It has gotten really hot, and Esme enjoys the heat a lot more than I do. She is content to sit halfway in a bucket of water and play for hours... I intend to put a sheet over this and soak it down and sit in there :) This was the same tent I designed last year during my vacation (June 2011) It did not have a floor then - and it was longer, designed to sit in the back of our truck bed. I've used all the same pieces, just put them together in a different way. It is fairly sturdy, but a creature could knock it over if they tried (note the goat trying to eat the chair in the background and the pup chewing on a deer antler in the tent itself). So you can see it is both well-received already and I have my work cut out for me!


with the sheet and clips
It stayed up all night with no major catastrophes.



There are three sizes of 'stick' in the tent kit we made last year - 28" sticks (I should measure them because I think they might be a bit shorter than that), '4 to 5 inch sticks' and a single pair of 'half pipe sticks'. I will try to get a measuring tape to get accurate measurements. Other than that - all of the sticks that are not marked as 4-5 or half-pipe are the same length and the plan can be worked out by anyone on that scale. I was working with last year's kit in a new way - so I am certain the design itself can be done easier from scratch.

Now I'm ready to go read a few chapters on corn breeding out of my 'new old' book 'Principles of Field Crop Production' 1949, Martin and Leonard. I was expecting the 1980s version from the Abebooks seller but am not sorely disappointed to have received the older copy. It is in almost never-read condition and still has a very good basic concept of how to improve varieties and keep track of things in general.


The fenced garden looks happier


Autumn Beauty sunflowers

I have joined a site called YourGardenshow.com and it is very interesting. Find me over there as knitowl, zone 7a House at Shepard Lane

pvc geekery (plan stage)

We are geeking. This is the plan.

Why should you not use PVC on your hot water heater outlet?

There isn't a good response for this on the internet all in one place - so here it is. It is fine to use PVC on your cold water inlet to the hot water heater. But the hot water lines going OUT of the heater should be CPVC. This is why. PVC begins to leach vinyl chloride at temperatures nearing 140 degrees. After 140 degrees, the leaching speeds up and the pipe fails, sometimes due to unsupported pipes bending and separating in the high heat. Most hot water heaters are right around that temperature 120-140 degrees.

The vinyl chloride originally keeps the pipes soft and bendable, but also reacts with heat. This is how the pipe material is made, heated up and then formed in tubing machines.

The best PVC cutter I have - right here!

ratcheting - replaceable blade, great reviews!

 

It is a double-edged sword, as a pipe that holds up initially (does not soften too much) can still over time leach the plasticizer (vinyl chloride) into the water as it passes through the pipe at temps over 73 degrees. Once the plasticizer (the material softener) is gone from the pipe, it can become brittle and break when shocked, moved or even from increased PSI in the pipeline during a time of kick/on kick/off at the water heater.

Normal cold water temperature is 73 degrees Fahrenheit. The PSI rating on PVC pipe is the PSI the pipe could withstand at 73 degrees, and this is stamped along each length of pipe. As the temperature goes above 73 degrees the PSI the pipe withstands is 'de-factored' or reduced by a percentage per number of degrees raised. According to one of the charts I had read (from Harvel plastic company who posts their tech spec online) a pipe that could withstand 350 PSI at 73 degrees can only withstand 105 PSI at 130 degrees, and less and less as temp goes up. Hot water heaters are high PSI appliances. The 'pressure relief valve' on a hot water heater sets off between 120 and 150 PSI, depending on manufacturer. Do the math - a 350 PSI plastic PVC pipe can withstand less PSI at 130 degrees than the hot water heater's backup relief valve puts out under normal operating conditions. And over time, even a 600 PSI plastic PVC pipe will leach enough plasticizer to become brittle and break from internal pressure alone.

A broken hot water heater pipe can damage the whole house, or even cause explosive effects. It depends on so many factors. And that is hard to explain to customers who are more worried about just getting something done NOW and how much it will cost them to have hot water tonight. etc etc... Some of them don't even care they will have the same problem again within a few years.

The answer? They've had it for years now. CPVC pipe. It does not begin to leach plasticizer until 180 degrees, which water heaters are never supposed to attain much less maintain for a long period of time. It will not 'de-factor' it's PSI below 180 degrees.

I still have to tangle with customers daily who do not understand this and it is difficult to explain to them in a store environment. I had a lady last night whose father was dying of cancer and 'Daddy always used PVC on the hot water heater.' Uh huh. There are studies out there showing the leached material, over long term exposure, can cause increased chance of cancer, as well. Like all 'carcinogen' materials, that is hard to prove definitively. I did not try to inform the customer of this issue, as she was already upset and unreasonable.

One of my coworkers said it nicely to me this morning. 'You can't feel bad about it.. you can't warranty stupidity.' I know. But sometimes you just want to protect them from themselves and you know that you can't. And it gets frustrating.