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Recycle old ceramic toilet into a rocket??

 
pollinator
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So I spend a bit of time on craigslist and always see folks giving away old toilets. I try to think of ways that we could put them to some sort of use besides making flower pots out of them. It just struck me that maybe they could be used as rockets?  
How about it rocket masters is there any way that it might work ?
 
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Miles, Peter did  something with a siphon in this thread

http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/355/small-scale-development

I seem to recall that it didn't work too well.

The other problem i see, they're not refractory.
 
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I suspect that in addition to the durability being pure crap at rocket temperatures, the small CSA would make performance really go down the tubes. Might want to sit on this idea for now.
 
Satamax Antone
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Tho, grinding these into grog, could prove interesting.
 
Phil Stevens
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Yes, an excellent source of grog. You could enlist a couple of bored teenagers with sledgehammers for the initial breakdown, then put the chunks into a ball mill. Bulk up refractory mixes on the cheap.
 
pollinator
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What does grog mean in this context? Somehow rum and water doesn't seem to fit...
 
Phil Stevens
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Grog is basically grit for ceramic bodies. It serves a similar function to sand or gravel in concrete. The important thing with grog is that it withstands the firing temperature of the body, and in refractory mixes it needs to hold up to the anticipated service temperatures. So, a vitreous porcelain like that found in a toilet might be borderline for a burn tunnel casting, whereas a fireclay should be fine.
 
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How about casting a J tube in a tank?
Even if the heat stress of firing causes it to break,no big loss.
I've done a lot of plumbing, so I have lots of spares.
 
Miles Flansburg
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Thanks for the kind replies folks ! I didn't think it would work but thought that it couldn't hurt to ask. You did answer my next question about breaking it up to be used in the construction somehow .
 
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What about using the toilets as a filler/insulation layer for the walls of a building? Or a Wallipini? Or and in-ground bunker? The porcelain/ceramics will resist corrosion and corruption, insulate and be a large item for fill.
Not the easiest or most ideal idea...but it definitely is viable!

Katt
Homesteader wanna-be on her acre and a half in a 230 year old house in a suburban zone in Maryland.
 
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Excellent idea if you had a lot of them. Porcelain by itself would have no measurable insulating value, but if filled with something like perlite, could serve as semi-structural fill for a wall or basement, to be covered with something to give a smoothish surface and keep water out.
 
pollinator
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Phil Stevens wrote:I suspect that in addition to the durability being pure crap at rocket temperatures, the small CSA would make performance really go down the tubes. Might want to sit on this idea for now.



OMG hilarious!!!
 
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I don’t know what you guys are so worried about the heat for. after Thai food my toilet seems to regularly reach temps over 3000F.
 
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