wayne fajkus

Mark, same with me. Here's a lettuce picture I took yesterday.  Its a restaurant stainless trough, like a salad bar might use. I built a clear lid for it. Its elevated and has a drain spigot. I keep a bucket under the spigot to catch the nutrient rich water that drains out.

The height can be adjusted with either style.  I am not in a heavy freeze area. It might dip below freezing overnight but rarely during the day. I dont put any seal on them. I remember wood strip being sold that were cut in a corrugated pattern. Not sure if they still exist or if the market has gone to only rubber and foam.

Glazing can be anything,  including recycled sliding glass door panels. Thats a good example where the this style works well. Trying to figure out the 30" x 80" lid while making it sloped can cause frustration. Build the box to the size of the door panel or window (s) and you are home free.

You can hinge the whole box or just the glazed lid. Either of those can have a counterbalance weight hanging off the back so its not heavy to open or close.

Here's a pic. The closest one is from this thread. You can see the sloped back wall compared to the one next to it. Building them in pairs (like this) has the advantage of absolutely no scraps left over.

I started adding cloths over the filter. I filter it first, then again after it condenses to about 50%. I read that the first minerals to form are bitter and to filter it after the water turned cloudy. Also, any algae is dead at that point and settled to the bottom.

All is going good with the system except the wood shrinking on the collector.  It makes sense that the wood will shrink as this dries everything. I have had to recaulk it several times.

I was getting 200 degrees F regularly in the collector and 150 F in the box. I do wonder what the box temps would be if I totally sealed it off since I have to vent it to remove the moisture. Like could it cook a turkey? Maybe next summer I will try that.

Here is a pic of what i referred to as the cheaper version. The good thing is I do not think there is residual electricity while it is pressurized but ofg. It kicks on when the pressure switch trips it on. If i am.wrong, someone please correct me.

The groundfos is always using a little, even when pressurized and not running. There's an LED light that is on when it is on.

There are self contained 110v pumps that include a pressure shutoff and pressure tank.  They are relatively inexpensive.  I know harbor freight has them. A backflow preventer is not included but is a must. Otherwise the pump will constantly turn on/off. It shuts off when pressure is reached, but the pressure pushes the water backwards when pump cycles off. Which turns the pump back on. Its a head scratcher. Lol. Backflow preventer cures the problem.  They are inexpensive. You just have to know it is needed. If your tank runs dry, this unit will not shut off. It's cheaper than my next example, can give you on demand water with out flipping a switch, but will burn up if ran dry.

If you go with the groundfos like in my thread, it is the only thing needed. Backflow is built in. The other thing about the groundfos is it turns itself off if tank is empty. The motor will not burn up. It will try to repressurize every few minutes.

My guess is $150 for cheaper pump with built in pressure tank and $700 for a groundfos. You would have to burn up 4-5 cheaper pumps before the groundfos is of better value.  Reliability and actual pressure-groundfos wins. Ive had the same unit for probably 7 years or longer. My guess is the cheaper one being a 1-2 year kind of reliability.

We are running ours with just the spindown filter so there is no continued expense in operating it. I have a uv light but it is broke and i never repaired it. My main concern is that no sunlight hits the water. That's all i have. While the rainwater only goes through my hot water heater (cold water side is well water) , it is used for cooking, bathing, brushing teeth, dishes, etc. We have had no health issues.

There seems to be an upfront icky concern with rainwater here in the USA. If you go to other countries the ick concern is not there, primarily because it is normal to them. They use big tanks and allow sediment to fall to the bottom. They pull the water from the middle of the tank. As far as i can tell, uv filters are not used. But i say do whatever makes you feel secure about it. Peace of mind goes a long way.

Is the system automated? Are you looking for "city type" flow,  or a basic off grid type system? A little more info on that will help. Mainly if it is a pressurized system. How to hold the pressure (pressure valve,  back flow preventer, pressure tank). Thats where filter location comes into play. At least it did on my well side of system.

Rice sprouted in the pond but most of the roots didnt dig down so the plants are pretty much floating on the surface. That's probably why most memories of rice fields involve seedlings being transplanted. I would say  90% floated, 10% rooted down. I did do 12 cells of seeds in transplant pots just so i knew when they sprouted. I ended up planting those.

Most of the edge plantings i did last year came back when the rains came. I am very happy about that. The ones ludens had sent me.

The terrace is "amber waves of grain " and looks awesome when the wind blows.  The wheat and oats are  full of seeds and dry. The perrenials and trees are all doing well.

I added a beehive into the terrace.

One cow had twins. Not good. Second one didnt know how to suck so we had to force feed it for a week. Literally pushing a tube down his throat and letting 1 to 2 quarts drain into his stomach.

Father in law passed and ive been very busy at his ranch. Hauling trash out, sorting auction items, mowing it, getting  tractors, generators, welders running so they get top dollar......lots to do.

Wife snapped a pic while i was spreading manure

Him?

I ordered from hancock seed.