Coydon Wallham

Jared Paul wrote:Anyone recognize this jar of Fire Cider "made with 💗 by Robin S."

No mold or bubbles, slightly cloudy but could just be ingredients. Interwebs say 6 months shelf life.

Any Fire cider opinions/info welcomed.
Stay thirsty my friends!

The fire cider I was drinking this winter at home was either 2.5 or 3.5 years old. I was feeling sick around that time, feel pretty good now. Magic!

I'd think the only problem with aging fire cider is that the vinegar will turn sharper and less pleasant tasting over time, but I wouldn't confuse it with kool-aid at any stage regardless...

Pascal Dutilleul wrote:@Coydon I tried at several outdoor temperatures:  9 °C and 13 °C. In windy and wind still conditions

I'm from a colder climate and have a short pipe run so no personal experience, but from warnings I've heard it sounds like classic cold plug performance. Once the bench dries and holds heat better between firings, I'd expect the behaviour to diminish.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:

Coydon Wallham wrote:Oh no, did a tenon snap off entirely, or what went wrong?

It just became wobbly to an incredible degree. But the pine pitch worked quite well to bring it back again. I think we're working on the second one today, and will possibly build another chair next week, with pine pitch as part of the original assembly process.

Remembering back to Proenicke day a few years ago, "draw pegging" was designated as a 'V2.0' implementation and I think would give a good mechanical solution to that issue...

In the most recent podcasts from Paul, he and Alan Booker essentially sent out a call for help from the public to advance the "experiment" with the Willow Feeder (WF) model. A primary concern expressed by Alan was to see if WFs in various climates would produce similar Returns On Investment as have been seen from deposits made at the Willow Candy Warehouse at Wheaton Labs.

I'm not aware of a fully comprehensive resource describing a complete build of a WF, or laying out the various design considerations that present options a builder would want to consider. This ain't exactly Rocket Science, but it would still be good to have a document that approaches the comprehensiveness of ones for RMHs as done by Ianto Evans or the Wisners.

I'd like to maintain this thread as a clearinghouse for questions and answers about the pesky little details that would prevent or stall various efforts to complete and maintain a Willow Feeder operation by inspired Permies. I started planning out a system for my land last year and have a few such issues that are making the process seem like a much more difficult undertaking than it seems it should be.

1) Pressurizing the Candy Chamber
2) Urine diverter destinations
3)

Jeremy VanGelder wrote:Those are good questions, Coydon. I hope someone is able to answer them soon.

I would like to know where the urine is diverted to? I've seen lots of information about where the willow candy goes and how it is stored. But what kind of container is used for the urine?

At one point in a visit a couple years ago, I recall Paul mentioning that someone had mistakenly placed a bucket behind the chocolate factory (Willowonka) to collect the urine, and that it was creating a stink. I don't recall the exact authoritative answer he gave, but my take away was that there should be a hose running directly to ground, and I'd assume periodic movement of the end of the hose to prevent build up and chemical burns in one spot.

Also, there are metal pitchers in the feeders for ladies that wish to use the convenience and privacy there and dump the contents later. They leave name tags on the pitcher for reuse, and there is a place for used ones to sit until someone comes to sterilize them.

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:Geoffrey, Seth, and Jared look down on our patient during a rare flat-lined moment. Can we resuscitate? Should we resuscitate...?!?!?

Oh no, did a tenon snap off entirely, or what went wrong?

Pascal Dutilleul wrote:Does anyone has other suggestions that I can investigate without  having to break up my bench?

What have local outdoor temperatures been like when doing your test fires?

thomas rubino wrote:As the roof on a casual use batchbox (ie, two lightings a day), it is proven to last.

Your red "smoking permitted..." sign reminds me of the "employees must wash hands before returning to work" signs in restaurants most places I've been. I've never seen signs like that at Wheaton Labs, does your county regulate dragon activity more stringently...?

Coydon Wallham wrote:Just guessing from my understanding of J-tubes, a sideways riser would work and obtain an efficient burn, but would take much more priming to get it going. The vertical riser works as a minor pump for the draft at the start, the vertical exhaust as the major one.

You'd also need to have a priming spot near the exhaust. Normally if the system needs priming, tossing some burning newspaper to the end of the burn tunnel is good enough, but that wouldn't work if the riser were horizontal.

To reformulate my take on this, I think the 'yank' on the air intake immediately after the feed must contribute to the mixing of gasses. It also is needed to prevent "competing chimneys" of the intake stack allowing backdraft into the room, so a horizontal "riser" would be extremely finicky if it would work at all.

A first step before wasting too much time speculating would be the Ernie Wisner method of building a prototype in the back yard...

Just guessing from my understanding of J-tubes, a sideways riser would work and obtain an efficient burn, but would take much more priming to get it going. The vertical riser works as a minor pump for the draft at the start, the vertical exhaust as the major one.

You'd also need to have a priming spot near the exhaust. Normally if the system needs priming, tossing some burning newspaper to the end of the burn tunnel is good enough, but that wouldn't work (without a good chance of smokeback) if the riser were horizontal.