Water purification system for household

[mygoggie]

Covers done. Yeah!





Backfilled and leveled. I am making a wooden draw box that matches the two valve covers for the central located level float sleeve. This will look much better than a plastic 4x4 box.

[mygoggie]

I had a few questions on the other form so here is a copy of the post.

of your original list above, which have been ticked-off and how is it performing ?

The design incorporates the following components:

   

• Rainwater harvesting to a tank farm. <-- Constructed and performing well on revision 2.1.
• Condensation harvesting using an underground piping system. <-- Designed and BoQ compiled
• A hand drilled well point. <-- Done, still to install pump.
• Wetland system to purify the house's greywater. <-- Revision 11 done and working very very well for the last 7 years.
• Irrigation system to distribute the purified greywater into the garden. <-- Revision 3 done and working very well for the last 7 years.
• A biogas digester to generate gas from the blackwater and liquid fertilizer from the digestate. <-- Design done, moulds made 50%. Ran out of money for this. Pilot and research reactors that are 1/3 scale models performed better than mathematical models predicted. Research reactor has been running for almost 4 years continuously.
• A slow sand filter to purify the rainwater, condensation and well point water to potable standards. <-- 80% completed as in this thread
• A water purification skid to control all of the above and distribute the potable water into the house. <-- 60% completed as in this thread.

busy, busy & looking good

As always @RussellF ...

I notice from the pic on post #88 that part of the control panel is fully wired; which part is that ?
(and don't answer "the part on the left")

It is the mirror side of the part on the right.    That is the control panel of the biogas reactor which has been in testing for four years now.

on the biogas ... is it for sewerage and such. is the effort worth the yield instead of say generating compost ?

Yes it is to purify sewerage and then all kitchen organic waste and such from the garden. The household reactor can produce enough gas per day to cook three full meals. Here is a marketing brochure on it.

... just shooting the breeze, don't want to keep you from your "busy, busy" stuff.

No issues at all. I need to get these systems into the designs of nature (green) based households and small communities for provision of working sewerage systems that provide clean sanitation and in turn results in free energy to cook with in the households. Add to this the communal cattle manure and you have so much energy it is actually a problem for the coal connected politicians. Been there, done all the proposals and was met with big thanks and support from the clan chiefs, but each time the mayors cancelled the project ...

Same with the water purification and greywater systems. These are simple to build and operated and proven to be highly effective. The design in this thread is the most complicated and parts of it can be pulled out and deployed in the communities.

Here is a typical community layout we did for a village in the Eastern Cape, where sewerage, rainwater and greywater etc goes to a central hub which forms a community building and from there it distributes back via the spokes to the households on the rim of the wagon wheel layout.











This tech meets with the cultural needs of such a clan and in turn solves all health, medical and social requirements.

By the way the green houses are built from rammed earth and include cooling and heating system using no electricity for cooling and heating. Based on the green houses in China. Status - Fully designed based on proven Chinese designs.

[mygoggie]

I took some time off from my Colchester Student restoration project which you can follow here or a copy that is drifting in its own stream here.

I need to get the front support on the sand filter as I cannot start filling with the filter unless I can support the plexiglass front. I had the plywood cut a while back, but a very itchy plant made me postpone the installation thereof time and time again. I have to work below it and around it to get all the pieces measured, cut and assembled.






Yesterday I decided I needed some sunshine and decided to tackle the plant and then the supporting frame. I spent about 30 minutes pulling all the dead leaves and cutting the rest from the plant.

The first step was to get all the tools I thought I would need assembled at the working site. Alas, I had to walk a dozen and ten times back and forth for more and more tools.





Next step was to strip the corner's cover planking off and cut the wooden planks and boards to install the connecting plywood pieces.






It does not look like much but that was two hours of work to get this board installed!






Another two hours later and all the connecting boards installed and screwed down.





The first test fit of the frame components.





Then it was time for lunch and a 40 winks afternoon rest. The rest of the afternoon was spent cutting and fitting the complete frame. Then installing screws to hold the whole frame together so that I can remove it and fibreglass it as a unit.

All done and ready for the fibreglass.

[Curlycat]

I really enjoy following this thread and watching the system develop.
Thank you for posting this Herman. 

[mygoggie]

I really enjoy following this thread and watching the system develop.
Thank you for posting this Herman. 

Thanks for the motivation @Curlycat . 

[mygoggie]

After doing our round of forced exercise on the holy Sunday, the Boss and I had a quick breakfast. No time for sleeping late on a Sunday with Big Pappa dictating when the dogs may walk ... 

Onto fibreglassing the wooden frame.  First step was to set the frame up so that I can get to most of the areas for the first part of fibreglass work. There is no need to rush work on a complex surface such as this. Take your time. Tomorrow is another day. Bring it on Don Carlos

Next step was cutting all the reinforcing. I use standard waterproofing material. I find this does use more resin, but the ease of working with this material on complex multi-surfaces outweighs the cost of more resin.

Here are the various lengths cut and waiting to be trimmed and the angle cuts made.







Yes, as always I work under a tree where it is cool and good ventilation exists. Nothing like happy chirping bird song motivating you!

Onto cutting the openings and angles.







Always fold the sheets and weigh them down because when the wind blows here, your resin soaked hands will not be able to pick up the scattered sheets. Short vertical runs cut to correct width and the angle joining section cut.





And the longer vertical runs done as well.





And then it was time to don my PPE equipment. Not for Antie Corona but for resin. I always wear long red rubber gloves, a full cartridge filtered mask (which is rated to protect me for biological warfare while I am fibreglassing) and eye protection. Nothing more dangerous that resin in your eyes and fumes in your sinuses.

And everything ready to start the horistontal slats.





Horisontal and short vertical slats and the central long vertical slat done.





And it was time for lunch. Time to wash the brush and the spiky roller. Washing alone takes at least 30 min so best is to sit down, think about the good things in live and enjoy the trees, the birds and the sound of crashing waves will cleaning.

And there we are. All done for the day. Tomorrow is another day ... OK, for those of who do not love reggae music here you go ... bring it on The Wailers.

[mygoggie]

This morning I had a lot of admin to do so I had a late start on the second stage of the fibreglass work.

First I completed the four remaining longer vertical ribs. This took just over an hour excluding cleaning. I did not want to clean, but a late lunch was ready ...





After lunch I had to do some more desk work and by the time I was finished, the wind was blowing at gale force levels. Must have been close to 50 knots. I had to complete the other sides of the ribs as rain is forecasted for tomorrow and the rest of the week I am tied up with the lathe project. Oh well, let's tackle this head on and start sanding the areas clean from the runs and drips of yesterday's work. Out came the flap disk and fortunately the wind blew most of the sanding dust away so that I did not itch at all. Of course eye protection and the biological warfare rated mask was non-negotiable.

Sanded and ready for the new layers of cloth and fibreglass resin.





After two hours and frozen almost stiff due to the wind chill factor, I was done. A few leaves and peppercorns from the tree found their way into the resin layer, but I will sand that out.







The edges where no cloth is installed will be covered by a thick layer of felt as these press against the plexiglass and I want to ensure a more or less even distribution of forces. No high spots are wanted as these will create pressure points in the glass and could result in it failing.

Tomorrow, I will see if I can find an hour to sand all smooth and give it a coat of white epoxy.

[mygoggie]

Well the tomorrow became a few days due to the lovely rain we had.

I had to let the frame dry out again and sanded it today. It actually was more than one hour! Time flies when your hands are busy. It was quite a lot of work cutting all the gaps in, the protruding pieces of fibreglass back, trimming the edges and removing the resin drips and runs.

Outside face done.






Plexiglass face done. Can you spot my mistake?





Tomorrow it is onto giving it a coat of white. Let's hope the weather holds!

[mygoggie]

Well tomorrow came and went between the lathe restoration projects and normal household maintenance tasks.

This morning I did a test fit of the frame. I had to do quite a few trimmings of cutouts to make the frame fit. Finally I could fit the frame as designed with a bit of pressure on the plexiglas.





I then removed it and prepared it for the final white resin coating. That I will do tomorrow morning.

[mygoggie]

I spent Sunday morning painting the new frame with white epoxy resin. It took a lot longer than I expected. Tomorrow I will glue the felt on and then install it.

[mygoggie]

I have had various requests to get my backside in line and start doing all these projects of mine on video as well.

So please give the poll at the top of this page ^^^ (yes, up there!) a vote so that I can motivate myself! 

[mygoggie]

Time to get this frame into shape and into position.

I cut some strips of felt which will be glued to the edge of the frame that press against the plexiglass panel. Yes, I borrowed the Boss' sewing scissors. 





Next step was to paint (is that the correct word?) contact glue onto the edge and stick the felt onto the edge. Here you can see the LH edge with felt and the next two edges with glue applied.






All edges done!






Time to wash the plexiglass clean before installing the frame.






Into position the frame goes! I will need to pull it in place with clamps to allow the frame to create inward pressure on the panel. That way I know I will gain very little movement of the panel as outward pressure builts up. Identical as to how a prestressed concrete beam work. You understand?






A nice and tight fit!

[mygoggie]

I spent two hours of the morning to install the new frame.




Now onto fastening the two weir pipes and the pressure testing of the sandfilter chamber! 

[mygoggie]

I am setting up to start the process of video making but I need two microphones. =https://www.avforums.co.za/index.php/topic,87470.0.htmlSee here.

Any help in finding these will be great! 

[mygoggie]

https://www.avforums.co.za/index.php/topic,87470.0.html

Ai, the linky should be https://www.avforums.co.za/index.php/topic,87470.0.html