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I am planning a homebuilt earth box, HEB, that is a contraption like a planter with a water resevoir beneath, for self watering of plants. They grow in soil, but have access to the water below, and grow roots down into the water. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/boxgardens/all/
I am building one with a shade house for a whole veggie plot, maybe five by twenty feet long.
I live in a dryseason/wet season place. I need a way to have my huge resevoir be self filling. A sump pump and a bilge pump drains something when the water is too high, backwards from what I need. I'm thinking a toilet assembly? Fills from empty to full? From a pressurized source.
Could I somehow just put a toilet beside my growbox? haha. I didn't sketch in a toilet sitting there!
I think a toilet valve would work just fine. Drill a hole in the bottom of the HEB the same size as in a toilet tank and install the valve. Adjust the float for the amount of water you need. You will want to shield the area around the valve assembly, so that the plants don't obstruct the operatipn of the valve.
Bubba,
You continue to amaze me with the stuff you do, know and have in place! Do you have solar panels? I'm considering having them installed with my new roof -- or maybe stand-alone panels if I have to fight the HO Association in my 'hood. There was an article in the Sunday paper that referenced the long-term benefits and value of going solar, at least to offset some electricity costs. And, since I'll be an octagenarian in a few more years (smile), I figure, why not do it now if the opportunity presents itself. Send me some feedback.
P.S. I'm glad you have such a LARGE brain to pick!
Pick away, GG - LOL.
I was about to install them on our house in CA. Would have used them for the hot water, pool, and winter heat.
But I got lucky - my best friend set me up with a job back in Houston. For two panels approximately 5x10 would have cost $5k - installed. But I needed to replace the roof hand-split shingles first. A neighbor couple had the perfect roof - they looked like Spanish ceramic tiles, but were a composite steel with crushed rock coating and a fiberglass insillated backing - about 1/3 the weight of ceramic - fire-proof and interlocking, so it would be doubtful that anything less than 100 mph would remove them. Their son sold them and had the exclusive distributorship in S. CA. Unfortunately that would have cost $10k. Still would have been worth it. Just look at the fires out there now.
There are so many improvements in the last 20+ years.
Bubba,
I don't have a clue about water based or solar-voltaic!!!! I just know that when I'm old and decrepit, and living on a retirement income, and my electricity bill comes in the mail, I'm gonna be glad I had those solar panels (WHICHEVER KIND THEY ARE) installed when I did!!!!
Keep talking to me about this. STILL haven't made contact with a roofing company to replace the aluminum roof. Also, and more importantly, can solar panels even be installed with aluminum shingle roofs?
So, you are looking for aluminum shingles that look like hand-split cedar shakes?
I saw those in the Westbury area in 1973. They do look great. But I never asked the homeowner where he got them.
Whatever they mount on the roof will have to be attached to the roof framing. That is to say, through the shingles into the rafters. Now, the shingles could be removed in that area and the solar panels installed with flashing and waterproofing, so they would serve in place of the shingles.
There was a thread about 12-18 months ago about someone (maybe in CT) that installed a massive system and got "off the grid". It spanned several months as the installation progressed. I just do not remember where I saw it - probably in the electrical forum.
Look at a toilet tank and you will find a hole where the filler valve assembly is attached. Or just look at a toilet filler valve assembly and you will see the plastic pipe that fits through the hole. Once attached to the tank, you attached the water supply line to the pipe.
You could use a trough float. It is a device that hooks to the top of a horse trough,
You hook a water hose to it, and it has a float, so that when the live stock drinks the water, the float drops, opens a vavle and fill the trough back up. You just hook a hose up to it and leave the water on. Just want to use a good quality water hose. So you dont have to worry a bout the hose bursting, or run plumbing to it.
You could also check a hydroponic supply, they should have something, sounds like the same basic princaple.
I've seen only one hydroponic setup, in clear glass as it was a demonstration model. The reservoir at the bottom would gradually fill, then the pump would kick in when it was full, and sent the water to the top tank, where it trickled down through the ?? gravel the plant's roots were in. Haha, too much nitrogen in their solution, the beans had leaves as large as squash leaves!
There is a small store here that caters to the pony club, I'll see if they have a trough float---
MUCH TOO EXPENSIVE. Several of us have used BocaBob's homemade drip irrigation system. The one I made cost approximately $60 and will water approximately 45 different sites! Search the forums for Automatic Drip System.
