A on off float switch for the water tower.

[Bob]

LOL Everything has been fine all summer with the water system... I climbed up the tower and simply put a 5 gal bucket over the switch and it seamed to cover it just fine , so I left it that way...
this morning I noticed the water in the torlet was kind'a merky.... not clear at all... didn't think much of it... but should have.
 this evening I noticed a high pitched wine  like an electric motor running, ...one of the neighbors I thought... I went outside a bit ago and fed the cats AGAIN...as they were acting like they were starving!  and I hurd the high pitched wine again... and its 2:00am.... my neighbors are asleep!
so I walked up to the water tower and climbed the tower and sure enough the float was all the way down and the switch was on... I lifted the float ,turned the switch off and the high pitched wine stopped
I thought OH NO!  the spring is dry!
 I checked the water level in the tower and its way down probably only 50 gallons in it at the moment
... so I stuck some sticks in the slide to Jam the float up so it wouldn't turn on the pump any more and went over to the pump to see what the problem was...
and some "Blankety Blank!" RACOON got in there and lifted the plastic sheeting off the bottom all the way around the foot valve and in the entire spring   every bit of it has been lifted up off the bottom
and now I have to go re set it or replace it ! ...
he could'a got the frogs in the pond I don't care but when he tears the hell out of the spring that means WAR !
... anyway... I got the spring to repair tomorrow... hopefully its not too bad
the pump is supposed to be able to handle running dry... it has never ran dry for that long before but hopefully it will be ok ! we'll see I guess !
... one thing about life on the ranch .... your never done, something always comes up that has to be done soon ! ... and I don't have any cattle because they take so much time and money to raise...
what would it be like if I had 30 head ? LOL !
....
oh well....such is life ! HAHAHAHA!
...
Bob....

[Manta]

Hey Bob,

Any sign of the winter appearing in your area ? or are you too far south .

I'm in the midle of boarding-out and insulating my outhouse to use as a warm machine shop. Primarily to keep the rust off my new milling machine.  At least I hope it will be warm.  I have an old central heating radiator that is to be used,  in a suitable glass box,  as a solar panel to try and catch some of the low angle winter sun. I noticed that my car was still quite warm even when the air temp was -10C due to it being parked facing south. If it only provides free heat for this one outhouse it will be a help.
We are due to get out quarterly gas/electric bills in  a couple of days.  Electric is about $0.50 per Kw/Hr for the first 118 Kw/Hr,  then it goes down to half of that for the rest.  So there is money to be saved.

Dave
(Manta)

p.s.  How's the water pump ? 

[Bob]

Well We have Rain here today, but got the water tank topped off and back on automatic...so that should be the last I have to mess with that for a while .
 I Look for Acorns here to let me know winter is HERE.... so far just a few have dropped... so we have a while yet I think.... normially at this time of the year the acorns cover the ground...but they are late this time!.
...
 I made what they called a "HOT BOX" for my trailer house in Vinton, Ca. near Reno Nv. when we lived over there... and it worked fantastically!... My Brother in Law made one and was bragging about it to me so I thought I'ed give it a try too... what I did was take trailer house Skirting that came in lengths of 2 ft x 12" wide and bent it in the center lengthwise to make a "V" out of it. I nailed a bunch of these to a 4'x8' x3/4" plywood piece and put 1"x6" boards around the edge of the plywood and then a piece of hog wire accross the top to support the plastic covering...
I later added another piece of hog wire and another piece of plastic to make a 4" dead air space for insulation on the top.... the alumimun skirting or aluminum flashing was painted high temp flat black
and then the whole unit was covered well with CLEAR plastic tarp....
a 4" hole in the bottom and a 4" hole in the top were the only air inlet and outlets...
I put 2 holes in the house one at floor level and another at the top of the Hot box on the south facing side (happened to be the bedroom,the coldest room in the house)... the floor vent went to the bottom intake of the air box, the top of the hot box went through the wall into the bedroom... plastic coffee can lids were used to cap off the hot box at night... it worked fantastically.. during the day it kept the entire house warm even in the 20's to low teens.   at night I capped it off
and waited for about 10am to open it back up... the air coming out of that hot box was 120 degrees on a good day...80~90 degrees on a bad day, with rain or snow.
...
a Hot box can be made real easy and if you used aluminum flashing as your heat collectors its fast and easy to make up....just staple it in place. painting it "high temp Flat Black" is the secrete to getting good heat out of one of these things!... after about 3 years I noticed it wasn't putting out much heat and went out and looked and almost all the black paint was pealed off ! LOL !
so I re painted it !
... a 4'x8' hot box would definitely heat your outhouse/shop...  in fact it may be too much ! but you can leave a window open if you have to ! LOL
...
buying the SUPER CRYSTAL CLEAR Storm window Plastic would be the ticket to really good heat production ...
and if you laid 1/2" copper tubing up and down the flashing and ran it in the same manor to your water Radiator (with the intake low and output high) I am sure it would even keep the radiator hot!
...
However, when the sun goes down the heat stops and it will reverse and suck the heat out if you don't stop it in some way.
...
I didn't want noisy fans on my hot box but I understand that they will quadroople the heat output if you use them.
...
eventually I hope to make a Stand alone Hot box for the house here that is 2  4'x8' pieces and place it in the sunny spot in the front yard... next to the house is too shady... and we need that shade in the summer heat, but winter time it would be nice to have the hot boxes... here they would take away the burning of wood pellets during the day and well worth making ! they would pay for them selves in a few months!
...
I do have to wonder why you'ed put your new Milling machine in your outhouse.... seams a poor place to get sharp metal fragments all over the place specially if your Using the outhouse for its intended purpose ! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA!
...
Bob...

[Bob]

I have learned one thing by making my own float and switch for the water tower....
if I ever have to do it again I will simply go down and pay the $26.00 for the "Floating switch"
it would have been much simplier to hook up and I wouldn't have to have bought a $11.00 trash can to cover the switch and float system to keep the rain off if it !
...add to that that that type of switch usually lasts for a good 5 years or more it would have been money saved !
... but all in all...if the toggle switch burns out it will be a cheap replacement cost of only $3~$5
bucks....
  it works and works good and has done so reliably now for all summer... only the Racoon has messed up the spring...and that would have happened regardless of the switch I used!
...
Bob....

[Manta]

Darn those raccoons.

Dave
(Manta)

[Bob]

Yah ! thats what I said ! LOL!
...
Bob...

[crb]

Racoon's don't like wasp-spray.......
Haven't seen them back, yet.

[Bob]

Hummmm.... if I sprayed the "wasp spray" on the outside of the spring maybe they would leave the entire thing alone ?   Its worth a try ! thanks for the info !...
I'll havt'a be careful not to get it inside, or where rain could carry it into the drinking water...
but that SHOULD be do-able !
....
Thanks CRB !

[Manta]

Bob,

Maybe that 'cat pepper' stuff that is used to stop lats 'manuring' your garden will work with raccoons.
Can't try it for you as we don't have raccoons. Or bears,  rattlers,  scorpions or other things that spoil you day.

Dave
(Manta)

[Bob]

LOL  Lats "Poopin' in the garden ?  ...OH Cats ! GOTCHA! ... hay that's free fertilizer why would ya wann'a stop that ?  ... anyway... that's a good idea too... probably less harmful to humans but I wouldn't bet on it till I read the label ! LOL !
...
 I'm not one to go scraping up Road apples off the road for the garden but I have been known to get the tractor loader full and  spread a bunch of horse or cow manure in the garden area and rototiller it in........
 but Now with no Cows or Horses to worry about... I think I'll turn to a compost pile instead... and ignore the Lats...er Cats ...  HEHEHEHEHEHEHE
....
Bob...