PIGFACE POINT TOUR PICTURES; Set 8.
Main tank stack. At the bottom is a large tank for house water, collected off the roof. Above this there is a tank for garden water pumped from the wetland. On top are small tanks to provide pressure for shower, and a fire water sprinkler tank. All tanks arehome made using hand operated cement mixer. Windmills and 12 volt solar electric motor pump the water up.
Sun room on north side of house.
View from sun room...sixty year old gum tree we planted.
All ther big potds are home made on a concrete "lathe"; will see it later.
Cement pot, 3 metre diametre, mainly for bushfire water safety, but can grow ornamental and edible water plants. ade by a cutter mounted on a central vertical shaft, cwire-guyed, hgolding a cutter that scrapes cement off before it dries.
“Overshot” waterwheel, 4 m diameter. Buckets around the rim made from scrap copper catch water at the top, and their weight drives the wheel. It was designed to generate 12 volt electricity for the batteries when there was excess water from the windmills, via the alternator in the tin box.
Water wheels are highly energy-efficient; most of the potential energy in the water ends up in the shaft. Almost no maintenance ever needed. This one can be connected to various tasks, such as pumps, grinding paper up for paper making, and tumbling precious stones. There should be water wheels along the water courses through suburbs, using all the rain that runs off to do work for us, saving fossil fuel etc.
More simple machinery. All our pumps and dsevices require only high school physics etc. to make and maintain. The Simpler Way is not opposed to high tech ways, but in general they are not needed, and make you dependent on corporations and systems you can’t control. We always look for the simplest technology that will do the job, and mostly very simple ways are very satisfactory. We can grow perfect food with hand tools, we can build perfect houses using mud and hand tools, we can make very satisfactory sandals and clothing with simple tools.
Mud brick making rig.
The bigger wheel is an undershot pelton wheel. Best used with a high head, i.e., good pressure. The small yellow coil of scruyffy plastic pipe is a pump. When it is rotated the open end dips into the water and scoops up a small quantity. The amounts in each coil add, creating a pressure that can pump the water out of the central pipe. This is the most energy-efficient pump we have, because the only energy losses are in the friction in the bearing. By contrast windmill pumps with a piston in a cylinder involve a lot of friction.
The Simpler Way is to always look for the simplest way of doing things. The simplest way to build a house is by hand tools, from earth, in your spare time, with friends. Of course sometimes the complicated high-tech way is best, e.g., in medicine...but the simplest way in that realm is to have a healthy, active, happy lifestyle in a supportive community, in which you are less likely to become unwell.
End of Set 8.
