Catch up….
Week beginning 5th August Serious production began to make 90 rain catcher units. Four different sizes of plastic funnels where used to make 6 different unit designs, one of which was later ditched.
Each size of funnel had a slightly different fixing system, dictated by the weight of the funnel and the position they would be in on the slope around the pond, i.e. how high the grass was.
The 22cm funnels being the heaviest are set onto rigid plastic nozzles, which when installed sit low to the ground.
The medium sized funnels were fixed onto irrigation spikes, elevating the units approximately 50cm above ground, i.e. above the grasses.
The smaller 7cm funnels provided me with the most light weight & flexible units enabling me to make more delicate and flexible units low to the ground.
Week beginning 12th August
Friends Judy & Pat arrived from the U.S for a holiday and after a day recovering from jet lag; they quickly got sucked into the production line along with Holly & Bryony.
We spent days cutting copious lengths of micro piping, connecting the piping to the funnels, fixing valves to the piping and sealing funnels to bases. With friends to help the production line soon became less stressful and more enjoyable with much laughter & music care of Pats guitar playing. Thank you.
Week beginning 19th August
Installation: many issues predictably arose
How to make the larger dimension pipe stay in the surface of the water?
How to install the vertical pipe elements when the pond is too deep to safely wade out?
How to get the funnels to level up when the ground is uneven and stony?
At this stage the planning on paper is left behind and it’s down to trial & error, patience and as much help from friends as possible.
Week beginning 26th August
Relays of more boat people paddled me out to continue to install the hoop system to hold the pipe up above the surface of the pond and install the vertical tubes. High winds nearly everyday making timing and padding important so we didn’t knock over what we had already installed.
Leveling & more leveling of funnels continued…….
Week beginning the 1st of September
Early on the 1st September I set about checking that the system worked. Throughout the opening day I gradually poured 50 litres of rainwater into the funnels to start the flow off, as we had had no rain in the last 4 days. Gradually I began opening the valves to let the water flow down the piping to test the system……. Water & gravity combining to make the installation come to life.
Ironically after the wettest summer in decades the rain has stopped falling, just as ‘rain harvester’ is ready to capture and funnel the precipitation along my network of piping. So for now the sequences of vertical reservoir tubes wait to be filled, but I am confident they will be soon!
Week beginning the 9th September
High daytime temperatures and no rain so far, the result being the initial water in the funnels has flowed into the first few vertical tubes and the remaining water has evaporated leaving crystallized water dye in the funnels were the valves were left open. One line of funnels had the valves closed so they have retained some water.
In the early hours of the 14th of September 1mm of rain fell, not enough yet to fill the funnels……