Continuing the Northumbrian Water LineMichael: Continuing the Northumbrian water line has been a ongoing task that a series of interns have worked on, and when I arrived it was tasked to me. Here's a report of what I've done to move the project forward. A trench has been previously dug by trackhoe, but dirt had fallen back in to the point where it wasn't wide enough for the 2 water pipes it is home to. My task was to widen the trench by removing the fallen-in dirt, and then lay and cement more pipe to extend the water lines that have already been buried.
My favorite tool for this has been a pick mattock as it cuts through the soil in clean lines. The rest of the soil was dug out of the trench and the bottom of the trench reflattened. The pipes were separated by wooden blocks throughout the length of the section I was working on in order to increase the area heated. PVC cement was used to join the pipes to previously laid pipes. Our neighbor George came with his bulldozer and covered over the piping laid so far. He also took time to flatten the area adding more ready-to-use space to the Northumbrian garden area. This trench is an innovative way to store the summer heat in the ground in order to reuse it when it gets cold in the winter. In time, Windward will be generating the majority of its electricity by using the sun to boil water to make steam that will drive a steam-powered generator. In order to recover the water from the steam, the latent heat in the steam needs to go somewhere. In the summer time that heat will heat water which, as it moves through this circle of pipes, will in turn heat the ground. This will store the heat until it can be used to heat living spaces as well as other various needs. |
