Friday, June 10, 2011

Up on the roof.

Lead story.

It's been hot here, like it's been hot where you are (offer not valid in PNW).  The heat showed us that the toilet room is not as pretty-smelling as it used to be, and Annie decided to sniff out the reasons.  Obstructions in the vent?  Maybe a wasp nest, or a cache of pecans.  Every answer's a winner.

We have a solar vent shed that fits into an adapter to use the old blackwater tank vent, since we were just using that to hold fresh daisies.  That arrangement on the roof seemed a little wobbly, like a baby's little neck holding up his bowling ball head, so a supporting brace was added.  We've had trouble with excess moisture in the inside toilet vent, so much that the old fan died a lingering death of rust and pew.

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Once Annie got her first good look at the arrangement, she understood the problem.   The workings of the vent fit into the inner pipe, then lay down on the outer pipe and screw down.   But, the outside support pipe - a great improvisation - completely defeats the purpose of the fan because it seals the stink in.  She realized there had been no outside venting for the past year, and that just leaves inside venting which we cannot recommend.

Annie drilled a couple of dozen small holes in the outer ring, replaced the solar vent shed, and WHOOSH THE STINK LEFT.

Segue.

Yesterday, before Annie boarded the Grand Funk Railroad, we picked blueberries in the back yard.

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Q:  How easy is it to pick blueberries?
A:  Mmblthqppbt.


Things to look at.
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L to R:  Carrot and John


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Carrot croissant


21 comments:

Four Windows with a View said...

Wow, I bet your glad that's fixed. You're right about the PNW...we are not hot like the rest of you are. My fingers are so cold as I'm sitting here typing this I'm thinking of turning my portable heater on. How sad is that for June???

MariaB said...

Oh, Carrot... you are as beautiful as ever...

The Good Luck Duck said...

Oh man, I think I'll take the heat. We were cold for six months, and when the time came to bolt we drove until we started to sweat, then parked.

The Good Luck Duck said...

She has perfected the InaudiQuack.

Helen queen of my road said...

what a grand time you lady's are having, I can not wait until we retire and get our motor-home!!

The Good Luck Duck said...

Get on out here, Helen! You'll be knee-deep in poo before you know it.

plantingalongtheverge.com said...

love the twinkling Toilet Vent font with photo!
I'm worried about any drilling of holes though as this is what I'm guessing caused some leakage in our little trailer before we got our hands on her.
We're off for warmer pastures this week!

Merikay said...

It may be cold in Oregon, but it has finally stopped raining here in San Francisco Bay area. Temperatures are wonderful 70s in the day and 60's at night.

I don't feel so bad not being out in the hot weather.

LG61820 said...

Please know that I am endlessly fascinated by every detail of your composting toilet. You can't post enough about it to suit me.

X and I built an earth-sheltered home many years ago and I insisted on a composting toilet that wasn't quite large enough for the number of folks in our household. Not a success to say the least!

I remain optimistic about the topic and look forward to more poo postings!

michael ultra said...

You used one of my favorite journalism words, Segue. Which is... segue is a method of smoothly transitioning from one topic to another. Cool. Oh, and what a potty mouth you were!!!

pidge said...

Glad you got that problem solved for your sake. Love the pictures. Stay cool.

¡Vizcacha! said...

LG, I started out thinking this might be well-deserved poo-pooing of the topic, but now I sense your sincerity. Are you a fan of Joseph Jenkins? I loved his book, The Humanure Handbook, and it changed the way I felt about poo (with my gloved hands). What type of composting toilet did you try? I think I will be even more excited about it all if I can ever homestead.

¡Vizcacha! said...

Planting, I hear you. But, since the drilling was into the PVC support pipe, and there was no new roof-drilling, I was pretty calm about it all. Where are you headed?

Merikay, 70's sounds like heaven. I'm a big fan of the SF Bay area, at least for visiting - it's beautiful.

Michael, I can poop-talk with the best. I like "segue," too. It's all Frenchy.

Roxanne

¡Vizcacha! said...

Thanks, Pidge. We're trying to stay cool, but with only A/C and one sparkling swimming pool to work with things are getting tough.

Carolyn said...

Hey, it's 73 and sunny here, you should come visit :)

¡Vizcacha! said...

Yeah!

Anonymous said...

You gals get 5 stars in fortitude from me for having living with "internal venting" for a year! Glad it was fixed!
Nina

Unknown said...

Glad you got that stinker of a problem corrected. I really admire Annie's ability to figure out these problems and find a simple solution.

¡Vizcacha! said...

Nina, I think we were thinking it was some kind of off-again, on-again problem. Oh, today it might be the fan. Oh, today the solar vent isn't running. Oh, today the coconut is too wet. Oh, today we should dump the vault. Oh, today is the day for stink. Etc. Finally, we were working with fresh coconut, the toilet had been completely cleaned, all conditions were RIPE for good smell, then BAM. Bad smell.

Sue, I do, too. I get a little panicky and freeze up, and her clear thinking calms me down.

squawmama said...

WOW... glad your stink has left! GREAT job ☺ Loved the blueberries YUM!!!
Have fun & Travel safe
Donna

¡Vizcacha! said...

Thanks, us too!

The blueberries were (seriously) the best I've ever eaten.