What's everyone's background?

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by GasGuage

'Where in the world did you find those at? I haven't seen one in years. Not even a squashed one in a junkyard.

The one on the left I bought at an estate auction years ago. It has just a couple of knife blade tip holes in the top, so I use it for oiling the rare item that needs a drip. The one on the right was stuck in a box during some move years ago, and discovered a couple of years ago...

...and since I hardly ever throw ANYTHING away, there they sit!

[GasGuage]

I remember when I was young & alot poorer, I used to use a big Craftsman flat blade screwdriver & poked a couple of holes on side of the can, & another on the other side for a vent before I got one of those cool wrenches, LOL>.. Then we would only poke one hole in the can to add oil to a briggs & stratton lawn mower engine. I'm going to start keeping my eye out for a can or two. Be cool in the garage as a conversation piece. There's some older people out here that just might have something like that in their barns.

[Intrigued]

Oh, my... filling up the old Briggs engines. Always fun. Always miss and make a mess...

I ought to take a pic of one of those (still have one) just to show the young whippersnappers how easy they got it!!! :-)

[Vwbeamer]

I'm a avionics technician and work on the AC130 gunship.

I also build Aircooled VW motors and was in How VWs for the engine showdown.

CB Performance - Hot VWs - January 2007

I'm a non believer in man made global warming,but I do believe that we have a responsibility to not harm the planet or waste the earth's resources.

MY cars include a 1956 Beetle, a 914 Porsche and my daily driver,2001 VW Jetta.

[Intrigued]

Originally Posted by Vwbeamer

I'm a avionics technician and work on the AC130 gunship.

H, or U, or both?

[astrospy73]

VwBeamer: My co-workers love the AC-130. Nothing like a little precision fire from above when you need it.

My background: I work for the US Army at Ft. Bragg (HQ staff job). I also pull reserve duty with US Air Force as a stand-in unit commander and advisor to an active duty unit. Spend a lot of time tinkering around with GPS and geo-spatial software, computer networks, and other techno-tricks that other might find nerdy but I enjoy. Also into astronomy, biking, and in general trying to conserve resources (not because I'm liberal/left leaning, but more because I'm a conservative cheap *******. And I enjoy the challenge of new projects and clean competition. OK... there IS a part of me that feels we have a responsibility to protect the greater resources of our planet.

Other projects: water harvesting (550gal rain barrel), small suburban gardening, solar water heating, and eventually solar power panels. But for now, my main goal is proving a Nissan Sentra can obtain 50mpg with reasonable driving.... and maybe even approach 60mpg. A long stretch but an enticing challenge!

[Christ]

IS that really a 550 Gallon rain catcher, or 5 x 50gal rain catchers (plural).

Where exactly do you keep a 550 gallon tank that it isn't an aesthetic nightmare? I'd love to see pics of that.

[astrospy73]

Originally Posted by Christ

IS that really a 550 Gallon rain catcher, or 5 x 50gal rain catchers (plural).

Where exactly do you keep a 550 gallon tank that it isn't an aesthetic nightmare? I'd love to see pics of that.

Not a typo... it is 550 gallon plastic tank (here's a link to similar model: 550 GAL. 67 X 42 VERTICAL TANK - Agri Supply). I picked mine up for $150 when the local Agrisupply was running a special. 2 roof gutters drain into the cistern (about 1/3rd of our roof area... ~600sq ft effective) located under our deck. It is half buried, and the top half masked behind privacy fence wood planks. My yard is pretty sloped, so we use it for gravity-fed (er... gravity assisted?) irrigation. It only takes about 3/4" inch rainfall to fill the system. Wife was skeptical at first, but once she saw how much use we get out of it, well, she was pleased. I've also helped a few neighbors build their own smaller systems (one 300gal unde deck system) and another one using several 55gal plastic drums piped together for a small garden.

Eventually I plan to expand our under deck system to about 2500 gal as part of a larger deck and landscape plan.. but that'll be a few years out. I do have pics somewhere, but am in process of re-organizing my media library. I'll get some images posted when I find them.

[Intrigued]

Cool! I like it. That sure would save water we've used to water the garden.

To top it off, there's a downspout less than 20 feet from our little garden spot!

...I'm gonna have to get busy this Spring... I already have some 50 gallon plastic barrels that I got to make a homemade windmill with...

[RH77]

Originally Posted by astrospy73

Not a typo... it is 550 gallon plastic tank (here's a link to similar model: 550 GAL. 67 X 42 VERTICAL TANK - Agri Supply). I picked mine up for $150 when the local Agrisupply was running a special. 2 roof gutters drain into the cistern...

I saw a similar setup on a TV show once -- if I only had the room! Very clever. Do you have to rinse the roof after Winter, to clear any contaminants?

By the way, welcome to EcoModder.

RH77