Dawn

Archive for the ‘Sanitation’ Category

Solar outdoor shower

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

The solar shower is finally up and working.

The heating system I first put together in May has proved itself workable. With a few adjustments of radiator position and the purchase of a self-standing garden shower that fits into the garden hose system I’ve used for the pipework, the system gives us enough hot water on a sunny day for anything between 2 (luxurious) and 4 (frugal) showers, but until recently the only way to use it was to stand on the bare earth out in the open. The quinta isn’t a particularly public place, but we all agreed we needed a cubicle to enhance our bathing experience …

Solar shower

A view of the whole system with the cubicle partially complete – radiator, tank above, shower and cubicle

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Posted in Basic facilities, Energy generation, Renewable energy, Sanitation, Water supply | 2 Comments »

A roof!

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

No. Not for the houses. STILL waiting on a delivery of more stone (over a month now) and the previous owner removing his stuff (over a year and a half now) before we can progress either of those …

The frustrations of waiting on a succession of Other People before I can get on with what I want to get on with were starting to get to me yesterday. Not only were there the ‘more schist’ and ‘less shit’ items above, I was also expecting a delivery from the local builders’ merchants, some parts of which were already a week overdue.

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Posted in Basic facilities, Energy generation, Recycling, Renewable energy, Sanitation | No Comments »

Compost toilet, bin and log store

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

We’ve been busy building a compost bin and wood store, not least because material for composting has been piling up from both the composting toilet and kitchen, and our firewood has been both rotting and remaining damp underneath its tarpaulin.

Oonagh helped for a while, but was really more interested in rehearsing her outfit for carnaval. So Helen and I did most of the work. Both compost bin and log store are now functioning, but we still need to build the roof to keep the rain off.

Oonagh

Oonagh “helping” to build the compost bin

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Posted in Basic facilities, Growing things, Sanitation | 8 Comments »