A simple drain valve would not do you any good for water removal. The water and oil become emulsified from the gears mixing them. They do not separate at the end of the day when you quit mixing. If you managed to add a drain then what comes out would look just like what is in the pictures I posted recently. Unfortunately it would not all drain out and when you added fresh oil (how?) it would immediately be contaminated by the remaining emulsion. The good news is that the water in the differential isn't a major problem. Judith ran her mixer for four years before we changed the oil, I ran mine for eight 1/2 before I replaced the differential. The problem with mine was not from the emulsion but from a chipped gear.
$10 for 22 pounds of cellulose translates to $.45 per pound, or maybe $2.50 per cubic foot of uncompressed papercrete - just the paper, not counting cement or other additives. That's about ten times what I have paid for "recycled" paper, and infinitely more than the cost of free paper. Also, using cellulose insulation is not removing paper from the landfills, it is just taking another commercial product from its intended purpose. Many folks here feel strongly about the green aspect of using waste. The closest landfill to me has a large dumpster outside their gate for people to deposit newspapers, and they don't mind when I come clean that out. There is lots of paper out there, you just have to get creative about getting it.
I think you're right about having to have standard formulas to get code approval. A couple of years ago a group from this list got together and started working on doing just that, testing standard formulas with the intent of submitting to the code writing authorities. Unfortunately that effort fell apart after a few months, partially due to personality problems. Recently I tried to revive that committee, but got exactly zero volunteers willing to work on code acceptance. I'm afraid that what will happen is that someone will actually "discover" papercrete as a business opportunity, and work on code acceptance but in a way that will cut out all of us owner/builders. Better for us if we can approach it from an "open source" type of idea. Look at adobe which has been used for thousands of years. In NM you can make your own adobe blocks and there are specific code standards for approval, things like the number and size of cracks. I believe we can do something similar with pc if we get it done before some corporation manages to lock it up.
spaceman
joelincalif wrote:
Hello creters, Maybe a simple drain valve needs to be added to the bottom cover of the differtienal to allow for easy draining of any water that seeps in past the original pinion gear seal (The seal right below the blade). Water is heavier then oil and sitting at the bottom so I would open the drain some until oil comes out and be confident then all the water was out. I don't have room for another mixer aready having a 300 gallon Spray Force Stucco/plaster sprayer I'm converting to mix and spray papercrete. It works well for spraying while mixing paper called blown instulation bought at Lowe's hardware but at 12 gallons a minute really sucks trying to fill molds. I have a new replacement pump in the works that should help pump it out faster through a 2 or 3 inch hose. The source of the shredded or hammer milled paper continues to be the problem. The paper shredders in this area of Southerm Californai need to ensure for security reasons their shredded paper never is touched again by anyone but a secure paper recyclier. I'm just a guy off the street so they sure look at me funny. As I said in one of my first post here there may be a business opportunity for someone with excessive paper to make for resale pre-ground paper. I paid about $10 for a 22 pound block of blown installation. Imagine making simple paper blocks in a shape that can be easily shipped or picked up locally! Throw it in the standard cement mixer, add water and soak, then cement quanity to create the mix you like! I believe papercrete will never become main-stream and generally accepted by industry (inspectors globally) until it can be created in this manner. Once it can it can be tested, measured, recommended mixtures developed and recommended, and then be approved for general use. Imagine trying to sell to the inspector the 'concrete' you made from stuff you found in the yard using grandma's old formula. I have yet to hear a standard formula for any papercrete application, be it building bricks pressed or air dried molded, sprayed installation, or roofing panel. I'm 100% behind papercrete and plan to do a lot with it but as a standardize building material we have a long way to go (the word is 'standard'). Joel in California
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