Response to Maria

[rmasongo]

Hello Mariah

You will see one response from one of our colleagues in Zambia. I have just forwarded it to you if you do not see it directly from google groups.

Another response I just received from a colleague in Kenya is that, if the cracks persist then you may consider doing repairs. You can use a tough bond glue mixed with a paste of cement to seal the cracks. Tough bond is a common name in Kenya but you can look for any sealant that is compatible with cement. It should work fine. The other consideration is for you to consider the size of gravel you are using. Version 10 is very thin and if you use larger gravels then the space may be larger and cracks would form easily. Perhaps you can use smaller sized gravel, which others would refer to chips. This is the product between eight inch of gravel and dust. They compact quite easily and formation of cracks would be near impossible. 

For the silt; there is a suggestion that you can actually put the silt to use. The silt can be used in making some concrete products for example concrete house vents, etc. it can also be mixed with sand and cement to plaster houses as well

I am sure you will be receiving more suggestions from others.

blessings 

Rob 

[yonatan Sani Abegaz]

Hi Mariah,

I agree with the above suggestion forwarded from my Kenyan friends. 

Just to add some points 

1) Make sure steel molds are cleaned and have a good amount of lubricant before every single day and concrete pouring.

2) It Will be great and good to use small size gravel / coarse sand the average size should be always within the recommended size We use gravel less than 12mm for the version 10 molds. 

3) Use construction sand and gravel sieving mesh to eliminate all oversize materials and west particles. use

4) Proper ratio when you make concrete(1:1:1) and 

5) Take time before demolding ( 18-24 hours)

5) Maintain recommended curing process. (you can fill water into the concrete filter after demolding and it naturally absorbs moisture and keep it wet. I am sure your filter will be great.

 

For the silt, you can prepare a kind of soakaway pit around the filter media preparation site  ( Just prepare soil/ earth pit  1.5-2meter deep fill 80-100cm hard rock then 5-10 cm gravel and directly send all the west water (full of silt) into the prepared pit and manage all accumulated silt every two-three weeks depending on the volume of your work. you can use it either for the construction of a concrete filter or send it to the agricultural farm.

This is what I have for you, I am sure it will help you.

Best!

Yonatan sani from Ethiopia.

 

 

 

Yonatan sani

251-911-540788 (Cell)

Addis Ababa

Ethiopia

saniyon...@gmail.com

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[Mariah McGlothlin]

Hello Rob and Yonatan,

Many thanks to you and your colleague in Kenya for the input! I'll investigate more into the glue option for filling cracks, and I like the soak pit idea for the water/silt from washing. 

Blessings to you all,

Mariah

[Loguya Matthew]

Hi Maria and the rest.

Feat Africa in Uganda experience the tragic cases of leakage in 2016 to 2018. But after trying several options, we resolved the cracks on the filter base by (1) jabbing 3 times; after filling the mold completely with the concrete, after 30 minutes and after 60 minutes. Hope this helps. 

Thank you.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 30, 2021, at 12:45 PM, Mariah McGlothlin <mariah.m...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Rob and Yonatan,

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/abinet-w/1a643c53-9833-41c2-9468-a5d46ec5d55cn%40googlegroups.com.