2013 - Low Wind? Other Issues?

[alexha...@gmail.com]

I built a Gray-B-Gone for my camp of 38 people this year. Thank you for the Instructable! At first I thought I could beat the design, then I realized EVERYTHING was really well thought-out. 

But... I did run into some issues, and I'm wondering if anyone here has advice on how to make my 2014 model even better.

I have 2 basic questions, with more detail below:

1) Is there an optimal pantyhose/nylon style that won't get stuck on the pulley's grip tape?

2) Was 2013 low wind, or was my evapotron positioned poorly? We left with ~50 gallons of gray water, with ~100 gallons evaporated.

1) Grip Tape / Pantyhose issues: Early Arrival 3 Days

Plenty of wind, and when the evapotron wasn't snagged, it was absolutely cranking through gray water. But the grip tape was actually picking up little fibers from the pantyhose which would eventually tangle the drive belt. Wrapping the pulley in tape (packing, duct) was too slippery, and sanding/filing the grip tape didn't help. I ended up wrapping the pulley in more pantyhose, which basically solved the problem other than 2 snags over the next 7 days. 

Low Wind: Next 7 Days:

Low wind? My evapotron spent a lot of time sitting still. My campmates insisted on a location in the middle of camp, so they wouldn't have to carry 50lb jugs of gray water as far. The camp was pretty open, but I think we might have picked up more wind near the street. Was it just a low-wind year, messing up the efficiency of evapotrons? Or did other people with better positioning avoid any problems? 

Thanks!

[Ember]

Hi Alex -- thanks for sending me your report.  Numerous other GBG users ran into the same two issues in 2013. 

Drive belt problems were exacerbated by (1) too-flimsy hosiery and (2) too-aggressive nonskid tape.  I bought panty-hose at Walmart, and loaded up on one product line with a really  good price.  Alas, we got what I paid for.  That stuff turned out to be much too delicate, snagging frequently and blowing off the drum in moderately high winds. 

Some builders used 3M's very aggressive black nonskid tape on the pulley, where I had advised the gray nonskid tape.  The black tape behaves a lot like velcro, especially in contact with the budget-price panty-hose.

After some experimentation, I decided that a drive belt made mostly of soft cotton clothesline works much better: it doesn't catch the wind so much, or snag and wrap up on the pulley.  But you do need some stretchiness.  I eventually settled on one leg's worth of hosiery, with the rest of the belt being cotton clothesline or something similar.

The wind usually blows up the canyon, from Gerlach toward Black Rock, and many people placed their Gray-B-Gons facing into the wind.  It seems to work better  to turn the Gray-B-Gon 180 degrees.  The spin-power isn't much different, but the wind is then blowing the drive belt away from the propeller blades and from snaggable zipties and copper wires.

Low wind is a problem caused mostly by structures (tents, trucks) creating a wind shadow.  The farther away structures are, the better.  Height has a lot to do with it; try a taller mast, say 7 ft instead of 5 ft. with a longer drive belt.   Or better, put a standard GBG on a 2- or 3-ft stand.

About those campmates with fifty-pound transfer jugs: good grief!  May I humbly suggest using a smaller jug?  What you're using now is  ten pounds more than a full 5-gallon bucket!