victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,975
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Post by victor1941 on Oct 18, 2018 10:10:18 GMT -5
Miket, when it gets below 32 degrees it is really cold for me. Even with a space heater I don't even want to work in the garage.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 18, 2018 10:13:30 GMT -5
WoW good replies, exactly what I wanted you can tell by reading you can tell the guys who live up north here, and really have battled Ole man Winter. It's not easy, it got down to 27 deg here last night, and I am fixing to go out and Ck the Lot 0's and Ultra Vibe-18. I am in the 220 Grit stage, fixing to go to start the 500 Grit stage soon maybe today. I left the heavy blanket pulled up, so the heat will go in the garage and warm it up, because yesterday it was about 85 deg in the Lap shop, with the Blanket down over the lap shop door, which truly amazes me. Being an HVAC Contractor I have spent my entire life controlling temp. It amazing me how much heat energy can be generated by 8 motorsto keep a space warm. So to some things up I will go with a mixture of grumpybill Drummond Island Rocks HankRocks methods and do the main washout to get the grey mud out of the colander over a bucket and finish them in the house. Dump grey water down the stool till I can use the sink. A little bit of silt wont plug a drain. You wanna see a plugged drain manage a Jail Maintenance Dept for 25 years where they flush blankets and your called out in the middle of the night and your running a 3/4" Sewer Rod 100' down a drain I show ya plugged up! Those days are a distant memory thank God! Now all I got to worry about is ROCKS go figure.
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Post by fernwood on Oct 18, 2018 10:40:19 GMT -5
I have been following this as well, as I want to keep tumbling throughout winter. It gets -30 here, so was looking for tips. My washout methods should work, since the tumblers are in my utility room in house. That room has no insulation, but I can maintain 50 degrees there in the winter with no extra heat. The utility sink there has been working great for just dumping and wash out slurry down drain and having it go into a 5 gallon pail. I save all stages of slurry as a starter for the next batch, so I have minimal slurry going through 12" of pipe. The pipe and water there have only frozen 2 times in the past 2 years since moving here. Both of those times were prior to the heat vent in that room being re-connected to furnace. The furnace was replaced in 2017. No problems with freezing last winter. No problems with the 20' drain pipe freezing. This is a drain for utility sink. My washing machine empties into that. I insulate it with hay. Then let the snow take over. Ensure the outlet is not frozen throughout winter.
So, should be good to go, right?
Thinking I can continue with my system.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 18, 2018 11:40:19 GMT -5
I have been following this as well, as I want to keep tumbling throughout winter. It gets -30 here, so was looking for tips. My washout methods should work, since the tumblers are in my utility room in house. That room has no insulation, but I can maintain 50 degrees there in the winter with no extra heat. The utility sink there has been working great for just dumping and wash out slurry down drain and having it go into a 5 gallon pail. I save all stages of slurry as a starter for the next batch, so I have minimal slurry going through 12" of pipe. The pipe and water there have only frozen 2 times in the past 2 years since moving here. Both of those times were prior to the heat vent in that room being re-connected to furnace. The furnace was replaced in 2017. No problems with freezing last winter. No problems with the 20' drain pipe freezing. This is a drain for utility sink. My washing machine empties into that. I insulate it with hay. Then let the snow take over. Ensure the outlet is not frozen throughout winter. So, should be good to go, right? Thinking I can continue with my system. So let me get this right, You are or not dumping your slurry straight down the utility sink drain for your laundry. Do you have city sewer or a drain field for your washer and utility sink. Does your furnace have a drain too?
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Post by miket on Oct 18, 2018 14:39:22 GMT -5
True. My two little three pound barrels probably pale in comparison! Nothing wrong with that at all. Just pointing out the difference. The OP has capacity well over 100 pounds and that is a whole different animal. Chuck Yes, but I have barrel envy.
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Post by miket on Oct 18, 2018 14:48:21 GMT -5
Miket, when it gets below 32 degrees it is really cold for me. Even with a space heater I don't even want to work in the garage. Good point... The older I get, the less I like the cold also. Having just started this rock thing in March, I've yet to see what I do when it's cold. Although, there are people who go out hounding the prairies here in the winter because the grass is shorter. I believe I'll dress warm, try it once, and see what happens from there.
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,630
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Post by NRG on Oct 18, 2018 20:06:41 GMT -5
If you have a hot water faucet with threads on it, just hook up a hose to it and do your wash-outs with warm water. It shouldn't take that much water. Well as you can see in the two pictures below in the first picture you can see my hose reel that is outside and if it wa full of water it would freeze or everytime you wanted to do a wash out you would have to drag the hose reel out and hook it up then hafta unhook and put the reel away a bunch of monkeying around. In The Second picture where the hose is running is where I have been washing out around the corner of Garage. Thats how far I would need to run the hose each time to that corner. I will most likely wash my rocks inside and do a quick dump of slurry outside but at least i Wont be spending much time in the elements. And I do the super deep cleaning inside the house. Wont be much grit to wash by then. Pack it all in that coach and winter in Arizona. Problem solved.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 18, 2018 21:48:59 GMT -5
Well as you can see in the two pictures below in the first picture you can see my hose reel that is outside and if it wa full of water it would freeze or everytime you wanted to do a wash out you would have to drag the hose reel out and hook it up then hafta unhook and put the reel away a bunch of monkeying around. In The Second picture where the hose is running is where I have been washing out around the corner of Garage. Thats how far I would need to run the hose each time to that corner. I will most likely wash my rocks inside and do a quick dump of slurry outside but at least i Wont be spending much time in the elements. And I do the super deep cleaning inside the house. Wont be much grit to wash by then. Pack it all in that coach and winter in Arizona. Problem solved. If I had any sense that's what I would do! My Wife bought a couple powerball tickets today, so in the mornin when I found out I won the 100 million I will buy The place In Arizona then I can Style like you!
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Post by parfive on Oct 18, 2018 22:20:35 GMT -5
Pack it all in that coach and winter in Arizona. . . . and park it out at Walter’s old spot in the desert. What a friggin’ awesome place to dump slurry. : )
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quartz
Cave Dweller
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,339
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Post by quartz on Oct 18, 2018 22:23:00 GMT -5
I put a hose on my utility room basin faucet to get warm water in the winter. The hose runs to a double basin stainless sink in a countertop sized table under the edge of the patio cover, washing done there, and waste water runs through a couple settling buckets, then into a deep hole filled with large round rocks. My normal wash up time is about 2 1/2 hours, quicker when it's in the 20's.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Oct 19, 2018 5:45:46 GMT -5
I have been running my rotaries 6 years straight outside. At a true 25F I start to get ice build up. They are in a greenhouse. The temps have been accurately monitored for 25 years. My cut off temp is 27/28F.
The first sign is ice collecting on the perimeter of the barrel which grabs rocks and exposes them to bruising from the loose rocks. In other words, DO NOT let your rocks start to freeze.
If there is a way to cover them for the night and capture motor heat you can get a whole lot colder. Best if they are sitting on the ground or a slab for some geothermal assistance.
The Vibrasonic has a built in heater. The 1/3 HP motor is built in to the motor box directly under the hopper. Easily no problems at 22F. But different situation.
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Post by fernwood on Oct 19, 2018 6:35:01 GMT -5
I have been following this as well, as I want to keep tumbling throughout winter. It gets -30 here, so was looking for tips. My washout methods should work, since the tumblers are in my utility room in house. That room has no insulation, but I can maintain 50 degrees there in the winter with no extra heat. The utility sink there has been working great for just dumping and wash out slurry down drain and having it go into a 5 gallon pail. I save all stages of slurry as a starter for the next batch, so I have minimal slurry going through 12" of pipe. The pipe and water there have only frozen 2 times in the past 2 years since moving here. Both of those times were prior to the heat vent in that room being re-connected to furnace. The furnace was replaced in 2017. No problems with freezing last winter. No problems with the 20' drain pipe freezing. This is a drain for utility sink. My washing machine empties into that. I insulate it with hay. Then let the snow take over. Ensure the outlet is not frozen throughout winter. So, should be good to go, right? Thinking I can continue with my system. So let me get this right, You are or not dumping your slurry straight down the utility sink drain for your laundry. Do you have city sewer or a drain field for your washer and utility sink. Does your furnace have a drain too? I recycle as much slurry as possible. Then wash rocks off in laundry sink. The sink has a 12" drain pipe which leads outside. Downward elbow on that. Place pail under elbow outside to catch the initial rinse water. I do need to remove the drain extension each time I do this, but it is easily done. Sink drains to yard. Furnace is in basement and drains to septic system. The sink drain is located about 6' from a house door, so it is close.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,676
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 19, 2018 9:20:02 GMT -5
Here in Oregon (in the valley) it sometimes gets down into the low to mid 20's.... Never had a freeze up on any of my rotary's.. The last few years, I just shut them down, because this old goat freezes up... Hahaha Never tumbled in the North Dakota winters (while living there), with -35 - 50 below temps, it wouldn't have been worth the fight and ruined equipment..
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Post by TheRock on Oct 19, 2018 14:06:51 GMT -5
Here in Oregon (in the valley) it sometimes gets down into the low to mid 20's.... Never had a freeze up on any of my rotary's.. The last few years, I just shut them down, because this old goat freezes up... Hahaha Never tumbled in the North Dakota winters (while living there), with -35 - 50 below temps, it wouldn't have been worth the fight and ruined equipment.. Your two years older than me at 63 I'm turning 61 in a couple months so I guess I'm a KID GOAT!
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 19, 2018 14:42:59 GMT -5
I do basically what Chuck ( Drummond Island Rocks) and grumpybill do, but I have a couple things to add. I basically use the colander over a five gallon bucket idea, but lately, I’ve been tryIng to conserve water by taking out a few rocks at a time and rinsing them in the waste water bucket rather than pouring fresh water over them. After rinsing that way, I do pour over some fresh water, but I don’t use as much. My dumping place is outside, but it’s not an open hole. I built a wooden box that goes down about two feet into the ground and has a trap door style lid. The bottom is natural sand. Even in twenty below temps, the water does not freeze, except an occasional thin layer on top. Like Chuck, I have to clean this hole out about once a year. If you have enough Petoskey stones tumble, the coarse slurry makes the waste water settle out completely. When I dump Petoskey sludge in the bucket, the next day the water on top will be completely clear. Then I siphon it off into a clean bucket and dump it right down the drain. I have a two bucket system, where I dump the dirty water off and then dry out the sludge to go into the garbage. I don’t have to dump any water outside if I always have Petoskey stones tumbling.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 19, 2018 15:31:26 GMT -5
I always have Petoskey stones tumbling. Hey Rob Please tell me again how you Tumble & Polish Petoskey Stones Again. Thanks ~Duke
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Post by aliengreensoul on Oct 19, 2018 18:47:24 GMT -5
I tumble year round in basement large colander over 5-gallon bucket with short hose attached to laundry tub dump water in ditch outside
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 19, 2018 19:00:07 GMT -5
I always have Petoskey stones tumbling. Hey Rob Please tell me again how you Tumble & Polish Petoskey Stones Again. Thanks ~Duke You can do the first stage in the rotary tumblers, just add extra water and check them every three days.
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Post by TheRock on Oct 19, 2018 23:56:35 GMT -5
Thanks. I Start Out With 30 Grit Normally Is That Ok? After the Tumbler do you switch to Vibe?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Oct 20, 2018 8:23:09 GMT -5
I start with 80.
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