Week 2

After finishing our design proposal we started to look for the materials needed in order to complete our biosand filter and solar disinfection tank. We went to Lowe’s Home Improvement Store to gather more information and pick up some basic materials. The first thing that we bought was Quikrete which is quick-drying concrete.  The concrete will be used to make the outer lining of our biosand filter.  Making the filter out of concrete will give our design a strong structure that will be durable in any condition.  Choosing concrete was also a good idea because it was only five dollars for a fifty pound bag.  The next item that we knew we could buy today was gravel. The purpose of the gravel will be to stop the sand from draining into the water storage tank. This, once again, was a good buy because we got fifty pounds of gravel for only five dollars.

Some obstacles that we did run into during our trip was with buying a one-way water valve and PVC piping. While talking to an employee at Lowe’s we discovered that the steam we will be producing from the solar concentrator has the ability to melt the plastic of the one-way water valve. The employee said that a copper valve would not melt under these conditions.  Unfortunately they did not sell them there, so we are now checking store catalogs to see where to acquire one.  Another thing that we learned was that the steam we are creating could melt the PVC piping that is carrying the steam up and condensing it back to water. After acquiring more information we learned that copper piping would once again be a better alternative and would also help condense the water as it travelled up the pipe. Finally, the types of sand that were sold at Lowe’s were all-purpose sands that may contain harmful materials that could contaminate.  These types of sands are used for industrial purposes and not for any type of water filtration.

This trip was extremely beneficial because it gave us a lot of information about the type of materials that we will need to get and what obstacles we will be facing. In the upcoming weeks we will continue to do more research into the type of sand needed to filter the water and metal to hold the steam.

There were no specific jobs assigned this week.  We all got together and looked up the information that will be useful in the future and made a trip to Lowe’s over the weekend.