Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
567 
Farm Mechanics 
Conducted by Robert H. Smith, of the Canton Agricultural School 
Canton, New York 
Building a Small Reservoir 
I wish to build a reservoir on a side- 
hill about 30x40 ft., and not more than 
4 ft. deep, probably 3 ft. deep. IIow thick 
should the lower retaining wall be, and 
would the loose dirt thrown up be all 
right, or would it need to be of concrete? 
Would there be much seepage through, or 
should it be lined with cement? It will 
be fed by a small spring; probably will 
not flow a gallon a minute. I wish to use 
this water for irrigation through a Skin¬ 
ner system, and 1 shall have to pump 
water from reservoir to top of hill. 200 ft. 
away, and a fall of 50 ft. (from top of 
hill to reservoir). What size gasoline en¬ 
gine would I need, and what size feed 
pipe to pump S gals, per minute? Would 
I have to set engine on hill or at the 
water? q. b. l. 
Castile, N. Y 
With so small a supply it is probable 
that your reservoir should be concrete- 
lined to reduce seepage to the minimum. 
The character of the soil would have much 
to do with this. In the West storage 
reservoirs arc frequently lined with pud¬ 
dled day, coal tar or oil, all seeming to 
give fairly good conditions under the con¬ 
ditions existing there. Directions for 
constructing such reservoirs will be found 
in Department of Agriculture Bulletin 
No. 1!49. "The Storage of Water for Irri¬ 
gation Purposes** 1 This can. no doubt, 
be obtained upon application to your Con¬ 
gressman. 
I wonder if you need as large a reser¬ 
voir as you have described? Excluding 
the loss of water by seepage and evapora¬ 
tion. it would take nearly 19 days for a 
flow of one gallon per minute to (ill a res¬ 
ervoir 30x49 ft., 3 ft, deed. Evaporation 
and seepage would, of course, lengthen 
this time considerably. In regard to the 
pump, probably the best location is at 
the reservoir. A 144-in. pipe will be 
large enough to carry eight gallons per 
minute a distance of 200 ft., and to pump 
this quantity of water against a head of 
50 ft. will require an eugine of front one 
to 1 3 ,4 h.p. If the engine must maintain 
a pressure on the distributing system as 
well, a larger eugine would be required, 
say 21£. to 3 h.p. 
Water Supply for Electric Power 
I am contemplating a water power elec¬ 
tric light and power plant. We have a 
spring brook running through our farm 
that will probably run six or eight gallons 
of water per minute, with plenty of fall 
for water power. Can you give me some 
information about building the dam? 
Brook flows through ravine, deep and nar¬ 
row in places. Advise number of feet 
fall required below darn, and size of out¬ 
let pipe to water turbine wheel Our 
buildings are located about 150 yards 
from nil ill site, and would like machinery 
in cellar to run pump for pressure tank 
and washing machine, and about 20 elec- 
tric lights at house and barn. c, A. d. 
Couneant, O. 
If you have not measured the flow of 
water in the stream, the exact quantity of 
water available is somewhat iu doubt. 
Also the fall or head is not stated. How¬ 
ever, your letter seems to indicate that 
plenty of_ fall is available. Assuming a 
flow of 7% gallons per minute and a 
10-ft. fall, you have a total of 025 foot 
pounds per minute, or about .19 h.p., pro¬ 
vided it could nil be changed into useful 
work without waste. This is, of course, 
impossible, and the actual power received 
as work would be somewhat less than 
this. This is a very small power, and 
scarcely worth developing, unless in an 
exceptional ease for pumping or similar 
work. 
Water Supply from Pond 
The well on my place has been con¬ 
taminated by the previous owner building 
and discharging a septic tank within 5 
ft. of the well curb. 1 understand he 
drank the water, hut I do not care to. 
The well also gets very low in a dry 
season, and is not reliable. I am also in 
need of a large cistern to take care of 
water supply for bathroom, kitchen, 
laundry, etc. I have a small lake in my 
cow pasture, which is fed by springs. 
This lake is 200 ft. long and 100 ft, wide, 
and can be fenced off from the rest of 
the pasture so the cows could not come 
within 100 ft. of it. The level of the 
lake is above the pasture, so there could 
possibly be no drainage from the drop¬ 
pings into the lake. The level of the 
lake is about 15 ft. below the house level 
and 1.000 ft. distant. Would it be pos¬ 
sible to draw this water with an electric 
pump and use a pressure tank in the 
house cellar as at present? What size 
pipe should be used, and could a filter 
be put in the line, and how, so it could 
be used for drinking purposes? 1 am 
thinking of loweriug the level of the 
water in the lake by opening the dam 
and thoroughly cleaning it (pond is only 
about 4 ft. deep), and thou build a fence 
completely around it to keep out small 
animals, etc. Is this practical or not? 
Kinderhook, N. Y. D. l. s. 
The pond that you speak of might 
furnish water of sufficient purity for 
drinking purposes, but it would he best 
to have a thorough test made before 
plans are made to use it. The water 
that we drink has much to do with our 
health. Probably the State Board of 
Health at Albany could give you instruc¬ 
tions for taking the sample and would 
either make the test for you or direct 
you to a place where the examination 
could he made. 
A 1,000-ft. horizontal run of piping 
plus a 15-ft. lift makes a hard pull for 
the suction side of a pump. Before pur¬ 
chase this proposition should be put 
directly up to the manufacturer of the 
outfit and a written guarantee of service 
secured from him before installation. If 
the system is installed it seems that the 
best place for n filter would be at the 
intake end of the line. A crib can be 
made either in an excavation at the side 
of the pond or directly in it from which 
the water is drawn from the line. This 
can be so arranged that the water has to 
pass through a considerable thickness of 
sand and gravel to reach the interior of 
the crib. The filtering area should he 
large so that the flow through it would 
be very slow. If there is sufficient flow 
from the springs supplying the pond the 
water can be forced to the house with a 
rain. It seems, however, that a more 
satisfactory water supply could he ob¬ 
tained from a drilled well near the house. 
Water from this shallow pond will be 
Warm. If the system is installed the 
cost for piping and ditching will be high, 
as well as the expense of protecting the 
pond, while the long length of piping 
would render the. system particularly lia¬ 
ble to trouble. The well supply would 
be cold, palatable and reasonably sure to 
be pure. 
Sediment in Piped Water 
About 14 years ago I laid a 1*4-inch 
galvanized iron pipe to a spring a half 
mile distant from my buildings. There 
is but 7 % feet fall in that distance, yet 
until very recently the supply of water 
has been sufficient for our needs. Dur¬ 
ing the Summer months for a year or so 
the water has decreased in flow, and con¬ 
tains a rusty sediment which discolors 
kitchen utensils. Can you recommend 
any method by which the pipe can he 
cleaned and do away with some of the 
rusty sediment? For several Summers 
every two or three weeks we have pumped 
out the pipe with a force pump, which 
increases the flow for the time being, but 
does not do away with the rusty sedi¬ 
ment. n. E, it. 
A treatment, used by plumbers in this 
locality for opening obstructed pipes is to 
insert a xvire similar to that used for 
telegraph lines aud feed it through the 
pipe, taking the pipe up at such points 
as are necessary to permit getting the 
wire through. This wire is then used to 
drag a wire brush or other cleaner 
through, and the sections of the pipe 
again assembled. Another method that 
is sometimes seen recommended is to fill 
the pipe with a solution of hydrochloric 
acid, the common muriatic acid used in 
making soldering fluxes. This is let stand 
in the pipe until it dissolves the rust, and 
is then thoroughly flushed out. Using 
this is somewhat of a gamble, however, 
as it attacks the pipe as well as the rust, 
and some experimenting should be done 
to determine the best strength for the 
solution, and the best length of time for 
it to stand. 
Difficulty in Starting Engine 
I have an 8-h.p. oil engine that gets the 
spark from compression. It has got so 
hard to start it wears me out cranking 
t.he thing. I want, to find some way to 
start this engine without so much crank¬ 
ing. What can you suggest? I have com¬ 
pressed air and I have a 5-b.p. direct- 
current motor, but the line in front of 
house is alternating current. Is there 
any way I could put a transformer on. 
my electric line and convert this alter¬ 
nating current so I can use this motor? 
If this could be done, that would solve 
the problem, as I could belt the motor to 
band wheel and start until I got an ex¬ 
plosion. and throw belt off. n. a. b. 
Ridgewood, N. .1. 
Engines of this type ignite their charge 
from the heat of compression, compression 
being carried to a high degree, around 
400 lbs. to the square inch, as against 
00 to 70 lbs. in the usual type of engine 
relying on the electric spark for ignition. 
Carrying so high a compression neces¬ 
sitates almost perfect valves and rings to 
retain it. It is probable that you will 
find your difficulty in either of these 
places: worn and leaky rings or valves 
in need of grinding. Turning the engine 
over slowly and listening for hisses will 
indicate where the leak is, and a repair 
of the defect by fitting new rings and 
grinding in the valves should make the 
engine easier to start. I would consider 
this a more practical way of overcoming 
the trouble than trying to arrange either 
a compressed air or electric starter for it. 
The easiest way to use the direct-current 
motor that you now have on hand would 
be to* exchange it for an alternating cur¬ 
rent motor of the proper voltage and cycle 
to fit the current at your disposal. 
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LU;i« •.*■*-* 
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