1914. 
THE RURAL K EW-YORKER 
116 
Farm Engineering. 
CONNECTING ELECTRIC ALARM. 
I have installed an electric alarm on 
an outbuilding about 400 feet from the 
house. I have this connected with an 
electric bell in the house, and have the 
wires connected with six dry batteries. 
For some reason or other I am unable 
to get any connection beyond 150 feet. 
Do you think I have enough batteries for 
so great a distance? I am enclosing a 
diagram showing how I have the batter¬ 
ies, etc., connected. D. K. 
Rockland, Mass. 
With the batteries in reasonably good 
condition you should be able to do this 
easily. Disconnect one of the battery 
wires, and with the switches closed scrape 
the loose end against the corrugated part 
of the binding post. If there is a spark, 
the bell vibrator is not adjusted properly 
and there is no other trouble, provided 
the wires are insulated from each other 
and are not short circuited. If there 
is no spark, probably there is a break in 
the wire, a poor connection at one of the 
binding posts or the bell vibrator is not 
adjusted properly. The latter case is 
doubtful as that should result in a spark. 
3<u// 
Go over every binding post carefully, 
cleaning and brightening the wire and 
tightening the post. Then look over the 
wire carefully for breaks hidden by the 
insulation. This can readily be done by 
scraping a bare place on each wire every 
50 feet or so, and connecting the two 
wires together with a third piece at each 
bare place, beginning at the house. If 
the bell rings at one point and not at 
the next, probably there is a break be¬ 
tween the two places. If the bell doesn’t 
ring with the cross connection at the 
point nearest the house and you are sure 
the batteries are all right, leave the cross 
connection made, disconnect one wire 
from the bell, loosen up the vibrator ad¬ 
justment and gradually tighten it, mak¬ 
ing connection with the loose wire to the 
binding post every half turn or so. 
R. P. C. 
The Question of House Heating. 
On page 10 R. P. C. gives some inter- 
estiug figures in reply to G. C. about the 
cost of heating systems for a six-room 
house. It seems to me that these are 
too high. Ten years ago I built two 
houses, after one and the same plan, each 
containing six rooms and bath. In the one 
I put a hot-water system at a cost of .$225. 
This gave us heat in two rooms and hall 
on first floor, also in one bedroom and 
bathroom on second floor; in fact by 
leaving d xors open all bedrooms are com¬ 
fortable even in very cold weather. It 
has never required more than five tons of 
coal to run this heater from November 
1 till middle of April, and some seasons 
considerably less. The other house was 
equipped with a hot-air furnace at a cost 
of $90, and in the same length of time 
gets away with seven tons of coal, and 
if Winter is severe slightly more. I per¬ 
sonally take care of both fires. 
The hot-air system has required no re¬ 
pairs in the 10 years except cleaning and 
replacing of smoke pipe. Last Fall my 
own hot-water boiler sprung a leak. My 
local plumber, on making an examination, 
said it would have to be renewed. On 
being asked the cost he thought about 
$100. When I insisted on a written es¬ 
timate he made it $80, explaining that a 
boiler of 500 rating would cost him $09; 
in fact he gave me to understand that he 
was figuring on a very small profit. lie 
did not receive the contract, and put in 
a bill of $5 for looking at my boiler. At 
this time I bought, through a friend, who 
happens to be a builder living in another 
State, a heater of the same rating right 
from the factory for $40, freight prepaid. 
This was dealei*’s price, and this same 
heater is listed in regular catalogue at 
$141. On the advice of this friend I 
bought a pipe wrench, and with the help 
of one of my sons and a few other tools 
disconnected the old boiler, and by pro¬ 
curing some fittings and having some 
threads cut at a local shop at a cost of 
$7 was able in two days after receiving 
boiler to have the system in working or¬ 
der. The fact that the new heater was 
of a different make, and also because 
unions had to be inserted in floor and re¬ 
turn pipes, made these extra fittings ne¬ 
cessary. 
If I had a six-room house-heating 
proposition to solve to-day, rather than 
pay a contractor $450 or more, as R. P. 
C. says, I would buy the whole outfit and 
put it in myself, and expect to come out 
from $100 to $200 ahead. Of course 
there are some points on which I should 
first make sure that I was well posted 
and thoroughly understood, such as the 
gradual ascending and descending of flow 
and return pipes without any dips or 
sags, the proper location of expansion 
tank, with escape pipe, etc. I know of 
course that the price of everything in 
general has advanced in the last 10 years, 
but hardly think this particular work has 
gone up 100% or more, but the trend 
of the times is to soak you “all the traf¬ 
fic will bear,” and in this plumbers as a 
class certainly are no exception. J. B. 
New Jersey. 
Septic Tanks. 
Can you give me a description of a 
good successful septic tank or house cess¬ 
pool? I have descriptions of several, but 
they are not all alike. One has the inlet 
higher than the outlet, which seems 
sensible, another has both on same level, 
while in 1911 Report of the Department 
of Agriculture of Pennsylvania, the in¬ 
let pipe is below the outlet pipe, which 
is near the top of the tank, which, to me 
looks impractical, and would keep the 
inlet pipe always with sewage in it, 
therefore in danger of forcing the sewage 
gas backward. I would like to know the 
size for 10 people, how to construct, what 
kind of pipe to use for inlet and outlet, 
and the fall and length for each. Does 
it requires any ventilation? w. W. L. 
Rutledgedale, Pa. 
If you have the September 13, 1913, 
issue of this paper at hand, you will find 
in it a full discussion of the principles 
of septic tank construction, and an il¬ 
lustration of one suitable for household 
use. As you say, no two builders con¬ 
struct them exactly alike, but if the es¬ 
sential principles are followed, you should 
be able to install one that will do its 
work satisfactorily. The inlet pipe should 
be carried well below the surface of the 
tank contents. This will seal that pipe 
and minimize the disturbance caused by 
the inrush of sewage. House fixtures 
should also be trapped against sewage 
gas. The tank itself should not be 
ventilated. A tank four feet six inches 
deep, three feet wide and seven feet long, 
inside measurements, is sufficiently large 
for 10 people. The outlet should be so 
placed as to give a space of about 12 
inches above the water level in the tank. 
Any watertight material may be used in 
the construction of the tank, but rein¬ 
forced concrete is, perhaps, the most 
practicable. Vitrified pipe is most suita¬ 
ble for inlet and outlet pipes, the former 
of four, and the latter of three-incli size. 
The inlet pipe may be of any needed 
length and fall, the outlet ltfpe should 
connect with the tile drain through which 
the tank contents are discharged, and 
these drain tiles should have a uniform 
fall of 1-16-inch to the foot. M. B. D. 
Homemade Brick for the Stove. 
As Winter approaches there is much 
to get in shape, and the kitchen range 
and the sitting-room heater will have 
to do heavy duty during the cold months. 
The back of the range may have suffered 
from fire, and there may be holes in it 
which need patching. There may be 
cracks in the heater which could be at 
least temporarily closed and the stove 
would be safe and efficient for a time. In 
such cases a very simple fire brick might 
be made and applied as plaster. We have 
used it and found it did good service. We 
took the old formula of our grandparents, 
wood ashes and salt, mixed them equal 
parts, and to that added one part of 
Portland cement to two or three parts of 
the combined mixture. We wet it as in 
preparing a cement mortar, placed it in 
the back of the stove and immediately 
built the fire. The mixture proved very 
satisfactory, withstood intense heat from 
coal and was as firm withstanding fire, 
as though it had been stone. This mix¬ 
ture is easily prepared and applied, is 
inexpensive as well. This will not take 
the place of a new back or part for the 
stove direct from the factory, but it 
will do temporary service very satisfact¬ 
orily. MRS. GERTRUDE JACK. 
Ohio. 
i. ^uxples HOiUiam SI 
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