Is it worth it?

My gal and I are considering moving north of Toronto , and most likely would be on a septic system. We plan to build a work room , darkroom and greenhouse.

I have been thinking about a water purification system that recycles the wash water . Do any of you have thoughts on these systems??

Do they work?, could they handle the volume of a print washer? would I need a second mortgage just to afford one?

John, you mention a pond on your property, have you considered a fountain and then recycle the water for water cooled air conditioning??

Bob Carnie said:

John, you mention a pond on your property, have you considered a fountain and then recycle the water for water cooled air conditioning??

Click to expand...

Bob,

No I don't know anything about this. Our heating and then AC bills are growing rapidly for the same amount of work. Do you know of any links to further details and products? The only conservation we have added is that all roof rain gutters are gathered into four inch pvc underground feeding into the pond.

Thanks again Bob for your advice on the mounting press a day or two ago.

John Powers

Hi John

I don't know of any links, but I know it works, the last location I had, we had a AC watercooled uint. the overflow was hooked up to my print washer so we did double duty, the water is a bit warm but seemed to work fine.
You can find these units easily in fact probably for free.

If you go into a shopping mall and it has an internal fountain, basically this is the driving force of the ac unit. the water is pumped from the fountain to the cooler, then pumped back to the fountain and the big burst. this allows the water to cool and then be reused for the ac.

For the life of me I do not know why this concept is more widely practiced, maybe there are others on this site who would know the reason for more use of these water cooled units.

As concerns the printing aspect and if you were interested in doing alt contact prints, whether small or large, you could probably alt print Ziatypes without much concern for the septic. Your main problem, which is actually easily overcome, is humidification. A 5x7 or 8x10 camera would make a nice size alt print. As concerns the other alt processes I have no knowledge of the chemicals but who knows, maybe they would work for you as well.

Bob Carnie said:

Hi John

I don't know of any links, but I know it works, the last location I had, we had a AC watercooled uint. the overflow was hooked up to my print washer so we did double duty, the water is a bit warm but seemed to work fine.
You can find these units easily in fact probably for free.

If you go into a shopping mall and it has an internal fountain, basically this is the driving force of the ac unit. the water is pumped from the fountain to the cooler, then pumped back to the fountain and the big burst. this allows the water to cool and then be reused for the ac.

For the life of me I do not know why this concept is more widely practiced, maybe there are others on this site who would know the reason for more use of these water cooled units.

Click to expand...

Bob,

Not exactly on topic, so I'll offer brief comments.

Many commercial AC systems are water cooled. They use a cooling tower instead of a fountain. No reason not to use a fountain (cooling towers are just engineered, fan-assisted fountains), as long as the water treatment system doesn't create problems. I don't think that you would want chemically-treated water in a fountain. There are non-chemical treatment systems. It's no good having an indoor fountain though: you need to reject the heat outside.

Simple evaporative cooling - which could be done indirectly with an exterior fountain - is more efficient in terms of electricity usage than AC that uses a refrigeration cycle, and it works well in hot, dry places if enough water is available. Both direct (the air coming straight from the evaporator) and indirect (the water used to cool air via a simple heat exchanger) systems exist. Direct systems are extremely cheap and simple, and widespread in places like India.

Best,
Helen

Thanks Helen

I will start a thread when I am getting closer to moving to the North: re, water cooling and water reclycing.
I think in the next 50 years the treatment of water will be on everyones mind, more so than oil.

ccbob said:

Is large format still a wise choice if you do not process your own film and prints?

I'm on a septic system, so a real darkroom is pretty much a non-reality for me. But, I have been thinking of purchasing a 4x5 field camera sometime down the road, as my return to film has left me wanting to 'go big'. The obvious problem is control of the process. I could surely develop the film here, but would have to rely on a lab (A&I) to do the printing.

So, I'm wondering if there are many that are shooting large format, but relying on a lab for processing part or all of their work. And if so, are the results worth it?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I've been on a septic system for 16 years and have had no problems.

Put a couple of packets oy yeast down your drain once a month and you will be fine.

Don Bryant

Just wanted to say thanks for all the replies. You've given me much to consider and many great ideas and aspirations. Looks like it is not only doable, but certainly worth it as well. It also gives me something to look forward to during the coming year.

Thanks again.