# New use for plastic carboys



## arcticsid (Jan 14, 2010)

You just got to love ingenuity.


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## Sacalait (Jan 14, 2010)

The cold water bottle looks fine but where's the hot water bottle and how does the plastic hold up with hot water?


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## Tom (Jan 14, 2010)

Troy,
I'm thinking this IS your shower in your place?


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## Green Mountains (Jan 20, 2010)

Eek....rustic .... very rustic.

The only thing more rustic would be only having an outhouse.... oh WAIT!!


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## grapeman (Jan 20, 2010)

It could be worse than that to have the outhouse in the house! I remember visiting my grandmother as a child. We had to go out the outhouse during the day. At night at least we got to use the pee can - and no I don't want a pie made out of that. LOL


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## Green Mountains (Jan 20, 2010)

Well, you know the difference between a rich girl and a poor girl.

One has a canopy over her bed and the other has a can of pee under her bed.


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## arcticsid (Jan 20, 2010)

Hey, Hey, Hey.

I have lived without indoor plumbing for years. Its not the end of the world. Using an outhouse can be an experience when it gets real cold. But it won't kill you.

Alot of these indoor showers are(I found the carboy ones on the net)nothing more than a gargage can filled with water, runs from there by means of a s,mall pump, to an on demand hot water heater and out the other end.

An in expensive shower stall is all you need. If you have to "haul" your own water this drained shower water can be used in your garden.

There are still many many people here who don't have plumbing and they live in some pretty fancy dwellings.

The first few years I lived here, I lived in the bush. Not only did we not have running water, but no electricity, no phones and damn sure no internet. I got my school books from a plane that would fly over and toss it out the door in a big orange bag. I would have to fire up the snowmachine to go get it.

If you are still curious on the outhouse thing, google the word "honey bucket".

STILL beats living in the city.

I will post some pictures of my outhouse. it is painted and decorated tastefully. Some say it resembles a museum of sorts. Just the way it is.

As far as winemaking goes, for me to make 5 gallons of wine I go through about 15 gallons of water for cleaning etc, and who knows how much propane. Those of you who have indoor plumbing may not pay much attention to it, but have you ever actually thought about how much water you use? Most toilets for instance use around 3 gallons per flush, a shower? Who knows. If you have a spouse and a couple kids, the numbers go up. 

When you haul your own, you take notice of this usage. I am not saying hug a bunny, but we all should be aware of what our "footprint" is on the environment.

One last point. When you flush, or even your shower, where does it go? Do you know? Look into it, you may be shocked.

Living in the Last Frontier and respecting it,

Troy


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## Green Mountains (Jan 20, 2010)

Troy,

I think my off hand comments and naivety (meant as humor) was hurtful and stupid. You seem like a great guy and have a great knowledge that I can only hope to have on the subject of wine making.

I have nothing but respect for you and your lifestyle.

My apologies that I gave any other impression.

Salute


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## grapeman (Jan 20, 2010)

I can relate to rustic living. When my wife and I were first married, we got us a 10x 50 foot trailer and made a dug well which ran dry within months. The furnace broke and water pipes froze. We hauled in water in garbage cans and flushed the toilet once or twice a day whether or not it needed it. A weekly bath was taken in a few inches of water warmed atop the wood stove we replaced the furnace with. We had the water freeze on top of the running woodstove one winter when it got -30F. Our refrigerator for the homegrown eggs was a stainless milk pail lowered into the cooling of the now dry well. Our oldest son that grew up in those conditions is the most considerate person you would ever want to meet. His two youner brothers grown up in the world of the gotta have more generation are self centered and sometimes downright mean!

So I can respect your way of life arcticsid!


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## Boyd (Jan 22, 2010)

*Out house*



arcticsid said:


> Hey, Hey, Hey.
> 
> I have lived without indoor plumbing for years. Its not the end of the world. Using an outhouse can be an experience when it gets real cold. But it won't kill you.
> 
> ...


 Be there, done that. Not for a long time. Don't want to do it again.

Here in Minnesota where it some times gets to -30 we moved to a farm (1952) with outdoor potty, hand pump, wood heat, 2 man saw big-assed hammer and wedges, and that sort of good stuff.

Articsid forgot to mention after awhile in cold weather a upside down poop-sicle is formed.  n


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## arcticsid (Jan 22, 2010)

Boydhas proved he knows.


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## grapeman (Jan 22, 2010)

Yep, you gotta be careful not to sit down on one of the stalagmites forming down that hole!


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## Tom (Jan 22, 2010)

Err... Troy are you saying you got "poked"?


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## Runningwolf (Jan 22, 2010)

Tom said:


> Err... Troy are you saying you got "poked"?


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## Sirs (Jul 5, 2011)

guess growing up my grandmother was like high class she had a waterheater on the side of her woodstove in the kitchen she used to heat her wash water and bath water using it was slow but when you got hot water it was hot.... I can still remember as a little kid getting a bath in a washtub not sure think it was a #5 or #8 my aunt thuoght she was living large when she first got running water in the house.


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## Boyd (Jul 5, 2011)

My dad bought a farm in 1952. (11 years old at the time)

No running water. There was a wood stove with a water heater on the side and a large wood burner in the living room. 5 kids took baths once a week.

Wood was cut and split by hand.

The older brother and I dug in the water line, sewer lines and septic tank by hand, milked cows and fed other animals.

So young we thought we were having a good time.

Nice thing was we were in really good shape. Kids that messed with us got the short end of the stick.

Seems everything works out.


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## Dugger (Jul 5, 2011)

Yeah, Sat night was bath night ( so we'd be clean for church on Sun). We did have running water - a cold water tap fed by gravity from a spring on the hill. The sink drained out by a lead pipe through the wall and just splashed outside and Dad & I would cut slivers of lead off it for sinkers when we'd go fishing.
We had the water tank on the side of the wood stove and it took lots of dipper fulls to fill the round galv tub ( they had numbers, sirs??). Mum would go first since she could stand the water hottest, then Dad and then the 4 kids in no particular order. 
The outhouse was cold in the winter and stunk in summer - most others lived the same so it was normal for us.
It was a different way of life for sure.


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## Airplanedoc (Jul 5, 2011)

We had a ice storm a few years back and were without power for a week. My neighbors (high school aged) kids were going nuts, because there was nothing to do. No power meant no TV, cell phones, Internet, Video Games, limited Hot Water, cooking options, Etc. With the ice and lack of power for a week there was not much getting out to the store, or regular deliveries to the store. That turned into a whole other crisis for the kids. 

It didn't bother any of us adults too much, but we decided it was a good experience for the kids.


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## Minnesotamaker (Jul 6, 2011)

When I was young, we had a bathroom without radiant heat in the floor, the towels weren't heated either. You had to go to another room for television and the Internet. I can still remember when our shower only had one head so you actually had to turn to get all sides of your body wet. We didn't have dispensed liquid soap, so we had to get our soap by rubbing it off a bar (I think that's where the word "barbaric" comes from)!


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## Runningwolf (Jul 6, 2011)

....and we had to walk to the school bus stop about 1/2 mile away. That is if we didn't live within two miles of the school then you had to walk to school.


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## Boyd (Jul 6, 2011)

Minnesotamaker said:


> When I was young, we had a bathroom without radiant heat in the floor, the towels weren't heated either. You had to go to another room for television and the Internet. I can still remember when our shower only had one head so you actually had to turn to get all sides of your body wet. We didn't have dispensed liquid soap, so we had to get our soap by rubbing it off a bar (I think that's where the word "barbaric" comes from)!



*WOW, and I thought I has it tough!!* *I'll never feel sorry for myself again!!*


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## SpoiledRotten (Jul 6, 2011)

arcticsid said:


> but have you ever actually thought about how much water you use? Most toilets for instance use around 3 gallons per flush, a shower? Who knows. If you have a spouse and a couple kids, the numbers go up.
> 
> 
> Troy



Statistics show that the average person uses 80-100 gals/day. 100 years ago, the number was about 8-10 gal/day per family.


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## Airplanedoc (Jul 7, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> ....and we had to walk to the school bus stop about 1/2 mile away. That is if we didn't live within two miles of the school then you had to walk to school.



guess there weren't many obese kids in your school either


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## ffemt128 (Jul 7, 2011)

Airplanedoc said:


> guess there weren't many obese kids in your school either



The obese kids come from sitting around on the couch with video games and fast food restuarants. Oh the good old days when kids would actually go outside and ride their bikes, play ball or pick up a game of release. I can recall leaving the house in the morning and not being back inside until dinner unless it was raining.


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## Minnesotamaker (Jul 7, 2011)

SpoiledRotten said:


> Statistics show that the average person uses 80-100 gals/day. 100 years ago, the number was about 8-10 gal/day per family.



A hundred years ago, they didn't flush. I like the flush.... I think I'll keep it.


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## Runningwolf (Jul 7, 2011)

I agree Lon, Could you imagine what a swirley would have been like back then in the outhouse...


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## Minnesotamaker (Jul 9, 2011)

Runningwolf said:


> I agree Lon, Could you imagine what a swirley would have been like back then in the outhouse...



You wouldn't even have to make contact. Just having your head in the hole with all the ammonia type fumes would probably make you pass out.


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## WineYooper (Jul 14, 2011)

I feel fortunate to have running water again at my U.P. place. Years ago the township decided to abandon the city water lines due to the cost of repairing the leaks and I went without for five years and had to haul from local springs or neighbors, bless their hearts. Two years ago I had a well put in for 11 grand but it is not plumbed to the house so have to haul water for cooking and luckily indoor flushing, I know how much we use and it is a lot. The well is near to where the future house will be built up on the hill and plumbed to the sauna. No shower so water off the stove or I fire the sauna up every other day for baths. I can say that I still enjoy being there versus being 25 miles out of Minneapolis, love the pace and the way of life. My view is not close to what you are experiencing up there. Needs generate ingenuity and you will appreciate it that much more. Good luck!


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