Sunday, June 15, 2008

Making the Electrolyzer Containers

Let the FUN begin! I set out to make the Electrolyzer containers from the PVC piping parts. This meant going to Lowe's to buy enough Threaded/Slip adapters and cleanout plugs to accomplish this.

First I measured the wall plates the long way and determined that they are 4-1/2 inches long, then I decided I would add a one inch space at the bottom and 3 inches at the top. This made 8-1/2 inches of pipe. I examined the length of pipe and, it was 24-1/8 inches long. Alrighty then, let's make them a smidgen under 8 inches and call it good.

I then used a sharpie marker and marked 7-15/16" from each end of the pipe and plopped the pipe in my trusty chop saw for cutting.


The blade is a 14" Diamond type for cutting concrete and brick, but I've found it cuts just about anything but a large volume of metal.


The result was three sections of pipe just about 8 inches long which will do for the purpose of having multiple containers to experiment with.


I then scraped the burrs off of the ends of each pipe to prepare them for the gluing operation.


A nice group photo of the pipe, adapter, flush mount cleanout cap, and the primer/solvent cans.


I applied the PVC primer to about an inch of the end of the pipe and the entire inside slip section of the threaded/slip adapter. The primer can has its own swab on a stick inside. I followed the primer with the adhesive. I had to work quickly since the primer softens the plastic in order to bond the parts. This is what it looks like when the parts are ready for assembly.


I used a rubber mallet to force the pipe all the way down into the adapter. The picture doesn't show it, but the job had to be finished on the concrete floor.


I then inspected the inside of the connection and removed the excess adhesive I found there.


I repeated the gluing procedure for the cleanout cap.


And there the cap is screwed in place. I recommend using a vise and a wreaking bar to turn the cap. I also recommend doing this step as quickly as possible or the plastic cap becomes quite hard to turn.


Here is one with the adapter placed on the other end. This particular one is just sitting on the pipe with plumber's Silicone Grease applied as a sealant. By now the bottom of all three containers are finished.


Now to make sure they are usable. I filled each container with water and allowed them to sit to see if there are any leaks.

So why three containers? I wanted to play with the designs a bit, and start out with a plain container, then the second container could have a fluid level tube added and things like that.

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