Fuel Oil Tank

All of the buildings that I maintain are heated with fuel oil that is stored in outdoor tanks.  Outdoor storage tanks are prone to collecting water from condensation.  Part of my fall maintenance plan is to check each tank for water. 

Water is more dense than oil so it sinks to the bottom of the tank.   To check for water in the tank I use a product called "Kolor Kut".  It is a yellow/brown colored paste that comes in a tube.  To use it you rub a little on the end of a dip stick and lower it into your tank.  In this case I am using an old piece of pipe for a dip stick.

When Kolor Kut comes in contact with water it changes to a red color.  In this photo you can see that the paste on the end of the pipe has changed to a pink color.  There is about 1/2" of water in the bottom of the tank.

On many older tanks there is a drain on the bottom of the tank that can be used to remove the water, but newer tanks normally only have openings in the top.  To get the water out of the bottom of this tank I used a Super Syphon.  The Super Syphon is a handy little one way valve connected to a piece of clear plastic hose.  It is a great way to transfer liquids from one container to another.  They normally come with only 6' of hose but I put a longer piece on this one to use it on large tanks like this.

To make sure that I got the siphon all the way to the bottom of the tank I connected it to the dipstick with zip ties. This allows me to move the siphon around on the bottom of the tank to make sure that it is in the lowest spot.  I have also used this technique to clean water or dirt out of the bottom of snowmobile gas tanks.  

Diaper Genie

Some of the work that I do is for the regional Headstart preschool program.  I do maintenance on the building in our village and a few other villages in the area.  This work involves plumbing, heating and ventilation, painting, and anything else that might come up. 

The Headstart program is now expanding to include very young children and infants. Many of these younger children wear diapers.   If you are going to have ten kids all in diapers you need a good system for changing them.  

These first two photos show the internal parts of a Diaper Genie.  It is a fancy garbage can made to hold dirty diapers.  Every time you step on the pedal the top opens up and exposes the jaws inside.  Toss the diaper inside and take your foot off the pedal.  The jaws squeeze the diaper into the can and the lid closes up.  This keeps the diapers in a compact sealed up bundle that is easy to dispose of and keeps the smell inside.

This brand new Diaper Genie did not work.  There was a problem with the way that the springs and latch mechanism were assembled.  In the rest of the world you would probably return it to where it was purchased, but that is difficult to do here, the diaper genie store is several airplane flights away.  So I took it apart and figured out how to make it work.

Here is the complete diaper changing station, ready for use.  I'm glad that I just maintain the facilities and don't have to change all those diapers.