Friday, January 18, 2008

Garden Show Update - Jan. 18 - Plumbing Matters

You got questions, They got answers - The Urban Farmer Store


Yesterday I received an e-mail from the fine folks at the Concrete Works Studio.
They are graciously supplying the hand crafted concrete soaking tub that is the crown jewel of our display garden.
Some of the final specification details still had to be worked out such as designing a custom made pallet that the tub can be transported on and moved into place , without it actually having to be taken off the pallet.

Sounds simple enough huh ?

Well in theory it is , but we have to plumb this baby and it is not a typical plumbing situation that one would find in a residential set up.

So off to my water feature and irrigation gurus : The Urban Farmer Store in Mill Valley


As I walked in and looked down the isle of plumbing components I started to get blurry eyed.
Where the heck to begin !


Enter the Pond Plumbing and Irrigation Angel :
She’s a regular blond female ‘McGiver’. Talk about brains and beauty.


In a matter of a half hour or so she figured out gasket and flange size, reducer and expander connections, L’s, T;s and cross your I’s ! Not to metion correct nipple size.
( yeah, we had fun with that one ! )

Then enter the other half of the dream team.
Eric and JT wanted to see their engineering mathematics in action so they did a test run using a 950 gallons per hour pump and connected it all to the water weir.



Lights, camera , ACTION ! It worked !



The engineering master mind and expert irrigation guru at his mad scientist work bench putting all the pieces together .
In the foreground, on the table, is the actual flange , gasket, and L connection assembly that will be installed at the bottom of the tub .



Last photo :
The water weir .
It has built in LED lights in the water reservoir.
You can order it Urban Farmer Store.
As the water cascades out from the weir the sheet of water is illuminated.

Cool !



You got pond or irrigation questions ? The Urban Farmer Store team has answers and action !
Thanks guys and gals.

6 comments:

chuck b. said...

So cool!

Anonymous said...

You gotta love a talented support team! I enjoy the updates! So much work Michelle, but your work needs to be displayed to the masses! Awesome.

Anonymous said...

There's another store in Richmond right next to American Soil Products, right? They're amazing.

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

Correct MMW,
There are three locations that I have visited, The mother ship in S.F., the Marin store and the other one in Richmond next to American Soils.

The Marin store seems to do more business with homeowners than the other two stores.
It may be because of their location or due to the location of the other 'trade' irrigation stores which are in the heart of the industrial area.

Whatever the reason, they have excellent detailed customer service .

Glad to know that you are aware of them.

Garrett Sawyer said...

Thats a really nice weir, do you remember the brand?

I'm new to your blog, and I love it already!

Garrett Sawyer said...

LOL! nevermind about the brand, I answered my own question by maximizing the image...haha.