equipment for pollution wanted

after yesterdays pollution on the thames, we figured we'd try to get our own little bit of kit together

so keeping it simple I figure leaf blowers could be used to re-oxygenate the margins
and a pump to use as a fountain, all would need to be able to run on petrol
so if you've access to either, or anything else we might need, then post it on 'ere

I have a leaf blower, but it needs a service, so if anyone can assist, we'll have one to keep in our storage shed at teddington

Think what's needed to get the dissolved oxygen levels up is millions of small bubbles, like the air stone in a fish tank.
What about this: Length of lightweight garden hose with holes pricked in it (like normally used for watering the garden). Attach an 8oz lead on one end, chuck it out in to the river. Attach air pump at the other end, should get lots of small bubbles over a reasonable area.
Pump-wise want something capable of a fair pressure but also fair volume
ie not like a car foot pump, maybe more like the type of pump you use for an inflatable. Maybe an electric car tyre inflater would be OK I don't know, advantage it could run off a 12v motorcycle battery.
Your leaf blower could probably run an array of 10 of them in parallel, bodge up an adaptor with some marley down-pipe - drill holes in it to fit the hoses & seal with silicone - but better if hoses can be fitted securely on proper spigot joints.
Would have to experiment a bit to match the right pin-hole sizes, hose length and pump capacity.

Of course if you pump hosepipes full of air they are gonna float so would need weights all the way along.

Oxygenation is definitely the main thing needed....on a very big scale though. Thames Water should fund the TAC's response kit. A few dozen generators and pumps or you're scratching the surface.

Last night the bubble boat idled by not actually producing bubbles whilst thousands of fish were gasping at the surface in the margins. Videod it.

Even if it was on warp factor pumping out as many bubbles as possible it has to stay midriver due to being so huge a boat and has no effect in the margins, which based on last night is where the fish move to.

In the margins is where we could make the difference....we should definitely press for them getting us the right kit. Even if they store it and we have access to it when required.

nice one chaps, my concern with asking for kit from anyone else is there time frame, but a good shout steve, we'll see if the EA or thames water can help us
whereas if we cobble summit together, we'll have it asap
ed I love your thinking m8, as soon as someone can look at the carb on the blower, we'll put summit together
I've got access to a large petrol bilge pump to act as a fountain, just waiting to be pressed into action

at the end of the day any fish we save will be a result, if we aint got the proper kit so what, we'll scrape on by, get more publicity for the problem and prove yet again that anglers can make a difference

Anything that agitates the water surface will aerate. Regarding oxygenation.. the finer the bubbles the better, you need to create a fizz of bubbles, these stay in the water column longer. Paddle wheels or good although may not be viable as most run on electricity...most fishfarm and commercials use these, a pump spraying water onto the surface will work, the water will reoxygenate and again agitate the surface.

nice one chris, spraying water onto the surface with a pump has gotta be the easiest option

What about a large water tank and aerator unit, net struggling fish out & put them in it until the EA arrive to transfer them to a cleaner location?
Would need to fill it on-site though - pump with strainer and filter required.
A domestic PVC loft tank would be sufficient.

a big thanks to ed for servicing the leaf blower, such was its condition that he had to replace all the fuel pipes
its running pukka now, so all we need is an attachment to put in the river

was thinking of a large bore hose, similar to a firemans hose, that can be rolled up when not in use, we'd need to weight it, put holes in some of its length and could fix it to the blower with a jubilee clip

opinions as always folks, and if anyone else watches blue peter, maybe they've got an idea or two

Needed new fuel lines, priming bulb, a good clean and a tweak of the mixture screws. Now starts easily and runs smoothly.

Built the Mk1 oxygenator this morning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B-kAGD4VIE

I think if we fill the 110mm pipe with coarse shingle it will provide sufficient weight to sink it whilst still allowing air to flow through.
Need a better way to connect it to the tumble drier hose, at present it's just stuffed tightly inside. Perhaps a smaller diameter that would fit inside the flexi hose would be better, then it could be fixed with a jubilee clip. But I just drilled over 500 holes in this one...!

500holes, each 3mm diameter gives an area of about 3500mm2.
The outlet pipe diameter is about 80mm giving an area of about 5000mm2.
The implication being it should be happier running at least two bubblers with 500 holes each.
More flexi hose and some T-pieces needed LOL!

ed, that works like a dream. salvina wants one for our bath

you should be one of the brainiacs team

Cheers Willie!
She might not be so happy with the 2-stroke exhaust fumes in the bathroom!

Ed that's brilliant

Good work!

Ed, superb mate

very very clever m8, alot of lateral thinking produces a pukka bit of kit

fantabulous buddy

I'm looking at this FloPlast land drainage hose
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=11577564
and thinking, it's flexible, about the right diameter and it's got holes already made in it, if anyone should happen to come across a few m of it in a skip, grab it please! Two or 3 metres loosely filled with shingle to sink it, stopped off at one end somehow, then connect the other end to some non-leaky hose and on back to the blower.

Also found this lay flat drainage hose available in various sizes could be the thing for connecting back to the blower.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Layflat-hose-3-x-1m-Sunny-Hose-/200288787891

I managed to obtain some 80mm drainage hose and tested this out on a pond at the weekend (no video this time sorry!).

The problem is that if you push the bubbler too deep (more than a few inches) the bubbles don't come out due to the water pressure, instead it either just stalls the fan in the leaf blower or blows all the joints apart (wet gaffer tape lets go).

What we found was the pipe needs to be just under the surface, too deep and it doesn't bubble at all, and obviously if its on the surface the air just comes out having no effect.

Filling the pipe with gravel seemed a good idea but if you keep it loose gravel just moves around all down to one end of the pipe and that's no good either.

So what we decided is we need to tie on weights and floats. We need the right amount of weights to keep it sunk even when full of air, and sufficiently bouyant floats to keep it up just under the surface even when the pipe is full of water.

I calculated that a brick (the sort with 3 holes in) every 50cm should be sufficient weight, and a 5-litre plastic can, or large milk container, should float it.

We only had 2 bricks handy at the weekend, not enough to test this out properly. We also need some flexible pipe at around 80-100mm dia to connect back to the blower, the tumble drier hose isn't really up to it and has started to split. If anyone has any useful materials let me know!

nice one ed, do we need an aeration pipe, wouldn't a solid pipe positioned just below the surface, blow a plume of air a couple of feet

Yes it will work with the pipe I made first of all but it still needs to be suspended at the right depth under the water to be effective so that one will need weights + floaters too.
To make 4 more requires drilling a lot of holes and I don't fancy that, this drainage pipe is the answer to that, all ready done for us plus being the same diameter as the blower outlet should be easier to fasten the whole lot together (once we get more flexi hose).

nice one m8, I was thinking along the lines of a rigid piece of pipe, summit like a gutter downpipe, being rigid and with no holes it would eliminate alot of the problems
would it not be better to fix it temporarily to the margin river bottom with a couple of pegs and some rope, far easier to transport than wights and floats
remember we are only trying to oxygenate the shallow margins, to a wellington boot depth, mind you, there were so many fish in 6 inches of water or less, we could probably blow down a hose pipe and improve things
we do need to crack on and get this kit together, so if you want some assistance, I'm willing to assist asap

Would a petrol/diesel driven air compressor such as this be suitable:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLARKE-PETROL-ENGINE-DRIVEN-AIR-COMPRESSOR-/220827617863?pt=UK_Air_Tools_and_Compressors&hash=item336a5a0a47

...or would that be too powerful?

Another thought I had was scuba diving air tanks - 12 litres @ 200 bar = 2.4 cubic metres of air. Is that anywhere near enough to make any difference? Still got the problem of how to distribute the air, but I could give some further thought & research if the volumes are worthwhile. I was thinking along the lines of asking friendly local club or shop to donate old equipment, not quite up to scratch for human use, but still safe enough to say fill to half capacity. Such organisations often also have portable air compressors, but from initial research these tend to be rather costly.

nice one paul
I dont think scuba tanks will last long enough, but the compressor would do the job

in a nutshell the kit has gotta be as transportable as possible, we'll have to move it up and down the foreshore as the tide rises and falls, and if the last one is anything to go by, we could be there for a 72hr session

a big thanks to ed for sorting the lay flat hose and jubilee clips

ok folks we've now got our own leaf blower in stock [ again thanks to ed for getting it running], and enough lay flat hose for half a dozen more, and we have a couple of leaf blowers available when we need'em
we've also got access to a commercial petrol driven bilge pump, that we can use to create a fountain

if you've access to a leaf blower, pump or any other bit of kit that could be useful, then let us know on 'ere, and lets hope it aint called into service to often

Would a pair of size 8 chest waders be of any use?

I "inherited" them from my bro & sis in law who no no longer have need of them to access their house in winter, now they've moved away from the river & I've now bought myself a pair of size 10's to stop the black toe-nails I used to get when wearing the size 8's for any length of time.

If they'd be of use, I'll bring them along to the next TAC event I come to (can't make the match, unfortunately).

If not: I don't know - anyone?

they'd be well handy m8, mucho gracias

My pleasure - will be good to have a bit more room in the bin cupboard.