Rotating Washer Makes Cleaning Vegetables Easy

Rotating Washer Makes Cleaning Vegetables Easy CLEANING EQUIPMENT Washing multiple pounds of carrots and other root vegetables at a time for his CSA program and farmers market booth was a tedious chore for Curtis Millsap at Millsap Farm in Springfield Mo To speed up the process he asked his neighbor Avery Broyles to build him an automatic root washer Curtis provided Avery with a photo of a root washer he found online to use as a model Parts used include pine board strips 24-in drainage culvert pipe 1/4-in bolts with lock nuts galvanized pipe pvc pipe a 1/8-hp motor off an old treadmill castors an on/off switch and a serpentine belt from an ’02 Impala The pine boards make up the drum of the root washer as well as the ramp that the root vegetables roll down into the drum There are 3 sections of the drainage culvert fastened around the outer edges of the drum with castors attached to the wood stand that fit into the grooves of the drainage culvert They allow the drum to rotate via the serpentine belt attached to the treadmill motor A hose is attached to the galvanized pipe which runs into pvc pipe installed on the interior of the drum and allows water to spray down into the drum as it rotates to wash the vegetables The spray can be adjusted by a union on the pvc pipe The root washer unit plugs into a 110-volt outlet The root washer can hold up to 40 lbs of carrots at a time Curtis says and he figures it saves 2 man hours every wash Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Millsap Farm 6593 Emu Lane Springfield Mo 65803

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