Some of you have seen this post before, I'm told that because of some computer issues it failed to reach people who get a daily log of communications, but it did reach the people who get postings twice weekly.

Anyway, I've recently developed a series of pit emptying tools based on buckets of various sizes and shapes. The goal is to keep people who clean pit latrines and similar pits clean and above ground, while still accommodating trash in the pit and keeping a fast rate of emptying. The following video:



shows The Sludge Dipper in various forms. This can clear pits with thin to moderately thick sludge, of any depth, with any amount of trash in the pit. (I've recently learned that the bucket can be pushed down into the sludge with a stick, and therefore The Sludge Dipper can also work in fairly thick sludge, thicker than the sludge you see in the video.)

My previous video from about a year ago:



shows the Sludge Digger, a device with a handle than can work easily in thick sludge, with any amount of trash, and any depth of pit. (I've recently learned that if you are working under a ceiling, there are ways of handling The Sludge Digger that can avoid the ceiling, though these methods take a little practice.)

The attached file shows some still pictures of The Sludge Dipper. It also give some technical details not in the video.

I hope these new tools will add to the list of options available to pit emptiers all over the world, and make their jobs easier and healthier.

Towards a cleaner world,

Dale Andreatta

This is a follow up post to my own original post, because I'm not sure the original post was ever made available to the Forum.

The original post described 4 variations of a device I've developed for emptying pit latrines and septic tanks. They are bucket-based, and should be able to handle trash in the pit in most cases. A video and .pdf document are available with the original post.

Check out the thread to see the original post.

Thanks,

Dale Andreatta

I've recently developed a series of 4 sludge dipping tools, useful for getting thin sludge out of pits. They are simple buckets and tubes on handles and ropes, and they are unaffected by trash in the pit. They were designed to keep the pit emptier clean. The best way to learn about the devices is to look at my video:



If the video is not available or can't be downloaded, I've attached a document with some still pictures showing the general ideas.



Dale Andreatta