I noticed our long drop down the back had fallen over (3 sided tin home made job) in the last couple of days but interestingly, someone had stuffed the top of the hole with lots of clothes and it shouldn't be all that full. (Not as if someone got caught short and had a spare rag, but several items of clothes).
I will get the Other Half to check it out, but as its rather isolated, is there a potential for someone to have done this in the hope it could blow up if flame were applied?
Its about 14 years old, we use to use it 4 - 5 times per year on our trips back, and in more recent times, our loggers would have probably used it. I use to throw a handful of lime down it when the smell was getting up there during our trips.
How hard is it for someone to drive a vehicle close to the longdrop without your permission? (locked gates etc)
It could be that someone has used your longdrop as a "free" place to dump their rubbish [!] - if this is the case, they probably didn't want to walk very far to do so...
You can harvest methane gas quite simply. On the farm where my father grew up, there was a swamp that emitted methane in steady bubbles. They used to boil their billy over a bubbling area, by putting an old enamel basin, with hole in bottom, upside down over the gas. From there, they lit a little flame and set the billy on top with some flat rocks to keep the billy just above the flame. This worked very well.
One of the enterprising neighbours decided to harvest the gas, so he built a solid concrete seal over the swampy area. Unfortunately the gas blew the concrete pad to "smithereens" (Dad's words)
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
How hard is it for someone to drive a vehicle close to the longdrop without your permission? (locked gates etc)
It could be that someone has used your longdrop as a "free" place to dump their rubbish [!] - if this is the case, they probably didn't want to walk very far to do so...
Cheers
Good thinking, but no. You cannot see it from the metal road, its quite internal on the property by its location, gate is kept locked and its on the edge of a rift (had a nice view) so no chance of a vehicle driving over it.
The Other Half is going up there this afternoon to check it out. He thinks it sounds odd too.
Not talking a longdrop here but a methane explosion.
I know farmer who had a offal pit with one of those round concrete tops,it was about half full when one day he chucked a heap of old wire netting down into it,after a few more years of guts and skins going on top it ended up reaching the top so he decided to burn the guts forgetting all about the netting he had put in there years earlier,after about half an hour of burning the heat had reached the netting methane chamber,the following explosion blew off both the concrete tops and was heard 10km away.
Running superfine Merino's for 15 years drench free and seed grower, sold through www.sentinelsgroup.co.nz/
spoook;463539 wrote: C'mon Swaggie, has he been there yet?
No, I went to Rainbow Trees sale today and he unloaded the ute when he got home from work.... after milking, feeding and other evening chores.
but tomorrow, or Monday when he is on night shift and has a couple of hours to spare before sleep... (doubt its going to blow between now and then, and if a body is there ((doubtful, too small)) its dead anyway.
As a pre-teen my family had a long drop dunny that had real explosive potential as it had a number of unstable leaking sticks of dynamite dropped down the dunny for "safe keeping".
The dunny was in use for years and to my knowledge has never exploded... so there's hope for you yet Swaggie!!
my dad built a long drop at Te Kaha with a view.You looked out the dunny over the bay.It had no door.It didn't need one.That was way before the power went thru
And methane explosions don't just happen in longdrops. The local Reap Centre here has just had to reline, recarpet etc downstairs as there was a explosion when someone was working on the sewer pipe out side and the mess covered almost the entire lower part of the building!
]
!] - if this is the case, they probably didn't want to walk very far to do so...
