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Re: DIY CO2 leaks



Thu, 20 Jun 96 Marty Durkin <durkin at stsci_edu> wrote:

<<[...] Can anyone suggest where this item
can be found or a better alternative to the rubber stopper?>>
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

At most plant nurseries & many hardware stores you can find drip irrigation
equipment.  
I have found the easiest and most reliable method to be:

1. Buy the tool used to punch holes in hard drip tubing - abt $2.50
    (looks more or less like the simplistic ASCII diagram below)
      ----------
    /   |     |  \   <--- hard plastic handle (abt. 2x3 inches)
    | - |-----| - |
    \   |     |  /
       ---------
          ||         <--- metal "punch" - real small hole at 
          \/              bottom, angles to larger shaft about
                          the dia. of an airline tube.

2. Buy some pop or seltzer or whatever so you have a plastic bottle & a
plastic screw-on lid that fits it properly.  Do whatever you have to do so
that it's empty.

3. Make a hole in the pop-bottle-top with the drip punch tool.  It will take
some perserverance, unless you are far stronger than I or have a much sharper
punch than mine ;-).  Once you've gotten through, leave the tool pushed _all
the way_ into the hole until you are ready to put the airline tube in.

4. Cut the end of your CO2 airline at a *very* sharp angle, so it has a long
pointy tip.

5. Poke the pointy tip of the airline tube through the hole in the bottle top
(poke from the top of the lid).  Use pliers to grab as much of the tip of the
tube as you can (so it won't break) and carefully pull it through the bottle
top about an inch.  Wa-la! 

The way the drip punch works is to stretch the little hole it makes long
enough for you to put your emitter (airline) through it.  Then the hole
reforms back to its original size, and you have a lovely tight seal.  No goop
or drying time required!  Perfect for impatient plantsters like me.

Anne Hull Seales
Santa Cruz CA