«Previous    Next»
Rotating Washer Makes Cleaning Vegetables Easy
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.


  Click here to download page story appeared in.



  Click here to read entire issue




To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.
Order the Issue Containing This Story
2019 - Volume #43, Issue #6