Disclaimer: This post was originally posted by Newbie, chiltecpin. This was originally posted on June 16, 2008.Disclaimer: This post was originally posted by Hero Member, mjb8743. This user is located in Zone 7, South NJ, Garden State. This was originally posted on July 10, 2008.
chiltecpin,
If you read through ALL the posts regarding the AWS, you would find that occasionally, it's debris in the bottom of the tube that can interfere with the proper operation, or the box isn't level, and not the length of the tube. Before you have people going off and hacking up their tubes, 99% of the time it IS a leveling issue. Cutting up the tube is the lazy action when leveling is too much bother.
As for the fact that the tube supplied with the AWS is the same length as the one shipped with YOUR Earthboxes... lots of folks have older boxes with longer tubes. Supplying tubes with the AWS is a courtesy to them so they don't have retrofit issues and need to order the shorter tubes separately. I congratulate the company for choosing to eat the cost of the extra tubes to new EB users out of concern for the existing EB user. You call it a quality control issue.... I call it valuing the customer.
Mickie
Ouch, Mickie! My ears are ringing. It's YOUR BOARD, man.
You're 99% positive that an AWS not shutting off is due to a leveling issue? Wow, what else can I say but...you're really, really good. Are you in R&D?
I did reread past posts on AWS problems, many are filled with the usual speculative content and common-sense fixes.
You seem to have become quite the 'expert' on AWS systems even though you just started using them after June 22 of this year. (You didn't even know where the water came from then).
For your enrichment, the 2 box AWS kit I purchased (for a modest $49.95 + S&H) had the 2 riser tubes differing 3/8" in length (Ahem, that's quality control for such a device...1/8" is all that was needed to enable the AWS to work as intended). In addition, if Earthbox chooses to send someone a $0.07 piece of plastic pipe as part of a $50 dollar kit, who's "eating the cost"?
I was just merely offering another suggestion as to help troubleshoot an AWS not shutting off, not telling owners to HACK (I have to love your word choice, HACK!) their riser tubes from the moment of purchase. (This board obviously is your life, but you seriously need to spend some time away from a computer).
I realize that if someone is unaware of the basic principles of operation of the AWS, doesn't read instructions, and has not an ounce of common sense and consequently really does have their box out of level so much that the water constantly fills and overflows, it may confound the cause of said malfunction. But this may not be the only cause of this malfunction. Hence, my entrance to Your forum. You have my permission to add this fact to your list of possible problems with AWS'.
It's obvious that EB has made quite a few design/production errors since their inception and are trying to correct them in time, that's acceptable. In regards to the AWS, there is room for a lot of error with such a system, and reasons for failure may not always be evident. Perhaps EB needs to offer more detailed documentation for their AWS system to avoid future problems. Now that's not like asking to document how a clock works (I gotta love that crack, too), but some people do like to know how a clock works as well as read the time.
