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“Honey, why is our water bill so high this month?” “B-roll, dear.”

I'm 99% sure Grady started this channel so he could rationalize building all these trompes and flumes and things.

Somebody pinch me......science with no bullshit. No irritating over- enthusiastic narrator...good job people. This is one of few sites that satisfies my brain....

Grady: "I could watch this all day" Grady's water bill: "please don't"

You missed the biggest benefit of a trompe: Oil free air. You can use the compressed air directly for breathing and in pressure sprayers for paint, without a costly filter system to trap the oil. To make it practical you usually want to add a float valve to shut off the air to exhaust, if the water level rises too high to avoid water contamination of your air lines. Additionally you obviously want to connect a tank which can store more air as a buffer to avoid having the float valve shut off every time you start a air hungry tool - wearing out the valve. And usually you want a secondary valve which opens if the water level in the collection basin is dropping too low, in this case you need to vent some air or your water lines will be contaminated with air. Depending on your line layout the air might collect somewhere reducing the flow inside the line.

You could make the best April fool video ever. Every video I watch is about some cool engineering thing I've never heard of. You could make one on how electricity flows better uphill so most power plants are downhill from people and I would believe you.

When you mentioned no compressed air lines on phone poles I smiled. You don’t know what to look for. At the telephone company we used dry air to keep water out of the older phone cable. We had trompes to compress air. We had some smaller piston compressors out in the field. But the bigger air dryers in the phone company central office are trompes. The cool dry air is put into the paper insulated cables to keep the paper dry. These are cables that date back to before modern plastic insulation. Cables placed in the 1940’s carry data for the internet.

Hey, I'm a mining engineer, really neat to see my profession featured in a video.

I'm a 66 YO semi retired ChE process engineer and learned something new today a Trompe. The harnessing of basic physics by earlier generations of engineers always fascinates me. Thanks!

I don't know what a trompe is, but I'll know in 8 minutes and 49 seconds.

The second most interesting part of this video is how the video compression algorithm really struggles with the turbulant water air mixture.

I'm obsessed with your channel. So much good stuff delivered at exactly the right speed with just enough detail.

1,3 million subs: "This little hobby of mine.."

“Air compressors had a major disadvantage to the mining professional of the early 20th century: they didn’t exist.”

Grady-You are amazing, and this channel is absolutely awesome! I am very pleased to have 'found' this channel and, I thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, and for making often 'complex' concepts more accessible to the 'layman', such as myself!

Thanks for posting this video and using my fathers footage of the air plant at the start of your video. He worked in the Cobalt mines for 40+ years and had a lot of experience with the air plant. Dad recently passed away at 92 and knew a lot about mining and using compressed air as a power source for their tools. I was born and raised in Cobalt and worked in some of the mines as a student. As this video states, it was an inexpensive way to provide compressed air to a bunch of mines. When electric compressors became less expensive, the air plant was phased out. There were various issues with the air plant. First, it was 10-20 km from the mines, so there had to be pipelines through the bush (rugged terrain) to get it to the mines. Then the pressure as not always consistent because the more mines, the more they shared the air. Also, compressed air can be dangerous and there were situations where the pipe fittings would deteriorate (rust, rubber gaskets, etc.) and rupture. As the pipeline system aged, it became less reliable. Another issue they had at the air plant was keeping the air plant pipes clear of debris. The river would always have debris (logs, branches, dead animals, etc.) that would get through the control gates and get lodged in the piping system. So they had to shut down the plant sometimes to clear out the debris from the pipe. Another thing I remember when I went to the air plant was that the pipe heads were below the water. So the water and the air both entered the top of the pipe. The "pipe heads" were on a system that could be raised/lowered which was important for the changing height of the river feeding the plant. In the spring, during snow melt/run-off, the pipes had to be raised a bit. During the summer when the river levels lowered, the pipe heads were lowered. One thing this video does not show is what happens when the pressure builds up too much in the holding tank. If the mines could not take the compressed air fast enough, there was a release valve that would combine some water and compressed air and shoot off a huge rooster tail of water about 100 feet into the air. Many locals would make the drive down an dirt road for 15 km to watch this happen. Often there would be a rainbow effect on a sunny day as the sunlight would pass through the rooster tail water. Again, thanks to the author for using the footage of my dads video in this video.

Just over a week after watching this video, I went to a presentation on the history of my region's power grid (in Quebec), and there was a mention of Ragged Chutes, a hydropneumatic plant that produced compressed air just like that, to a pressure of 125 psi. It feels like the universe just conspired to make me interested in trompes! I'll take it.

This reminds me of an experiment I did years ago in physics class where we did the reverse process, used air blowing over a straw in water to draw the water up and out of the cup. Really cool stuff, Grady! I always look forward to your new videos.

I appreciate your channel and love to see old tech used in new ways as well. How smart these folks were!

Hey Grady! I am a Construction Engineering student. I am interested in heavy civil projects and right now I am studying for my F.E. exam. I have been watching your videos for years now. I find the ways you explain things to be very clear. I find your models, diagrams, examples, and animations to be always so great. Like you said, they really have gotten better as time passes too. I have even sent several of your videos to my professors to use as a teaching resource because they have triggered that "Eureka" moment for me. Your input has really nailed down critical civil engineering concepts for me. I hope you know how great of a service you provide.

Perfect timing! I was just thinking “I need a way to aerate a small pond that doesn’t have access to grid power”. Thank you!

I've been looking for practical information on a trompe pump ever since I heared the late Bill Mollison talk about it briefly in a lecture... Thank you so much! This technology should be widely used and available🙏❤️

i have been watching you for a while, and you production quality is much better over time. good job Grady!

As an engineer, I find it really cool that someone is talking about these kinds of obscure "antiquated" design. This channel is the best.

The Peterborough Lift Lock on the Trent-Severn waterway, also in Ontario, Canada was originally built with a trompe to supply compressed air to run all of the auxilary equipment needed to operate the lock. The system operated that way from opening in 1904 until an electric air compressor was installed in the 1980s

Your time and content on the videos has been noticed and appreciated. Thank you for your efforts.

Made my day l learned something new before l finished my coffee. A engineer who demonstrates without a blackboard instead actually builds something priceless.

"Make Air Great Again" - Trompe 2020

"I can watch this all day" Water bills intensifies*

Over here in the North of England, we are lucky enough to have a giant version of this in our Abandoned Nenthead Mine - with a 328ft deep underground shaft that provided enough compressed air to power a whole host of equipment over a large array of levels that was fed from a series of lakes on the moor above. Thanks for the video, good work!

Thank you for producing these videos. Very intriguing and educational. We home school our children, and for your channel while browsing for other material. I’ve included watching a few of your videos to the kids, albeit the information is a little over their heads. They’ve enjoyed it and it’s inspired they’re desire to learn to more. And I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and learned a great deal.

Since you really read all comments I wanna say something here. You're awesome and your videos are amazing!

What is a trompe? Tuesday morning: Er ... a French fart? Tuesday afternoon: Why, it's a water-powered air compressor! Cheers Grady!

I'm a retired engineer who grew up pretty close to Cobalt Ontario, great explanation, love your stuff, thanks for posting

You have a gift for making complex topics easy to understand!

Yo Grady, great video, but I just gotta say that I am left slightly unsatisfied for one reason. You mentioned how this trompe was made a long time ago in for this one mine, but you never went into detail on how it worked and how much compressed air it produced. I was pretty curious about the scale of this old time air compressor.

I ran across this idea years ago when I was I evolved in small hydroelectric redevelopment. I think the large installation was also in Quebec Canada. It developed over 10,000 Hp at 150 psi. The compressed air was carried in large pipes to the mines more than a mile away. The system was self regulating. I tried to get a grant to use one powered by a low head hydro site to provide cool presjuurized air to feed a gas turbine powered electric generator. The reviewer did not understand the pressure was determined by the depth of the reservoir not the drop at the dam.

Grady, this isn't a critique i just wanted to let you know that I love your videos. Being able to use your videos to explain things to my friends is something I love to do. Keep up the inquisitive attitude and the phenomenal video quality considering your budget. I've been watching your videos since your garduino video and it makes my day when I see a new video from you recommended to me by youtube.

I've never heard of such a thing. This is awesome, thank you for an easy to understand example.

I’m currently a 1st year Civil Engineering students and this channel is what i call home, i just enjoy how amazing engineers are. Thank you for uploading!!!

Thanks for simplifying the abstract into application.

Came back to check the ram pump and also checked this one. Nice to come back to these and re-learn this stuff!

I don't have any suggestions but I do like to appreciate your commitment to show us a very informative video. Thank you.

A friend of mine was talking about this exact thing today and I was wondering how he suddenly knew all of this. I just confirmed that he watched you and blasted us with new cool info... haha

Great video, the quality of your videos has, indeed, improved over the years. Always excited to see a new one pop up :)

Thanks I could watch your shows all day. Keep up the good work. You can rarely be the best but you can be the better you.

Oh man, this is awesome. And an excellent demonstration, just like everyone you make. I had no idea this was a thing, I suppose I always assumed there was a way to compress air without mechanical energy, but this is just such a cool concept to me. Harnessing the natural laws of the world around us to create work has always been a fascination of mine, and ome of humanities best qualities.

Love that this and other engineering examples you have shown in the past are easy projects that are fun and interactive ways to educate children. As well as a way to grow their interest in engineering and science in general.

Me: (Brings a bunch of clear plastic piping and fittings into the house). My wife: What's that for? Me: I'm building a trompe. My wife: What's that? Is it for finally finishing the bathroom? Me: (Not making eye contact) Welll... yes dear.

I loved hearing a little bit of engineering history from a place near and dear to my heart. Cobalt, Ontario, Canada is one of the most interesting places someone can visit.

You’re doing a great job! Thanks again for another great video!

Modern problems require 1920s solution

This is perfect for the gold mine I’m digging in my backyard.

I'm really enjoying your channel. Thanks for explaining things with practical demonstrations.

About 9 years ago I did some research on trompes for use in off grid living. It was so hard to find any info, now there are videos and descriptions everywhere. 😁

Man I wish I’d had this info while I was still a student. It’s so motivating to learn about the amazing tools of years gone by.

As a mechanical engineering lover and student, I loved this video. Thank you.

Fascinating as always

Thank you for your videos! I've always felt that I was an engineer at heart!

I just love this channel all these things are interesting and makes education fun!

Its people like you who have influenced me going into mechanical engineering after being out of school for 10yrs. Love your videos

Best channel on You Tube. I waste exactly zero time here. I always learn something new, and I love it.

Its a nice change to see someone adversising something they seem to genuinely use!

This is a great channel, you're videos are amazing keep up the awesome work.

My favourite channel, answers so many questions that I didn't even know I had!

Another fantastic and informative video. I greatly enjoy your channel, thanks for all your hard work.

Great video! Loved how you used clear tubing so we could see exactly what was happening internally.

Some channels make you want to get a new gadget. This channel makes you want a river.

Very interesting, thanks. Incidentally there is something which occurs naturally in the rocks of the island of Sark in the channel islands. It's known as a "souffleur" and it can compress air in a fault in the rocks, then eject a slug of seawater driven by compressed air.

Been looking for a large scale source of compressed air for a steampunk world and this is the best one I've found, thank you.

You're a champ for teaching us about the tromp!

That was very helpful. I’ve been wanting to add more air to my hydroponic system with out buying more air pumps and stones. Subscribing to your channel was the best. Thank you.

You caught me red-handed with that vocabulary - I'm currently learning this stuff (thermodynamics and fluid dynamics) for an exam in university.

This show is great ,the narrator is great , content always great, the guy is genius , engineering of today and yesterday's ideas , then skill share just takes it all to brand new levels , I never gave this much positive for no program

Thank you for allowing someone like me working in the hospital basement with no guidance understand what is actually happening inside of all the machinery and some times your videos help overt full loss of power. So thank you

What an ingenious device! I am amazed and humbled by the simplicity of this invention!!! Thank you so much for enlightening us :)

What a great and simple device! I'm currently trying to design a centrifugal trompe, harnessing rotational potential instead of gravitational potential for a compact air compressor with no moving parts. (except the rotating piece) This video is a big help!

I loved the practical demonstration! Nice.

I saw a model of this at the Ontario Science Center when I was a kid. I didn't understand how it worked until today. Thank-you.

"no moving parts" water: am I a joke to you?

I love your work! I am a final year mechanical engineering student and these kinda practical thinking is what inspired me to pursue this degree ! Keep doing what you do !

Bill Mollison talked about trompes in his Permaculture courses as if they were all the rage at one point, he said the whole city of Paris was running on compressed air , and talked about cars and refrigeration also being a mainstay use. he alleged that at one point, as fossil fuel was making inroads with internal combustion the ice industry put on a push to remove references to trompes from libraries and the like until it became nearly impossible to find any information. He also mentioned it's use in Roman times, although there was an inability to seal and pressurize like today, it was modestly used in places, esp Andalusian mining. Thanks for making this information more publicly available.

Your method of explaining stuff is so good.

Stoners everywhere are now figuring out how to make a bong out of this.

It's amazing how much effort he puts into his videos. It really shows

My home town is Cobalt Ontario, I have been to whats left of Ragged Chutes many times buy never got to see it vent. Some Kids burned down the pump house when I was a kid and the video that you show in your intro hasn't happened since the 60's to my knowledge.. So thank you I always wondered what it looked like and now you showed me video in your intro. Cobalt is an amazing town. We would explore the old mines and tunnels as a kid and the pipes from ragged chutes are everywhere in the bush all grown over from a 100 years ago the main lines are over 12 in in diameter. So much power was always amazing to me..

I certainly haven't watched all of your content, but I have yet to watch a video that didn't completely fascinate me. Not to mention, so many of them are actually useful too. Thanks for your efforts.

Great video! :) You mentioned that these types of compressed air plants are gaining renewed interest. Do you know of any currently being or slated to be built? Would love to learn how modern design and engineering have improved even farther on this impressive invention. With no moving parts in the compression side, minimal surface footprint, and no consumed fuel needs (toxic, radioactive, or otherwise) it would seem to be an excellent choice for power generation anywhere in the world there's a reasonable source of flowing water. I'd think it would be much better than even conventional hydro-electric dams, as it would virtually eliminate a number of the issues of using water to directly power turbines. Perhaps in a future video you might compare and contrast the two for efficiency vs cost etc from an engineering stand point?

These purely mechanical machines for energy conversion are super interesting to watch and learn about.

You have to the most tolerable smart guy on you tube I've seen. I am trying my best at a good compliment here. Thanks for the content.

This channel is like a clear pipe info-mercial

Copyright at the end of the video still says 2019

Dear Grady, I have been interested in trompes for some time now and this video does an excellent job of explaining how they work!! One thing I would love to see tested is how a trompe would preform with a less than vertical intake pipe. Trompes are often considered impractical due to the specific location requirements but I wonder if the principal would still work at a 80° angle, a 70° angle etc.

I first found out about the trompe, by reading Peel's mining series at the first mine I worked at in the late 70's, now retired, I look through old book shops for copies, long delayed by Covid! Best wishes from the far North.

thanks for all efforts you do.

How can something be so simple yet so clever at the same time? +2 to whomever first dreamt this up

Would love to know a little more about how this tech was actually implemented. The model is cool and helps me understand the concept but I’d love to know the details.

this is fascinating! the first part of the trompe, is just like reverse of sponge filter we have in aquarium, where the trompe use water to move air and aquarium sponge filter use air to move water

Thank you! I find these trompes delightful.