Burning Man Infrastructure
A complete guide to all the physical infrastructure of the Future Turtles at Burning Man
- Electrical Grid
- Water
- Water, Fresh and Otherwise
- Moving Water in Camp
- The Kitchen Fort Water System
- 2025 Water Plan
- 2025 Gayflower Wish List
- Storage and Logistics
- The Food Fort
Electrical Grid
How we power our camp (and some neighboring camps, too!)
On Playa Electrical Grid
On playa we rent a large 56 kW (70 kVA) generator that has ample power for our needs and all the camps in our hub. In 2024 we received a Multiquip DCA-70SSIU4F generator:
Expand to learn more about big generators at Burning Man
Brad Templeton's Guide to Burning Man Power Grids with Big Generators
Electrical Systems training course at Burning Man Hive
and join the Burning Man Generators group on Facebook.
The generator outputs three phase power. The three phases are called U, V, and W. Any one of its phases can be combined with Neutral, also called Ø, to get 120 Volts AC. You can also combine any two phases together, say U and V, to get 207 Volts AC. (We need this in the kitchen fort for the compressor that runs the walk-in refrigerator).
Coming out of the generator, we use five banded cables to distribute the three phases to distribution boxes around our camp. Those cables are U, V, W, Ø, and Ground. Neutral (Ø) is always color-coded white and Ground is always Green. The others are Red, Black, and Blue, but the order doesn't matter. Here is what a banded cable looks like:
In 2024, we had three distribution boxes around our camp, and provided one to 8-bit Bunny and one to Gender Blender, for a total of five. The distribution box's job is to take that three-phase power - all five cables - as input, and break it down into 50 Amp L14-30 California Twist Lock (also known as CS63xx) outputs. The twist lock cables look like this:
Those only have four conductors, not five. They only carry two of the three phases. The distribution box splits up the phases so that some outputs get UV, others get VW, and others get UW.
It is critical to keeping the generator running well that we maintain approximately equal loads on each of the three phases U, V, and W. This is called load balancing. During the burn week, we monitor the load (in amps) on each of the three phases. If one phase is overloaded, we will move some of the load over to an underloaded phase by changing which 50 amp plug is plugged into which outlet on the distribution box.
A very simple distribution box has one three phase input, six 50 amp outputs, and some breaker switches to turn on and off the outputs and prevent fires if someone draws more than 50 amps. However, in 2024, Generator World, our generator vendor, brought us, at no extra charge, some amazingly incredible distribution boxes that had 12 outputs instead of 6, a dozen regular 120V household plugs for convenience, and built-in digital meters on the back that made it really easy to do load balancing.
Each of the 50 amp outputs from the distribution box can be fed, via a single 50-amp cable, into a Spider Box. A spider box takes the 50 amp cable as input, and contains a whole bunch of household-style electrical outlets that you can actually plug things into.
Spider Box
Our camp owns 20 RhinoBox RB-300AE Spider Boxes (TurtleBox Manual.pdf), so we place these near where a lot of power is needed. In many cases, instead of plugging appliances directly into the spider box, we end up using some outdoor-rated extension cords and power strips to further distribute power.
A Spider Box has numerous safety features including breakers that flip in case you draw too much power or a short is detected, and GFI switches that flip if current leaves the box and doesn't return because it went elsewhere to shock someone. This makes them completely safe to use outside, in the rain, and with faulty equipment without risk of shock or fire.
The following figure shows our 2024 electrical layout in purple. Thick lines show five banded cables leading to # distribution boxes. Thin lines show 50-amp cables leading to $ spider boxes. 2 and 3 designate "hard twofers" and "hard threefers" used to split five banded cables. Y indicates a 50-amp y-splitter. We always let 8-bit Bunny and Gender Blender lay out their own cable inside their camp however they see fit so those cables are not shown connected.
Important Links
- Google Sheets: Future Turtles Generator Usage in Amps Historical data on how much power we draw
- Google Sheets: AC Distribution Equipment Schedule Detailed list of distribution equipment that we own and rent
- Google Sheets: Fuel Consumption How much fuel we've consumed per day on the big generator
Backup Plans
In three years running big generators we have had outages and they were always caused by one of two things:
- Air filter clogged after dust storms. Blowing out the air filter with a leaf blower, or replacing it with a new one, fixed it right up.
- Fuel running out. This was a big problem in 2022 when BRC Petrol skipped many days of fuel delivery. We also "ran out" of fuel once in 2024 because the fuel level indicator showed empty even though there was still plenty of fuel tricking the generator into shutting down when it didn't have to.
In 2022 we had paid for a backup generator to be on playa that could be swapped in in an emergency, but realized that the truth was it would take so long to get it, it just wasn't worth it to pay for this.
Meanwhile we have the following plan for emergencies to keep a few things going in case of a problem:
- We can plug the kitchen into the generator that it used to get to playa to keep the refrigerators going
- If we need to host a party or event, we can plug the public area lights and sound system into a single spider box and plug that into the RV's generator
- We have two Honda eu-2200 small generators which can be moved around to provide a little bit of emergency backup power at spot locations
Solar and Renewables
We often get asked when we're moving to solar power or why we insist on using a big smelly noisy generator when the sun is free, etc. etc.
Unfortunately right now there is very little solar equipment available to rent, and what is available to rent, would be far away. For the amount of power we use, it might take an extra truck from, say, Los Angeles, to bring in all that equipment. That truck alone would consume more fuel than we expect to consume with our generator over the course of a week. That doesn't help the environment. And buying new solar equipment just to use for one week a year would be both insanely expensive and equally bad for our carbon impact. The heavy batteries we would need to store power during the day and make it available at night only have a ten year lifespan and using them for 10 weeks total before sending them to a landfill is an environmental disaster.
Although the Burning Man organization has been encouraging camps to try small solar projects and thus incrementally move over, the truth is once we have a big generator in place, it is almost free to add a little bit more load to that generator, both from a carbon emissions perspective and from a financial perspective. For example, we considered investing in solar panels for the roof of our kitchen trailer, but whatever we spent on that, the net result would be just reducing the load on our generator by a tiny fraction and saving a few dollars in diesel fuel, while the cost and effort of getting those solar panels would be significant.
In short, solar power is great if you can use the panels, batteries, and inverters year-round, say, at your house in Las Vegas, but not so great in the remote playa conditions where it continues to be very very carbon-efficient to use diesel fuel. If you are tempted to spend money on solar infrastructure that will only get used once a year at Burning Man, it would be far far better for the environment to use that money for solar infrastructure in houses and permanent locations where it can work all 52 weeks a year. As we continue to grow our HUB on playa to include more and more camps, who all benefit from a single large efficient generator, we are actually reducing emissions and noise on playa, but we do not believe that the technology is there yet to minimize carbon emissions through solar at Burning Man. That said, we recognize that many small camps with low power needs can make solar work for them, we applaud camps that are experimenting with this technology and figuring out ways to make it work, and we'll jump on the bandwagon as soon as it is carbon-effective.
Vendors
Generator World, Inc
Provides the rental generator along with distribution boxes and the banded cables connecting it all.
Email: generatorworldinc@gmail.com
Contact: Shaz Nawaz (307) 461-9318 or Krystal Nawaz (916) 668-0605
They have always provided excellent service and Shaz is a long time burner (worked on Entheos and Titanic's End) and genuinely nice fun guy.
BRC Fuel Program
We get fuel for our generators delivered (hopefully daily) by BRC Petrol during the event. They charge about $7 per gallon.
The generators use dyed diesel.
Small Generator Repair
We received a recommendation for RepairIT for small generator repair and maintenance (e.g. for our Honda's) but have not tried them.
Water
Water, Fresh and Otherwise
Over the years we have constantly revised and updated the way we handle water in camp. We're not there yet, but it's getting better every year!
Water Usage
In 2024 we used 2305 gallons of fresh water in camp (6.2 gallons per camper per day) as follows:
We generated at least 1000 gallons of grey water from the kitchen, and I'm estimating 600 gallons of grey and black water in the gayflower (we had no way of measuring that).
Fresh Water Sources
Where does fresh water come in from?
- The build team RV has a tank that holds about 176 gallons. We usually fill that in Reno at the GSR RV Resort (where we stay for one night before driving up.) Sierra Site Services can also fill this for a flat rate of $180.
- The Gayflower, as of 2024, has seven IBC tanks for a total of 1990 gallons
- Three in front hold 330 gallons each
- Four in back hold 250 gallons each
- The tanks in back need to be replaced because they stink of their previous fruit juice contents
- They can be filled in Gerlach or Empire for about 50 cents a gallon. Don't fill up in Empire - that water tastes like sulphur, it smells of rotten eggs, and people don't like to drink it or even shower with it. The official water from the Gerlach General Improvement District is good.
- We can rent a 500 gallon tank from Sierra Site Services for $1397 including OSS fees which comes filled, with a pump and a 15' hose. Additional fills are $2 cash per gallon. Water tastes great and service is amazing.
Grey Water Disposal
Where does grey water go?
- The build team RV has a grey water tank that holds about 75 gallons. We usually dump that in Reno at the GSR RV Resort (where we stay for one night.)
- This tank needs to be emptied a couple of times during the burn. In 2024 we figured out a method to hand pump it out to the Gayflower. You can theoretically flag down "RV Pumpout" trucks at the event but I didn't see any of those in 2024.
- The Gayflower has five 250 gallon grey water tanks. In 2024 they were almost completely filled up.
- We can rent a 250 gallon tank from Sierra Site Services for an additional $250 and they will charge $375 each time to pump it out.
Black Water Disposal
If you flush the toilets in the Gayflower, it goes into the Gayflower's five 250 gallon black water tanks. In 2024 they were approximately half full.
Vendors
Sierra Site Services
Office: 888-458-8777
Mobile: 530-957-5049 Contact there is Michelle Haley <michelle@sierrasiteservices.com> and they have an office on playa.
Moving Water in Camp
As of 2024, we don't quite have the water system fully dialed in, but we've learned a lot over the years and it feels like we are close to a painless water solution on playa. A part of that involves getting fresh water from the tanks where it's used, and grey water to the tanks where it can be collected or removed from playa.
Fresh Water Well Pumps
We have a few of the Harbor Freight 1HP Well Pump. (Manual) These pumps seem to work really well, and they have their own bladder so that the pump doesn't have to flip on and off frequently shortening it's life. Basically, they will maintain pressure in a pressurized water system, like the water supply in the Gayflower or the Kitchen Fort, or even when attached to a hose.
This is what Sierra Site Services delivers attached to their fresh water tank. It is also what we use in the Gayflower for the fresh water system. And we have a new backup in a box in the Gayflower.
Pro Tip: When delivered, our pump was not primed. To prime it, you have to open a little nut and pour in some water until it overflows. We did this using a plastic bag with the corner cut off.
Pro Tip: Do not run this kind of pump dry for more than 10 seconds.
Pro Tip: The tank must be pressurized to 23 psi which can be done with a bicycle pump.
Only ever use this kind of tank for potable water.
Sewer Pumps
We bought two of the Harbor Freight 3/4 HP Submersible Sump Pumps (Manual)
These were intended to move grey water around camp quickly, say, from the kitchen to the gayflower. They pump water into a thick red 2" hose that looks like this:
We have a bunch of those hoses - probably 150 feet worth.
There are two problems with this method of pumping grey water. The first is that the sump pump is meant to sit in a bucket that fills up with grey water causing the ball to float which turns on the pump. That means it never pumps the bottom n inches of water which can be a lot depending on the size of the bucket you put it in. The second is that those 2" hoses fill up with grey water and once the bucket is empty, they stay filled up with grey water... there is no way to cause the pump to push out the remaining contents all the way to wherever you're going. This means there is a manual step, after pumping grey water, involving walking the red hose from the source to the destination to gravity-force out all the water.
The grey water tank provided by Sierra is low-slung and looks like this:
With this tank, it's not a big problem to hand-caress the grey water from the hose into the tank. However, if you are trying to move grey water up to the Gayflower, where the tanks are probably 5' off the ground, it's not so easy.
For the last mile, we have these little Water Bug Style Pumps:
That can be completely submersed in water and it will suck up virtually everything and pump it up through a narrow hose, which gets the last little bits of water up and out. It's slow, though, compared to the big sewer pumps.
IN SHORT we still don't have a great way to move grey water from the Kitchen Fort to either the Gayflower or a Sierra Grey Water Tank. It's just a bit of a manual messy process. This is something we will continue to work on for 2025.
The Kitchen Fort Water System
The kitchen fort, delivered in 2023, is a marvel in camp automation, allowing us to bring a commercial-quality working kitchen to playa and start using it without any setup. However, we're still learning about the best way to hook it up to water.
Fresh Water
There are two separately plumbed fresh water systems: one for sinks and one for the ice maker.
Each system has:
- a hose attachment outside for connecting water to the system
- two tanks per system under the bottom of the trailer to store water
- a little Shur-Flo pump inside the trailer that can pump water up from the tanks to pressurize the system
- a shut off valve inside the trailer that connects or disconnects the tanks and pump
In 2023 and 2024, our idea was to fill the water tanks every time they ran out of water. We thought this was a nice idea because it got the water team involved every once in a while and avoided the risk of the kitchen using up all of our camp water by mistake.
Besides the obvious inconvenience of filling the tanks again and again, the other problem with this system is that there is no way to see when the water tanks fill up, other than the fact that they just start spilling on the ground.
For 2025, I'd like to try disconnecting the food fort's water tanks and pumps, and just providing pressurized water to the kitchen at all times. This can be done by connecting hoses to both the sink and ice water inlets and turning off the shut off valves that let water get down into the tanks. We would also unplug the two fresh water pumps inside the kitchen.
Ice Maker
The ice maker system is just like the fresh water system, with its own tanks and pump and shut off valve. In 2023 and 2024 we were underwhelmed by the amount of ice this system could produce (it was nothing close to what it should have been able to produce based on specs) and overwhelmed by the amount of cleanish water that it dumped on the ground through an open spout under the trailer as a part of it's too-frequent "clean" cycle. In 2025 we want to give it one last chance by keeping it connected to pressurized water so it never runs out of water to see what it can produce.
Grey Water
There are grey water tanks under the kitchen which probably need to be emptied daily. The waste spout of these tanks is only a few inches above the ground so we still haven't figured out a great way to move this grey water into the Gayflower or into a Sierra tank, other than manually pumping it around.
One option to explore for 2025 is putting a Sierra tank right next to the kitchen and constructing a simple hose that goes from the kitchen grey tank to the Sierra grey tank inlet. We didn't have the right plumbing parts to attempt this in 2024. We probably need a Valterra T01-0094VP or Valterra T01-0091VP which can convert to the grey water outlet to a standard hose.
2025 Water Plan
This is just the outline of how I think we can do water in 2025, based on everything I remember from 2024.
Gayflower
The Gayflower can basically be treated as it's own unit unconnected to anything else:
- Water in the Gayflower is for showers and toilets
- Grey and Black tanks in the Gayflower are for the showers and toilets
If we can replace the smelly old IBC tanks in the Gayflower and get clean water from Gerlach, we should also use the Gayflower water through a hose as camper canteen filling water.
Food Fort
For 2025 we'll run the Food Fort directly off of Sierra Site Services fresh and grey tanks.
- For fresh water, we'll order a 500 gallon tank and pre-order another refill for a total of 1000 gallons.
- We'll have their pump directly connected to the two kitchen inlets (sink and ice) and we will bypass the food fort fresh tanks completely. Essentially the kitchen will be permanently connected to fresh water and pressurized from the SSS pump.
- For grey water, we'll order a 250 gallon tank and pre-order daily pump-outs.
- We'll put their grey water tank right below the food fort and directly open the food fort's grey tank into it. This will require a small adapter for the outlet, and might also require that we install some kind of sump pump.
As a backup plan if we don't like the taste of the Gayflower water again, we can get fresh water for canteens/drinking water from the SSS tank, too, but this is more expensive.
Layout
This allows the Gayflower to be placed anywhere, but the Food Fort needs to be placed close to the SSS tanks and thus near the street or fire lane.
- If we find ourselves generating grey water from the kitchen faster than SSS pumps it out, we can use the kitchen's own grey water tanks for 100 gallons of overflow. Otherwise we will have to hopscotch water over to the Gayflower black water tank which will have some extra room.
- If we run out of SSS water we can bring a hose over from the Gayflower
- If the Gayflower runs out of water for showers or toilets, or the grey/black tanks fill up, we stop having showers and toilets.
2026 And Beyond
- Let's get some inline water meters to better judge how much water we're using
- Ultimately I'd like to get the SSS usage down to zero and rely solely on the Gayflower. It's way cheaper that way.
2025 Gayflower Wish List
Introduction
After two years in operation we have a wish list for some improvements and repairs that could be made to the Gayflower. These would have to be done in Empire, NV in the spring.
| Priority |
Project |
Status |
| 5 Urgent |
Fix Leaks Around Fresh Water Pump The main green fresh water pump has a few little drips. There is a second leak on the thin brass fitting where water goes off to the swamp cooler. |
|
| 5 Urgent |
Replace IBC Totes With New The four IBC totes in the back were used for fruit juice concentrate and cause the water to smell poorly. One of the three IBC totes in the front (the rearmost one) has a broken shutoff valve. |
|
| 5 Urgent |
Seal Waste Line at Second Urinal We haven't been able to use the second urinal because the waste line leaks. |
|
| 3 Medium |
Leaks around sink bases |
|
| 5 Urgent |
Leak in Grey Water Connecting Hoses |
|
| 4 Important |
Steel Support For IBC Totes in Back |
|
| 4 Important |
Bathtub / Secondary Containment for Grey / Black Water Tanks |
|
| 4 Important |
Level Indicators for Waste Water Tanks |
|
|
|
Storage and Logistics
Year Round Storage
Future Turtles camp gear is stored in six places:
| Name |
Description |
Contents |
Location* |
| Tool Fort |
20' Shipping Container |
Tools, Utility lighting, Electrical, ShiftPods, Supplies |
A |
| Bike Fort |
20' Shipping Container |
Bikes and bike tools, container deck guard rails |
A |
| Pillow Fort |
24' Bumper-pull Trailer |
Interactivity equipment, rugs, audio gear, DJ lighting, pillows |
A |
| Food Fort |
24' Bumper-pull Trailer with commercial kitchen |
Cooking equipment |
B |
| Empire Fort |
25' Pup Trailer (high deck, like a mini-semi trailer) |
Shade parts, camp furniture, extension cord |
C |
| Gayflower |
53' semi trailer |
Water, Grey Water, and Black Water tanks, showers and bathrooms, plumbing equipment |
C |
Where is it?
This flowchart shows how we decide where to store most things.
The detailed Where Is It? spreadsheet helps you track down exact locations down to shelf and bin, especially of specific tools and items in the Tool Fort.
Camp Supplies
What we call "supplies" are anything consumable that we stock up on before each burn to have on hand: things like batteries, towels, cleaning supplies, and so forth. This does not include anything used by the food team.
- Google Sheets: Camp Supplies
Turtle Truck
We rent a truck in San Francisco to make camp possible.
- It brings bulky camper stuff from San Francisco to and from playa, such as tents, bikes, and black-and-yellow bins. In 2024 we rented a 16' box truck which was not too full so we have not had to institute official limits on what you can and can't bring.
- It makes a stop in Reno for people getting on and off there.
- It takes out camp trash which includes build team trash and kitchen trash, but no camper trash (campers are responsible for their own moop).
Here's a typical schedule based on 2024:
Friday before the event:
- early morning - Pick up truck from rental company
- 11:00 am - Load truck in San Francisco
- Afternoon - Travel to Reno
Saturday before the event:
- 1pm - Load in Reno (at GSR or wherever the Turtle Bus will be)
- Afternoon - Travel to Playa
Monday After Temple Burn:
- Morning - load bus on Playa
- 11am - depart for Reno
- Afternoon - arrive in Reno
Tuesday (day after Labor Day)
- Morning - take trash to Reno transfer station
Wednesday
- Morning - drive to San Francisco
- Unload freight in San Francisco (first chance for campers to pick up their stuff)
- Get truck washed
- Return to rental agency
- Evening - campers can pick up their own stuff if they missed the first chance
Truck Rental Companies
These two companies are reliable and happy to rent to Burners. However they have limited availability so you have to make a reservation in March or April.
The Food Fort
The glory of towing a commercial-quality kitchen into Burning Man
Food Fort Pictures
Grill, Stove and Oven, Air Conditioner, Handwashing Sink, Dishwashing Sinks, Microwave, Counter space / undercounter freezer, Ice Maker:
Looking towards the back and the large walk-in refrigerator:
Inside the Walk-In Refrigerator:
Propane Tanks and Power Inlet:
Technical Details
The Food Fort was built by Concession Nation in Florida and delivered on June 14th, 2023.
Equipment Schedule
This file has a lot of details including model numbers for most of the equipment installed in the trailer:
Concession Nation Estimate.pdf
Ice Maker (Blueair BLUI-250A)
Range / Oven (Imperial IR-6-C)
Freezer (TurboAir MUF-60-N Undercounter)
- Manual
- Uses R-290 Refrigerant
Trailer Specifications
- Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR): 14,000 lbs
- Tongue Weight: 1,700 lbs
- Total Trailer Weight (including Tongue Weight): 10,080 lbs
- Height: over 12’
- 7' Interior Height
- We need a heavy duty pickup truck, like a Ford 350, to tow this
Over-the-road Generator
We use an external generator so that we can fill up the refrigerator and freezer in Reno and tow everything into Burning Man. There used to be one mounted on the tongue but this was not a good design. Currently we ratchet a portable generator down in the bed of the rental pickup truck that we use to tow the trailer. This needs to be a pretty heavy duty generator (like a 9000 watts or more) with 30 amp 207/240 output to power the condenser for the refrigerator.
Reno repair resources
Need something repaired in the food truck? We've found these services in Reno who can come out to the yard and fix things.
Refrigerator / Freezer Repair
Burney’s Commercial Service
(775) 355-9111
https://www.burneyscommercial.com/
sparks@burneyscommercial.com
We do not have an account with them, but other burners use them. Will go to the yard, but kinda annoying. Will readily charge overtime.
Cool Breeze Environmental
https://www.coolbreezenv.com/
775-535-7192
We have an account with them. Will go to the yard. Reasonably priced. USED IN 2024 TO REPAIR FREEZER
Hi-Tech Commercial
https://www.hitechnv.com/
(702) 649-4616
(877) 924-4832
Specialize in commercial kitchen appliance repair
We have an account with them. But they are somewhat expensive compared.
Buffo’s
https://buffos-refrigeration.com/commercial-refrigeration-repair-reno/
775-782-8204
We have not used them, listing as a backup
AC Repair
M+S Heating and Air
(775)843-7930
Recommended by Brian Konash of NYC Deli
Importantly, they will come to us!