Thursday, October 29, 2009
Uncle Bub!
He said he put the cabinets bases in, and the counter top. The plumber is coming today to finish.
He also said our light came in, and that will be installed as well when electric is done, tomorrow.
He said we can touch base after his vacation to get the rest of our cabinets installed. (He's calling them again now to find out what's up with the delivery on those.)
He also said that the electrician advised against a make-it-yourself cable, so I guess we will be using pre-mades after all. I'm not sure how pre-mades daisy-chained can be more water tight than a single cord with heads attached, but oh well.
You've been updated!
Self Storage Center
As far as power is concerned, he told me he has a separate outdoor outlet we can plug into, but he does not know if it shares a circuit with the other outdoor outlet. He suggested we trip the breaker on Kevin's power to find out if the second outlet dies with it.
He also suggested we just split off Kev's line... but I think we will go with a separate line even if it's shared, because we'll get a purer signal through one stretch of cable than can be had off 5 daisy-chained cables.
That is, of course, if Bub's electrician friend can get us the needed cable.
We've got to keep our heaters both going at the same time, sharing a circuit... could be an issue. We'll see how that works out.
I'll be lacquering the interior Sunday and Monday, most likely.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
RV Water Pumps
Now, the way we designed our system, the cold water is a two-way street... So, theoretically, if we use a pump, we would have to take the pump out of the line each time we want to refill the tank via a hose.
There is a slim chance we could find one that would allow backflow while off... maybe we can find one that does that... but these things generally have check-valves that prevent backflow so you don't end up with with water "slipping back" past the pump's pressure.
Maybe we can figure out a way to make it easy to disconnect/reconnect... like a switching T-Valve connected to a second stretch of hose that is easily switched between... I wonder how hard it would be to do something like that myself. It SHOULD be easier to figure out once the other plumbing work is done, because I'll be able to see what he used for valves and diameters and whatnot.. maybe..
It doesn't seem promising. Maybe we can just hook up the hot water line and let the cold water gravity-feed. That might work.
Anyone know if either of these ideas would work?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Where oh where has my water tank gone
Monday, October 26, 2009
Almost Done
We are planning to move the house for the first time Nov. 1st.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Wire.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Scratch list
Scratch list - items for Bub to address:
- Add one exterior outlet on trailer-hitch end, near top of bathroom wall, towards the door side, with an interior switch controlling power supply. (switch would be in the upper-right corner of the bathroom "end wall"--exterior outlet would be opposite, in the same approx. area, but on the outside)
- Buy a sheet of wood paneling to cover loft "floor."
- Use excess wood paneling (or buy more) to box in area above shower stall. (Should effectively prevent mildew and mold formation above shower without sacrificing much head room.)
- Use knotty pine to box in the end of the loft, hiding the 2x4's and create a little trim strip (as used on the window borders) along top edge, over wood paneling.
- Use knotty pine strips, 2.5-3" wide, to cover exposed ends of 2x4s on office shelves. Have overlap on the top side, creating a 0.5-1" lip that will prevent things from rolling/falling out.
Tentative: (will need to be designed first)
- Would like to add a platform in the bathroom, for the toilet to sit on. Would need to be weight-bearing, with a space underneath about 1' tall to be used for cat litter box area. Two-step stairs would lead to toilet, positioned right in the middle so the cats can get in or out on either side of steps.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Smashed.
Batteries and Inverter/Charger
Keeping my fingers crossed at this point... I hope we have enough money for everything!
Water Storage
I'm holding off on buying the pump... I want to see if it's possible to move the cold water purely by gravity-feed... in which case we might just avoid hot water when not connected to a water source...
...or I will buy a pump later. We'll see.
I'm a little weary about having to run the electric pump at the same time as the electric hot water heater.
Water Heater
At this stage, we plan to still be on-grid for the most part, so a little extra power consumption isn't too big a deal. We will just have to be sure we're not consuming much power otherwise while it is reheating.