A Milestone - Foundation Wall Poured

Yesterday (Sunday), "Concrete" Mike stopped by and looked over the backyard. He did not stay long. The weather forecast for today (Monday) was (and still is) 100% chance of rain with possibly strong thunderstorms after noon. Therefore, I was amazed when "Concrete" Mike and his crew showed up at 7:00 am this morning. The pump trailer showed up at 8:00 am and started laying the transfer conduit and hose. By 9:30 am they had completed the remaining framing work and were pouring concrete. The weather cooperated with only a couple of light showers during the morning. By 1:00 pm, they were done and gone. They should be back tomorrow or Wednesday to remove the forms.

Talking today with "Our" Mike, with the weather forecast being fair and dry beginning on Thursday of this week, he is arranging to have "Bobcat" Tom come next week to back fill the trenches. Tom will also be trenching for the power and utility lines and excavating for the slab on the east side of the house for the relocation of the existing AC condensers and the solar panel inverters.

John (HVAC) showed up around 7:00 am also to continue the installation of the domestic hot water heater. Tim arrived later to assist. They were not able to complete the installation today after all. They will be back tomorrow. We have a new air intake/exhaust outlet vent on the west side of the house. It can be painted.

Over the weekend, I did a test of filling the tub with hot water. Bottom line is that I am now estimating we consume energy at the rate of 150,000 BTU/hr when T fills the tub (60 gallons over 6.5 minutes with an initial hot water temperature of 127⁰F, an incoming water of 67⁰F and a resulting tub water temperature of 101⁰F). Since this is half of what I had estimated before, if correct, the new heater (rated for 200,000 BTU/hr) should do fine. 

Vern (outside plumbing) was expected to start the replacement of the incoming water line today, but did not show up.

Over this past weekend I sent a note to the Betsy (solar) regarding the Utility Net Metering Agreement application we signed in the first week of September. Approval of this agreement, by the utility company, is the first step in getting the solar system connected to the grid. My understanding, when we signed the contract, was that the solar company would take care of filing the application and we could expect to hear directly from the utility company in a couple of weeks. We have not heard anything yet, hence my email. In response to my email, Betsy wrote back indicating that they have not filed the application, and were waiting for us to decide where we were going to locate the inverter panels (why this would impact the application, I don't understand).  I reminded Betsy that several weeks ago we discussed this issue with Drew (copied Betsy) and indicated our desire to locate these panels outside on the east side of the house. I noted that we are expecting to be trenching for the utility lines and pouring slabs for the inverters in the next week or so. I also reinforced to her that we expect them to stay in contact with "Our" Mike to ensure the requirements of the solar part of the project are addressed and folded into the scheduled. They also have access to this blog.