Gas Line Test and New Furnace

I've been testing my gaslines for some time now and trying to figure out why I am losing pressure. When I called the gas inspecter to ask him what kind of test is required, I was told that by code, I would have to pressure the line up to 15 psi and see if it holds for 15 minutes.(That's what I was told for here anyway, but it could be totally different for other areas.) It seems that I do past this test, but over time I do lose pressure, and that kinda bothers me. I have done a bubble test, (cover each joint with a soapy water solution and look for air bubbles ), but I can't seem to find anything. When I put the air into the lines, at first I just closed off the gas valve. So eventually I decided to close the valve, then take off the air fitting and plug the air entrance off. I still lose air pressure over time. I did another bubble test and really looked closely for bubbles, but nothing still. Now I am frustrated. Maybe it's the gauge itself leaking. I bought another gauge and I'm going to try that tomorrow.

The gauge was at 16 psi(2 notches below 20)  when I started my test. I don't know why the picture loaded on it's side either, (but that will be a whole new post). lol.. just kidding.

Today was kind of a waste for working on the house. Went to town to pick up my furnace and I decided to take my work truck into town for it's annual inspection. So  now I can get some things done without that being on my mind now.

My furnace finally came in. It is 70,000 BTUs. I don't think it will have a problem heating things up in the house, as long as the batteries are holding their end of the deal. I am hoping to get alot of use out of this baby in the winter, but it is quite possible that the power system may not want to work with me on this. If it don't work out as planned, it is totally ok with me, as there are other options. When I first decided to get a forced air furnace, I had spring, summer and fall in mind for it anyway. There are about 3 months out of the year that I call generator season. I am quite sure, however, that this should at least beable  take over in the night as the woodstove fire dies down. We will all be alot smarter once I start experimenting with things. I totally realize that when reading things about solar power and all that, that forced air furnaces are a no no. I do think this one will have it's place in my system though.  

 

Disclaimer--IMPORTANT

This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

 

Keeping the Water From Freezing.

     A blogger friend, "Evano"      http://www.blogger.com/profile/05602952610036781746    asked how I plan on keeping the water from freezing if I am away from home for prolonged periods of time. I am happy to share. This is all my own planning that went into all this and I am really hoping that it works for me. I think it will, but you just never know.  This time of year we all know I probably don't have to worry about these things, but winter is coming alot quicker than I want it to. I am assuming you are talking about the indoor plumbing, but I will also mention the cistern water storage outside also.

      To start with, I am going to have in totall 4 different heat sources to choose from for different occasions and times of the year.  I know it sounds kinda crazy for such a small house, but I really hate being cold. I have installed two 15,000 BTU propane heaters. They are both direct vent type heaters meaning that they bring in combustion air from out side and send the exhaust to the outside. IMPORTANT! I'm not a pro at this stuff, but I do know that propane appliances might  not be allowed in basements in all areas. You will have to check with your local permitting offices I guess. (Propane is heavier than natural gas and will pool at the bottom and could fill a basement and  create quite an explosion if ignited, whereas natural gas may dissepate more easily out the windows and doors etc). They're both dangerous as far as I am concerned.

     I chose to go with the two smaller heaters instead of one 30,000 BTU one, because with the lower BTU, they can be installed in alot of different tighter spaces. (Closer to a corner, closer to window, mounted up higher on the wall etc). Also a bigger heater was kind of hard to find with a direct vent that would work in a basement. A bigger heater would have meant running another chimney (B vent). It's a long way to the top from the basement, and chimneys take up more of my space. Also, the B-vent type chimney requires me to bring in outside air for combustion, which makes me feel as though I am defeating my purpose a bit. Although, I might have to do that for my wood stove, but I'm not real sure yet, I may be able to modify it to a direct intake.

     Anything water is all at one end of the house, whether it be up stairs or down. Most anything that I need to worry about is in the basement, but upstairs will be a kitchen sink that is practically right over top of one heater, and on the other side is the bathroom vanity and toilet over the other heater. I'm pretty confident that I would be able to leave the house for days without worry in the colder winter days. However, if it is -40 outside for a prolonged period, I find from experience in my shack that these type heaters probably are'nt going to put out as much as they should. Propane movement really slows down. At -42 I think it is, propane no longer vapourizes, so I sure hope that it don't get that cold for very long if I'm not around. However with a 1000 gallon tank that I now have will be alot better than the 100 pound tanks that I used to use. I will top up the big propane tank once every summer so that has a good percentage of product for the winter.

     If I were to leave for a month or so, I would winterize the house something like you would do to your RV. Draining everything that should be drained and run plumbing antifreeze through all the lines etc.

    I plan on experimenting with all my different sources of heat to find what works best for different situations. I think if I stoked the wood stove and turned it down before leaving the house that the forced air furnace will be able to keep things warm for a couple days after the fire burned down,  without charging the batteries. However, this all depending on how often the furnace cycles, but I know this house is very well insulated and I'm thinking it will hold it's own heat for a long time on average temperature days.  But if the sun is shining and there is'nt a big amount of snow on the solar panels, it would probably be able to keep the house warm, as this would be the only electrical power being used while I am gone. The MPPT charge controller that I have installed in my electrical system is supposed to really shine in the colder weather. If my batteries will run the furnace, this would be the most economical heat source, but if the  battery voltage goes down to my preset voltage then the inverter will shut down until a preset voltage is present again.
     
   Eventually I may be installing some kind of AGS(Automatic Generator Start), but I will experiment with what I have first.
            Then when all else fails and the furnace does not want to run, the two space heaters in the basement should kick in and hopefully do their thing.

The photo below shows one of the two propane heaters on the right.

 

The above photo is a quick drawing of the the Basement and Main floor plans to show the location of heat sources lined up with vulnerable water areas. The two space heaters are drawn in red. As a comparison, the direct vent heater in my shack is 22,000 BTU. I have slept in the shack when it was  -35-40. It was'nt too bad in the top bunk, but I have had pop cans explode in the middle of the night. They were sitting on the floor. lol. The shack is'nt real well insulated and is built with only 2x4 walls.

When I am at home, it will not even be a chore to stoke the fire. I say bring on the cold.  

As for the water cistern outside, I am really hoping the water don't freeze up too badly in there. I do expect to see a thin layer of ice develope on the surface of the water at times, but hopefully it won't be a problem. I do have an insulated lid on it, and I will bank snow around the top part of it sticking out of the ground. There was about 2 feet of water in it all last winter. I checked it in the early spring and seen no ice. That could possibly be the solution is to not fill it right up to the top. There is heat that comes from the ground and the water way down there does'nt seem to freeze. The cistern is about 11 feet deep and 8 foot diameter. With this diameter of pipe, I was told that for every meter of pipe you will hold 995 gallons of water. Half full would be about 1500 gallons, and that is alot for me. I don't think I would have to worry about it freezing if  kept it at around this level.  

I had no heat in my house all last winter, and the sump in the basement had about an inch of water in it. I had some insulation over top the sump and that inch of water did not freeze all winter either. It was a fairly mild winter if compared to some, but it was still pretty chilly at times.

This is what my plan is for things, but that does'nt necessarily make it the right way to do things. I am not a pro, and I am also learning as I go. I guess time will tell if it's all going to work for me, but I do expect to be doing modifications on things as I go if need be. I'll be alot smarter after the next winter hopefully.  

 

 

 

Disclaimer--IMPORTANT

This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

Hermit---Follow up.

lol. Sorry for bringing this topic up again. Just wanted to follow up the hermit blog a bit. I don't know if my last post came out as being whiny or not, but if it did, it was not meant to be that way. Just thought it may have sounded that way.

     After giving things a bit more thought on the hermit issue, I have come to the realization that I am and have been a hermit because I chose that lifestyle. I obviously was'nt ready to be real social at the time. I do get the odd invite at times and lot of the time I turn that down because of this or that. I usually have a good and legitimate excuse, although I could have made the time also. Alot of times it is just more simple and less stressful to hermit up.  After life of alcohol it is kinda tough to get out into the real world and play. My life has changed alot right after I quit drinking, and now it is going to change some more gradually and that change is already in progress. It has actually been in progress for awhile now. I guess I just feel it is time for some changes and now I want changes. But I do realize that I am in the process of building a house, and that is one of my biggest priorities at this time. I can honestly say that I have changed though, and I have already been communicating with people alot differently.

      Living a hermit lifestyle does have alot of advantages. It gives you the time to research and learn. It is also very inexpensive entertainment and can give one a chance to save for the future. People are'nt always wanting you to drive them around and pick them up etc. I have very little regrets about living a hermit life, and seriously, I am very happy and  my life is good. Thanks for the sincere comments and advice on the the previous hermit blog. I know I have friends out there, and it makes me feel good.

        Ok, I'm done. This was only going to be about a two sentence post when I started this one, and now look what I've done. Ok, lets build us house. I'll give ya all a break on this personal stuff for now, but I'll be back.

Power system, water system, stupidity and deer.

Well here I am experimenting with the old blogger again. My pictures uploaded alot quicker today, but it seems I still have to relearn things here.  This is just a few pictures to update some progress. This top picture is the electrical system. The inverter will install on the door of the larger white panel. Just a few more things, and I should be in power. I need batteries, incoming generator cable and some solar panels. Just a matter of spending a little cash. Oh ya, a battery enclosure also. I'm sure I will discover a bunch of other little things I need before actually flicking that main switch on.    

And the picture below(since I can't seem to squeeze my text in below it) is the water system to date. It's kinda planned and temporarily connected for now. I did end up buying another one of those 81 gallon water tanks. Alot of people think I'm crazy cause ya only need one tank. Did I happen to mention though, that it is a solar powered house? Just like storing electrical energy in batteries, I am also storing pressurized water in tank storage. This will reduce the number of times that the pump will kick in during the day, or more importantly the evening. I will top the tanks up during sunlight hours or when the generator is running, and I should have lots of water for the evening without the pump having to kick in. If ever the pump needs to run in the evenings, it can all happen pretty easily if it needs to happen, but there just may be times when the power supply is low, and I just want to have the control.  

 The above photo is just me showing the world a little bit about stupidity of a frugal canadian hermit sometimes. lol. A few days ago, I was getting ready to fry me up some bacon and eggs. I put the fry pan on the stove and lit the burner. I like to preheat it just a touch before putting the bacon on. But I went outside for something real quick, and ended up getting a brainwave to go and try out my new generator that I bought last winter, as it has been raining and the batteries were a little on the low side. I forgot all about the frypan on the stove. The genny did'nt start right away, and I also decided to hook up a ground wire to it. Finally got it going. As I got closer to my shack I noticed something beeping, kinda thought it was the inverter. Opened the door and hola. My first reaction was I thought I fried the electronics with the new cheap generator, but boy was I happy to see the fry pan on the stove burnt to a crisp. lol. Poor old dog was in there the whole time. The beeping was the smoke alarm of course, not the inverter. It makes me wonder though, why in this day and age, that a smoke sensor is not built into a stove to automatically shut things down when the alarm is signalled. It would be a really good invention if anyone wants to get wealthy.

I really like it how dinner seems to just show up right on my door step at times. They sure are getting brave around here. I'm sure this is going to be a real good thing when I finally try my hand at gardening. Maybe I'll have to keep being carnivorous instead of herbivourous. Both would be nice. One of these days though, one of these guys, just might jump right into the frying pan.


Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

Campfire Cooking and House Building.

      Wow, I guess I forgot how to upload some pictures. This pic took 10 to 15 minutes to upload, then I was trying to upload another one  of the campfire cooking taking place. It was even longer, but the computer froze up in the process and I canceled. I sure don't know why. Is anyone else having this kind of problem, or is it just me?  I had planned on putting quite a few pictures on tonight, but I give up for now. I'm going to publish this one, just to see if  I can. Sometimes I really don't like change.
     This is all I got for now. My supper cooked on the fire. I wrapped the frozen veggies in tinfoil with some fresh garlic and butter. And the potatoe was sliced and wrapped in tinfoil and put on the grill over the fire also. The smoky was shoved onto a stick. lol. I like my suppers simple when I'm doing the cooking, and usually I am cuz dogface (Traction, the dog) has'nt learned how yet. I'll probably have the exact same thing again tomorrow because I still have 3 smokies left. I have been using the RV fridge and freezer again which is kinda nice.

     Ok, anyway. I have been doing quite abit on the house lately. I do have most all the drywall up, just a few smaller pieces to go and it will be ready for mudding. I always seem to run into other things that need done before the drywall can go up, like plumbing the bathtub so I can drywall the pantry, etc.  I have been working on alot of different projects. I work on the water system until I run out of supplies, then electrical, then the drywall, and this and that. Then it is usually a whole day in town picking up supplies again. I seem to do alot of thinking and planning at times also, as I go. Pricing out batteries and solar panels. Trying to figure out just how to build my battery encolsure etc. I was thinking about going with 24 T105 Trojan golf cart batteries or something similar, but now I'm thinking about 12 of something much larger and more expensivebatteries. It will be more simple and take up less space in the basement. It will probably be more feasible in the end.
   I purchased a forced air furnace and am waiting for it to come in, as it was a special order. My goal for this summer is to be living in the house before winter. I know it won't be complete, but I do hope to have the mudding done, heat, power, water and siding on the outside. Then I can work on the ceilings (probably T & G pine), flooring, cabinets etc, while I'm in the house.  I know it would be nice to have it completely done before moving in, but I am simply too cheap to be heating two places. I'm not sure exactly when we will start to get busy at work again, but I sure hope things hold off for awhile yet. I am just about ready to call it done for work, but then I just want a little more. I am heading for some pretty major expenses soon, and would like to make up for it with a little work income after all the spending before making a major lifestyle change.
     I'll try to get some more pictures up real soon, maybe the net was just too busy tonight or something, hopefully.


Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

New Water Tank, Gas Lines, Heater

All our snow was just about gone because of warm spring weather, but we got a good little blast of snow the other day. I like it. It will make things nice and slimy and prolong the work life from getting busy for a little longer. Things were actually starting to get pretty dry out there.

I spent $200.00 on fire extinquishers the other day. One for my rental unit, one for the garage, and one for each floor of the house. Thats 5 extinquishers. I guess, just knowing that soon there will be real propane flowing through the gas lines, and also getting closer to playing with electricity, I just thought maybe I should have a fire extinguisher in the area.

I was pretty busy today with all the gas lines. Just getting them all to fit and all that. I still have to take them all apart and apply teflons tape or pipe dope and tighten things up. Just wanted to see what it all looks like before I make it too permanent.

I also hung the north heater. This is the second one I installed. Still gotta install the vent system for this one. These babies are meant to be more of a backup heat system if I am away for longer periods of time in colder weather. They are probably not the most energy efficient heat source that one could be running, but it is nice to have them there in case. I'll be doing alot of experimenting with the heating systems next winter. (I hope). lol.

I bought a new 81 gallon water pressure tank. $450. I have been looking at this tank for quite some time now while trying to find a better deal. It'll work, but now I want to buy another one just like it. The more the pressurized water storage, the less the pump cycles. And this way, I can wait till the sun is shining then hit the water pump switch to stock up for the evenings. I have tanks of different sizes that I want to have in the system and as far as I know it should all work together, but it is possible that it could cause some problems that may need to be ironed out. We'll see, I guess.

So I am still kinda trying to get myself all back into the groove of things again. I'm going to get a bunch more supplies in town tomorrow, and then I just might go to work a little later on at the pay job just to try and get that all over with. Still got a little catching up on truck and trailers.


Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

Hot Water and Heat

It has been a busy winter for the truckin man. That would be me. I hav'nt really had much opportunity for working on the house all winter long, but spring has sprung and I am just trying to get myself all motivated for building again. I still have a little bit of stuff going on at work in the shop and then I'm hoping to go pretty steady on my acerage project for awhile. Time sure seems to fly when you got stuff going on, I find.

Today I was doing a little bit of gas line arranging, and working on my heater vent and I also hung the hot water heater. I'm kinda concentrating on trying to get all the gas appliances plumbed in so I can get it inspected and have some kind of heat source going on. Then I can start the mudding process I guess. I might even get some quotes on that and maybe hire the drywall mudding out, just to help speed up the whole process a bit. They could be doing that while I am doing some other things outside. But it will all depend cost I guess. We'll see. I totally plan to be in this house before winter. I know, how many times have I said that. lol. I know I am slow.

Anyway, there will be two of these space heaters in this same room in the basement. These will be the main heat source for the house while I am away for prolonged periods in the winter time. They should keep all the water lines etc from freezing up. I can run an optional fan with them, but they do not need the fan to operate, so it don't matter if there is a malfunction with the power system, I should still be unfrozen. I do plan to have a forced air furnace also, but being off the grid and making my own power, I don't want to rely on that by itself as there will be a fair bit of power demand for it to operate. The forced air furnace will be more for middle of the night use in the winter time as the wood stove dies down, and it will probably be the main heat source for the spring, summer and fall seasons where the days are warmer and longer and more power being generated. When I am home in the colder weather, the wood stove will be the most utilized heat source.

I purchased the on demand hot water heater on ebay. It is the item to the left hanging on the wall in the above picture. It is new, but still, I sure hope it works. They sell this same unit at Home Depot in Grande Prairie for $999.99 for a natural gas one under a different brand name of course, but it is generally the same unit. And the vent system is roughly $200.00.If I ordered the water heater for propane, it would be about another $200 extra, which sure seems rediculous to me. Would probably be close $1500 when all is said and done. This one I bought on ebay costed me about $800 for everything. It is supposed to be able to supply a house with 3 bathrooms. It won't ever have to work very hard at my house to keep up. It has input of 180,000 btu, but I can hardly see that ever being utilized.

There is the direct vent for the propane space heater hanging on the wall.

And a close up of it. There are two pipes going into the heater from the outside. The 5" pipe supplies the combustion air from the outside, and there is a 3" pipe that runs inside the 5" intake pipe for the exhaust. Soon there will be another vent beside this one for the hot water heater. It will look a little different, but it is direct vent also and works the same as this one. With direct vent appliances, I am not using up air from inside the house, and so I am not creating a negative air pressure inside and don't need to bring in more makeup air. It's something we gotta worry about with the tightly wrapped homes in my area. My wood stove and dryer will be using air from inside though.

So anyway, I'm just slowly getting started with my little house project again, but I am still at work at for a few more days yet before I am really free to giver fulltime on the house again.

Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.