I've been pretty busy lately, I've been trying to make some stuff happen with the house, and I think I'm starting to make actual progress..
I decided I wanted to install an electric, tankless hot water heater, mainly because they take up significantly less space. when hot water isn't needed, they use less power than a conventional hot water heater, but as demand rises, they use more power, alot more, most call for 3+ 40 amp breakers, so I figured some upgrades would be required.
we'll start at the power meter, my existing meter was a 200 amp unit, and was very poorly mounted to the house (note the very crooked conduit, and the nasty looking hole)(yeah, I know I need to get new screws for the AC panels.)
since 120-160 amps would eat up most of the power my meter was rated to, I talked to the power company, and they hooked me up with a 400 amp meter. Upgrading the meter also meant I needed to install an external means of disconnect to bring the outside of the house up to code. I bought 2 200 amp disconnects, one will feed the main panel for the house, one will feed the hot water heater, and laundry room.
I really heated the giant hole in the side of the house. I bought a piece of Hardi-Trim cement board, and cut it up and made some trim to make it a little cleaner.
I also took some time to redo the conduit from the power company, I was pretty disappointed in how crooked it was.
next I had to put a 3" hole in the brick/block wall, it was a giant PITA, I bought a "Spider" holesaw with giant carbide teeth, and cut as deep as I could, and then chisel out the middle, then repeat a few times. I had to make a extension for the arbor because it wasn't long enough to reach all the way through, luckily i had an extra 10mm socket, and a crappy extension I could cut up.
then I was able to run conduit from one of the disconnects to the house. getting the wire from the disconnect, through the conduit, into the house, was a giant PITA, but well worth it now that it's done, it's very clean compared to what was there. I'm very happy with how this part of the project turned out, but I was slightly concerned that when the inspector came out they might want to see the termination at the main breaker panel inside the house, which I knew probably wasn't up to code...
What I didn't know, is "probably not up to code" was the understatement of the century...
Lots of double, triple, or even quad tapped breakers, wires entering the panel without chafe protection, no ground buss, it was a giant mess,
it's way better now, but ate almost an entire day, and in the mess, I ended up axing the feed for my washing machine... DOH. and after all of that, the inspector didn't look at it at all... it was kinda a bummer, but whatever, "long" term, the panel is getting replaced with the one in the last post.
I have also been working on removing a ton of pine trees, actually, probably several tons, and have been working on trying to grade the "yard" smooth.
I have three large pine trees left to cut, unfortunately, they're all leaning in directions that make it difficult to just chop and drop, I'll have to get up there and tie them off, and put tension on them while I cut.
this is my next project, whoever poured this foundation on the patio needs to be shot if they're still alive...
I kinda have a plan, but it's not evolved enough yet to discuss.
"I am not what you so glibly call to be a civilized man. I have broken with society for reasons which I alone am able to appreciate. I am therefore not subject to it's stupid laws, and I ask you to never allude to them in my presence again."