I was working in the metro area through the end of May, so work on the house was restricted to weekends. It was also the first good winter for snowmobiling in awhile, so many weekends through the winter were dedicated to that rather than house progress. Those excuses aside, I did finish up my electricity - phase one, anyway. I found out from the inspector that all the solar panel and wind generation equipment installation would require a separate permit. Oh, and the permit - I failed my first attempt at my final electrical inspection, but was assured that almost all DIY'ers do. There were a few minor details and easy fixes, but one of the main issues was the connection of the power source. I had my gas generator connected to the breaker box, which is fine, but there needs to be a "transfer switch" in place, which I did not know. The transfer switch is a safety measure for eliminating any exposed 'hot' terminals, and also keeps electricity from "back feeding" through the breaker box and into your solar panels or to the grid, if you're hooked into utility power. Lastly, the GFI's and other safety breakers weren't tripping when the inspector was attempting to force them to short out with his testing equipment. We assured the outlets were wired correctly, then discovered that my generator wasn't producing enough wattage at idle. I had to manually increase the generator speed because this type of generator only increases when more load is required. So now all of the minor details have been corrected, but I have yet to acquire a transfer switch, because the one I need will have to be incorporated into the solar/wind battery charge controller. I figure I'll get all that equipment at once, then schedule my second final inspection - which I have a year to do.
Corrections from last entry: #1: I did end up going with rotary switches for the ceiling fans in the bathroom and the main living area, rather than remote control units. The two in the main living area work from one switch, so they're always at the same speed. The one in the bathroom has a rotary switch for the fan and a standard switch for the light. The ones in the bedrooms change speeds by the pull-cord that comes standard with most ceiling fans. The ceiling fan lights are all installed and working correctly, so I'll post pictures of them soon. Correction #2: I didn't start plumbing yet, but will soon. I need to install bathroom vanities and (lower) kitchen cabinets before I can get to plumbing. Also, one of the 'minor details' from the electricity is that the bathroom vanity lights need to be installed. Correction #3: The kitchen cabinet framing I had previous installed all had to come out - I'll find some pre-built cabinets.
So what I did do: I improved the lower part of the garage entry stairway - widening it in preparation for adding finish flooring, a doorway and eventually enclosing the whole staircase. See the before / after pictures below:
Next I decided to build a permanent mounting for the squirrel-cage fan I'm going to use for the 'poor man's' geothermal air conditioning. In case you didn't read about it in the website pages, I decided to try an old farmstead trick of burying (the midsection of) a long piece of flexible plastic tubing, then drawing air through it. The idea is that the air will cool underground as it flows through the tubing, providing a/c without the need of a compressor and condenser and all that equipment. So, with the tubing in place, I needed the fan and fittings to route the cool air to the highest point in the house, because cool air 'falls'. You'll have to go back to the website to see the pictures of the tubing making its way through the upstairs rafters, but the fan frame, which I incorporated into an extension of my workbench, is shown below:
Here it is shown with the removable shelf.
Next: Pictures of the ceiling fans and the shelf I'm going to build for the battery bank.
