I figured Darryll would be here on Friday but he called a little after 8 AM this morning to see if he could come today and finish up. I was going to check around to see what sort of price and delivery I could get on the boiler conversion, but with Darryll coming this morning I decided it was not worth trying to save a hundred bucks and risk an even longer delay in getting the furnace converted. I called TOMTEK back and left a message with the secretary, Virginia, to let Tom know that we were getting the gas hooked up to the house today and that we needed him to come convert the boiler at his earliest convenience. I also assured her that we would be fine without the boiler for a few days as we are not yet into freezing temperatures at night. The biggest inconvenience will be the lack of hot water for bathing and washing dishes. Linda can use our microwave oven, induction cooker from the bus, and our electric toaster oven to fix a wide range of meals. We also have a microwave oven on the bus as well as a Gaggenau 2-burner electric cooktop and we have a Jenn-Air electric range/oven/grill/fryer/etc. in the recreation room in the basement. We checked out the Jenn-Air when we moved in but have never cooked on it. Once I get the extension hose with quick disconnect for the new gas grill we will also be able to cook on that if we want or need to. We do most of our laundry with cold water, so that is not an issue.
Darryll must have called us from the road. We had just finished breakfast (re-heated homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh grapefruit) and I was headed outside to move the cars so he could back his truck up to the garage when he pulled into the other end of the pull-through driveway. Most of his work today involved completing the connections from the natural gas meter to the new 2″ black iron pipe and the old 1″ pipe that currently feeds propane to the house. All of that work was on the east end of the house so he parked his van there to be as close that location as possible. His dad came with him this time to help out.
We let our dishwasher finish its cycle and then turned off the boiler, closed the gas shut off valve, closed the shut off valve for the line feeding gas to the range, grill, and old breezeway heater (since removed). Darryll they shut off the propane to the house at the tank and disconnected the supply line and pressure regulator from the house. He disconnected the supply line on the other end from the pressure regulator at the tank and installed a plug in the outlet. I used short lengths of 10AWG electrical wire to secure the covers on both propane tanks. The wires are just twisted, and while easily undone, the covers cannot just be pulled up without untwisting them first.
The old pipe that carried propane into the house is below the gas meter to the left and the new 2″ pipe is at the level of the meter and to the right. The consumer connection outlet from the meter is a 1.25″ threaded nipple coming out of a shutoff valve below the right lower corner of the meter. Darryll came out of that nipple and installed an elbow going back towards the house, a short piece of pipe and then a T with the opposing ends horizontal. From there he was able to adapt down to 1″ i.d. pipe going to the left behind the meter and gas line and use various fittings to bring it around and connect it to the old pipe sticking out of the wall. He put a union in there to make it possible to assemble all of this. He went to the right out of the T and used an adapter to go up in size to 2″ i.d. and then elbowed up and over to line up with the 2″ pipe running along the side of the house. He extended the 2″ pipe and somewhere in there installed a 2″ union, again, to make it possible to assemble all of these pieces. The number of fittings and the geometry of their assembly was fairly impressive but it was a very neat installation when he was done.
This was a big project, and although Darryll is done with his part of the work the project is not finished. Rather than post photos as the work has gone along I will be creating a page on our website just for this project and posting several photo galleries illustrating the major steps.
We had a small bird of prey in the back yard this morning being badgered by four very large Blue jays. When sitting on the ground with its wings folded in it was about the same size as the Blue jays, definitely too small to be a Red Tailed Hawk, but I could not get a good enough look at its wings, tail, or underside markings to identify it. The Blue jays kept swooping down at it and then it would suddenly take flight and go after one of them. It appeared to be fast and very maneuverable, so I think the Blue jays were playing a dangerous game.
I called Country Squire Fireplace and Lighting and talked to Bob. We agreed on the 12 foot extension hose kit and Bob said he would get in on order today. Country Squire only gets deliveries from their American Hearth distributor every other Friday and the 26th is their next scheduled delivery date. If our order does not arrive then it will be another two weeks before it gets here. Obviously we won’t be heating the living room before the furnace gets converted or cooking on the grill before we get the new range unless something goes very, very wrong with those items.
I got a call back from Valerie at TOMTEK to let us know they would hold a service appointment for us on Monday, assuming the part comes in by then. By definition, that has to be acceptable as there isn’t anything I can do to change it. I have been a bit annoyed with myself, however, for not checking on all of this sooner and contacting TOMTEK sooner so they had the part in hand when it was time.
While Darryll was working on the meter tie-in I unscrewed the brass flare fitting that connected the old propane fire logs to the 1/2″ i.d. black iron supply pipe. I then removed the fire log unit from the fireplace and moved it to the garage. There was already a plug sitting in the fireplace box for the end of the iron pipe, but I left that for Darryll to connect after he had spliced a shutoff valve into the pipe outside the house just before it enters the side of the brick chimney and goes into the firebox.
I noted that the dials on the gas meter had not moved since it was installed and pressurized on Monday. Darryll finished the iron pipe connections, opened the outlet valve, and put natural gas to the house and the new 2″ iron pipe. After the pipe filled with gas we noted the readings on the meter dials. He checked for leaks with his soapy water solution and did not find any. Darryll made a light pencil mark on the 1/2 cu. ft. per revolution (rotation) dial. He then opened the gas valve to the library furnace and checked for leaks downstream of the valve. He did not find any so he turned it on and set the thermostat up. It took a couple of tries to purge the remaining air out of the line and get the burner to light, but once it started it ran really nice. He then opened the gas valve to the garage furnace and checked for leaks downstream of the valve. Again, he did not find any so he turned the power on at the ceiling switch, turned the thermostat on, and turned the temperature up to start the unit. There was only a small amount of air left in the 1/2″ i.d. line and the unit lit right up and purred like a kitten. (OK, roared like a small lion.)
These are not dramatic moments but they are significant ones. After numerous visits spanning more than six weeks, and a myriad of steps integrating various technologies, you flip a switch and voila, you have a functioning furnace; or two, in our case. Darryll let both furnaces run long enough to burn off some manufacturing oils which sometimes produce smoke from the supply registers and cause homeowners to freak out. He shut the units off at the thermostats and waited to make sure they would actually cycle off. They did, so there wasn’t anything left to do except pack up and head for home, stopping to get some lunch for his dad on the way. He will mail us the final invoice once he has it figured out. It’s nice to do business we people that trust us.
I called D. R. Appliance to let them know we had natural gas to the house and to find out what they do with the old units they haul away. Curt said they would be able to bring the new unit and install it very quickly after they receive it. There’s a chance that will be on Friday or Saturday, which would be really nice. As I suspected (feared) they take the old unit to a dump. I asked if they would drop it at Salvation Army but they were reluctant to do that, even though I did not see where it would be inconvenient for them.
According to Curt the Salvation Army is very picky about what they will take. I figured they would go right past the donation center on their way back to the appliance store but Curt pointed out that their next delivery and installation might well be in the opposite direction and he clearly did not want his delivery/installer to go even a little bit out of their way to do this. Fair enough. What did not occur to me until later is that a company that sells new appliances might want to get old ones out of circulation. If so, I think that is shortsighted; folks looking for a used (inexpensive) appliance at a Salvation Army Thrift Store were not going to be customers for a new one.
I called the Salvation Army Thrift Store and Donation Center in Brighton, Michigan, which is actually on Grand River Avenue as you go towards Howell from our house. They said they would accept the old range as long as it was working. I told them it was in reasonably good shape, looked OK, and worked fine except for the spark igniters for the stove top burners. That was fine with them. They just asked that we mention the spark igniters when we drop it off. They also had a truck that could come get it if we were unable to get it into our personal vehicle and gave me the phone number to schedule a pickup. Cool. That means we don’t have to try and convince D. R. Appliance to deal with it and it does not end up in a scrap yard.
Although I did not do anything particularly physical today I was very tired by 4 PM and took a 2-hour nap. Linda woke me up at 6 PM to have a dinner of green salad, leftover lentil stew with sweet potatoes and apples, and homemade biscuits with honey.
After dinner we opened a bottle of Alpha Rose wine that we bought in August 2013 at Red Trail Vineyard in Buffalo, North Dakota. They are part of the Harvest Host network and it was the first place we used our membership to spend the night at a winery for free. I posted about the place at the time. The Alpha Rose was absolutely delightful with a very floral nose that carried over into the mouth. Made from King of the North grapes, it was light but crisp and very pleasant in the finish. I wish we had bought a case. The King of the North vines were the first ones planted at Red Trail Vineyard back in 2003 and have done well in the North Dakota climate. The Alpha Rose is only available at the winery and two other locations in the Fargo, North Dakota area, so I guess we will have to plan our travels to take us back that way.
Tonight was Season 5, Episode 6 of Doc Martin; at least it was for us. I think Season 5 originally aired in 2010. I really liked watching it on the TV monitor from a DVD compared to watching it on an iPad.