Monday, June 11, 2007

We met with Brad today and walked though the house to discuss the punch list items. He asked us to write it up in a list to give to Phil, so we'll work on that this week.

Brad told us that he got the fire sprinkler installation approved by the fire marshal last week. He just needs the SolarCity approval and then he can go for final.

He called National Construction Rentals and asked them to remove our construction fencing. They'll be coming out on Wednesday to take it down. Yeah!

He also said he would call Edgar and have him come out to clean our our garage and remove the last of the construction debris.

After Brad left, a couple of plumbers from SCM Plumbing, Gabino and Antonio, came by to check on some things. First they verified that the sewer ejector pump and alarm are working properly. We filled up the sewer tub until the pump turned on and emptied it. Gabino then showed me what to do in case the alarm goes off (indicating the water level has risen above the float for the pump).

While we were in the utility room talking about the pump, he suggested that I install an expansion tank on the water heater. Since water expands as it heats up, it needs a place to go. But because of back flow valves, the water can't push back into the main supply. Expansion tanks are installed in the cold water line between the valve and the water heater to give the water somewhere to go.

Next the plumbers fixed the sump pump in the lower courtyard. The pump was pumping, but the water wasn't going anywhere. They disconnected the pump from the pipe and that cleared out whatever was causing the problem.

While working on the pump, Gabino noticed a problem with the bubbler box. He explained to me that the pipes from the sump pumps are at a lower level than the through-curb pipes leading out of the bubbler box (he said they should be higher). When the pumps are operating, the bubbler box fills up with water, but before it can overflow out to the gutter, the water starts to flow back into the pipes leading back to the pumps. Additionally, because the rocks they used in the bubbler box are smaller than the diameter of the pipes, they can flow back into the pipes and clog them up. I'll have to show Brad tomorrow if I see him.

Towards the end of the day, I checked on the inverter and electricity meter. When the panels were first powered on, the meter read 4558 kWh. Today, four days later, it read 4518. So right now we're generating about 10 kWh (net) each day. Woo Hoo!

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