LET THERE BE LIGHT.....BUT NO WATER!

Yesterday was a milestone day as DP&L "flipped the switch". I called them Monday and asked when they would be out to set the meter box and turn power on. They said sometime in the next one to ten days. Typical answer, huh! I asked if she could get a bit more specific so she checked with someone, came back to the phone and said "we'll get it done tomorrow (i.e. Tuesday). So, I retired the portable generator from service for the time being. I will not miss the sound of that thing running for the past two plus months. On the other hand, it served it's purpose and did so reliably.

DOESN'T LOOK LIKE MUCH BUT IT'S "LIVE"

Somewhat off topic, got up this morning to "no water". For those of us who are used to relying on a well, it is an event that we all know will happen at some point. I always hope that it is not when I am all lathered up with soap in the shower.
Went down and checked out the pressure switch and cycled the pump on and off a few times. Sometimes it would run but it was not pressurizing the tank. Other times it would pressurize the tank but then the tank pressure would bleed down which suggested a faulty check valve.
Since I have pulled well pumps on more than one occasion, I filled up some containers with water to carry us for a while and then got out my "pipe clamp/black pipe pump pulling" apparatus. The threaded end screws into the pitless adapter and the pipe clamp on the end allows me to crank down and break loose the adapter. The lateral section of pipe insures that I won't lose everything down the well hole which is not something you even want to think about happening.

WITH WOOD BLOCKS IN PLACE, I CAN TURN THE PIPE CLAMP HANDLE WHICH

EFFECTIVELY PULLS THE PITLESS ADAPTER UPWARD

 The pump was only about 60 ft. down so I was able to get it out of the hole with little effort. I removed the head from the pump and the problem was as suspected...a broken check valve.

THE CULPRIT CHECK VALVE! TWO OF THE FOUR "LEGS" ARE BROKEN OFF

I got on the phone and tried to find someone who had this part in stock to no avail. Then, someone suggested the obvious....just install a brass check valve at the top of the pump rather than replacing the above pictured valve which is integral to the pump. After a couple of trips to Menards, I had everything I needed to get the pump back together and back down in the hole. After about $35 for the valve and some fittings and about four hours of time (most of which was spent on the phone and running to Menards) we are back in service.

Apparently the broken check valve was getting turned upside down in the housing and when that happened, it was preventing the water from flowing upward from the pump. That is why at times the pump was running but not pressurizing the pump.

FRONT DOOR

On Saturday, we drove down to Newport, KY and picked up the front door. I think it looks pretty nice. Now, we have to decide on a stain color.
When I ordered the door, I asked for the rough opening dimensions and they gave me 82.5 in. for the height. Before we left their store , I checked the dimension on the door itself and it is 82.5 inches which means they did not allow any clearance.  So, I was assuming I would have to do some work on the rough opening to accomodate for their mistake. As it turns out, the framer allowed almost 83 in. so I think I'll be able to get by without any work on the rough opening.

THE REST OF THE STORY....

In my October 19 post, I wrote that I expected to get the invoice from DP&L for the extension of electric service to our lot. Well, the invoice arrived in the mail the next day and I have finally recovered enough from the shock such that I can write about it.
The bill was $12,455! They give a credit for $5,000 so my cost is $7,455. They did not provide any detail on the bill so I asked for a breakdown. This is what they gave me:
     LABOR                        $2,547
     TRANSPORTATION       798
     MATERIALS                 3,893
     OVERHEADS                2,451
     TAX GROSS UP           2,766

I asked what the tax is for and they explained that it is for the taxes that DP&L will pay in future years on the installed equipment. I then asked how many years out into the future does it cover and he said he thought it was 14 years. So, I said "Let me see if I understand this correctly....DP&L is going to charge me $2,766 TODAY to recover for taxes that they will be paying as far as 14 years into the future?". He answered in the affirmative. I then asked if I would get any of that back if the tax rate happened to change. You can guess the answer.

They (DP&L) encouraged me to have someone other than DP&L do the trenching as they said it would be less costly ( imagine that ). So I asked them if I have the option of contracting for any of the other work. I'll let you guess the answer that one as well. As it turns out, DP&L did not perform any of the work in the end but contracted it out to another company leaving me wondering why I could not have done the same thereby avoiding the DP&L markup.

I examined the DP&L web page and also the OHIO Administrative Code to see if it addresses how much a utility company is allowed to charge for extension of service. I found nothing. My obvious concern is that they may be overcharging. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine this since I can't go down the street to another utility company and get a competitive quote from them in order to keep DP&L honest.

They offer an opportunity to pay the bill in installments over 50 months and so I asked what the interest rate is.....9.36%. What a deal, huh!

Oh, one more thing...even though I paid for the transformer it remains the property of  DP&L.

I WILL be writing a lengthy letter to the PUCO after the dust settles.

Since I received their invoice on a Saturday, I drove down to Moraine on Monday to hand deliver my check so as not to delay progress on getting electricity. After all, it had been over two months since I originally submitted my application. A week-and-a-half later I had not heard anything so I called to follow up. I was asked if I had signed an easement agreement as they could not start work until this was done. I explained that not only had no one contacted me about this but no one had ever made me aware of this requirement. Well, come to find out, the same guy who was responsible for a two week period of inaction earlier in this process was the same one who left an additional week-and-a-half go by with no action on the easement paperwork. In summary, this one person was responsible for almost four weeks of delay. At one point I tried to get the name of his supervisor but I got stonewalled.

I am glad to report that on Friday, the trencher I hired dug the trench for the electric cable, DP&L's contractor erected the pole at the road and installed the transformer (up near the house), Frontier Communications dropped off a 1,000 ft. spool of phone cable which we dropped into the trench along with the electric cable. We also trenched from the transformer to the house and installed the secondary cable and we trenched for (and installed) the water line from the well to the house. The well pump will be in before the week is up and we may have the electric meter set and the line energized within a couple of weeks. At that point, I can put the portable generator away which has served everyone so well.

HERE'S THE TRANSFORMER I PAID FOR

THAT IS NOW THE PROPERTY OF DP&L

 

In the words of the late Paul Harvey...."Good Day!"

ROOFING & GRADING

The roofers showed up on Friday and got about half the shingles on. They worked all day yesterday and finished up around 5:30 under drizzly conditions. I am so much looking forward to a stretch of 4 or 5 days without rain.

Had to make two runs to get materials....3 bundles of shingles from Menards and 2 rolls of ridge vent from Lowes. If I am at the new house, it is more convenient to run to Lowes in Huber Heights and if I am at our current residence in Tipp, Menards is obviously more convenient. In all, I think we used 53 squares of shingles. Barb says we made the right choice on the color. Until they get the shingles on the roof, it's really hard to predict how it is going to look so that is a relief.

The excavating contractor also worked all day Saturday. He backfilled around the foundation, a job that should have been done a long time ago but not something that impacted any other part of the project so it was not a big deal. However, it is a little easier to work around the outer perimeter of the house now since we don't have the hole to deal with. The above pic is before the backfill was completed.

The excavating contractor also did some preliminary grading along the sides of the house and cut in the driveway that will run down to the garage door at the lower level. Scott, the guy who works for the excavating contractor is really adept with the skid loader. I told him he was like an artist, molding the dirt and shaping contours with his bucket.

 

 SCOTT ( AKA "SHAKEY")

WORKING ON THE DRIVEWAY DOWN TO THE LOWER LEVEL

The plumber is still working to finish the rough plumbing and he should wrap that up mid to late next week. The electrician may show up late next week to start the rough electric. So, things continue to progress about as well as can be expected.

This week I will probably run down to Newport, KY to pick up the mahogany front door. In retrospect, I ordered this earlier than I should have so it has been sitting in their warehouse waiting for me to get it out of their way. Now that the front porch is done we can probably install the door without risk of it getting much exposure to weather. Nevertheless, once installed we will likely cover it and also block it off from use so that the subcontractors don't beat it up.

At church this AM another person asked when we would be in. Wish I had a dollar for every time I've been asked that. Frankly, I don't know and have not even bothered to work up a schedule. We will continue to work diligently towards completion and whenever it is done will be fine with us.