Christmas in the new house

This was the first Christmas in our new house.  It also was the first Christmas that Henry was aware of presents.  You can see he ripped into them with gusto and then proceeded to play with the wrapping paper.  It was a wonderful Christmas. 

Another day at work

We had a large pick today involving a mobile crane capable of picking 500 tons... and 8 large air handler pieces.  The tower crane for the job wasn't able to handle the weight of these units.  They were not extremely oversized (20,000 lbs) but were outside the load limits for the picking radius of the tower crane.  The closer to the base of the crane, the more it can lift.  Wind was a factor and kept us from meeting our goal of getting 8 units to the roof.  Above 20 mph and things get tough to keep steady. 

6:45 am and the crane has not yet been raised into position.

Looking down on it while it is the street below.  The whole setup is simply massive!

Now being raised into position.  The tower crane is off the the right with the lights

Our elite crew :)  Joe, Me, Richard and Steve. 

Picking up the first piece with multiple spreader bars attached.  These keep the cables in the correct position for picking the load properly.

The crane boomed out and setting the air handlers down on the roof.  Really amazing how far it can reach.

Tankless water heater is installed

We beat the deadline for the Federal and State tax credits and got our tankless water heater installed.  It took a couple of weekends and some permits but it is done and up and running.  The permits for gas, plumbing and electrical were over 300 dollars.  I wonder why people don't pull more permits. 

This was the most convenient spot to mount the water heater where we could meet all the necessary clearances for the exhaust vent.  There was a boarded up window that made it easy to run the vent through. 

We had to change the sizing on the gas pipe in in order to accommodate the new gas flow needed by the tankless water heater.  The new water heater at peak demand will use over 4 times the BTUs of the old water heater.  This meant hand threading new gas lines and actually replacing every foot of gas line from the meter on in.  It wasn't necessary to replace everything, but it sure cleaned up the piping in the basement and made for a safer and better system. 

The water heater mounted and the concentric vent run outside.  The vent allows the water heater to use outside air for combustion which saves on heating costs.  This means you aren't burning and venting your 70 degree heated indoor air but instead using the cold air from outside. 

Almost there.  The water lines and electricity are run over.  You need a dedicated plug for the water heater as I found out during one of my inspections.  I had to add a breaker in the electrical panel and pull some new wire.  Pretty easy and I am glad I did it myself and didn't hire it out. 

The final product.  Installed and up and running.  It makes hot water and that's all there is to it.  We'll see how it impacts our gas bill.  It was not a hard project, just time consuming.  Maybe we'll paint the basement walls next :)

Total time on the project-- 18 or so hours. 

Total tax credits-- 55%

Projected gas savings-- 30% ($15-20 per month)

Ahhh yes, Portland

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