Category — utilities

Well, the status is: there is none. We’re still waiting on the construction drawings. We’re still trying to find suitable builders to bid; some have told us that they won’t talk to us without a signed contract. M. has had some recent health issues, which have distracted us from everything else, but which also make us wish we were already in the house (not anybody’s fault that we aren’t, just wishing things had gone a bit differently sometimes).

Oh, I’m wrong, there has been something going on. The county sanitarian has approved our sewage permit. I hadn’t realized that I’d checked the box for sewage when I requested the well permit, but apparently I did. It’s valid for one year (until the end of August 2009). The details are: 2 tanks (one 1000 gallons, the other 1500), and 8 lines with a split header in the leach bed. The boilerplate “construction details” letter says the larger tank should be closer to the house, but the drawing approved by the sanitarian says the smaller tank should be closer to the house. When we get closer to excavating, I’ll get clarification of which tank should go where.

Since I was nearby, I went to the lot and briefly traipsed.

There’s a lot of goldenrod! You might even be able to hear the crickets chirping — they were quite loud.

(I had to do it)

After getting the well permit a week ago Friday, and giving the deposit check and copy of the permit to the well driller last Friday, today (Tuesday) was well day. It came together surprisingly fast, once we got all the paperwork settled.

I met Ben and Ken from Cribley shortly after 9am. They had already started, but about the time I got there they decided to move the rig to someplace a little less precarious. The dirt was quite soft from the rains we’ve had recently.

Instead of all the photos this time, I made a short (2.5 minute) video of the sequence of events. It’s my first multi-clip movie (and there’s no soundtrack) so it’s not great, but it gives you an idea of what happened.

First, they drilled into the dirt with a 9″ segmented bit. They pumped water along the shaft to bring the up the sand, clay and gravel in the hole (it’s gotta go somewhere). It takes a good deal of water to make a water well… Every 20 feet or so Ken would add an extension to the drill rod while Ben was shoveling solids from the drain pan. After about 100 feet they started checking the character of the solids thrown out. They drilled until they got a certain kind of gravel which indicated underground water.

Yay, water!

When I asked how the could tell “my” water from the stuff they were using, Ben said they couldn’t, not really. Not until they put the casing in and started to test the capacity of the well.

Ok. So then they put in the casing. This is 5″ PVC pipe. The first 4 feet was normal (and capped at the end) then there was 10 feet of “screen.” This is specially-modified PVC pipe that has .020″ slots cut in it that allows the water to fill into the pipe. After that they were solid again. As they lowered each section, they glued the PVC pipes together with PVC cement.

After they put the casing in, they filled around it with Well Gravel. This is specially sized to be bigger than the slots in the screen, so that the screen doesn’t get all silted up too fast. They put in about a dozen bags (I lost count), then ran an air hose down through the casing to force water up. “This is your water,” Ben told me.

Once our water started to run clear, they started piping in bentonite, also called “grout”. It’s used to provide a cushion between the dirt and the well, as well as keep groundwater from getting down to the screen.

Once the bentonite came out of the top of the hole, they were pretty much done. They did a little bit of sampling with the air hose to determine about where the pump should go in the well (I don’t know that result yet), took a water sample (Ken drank deeply, and survived), and then cleaned up. In the end, the well is about 127 feet deep, and will produce about 50 gallons per minute.

I carried the sample to the county office, and in a few days we’ll learn the arsenic and nitrates levels.

It was another fine day to be out at the lot — I took quite a few pictures of wildflowers, and saw the reason we won’t be using our new well for irrigation:

Update 21 June: If I’m reading the form correctly, the arsenic and nitrates are at acceptable levels, so no mitigation will be needed

Today Bill and I met at the lot with Tim Clark of Cribley Well Drilling. (By the way, it was another gorgeous day to be at the lot, if a bit windy.)

We discussed some of the issues surrounding the placement of the well, especially since we’re supposed to drill it before we start the house. Tim said that one thing we want to be careful of is knowing where the well will be relative to the mechanical area of the house. It’s easier (i.e. less expensive) if the inside water equipment is on the wall where the well pipe comes into the basement. If not, then they’d want to put the water supply piping underneath the basement floor (which requires some extra planning). The other thing to be careful of is any grading that will be done around the wellhead. It’s not a problem, just something to be aware of since the final wellhead will be only about a foot above grade.

Given that we want to stay away from the house, the septic tanks and from the eastern lot line, we figured on putting the well to the north of the house, on the western edge of the hill where it just starts to drop off. If that spot doesn’t work out for some reason, we should go further west towards the bottom of the hill where it starts to level out again. They don’t recommend drilling on a slope (especially if we’re planning on putting some of the basement diggings there). According to the county website, the only distance requirement is 50 feet from septic tanks, 100 feet from drainfields and 3 feet from basements — there are no property line requirements. We also want to avoid any utility easements, of course.

I took a couple of pictures of the location we identified as a possibility (Tim drove a stake), but it’s hard to get a good feeling for where it lies without having some landmarks. I’d say it’s about halfway between the 2nd and 3rd tree (from the east) identified on the Topo, about 20-30 feet north of the north edge of the building envelope, along the hill just before it begins to drop off steeply (those two blue dots on the image are Bill’s and my guesses as to where the stake is).

I get the impression (looking at our neighbors’ well permit data) that we don’t have to be exact, we just need to be able to show that once everything is in place, all of the isolation distances are met.

We talked about the possibility of hitting a dry hole (or one that doesn’t give us as much water per minute as we like). Tim said that it does happen, but he doesn’t expect it here. If it does, we can move the hole another 100 feet or so and try a different formation. We also talked about water quality. Tim suggested that we were going to want water softening, but that we shouldn’t plan on figuring out what/how much until we start to get water into the house and can test it properly.

Speaking of which, the well will be dug, but unless we make arrangements for a temporary pump and an electricity source (generator or temporary pole), we won’t have water until we have plumbing and electric in the house.

Here are a couple of shots of the blue stake. You’ll have to look hard to see it, I think.

Today we met with Steve Manville (the sanitarian working with us) to clear up the location of the drainfield and to find out more about the well.

We received the approval letter from the sanitarian, but it wasn’t quite right since he began from the wrong start point when laying out the approval area. It’s not a problem — and it’s an easy mistake to make as there are many many property markers next to our lot and I didn’t make sure he knew exactly where we were when Bill painted the one orange. We’ve been going to the lot for over three years now, so we forget that it’s confusing to someone just coming into it.

The approved area will be where I described. However, the letter also had some other interesting information, like we’re in a “well-first” area. (Also, we have to make sure to have two tanks, but that comes later.) None of the older paperwork I have suggests such a thing, and I don’t think any of our neighbors had to sink a well first, but he’s the one with the map and the authority, so we have to have a well in and approved before we can apply for the septic permit.

After looking through the earlier papers, and reviewing the soil samples we took on Tuesday, Steve said that we only need a 100′ isolation distance from the drainfield (and 50 feet from the tanks), as well as the proposed drainfield on Lot G (the northernmost neighboring lot). (I watched him make a note on “our” folder.) This gives us a little more leeway in placing the well.

However, since we must drill the well first, we need to put it somewhere that it won’t get in the way of construction. At least that’s what I expect. I mean, I suppose we don’t want to put the well to the south of the house, because I imagine that that is where the big equipment will be digging away the hill for the foundation.

Before we can apply for the well permit we have to have the plot plan and survey. I’m wondering if it would be useful to talk to the well-drilling company first to get some ideas of where might be a good spot to put the well. We’ll have to have the water tested when the well is dug, but mainly for nitrates, arsenic and other minerals. Bacteria testing should be postponed until the area is not being churned up so much.

I apologize for this all being disjointed, but I wanted to get everything down while it was fresh in my mind. I’ll start talking with the well people next week to see what they suggest.

I got all of the paper work together so that we could apply for a new soil evaluation. We had a valid one already, but since the approved septic drainfield is located where we want to have the house, we have to move it. Therefore, we have to get a new evaluation (sometimes called a “perc test” but since there’s no water involved, it’s not really the right term).

After I got the papers together, I called the excavator. I spoke with a very nice lady named Carol, and we set up some tentative times. Then I went out to the county offices and gave the nice lady there my papers and a check. I called Carol to tell her that I’d done so, so she could coordinate with the sanitarian when we, the sanitarian, and the man with the backhoe would all meet to dig some holes on the lot.

She called me back with all the times, and we’ll meet next week. I have little doubt we’ll be able to get approval, it’s just a question of whether or not we’ll get it where we’d like it.

A small little baby step to actually being able to build the house, but every little bit takes us forward!

I spent a very nice hour with Mark D. who has a solar heating system tied to his hot water, space heating and radiant heating systems. He has about 7 years experience with his current system.

As he stated up front, his system is (probably) oversized for a standard household, but he’s pretty happy with it.

The basic flow is this:

Several solar collectors on a south-facing roof have water running through them when the sun shines. The water is in a closed-loop unpressurized system, powered by an electric pump. When it’s too cold, the water is all contained in a storage tank, so the collector is completely empty (this is called a drainback system). Other collector systems use glycol which is under pressure, but takes less pumping power to circulate the fluid.

The small storage tank has a piping coil in it that brings water from the large storage tank (using another small pump) for heating. Mark’s system has two large tanks — most people only have one.

The large storage tank feeds the water heater. This is a high-efficiency (condensing) gas-fired unit. Smaller than a standard household water heater, it has high BTU power to rapidly heat the water. This water heater provides warm water for the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry, as well as the radiant flooring in the basement. In addition, when there is a call for space heating, it runs hot water through a coil that is located in the path of the air handling unit.¹

And that’s the water (and space) heating system.

However, there are several other systems I saw. There was a drainwater heat recovery system (basically a coil of copper piping going to the storage tank after surrounding the gray water drain), and a heat recovery ventilator that’s hooked into the bathroom fans to ensure good quality air in the tight house.

Even with all of this technology, there are a few things to remember:

• The success of any system requires a good building envelope. Don’t skimp on the window glazing (his house has triple pane fiberglass windows) and the insulation.
• HVAC calculations have to take into account the planned tightness of the building, including the windows, insulation and sealing. Otherwise you’ll end up oversizing the system.
• It is not so easy to find contractors to put together a similar system.
• Do careful space planning for the mechanicals. There’s a lot of equipment (especially once you add in the well system) — it’s nicer if it’s all in one place.

All in all it was a very instructive hour. I feel like I have a better idea of how we can get heat and hot water in an energy efficient manner, so now I can move on to the next thing — the library shelving question: is there enough?

Bill and I have been interested in tankless water heating ever since we lived in The Netherlands (this house is also the source of our desire for a deep tub). We had a small heating unit on the third floor which supplied the heat for the radiators as well as the (endless!) hot water for the bath and kitchen sink. The washing machine heated its own water and we didn’t have a dishwasher, so the hot water requirements outside of bath and space heating were really quite minimal.

Now, however, we’re looking at three and a half baths, an American-style washer, and a dishwasher. Only one tub, but it will be used daily assuming we keep our current schedule. Here’s the water use:

• Tub filler: 5-15 gpm (depending on the filler, which depends on the size of the tub)
• Shower: 2 gpm each (×3)
• Lavatories: 1 gpm each (×4) (maybe more, if I put a darkroom sink and a potting sink in one day)
• Washer:
• Dishwasher:

I’ve been reading about whole-house tankless systems, and I’m concerned that we won’t be able to find one that can handle two showers and a bath at (nearly) the same time. Or if it can, that it can handle just one lavatory sink (it seems that there is a minimum flow rate required for the thing to turn on).

We are also very interested in solar-heated water. We have an unobstructed view south (one of the reasons we chose the lot), so any collectors will be ideally situated. The thing that I’m confused about is how all of these systems might tie together.

Say we have a solar collector and a storage tank. Assume for the moment that the storage tank is non-backup, i.e. it doesn’t have a backup electric coil in it for when the sun is down. The storage tank feeds the tankless system with preheated water. In the summer, the tankless system is unlikely to fire, since the stored water is probably already at the desired temperature. (Question to ask: is it possible to have the input temperature be too high for the tankless?) But what happens in the winter? The sun isn’t quite as strong, and we have loads of cloudy days. This is just the time when we want to take long hot showers. Will the tankless system keep up? Do we size it assuming the storage water is basement temperature or well temperature? How does the well pressure system play in to it (assuming our pump is capable of providing the required gpm)?

Should I just forego the tankless and get a big (gas-fired) tank as the backup system, or should I get the electric-assist storage tank?

I’m thinking about this now because these choices have an effect on where the mechanicals would go in the basement, which well pumping system I choose, the electrical requirements, and the roofing. And probably others that I haven’t figured out yet.

Also, how does a softener system affect all the components? We definitely will need one. My mom’s played hell with her water heater, faucets and appliances (her coffee pot had to be replaced regularly). Was it just a bad softener design in her house?

I spent some time poking about the Washtenaw County Well & Septic website today, and I think I have finally figured out the rough order of business:

• Preliminary
  1. Survey/Topo [done]
  2. Proposed Site Plan [done]
• Apply for Soil Evaluation
  1. Dig 6ft holes with excavator and sanitarian to find a good spot, hopefully where we want it per the plan [done]
• (assume dug area is ok)
  1. Figure out where the septic, well and house are going to go [done]
  2. Proposed plot plan¹ [done]
  3. Apply for Well and Septic permits² [well done]
• Get Water
  1. Drill well [done]
  2. Get water sample [partly done, arsenic & nitrates ok]
  3. Submit well logs and water sample
  4. Get final inspection (can be done during a septic inspection)
• Build Septic
  1. Excavate field
  2. Get excavation inspection
  3. Place field and tanks
  4. Get final inspection
  5. Cover up field and tanks
  6. Get grading inspection

I’ll update this post as I learn more. (Updated 6/3/08 moved water drilling earlier, because we’re “well-first”)

I just got an estimate from Cribley well service. To sink the well and hook up a pump to the house, it will be $4,500 to $7,000 depending on the length of the trench and piping, the pump chosen, etc. It’s only valid for 30 days, but it’s something to start with.

To go further with this, we need to determine what our water needs are (for determining gallons-per-minute required from the well) and if we want a constant pressure pump or not. Higher gpm + constant pressure cost more.

They also included a quote for a water softening system ($2k) + reverse osmosis drinking water filter ($1k), but it’s much too early to try to figure out what we need until we actually can test the water. The test well was on Parcel D, with 390 mg/L (about 23 grains/gallon, according to wikipedia) calcium and 1.9 mg/L iron.