Finally broke ground

[rabler]

Question: Was there a body on the wheelbarrow? A friend wants to know.

I'll never tell.

 

[rabler]

I REAL basement will be very cool! There is no such thing as a basement around here in volcano country. I have only found 1 rock buried about 6" down in my yard, it had a little plac attached to it labeled "North American continental plate".

At least that makes a good foundation.

 

[BGHansen]

I enjoyed machine time , but there is NOTHING that even comes close to tractor time . It's my therapy either on the Cubs , Exmark or Kubota . I love my seat time .

Tell me about it! I put in feed plots a few years ago; used our Massey 35 with a 2-bottom plow. The original plan was to make 30' wide plots, but there was something so satisfying about seeing that dirt turn over that the unit of measure changed from feed to yards.

Bruce

 

[BGHansen]

Just the opposite, north. Climate here is warm enough that it isn't a major factor. Finished basement but it'll have significant above ground component.
Planning a moderate size solar electric system with standby capability, and a ground-loop geothermal HVAC.

Good choice on both, we have an ~9800 kW solar setup with 18 kWh of backup battery and an open-loop geo. Our solar uses Silfab panels and a Generac inverter/battery back up (Panasonic Lion batteries). Our geo is a hybrid system as it was added on after the fact (also have a 130K BTU propane furnace). We've been very happy with the geo, here's a link to ours.

Affordable Heating and Cooling | Well-Connect Geothermal

Choose affordable heating and cooling with a Well-Connect hybrid heat pump. Our geothermal heating and cooling system can help you heat and cool for half.

wellconnectgeo.com

We have the 2.5 ton unit which draws about 1600 W when it's running (plus the sporadic 1/2 Hp or ~400 W well pump running). The output is ~33 K BTU or about a quarter of our propane furnace. Naturally, it runs a lot more than the gas furnace; delta T is something like 15 F as opposed to 50-60 F (cold air return vs. outlet temp). It gives us the option of heating via electricity or propane depending on the current energy cost (electric is currently cheaper for us).

Regarding the solar and battery backup, it's nice to have a backup generator of sorts. Our system switches 4 circuits though one is the modem/router so the Generac inverter stays connected to them. We switch our well, propane furnace, frig/few plugs in the kitchen and the modem. I didn't bother with the geo as it would toast the batteries (if they were fully charged) in less than 8 hours. If you're worried about having heat in the winter in battery backup mode, you may consider a backup gas furnace. Or, a larger battery backup which runs roughly $1000 / kWh of storage. You'll need a lot of battery backup to run a geo system.

Bruce

 

[rabler]

We switch our well, propane furnace, frig/few plugs in the kitchen and the modem. I didn't bother with the geo as it would toast the batteries (if they were fully charged) in less than 8 hours. If you're worried about having heat in the winter in battery backup mode, you may consider a backup gas furnace.

Bruce,
I'm a big fan of having multiple alternatives. We have natural gas piped to the old house, and will extend that to the new house too. And since my wife loves a fire, I plan on a small wood stove in the finished basement. So we'll have options for heat and cooking. I currently have a portable generator. I've considered getting a PTO driven generator for high capacity usage. Of course that brings up the question of a 3 phase generator for shop options. To your list of battery backed circuits, being a bit further south, I want solar/battery backed circuits for window fans and cell phone charging in the bedrooms.

I'm looking at closed loop horizontal coil config @ 6ft deep for the geothermal. Not quite as efficient as some other options but an easy DIY. Wells are pretty tough to drill around here (lots of water cisterns and piped water utilities), no good aquifer, so I don't think open loop ground water would work.