Ottertail Country

Ottertail Country
Ottertail South

August 23, 2008

Diggin' and piping 'n stuff....


Thursday evening brought enough rain to wet the boards on the deck, no appreciable help toward ending our drought.




Thursday also brought Chris Meyer and his skid steer to dig out for the boiler base and wood storage area.




When the hole was dug, we set in that boxlike form that you saw a post or two ago. Then we covered it loosely with some plywood and began dumping gravel into the hole.




Here it is all filled around and packed down as well as possible with the skid steer.




Next Chris leveled the area to the south of the future stove, filled the area with gravel and leveled it all off. We used the entire load of gravel that was hauled in there a few weeks ago.





This morning, Saturday, I went to Phillips with the truck and trailer to get the insulated piping for the boiler, some 4" thick solid concrete blocks, a few other supplies and I borrowed a compactor from Peg's brother.




The insulated pipe, which is quite hard to bend, needed to have a spot cut open and the insulation removed.






I had also procured a pair of 4" plastic drain elbows, 45°. These needed to be split, I chose to use a short hand saw.




These pieces would be used to make a bend in the tubing so it could transition from the horizontal trench to the vertical section needed to come up to the boiler.




Here we are, rope holding the pipe in a bent position, duct taping the elbows around the pipes.




We managed to get the pipe into the form box without getting anything stuck or the forms collapsing. I was glad we didn't have to dig out any of the gravel to get the pipes in the ground.




Here you can see the foam sealer oozing out of the plastic fittings. I had drilled some holes in the fittings before I taped them in place. Now that the pipes were in place in the trench form, we filled the joint with expanding foam to give it some insulation value.



We left it like this so that the foam could cure for the required 8 hours. It's tied to the compactor to hold it upright.




A new look for the trench, the insulated pipe running into the basement, along with the wire for the power for the pump and controls. We got the trench about 3/4 filled in this evening, we'll finish it tomorrow. We will also pullout the form box from around the pipe by the stove base location, fill the trench above the tubing with gravel. We'll pound the area with the compactor for a while, the level the area and get the 4" block set in the proper location for supporting the furnace. The unit is supposed to be delivered next week, so we need to get this all ready this weekend. This must be the sixth or seventh weekend in a row that we have been here, busy both days (O.k., I did take an airplane ride a few weeks ago....). Once this furnace is in and operational, I'm going to spend a weekend sleeping late and then staring out the window.... Or not.

I gotta go, Carlo
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Must take a lot of studying brochures and manuals to get this project done. We are in need of rain down in this area also. Every day has been soooooo hot.

lc

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm suprised how much work this whole outdoor woodstove installation process is!! You guys have been working hard!! If Adam & I ever decide to put in our own outside stove, we'll call for your help :-)

Kristi

Carlo said...

The biggest issue now, Lucy, it getting the modifications done to the existing boiler in the house. I have it pretty well mapped out and will get parts and start on it Wednesday???
Kristi, if you decide to go this route, please feel free to call. I/we work for food, mostly..... and the company would be good.