Original estimated time to get geothermal up and running: 2-3 days, total.
Actual time: 15 days.
In addition to hitting massive amounts of rock (they actually thought there might have been the foundation of an old house right where they decided to drill) and getting a giant drill stuck in our yard, the geothermal tubes then sprung a leak when they filled them with water. Here's a picture of them going around the yard, trying to find the leak (Note that this part of the yard was not drilled up like the rest until then!):
They actually found the leak pretty quickly. What really held things up with the well company was that they just left us for a week and went and drilled other people's wells. This I never heard of. How do you start something and not finish it?
What the?
Meanwhile, we had thirty-seven gallons of heating oil left, and one can, they say, burn up to a gallon an hour when the heater is on. The smallest quantity of heating oil you can order is 150 gallons. So, we conserved. If we hadn't have conserved, and we had bought 150 gallons, we would possibly have had to dispose of 147 gallons the next day. All of this would have been extremely expensive. So, we made fires (in the fireplace). We bundled up the toddler and piled blankets on her at night. Luckily, the weather was on our side this year. When they finally did take the old heater out, we still had thirty gallons left- although we did not know that, because this old furnace had no monitor. In order to figure out how much oil you had, you had to call the coop. Crazy!
Anyway, where was I?
They found the leak, and the heating guy came two days after that, with his team. They were really swell. I liked them. But still- the new furnace they tried to install did not work! So, a night without any heater at all for us, and then the next day, another heater installed and- wow! It works! They couldn't get the old oil tank out, either. It's laying on its side in the basement right now. The heater guy, Tracy, asked if the ground here were cursed in some way,
"You sure this isn't an indian burial ground or somethin'?"
Well, who knows. I've always felt lucky.
I do know one thing: Central heating is wonderful! I've never appreciated it so much in all my life!
So happy you have heat!
ReplyDeleteThat other job they abandoned you for, probably an ex-pat offering tea and biscuits. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteClearly, I should've baked them cookies and made tea. If they had the tea, they would have been clear headed, and never would have drilled into rock, because they would have clear-headedly said,
ReplyDelete"We shouldn't drill there. It's too level. It's so level, there must be a foundation to an old house underneath it, or something... OH! Spoon! Spoon! Quick! Dropped biscuit in tea- help- ouch-burn-- damn!"