Rained out, but apron done.

The apron was in fact installed today.  I specifically asked about the thickness, and he said it was on average 3.5", but in some places it varied by about a half inch.  The town regraded the road today, so they at least know it happened, but I will be firing off an email to the town tonight to get it inspected.  It ended up costing $3,250 which is outrageous, but it had to be done.


Today was supposed to be fairly nice, and when I checked the weather last night, the rain was supposed to hold off until this evening, but that didn't happen.  As you can tell in the above picture, at quarter after 2 it was already raining.  That coupled with the fact that I can't drive on it until tomorrow led to this early post and no trip.

I heard back from one of the propane companies I called, Discount Oil.  Their price is 2.89 a gallon.  Considering they are reputed as the cheapest in Keene, and that Tractor Supply is only 3.09, I was a little disappointed.  They don't charge to bring up a tank and hook it up, but they had a two week lead time, which while not a dealbreaker, is very undesirable.

At that news, I started to crunch the numbers for the Tractor Supply.  The numbers don't seem right, since I would likely need at least three in parallel at that rate.  Here is the breakdown of the math:

• A 100lb tank is 22.9 gallons according to their website.
• One gallon of propane is roughly 91k BTU.
• The water heater is 160k BTU at full blast.  
• At full blast, it can produce 3.2 gallons per minute at a 80F rise (well water is roughly 38-40 degrees in NH in the winter).  That gets the water to 120 degrees, which is a normal setting.
• A typical shower head puts out 2.1 gallons per minute.  
• A 3:2 ratio yields a shower temp in low 90s with 120F hot water
• With that ratio, I use 1.26 gallons of hot water per minute for a shower.
• 1.26 gallons per minute is running at 39.375% capacity.  
• 39.375% capacity is 63k BTU
• 63k BTU is 0.6923 gallons of propane per minute.
• If I take a 10 minute shower, I will use 7 (rounded up) gallons of propane.
• I can take three showers before a 100lb tank is empty.  Maybe two since I don't have efficiency figures for the water heater (though in general propane is pretty good).

So for a dual tank setup, I would need to fill those two tanks more than once a week, and that assumes that the only hot water I use is for showers.  That sounds like too much, but I don't see where the error in my math is.  One thing that is odd is that a shower uses 12.6 gallons of hot water (105.152 lbs), and to raise that 80 degrees is only 8412 BTU (a BTU is 1 degree per pound), and thus a tenth of a gallon of propane.  While that assumes 100% efficiency on the water heater, that number still sounds too low.  Something is wrong here, and I am not sure where.  Both seem like proper approaches to the math, and I would expect them to arrive at at least ballpark close to the same number.  I doubt efficiency would cause that much disparity.

Considering the one company that responded that a 120 gallon is more than adequate, the first is definitely wrong, since I would burn through 120 gallons in less than two weeks at that rate only showering.  The second yields that I would never have to refill it...  The tank would rot out before I used it all.

Regardless, the apron is now complete.  I haven't heard back from the company to install the water heater.  Tomorrow is supposed to be miserable, so on Wednesday I might go pick up the bathroom fixtures.  Kind of wish I had a cap for my truck, since transportation is the only reason I need nice weather.  I marked down the propane as in progress since things are finally getting moving on that front, even if my math is horribly wrong.  Since I can't really do skirting or get fixtures, I might look into building some steps.  I am guessing the town won't be impressed with my cinder blocks.  I don't think they would deny the occupancy permit for it, but I don't want to give them reason to pry, and the cinder blocks aren't a usable winter solution anyways.  And I can pick them up in the rain, since they would be pressure treated.

Before Occupancy:

1. Install paneling on interior walls.
2. Build floor pan for the bathroom
3. Install bathroom fixtures.
4. Install electric.
5. Complete interior plumbing and test it.
6. Finish running the waste PVC line.
7. Well prep work.
8. Get well installed.
9. Get hot water heater installed.
10. Install flooring.
11. Install skirting.
12. Install some form of cabinets in the kitchen.
13. Install kitchen sink.
14. Install kitchen appliances.
15. Install enough driveway to satisfy the apron requirements.
16. Get propane installed.

Before Winter:

1. Build bed frame.
2. Build closets.
3. Install table.
4. Install heat tapes.
5. Build some sort of porch.
6. Smooth driveway enough to plow/clear
7. Fix snowblower.  
8. Winterize equipment (mower, undercoat the truck, etc).
9. Clear slab
10. Shed work
1. Extend roof to prevent snow pushing on the side.
2. Fix pilings