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Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007

The plumbing supply connections were completed from all the GroWalls back to the mechanical GroWall on the garage and the solar thermal collectors were connected to the solar thermal storage tank, located in the mechanical GroWall.

There was a small problem with the supply water tank, which was rendered unusable when welding sparks melted it. Luckily, some Aggie creativity came up with a solution to replace the tank with the waste water tank (about the same size), and purchase a new waste water tank. This allowed the house to accept water from DOE on Monday, and bought a little time to purchase a new tank to replace the waste water tank.

Additionally, the batteries were wired into the inverters, and the AC system was checked out by the DOE inspectors -- a required formality before the house is allowed to power up.

Doors for the house were also installed. The evacuated tubes were placed into the solar thermal manifold on Sunday evening and covered with blankets to protect them from thermal shock on Monday when the water arrives. The thermal shock can shatter the tubes when they are hot from sitting in the sun and cold water is pumped into the manifold. The solar controls were also connected.

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