WATER!

Before I get into this post let me say thank you to all the people who have offered help, the use of their generators, use of their showers and water. We have an amazing community around us thank you to you all for your support and care.

The other thing to warn you about is that this post might be a little rambled as this past week has been long days and short nights as we try to work and get things organized and systems working.

Well let’s see…since my last post we have moved, (which reminds me that I need to thank more people) we have been trying to find things that are in boxes that are not unpacked as things here on the homestead have started off in an interesting manner.

The weather has been unseasonably warm. The woodstoves have been great to start and easy to keep going so far. The generator has been giving us a hard time in starting. We need it for water. It needs to run the pump. However it will roll but not fire…it is most likely spark as I put fresh fuel in it and checked filters. Anyways after some discussion we decided to purchase a new generator as the one here is a little under sized for what it us expected to do. It is good generator that once we tune it it will be great for when we get the sugar bush up and running or in the future shop, regardless it will be put to good use.

So we picked up a new generator. We hauled it to the gen shed put oil and fuel in it and it fired right up! I could taste the water that we would have shortly…but that night we had no such luck…the plug end for the hook up for the pump to the generator was a different end than the receptical on the generator. Stores were closed…the next day I purchased a new end changed out it out on the wire…fired up the generator and nothing…hmm frustration set in…fired up a small generator we have to run smaller stuff to see if we had any power running into the house on any of the three wires that run from the gen shed to the house panel…we were able to get the lights fired up in the house so there wasn’t a problem with the wires…so the new generator must have a problem…I tried it again the next day let it warm up try it again…nothing…so today at work I got a text from my darling wife letting me know that we have water! This means we have power from the big generator! A friend came by for coffee and her hubby came over after working a long shift with OT (probably tired and wore out) to look and see if he could help. He called the company and (I haven’t had a chance to talk with him as to what the issue was or if I was doing anything wrong which could be a possibility) shortly after talking with them he had the generator producing power!

Tonight I will get home and be able to do some stuff that needs to be done like hang some drywall. But the nicest thing is that after I do that I can shower at home!!

On a side note…The generator is not our end all and be all idea of powering our home it is a piece in the puzzle of an off grid system as we will need something to top up batteries if the sun doesn’t shine long enough for the solar we will put in to recharge batteries. The plan is to have some wind and solar with the generator for back up…

Shane