Getting on the Grid

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Back home in Alaska, we've been getting our hands dirty at the Momplex. Today, we are going to get the Momplex on the grid!

TRUE STORY - My mom has lived 30 years without electricity! And I'm not about to let her spend the next 30 years struggling with a generator and no lights when it's forty-some below in January in Alaska, with three hours of daylight. I'm not about to let her spend just ONE more year off the grid!

Momplex

Step 1 Diagram

Step 1

And although we have much to do inside the Momplex to get Mom moved in, we've got a very short MUST DO list for the Momplex before snow falls on the exterior.

- Garage doors installed (on order already!)
- Upstairs ceiling electrical boxes installed and wire run
- Upstairs ceiling drywalled
- Upstairs ceiling insulated
- Utilities brought into Momplex

Now this is a list I love looking at! It's not like last winter where we are struggling against impossible odds to get a roof on.

But with the weather still nice, we want to put the utilities in. It will be so nice to have electricity to work with (we've been using a generator) and the well hooked up to the Momplex, and the fuel tank in place for when the boiler goes in.

Up here in Alaska, we don't have city sewer or water. We have to get the electricity from the pole to inside and everyone has their own heating fuel tanks.

Step 2 Diagram

Step 2 Instructions

We've decided to bury as much as possible. You see, even up here in Alaska, the cold weather only goes about 4 feet deep. If you bury something below 4 feet deep, the ground will stay above freezing.

Step 3 Diagram

Step 3 Instructions

For my family, it's like a giant sandbox. Only Dad is all grown up and operating the real deal, and the piles of sand are much bigger. We dig a really big hole in the ground.

Step 4 Diagram

Step 4 Instructions

Right next to the well.

Having a backhoe on rental does not alleviate the need for a shovel.

Step 5 Diagram

Step 5 Instructions

Despite being at least four feet down, we don't want to be digging the well line up ever again. So we buy insulated pipe - it's just a 4" black pipe with spray foam around it - and we tie it into the Momplex.

Step 6 Diagram

Step 6 Instructions

Then it's run over to the well.

Step 7 Diagram

Step 7 Instructions

It will connect to the well a good 9 feet or so below the top of the well.

Step 8 Diagram

Step 8 Instructions

Inside, when we poured the downstairs slab, we put wood spacers in the slab where the well would tie in. It's quite the chore getting the spacers out of the concrete.

Step 9 Diagram

Step 9 Instructions

And that's where the well will tie into the Momplex inside.

Step 10 Diagram

Step 10 Instructions

The well line is wrapped in heat trace - just a wire that you can plug in and it will heat up, removing any frozen areas should the line ever freeze up.

Step 11 Diagram

Step 11

The well line is threaded through the insulated pipe.

Step 12 Diagram

Step 12

And brought out the other side.

Step 13 Diagram

Step 13

Then it's hooked up to the well itself.

Step 14 Diagram

Step 14

And more heat trace is added at the joint. We also insulate over this joint as well.

The well line is carefully buried.

With the well hooked up, it's time to move over to the other side and put the electrical in.

Step 15 Diagram

Step 15

Today, we are just running a pipe from the electrical pole over to the Momplex. We'll later go back and run the electrical wires through the pipe - just like what we did with the well.

And the we are ready to bury the electrical line!

And then we buried the fuel tank.

Then everything is backfilled.

Despite a really long busy couple of days, the Momplex looks pretty much the same.

But our list is getting really short, and I'm getting really excited about finishing out the inside of the Momplex!!!! Are you ready?

How are utilities done where you live? Do you have your own well? Does your electrical company bring power right to your house? It's always interesting to see how things are done in different locations!