Today was a big day!
The good folks from Mattos Electric/Ultimate Off-Grid Solar in Hilo (highly recommended if you need electrical or solar work anywhere on the Big Island) showed up early and went to work finishing what they’d started yesterday.
My big project was getting a new facia board connected to the roof of the house to distribute the load from the new overhead feeder. You can see it attached in the photo above. The Hired Hand was here and we got it firmly attached (I don’t think I could have done it on my own).
We now have five independent 20-amp circuits to the kitchen so that we can run multiple induction burners, a microwave, a coffee maker, and a toaster oven at one time. Soon we’ll be able to get rid of the propane range altogether.
We have dedicated circuits for instant hot water to the kitchen and bathroom sinks.
We have a plug for an electric bidet seat in the bathroom. Yes, the $30 “premium butt shower experience” bidet adapter works great, but we have our electric model from the mainland which adds heated water and a hot air dry. That’s not just wanton luxury: it’s trading energy (which we have in abundance) for a consumable thing (toilet paper, which we’ll need much less of) and it will increase the lifespan of our already century-old cesspool.
We’ll have ceiling fans in every room. We currently have one in the kitchen as we wanted to evaluate the model, but it has passed muster and five more are on order.
We have outlets on the front deck and on the lanai. (We’d already put one on the back deck, mostly for grooming Luna the Big Dog™ but also for using kitchen appliances on the deck.)
Our garage door opener now works, and there’s lighting in the garage. An electric gate opener cannot be far behind. The laundry equipment now works without me dragging a giant 100-foot, 50-amp, 220-volt extension cord across the driveway. We’ll still need to connect up a garden hose, but our water tank is ready to pick up so we’ll have water in the garage soon.
It was a big, complicated job with unusual requirements. I had to wait a few months to get on their schedule, but the job was finished on time and within budget. More important, the work was done right by folks who obviously love what they do.
—2p