Gas! Finally!

If you're wondering why I'm so excited about gas (not the deviled egg variety, but natural gas for the furnace), then go to this page with all entries labeled 'gas' and start at the bottom to get an idea of the loooong process we've gone through in order to get the gas turned on.

Yesterday morning one of the local gas company guys (Thanks, Mike!) came and turned on the gas! In order to leave it on, he had to see not only the pilot light burning, but also the burner lighting up and the blower kicking on. I had a pack of matches and a long skinny stick ready and waiting for the lighting of the pilot light.
The burner kicked on a couple of minutes after I turned up the thermostat, but the blower would not blow. I know it worked; I felt it blowing hot air on Friday when the HVAC fellow came to inspect it. However, it doesn't count if the gas company man is not standing there to see it.
From the back of the dusty furnace room, Mike flipped the furnace breaker off and back on and the blower started right up. Yay!

Maybe I'll take a picture of one of the floor registers. However, you'll have to use your imagination for the hot air blowing your hair back from your forehead because I haven't figured out how to get that effect from this blog yet.

It's On! Woo-hoo!

The gas is on!
The furnace works!
Yay!

Just wanted to let you know.
More later....

Getting Closer!

Look! It's a shiny new gas meter!

It's hooked up to The 123!

We have a few more hoops to jump through, but it looks as if we will finally have gas. Monday. Hopefully.

Other good news: the furnace works!

Coffee House Design (and gas line - still!)

As of this weekend, the gas line wasn't hooked up yet, so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

The kids are back in school today, so everyone is feeling well again.

Now that the first floor is completely gutted, PC and I are trying to figure our layout for the Coffee House innards: the kitchen, the counters, the workings, etc. We have come to the conclusion that in order to get it right (meaning efficient and welcoming and building/health code approved), we are going to need some help.
We'll proceed with the utility fixes and get started on the ceiling while we start reading up and asking advice on restaurant design. I've been in contact with a Coffee House consulting company who can give us a hand with the coffee service aspect. Now I need to do the same with the food service side of things.

Gas Line...Ack!

I just started a post, and then I lost it. I have no idea where it went and I looked for it everywhere.
Anyway, I will try again....

When you walk into the Grafton 123 (when we open sometime next year), you can feel safe. Very, very safe. At least from any type of gas leak or gas explosion or any other type of gas-related accident. The safety standards required by the gas company are strict!
We passed the pressure test! Yay!
I did not get a picture of the highly-sensitive pressure monitoring seismology-looking equipment. Sorry, but I've been home all week with a feverish 7 year old. Poor kid has been anywhere from 99.0 to 103.8. Fortunately, with the help of a wide variety of Gatorade colors, he has been well hydrated. (Have you seen some of the new Gatorade stuff? They have Gatorade Rain and the Lime flavor is kind of a pale psychodelic green that puts me in mind of black cauldrons and eye-of-newt. When I see it outside of the Gatorade bottle in a clear glass, it makes me want to scream, "Don't drink that!")
Today I called the doctor, but with no openings and no other symptoms and the large intake of Gatorade, they told me to call them back if his fever spikes again. So far so good, though. It hasn't been back up since early this morning and he's eaten twice and switched from Gatorade to apple juice and a glass of milk.
He looks like he's finally kicked whatever nasty bug got him. Thankfully.
So, anyway, the gas line gauntlet is not over yet. They are going (maybe did already) to hook up the line to the curb box and install a meter. We have to get a licensed HVAC technician in there to inspect the furnace before they will turn on the gas. And if the furnace doesn't pass inspection or the pilot light won't stay lit when the gas gets turned on, then they'll turn it right back off.
Rigid. Safe.
Safe is good, but I have to keep reminding myself of the safe part.

Gas Line, cont.

So the pressure test to check the new line and new pipes entering the back of The 123 was Wednesday. Really, it's a 24 hour pressure test so it was Wednesday and Thursday. The test was complete with a fancy seismology-looking box with complicated circle graph paper and several arms with red pen tips on the ends.
Really.
However, I did not get a picture.
But, not to worry, because we failed the test.
So we get to do it again. Fix the leak, and then the gas company will come back and do it all again. Next week.
I will be sure to take pictures of the weird looking contraption.
Argh.