Category: Build Progress

 The “Number 3” Energy Module has been completely buried and all finished. The three set of conduit pipes were inserted and connected all together in a central point, so that it will come up in the hallway, ready for plumbing at a later date.

Module-3-Finished

It was surprising that we used up quite a lot of the sand / soil to fill the gaps, which is good as we are not suffering from too much excess material that we might have to have paid transport to take it away. Maybe later, when we tackle the largest module “Number 5”!

this morning (only), we half buried the Number 3 Energy Module and put on the insulated lid.

Module-3-Insulation-complete

We sliced off all the edges and dumped the pieces in and around the gaps!

We have assembled the third set of our collection of Energy Modules today, the second biggest one! We put down two layers of insulation boards, a total of 240mm thickness of PU foam. Then a layer of geotextile fabric to reinforce the small gaps and edges between the joins of the various boards, to minimise the chance of the rubber stretching and bulging into voids under the crates.

The rubber membrane was unrolled and pulled into position on top, and draped around the edges (down pass the insulation layer) to wait for the final wrap-up procedure.

Then it was the job of moving 48 crates into the hole, to form two layers of 12 crates, all clipped together and also locked together with a forest of vertical tubes

Module-3-First-layer-of-crates-in-place

During the assembly process, the three holes were cut into the plastic of the crates to allow the usual access for our conduit pipes and inspection port to be inserted.

Finally, we got a sheet of DPM plastic to lie over the whole top surface to protect the insides from dust and dirt and also to act as a shield to stop the water evaporating when it gets hot.

We then pulled up the rubber sheet and tucked in each corner, just like a Christmas parcel, to provide a waterproof barrier to hold in the 8400 litres of water!!

Module-3-All-wrapped-up

Tomorrow, in the morning, we will start the insertion of the insulation panels around the circumference of the module, and start pushing the sandy soil back in.

 It was a long day of cleaning our Aquacell crates we need for Energy Module Number 3. Like before, each one had to be split apart and then each half jet blasted with high pressure water to wash out the dirt, spider’s web and plant matter!!

Our large pile of Aquacells has somewhat shrunken, we have now used 98 crates out of the total of 200!

Stack-of-Aquacells-Jun-8th

We ran into the evening in order to have all the crates washed and ready for tomorrow assembly in the Number 3 hole. Phew!

We finished digging out the third  hole. We then inserted two parallel wooden side rails into the ground, set exactly at the required depth (minus 1.7 meters below ground level) and use them to scrape away the final excess sandy soil by moving a plank of timber between the rails.

Shaun-collapsed-in-Module-3-Hole

Then we compacted the whole area using the petrol motor driven vibrating  plate, put in more sand and compacted again. Then we did a final scrape to get a nice flat and level surface to begin the building up of the energy module itself including its insulation layers.

Module-3-Hole-Finished-1

Module-3-Hole-Finished-2

But tomorrow, it is the messy job of taking apart and cleaning 48 Aquacell crates!! Phew!

Here’s today’s timelapse

 Today, we finished off the 2nd Energy Module! We put on a lid of PU foam boards of a variety of thicknesses (90-120 mm) and we used the off cuts from the side insulation as well, and then we pushed into the tank the two pipe conduits for our temperature probes to go down, plus also two water connection points, just like the previous Energy Module.

Module-2-Completed

It is a bright gleaming structure in the glorious sunshine we had today!

We then filled around the edges and on top with the sandy soil and compacted it down and levelled it all off. There is no evident now of ever having these water tank buried underground, apart from the funny looking pipes sticking out of the ground!

We then thought that we had better peg out red and white warning tape around the four corners of each Energy Module so we are reminded of where they are and not drive over the top of them accidentally with the mini-digger or dumper truck!!

Module-2-Outline-marked