We were more than a little nervous about the water in our well a week ago.  When they initially tested it, they were only getting about 5 gallons per minute.  That is enough to get by, but it is still pretty low.

I am happy to report when they installed the bigger pump we are able to get over 9 gallons per minute consistently.  They said the pump draws the water down 11 feet while pumping.  But as soon as the pump shuts off, the water level returns to normal immediately.  It is also extremely quiet.  I was standing right next to it when I took this picture and could barely hear it running.  So that is a major problem averted (for now).

Most houses in the area have a 30 gallon pressure tank on their well to bring water into the house.  So we decided to go with a 1550 gallon non-pressurized tank with a secondary pressure pump.  That way, even if we do run into well problems, we still have water for a few days.

The bigger pump also required larger electrical service as well.  But that is okay since we do not want to have to re-run electrical service if we do have to drill the well deeper eventually.

They also got most of the ductwork installed as well as most of the electrical wires run.

I expect the electrical should be just about done by the end of the week.

One of the features the electrician convinced us to add is LED lighting on the bottoms of the top cabinets in the kitchen.  They will not change much on how I have to build the top cabinets and should look pretty nice and give Tina a good amount to light for working in the kitchen.  The thin black wires in the pictures below are to power the under cabinet lighting.

And they got the exhaust vent installed in the kitchen.  Initially, I was thinking Tina wanted a European style exhaust vent with the vent pipe exposed all the way to the ceiling.  But this will actually be better since it will allow her to have a top cabinet above the cooktop as well.

Finally, Tina had to go to Tucson to get the chimney pipe for the woodburning stove for the livingroom.  Since the stove was due to have a price increase in the next couple weeks, we decided to buy it now.  Although, we are not taking delivery on the stove until after the sheetrock and taping is done.

Wood stoves are expensive!  But the one we got should look pretty nice and with the mild winters, we are thinking it should be able to provide most of our heat in the winter.

Although the house does not look radically different than it did a week ago, it is easy to tell they made good progress again this week.