Installing Curb Vents & Valves

Utility tie-ins for units 1 and 2 is complete and workers begin backfilling the trench.


September 11 - Shut-off valves for the domestic water lines are installed 3 feet below the frost line.

Cutting into Water Main

September 10 - Drainage and water lines are brought to the main site. The photo shows the water department cutting into the 8-inch water main.

Utility Lines

September 9 - Site workers cut into sanitary and stormwater lines 13 feet below street level.


Stormwater and sanitary pipes for units 1 and 2 are tied-in to the 100 year old piping system fully encased in concrete.

Opening the Street for Utilities

September 8 - The street is cut open so utilities for Units 1 and 2 can be brought into the building.

Setting the Site

The site work contractor will be opening the street for utility work starting on Thursday, September 4th.

Water, Water Everywhere!

It’s no surprise that the derrick hit water, but it was gushing out at about 50 gallons a minute! To put it in perspective, water comes out of the tap at about 5 gallons a minute. We pump it out to a silt bag where it’s filtered and released back into the water table.

Stacked bags of grout behind the trailer will be mixed up to line the walls of the wells.

Drilling the Wells

Derrick drills the wells for the installation of the ground source heat pump. A total of 8 wells will be drilled to a depth of 275 feet.

Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are basically air conditioners that use groundwater or soil to cool the condenser instead of an outside coil and fan. It still takes energy input to operate a GSHP system, but a GSHP can be as much as 300% to 400% more efficient when compared to highly efficient furnaces. Even better, because a modern heat pump can be run backwards, both heating and cooling can be provided using the same equipment, and the most efficient uses of GSHPs are in mixed climates like PA that need both heating and cooling.

The easiest GSHP installations are on lots with large areas of open land for the installation of the loops in shallow trenches (5'-6’ deep), but ground source heat pumps can also be used in tight, urban installations. For locations without large areas of open land available, such as this one, vertical bores, rather than horizontal trenches, are used for the loops.