What is it? fireplace.

[lalessi1]

Thank God for termites... this is meant to be! SWEET!

[RICH MUISE]

Easy to paint and no stairs to fall down......a biggie for those of the elderly generation, lol.
Guenter, close, as near as I can tell from the maps, the house faces NW, and probably more North...about 310-320* I'm guessing, and the garage portion maybe 290ish. This is one of three of the biggest houses in the tract. This one is between the other two, and all three are on a curve. The three are shaped so they follow the curve around...really cool especially when you view the satellite image. Any body know how to capture a satelite view for printing?

Lynn......we've got our fingers crossed on both the termite inspection and the house inspection. Because of the previous house, Connie has already been approved for exactly the amount from the VA. Everybody can move quick and close in 3-4 weeks.....the VA again being the bottleneck.

[gasman826]

Do you mean like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/4901+McCarty+Blvd,+Amarillo,+TX+79110/@35.159567,-101.8724776,80m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x87014ff6a050c3cd:0xd620f4afa6b66d92!8m2!3d35.159567!4d-101.8722049

You sly dog!!!!!!!!!!!  You have the makings of a road course in your front yard!!!!  I just got to move to Texas.

[RICH MUISE]

If you right click on the Google satelite you posted, it gives a print option that the one provided on realtor.com did not. Thanks. Yep, if you backed up on the image as it opened (-), you can see the rotary right in front of the house.....kinda would make a neat roadcourse. I've always wanted a circular drive....I bet with the double width, I could park close to 20 cars on the driveways.
Yep...come on down to Texas... It's been pretty much shirt or just hoodie weather all winter, and real estate in the panhandle (Amarillo) area is pretty reasonable. Other areas of Texas are much nicer though.

[djfordmanjack]

Now I see what you meant by drive through garage !
I don't know if your wife and cousin will approve, but I'd park the 57 inside the property anytime on Sunday morning, set up the BBQ, sit on the SE facing porch and look at the car all day long, while having BBQ, coffee and pie or what have you....
I am just happy for you Rich, it is a very interesting and cool house and property. the driveway is great, you could park about 16 abandoned project cars there, sitting on bricks, and I am sure your neighbors and wife would love it.... And think about how you could drive the next project inside the property for open air hammering, sanding and painting .....we car tinkerers have great ideas all the time! 

[Ford Blue blood]

Told you it was out there!  Great find, hope all the inspections come up roses!  Does need an extension put on the back side of that drive through garage....:<)

[RICH MUISE]

Everything is moving along smoothly on the house for the most part. The inspection has been done, and there are no major glitches....just tons of little ones that can be expected in a 60 year old house. We're making a list of things we're asking to be fixed and things we'll accept as is. The sellers have already been working on repairs we previously requested, but tomorrow night we'll be formally listing the requested repairs.
We had the termite inspection done today, and there are NO termites or evidence of past infestations. YAHOO!! my wife and her cousin were doing a dance when that news came in.
As far as I know, we're still on track for a 3/31 closing.

[Ford Blue blood]

Outstanding news Rich!  Keep the faith man.

[RICH MUISE]

Still on schedule. We had a list of 10 things we were requesting be repaired/replaced and they agreed to 9 of them, we accepted. Next on the calendar is getting the house appraised by the lender.

Still trying to figure out the garage setup. I mentioned the front and rear overhead doors, but it gets a little wierder. The garage was drywalled, and there is water damage to the drywall surface about a foot high entirely around the garage. Not enough water to damage the core, just the paper, and the top of which is a very straight line like it was masked off or shielded from a frequent water spray rather than a flood type soaking. Couple that with the fact there are three 3 phase 220 outlets in the garage (not for washer/dryer hookups).
So this mystery......I'm thinking the guy had a commercial operation going in the garage, like water jet cutting. I can't think of too many things that would combine the voltage requirements and high pressure water spray/overspray. If I remember correctly, one of the new technologies in the 80's was the mentioned n/c water jet cutting tables. Probably got outdated with the plasma setups??. Any other ideas why someone would have 3 phase in a home garage ?

[Ford Blue blood]

Had to be some kind of industrial equipment?  Three phase really don't run around residential neighborhoods as a matter of course.  The cost of running that power in for just an air compressor does not make sense.

[RICH MUISE]

I thought 3 phase was what was up on the poles in the neighborhoods....just not brought down to the houses. Then again I get confused when I start trying to reason electricity anyways...as far as 220 voltage goes anyway. I know 220 is actually (2) 110 lines, 440 is 4 of them, ect........but if single phase is one line, and 3 phase is 3 lines, how does that work with the voltage? I guess it's in the connections. Can you have 3 phase 110?

[gasman826]

I'm not a electrician so in laymen's term.  You are correct with the single phase comments about 110 = one wire and 220 = equals 2 110 wires.  But 3 phase has no logical relationship to single phase.  It would be extremely odd to find 3PH in a residential neighborhood (but across the street is light industrial).  3PH can be 185-460 volts.  3PH does have three feed (hot) wires.  Test with a voltmeter.  If the wire has 110-121 amps, it's single phase.  Look up at the overhead lines from the transformer to the house.  Three twisted wires with two coated and one bare is single phase.  3PH would be four big strands of wire...three coated (hot) and one coated or not (neutral).  One of the leads (hot) would likely read 230-460 volts on voltmeter.  Usually about 5HP motor max out a single phase system. So usually 7HP and up are 3PH. 

I built a topsoil milling/screen plant and used 3PH to run all the motors.  I also had a very large Onan generator with around a 300HP Allis Chalmers engine running it.  The plant had several 3PH motors from 10 HP to 60 HP.  I had to learn a lot of stuff real fast!

[Wirenut]

Gasman is correct in his suggestion of looking at the incoming wire to determine 3 phase verses single phase. It it unusual to have 3 phase in a residential setting,  but if you have 4 wires dropping in to the top of the meter riser and if there is 2 transformers mounted on the pole it is 3 phase. If your ac is 3 phase it will be cheaper to operate but in some cases you pay a higher price per per kva. You can run a larger air compressor with smaller wiring and breaker size and it will be more cost effective. If the plug or wiring in the garage does not end up being a 3 phase plug it could be a single phase 220/4 wire set up like for the new dryers. The old dryers just had 2 hots and a ground wire, the newer ones require a 4 wire set up due to needing a neutral wire to keep the ground seperate for safety reasons. I have installed 4 wire plugs in garages for kiln ovens and they look like a 3 phase plug. The true indicator and confirmation is the 4 wires outside (which is called a quardaplex) and 2 transformers.

[RICH MUISE]

I'm 100%sure the 3 phase is coming to the house...the 3 wrapped heavy wires as mentioned and the A/C is 3 phase. What I'm not 100% sure of is the garage outlets. I do remember the inspector saying they looked like 3 phase outlets, but I think he commented the ciruit breakers were not what was usually used on the 3 phase, so he wasn't sure...and he doesn't test for that, so I've got some checking to do when we get the house.
I was researching converting 3 phase to single, and I read on an electrical engineering forum three phase is basically 3 single phase circuits, so easy to convert.....just use one of the power wires and the neutral. The main thing to check on the conversion is whether or not the lighter wire normally used in 3 phase circuits is adequate to carry the load for whatever I'm running as single phase.
The discussion I read never talked about voltage though, so I'm not sure how one wire and a neutral gets 220 single phase (3 prong plug)as I thought the 220 was derived from two 110 wires and a neutral......maybe what Gasman mentioned in that one of the wires should actually be 220
LOL......don't worry, I'm not going to fiddle with the wiring until I know what's what.....and I probably will get an electrician in anyways.
Kerby....are you an electrician?

[Wirenut]

Yes  I'm an electrician. The 220 will need to be derived from 2 of the hots. Your assumption is correct. There are multiple 3 phase systems and voltages. You either have 120/120/120 on each hot wire tested to the nuetral and 220 between any of the two hot wires. There is also 120/120/208, with 208 volts between any two of the hots. Your ac being 3 phase is good economically, if you ever replace it the replacement unit is more expensive to purchase but the energy savings over the years will definately offset the price differance. When you get the house I will be glad to look at photos of breakers, wires and panels to assist any way I can. If I have a chance I would be glad to come by and look things over too. I'm sure I could twist Jack Flash's arm to ride along too. It would be good to meet and see your car in person also. I'm happy for you in the new home purchase.