Putting the pipes on the outside of your 'thermal area' is a bad idea - you'll have much higher loses. If you have a good thick piece of foam between the water and the wall, then you'll be better off. I have no idea what you mean by ABS pipes (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene is a kind of impact resistant rubber AFAIK). PVC or PE are the only pipes we have here. I would avoid trying to use the ground as thermal storage unless you can build a suitable insulating skirt around the whole house. The rate of transfer of heat is proportional to the difference in temperature times the contact area. Heat won't pass from the cooler to the hotter (you can try it if you like, but you far better nota...).

See, one reason why I appreciate all of you so much is that my brain doesn't bend like that! I think in squares. Curves never occur to me for some reason. But I like the idea! A crescent, huh? Hmmm.... I'm trying to see it, and what I am picturing is something flush with the foundation of the house, extending along the side of the walk and along the bulkhead. Curving in the center in a concave shape, towards the house. Is that what you meant? I wish I was good with Paintshop, I may have to try it when I get home this evening and post something. I like the obelisk idea a lot! I should note one change that will happen before too long. D'ya see the section on the right, where the bucket is and you can see the hose and the trash barrel behind it? That area is about to become a wall. We are expanding the kitchen, and the wall you see in the background will come out to be flush with the corner of the house. I forgot to mention that before, I'm sorry. I'm in construction mode, and since the GC is having trouble getting an electrician to commit to the job (long story), I am preserving my sanity by dreaming of flower gardens. Thanks again, Emmie

One more interesting bit of info. As we know, "automatic" means "can malfunction"...surely one of the recognized corollaries to Murphy's Law. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity Voltage regulation To maintain the voltage at the customer's service within the acceptable range, electrical distribution utilities use regulating equipment at electrical substations or along the distribution line. At a substation, the step-down transformer will have an automatic on-load tap changer, allowing the ratio between transmission voltage and distribution voltage to be adjusted in steps. For long (several kilometers) rural distribution circuits, automatic voltage regulators may be mounted on poles of the distribution line. These are autotransformers again with on-load tapchangers to adjust the ratio depending on the observed voltage changes. Here is a link that might be useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity

I'm no plumbing expert, but I've learned a bit during our own rehabs. (Any experts, please correct me if I'm wrong here)! First thing: After thinking about it, the vent can't be in the floor, it always is connected at the end of the P-trap arm, otherwise it just won't do its job. You really just don't have a vent, I don't see a mechanical one in your pic. Yikes! This makes your sink not function properly. No matter what, you NEED to vent your drain somehow. At least have a mechanical vent/ anti syphon P-trap installed. Insist on this. Make sure your plumber installs a P-Trap, not a S-Tap. S-Traps can syphon all the water out of your trap, letting sewer gas enter your house. (This can happen when you flush the toilet next to the sink!) or just when you use your sink. Not good. What makes a P-Trap is the "arm" a piece of straight pipe (of a min. length of twice your pipe diameter, that follows your trap. The vent (no matter what type, is always connected after the P-trap arm, where the drain part turns down, the vent goes up. If you offset your Godmorgon cabinet in respect to your existing drain, something like this could work for you. Just replace the green vent pipe with an anti syphon P-Trap or attach another type of mechanical vent. This would be a major improvement on your current situation. If you cannot offset your cabinet, you could assemble your trap something like this: (just make sure you have enough space for a properly sized "trap arm".