Farmer fixes and natural gas distribution, not two items commonly associated together. At minus 20 celsius, the builder needs to get creative when it comes to heating up the sites. Further complicating the matter is a gas main in the alley too short to connect gas to both of the houses without a gas main extension, and even an absence of a gas meter on the second house.
Work arounds included rental of a 75 ft x 1 inch natural gas hose and purchasing uncommon flared 1 inch fittings, making use of the T at the meter and running the gas hose from the first meter into the second furnace, and hooking it all up. This immediately allowed us, along with help from the mechanical contractor, to fire up both furnaces.
With insulation done, drywall delivered, and crews ready to start we faced a second challenge, lack of disposal of furnace condensate. When heating up a house the furnace combustion byproduct is water, and lots of it. The floor drain can't be used as we don't currently have the sewer hooked up, so without some solution, the water coming out of the furnace would flood the basement floor. That could be 5 gallons over a 24 hour period.
Another farmer fix was then deployed to deal with the condensate, a laundry basket. 5 gallon pails are too tall, especially given the low condensate pipe on the furnaces.
The final farmer fix for the day is emptying the condensate into a laundry basket and tossing it out the basement window. Until the sewer is connected, there is no way to manage the large volume of condensate.