Just a little grow out system build.. open to advice and suggestions

[bvysochin]

And finally.. an update. Sorry guys, been busy busy busy.

Gas meter was finally upgraded to accommodate the generator, heater, and water heater. This one is about 4x the size of the one we previously had.

Panel finally up on the wall, being wired.

Gas line trench, 1-1/2" line to allow for future growth.

Really had a difficult time finding an honest, fair plumber to install the gas lines for us. I'm sorry, but $2000 for 2 days of labor, when we already had the trench dug and the permits obtained.. no thank you. Ran them all our selves. Everything pressure tested, inspected, and kosher. Feels good!!

Pouring the slab for the generator pad. 14" thick to get it high enough, as the finished grade isn't quite right yet.. (pavers still need to be installed)

They expect you to put two steel pipes through the base of the generator and then four burly dudes would each grab a corner and try to carry this 500lb beast onto the slab.. No thank you! We have a better idea.

Generator set..

Heater getting installed.. ventilation time. Category 3, stainless for the inner pipe. Expensive stuff

Wiring up the generator.. Can't believe that 45 degree 1-1/2 liquidtight fitting was like $35! Oh well.. it's done and over with.

Clearing out our temporary storage mess..

Tank layout

A pic to look back on once this project is finally done and over with..

Boxes goin up.

Romex going in.. There's (20) 20 amp circuits ran so far.. just for the tanks that are going up against that wall. What we've learned from past experience is to allow room for future growth.. In our current setup, we have to constantly add up the draw of lighting/pumps/heaters, etc, to make sure we stay at 80% of the circuit amperage and then make adjustments.. what a pain in the butt. This is overkill, but at this point, we'll gladly pay the extra in copper costs to avoid future headaches.

Figure now would be the time to upgrade our sewer lateral line.. why not!

Sewer lines..

$800 in ABS and 3" / 4" PVC pipe.. Doesn't look like much.. Dang.

Water line going in..

SCE hooked up the new panel but we were instructed not to go crazy on the draw until their new transformer(s) go in.

Future effluent drain pump going in to catch gutter run off.. from all these heavy El Nino rains we've been having.. (sarcasm)

Heater installed and signed off..

More boxes.. and still more to come.

4 years later.. we finally unpacked this thing out of its box. Bummer.. it's got to be out of warranty by now and this is the first time we've seen it. Oh well. NOT looking forward to learning how to install this. Any HVAC techs willing to lend a hand when the time comes?

Slab for the AC unit.

Access box for future sewer clean out/trap access for floor drain. Should have put a trap in before pouring the concrete, but it was literally a last second idea and oversight.

Dedicated 200 amp 54 space electrical panel.. nice, empty, and clean.. for now..

Should have built this wall 2x6 to begin with.. oh well.. adapt and overcome.

Generator wiring complete.. and it's alive!

That's it for now.. still so much to do. Modifying the framing a bit to allow for more storage above the electrical room/bathroom. More boxes of stuff are arriving daily. The four Panasonic ventilation fans are here, waiting to be installed. Additional generator bypass modules will be here this week (to bypass lighting in order to not overload the generator).. Plumbing supplies, etc. Got a new nifty Milwaukee PEX Expansion tool and will be learning how to plumb with Pex. Any excuse for a new tool is a good one!! :dance:

Also.. we're getting to the point where we need to finalize our gas water heater selection. If any one has any experience with radiant heating, I'd love to get some feedback on closed loops, recirculation pumps, heat exchangers, brands, models, etc. Been doing lots of reading on gas water heater setups to heat reef tanks and I've discovered a whole new world I'm not ready to dive into.. a bit over whelming to say the least!

 

[russ13]

Wow!!!!!! Great set up. I can't wait to see the finished product.
Just wondering. Why are you not using LED lighting??

 

[solitude127]

WOW!!! talk about a build. Looking good.

 

[gumbii]

where do i sleep...?

 

[lowbudget]

daaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnng

 

[solitude127]

[MENTION=3291]bvysochin[/MENTION] any updates?

 

[gumbii]

show him the guys in the middle of the street swapping poles...

 

[solitude127]

[MENTION=3291]bvysochin[/MENTION] any updates?

 

[bvysochin]

Thanks for reminding me Mike.. sorry guys, we've been swamped and haven't been good about keeping this thread updated. Made some major progress, amazing how much time it all takes. Took a few riding/camping trips, had a busy summer vacation while kids were out of school, Prius main traction battery died so we learned how to rebuild/recondition a hybrid battery, had some other car trouble that we needed to address, etc, etc.

Where to start.. so much changed, but still so much to do..

We re-framed the front entry door area of the building, and added a ceiling above the electrical room as well as the bathroom. No photos of this step.. but it gave us a great area for storage, as well a spot to run plumbing that can be accessible in the future. Had to order custom size attic access doors, etc.

Sewer lines extended to rear of new building and tied into floor drain, as well as a spot for a future outdoor kitchen area.

We decided to add a laundry area in the electrical/equipment room area.

After getting the machines inside, we realized the room is way too small to fit full size machines.. ugh. Apart comes the wall again.. Had to pour/extend the concrete curb before we could push the wall out another 18".

Plumbing with Pro-Pex was fun!! Such a cool system, and after making all the connections, had only one small leak at one T fitting, where it looks like we didn't quite get the pex cut at a straight angle. Easy fix! Can't wait to use the power pvc cutters to plumb the tanks!!

After buying a tanked water heater and realizing the space constraints we're dealing with, we decided to go with a tankless model. A similar model that someone on RC used for their fish system.. Takagi T-K Jr2.

Don't mind the small oops with the holes in the stucco.. We wired in an emergency switch inside for it as well. Hard plumbed the gas line to it, no photo of that yet. Cool setup.

Recirculating open loop setup.. took a while and much research to come up with this configuration.. Wanted a safe way to tie it in, without having the fear of leaving too much standing water in the lines.. Will post more details about this set up later once everything is operational, but in essence, it'll have a heat exchanger inside the main room with multiple recirculating pumps tied into the Apex with loops running to each of the systems. No more electric heaters for us!!

Edison finally came to upgrade their electrical system.. As soon as they cut the power, the standby generator kicked in without skipping a beat and kept us powered for the 9 hours they were here. Such a great investment!

Good sized crew with traffic control.. Photos only show half of their trucks they had on-scene

Electrical inside all done and wired up.. Decided to go with air-tite LED cans.. 17 of them inside.. Sucks fragging in the dark--should be bright as the sun hopefully.

Per the recommendation we received previously, we installed Cat5/6 in the walls/ceiling to accommodate 7 cameras to keep track of stuff while we're away. Thanks for the idea!

Insulation in place.. R13 in the walls. Only put R19 in the ceiling, but still have about 4" of room left above the insulation in the ceiling joists. May just blow some additional insulation in later down the road. Since we have finished soffits, with wood blocking that was drilled to allow for airflow, we couldn't put the insulation all the way up against the outer edges of the building. That really sucked. Research led me to Accuvent Attic Baffles.. Never knew this product existed, and neither did any roof supplier in my entire area. Guess they aren't used much in Cali. Had to order them from back east, and spent about a day retrofitting them in.. Wish I knew about these while we were in the framing stage! No finished pics, but this illustration shows what they look like and what they accomplish.

Drywall going up.. Rotozip is an awesome tool!

Framing not quite inline with the wall.. Oops. Never used a planer before, pretty cool tool!

 

[bvysochin]

Just started finishing the drywall a couple days ago.. this is where we're at currently.

 

[bvysochin]

So... we initially planned to install FRP at this stage.. over the drywall. I even found a local contractor who has a very large quantity left over that he's willing to sell cheap. But, after much thought and consideration, we're just not sure it's going to be necessary. With the added expense of the FRP itself, plus the labor of installing it, and mostly, the headache of trying to cut out all the electrical boxes, and can lights, and heater vent(s), and then dealing with the prep to paint it, we think it's going to be more trouble than its worth. The other issue is, if we ever convert this building to something else, it's going to look really funky with plastic FRP walls.. and it's not like we can just take FRP back down, and leave the drywall intact.. The entire building would need to be re-drywalled.

So then we considered using a waterproofing membrane, such as Redgard, but even then.. what's the point? Our walls aren't going to be exposed to constant water spray. Humidity? Sure. Some occasional salt splash? Maybe. But with the ventilation in place and some good quality paint--isn't that sufficient? We can go either way at this point, so if any one has some input, we'd love to hear it.


As a side note, after the drywall, it'll be time to do the flooring. We're leaning towards doing a really exquisite epoxy floor setup.. if any one has experience, please PM me.

 

[gumbii]

 

[jboone82590]

So... we initially planned to install FRP at this stage.. over the drywall. I even found a local contractor who has a very large quantity left over that he's willing to sell cheap. But, after much thought and consideration, we're just not sure it's going to be necessary. With the added expense of the FRP itself, plus the labor of installing it, and mostly, the headache of trying to cut out all the electrical boxes, and can lights, and heater vent(s), and then dealing with the prep to paint it, we think it's going to be more trouble than its worth. The other issue is, if we ever convert this building to something else, it's going to look really funky with plastic FRP walls.. and it's not like we can just take FRP back down, and leave the drywall intact.. The entire building would need to be re-drywalled.

So then we considered using a waterproofing membrane, such as Redgard, but even then.. what's the point? Our walls aren't going to be exposed to constant water spray. Humidity? Sure. Some occasional salt splash? Maybe. But with the ventilation in place and some good quality paint--isn't that sufficient? We can go either way at this point, so if any one has some input, we'd love to hear it.


As a side note, after the drywall, it'll be time to do the flooring. We're leaning towards doing a really exquisite epoxy floor setup.. if any one has experience, please PM me.

Where is this thing located at?

I do believe that the paint will be fine but it wont be cheap( well cheaper then the FRP I guess)


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[BeanMachine]

Hey Crystal [MENTION=3291]bvysochin[/MENTION] can you describe what's going with the outlets at each frag tank? I'm curious what the (7) oulets / drops are for in each section.

 

[joseserrano]

Wow, super cool to be able to see the progress.

 

[solitude127]

Glad things are progressing. Keep up the good work.

 

[All Delight]

love it

 

[Leandre]

this is awesome...im super jealous...cant wait to see this up and running. good luck guys!

 

[Tachycardia]

Wow insane!!

 

[innerspark]

Any updates?