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..

 

[bvysochin]

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..

 

[bvysochin]

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!

 

[bvysochin]

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?

 

[bvysochin]

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:

 

[bvysochin]

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!

 

[bullitr]

Wow
Great planning crystal

 

[vuqchu]

Good gawd! You guys probably put more than 99% of the LFS in SoCal to shame and the tanks are not even in yet. Awesome work! Looking forward to seeing the rest.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

Wow guys! What an undertaking! I'd love to check out your build sometime and help out if needed. How many systems will you be running in total?

What would this building be used for by a future home buyer? Guest house, second garage? Does the garage door face the street? Can you drive a car through your side yard?

 

[misterjimmy]

Taking reefing to a whole new level. I am so not worthy of all this but this is amazing! So I'm sure most of fellas are going to ask this question. When are you planning to have an open house?

 

[pandimus]

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!

There have been some guys who run a coil look of either pex or a titanium loop hooked up to pex running from their water heater drain right back up to the inlet of their water heat, but I bet I. Your case getting creative with a thankless heater and loop might be fruitfull

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[bvysochin]

Wow guys! What an undertaking! I'd love to check out your build sometime and help out if needed. How many systems will you be running in total?

What would this building be used for by a future home buyer? Guest house, second garage? Does the garage door face the street? Can you drive a car through your side yard?

We're hoping to have one main grow out system, one qt system, and then the DT. We're trying not to have too many different systems going as it's a pain in the butt currently. You know where we're at, you're welcome to come by anytime!

As far as the building, we tried to build it as versatile as possible. In the future, it can be an art studio, a metal fabrication shop, a wood shop, a mechanic shop, a guest house (with a little Ikea creativity), a storage shed, etc. The garage door faces into the backyard, but there is an 8' + wide driveway on the side of the house, so getting a car into it in the future wouldn't be a problem. We strongly considered doing a greenhouse but we decided against it, as we didn't think it would add much, if any, resale to future buyers. If anything, the greenhouse may have subtracted value when you figure the cost of having to tear it down/dispose of.

Taking reefing to a whole new level. I am so not worthy of all this but this is amazing! So I'm sure most of fellas are going to ask this question. When are you planning to have an open house?

As soon as we have tanks inside and we can clean up the construction mess in the backyard, we'd love to have a huge BBQ and everyone will be invited.

There have been some guys who run a coil look of either pex or a titanium loop hooked up to pex running from their water heater drain right back up to the inlet of their water heat, but I bet I. Your case getting creative with a thankless heater and loop might be fruitfull

Yep, that was the plan. Just not quite sure what type of water heater I should purchase, and how it should be plumbed. From what I've read so far, I'll need a special type of pex, with an oxygen barrier, as well as multiple recirculating pumps for multiple zones/systems, and I would want to use a heat exchanger since I don't want the water going through the coil to mix with the water coming out of the faucets/showerhead. Still in the planning stage for this part.

In the meantime, this is something we just picked up and are hoping to reuse inside. 12' wide.. Nice and large for washing equipment, etc. No more having to wash and empty the skimmer cups in the kitchen sink!!

 

[scallywags]

That's pretty amazing!! I'm hooked

 

[bvysochin]

Didn't realize we missed an update on this thread.. here's some updates to catch up for those still following..

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.

 

[bvysochin]

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!!

 

[bvysochin]

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

 

[bvysochin]

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.

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.

 

[bvysochin]

Drywall going up.. Rotozip is an awesome tool!

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

Just started finishing the drywall a couple days ago..

 

[bvysochin]

Cutting channel in concrete to insert a conduit to use as a sleeve for heating the future 10' display tank with hydronic heating..

Never ending electrical...

Entry door

Future attic access/storage

Laundry connections

A new toy to help paint the ceiling.. originally wanted and painted it gloss black.. did NOT work out as planned... looked like crap. Pressure too high.. shoulda read the manual better.. :fie:

 

[bvysochin]

Flooring time.. prep prep prep.. Never would have thought it was necessary to make the cracks bigger in order to make them smaller.. Starting to chisel out the fine shrinkage cracks before patching them ..

Grinding/roughing it up.. this tool is well worth the rental !