melev

looks like it is coming along nice

Looking good Marc. Its just as well that things arent moving along too quickly. It'll give you a chance to rethink the plan and possibly change your mind in a few of the details... Like more outlets. Dont forget to put one REAL close to your new sink so you can test powerheads and heaters in it.
How many dedicated circuits will be for the tank?

Ya, who am I kidding. Talking to the guy who gives tank room presentations across the nation.

Hehe - you're funny. All advice is good advice before the project has been completed. The subpanel will have 4 circuits tied in, but has room for 6. With double breakers, it could have 12, but I don't need that many. My hope it to run some temporary plugs from the subpanel to the holding system so I can clear out the old stuff that is in the way of construction.

I want to have a method to connect my generator to the subpanel to provide power to those circuits when the power is out. I'll flip the 50 Amp breaker off in the main panel when I'm going to power up the generator, and everything can run on the same circuits. I want to have a double-ended power cord that plugs in to the subpanel and into the generator that will makes it simple.

I'm opening up the wall on the kitchen side to hide all the wires that I've been looking at for years in the fishroom. They will be rerouted and hidden behind new sheetrock so the room will be cleaner. The sprinkler control system is going to be located in the garage and out of the fishroom as well. I want it nice and tidy.

Hey Marc looking good! You should talk with the person doing your wiring about having your generator turn on automatically in so many seconds with a power failure. You know how we lose power with storms in Texas. So if you are out of town for business you can just switch it to auto and when in town have it on manual. Just an idea. ;-)

So what about the 4 x 4 over the doorway? It's not doing anything...or maybe not finished? Or maybe code is different there? Here there would be trimmer studs and jack studs (cripples) above it, or even a full height header.

Hat, to have the generator come on automatically I think Marc would have to get a different generator and an automatic transfer switch as well. I don't know that it is in his budget as of now but getting the transfer switch put in for the sub panel may not be a bad thing in case an upgraded generator comes in the future.

Henry - the generator I have requires me to pull on a rope like a lawnmower to start.

Jonathan - I always put a header over a door frame, but that isn't finished out yet. This isn't even a load-bearing wall but I still built it to be rugged because I prefer to do so. I do have to run wires and was trying to decide if I wanted an upright over the header or not.

Nightshade (forgot your first name) - I'm sure that could be added later if the opportunity presented itself.

LOL, Sorry about that Marc, I guess you are at a bit of a disadvantage for my name.

This should help,



Yes the transfer can be added later but for some reason I keep thinking that it has to be wired real weird so that even if you forget to turn off the breakers on the main supply that the generator does not put power into the grid and electrify a line that a power crew would consider dead. Since you are doing the sub panel now it may be a good idea to see if it will be just a slight increase, but just thinking ahead.

Have down the circuit that you are talking about before, we had a 12" long cord with male plugs on both end. . . just be careful to plug it into the wall before you have the generator running and a cord plugged into it. Cause though a generator doesn't have as much kick as the grid it still hertz pretty much the same.

Interesting. I've always ran my powercords to the generator after it was on, then plugged in whatever needed power from those cords. This will be a little different, but with the main circuit off in the main panel, I didn't think there would be anything to worry about from the generator to the subpanel. I'll ask Bobby what he thinks as well. Having a cord going to the panel prior to starting the generator seems doable, then I can flip on the individual breakers in that box.

Something like that. I might even suggest to go as far as to basically create your own transfer switch of some sort. But what you are talking about doing is juicing a single circuit with the generator power. It will work well for one circuit at a time but pretty soon you are pulling all the power through the one breaker that the whole system needs and that 15 or 20 amp breaker pops. What you may do is setup a air conditioner disconnect box like http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...atalogId=10053 when the generator is not in use pull the disconnect out and hang it on the wall. You could put the plug in on the other side of the wall or another point that is easily accessible for the generator.

When it comes time to use the generator write down a plan of action.

Disconnect subpanel main breaker.
Disconnect subpanel individual breakers.
Move generator in place.
Hook up cords.
Start generator
Insert Fused disconnect.
Connect breakers to circuit as needed.

And I would really recommend suggesting that you set something like that up so that even if you know what you are doing you go back to your setup list and don't forget something. In Lawton we had a boiler system and I had to do the same thing because the owner and I would constantly do something wrong or almost forget something because we only start the boiler once or twice a year and maintaining it was about once a month with adjustments every week or two. We can remember the adjustement procedure but everything else was just a mish-mash of forgetfulness. And if your son or someone else has to do something while you are out of town or laid up in bed they will have a list to follow and it will be easier for them to take instructions over the phone. (Did that too with the boiler and being out of town. . . came back and had to reset everything)

Word.

Okay, that makes sense. I'll find out more tomorrow probably.

so, I realized that you really need to organize that garage of yours Marc, there are tons of pictures of your garage being a lot more tidy.

The garage was better before I had to tear down a 280g reef with all of its gear, AND make room for a bigger fishroom. I'm itching to put up the second wall so I can put up two sets of permanent shelves on that wall and the one adjacent to hold stuff, but the stand and tank have to go in through that gap for now.

There's a pallet of stuff for the new tank eating up another chunk of garage real estate.

Yeah what you are going through is almost as bad as moving but you have to live with it all for months on end.

And that doesn't even go into how my livingroom and kitchen/dining nook are gone to the 'temporary' set up.