Low Voltage Progress

Hello all (probably like 10 of you max...)

Thought I would update things a bit.  Came home early tonight (10 PM) after being over there all day running more wires.

Lots of progress lately.  Yesterday we (my favorite wife and I) got kind of a late start, but we were able to talk to the cabinet people and show them around.  Seems a world away to me still that we will ever be that far...

Anyway, after that we ran some wires.  The security, intercom, and lighting control wires were in, but we had to run all the wires for audio/video.  I am probably going a little overboard in this department, but it's not tremendously harder to run extra wires.  Here is how we did it...

First, you identify all the wires you need to a particular room, or even a particular area.  Then we labeled the boxes and wires to match each other (because later when you come back to cut them, you have no idea what is what). 

Here is an example of a run I did to the master bedroom...

2 RG6 wires to the TV location (these are probably overkill, but allows a dual SAT box I would never use)
2 CAT5e wires to the TV location (HDMI over baluns or Infrared control)
4 CAT5e data wires (these can be switched in the equipment room on demand from ethernet to phone)
1 Four conductor speaker wire (this is the audio side of the Russound Compoint intercom system)
1 Five conductor mini RGBHV video feed (this allows for component HD signals from the matrix)
1 Siamese RG6 and 18/2 cable (feeds a surveillance camera on the corner of the house)
Several CAT 5e Data runs to the adjacent study (I think I had 8 of them)

Anyway, this is quite a bundle of wire....  I added more after I took the picture...

And the problem is that you have tension on each wire, and every curve you go around adds to the friction.  Here is a shot of some of the boxes all feeding cable.  I don't show the ones that are on spools, which are being pulled from a different location to save moving them around all the time. 

In this process I learned something about wire.  If you ever purchase it, it turns out that a "pull box" is much easier to pull from that wire off a spool.  They are wound inside the box in such a manner that they just come right out (assuming you don't get an occasion kink, very rare).  Anyway, the wires that come on spools have to be handled differently, put on an axle, elevated, and they pull hard.  When you get the spool going it wants to keep going, and then too much wire comes off and gets wrapped around the axle.  The worst cable I have is a spool in a box.  It is some Cat5 I bought, but it pulls VERY hard. 

The idea here is to group all your cables together that are going to the same destination, in this case, my equipment room, and then separate your wires at both ends to match their exact destination... usually some box in the room, and some piece of equipment back in the equipment room.

So, each room gets basically the wiring program stated above.  The only thing that changes is how much data I pull to each location.  The funny part about the data lines is that they have essentially been replaced by cordless phones and wireless routers.  In the computer world these days, about the only reason you need an ethernet connection is for transferring files, which is quicker with a wire, but otherwise, wireless routers and wireless phones have come a long ways. 

By the time my kids get much older, I would imagine they will have cell phones, laptops, and some pretty cool handheld devices... BUT, I am running their study stations full of wire.  Each kid will have 8 data wires.  Certainly not that they will hook into 8 things at once, but it gives us flexibility in how to set the whole apparatus up...  I think there is a good chance that NONE of those wires will get used.  But, wouldn't you think it's pretty stupid not to run the wires anyway....

  In the planning stages, I was going to have a lot more in the equipment room, but thankfully a lot of that all got moved upstairs to the attic, which wouldn't be possible without it's Air Conditioned status up there.  Check out what the electricians were up to today...

This is how it started....  6 hours later, they have added a CB panel and have everything all organized and ready for hookup...  Every one of these wires is tagged with a numerical ID and they know exactly where they go (I hope anyway...).

I promised early on to not mention names, but I have really grown to like my electrical contractor.  The best part about them is that they are not just electricians, but very well versed in the low voltage side of things.  Even though I am doing my own low voltage, it's great to have them always taking into account what has to happen on my end.  I am quite certain I have challenged them in addition to the norm...

The roofers also came out today.  They tidied up some stuff on the roof, as well as measured the chimney for the metal flashing that has to go in the bottom of the chimney where the pipe comes out.  They also laid down felt paper where the stucco guys will be working, so the roof underlayment doesnt' get trashed.  There are pathways for the stucco guys to work so they don't have to step on tiles.  I was also able to finally get the pipes stuck through the roof to the solar collector while they were here...  That enables a whole new project...

Oh, the insulation contractor came out to day to check on things.  I like this guy because I tend to get overwhelmed with all the details, and he puts me at ease that everything will happen just as it should...

So, perhaps next week we can get some inspections, and then we can foam away... After that, drywall can begin, then cabinets, trim, tile, floors, and then all the electrical and plumbing trimout inside.  Outside can begin almost anytime now...  Electrical boxes are set so they can work.  The stucco guys have been busy making sample boards to get the finish texture and colors just right... 

So... you can see it was a busy day. 

PS, the temperature was 98 degrees today, and very humid.  I drank almost 2 gallons of water just myself...

Low Voltage

Don't have any pictures, but here is an update of what happened this week so far.

The security system was a PAIN in the arse.  Why, because every sensor (47 of them) needed to be run into nearly impossible recessed windows, that are all encased in foam and concrete.  Most of them I had to drill from the ICF window buck out the top of the top plate, then snake the sensors and wire back behind the window frame.  I used foam peanuts in some cases to hold the wires back there, but I am worried the drywall and trim guys will hit a wire...  So, the security system took the better part of 3 days, and I thought I could bang in out in 1 day.  Oh, the iron door was a special pain in the arse.  Turns out you can't use a normal sensor because the steel of the door interferes with the magnet, so I had to bore a 3/4 inch hole in the iron door and jamb, then use a 6 foot bit to drill through wood and foam to get over the top of the entryway groin ceiling, then crawl out there in the rafters (about 120 degrees and full of mud dobbers, hornets, and wasps, and about 16 inches tall) and pull all the wire up.  While I was there, I ran the wires to the lighting panel, security system, intercom (inside and out).  Secured everything with staples, and routed it all where it needed to go. 

I think you get the picture of why this wasn't fun. 

Oh, the sensor for the iron door is bigger so they can have a strong magnet in the center that isn't surrounded by metal so the thing will work.  I checked it when we got done with my ohm meter and it worked perfectly, but I was sweating it a bit....  literally.

Nothing really new for me to underestimate the amount of time or work something will take...

So, tonight my wife got a babysitter and she came out and helped me with the lighting control wires.  I have a map of each keypad, which panel it connects to, how many Cat5e wires to run, what color, how many buttons, and even which switch addresses will be used.  She helped me run the first few, but I stayed out there late (as usual) and finished off all the wires for panel number 1.  But, the wires aren't terminated on either end, so I have to route all the wires correctly to each switch panel still.

The good news is that this went MUCH faster than the security system.  So, as long as I can find a good place for routing the wires, hopefully I can bang the rest of panel 2 and 3 out tomorrow...  Probably the majority of the intercom stations too, and may even get to some camera wires...  Maybe I am reaching there...

OH, also, the geo guys came out, covered up the trenches, fixed the leak, welded everything back together, and they are completely done.  Without saying names, these guys were absolutely fantastically nice, and their attitude is that they wouldn't do anything for you unless they would want it that way for themselves.  I was sad to see them go...

OK, must sleep more than the 3 hours I got last night....  work 18, sleep 3, Work 21, sleep 5...  hmmmm..

goodnight...

Geo Loop Connections

As usual I just worked 15 hours straight at the house, and didn't get as far as I liked or needed.  I have been installing the security system, which has been tedious, because I decided to go a little overboard on things so I can monitor them in the future with the automation.  Even though my windows are often just little awning windows below bigger fixed windows, I want the security system to tell me they are open before we leave to go somewhere.  Anyway, it takes time, and everything has to be run through the foam, soldered, and then run to the panel, and tested. 

The geo guys were back and installed the manifold and hooked up all the connections to the loops from the house.  This is a shot of dirt covering that manifold,  but it's basically 1 1/4 inch pipe that necks down to eventually  3/4 inch.  To get the resistance in each loop right, they switch the positions of in and out so that each loop is balanced.  This is about 4 feet under the surface, and the loops are guaranteed for 50 years.  The pipe is fusion welded, which is a pretty cool process I got to see today inside the house as they hooked up the pumps.

This is the pipe on it's way into (or under) the garage.  It goes into the 6 inch pvc conduit, and then travels over to the pumping station.  The red tape is actually electrically conductive, and you can hook up an electrical current to it and locate the pipes later on if you are digging for treasures...  The geo driller swears by using a copper rod bent in his hands for finding electric and pipes.  He has been drilling for years and years, and has been super patient.  Today, after they got everything all hooked up, he found a leak in a brass fitting, but he has to cut the PE pipe so he can turn the fitting.  Then, his backhoe blew a hydraulic hose fitting and they had to quit for the day.

Actually, the picture above is from last week, but it rained and filled the trenches up with water...  yucky nasty water that my kids wanted to jump into... ah, no!

This is a picture of them fusing the pipe to the fitting at the pump station.  They heat the two pieces to 500 degrees for about 15 seconds, and then slide the two together.  The result is that the two basically melt together as one.  The joint will never come apart.  Incidently, the fitting on the right is what caused the problem and needs to be tighted more, but you can't turn the fitting once it's connected to the pipe...which is kind of silly, but very common problem in plumbing...  The two pumps are shown, one pushes the return water, and one pushes to the loops.  Together they make about 18 gallons per minute, and the higher flow translates to more effeciency in the unit.  The purge station hooks to the sides of the pump station, and there are two valves that allow them to direct the flow of water in any direction they want when they are hooked up to the purge cart...

Speaking of the purge cart... Here it is.  It pumps water through the system at a massive high flow rate to remove air, and filter out any dirt or gunk that may have gotten in there.  They took some temperature readings and we are basically at 72 degrees...exactly what I suspected based on underground temperature map data.  Without the cart in place, the water comes in through the garage floor, up and over down into the pump station, and then through the wall to the unit just on the other side of that staircase. 

Here is a picture looking down into that 6 inch conduit.  It was subsequently filled with foam and then capped.  Never to be seen again... hopefully.  They insulated the return line to keep it from swapping energy with the outgoing loop pipe.  Good idea...

Central Vac.  Can't remember if I told you about that, but these were the fittings that mostly got used up during the install.  I probably saved about 1500 dollars in two days by doing this myself.

I was up on the roof at dusk the other night measuring the cupola, and the light was good.  Took some shots of the tile from up there.  Yes, kind of stupid to even be on the roof, let alone at night. 

Till next time...

Electrical Update

It's late, of course, but I will try to update really quick....

I made a map of the house electrical system.  It's different from the original lighting plan in that I removed all (or most) of the switches so I could track things differently...  Each bank of lights or singular light has a number associated with it...  For example...

111  means panel 1, module 1, light 1 -- Courtyard Sconce Lights

254  means panel 2, module 5, light 4 -- Bedroom 2 Can Lights

1-1 means RELAY panel 1, relay number 1 -- Master Bedroom Ceiling Fan Motor
2-16 means relay panel 2, relay number 16 -- Outside Master Bath Eve/Ground Christmas Lights

The electricians have to keep track of every wire as they pull them back to the panel, so they can hook them into the right position.  Once they got the hang of my system, they were on board and are getting faster.  They started in the back of the house and are working towards the garage. 

One of the challenges is that the newer version of the NEC (National Electric Code) requires Arc Fault breakers, which trip when they sense an arc, and not just a fault to ground, such as a Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI's are still required in water locations, outdoors, and in the garage).  Anyway, an example of a problem is when you have a ceiling fan, with a relay to the motor, but a dimmer to the light.  These wires are coming from different panels, but share the common (white) wire in the fan itself.  So, to keep the Arc Fault from tripping, the source of power has to be from the same breaker and share the same common.  So, to get around this, the power has to be split to both panels from the same breaker before the panel. 

This is just one example of the challenge, but the good news is that they have it figured out and are moving ahead. 

There is also a lot of wire to run.  For example, we have flood lights at the corners of the house, 6 in total, 3 on the front, and 3 on the back.  That alone takes nearly 350 feet of wire, because you can't go in a straight line from light to light, you have to stay inside the house. 

Ok, blah blah blah, I know you want to see a picture.  This is the general scene of things, looking through a wall into the study.  Foam everywhere, wires here and there.  Keep in mind that the lights and things on relays are just a small part of the entire package.  All the outlets require power, and there are lots...  That all is coming from a separate panel in the garage, while the power that feeds the panels is a sub panel in the attic.

A little of my handy work.  A double low voltage bracket at the nightstand, gives me 8 buttons to control things on the wall, with status lights.  Then the conduit runs down to a single bracket, so that the wires can continue out to the actual wired remote sitting on the nightstand, which will give me and my wife a total of 12 buttons each at that location.  Here are some examples off the top of my head... 

Mine (reading light on my side),

Yours (reading light on other side so yes, if somebody falls asleep while reading, you can shut down their light from your side)

Path (lights your way dimly from here to bathroom and kitchen)

Fan (on/off)

Sconce

Good Morning

Goodnight

Sleep (puts the entire house in a night mode, taking care of anything left turned on by accident)

Fire (lights up the entire house inside and out, outside porch and garage lights flash to help fire dept find us, signals security panel to dial Fire and Rescue)

Panic (Similar, but all bedroom lights go full dark, common area lights go full bright or flash, while I sit patiently with my gun waiting for someone to cross my sights)

These are just examples...

You can see where the wires cut through the foam to get to the nearest stud wall.  The conduit allows me to change the relationship of the wall panel to the wired remote at a future date.

From further away...  Yes, messy.  I should add that we are putting the majority of our outlets in the baseboards, rather than up on the walls.  We had a house in Seattle that had this feature and loved it.  No cords hanging down the walls before they littered the floor.  The baseboards in that house were also mounted a little higher, so you could stuff your cord under the baseboard on it's way to the light.  

This is creating some challenges, though, because where there is ICF, there is nothing to attach the box to, so they are setting them loose, and will attach them to the baseboard itself after it is installed.  They then have to use a trim ring inside the box to keep anything from touching the screws that hold the box in position.  By the way, it is a misconception that the NEC doesn't allow outlets at this height, not true.  There is a maximum height, however, in the range of 50 inches, to be considered a "convenience outlet."  You will have to read up on those rules somewhere else, too much to explain. 

Cable chase to get from where the panels are located, to the other side of the catwalk, without making a mess of things.  This is now full of wires.... But my electrician is really cool because he is keeping all the wires nice and tidy.  Not running them anywhere you could trip on them or step on them, which is a huge fire hazard and common practice by others...  Oh, the one wire in this picture is the one I ran for lights, it is temporary...

This is the framing I put in for the remainder of the "smart" boxes.  This will house the Centralite Brain (Master Control Panel), Security, Automation, and Intercom Hubs.  When you walk onto the "Bridge", as my wife is now calling it, you first pass all the water pumps and tanks outside over the garage, and then in the attic, across some distance to the bridge, you find the water distribution manifolds on your left, lighting control front and center, and the control boxes on the right... Note the mounting height is carefully positioned at chair height, with fans blowing on the occupant...  I fear many hours of sitting here with my laptop connected to said device programming things...

Front and center...  Relay boxes, and lighting control.  The map is affixed to a foam board which makes it easier for the electricians to use it, and not lose it

OK, off to bed for me.  In the works is the security system, central vacuum, closed circuit security, hard wired ethernet and phone, and all the audio/video you can imagine.  I have taken far too much on, so I am feeling pretty stressed about holding things up. 

Some other news, we have selected the stucco, which will be a washed version (fauxed, basically) as well as the rock for outside and inside (moss rock boulders).  Hope to have all the cantera ordered very soon as well.  Once we get everything behind the walls that needs to be there, it's just a matter of drywall, trim and doors, cabinets, cantera installation, painting, flooring, plumbing trimout, hardware, and electrical trimout.  Yikes...  Don't even ask me when we will be done, but we are going as fast as we can, and Nov 20th is the drop dead date... 

Goodnight!

PS...  The 5 GEO holes are drilled, and have the pipe installed and backfilled.  Later this week the driller will be back to trench and install the feeder lines to these holes, as well as install the pumps that feed them.  The pipes are exposed right now above ground, with a casing around them and down into the ground some to protect the lines during the trenching process.  One last pic...  Yes, drilling is messy.

Geo Drilling in progress

I'll try to keep this quick, but I need to go to bed....

Have been super duper busy this week.  Wired the house for lights (been working more at night, because the daytime heat index has been well north of 100).  I put in 2 giant fluorescent fixtures mounted in the attic that light the decked area and also wash down into the house, as well as 4 other locations with just a simple bulb that have CFL floodlights in them.  Also put some outlets here and there on that circuit so I can plug in some fans without them being connected to whatever cords I am using...  You get the picture.  The house during the day is very hot.  The air just doesn't move in there, and the humidity is just awful right now.

Mainly I have been getting ready for the electricians to come.  What that means is setting boxes.  Like everything else I do, it turns out I am really super picky about where all the boxes for outlets and switches go.  I have set probably 70 boxes of various sorts...  Ordered several online and all the stock from my local big box stores...most of them for low voltage stuff.  Any given wall may have a cabinet, for instance, that is a different height than standard, with outlets in a drawer, low voltage (data or phone), plus intercom stations, lighting control panels, and security panels.  All this gets pretty complex really quick, so instead of the electricians dictating where things go by setting electric themselves, and then having to either move them or work around them, I just bought the boxes and put them where I wanted them...  Lots of moving some studs and fireblock around, which is time consuming, but mainly the decisions require a lot of thought on how you will use the space.  Our outlets, by the way, will mostly be set into the baseboards, which adds another level of complexity (and also requires the electrician to practically lay down in order to wire them up).

Also framed in a box that will allow the electric feeds to come from the breaker box in the garage and NOT have to penetrate the top plate.  Lots of times, this location has so many holes in it there is nothing left for structure, so I framed a box so the wires can detour around the top plate... and I'm not a good framer.  I will try to take a picture of that sometime so I can share, but I think it's a good idea with regards to structure.

Today I also ran about half or more of the 2 inch flex conduit for some of the tricky locations that can't be reached later behind TVs.  I used my 2 & 9/16 inch bit in a 1/2 inch angle drill, which is a very serious tool.  At one point, going through a triple top plate, the whole thing got bound up and about knocked me right off the ladder.  I think from now on I will only drill with the thing braced to the wall.  Again, these flex lines being in place will keep the electricans from getting in my way later.  Here is a picture of my first attempt to remove the ICF for the flex pipe.  I watched the plumbers do this... they took a recip saw at an angle and cut the foam all the way down to the concrete (high speed on the saw, you can hear the tip of the blade touching the concrete when you have the depth right, otherwise the saw will either break or fly out of your hand), the same width as the pipe.  Then, they simply took the claw of a hammer and started pulling out the foam until they had their trench.  Thanks plumbers for the lesson!  You can see I just curved the foam right around the window and headed down until I got to my destination...  I had been afraid of this task for a long time, because it looked hard, but it turned out to be easy peasy.  Hardest part was keeping the flex in place while I tacked it down...

Today I even played around with my router.  I had a place where I needed to mount an intercom and light control panel, but they had framed solid right over that spot...  So, a router with a spiral cutter, and a lot of sawdust later...perfect hole for mounting my low voltage bracket.  Again, maybe a picture if I remember

OK, so I know you all just want the GEO pictures, so here goes...  GEO drillers showed up.  2 guy operation, maybe a 3rd guy at some point.  It is hard work.  They have their smaller rig because they didn't think they could set up the bigger rig boom through the trees (fine by me).  What that means is one 250 foot hole per day.  They have to then install the pipe and backfill the hole, and also then trench the whole thing together and fuze all the pipe apparatus (manifolds to holes, manifold to pumping station, pumping station to unit).  Everything will be buried 4 feet under the ground. 

Here is the little bit, they used this one for dirt and clay, but it slowed down a lot when they hit a layer of rock about 150 feet down, so they had to pull everything out and switch to a rock bit, which has little gear looking things on it, and goes right through rock like butter.  The hole is 4 inches in diameter.  After the bit was in the hole for a while, it was not rusty anymore...

Each of these pipes are premeasured and 510 feet long, fuzed at the end with a U coupler, so they stick out of the ground a few feet while they are waiting to get hooked up to the manifold.  This is 3/4 inch high density polyethylene (virgin, not recycled material) pipe, thicker wall that what I have ever seen.  The wells come with either a 40 year or 50 year warranty, depending on the installer certification and the brand of pipe he uses...  I have seen debate over using other kinds of pipe for GEO units.... Pex is great pipe, but this pipe is certified and tested.

So, here is the vat (tub, bathtub, tank) of mud...  Drillers mud.  They have different things they add to the mud to make themselves happy... Gel, which changes the ph, and bentonite, which helps lubricate all the machinery.  The "mud", which looks like a slurry of dirty water, is pumped down the hole, and washes up to the top with the material that is ground away at the bottom.  The mud then goes through different stages in this little bathtub and deposits first the heavy, then subsequently lighter material, before they pump the clean mud out the back and send it down the hole again.  To get this whole thing going, they have to set everything up, then they drill a hole for a casing, which protects the top of the hole and connects the bathtub to the hole so  the water is forced out into the tank rather than leaking out onto the ground. 

Still on the picture above this...  They also have some pumps and pipes that help eliminate the sand from the water, which is bad for the equipment.  The hopper is where they can add the chemicals, the big hose at this end is a suction hose.

Now for a picture of the drilling rig.  There is an engine that runs the mud pump and some other stuff, but the truck engine is powering all the hydrulics, which is everything else.  There are 20+ hydraulic valves to control things on the back where the operator stands. 

Here is a shot of the pipe.  Thanks to someone in Hastings, NE for making this pipe.  Picured is the U that returns the water in the other direction.  Sitting at 250 feet down, this will be under great water pressure. 

 

Here is a different bit yet.  This one is attached to a reamer, which helps keep the hole clean and straight.  The driller is using 10 foot sections, which doesn't last very long, but he likes to use a 20 footer on the first pipe as he says it keeps the hole straight. 

So, one last note.  Everyone had been teasing me that we would hit OIL...this is Texas, of course.   Well, close...  Lignite, about 8 feet of it somewhere around 100 feet.  Litnite is simply coal still in the ground.  They call it coal after it is mined.  In our case, the chunks and bits of coal he handed me to show were greasy and oily as you can imagine.  It was interesting to see his log he kept as they drilled.  Mostly clay, blue clay, sandy versions of clay, lignite, rock, etc.  He claims the next hole will go faster now that he has a better clue about what is down there. 

Oh, forgot to mention... Drillers had to shut down because it rained 9 inches in two days.  Everything is muddy now, and they didn't like standing next to a 30 foot lighting rod during a thunderstorm.  I think they will be back at it again soon...

That's it for tonight.  Have a great weekend!

HVAC in two days...

Here is the rub...

They installed it in TWO DAYS!!!  Yup, 3 guys, 2 days... 

The installers deserve large accolades for this task, as is obvious they are the ones that actually do the work.  But be clear, the behind the scenes on this one was one of the most talented contractors I have ever met.  He and his wife laid this entire system out on CAD, on an overlay of my house plan that they modified.  Every single duct length, size, location, wire, return...all of it was planned out in advance.  Gary knew exactly what stud bays would lay each duct, where they would transiton, etc.  Gary's wife actually did the layout on CAD.

Gary knows more about HVAC than anybody I have ever met, and with my background, I can assure you I am hard to impress in this particular area. 

Here are some pictures...

WaterFurnace Synergy3D system.  Amost 600 Pounds.  I wasn't there, but they tell me it was heavy.  5 guys they say, and there were only 3 there, so must have asked their boss (my contractor) and the 5th guy maybe was the delivery truck driver???  I'm glad I wasn't there for that part.  More about the stand later (I promise not to dissappoint)  OH, the ductwork that is attached is the returns, of which there are 3.  This pic was taken before they were done.  And the unit is sitting out of plumb, which drove me crazy and I had the guys help me straighten it out.

So, I was really concerned they would screw up all the attic storage space.  So from the beginning, I made it crystal clear we were to minimize the impact on this space.  This probably looks bad on the picture, but it only really wiped out about a 4 x 8 foot of space.  The ductwork is up fairly quickly and high enough you can get underneath it.  These things are 14 inch ducts, and they are insulated to R6, so probably close to 2 feet in diameter.  Bigger than they look in the picture, but I still have plenty of room for our Christmas decorations for sure.

Looking up from the Kitchen...  These ducts are traveling hither and yon to the opposite side of the house.  You are seeing 2 giant supply ducts, and 2 giant return ducts.  They are secured pretty close to the rafters, so my foam guy is going to hate me for talking him into going after the ductwork.  He normally likes to go before, to avoid this problem.  BUT.  I have my reasons (structural and mechanical inspections, not being able to see where they are putting nails, and possibly nailing into my plumbing, etc).   To calibrate your eyes, the peak of this vault is 14 feet off the floor.

This is an air distrubution box.  The air comes into the triangle shaped box, which is about 4 feet to a side, and then pressurizes the box fairly equally on the opposite two sides.  With the pressure being uniform, they can now tap off with different sizes to predict the airflow requirements of the individual ducts.  The triangle box is also suspended from the rafters.  Behind every attachment point (covered in the flex duct) is a hard pipe connection, with an adjustable damper inside to boot.  There are hard pipe connections at every single attachment point.  I thought about using hard pipe for the whole job, but the price difference was STAGGERING....  Even hard pipe for just the supply plenum across the attic halfway was several thousand dollars more.  I couldn't justify the cost difference.

This is the one pipe that travels up and over the storage space, then coming down on a distant bedroom before it spiders off to the associated bath and closet.  Note that they even kept my sons catwalk to the train landing clear.  Thanks HVAC guys...

I have some family in town, and when we (my brother in law and myself) walked into the house after being gone for a few hours we were shocked.  You could not even walk through the house.  Ductwork and trash everywhere.  Wow...  I'm thinking.  But, their system worked really well.  They laid out the entire system on the floor below, so they could measure and connect everything beforehand (in large part anyway), then they set all the supply and return boxes up above, and then gradually moved the whole apparatus from low to high, and then attached it.  They used the garage for staging everything.  You couldn't walk in there either.  So, after two days, my brother in law and myself walked into the house late afternoon, and the system is DONE.  Everything swept, and in new condition, not a speck of trash anywhere (except for the one garage bay where I told them to put everything, which is trash all boxed up and ready for haul).

Another shot of ducts.  This one is that same triangular box, but you can barely see it from here.  The square box you do see is an air return, above the piano area.  Some other things I should bring up... First, I ended up installing the Panasonic vent fans I bought (they hooked up the ducts and such, but I stuck them into the rafters).  I didn't want to get "location surprise" on those fans, as I was pretty picky on their location.  Ended up being a good call, because they were weird.  The fans actually break apart in two pieces and need to be screwed together with a little finger screw they supply.  But, if you didn't read the directions, you would never know this, and they had been taped together.  Yes, I read the instructions.   BTW, the fans are rated at a fairly small 50 and 80 CFM (depending on location).  They produce less than 0.3 sones of sound.  So you can't really hear them, just a little air noise.  They are superbly engineered with a special plastic wheel, isolation mounts for the motor and cage, and a special plastic housing over the larger ones to reduce noise.  The standard builder fans cost about 15 dollars, make incredible amounts of noise, leak, and move almost no air, they are worthless.  For my purposes, I installed the larger Panasonic fans in areas where either myself or wife would control them, and the smaller fans in "unsupervised" locations like the kids bathrooms and the guests.  Their only purpose is to remove humid air (showers) and anything stinky.  Don't run them at other times.  The ducts on these is not insulated, but flexible hard aluminum pipe.  They are terminated under the eves with a special double damped, caged vent, which is also very, very white.  I hope we can paint them. 

Also, they ran 8 inch hard pipe for the kitchen hood vent.  I ran into a lot of flack with the roofers over exactly how to vent this through the tile roof, which I didn't want to do anyway.  So, in the end, I vented it out over the porch, which is sealed off away from the living space.  This also allowed me to use a damper type vent cap.  The kitchen venting is essentially the same as the bathrooms, humid and stinky things got to go, but you don't need to pull 1000 CFM to make that happen, smaller for longer is the mantra here... AND, if they aren't quiet, then nobody will turn them on. 

They also ran a "fresh air return" from the back of the house.  This thing allows the system to draw in air anytime the house is low on pressure, and actually hooks right into another return.  So, if the house gets low on pressure, it can suck in air from this thing as needed.  This can happen when you are running a fireplace or other vent fans.  I could have installed (and still can if I change my mind) an Energy Recovery Ventilator in place of this, but I have changed my opinion on their necessity.  The ERV uses energy to operate, operates too much, and can't adequately remove humidity from the incoming air... so why pay 1000 dollars for a piece of equipment you have to feed electricity to for the priviledge of slightly better air than you can get for free???  OH, and this only really matters when the temperatures are at extremes...  I would want to shut it off the rest of the time...

Forgot to mention in that picture above, that the catwalk you can't see to the left is still perfectly clear...  No wires, no ducts....  so far...

Ok, for some fun stuff.  If you haven't been paying attention, then you don't know I am an incessant tinkerer...  Here is my latest contraption...  This would be a vibration isolation mount.  You are looking at an extremely heavy wooden platform, on top of another heavy duty platform, which is supported by 6 Chevy  big block lifter springs (Autozone $2 per).  The right side sits 1/4 inch higher than the left to account for the unit sitting further right than left.  The springs don't actually "dampen" vibration, but they help isolate any movement above from transfering mechanical energy downward into the slab, or to the wall behind (sits out away from the wall too).  Since the compressor and a lot of other mechanical equipment is all contained right in the GSHP, I was worried about transferring vibration and noise into the structure of the house.  This was my idea, and took just a few hours to build.  Additionally, when the HVAC guy ordered the unit, he ordered an "air bed" for the unit to sit on.  This basically looks like thick black foam.  Between the fact there is two walls between the unit and every living space, plus all this apparatus, and the fact that GEO units are supposed to be very quiet, and it is the 3D version (touted as quieter than others), I am hoping we are safe on noise...

Here is a closeup of those springs.  By the way, if I really wanted to dampen the movement of the unit, I would have to add an absorber of some sort.  The spring just allows the top part to move independently from the bottom...  Once upon a time I could have written a differential equation, and with some spring coeffecients and damper information, would have been able to predict if this thing would work...even check for harmonics...  Instead, I am just guessing.  It's a lot more fun.

Have a great weekend....

I bought some wire...

I bought some wire...

29,000 feet of it and counting...  That doens't include what my sparky will bring in terms of Romex...

Loaded down the truck pretty good.  My very smart wife suggested I check for an "online" coupon as I had a bunch of this in my shopping cart...  Sure enough, close to 30 percent off the entire order and it cost me a google search and 30 seconds... She is smart.

From left to right... First wire is a 5 conductor mini-RGB (750 feet at close to $1/ft), which is actually the RED, GREEN, and BLUE in component television signals.  The other two wires are for horizontal and vertical sync, but I won't be using them for that... Rather it gives me an additional set of wires to run to each TV for switching the security system or old fashioned composite...  Whatever I need.  I also bought a compression tool so I can properly terminated the ends of this wire.  At the equipment room, I will be using an 8 by 8 commercial, high definition matrix switch, capable of 425 Mhz bandwidth.  What does that mean?? Well, I can take any of 8 HD component sources and switch them in any and all combinations to any of 8 display devices...  The particular unit I have was purchased new on eBay for a steal (quite literally possibly??) of $500 dollars a couple years back with this purpose in mind.  It can be controlled manually, with IR signals, or with RS-232 commands.  It also has the ability to control analog stereo audio signals as well, so I can hook that rig up to a multichannel amplifier and run both the video and audio in those rooms.   It can control the volume of the audio.   

Next wire... Standard old RG6 Quadshield...  This wire is great for one thing... Satellite signals from the dish to the receiver, which ends up being all the way across the house because of a very nice shade tree blocking it's other likely location.  I was originally not going to do anything else with this cable, but decided it prudent to run 2 each to each TV location as well... just in case.  It wasn't free but certainly not expensive given the complexity of running this stuff after the fact...  So I bought 3000 feet of it...

3rd wire... Cat5e, or Category 5e wire.  This is what most people would run for their computer data, and a lot of folks now running higher bandwidth Cat6 (I will probably stick in some Cat6 later to the office only).  Anyway, I am using this stuff for all kinds of goodies... Centralite lighting control allows it's use from each switch pad to the 3 superstars, Russound Compoint intercom systems (2 exterior call stations and 12 interior stations), hardwired infrared command signals, two runs each to each TV location in case something magical happens in this regard (long story, but digital signals for HD are very tricky), plus Cat5e for phone hookups and data, which will all terminate at a hub so I can patch to an appropriate devide.  The nice thing about what I just said is that you can have a phone jack one day, switch two wires, and presto, ethernet computer port. 

One quick note about Cat5e wire, you can find this stuff for about 40 dollars per 1000 here and there, but watch the fine print... Not all of it is solid copper.  Look out for a wire called CCA (copper clad aluminum).  CCA wire may be ok for short runs of data wire, but any wire that runs current may cause heat buildup, and this wire is NOT tested for that...  I ended up finding solid copper for about 55 dollars per 1000, and I couldn't justify the cost savings for the risk of the unknown.  I am not saying that CCA wire is not capable of these functions, but there isn't any data on it out there, so I steered clear.

I bought several colors so I can keep this stuff as organized as possible (hmmm...right). 

This is boring you, I can tell...

Last wire is 14 gage speaker wire, in this case, CL3 rated in-wall 2 conductor.  I have also 1500 feet of this same wire in a 14/4 configuration, because the Compoint intercom system requires you to run your speaker wire to the stations first, and then 14/2 wire to each speaker in that location.  This allows the compoint to "capture" your audio speakers, mutes the music, and then makes the announcement or chimes.  It's a very cool system, but uses up some extra wire.  (I've been watching some ceiling speakers on eBay that look very nice, 8 inch coax speakers that are angled inside a 10 inch enclosure...  I think I will buy a pair and play with them...)

Oh, and the 14/4 speaker wire in a 1000' bundle was the heaviest cable by far...  1500 feet of that, and 2000 feet of the 14/2. 

Also bought some 22/6 stranded alarm cable for use by the Centralite panels to discuss things with each other. 

AND, bought 150 feet of 2 INCH... VERY hard to find, flex conduit.  This allows me to pass the entire HDMI cable (and head) through the walls later in some hard to get to locations in case I want to change out to HDMI in those rooms...

OK, so why not HDMI everywhere, you ask... Good question, but in a nutshell HDMI is a crappy interface cable.  If you want a 1080P or higher signal you are tied to it however.  Problem is, that with even moderate runs of over 35 feet, it's an iffy signal (not to mention HDCP copy protection gets all messed up when you pass through multiple components, I am told).  I have three televisions that will use this interface however... The plan is to switch between 4 source components in HDMI to a HDMI 4x4 matrix switch, then feed 3 receivers that decode the audio, and pass the HDMI video signal to the video monitors in those rooms sans audio.  It should work, and I think the 1080P signal difference is worthwhile on those larger TVs, but not worth the trouble in places like the garage and master bath, etc...

So, I DID buy a 100 foot HDMI cable that has a build in amplifier.  It takes the power build into the interface and uses it to run the amplifier.  It is a one way cable, though... I checked it out today in my existing house between the HD TIVO's and my current living room TV... Worked great, and made a huge improvement over my existing component signals...  I was unable to check it for 1080P signals as I am in the stone age on BlueRay...  Wife says "talk to the hand...."  It will happen when she's not looking someday soon, though;-)

So lets change the subject...  Some more eBay purchases... Bought two of these TACO RMB (radiant mixing blocks).  They are two pumps connected in a singular housing, that mixes hot supply water with return water from the radiant floors, adding heat as required to arrive at a desired supply temperature for the radiant supply lines...  The computer that makes all those decisions is right on board...  I bought both in auctions with very little competition... Saved about 1000 dollars over internet prices.  These things are MUCH bigger than I had pictured...

OK, one more shot of the 3 rolls of mini RGB wire.  For those of you experts out there that are thinking I am stupid for not running pure Quad RG6, I have poured over 100's of pages of opinions on this very subject, and of those that have installed this wire instead, not a single problem.  RG6 on the other hand they have had several problems...  Worse yet, the RG6 is a really stiff cable and not very friendly between the wall and television, and with a lot of cables mounted on an articulating arm, the arm gets out of whack and the cables act like a spring, pushing your television around... 

One more rant about HDMI... For the love of pete, why didn't the industry just use an already existing format for this interface... my choice would have been the fiber optic (TOSLINK) connection.  No distance limitations, easy to use, inexpensive, and could easily manage the digital encryption requirements of HDCP...   

Tomorrow, (well, actually in about 3 hours), I am meeting up with the framer to finish up some things... Frame around fireplace #2, frame the equipment room A/V hole, can lights, fill in the archs on the front door, etc. 

I have also been designing a giant "vibration isolation table" for the Geothermal to sit on... Basically, it's a frame mounted to one concrete wall and the concrete floor, then a floating table above that which will "ride" on 6 Chevrolet big block lifter springs (very stout) which will be recessed in guide holes.  Then, the geo will further sit on giant military grade rubber isolation mounts.  I am fearful of vibration and noise getting in to the slab or framing...  Geo guy want's to elevate things so the condensate will go down the pipe, so why not...

Yup, I'm way over the edge now...  Please send help...

OH, to make matters worse.. Not I am thinking maybe about doing my own central vac... It doesn't look very hard...