New home build. Lots of technology to go into it

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#1770007 24-Apr-2017 20:32

blakamin:
andrewNZ: It's probably way too late, but if I ever build, I'll be putting floor drains in the bathroom, laundry, under the hot water cylinder, and perhaps the kitchen. I've seen and heard of far too many floods that would have been prevented by these.

We have one in the laundry... I wish it was in the bathroom though.

We had a flexi hose to the vanity mixer burst. 4-5 hours of constant hot water flooded the house. New flooring throughout arriving soon.

The worst I've seen was a washing machine that didn't stop filling. They turned it on before work. 8+ hours of water running,
The whole house was 20mm deep in water, everything that was touching the floor was buggered (the valence on the bed was sucking up water and making the mattress wet.
It was coming out the walls and you could see it running down the Hardiplank outside.

And one little drain in the laundry would have made it an inconvenience rather than a disaster.

Paul1977

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#1771148 27-Apr-2017 11:09

blakamin:

Talkiet:

[changed this bit] In my experience, gas hot water doesn't provide enough temp rise to run a shower at full pressure. And that's my bottom line..

You guys must have absolute sh|te water pressure!

Our constant gas hot water is the same pressure as our cold.

@blakamin That actually probably means that YOUR water pressure isn't as good.

If you have really good mains pressure then Neil is correct that continuous gas units often can't keep up at full pressure.

I'm on gas, and like you, my hot water pressure is the same as my cold - but this is actually because my mains pressure is only average.

All that said, @Talkiet just how powerful do you need your shower to be??!!

Talkiet

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#1771150 27-Apr-2017 11:12

Paul1977:

blakamin:

Talkiet:

[changed this bit] In my experience, gas hot water doesn't provide enough temp rise to run a shower at full pressure. And that's my bottom line..

You guys must have absolute sh|te water pressure!

Our constant gas hot water is the same pressure as our cold.

@blakamin That actually probably means that YOUR water pressure isn't as good.

If you have really good mains pressure then Neil is correct that continuous gas units often can't keep up at full pressure.

I'm on gas, and like you, my hot water pressure is the same as my cold - but this is actually because my mains pressure is only average.

All that said, @Talkiet just how powerful do you need your shower to be??!!

I want bruises :-)

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

jonathan18

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#1771289 27-Apr-2017 14:27

Talkiet:

Paul1977:

blakamin:

Talkiet:

[changed this bit] In my experience, gas hot water doesn't provide enough temp rise to run a shower at full pressure. And that's my bottom line..

You guys must have absolute sh|te water pressure!

Our constant gas hot water is the same pressure as our cold.

@blakamin That actually probably means that YOUR water pressure isn't as good.

If you have really good mains pressure then Neil is correct that continuous gas units often can't keep up at full pressure.

I'm on gas, and like you, my hot water pressure is the same as my cold - but this is actually because my mains pressure is only average.

All that said, @Talkiet just how powerful do you need your shower to be??!!

I want bruises :-)

Cheers - N

In my direct experience, it's not necessarily the case you won't get awesome pressure with instant gas hot water - the bigger impact I found is the shower fittings themselves.

We have three showers, and the one we put in the HT/sleepout has incredible pressure compared to the other two; the latter two are Methven Futura mixers/heads while the HT shower is a brand I'd not heard, but personally recommended by the shop we bought it from. We converted to an Infinity system from gas cylinder last year, and while I can detect a lowering of pressure with the Methven units, the pressure from the other one is still too much when on full to the point it's painful!

trig42

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#1771324 27-Apr-2017 14:58

mattwnz:
andrewNZ: It's probably way too late, but if I ever build, I'll be putting floor drains in the bathroom, laundry, under the hot water cylinder, and perhaps the kitchen. I've seen and heard of far too many floods that would have been prevented by these.

I am putting in floor drains in everywhere but the kitchen after a bad experience . The laundry at some stage will likely at some stage get a leak. Kitchen has overflows in the sinks so more unlikely, so the only thing that could potentially leak is the dishwasher, but never had that happen before.

I have - our rental property. Dishwasher leaked onto the floor under the kitchen cabinets. Kitchen upstairs. The water went down the outside of the sink drain pipe and into the wall below the kitchen. Only discovered this had been happening after the tenants moved out ('Oh, we stopped using the dishwasher a couple of years ago??!?!?!!'). The whole load supporting outside wall of the house below the kitchen needed replacing. I blame the property managers - it was obvious on the inside of the wall below that there was something wrong.

OP - Good luck with your build - looking great.

mattwnz

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#1771327 27-Apr-2017 15:08

trig42:

mattwnz:
andrewNZ: It's probably way too late, but if I ever build, I'll be putting floor drains in the bathroom, laundry, under the hot water cylinder, and perhaps the kitchen. I've seen and heard of far too many floods that would have been prevented by these.

I am putting in floor drains in everywhere but the kitchen after a bad experience . The laundry at some stage will likely at some stage get a leak. Kitchen has overflows in the sinks so more unlikely, so the only thing that could potentially leak is the dishwasher, but never had that happen before.

I have - our rental property. Dishwasher leaked onto the floor under the kitchen cabinets. Kitchen upstairs. The water went down the outside of the sink drain pipe and into the wall below the kitchen. Only discovered this had been happening after the tenants moved out ('Oh, we stopped using the dishwasher a couple of years ago??!?!?!!'). The whole load supporting outside wall of the house below the kitchen needed replacing. I blame the property managers - it was obvious on the inside of the wall below that there was something wrong.

OP - Good luck with your build - looking great.

Interesting. I did think that if a leak did occur in the kitchen, it would be with the dishwasher. Would be interesting to know if it was a manufacturing defect, or just a bad install.

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reven

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#1771335 27-Apr-2017 15:24

does a bathroom drain have to be sloped, or can it be flush with the tiles? my ensuite is being installed atm, and this thread has got me wondering if I should put one in. Also do they have to be centre of the room, or could I put it under the floating vanity to hide it away?

trig42

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#1771344 27-Apr-2017 15:46

reven:

does a bathroom drain have to be sloped, or can it be flush with the tiles? my ensuite is being installed atm, and this thread has got me wondering if I should put one in. Also do they have to be centre of the room, or could I put it under the floating vanity to hide it away?

Just has to be at a lower point than the door I suppose. Water will always take the easiest way out...

trig42

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#1771371 27-Apr-2017 15:49

mattwnz:

trig42:

mattwnz:
andrewNZ: It's probably way too late, but if I ever build, I'll be putting floor drains in the bathroom, laundry, under the hot water cylinder, and perhaps the kitchen. I've seen and heard of far too many floods that would have been prevented by these.

I am putting in floor drains in everywhere but the kitchen after a bad experience . The laundry at some stage will likely at some stage get a leak. Kitchen has overflows in the sinks so more unlikely, so the only thing that could potentially leak is the dishwasher, but never had that happen before.

I have - our rental property. Dishwasher leaked onto the floor under the kitchen cabinets. Kitchen upstairs. The water went down the outside of the sink drain pipe and into the wall below the kitchen. Only discovered this had been happening after the tenants moved out ('Oh, we stopped using the dishwasher a couple of years ago??!?!?!!'). The whole load supporting outside wall of the house below the kitchen needed replacing. I blame the property managers - it was obvious on the inside of the wall below that there was something wrong.

OP - Good luck with your build - looking great.

Interesting. I did think that if a leak did occur in the kitchen, it would be with the dishwasher. Would be interesting to know if it was a manufacturing defect, or just a bad install.

Defective (Old) Dishwasher. About 18 years old I suppose - we bought it with the house. Not sure why the tenants never informed us or the PM it wasn't working - we would have bought a new one.

mattwnz

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#1771372 27-Apr-2017 15:50

reven:

does a bathroom drain have to be sloped, or can it be flush with the tiles? my ensuite is being installed atm, and this thread has got me wondering if I should put one in. Also do they have to be centre of the room, or could I put it under the floating vanity to hide it away?

That is a good question. I don;t think it is practical to slope the floor, unless it is a wetroom. Maybe putting a threshold strip at the door would contain the leak within the room.

blakamin

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#1771488 27-Apr-2017 19:12

Paul1977:

blakamin:

Talkiet:

[changed this bit] In my experience, gas hot water doesn't provide enough temp rise to run a shower at full pressure. And that's my bottom line..

You guys must have absolute sh|te water pressure!

Our constant gas hot water is the same pressure as our cold.

@blakamin That actually probably means that YOUR water pressure isn't as good.

If you have really good mains pressure then Neil is correct that continuous gas units often can't keep up at full pressure.

I'm on gas, and like you, my hot water pressure is the same as my cold - but this is actually because my mains pressure is only average.

All that said, @Talkiet just how powerful do you need your shower to be??!!

Nah, our water pressure is awesome... I can run ALL the taps in the house and it makes no difference to the shower. We have a water rating system here and as I've have the taps replaced, they all flow a certain L/pm. Our outside taps on the other hand. I can run 12 pop up sprinklers off one outside tap. And still get full hot water pressure. In fact, the only good thing about Adelaide, besides the summer, is the water pressure.

Our shower will still drive needles of water into your body.

Better than any water pressure of anywhere I lived in NZ.

Edit: Actually, our pressure is probably too high... http://www.joshsgasandplumbing.com.au/water-hammer-pressure-as3500/

And https://www.google.com/search?q=adelaide+burst+water+mains&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilo6WtkcTTAhXFI5QKHT6SCk8QsAQIRw&biw=1311&bih=624

Some awesome images of a regular occurrence there. :D

Edit again: after going down the rabbit hole of Adelaide water pressure, I'm thinking about getting a pressure regulating valve. :/

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blakamin

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#1771490 27-Apr-2017 19:15

mattwnz:

reven:

does a bathroom drain have to be sloped, or can it be flush with the tiles? my ensuite is being installed atm, and this thread has got me wondering if I should put one in. Also do they have to be centre of the room, or could I put it under the floating vanity to hide it away?

That is a good question. I don;t think it is practical to slope the floor, unless it is a wetroom. Maybe putting a threshold strip at the door would contain the leak within the room.

Our bathroom tiles are sloped towards the shower. Made no difference to our flood though, as we have a shower door. :/

In fact, it was because of the flood that I noticed. A minor spill or over-flowing bath wouldn't go out of the room if you were home.... but hot water running for 5 hours is another story.

KShips

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#1771671 28-Apr-2017 09:22

Awesome build, look forward to hearing more as it progresses.

How are you setting up Z-Wave? With standard lighting circuit and zwave controllers behind each light switch?

If so, any reason you have not gone with star wiring so each light having it's own cable back to switchboard where relays are located, bus wiring to light switches (I'm thinking KNX or standard relays with controllers etc at switchboard for easy management)?

Talkiet

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#1771678 28-Apr-2017 09:34

KShips:

Awesome build, look forward to hearing more as it progresses.

How are you setting up Z-Wave? With standard lighting circuit and zwave controllers behind each light switch?

If so, any reason you have not gone with star wiring so each light having it's own cable back to switchboard where relays are located, bus wiring to light switches (I'm thinking KNX or standard relays with controllers etc at switchboard for easy management)?

Great question.

I would have preferred low voltage star wiring, but the electrical contractor my builder uses either didn't know what it was or was playing dumb and didn't want to do anything but the standard stupid transformer on every light/circuit... It wasn't worth the hassle to fight it and the builders weren't prepared to use an alternate electrical contractor.

In any case I have trialled the system in my current home with just a couple of Z-wave controllers behind light switches and plug in sockets (Alexa, turn on the electric blanket) and it works fine, so I specced open backed light switch and power outlet boxes so there's heaps of room behind them for the zwave switches.

I'm using openhab on a raspberry Pi with a USB zwave controller. Based on how well it all works at the moment I don't see any reason to do anything differently in the new build except perhaps evaluate Google Home as the voice interface.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

rphenix

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#1771681 28-Apr-2017 09:38

hairy1: Insulated garage and garage door if not already spec'd. Looking good so far!

And make sure any window in the garage is dual glazed like the rest of the house will likely be - I don't understand for the limited additional cost of batts why garages on new builds come without insulation unless the owner notices and asks for a variation they end up like ovens in summer.

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