Building codes for aquarium in mechanical room

sphelps · #1 02-10-2011, 05:19 PM

Planning a large size aquarium for the basement of my new house. I was hoping to build an in wall tank with the tank being located in an over sized mechanical room (with furnace, water tank, electrical box, ect.). I will be getting a framing, electrical and final building inspection and I'm just thinking if this tank will be against building code. I know I could add the tank after inspection but would prefer to keep everything 100% legit for resale. I'd ask my inspector but my faith in him is deteriorating by the day, so far I've gotten better advice from this site.

lastlight · #2 02-10-2011, 05:43 PM

Maybe talk to Tony as I know he's gotten everything done legit. I'm also getting a permit and didn't think they'd even care about the tank. Certainly no hiding the thing! I'm guessing so long as my outlets aren't wired under the stand the electrical guy won't care but I guess I'll see.

toxic111 · #3 02-10-2011, 07:16 PM

of the top of my head I don't know of any code that would prevent you from putting a tank in the mech room in a single family dwelling.

HTH.

Delphinus · #4 02-10-2011, 07:26 PM

I just drew the aquarium into the drawing I supplied for the development permit. They didn't care that there was an aquarium at all in the plans - just things like where the drains were, were the light switches and fixtures were, where the plugs were and how many per circuit and per 8' of wall and so on .. think the biggest concern the development inspector had was where the smoke detector was going. My drawings showed where the tank plugs would be and that there 4 15a circuits going to the plug array in the tank room.

I passed the development rough-in inspection on the first go, needed 2 attempts for the plumbing and electrical rough-in inspections, but FWIW I have not had my final plumbing or electrical yet. I asked if I could have final inspection on part of the basement so I could start using the plugs but was advised by the inspectors that I'm allowed to use plugs before the final inspection so I have the tank going now obviously. But I'm a little afraid that when they see just how many things are plugged in and the mess of wires and ballasts and whatnot, that the inspector is going to cough up a bird or something when he sees all that. So I'll let you know how THAT goes.

If I understand correctly the spirit of the code (if not the letter of the law so to speak) when it comes to mechanical rooms, I think their concerns will be that it is sealed off from the rest of the house because of the possibility of CO seeping into the rest of the house if an exhaust pipe gets blocked or whatever. So my guess is that if you have an inwall tank that backs onto a mechanical room, you probably will have to demonstrate that it is properly sealed (ie., silicone the seams from glass to drywall maybe ... no cabinet doors into the sump area or light canopy from the front side ... and so on). Just my guesses though. In my case my tank room is not also the furnace room so I didn't go through any scrutiny like that.

lastlight · #5 02-10-2011, 07:34 PM

I don't even have a drain on my fishroom side of the basement. I sure hope the city won't even comment or care about the tank stuff.

Delphinus · #6 02-10-2011, 07:45 PM

My guess is they won't. The only thing the electrical inspector said to me when we talked about the tank room was "make sure you use CSL approved ballasts." The only thing about the floor drain for me was that I was draining the laundry sink into it and apparently this is a huge no-no. My advice is if you intend upon having a laundry sink make sure it's either: 1) drain is hard-plumbed and vented properly, or 2) not there on inspection day.

lastlight · #7 02-10-2011, 07:46 PM

Yeah Tony and I have had that conversation. My tub won't be there!

sphelps · #8 02-10-2011, 08:43 PM

I can seal off the mechanical room without any issues, the tank will be sealed air tight to the wall with no access to room except the door. I don't think it has to be that tight though since the requirements for the door do not have to be air tight so the tank shouldn't have to be either but my plan is to have it tight anyway.

I know you're not allowed a cold air return in the mechanical room for CO2 reasons but I do want to put an exhaust vent in the room to control humidity. I'm not sure if that is allowed either and if it is I would assume there will be a limit on the cfm and duty cycle unless it's interlocked with the furnace to replace exhausted air with make up.

Good news so far though, obviously my plan is plausible.

sphelps · #9 02-10-2011, 08:52 PM

I'm also guessing the actual size of the tank doesn't really matter, small or big same deal? No offense guys but my tank is going to be way bigger than yours

MitchM · #10 02-10-2011, 09:11 PM

If you're concerned about everything being legit for resale, I would pay extra attention to moisture control and ventilation.
I had 4 or 500 gallons in my last house basement with an HRV. When we went to move I found that there was a salt residue on all the light fixtures and corrosion had started to show up on the brass components of some light fixtures, plus on some copper sculptures.

It was a house built in the 1960's, and you're in a new house, but still something to watch out for.