The mixing station wasn't on my original budget, but was always in the plan. My LFS isn't conveniently close enough to drop in on so self sufficiency was important. I didn't track all the costs but it definitely spiraled into quite the project. Since it's been up and running for a bit now, I'll see if I can recap all the interesting challenges.
As most do, I spent lots of time figuring out the best place to store a large volume of water and minimizing risk of damaging dry items around it. I decided on a spot right next to my water softener in the garage, which is also right next to the water heater. This was ideal as it had a great water source, fresh off the output of the water softener, and a place to dispose of the RODI filter waste water. The third bonus, that tied in with a key design idea I had, was I could catch any potential overflows and direct them out the same overflow feed as the hot water heater.
I guess that takes us to our design. Below is a picture of the final install. The stand was hand built as well and the whole project took up both a Saturday and Sunday with a few more finishing touches Monday/Tuesday. Here's how it came out:
The pump was bought from my LFS. They have a bunch of use Iwaki pumps they purchased from another shop that closed it's doors. It wasn't pretty, but it runs great and really crunches that salt fast! A minor clean up on the outside with a wire brush, a few new screws since some where rusted through, a new electrical plug and it was ready to go.
One design idea I added that I haven't seen anywhere yet was adding two water heater pans under the Brute cans, then piping the output of them to the hot water heater overflow. That overflow is just a pipe that dumps right outside the garage, but if something were to ever overflow nothing inside the garage is getting wet. I also drilled small holes in the Brutes about 1/2 from the top and towards the front of the station so if water is coming out I'll see it there rather than letting it overflow from a spot of it's choosing under the lids.
Few challenges I ran into and things I learned:
As most do, I spent lots of time figuring out the best place to store a large volume of water and minimizing risk of damaging dry items around it. I decided on a spot right next to my water softener in the garage, which is also right next to the water heater. This was ideal as it had a great water source, fresh off the output of the water softener, and a place to dispose of the RODI filter waste water. The third bonus, that tied in with a key design idea I had, was I could catch any potential overflows and direct them out the same overflow feed as the hot water heater.
I guess that takes us to our design. Below is a picture of the final install. The stand was hand built as well and the whole project took up both a Saturday and Sunday with a few more finishing touches Monday/Tuesday. Here's how it came out:
The pump was bought from my LFS. They have a bunch of use Iwaki pumps they purchased from another shop that closed it's doors. It wasn't pretty, but it runs great and really crunches that salt fast! A minor clean up on the outside with a wire brush, a few new screws since some where rusted through, a new electrical plug and it was ready to go.
One design idea I added that I haven't seen anywhere yet was adding two water heater pans under the Brute cans, then piping the output of them to the hot water heater overflow. That overflow is just a pipe that dumps right outside the garage, but if something were to ever overflow nothing inside the garage is getting wet. I also drilled small holes in the Brutes about 1/2 from the top and towards the front of the station so if water is coming out I'll see it there rather than letting it overflow from a spot of it's choosing under the lids.
Few challenges I ran into and things I learned:
- The input and output valves to the water softener were not installed with shutoff valves. (previous home owner was a DIY person that needs to have their tools taken away, but that's a much longer story and gripe list.)
- After the valves were properly installed, connecting to and branching off the water softener was a learning experience in pipe thread versus hose thread along with size changes, etc. The amount of trips back and forth to Lowe's earned me a "Hey! You're back again??" more than once. (They should probably just get me a name tag at this point.)
- Building a Mixing Station is great practice if you plan on doing any pluming on the main display tank (which I did). I was much more willing to make those mistakes on the mixing station than on the center piece of the hobby.
- I went with the white Brutes to allow myself to see other issues like algae or other things in the water that I might not want to be there. I found some posts later that White lets in a lot of light. I haven't had issues with this yet, but it might have affected my decision. I also found 44 gallon sizes after buying the 32 gallon ones. Likely would have chosen the larger size as it would have made the initial filling much easier.
- Schedule 80 fittings are crazy expensive. :/