Access to water heater??

Jim

How do you access the water heater and associated plumbing in the event of a malfunction that requires maintenance and/or replacement , with your railroad structure so close.

Problems

My thoughts exactly on the water heater and electrical box. The blocked door (is that a lift section?) doesn't look too swift either. Remember the 5P Rule - prior planning prevents p___ poor performance! It would be a shame to cut out something already roughed in, but better to do it now than later when it would be a real shame to destroy something already built.

Lots of Work There

Your benchwork is coming along nicely. Looks like a lot of measuring and cutting has been going on at your place. Rock on!

The furring strip installation leads you to believe access to the electrical panel will be maintained and the bench piece in front of the water heater looks removable. Considering the typical long life of a properly maintained water heater the bench section may only have to come out once every 10-15 years. It will take two men and a boy to heft the new water heater in place but that is what friends are for.

The gate isn't balanced

One mistake people make when they build swing gates is that they don't brace them effectively.  You can see that this gate is braced, but the brace runs along the front from the hinge.  What you actually want to do is brace it down the center line from the hinge, which in this case would run from the hinge to the opposite corner by the door.  This would balance the weight on both sides of the brace.  The way it is, the thing will want to twist towards the door side when it's open which will make it more likely to be misaligned when closed.

  Jim, Very nice bench

Jim,

Very nice bench work! A few questions. What are the yellow squares that you are using? And, where did you find rolls of cork?

Jerome

The water heater has access

The water heater has access with a lift out section in front of that location.

The sub-panel will also have access through a lift out section that will be located behind the back drop.

The door to the garage opens outward now. It does not open into the train room anymore.

It has a swing gate opens into the train room.

And as stated, it is not balanced, but it works very well. If I need to improve it then I will.

I hoped I answered the questions. No design is perfect, and no room is perfect. We deal with what we have to work with. And so far the design is working out.

Thanks everyone. I hope everyone is doing well.

Jim Lowery

Thanks for the

Thanks for the comment.

The "squares" are just what the look like. They are carpenters squares. I read about the method in Tony Koesters book on building multi-deck layouts. It is pretty cheap (less that $5 each), and they support the bench work pretty well. I am about 90% happy with it. I need to make some adjustments to the next level, but I will use the same method.

I got the cork roll from home depot. It is .25" thick, and it works very well. I do have to cut it myself, but I just use my band saw for this. I like the fact that it is taller than regular cork. But it really needs a lot of glue, and it needs to be sanded very well once it is down.

Can't beat the price though.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jim Lowery

Electric Panel Access

Jim,

If you are located where the building code references the National Electrical Code, it is not permissible to have anything in front of the electrical panel for a width of 30" and a depth of 36" whether or not it is removable.  (The Canadian code is not much different.)

Dante

NEC

This is true, So keep the inspectors out! < G>

Benchwork

Very nice looking bench work. Hopefully it will go quicker then you think on laying the track work. In any event, have fun!

Rob

Electric panel

The regulations about access to the electric panels are enforced when something happens (you need an inspection for whatever reason, or have a fire, etc). Fire departments CAN force you to correct the situation + fine you + shut your power off (making the house legally unlivable). And is never a good idea to have to climb over something to reach the fuses.

About the water heather, I would cut the benchwork in front of it to make easily removable sections when **it happens (it will, believe me). Of course you empty it every year to remove the sediments, right?. Many times a heather will need repairs that don't warrant replacement, but you need access for the big burly plumber. If you live outside from the snow belt it may be possible to move it to the other side of the wall and build an enclosure for it (not a very hard task). Check for legalities and esthetics in your location.

Circuit box

That Circuit box is about 14" wide and 19" tall. I would do the same thing he has done if I had that to work with!

The bench work doesnt look like its blocking it to the point that it isnt reachable.  Government and like minded people can stay away from my layout room. As for the WH, It might be ten years or ten days before it needs replaced. Deal with it when the time comes, in the mean time hand me a peice of flex track and some cork! We got us a Railroad to build!

Like I said, we have the

Like I said, we have the space we have. Electrical code? Well, actually when it comes to model railroads, none of them are actually built to code (or at least very few). I will tear my railroad out when you do 

Have a good day everyone.

Jim Lowery

robteed and Jim

Please read the first line in my post:

"The regulations about access to the electric panels are enforced when something happens"

If, for whatever cause, you have a fire at home where the fire dept will show up, your non-compliance panel WILL BE mentioned on the report. Good luck then dealing with the insurance company.

So what you are saying is

So what you are saying is that if a fire starts in my bedroom they will go to the garage see that I have a subpanel too close to my model trains, and I will not get coverage from my insurance.

That would seen odd. So I am going to go with the idea that you are saying that if a fire starts in my "train room" then I will have trouble with my insurance company.

I read your post. In fact I read all of them. Including several posting in another thread talking about the same thing "code." I think I will take the extreme risk of a fire in my train room related to my layout.

Thanks for your suggestions. I promise I will not blame you if under the extremely unlikely event that it all burns down.

Thanks for the reply.

Keep em' on the rails.

JRL

What I am saying is...

.... for whatever reason you have an electrical fire (most of them start this way) anywhere in the house the fire dept will perform an inspection in the WHOLE house (panels being maximum attention magnets), even if they showed up to put off an electric grille fire. Outcome of the report will be something between "fix this ASAP' to "building condemned until brought into compliance". Your insurance company WILL read the report BEFORE going to your place and you better be in compliance to even start talking about the incident BEFORE mentioning any compensation.

What the fire dept will see (and report) is that your electrical panel is inaccessible and nail you for that.

So, I do not see the need to trigger a situation like this if it can be easily avoided with some not-too-hard planning. I assume you are an adult and capable of making your own decisions. Have safe fun.

This is getting old

PLEASE people, enough with the code policing of other's homes.  We've been through this before and it's getting real old.

We are all adults and assume any responsibility for OUR actions.  If you MUST comment on it, then please send a private message to them.  I, for one, do not want to hear about it anymore.

Thank you! 

Hold the phone

Okay, now since I have delt with this same matter on the subject-please keep in mind that the rules on both sides are a bit different.  I have called our local hydro-they only need access to the meter on the outside of the house.  Then I called a couple of local electrician on the 3ft rule.  As long as it is NOT permanent fixture you are okay.  I had asked about placing something temporary in that spot, and I was told, as long as it can be taken out so the panel can be serviced it was okay.

Interestingly enough I have

Interestingly enough I have only seen one fire where the only thing that was not saved was the side walk. So if the house burns down and the roof collapses the panel will be blocked. No one can state that the house was in the present code when it was built. I know mine is not it is over 110 years old.

One interesting thing in Texas though a lot of our electrical boxes are on the outside of the house. So when the guys show up to the house they can walk up on the porch and access the box.

I was really surprised to see that.

Rob in Texas