Installing the Rain Machine Internet Connected Smart Irrigation Controller

I finally got around to replacing my 25 year old analog Toro irrigation controller. I have to say - this Toro controller was built like a tank - still functioning perfectly after 25 years - but limited by the functionality developed at the time.

Rain Machine - Completed Installation

Here's a photo of the Toro that I replaced:

Toro Analog Irrigation Controller

The rationale for replacing the Toro controller was to have multiple watering programs for different phases of lawn care during the year - for example - a soaking program following fertilizer or nemotode treatments, programs to water under the large shade trees which don't receive a lot of rain water when the leaves are on the tree, spring and summer watering programs, etc. The advantage of the Rain Machine is that you can create these programs, and enable, disable or schedule them as required, all from your smart phone or tablet. You can also have multiple programs enabled concurrently - which is useful for watering flowerbeds on a different schedule than watering your lawn.

The Rain Machine was quite simple to install. I began by labelling all the wires attached to the Toro controller prior to removing the Toro. There was a few peculiar wiring characteristics worth mentioning. The rain sensor in my system was simply an interrupt switch on the common circuit - so I had to identify the two wires going to the rain sensor which wouldn't be used with the Rain Machine - the Rain Machine uses weather forecasting and rainfall data to modify watering based on internet weather data. The rain sensor is not required (and in my case, was not functioning anyway). 

Once I began installation of the Rain Machine - I immediately ran into a problem. The wiring connections on the Rain Machine are TINY - the manual specifies it will take wire from 14 to 22 gauge - but it was impossible to install the wiring from my system directly to the Rain Machine connections - my wiring was stranded 12 or 14 guage wire - and it wasn't possible to get them installed security. So - I ended up crimping on short pigtails of 18 gauge stranded wire to be able to make the connections securely. 

Installation of 18 gauge pigtails to my irrigation cabling, to permit secure connections to the connection blocks

18 gauge pigtails to facilitate connections to the tight terminal blocks on the Rain Machine

Once the wiring was completed - there was a second problem - it looked horrible, and there was no way to install cable relief to prevent the wires from being pulled out of the connection blocks. If you compare this to the Toro irrigation controller, which had a large cavity for making the connections, complete with a cable grommet to secure the field wiring and prevent it from being pulled out of the connection blocks. 

Not a pretty installation - no place to hide the cables inside the Rain Machine. 

In order to neaten the installation - I used a short length of plastic cable channel used in automation panel cabling - to tuck the wires and help prevent them from physical damage / snagging / pulling from the connection blocks.

Plastic cable channel for hiding field wiring

Once this was done - I also tucked the power cable from the power brick into the cable channel, and covered the channel to completely hide the wiring. 

Cover on the cable channel

What would be my constructive criticism to Rain Machine to facilitate installation? Larger cable termination block, wider spaced terminals to accept larger gauge field wiring, and some form of cable management for neater field installations. You can see that they've put an emphasis on the industrial design of this unit, and made it as small as possible. This seems to sacrifice the practicality of installation, however.

Conclusion

How does the Rain Machine work in practice? Quite well - the smartphone / tablet app works very well, intuitive - quick to run individual zones, easy to set programs, run multiple programs at a time, disable programs without deleting them so that you can keep them from season to season, and nice to see the watering history and weather history, and the adaptation of watering times based on the weather and rainfall history. I haven't had a chance to check on Alexa integration yet, will update the post when I get the chance.

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions.

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Solving slow clothes drying performance with an inline duct booster fan - Fantech DBF4XL

Since moving into our new house - we've seen our clothes drying times double. The clothes dryer gets very warm, but due to a long duct run to the exterior of the house - airflow is reduced. The duct run is about 30 feet, not including losses due to elbows and fittings. Large loads would take 2 hours to dry.

The Fantech DBF4XL Dryer Booster Fan with Pneumatic Sensing Control

Some research lead to inline dryer duct fans - which improve dryer performance by overcoming the duct loss due to the length of the duct. I have a standard clothes dryer with 4" diameter round ductwork. The ducts were all sheet metal ducts, with only a short length of flexible at the dryer connection, so the ductwork was already optimized by being as smooth and as short as possible to reach the exterior of the house.

Fantech DBF4XL - Serial Number Plate - On the Pneumatic Timer Control Box

I decided to go with a Fantech model with a pneumatic switch that automatically detects the change in air pressure in the dryer duct when the dryer is activiated, then turns on the booster fan in 10 minute timed periods. At the end of the 10 minutes - the booster fan switches itself off - and if the dryer is still operating - the pneumatic control turns the fan back on for another 10 minutes. I found the Fantech DBF4XL on eBay - previously installed but never used - for a good price.

Reading the installation instructions for the fan - they recommend the installation of a secondary lint screen upstream of the fan to help protect the fan from clogging with lint. When I opened my dryer duct - I had plenty of lint in the duct - which indicated that the lint screen in my dryer was passing a lot of lint - more on this later. So - onto eBay where I found a Fantech secondary dryer lint trap for a reasonable price.

Once the secondary lint trap and fan were received, I set to work. My dryer vent line ran through the basement under the first floor where the laundry room is. So - it was a simple matter to cut into the dryer line where it ran under the floor - and duct in the secondary lint trap and the booster fan.

The secondary lint trap has a clear plastic window which helps to show when the filter box needs cleaning. It's a neat looking installation - but would be much more convenient installed directly behind the dryer.

Installing the Fantech Secondary Dryer Lint Trap - Note the Laser Line - Simplifies Lining up the Ductwork

The filter box ending up screwing directly into some wood cross members under the floor - straight through the base of the filter box. Very simple.

Fantech Secondary Dryer Lint Trap - Installing the Filter Box with the Cover Removed - Note the Laser Line

When installing the secondary lint trap and lining up the booster fan - I used a laser level with vertical laser line to line the filter box, fan and ductwork nice and straight - to have a professional looking installation. The laser really facilitates the installation.

Installing a wood block to install the Dryer Duct Booster Fan - Four Tapcon Screws into the Elevated Concrete Slab

Secondary Dryer Lint Filter Upsteam of Dryer Booster Fan

Secondary Lint Filter and Dryer Booster Fan Installed

Very important installation point on the booster fan - the booster fan uses a pneumatic diaphragm switch - the copped colored cylinder in the photo below. The diaphragm needs to be oriented vertically so that gravity does not act on the diaphragm - which would work either for or against the pneumatic pressure and upset the operation of the switch - your switch would either be on all the time, or not activate reliably on duct pressure. It's very simple to rotate the fan on the installation bracket so that the diaphragm is vertical. When installing the bracket - take care not to install the self tapping screws to close to the center of the fan enclosure - you could screw into the fan impellor and block the impellor from turning. It's not as complicated as it sounds - you just need to take care with these points on installation.

Fantech Dryer Booster Fan - Note the Orientation of the Copper Colored Pneumatic Switch - This needs to be oriented vertically for it to work properly.

Conclusion

So - how does it work? Perfectly. It switches on and off automatically as described above. I haven't had any issues with the booster fan turning on when not required, and it recycles automatically in the ten minute intervals without any issue.  The secondary lint filter needs to be cleaned once every two dryer loads on average - which is more frequently than what I hoped. It would have been much more convenient to have the secondary filter installed in the laundry room - for easier cleaning - but this wasn't practical in my installation without adding a lot more ductwork. Something for me to consider in the future.

The dryer cycles have been reduced by almost one half, 2 hour dryer loads now dry in about an hour - and the automatic dry cycles now work reasonably well - before - the automatic dry cycles never got the laundry dry.

4 Year Update

Still working 100% reliably after 4 years - at least 6 laundry loads a week. The secondary lint filter is a MUST - it is amazing how much lint misses the dryer lint trap. Super impressed with the performance and durability of this fan - no problems at all. 

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions. If you're interested, you can help support this site by using the following links to Amazon.com in the United States.

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Running the Ecotech EZ Variable Speed Pool Pump Motor - GFCI Breaker Issues and Resolution

I've been upgrading my pool pump system with a variable speed motor from Emerson / Nidec / US Motors - the 3HP Ecotech EZ motor. I've described installing the motor on the pump, and the upgrade of the pool piping from 1 1/2" diameter to 2" diameter for better flow and lower restriction.

Ecotech EZ Variable Speed Motor installed on the Jacuzzi Magnum 1500 Pool Pump

The night that I finished the last of the 2" piping was when I reinstalled the salt chlorination cell. Then it was time to start up the pump for first time. Power on - then 2 seconds later the GFCI breaker feeding the sub panel in the pool shack tripped, and an error message appeared on the motor's LCD screen - blocked pump. The motor has a protection feature if the impellor gets blocked - it will prevent the motor from forcing against a blockage. I reset the breaker and tried a few times to get the pump running - then realized that I had installed the motor adapter plate backwards - jamming the impellor against the seal plate. So - 11:30 at night, and I pulled the motor from the pump and flipped the adapter plate, reassembled the pump and......the GFCI breaker still trips - but I no longer have the blocked pump error message on the variable speed control panel.

Ecotech EZ Motor Control Panel

The manual for the Ecotech EZ pool pump motor very clearly states that if you want the motor protected by a GFCI breaker, the pump must be installed on a dedicated GFCI circuit, not shared with other electrical loads. This posed a problem with my electrical system - my pool shack sub panel has 6 circuits - 4 15A lighting and power outlet circuits - one of which is the pool lights, and two 2-pole 240V circuits - one for the thermopump heater and one for the pool pump. When I moved into this house 3 years ago - only the pool light circuit was protected with a GFCI breaker. So - to upgrade the protection for the most economical cost - I protected the entire sub-panel from the feed from the house panel with a 40A 2 pole 240V GFCI breaker. The implication  of the requirement to have the Ecotech motor on its own dedicated GFCI circuit was to remove the GFCI breaker from the panel feeding the sub panel, and convert all the breakers on the sub-panel to GFCI breakers - an expensive upgrade. To try to avoid all this - I tried to get the pump to work with the GFCI breaker on the house panel - but even removing all the other loads on the sub-panel was causing the feeder GFCI breaker to trip every time I tried to start the motor. 

Ecotech EZ Motor Upgrade on Jacuzzi Magnum 1500 pump - with 2" plumbing upgrade

To get the motor running - I removed the GFCI breaker from the sub-panel feed. It started and ran fine, but with no GFCI protection. When anyone went near the pool, I shut off all the breakers on the sub-panel for safety, but this wasn't practical as a permanent solution. Incidentally - I did some research on other variable speed pool pumps - such as the Pentair Intelliflo pump - and it's installation manual also requires a dedicated circuit if the pump is to be protected with a GFCI breaker. 

I had two 15A single pole GFCI breakers from the original installation, which I put back into the sub-panel. Then I purchased a single 2 pole 20A GFCI breaker for the pool pump circuit. I installed this on the sub-panel, and it worked fine. Then I installed a second 2 pole 20A GFCI breaker for the thermopump. 

The point of this whole discussion is to warn anyone considering this variable speed pump upgrade that there may be electrical implications beyond just swapping the motor. Also - it's important to state that you should have this electrical work performed by a licensed electrician - or have a licensed electrician inspect your handywork if you decide to do this yourself. You want to ensure that the electrical systems are safely installed and will protect your family and friends from an electrical fault.

One other issue that I've run into is that I had my salt chlorination cell transformer wired with my pool pump motor - but I've had to separate the circuits in order to get the GFCI breaker for the pool pump to work. Also - the pump needs to be powered on all the time - the pump timing is now controlled by the intelligent controller on the motor, and not my central pool automation system. So I've decided to control just the salt chlorination cell from my central pool automation system - I'll program it to run on a function based on the length of daylight since chlorine degradation is a function of sunlight - and run the pool pump separately using the timer on the motor controller. I still have some wiring to get this up and running - if I run into anything interesting - I may do a separate post on this.

Once I got the electrical issues sorted out, the pump has been running now for about 2 weeks. I did some testing to check the current draw on the pump at various pump flows. The control panel modifies the pump speed as percentage of flow, and not as percentage of speed changes. Since the pump runs with a single set of programming from the factory, and every pump installation will be different with its own piping head - the percentage of flow settings on the motor will only be approximate on any system. 

What's interesting about this graph is that I can run at 75% flow consuming only about half of the full speed motor current, or I can run at 60% flow consuming only about a third of the full speed current. I wish I had taken the motor current measurement of the original single speed motor on the Jacuzzi Magnum pump - this new permanent magnet motor should be much more efficient at full speed. For the past two weeks I've been running the pump 24 hours per day, at 50% speed consuming less than 1 Amp of current. At this speed the sand filter backpressure is only about 3 psi - the power savings are impressive, and the filtration is very effective - water is crystal clear and my salt cell is performing well.

Measuring power draw of the Ecotech EZ motor using the Klein CL1000 clamp meter

Another feature of the variable speed motor is to be able to fine tune the motor speed to your vacuum and vacuum hose length, to avoid cavitation of the motor. On my previous setup with the single speed motor - the motor would cavitate whenever I was vacuuming. This would cause the pump to periodically lose prime, and suction on the vacuum. In addition, whenever I was vacuuming to waste early in the season to rid the pool of dead algae, the single speed pump was always running at full speed and drawing down the water level very rapidly. Now I can vacuum to waste at 40% flow - greatly reduce the loss of water and increase the time that I have to vacuum more effectively. I also expect that I'll be able to tune the motor to the barracuda automatic vacuum for peak performance, without using the bypass valve. 

Ecotech EZ Motor - Timer Controller is mounted directly on the motor housing

So - with the exception of the surprise expense on the GFCI breaker upgrade on my sub-panel - I'm very satisfied with this pump motor upgrade. My pump running at 50% flow is very quiet - I can't hear the motor at all outside the pool shack, and my neighbor's pool pump makes more noise now than my own. One other thing that I like a lot about this upgrade is the performance of the Jandy multiport valves - much easier to actuate by hand, nice clean looking installation. This is a positive upgrade - and I hope to see the results on my electricity bill at the end of the summer. 

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Ecotech EZ Variable Speed Pool Pump Motor - Pump Installation and Piping Upgrades

Now that the pump is assembled with the new Ecotech EZ variable speed motor, it was time to get at the piping upgrades to help improve the overall system efficiency. I had a few serious weaknesses in my pool piping, particularly on the suction of the pool pump, and the piping feeding and exiting the thermopump.

Jacuzzi Magnum 1500 upgraded with Ecotech EZ Variable Speed Motor, Suction Side Piping Completed with 2 Jandy Valves

The existing pump piping layout wasn't very well done - it wasn't particularly efficient, and probably contributed to the pump cavitating any time the vacuum port was used. Note the vacuum port routing - which enters from the top right - 90 degree elbow, ball valve, 270 degree sweep, 90 degree elbow down into a T fitting, then off to the pump suction. All lines are 1 1/2" - so even if you decide to draw from the drain and the skimmer at the same time, you're contstrained by the 1 1/2" suction on the pump.

Old pump suction layout - skimmer bottom left, bottom drain top left, vacuum port top right, pump suction bottom right. 

I have 1 1/2" black poly pipe running underground to the pool. I'm not a huge fan of the insert barbed fittings - they're common for these applications but they neck the diameter down to 1 1/4 inch. I thought I would give a polyethelene epoxy adhesive a try, to convert to PVC fittings, made by TAP plastics in California.

Black poly lines moved to desired alignment, fixed with copper strapping. CPVC reducing slip elbows - 1 1/2" to 2" - fixed to the black poly line using TAP plastics poly epoxy.

I also converted the 1 1/2" poly lines to 2" at the 90 degree elbows where I made the transition from vertical to horizontal. See photo above. Once my suction lines were horizontal, I plotted the position of two Jandy 3 way valves facing each other, to allow me full flexibility in selecting and mixing the pump suction source. I used the 2 / 2 1/2" Jandy Valves to minimize restriction in the suction piping.

Suction side piping completed - Jandy Valves control suction source - skimmer, bottom drain, or vacuum port. 2" union fittings on the suction and discharge of the Jacuzzi Magnum pump. 

With the suction side piping completed - I then working on the transitions at the sand filter. I spent some time looking for a sand filter with a 2" multiport valve - mine was just a 1 1/2" multiport valve, and eventually decided just to keep the 1 1/2" valve. With the variable speed pump - the system would in the future be spending most of the time operating at a low flow speed, which would minimize the impact of the system restriction of the 1 1/2" multiport valve.

Jaccuzzi Multiport Sand Filter Valve Piping - 1 1/2" drain fitting on the close side, 2" rigid pipe discharging to the thermopump and salt cell on the far side. Pump discharge - sand filter feed line in the center. Unions on all connections. 

With the sand filter piped, it was time to work on the thermopump. The former layout had the thermopump piping side facing away from the pool shack, and 90 degrees away from the pool. In order to make the connections, about 30' of 1 1/2" hose made long circular connections between the sand filter and the salt cell.

The old Thermopump Installation - About 30' of 1 1/2" hose separates the Sand Filter from the connection to the underground hose where the Salt Cell will be attached to

The old Thermopump Installation - About 30' of 1 1/2" hose separates the Sand Filter from the connection to the underground hose where the Salt Cell will be attached to - right side of photo.

I moved the thermopump so that the piping connections would be facing the pool, and perpendicular to the pool shack, and then came up with a layout using the Jandy 3 way valves to control bypass and flow to the thermopump. 

The Thermopump was previously installed on the patio stones to the right. It's now moved into place next to the pool shack, just behind the outlet pipe for the pool jets. 

Jandy Valves will provide flow modulation and bypass isolation for the thermopump, with a much more compact piping arrangement.

Now, instead of 30' of 1 1/2" pipe between the sand filter and the salt cell, I'm down to about 10' of 2" pipe

Conclusions

I'm quite happy with the new piping arrangement and the upgrade to 2" piping. The only section of 1 1/2" pipe which remains is the section about 35' long between the salt cell and the first jet on the pool. I don't think I'll get the energy to make that upgrade for a while because of the trenching, so I'll wait until the pool requires major maintenance.

At this point, it was time to start the new variable speed motor - more on my next post.

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions.

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Ecotech EZ Variable Speed Pool Pump Motor Upgrade - Jacuzzi Magnum Pump

I've been working towards the goal of reducing my electricity bill by 33% - and I'm actually getting there. One of the largest loads besides heating and ventilation at my house is the pool pump. I have a typical single speed 1.5 HP Jacuzzi Magnum pool pump for an 18' x 36" rectangular in-ground pool. I like to open the pool early and close it late, and the kids love to swim. My estimates for running the Jacuzzi Magnum pump was around $500 / pool season full time. I've been running the pump on a time, for about 12 hours / day - so I guess I've actually been consuming around $300 per year in electricity. Thankfully, my marginal electricity cost is only about $0.095/kW-hr.

Ecotech EZ Motor installed on the Jacuzzi Magnum 1500 Pool Pump. The control panel is directly on top of the motor.

Last year I did a fair amount of research on the subject. and the key to saving electricity with a pool is to take advantage of pumping affinity law - which simply means that increasing the flow by 10% costs you 33% more in power. Similarly, reducing the flow by 25% will result in energy savings of approximately 50% - due to the reduction in friction losses by reducing the speed of the water in the piping (and importantly, across your filter element).

You can do this with multi-speed pumps - which can be standard wound-rotor pumps with a two or three speed tap - which will result in some savings, or even more significantly, with a electronically commutated permanent magnet variable speed motor, which are the most efficient commercially available motors. To take advantage of this simple principle, the state of California has mandated that new pool installations have as a minimum multi-speed pumps which default to low speed operation for filtration (California Energy Commission (CEC) Title 20 Appliance Efficiency Regulations).

My pool is probably a fairly typical installation for a 20 year old pool in the Province of Quebec - all the piping is 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and I have a 1.5 HP single speed motor, with a sand filter with a 1 1/2 inch multiport valve. My thermopump was added following the original pool installation - and it would have been difficult to imagine a less efficient plumbing addition to a system - to add the Thermopump - the pipe from the sand filter to the pool was extended by about 30 feet long in total - 1 1/2" piping - in a long serpentine.

So why upgrade just the motor, and not purchase a complete new pump? Because if you already have a decent pump - the motor will end up costing about 50% of the cost of a complete pump. If you're a bit handy, this isn't a particularly difficult upgrade. The hardest part may be the electrical part - and if you're switching the complete pump out - you'll need to deal with that anyway. My aim going into this upgrade is that the cost for the upgrade would be paid back within 2 years, and purchasing a complete new pump would not allow me to achieve that.

Starting point - Jacuzzi Magnum Pump with Single Speed, Permanent Split Capacitor Motor

So - to take best advantage of the variable speed motor upgrade, I also planned to upgrade as much of my piping as possible to 2" diameter, and relocate my thermopump to optimize the piping arrangement. I also planned to remove and replace all my 1 1/2" ball valves with 2 inch Jandy multiport valves - to simplify the plumbing and minimize the number of bends in the piping.

The first step in the project was to split the original single speed motor from the pump, and install the Ecotech EZ motor. This isn't terribly difficult to do, and it is also an excellent opportunity to replace your pump seal. The basic steps are as follows:

• remove the pump from your system and disconnect the power;
• split the pump from the motor by unscrewing the clamp ring between the motor and the pump;
• unscrew the 2 screws retaining the diffuser, and lift the diffuser off;
• unscrew the impeller by holding the motor end of the drive shaft, and unscrewing the impellor counter clockwise; 
• lift off the seal housing (now is the time you would replace the motor shaft seals); 
• unbolt the motor housing bracket (four bolts)

Preparing the Motor Housing Bracket for installation on the new Ecotech Motor

Note the clamp ring installed over the motor, with the seal plate installed over the motor housing bracket and motor shaft

Installing the impeller

Installation of the new motor is the reverse of the steps above, I won't go into details, there's quite a few good videos available explaining seal replacement on all types of pool pumps. Just ensure you take very clear note of the orientation of all parts during disassembly - photos will help. And - make sure you install the clamp ring right from the start - otherwise you'll be doing all the steps twice....

The Ecotech EZ motor installed on the Jacuzzi Magnum 1500 Pump - Ready to Install on the Pool

I'll write a separate post on the piping upgrade around the pump, sand filter and thermopump, Following that, I'll post about wiring up the new pump, the electrical considerations, power draw of the new motor, and the performance of the system. It's getting a bit too late to finish everything tonight.

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Upgrading Basement Insulation - Finishing the Job and Insulating the Garage Stairwell

If you've been following the past several posts - I've been upgrading the basement insulation in my 25 year old home, working on improving energy efficiency and indoor air quality. Following the installation of polyurethane spray foam in most of my basement walls with a spray foam contractor, I had half of a Touch-n-Foam 600 spray foam kit left to use up. We were in the process of re-closing all the basement walls - installing the drywall and getting the drywall joints taped and finished. I realised that I had not done anything with a stairwell in the back corner of my home - which runs from the heated utility space underneath my garage elevated slab floor and the garage. So I decided to attack that final section of the foundation wall - pull off all the drywall and use up the rest of the Touch-N-Foam kit.

Garage Stairwell - Drywall and 1.5" partial coverage of styrofoam removed

First step was to remove the drywall. The drywall had been installed before the stairs were installed - so the drywall was cut just above the framing of the stairwell. The drywall was removed to just below the level of the rim joist on top of the concrete foundation wall. There was a layer of foam sheet installed on the top of the foundation wall below the rim joist - no other sealing.

Rim joist. The styrofoam you can see here has been cast into the foundation wall - intended as a slot for pouring the elevated slab. Since the slab doesn't extend to this corner because of the opening for the stairwell, the builders left it in place. I decided to leave it in place as well, since it was cast in the foundation wall - and apply spray foam directly overtop. 

With the drywall removed, it was time to get started with the Touch-N-Foam kit. One of my lessons learned from the previous application was to get my hands on a 3M full face organic vapour cartridge respirator - which I did. I purchased the medium size - I have a pretty large head - and was able to get an effective face seal and performance.

3M Full Face respirator. 

On to the foam application. I started with foaming the corners, rim joist space, and the bottom wall cavities. 

Start applying foam on all corners, rim joist, bottom wall gaps. 

Once the perimeters were foamed - then I got onto the wall spaces. This time - I didn't have time to try to heat the concrete wall before the application of the Touch-N-Foam - I guess that my wall temperature was about 8 degrees Celcius (46 F) - below the recommended 16 C (70 F) minimum surface temperature recommended by Touch-N-Foam. What I found was that as the foam cured, it contracted slightly and pulled away from the wall studs. You can see the 1" wide gap in the photo below:

Note the gap next to the two studs - the foam contracted due to the low surface temperature of the concrete wall.

In my case this wasn't catastrophic - I justed gave the foam 30 minutes to cure, and then came back and foamed the gaps where they appeared, but it was interesting to see the effect of applying this product on a substrate that was below the manufacturers recommended application temperature.

Underneath the stairs - there was no insulation at all in this portion of the wall:

No insulation in this portion of the wall underneath the drywall.

So - this space was foamed as well.

In my other post about using the Touch-N-Foam kit - I wrote about what happens when you reach the end of the cylinder - and the resulting uncured foam and the requirement to physically remove it to prevent odours within the house. This time - I was much more vigilent when I was getting to the bottom of the cylinders - as soon as I noticed a change in the consistency of the applied foam - I immediately stopped applying the foam and checked the cylinders. A test shot into a garbage can confirmed that I had run out of the Part A chemical - and that it was time to stop applying foam. The photo below shows about 6 cubic inches of foam at the end of the application that did not have sufficient Part A in the mix. 

The end of the application of the Touch-N-Foam - some runny foam which only has Part B, and no Part A. 

This small amount of uncured foam was easy to remove with a putty knife, and I finished up the application with some single part foam from a spray can.

Re-applying the drywall over the foam installation. 

And, again, as desribed in the previous post - it is extremely important to cover all the spray foam with drywall to give you the fire resistance.

All in all - I am satisfied with the performance of the Touch-N-Foam kits - they are better suited for small to medium sized insulation jobs - such as a portion of a wall or a specific sealing job. Larger jobs - consider going with a spray foam contractor - which will be more cost effective and quicker. 

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Upgrading Basement Insulation - Completing the Job with a Spray Foam Contractor

I've written a few posts about my project to upgrade the insulation in my basement perimeter walls. The bottom two feet of the foundation walls had no insulation, just the top 6 feet of the 2x4 stud walls had 6" batts of fibreglass insulation and a foil backed paper vapour barrier.

I started the job thinking I could achieve enough coverage with the Touch-N-Foam System 600 kits - but found with experience that although the kits provide good quality foam, they are slow to apply in quantity, and multiple passes are required to get the three inches required for the foam to act as a vapour barrier.

Contractor Installed Demilec Heatlok Soya Medium Density Spray Polyurethane Closed Cell Foam Insulation

So - I called and made an appointment with an insulation contractor, one that had previously sprayed foam in my attic around a skylight. This contractor sprays Demilec Heatlok Soya - a medium density spray polyurethane closed cell foam that is manufactured in Canada, and the United States. 3" of this foam replaces the requirement for a vapour barrier. Some features of this product:

• Zero Ozone Depletion Substances (ZODS) as defined by the Montreal Protocol
• RSI 1.05 per 25mm (R6 per inch)
• ASTM E96 Water Vapour Permeance, 50 mm 37 ng/Pa.s.m2 (0.65 Perm)
• CCMC 07273 Air Barrier Material, 25-30 mm 0.00004 L/s/m2 @ 75 Pa
• Contains post consumer recycled plastic, and Soya oil. I'm not sure the content of recycled plastic in the foam, but according to the company they've diverted 300 million plastic bottles since 2004 - which is an interesting statistic. 

For full information on this product, look up it's technical datasheet on the internet.

The contractor visited, took measurements of the surface areas and thicknesses to be installed, and also checked out the Touch-N-Foam installation that I had installed a few days earlier. I happy that the contractor thought that the final result was good quality foam, good adhesion to the concrete foundation walls, and good consistency. He didn't see any issues with applying his foam overtop of the Touch-N-Foam to increase the foam thickness from an average of one inch, to four inches.

Prior to the arrival of the foam conractor, make sure that you are ready for the foam installation, by ensuring that all electrical, automation and home entertainment cabling was completed. In my case, I had some home theatre surround wiring to run before the foam was installed, and I also made sure all the electrical wiring was supported properly with ties, ensuring there would be nothing hanging in the gap between my floor slab and the foundation walls. 

Home theatre surround speaker cabling pulled prior to foam installation, coiled and protected in a plastic bag prior to the foam installation

Electrical wiring zip tied and suspended from inner wall studs, to clear the gap between the slab and wall for best possible foam application

When I was removing the drywall from the foundation walls, and removing the old fibreglas batt insulation from the walls, I found two thin vertical cracks in the foundation walls - both were located at corners of basement wall cutouts in the foundation wall. It's important to resolve and cracks or leaks prior to applying spray foam. Particularly cracks in concrete - it is important to have a structural repair done which maintains the strength, integrity and waterproofness of the wall. I'll describe how I dealt with these vertical cracks in a new post.

Thin vertical crack behind one of the wall studs. Note the efflorescence (white powdery substance) on the wall next to the crack.

In a few days, the contractor arrived to install the foam, and started by masking off all the electrical outlets, and cover all exposed carpet, furniture, painted wall surfaces, etc. from overspray using painters plastic sheet. This is very important - this material is extremely sticky and difficult to cleanly remove from finished surfaces. 

The contractor uses special equipment installed in a cube van or truck - the raw materials are pumped at high pressure via a 300 foot long heated hose into the home, mixed in the heated application gun, and expand and cure in seconds once the mixed foam hits the application surface. Since this foam is essentially manufactured in the home - it is very important to use an experienced, licensed contractor that will take responsibility for the installation, and responsibility for any application issues. 

There are things that can go wrong with a foam installation, this could include things like overheating following installation, potentially causing undesired chemical byproducts and odours, and even possibly fire. It's important that the installation contractor follow the foam manufacturer's guidelines for single and multipass application thicknesses - foam applied too thick can cause potentially serious consequences. Discuss this with your contractor and ensure that you are satisfied with the responses you receive. Since you shouldn't be in the vicinity of the applicator while it is being installed, without wearing an organic carbon respirator, you won't be able to monitor the installation yourself. You'll have to rely on the experience and reputation of your contractor. Protect yourself by asking questions, checking references, and working from a written quotation and contract. Verify your contractor's license number, and if possible, do a search on the license number to ensure the license is valid, and there isn't a history of complaints or issues with the contractor. In the worst case, the consequence of a bad spray foam insulation job is the complete removal of all the foam - which can be difficult and time consuming. Some verification and research here could save massive headaches later. We selected a contractor called Isolam from Varennes, QC, and were perfectly satisfied with their experience, application and performance. 

Contractor installing spray foam - note the full coverage suit, and the respirator supplied with fresh air from the truck

The spray foam expands and cures rapidly, but it will off-gas for several days creating a faint chemical odour in your home. You may wish to let it aerate for a few days if you can afford staying elsewhere. It's now been a week since the application of foam, and the chemical odour is now barely noticeable, We're currently in the process of topping up the insulation in the wall spaces with our leftover fibreglas batt insulation, and installing new drywall. The installation of drywall should help to reduce the residual odours in the home, and continuous ventilation until all traces of the chemical odour may be a good idea. It's also important to note that the spray foam needs to be covered with at least 3/8" thick drywall as a fire barrier in order for the insulation to meet the Canada national building code - your contractor should mention this fact when the job is quoted, and you'll likely have that specific point noted on your invoice.

Spray foam is excellent for sealing air leaks in and around the rim joists around the circumference of the home at the edges of the floors. It's worth opening the drywall or ceiling to access these spaces. 

So - in summary - I believe that a proper, well applied, closed cell spray foam insulation is one of the best ways of insulating a basement located in the snow belt, and here are the most important points that I've found with this project:

• Get all your wiring, central vac, ventilation, and all other in wall services completed before the spray foam contractor arrives;
• Use a licensed contractor, with an experienced applicator, that warrants their work and will follow the foam manufacturer's application guidelines, particularly with respect to application thickness; 
• Correct all wall cracks or water leaks prior to the installation of the foam;
• Vacate the house during the application, ventilate the house very well following the installation of the foam, and you may wish to leave the house for a few days while the foam cures and off-gasses.
• Ensure the fire break is installed over the foam following the foam installation, per the manufacturer's recommendation and any building code requirements - such as a cover of drywall. 

I'm thinking about having my blower door test redone, to check to see if this foam installation has greatly reduced my air leakage rate. I'll get all the drywall and crack repairs completed first, then report the results when I get the blower door test completed. Stay tuned for further posts on the crack repairs, and the continuation of the indoor air quality project. 

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