Reefer 525 on 2nd floor

Tavo_mkv · Dec 11, 2023

Hey guys, so I've been reading a lot trying to get information on whether or not I should place my newly ordered red sea reefer 525 on the second floor of my townhouse. I live in California and the home was built in 2016. I know many may question on why it matters if the house is relatively new, but its just for peace of mind. I have reached out to local residential engineers, but they want to charge an arm and a leg JUST to come scope the place out. By arm and leg I mean 2-4k and it seems like too much just for an estimate. It would be going on an exterior load bearing wall. I just haven't figured out which was the joists run. Underneath this floor is a 2 car garage. The tank with the sump is 143 gallons and I've estimated the total weight of the tank to be around 1900-2k pounds. It would be on the wall on the right in the photo I added. THANKS IN ADVANCE!

QuarantinedCorals · Dec 11, 2023

Tavo_mkv said:
Hey guys, so I've been reading a lot trying to get information on whether or not I should place my newly ordered red sea reefer 525 on the second floor of my townhouse. I live in California and the home was built in 2016. I know many may question on why it matters if the house is relatively new, but its just for peace of mind. I have reached out to local residential engineers, but they want to charge an arm and a leg JUST to come scope the place out. By arm and leg I mean 2-4k and it seems like too much just for an estimate. It would be going on an exterior load bearing wall. I just haven't figured out which was the joists run. Underneath this floor is a 2 car garage. The tank with the sump is 143 gallons and I've estimated the total weight of the tank to be around 1900-2k pounds. It would be on the wall on the right in the photo I added. THANKS IN ADVANCE!

I would ask a professional, you may need to reinforce the floor in which the tank is gonna sit on. I believe a contractor would probably have the answer to this question as well. Goodluck!

Overlook · Dec 11, 2023

I'm a framer, and wouldn't recommend it. If your tank runs parallel to the floor joist most of the weight is only supported by one joist. This would defiantly not be good. If you are perpendicular to the joist, it would be much safer. I also wouldn't want the tank mid span of the joist. Try and get it as close to the bearing wall below. Newer homes are build with I joist. They have a lot of pro's but one of the con's is the web of the joist if 7/16 OSB. Kinda like plywood. The problem is when they have large point loads on them it can crush the OSB web and cause the joist to fail. Older homes have 2x10 or 2x12 joist and crushing is not such a problem. There are some things you can do to the floor below to beef it up. I'm currently remodeling a older house, but new to me. I'm planning on putting a 225 gallon tank on the 2nd floor. I'm going to add a steel I beam in the basement under the tank to support it. Depend on you situation its really not that hard to do, and if done right it can look pretty cool.

Tavo_mkv · Dec 11, 2023

Overlook said:
I'm a framer, and wouldn't recommend it. If your tank runs parallel to the floor joist most of the weight is only supported by one joist. This would defiantly not be good. If you are perpendicular to the joist, it would be much safer. I also wouldn't want the tank mid span of the joist. Try and get it as close to the bearing wall below. Newer homes are build with I joist. They have a lot of pro's but one of the con's is the web of the joist if 7/16 OSB. Kinda like plywood. The problem is when they have large point loads on them it can crush the OSB web and cause the joist to fail. Older homes have 2x10 or 2x12 joist and crushing is not such a problem. There are some things you can do to the floor below to beef it up. I'm currently remodeling a older house, but new to me. I'm planning on putting a 225 gallon tank on the 2nd floor. I'm going to add a steel I beam in the basement under the tank to support it. Depend on you situation its really not that hard to do, and if done right it can look pretty cool.

I'm going to try and find out which way my joists run and I will update. Thank you