Single light switch to programmable - 2nd hot line? I've got a receptacle with three light switches, a single, a three-way and a four-way.

I'm trying to replace the single with a Honeywell timer switch. The wiring in the box seems a bit wacky to me (though I'm very new to this homeownership thing).

I'm attaching below the wiring diagram for the timer switch and my crude wiring diagram in the box (the black wires with white in the middle are all white). My crude picture has the only labeling I see on the existing switches, so I believe the daisy-chained wiring at the bottom is all neutral. But then I'm not sure what the bundle of white wires is (or what the completely unconnected black wire coming from the leftmost bundle is).

The black wire at the bottom of your diagram is the incoming hot feed and goes to all the switches.  If the timer switch has a terminal screw, hook it up to the new switch the same way it was done at the old.  If it has a pigtail lead, you'll have to cut the black wire and wirenut both the cut ends with the pigtail from the timer.  The blue wire or terminal on the timer goes to the other black wire (the non-doubletap one) going to the single switch, and the white wire or terminal on the timer needs to be connected to the bundle of white neutral wires at the back of the box -- you may need to use a length of scrap white wire as a pigtail for this.

Also, the weirdly wired 4-way switch is really a 3 way switch in disguise, and make sure the single black wire's loose end is capped off with a wirenut.


Why does the second light go out when the first bulb is removed? I have recently added another light fixture to a switch that used to just control 1 entry light. Now that switch controls both of them & have found out that they are both dependent on having working bulbs in them to both work. If one is removed, or burned out, both will not work. My problem is I have 1 light that is working and the second light is either extremely dim or not even lit up at all. What can I do?

You need to rewire. The light fixture that you tapped into should be redone so that the three wires (power in, light fixture, power out) are all connected to each other.


Why can't I find a color changing GU24 bulb? Do they even make color changing GU24 bulbs?? I am looking for one for the holidays and can't find any! It seems like I could buy a color changing edison bulb and then get a GU24 adapter to screw it into. But that sounds hazardous, is it safe?

GU24 to Edison Screw adapters are absolutely fine provided they are rated for the electrical load you will be putting through them, and designed for heat resistance. Most I've seen are rated up to 150 watts, which is far more than you need - most LED bulbs are 10 watts maximum. So get good quality adapters and you'll be fine. Keep in mind that these adapters could make the bulbs stick out a bit.


Can a flat and level roof be waterproof? I would like to build a 6 x 8 ft playhouse with a deck covering the top.  Is there a kind of roofing material that can (1) withstand a floating deck, (2) is DIY friendly (no blowtorches, hot asphalt, or custom pouring), (3) is reasonably cheap, and (4) will keep the water out even with a completely flat roof, or with a very minimal slope?

Modified bitumen is said to be great for building deck on top of.  The GAP SBS Liberty system is DIY-friendly, but the instructions call for a slope of at least 1/2" per ft.  If using only the cap sheet, it's about $1/ft².

Building a deck on top of the roof is much easier if the roof is completely flat.  Is that asking for trouble, or will it be OK for my application?

Are there other roofing materials I should consider?

EPDM rubber roofing might work for you. It can be installed without any heat or fancy tools; I'm planning to use it for my flat-roofed concreted detached garage. It should withstand ponding water, and because your project is small and your playhouse probably doesn't have plumbing, you should be able to avoid seams, complex flashing, and pipe penetrations. You can install the rubber using an adhesive directly over clean plywood.

It can accommodate a floating deck. I have the book Roofing, Flashing & Waterproofing (For Pros By Pros), which includes a nicely illustrated article on installing EPDM with a floating deck. The method they recommend is to use a non-adhered strip of EPDM underneath the decking sleepers, so that any motion in the decking doesn't stress the roof membrane much. You'll still want some slope in the roof for better drainage, but you can compensate for that in the sleepers, allowing you to have a level walking deck.


One hand in the sink and one hand on the stove, I feel a tingle. How dangerous and how to fix? (Not my home) I was staying with a friend recently and after cooking dinner I was washing up. I had water running in the sink, and one hand in the water rinsing a glass. With my other hand I reached to grab a copper skillet from the electric stove top, to wash it, and I felt a mild tingle across my hands.

Knowing just a little about ac wiring, I was immediately worried and glad my heart was still beating.

My friend wasn't too worried and in fact duplicated my actions just to feel it himself.

I've noticed a couple outlets and pieces of equipment grounded to pipes in the basement.  To remedy the situation he bought a couple brackets and a chunky wire and grounded the plumbing to a copper grounding rod in the ground outside the house.

What caused my electrical sensation?
Is the house safe now or a potential death trap at every water fixture?

The house is not a potential death trap at every water fixture. The house is a potential death trap at the stove.

Improving the grounding of the pipes is worse than useless. The only thing to do to keep your friend alive is to immediately stop using the stove and unplug it until it can be made safe to use, or replaced altogether.

A qualified electrician or appliance repairman may be able to repair it or properly ground it, but the labor cost may exceed that of a new stove.


What kind of cable and connectors are these? My old circulation pumps were connected by armored cable. However, on pre built systems I've see a different kind of cable. It looks almost like an appliance cable with plastic terminators between the pumps and box. Is this something that is generally available? Any issues with issues with code, as long as it's in the open?
Note: I understand the attached picture shows electronic valves and not pumps, but the wiring and connectors are the type in question.

Those are not connectors but are "Cable Gland" style strain reliefs similar to this one:

While this is not the only manufacturer of these products, it is one example:
LAPP USA


Did I blow the motor of my table saw? Cutting some cedar and overworking my Dewalt 10" portable table saw and it slowed down and then shut off. I let it cool for hours, cleaned it of dust and debris, tried another outlet and it has not come back on. It is a 2015 model and doesn't have a reset button or switch on the motor. Did I blow the motor? Do I have to purchase a $110 motor from DeWalt? Is there a way to check for a guy that knows squat?

First call tech line about the situation with Dewalt.  Also look for overload reset button.  That motor should be protected from just such situations.


Regular Outlet to GFCI Outlet with four wire connections and no ground I am changing out another regular outlet to a GFCI outlet and the existing outlet had the four wire connection using all the terminals.  It is an older condo and there are no grounds.  So I thought I would wire the four (two white and two black) the exact way on the new GFCI.  The green light is on but no power in the new GFCI outlet and I cannot push the "test" button.  I have seen mixed responses to similar questions, so I wanted to pose my exact situation.  It is a new Leviton 15A GFCI and based on some other responses to other questions it sounds like I should try to switch the connections (reversing them top to bottom), which I will try when I get back down there, but I am not replacing another GFCI outlet and if the regular outlet replaced has the metal connections intact between the side terminals, I would not think that should matter, but perhaps it does.  Any thoughts or confirmations would be appreciated, I wanted to ask before I swap the wires around (not hot for neutral, but line for load).

Regular receptacles have screws for splits (one switched, one always on or two switched but different circuits or two on separate circuits for higher total power) & for convenience (the way you and most people use them). GFCIs can't do splits and use them for convenience to connect another receptacle only by properly identifying and using LINE vs. LOAD.
Two ways to do this:
Line Only
This is by far the simplest. Pigtail the two blacks together with a short piece of black wire and connect it to the hot screw on the LINE side of the GFCI. Pigtail the two whites together and connect to the neutral screw on the LINE side of the GFCI. Nothing goes on the LOAD side. The new receptacle is protected. No other receptacles on the circuit are protected by this GFCI.
Line and Load
You need to identify which hot & neutral goes back to the panel and which goes on to another receptacle. There are a number of ways to do that - simplest typically is to disconnect all 4 wires, turn the breaker on and see which wires cause a non-contact tester to light up. Connect the "panel" (may be other receptacles in between, and that's OK) wires to the LINE side and the other wires to the LOAD side. Now the new receptacle and everything following it via the LOAD side is protected.
Note that the second method is generally OK and provides additional protection. However, if any of the LOAD side receptacles are things you don't want on a GFCI - e.g., anything like a refrigerator that would have problems if there were a trip of the GFCI and you didn't know about it for a while - then go with the first method.


Can you add a cable connector in knockouts in a breaker box after the wires are already in place? A sub-panel has a cable of three 12 gauge wires for HVAC coming into the box through a big knock out hole.  The HVAC people did not put a connector on the cable.  Is there a connector designed to be added after the fact which would snap around the wires and get pushed into the hole from the inside of the panel?  The panel is in a wall with no good way to get to the outside of the box at this point.

Yes, there are connectors that can be slipped onto the cable and popped into place in the panel knockout. They do not snap over the cable though, you must disconnect the wires and slide the connector over them.

Also, here: http://www.amazon.com/Hubbell-4714B5-Connector-Thermoplastic-Installs/dp/B007IAMVFW/ref=sr_1_19?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1417826273&sr=1-19


plumbing two sinks into one drain kitchen and bathroom vanity and have one vent can I tie my  kitchen sink  into my bathroom vanity sink drain, use same drain for both sinks, they both align on same wall on opposite sides thanks open wall construction, everything is new, and its the only two inch drain available of course there is a vent , this is all that will be tied into this drain, the two sinks, kitchen and bathroom sink, back to back thanks.. monty

It shouldn't be an issue, especially if you're not using both sinks heavily at once. Obviously keep in mind that it's ideal to have a bit more drainage than the 2 sinks combined, just in case.

Keep in mind there may be varying codes depending on local which affect this solution.


Why is there a metal piece in the wall itself? I’m drilling a hole into my outer wall and there is a random metal bit inside the wall. There are no studs or wires... what is it?
In the picture it is just the most bottom part of the hole ( it’s very hard to see srry )

If its a concrete block home it could be the rebar used to tie the roof to the foundation or a tie strap. Then again I have dropped an entire saw into a wall and had to leave it because I couldn't get it out. Someone could have also run a ground or bonding strap depending on the construction. It up to you on whether or not to cut it without looking at the entire construction.


How to insulate already-existing stud walls along block foundation My new (to me) house has a 60-year-old block foundation. The previous owners did little to no insulating in the basement. However, they started to finish a bedroom down there, and got as far as framing the walls and wiring in the outlets and lights. I'm interested in finishing the job.

The framing was done using pressure-treated 2x4s for the sill plates and the studs that border the foundation, and ordinary 2x4s everywhere else. The distance between the studs and the foundation walls varies, but is never more than an inch, and in some places it is barely 1/8 of an inch.

My research tells me that the "right" way to do this would have been to cover the foundation walls with sheets of rigid-foam insulation first, then build the walls in front. Given that it's too late for that, what's the second-best option? Spray foam (expensive!)? Cut rigid foam to fit the spaces between the studs and caulk the seams (time consuming!)? Paint Drylok between and behind the studs, then fill with fiberglass batts? Just use fiberglass and hope for the best (I've been told fiberglass will eventually grow mold if you install it in the humid space adjacent to a foundation wall)?

I live in an area where it stays below freezing for most of the winter. The soil around the house is sandy and well-drained.

here is how we do block wall basement finishing - in almost 30 years i have never had a callback or any complaints about leaks after the fact.  you do have to make sure the foundation is in good shape with no failed blocks or footings.

1)  hire a foundation waterproofing company to come in and shoot urethane foundation sealer (blueseal is what we use.  like drylok, but cheaper and better - thicker coating in non retail 5 gallon pails).  you can also do it yourself with a drywall texture sprayer set to the smallest orifice.  you can use anything you want, but it needs to be silicone or urethane.

2)  before it dries (just follow the installer around), throw big handfuls of chopped fiberglass (check in your area for a fiberglass supplier - its cheap and abundant).  make sure you coat everywhere as much as you can.

3)  once dry, spray again.  dont worry if you miss a reapply window as the chopped glass acts as a mechanical binder.

4)  insulate with mineral wool insulation.  it can get wet and it wont grow mold.  it also self-drains if it does get wet.

5) install an air barrier, not a vapour barrier.  its important you do this step correctly.  the urethane sealant has sealed the wall cavity from the outside, but the blocks still act as a partial insulation void.  you may get some condensation inside the wall, but it wont freeze.  install the air barrier so that the printing faces the studs - this way the inside of the wall can breathe if it needs to.  its the opposite way its normally installed, but its not designed for this purpose.

this approach works surprisingly well because the urethane/glass composite acts as a strong but flexible sealed barrier that resists fracturing in the foundation, and even if cracks form, the urethane can stretch to make sure the water doesn't get in.  the air barrier trick is an old one, but it works really well in walls that may have occasional moisture.

good luck


Is it possible to use waterproof grout + sealer to fix shower room floor leaks? I believe the leakage is at the two corners near the curb. If I pour water to two corners, there will be leakage to first floor. My guess is when the remodeler tiled the shower room floor, they broke the shower pan.

My question is if I remove all the existing grout, and apply waterproof grout, then use grout sealer to treat several times, is that enough to stop water leakage?

Thank you for your time.

You can remove the existing grout, and re-grout with an epoxy grout. It's more expensive than regular grout but it's completely waterproof and you won't need too seal it. It's also much stronger than regular grout.

However, if in fact the shower pan is broken, then this will probably be a temporary fix and you'll know when it fails because the leak will start again. A permanent solution would be to rip up the tile, replace or repair the pan and re-tile and grout. good luck


Is the live block connection to go into the STC1000 correct? The red wire goes into the live block of the STC1000 that I am working with (on the other end.) As I understand it, the red wire should be attached to the right pin (left in the image) of the plug. However the local electrician tells me my current connection as shown in the photo is correct.
Can someone take a look and confirm that the connection is correct with respect to the live block connection?

So from your image: Black is Neutral, Red is live, Green is ground. The left part I suppose is a switch. Everything OK, but the lamp will always glow, if you need to glow only when switched on, then you should connect it to black & blue wire.


Why won't solder melt on copper pipe? I have 3/4" copper pipe outdoors (backyard, above ground), and I am adding a couple tee fittings to branch to a different area.   I am having a hell of a time getting the solder to melt.  My next move is to skip solder and use sharkbite (expensive).  Any ideas on why this is so difficult?    Even if the pipe I'm working is removed from the system (thus, absolutely no water inside) still no luck.

I don't know the age of the pipe.
I'm using

Benzomatic propane (not mapp).
Benzomatic lead free plumbing silver bearing solid wire solder
Benzomatic lead free plumbing water soluble plumbing flux

The old pipes are green (oxidation), but I clean the joints with wire brush.
Fittings are brand new.

Edit: Yes, I'm heating the pipe joint and (trying) to apply solder on opposite side of heat.   My first solder attempt a year ago was successful, main difference is indoor vs outdoor.

4 tips to soldering success.

Physically clean - for copper, that's a bright shiny light-pink
color, achieved through abrasive means. Even new fittings need to be cleaned - they are not shipped in oxygen-proof packaging.
Chemically clean - flux.
Hot enough to melt solder (the pipe, never apply the flame directly to the solder) - apply the flame to the joint and the solder to the joint away from the direct flame. When it starts to smear it's close.
But not too hot or you'll burn the flux and oxidize the copper, at which point you need to take it apart and start over from point 1.

You're almost certainly at point 4 now, if you were trying and failing to melt solder for a while.


What to call a fitting that helps quickly release two PVC pipes? I have a hose that I need to attach to some PVC, but needs to be removable for maintenance. I found some threaded PVC ring, which I can glue to either side, that allows for it to be separated, the problem is there are so many threads, it requires 20-30 rotations, which means the hose needs to be twisted many times, and there isn't much space available for that. What is the name for a kind of fitting that allows for much quicker disconnect of PVC and PVC-sized plastic piping?

A "union" has parts that are fixed to the pipes on either side and a nut that's tightened in the middle to join the two sides without requiring either side to twist.
A set of garden hose thread adapters, especially where the female-threaded one is the swivel type, is another option. It is basically the same in concept as a union.
A "chicago fitting" is commonly used for joining hoses - air hoses in particular, but it's also suitable for water. It requires about 1/4 turn to join or separate.
There are also many "quick disconnect" fittings designed for garden hoses, pressure washers, and so on. These usually do not require any twisting of the pipes to join them. A web search for any of these terms will yield images and suppliers of the various parts.


How do you finish a valve when using pex pipes I'm doing all of my work with expansion PEX. I'm a little puzzled about how to finish the valves where the toilets and sinks connect. Are you supposed to just leave the plastic visible where the valve is sticking out of the wall?

The pex usually goes into fittings that are set into the wall.

I used 1/2” elbow fittings well secured for two sinks and a shower. For the shower the fittings had to be on 153mm centres and a bracket was made for that.

Here is a link to the type I used:
https://www.hornbach.ch/shop/Raccord-de-serrage-angle-de-mur-16x2mm-1-2-IG/7011451/article.html


Installation of a recess can over the shower does it need to be GFCI protected? When installing a recess can over the shower does it need to be placed on a (gfci) ground fault circuit interrupter  circuit?

When you state recess can , the fixture would need to be listed for a wet location in a shower where it may get some spray. If less than 8' above the restricted zone, 410.10.b
Per nec 210.8.a.1 all the receptacles in a bathroom are required to be GFCI protected but not the lighting.


Are outer joists a different distance in "on center" floor framing? I've watched some videos and talked to a contractor buddy about how to do floor framing. "16 inches on center" is the phrase I keep hearing, and I understand that that will ensure a layout divisible by 4 feet.

However, if they were really all 16 inches on center, there would be an extra width of 1 1/2 inches (assuming 2-by framing material) because the outer joists would be a factor of 16 inches in distance on center. Based on reading and watching the proper method, it appears that the outer joists are actually 15 1/4 inches on center from the second joists since they start the second joist at 16 inches on center from the end of the rim joist. Is that correct?

By the way, this is just a tiny shed and I'm not messing around with double joists. But my current best guess it that the outer joists are simply ignored in the N-on-center scheme.

You are correct.

Framing a wall or floor the two outer studs or joists are moved in to compensate for the end of the interval. If you are going for an exact dimension divisible by 4'.

This makes placing 4'x8' sheets of OSB come out nice and even with no waste.

Good luck!


2x6 span as rafter for shed with tin-roof I'm building a goat shed - total size is 16' x 24'. The tin roof (lean-to) will run the 16' length. Can I use a 2x6 for the rafters? Could go 16 or 24" OC. Thanks.

Update from responses: roof is 1/8 pitch 8 ‘ off the ground near Houston (snow load is not a factor). Don’t have goats yet.

If you look at the span tables here

http://www.southernpine.com/span-tables/joists-rafters/

And look at a table for roof rafters for a very light load, "RAFTERS – 20 PSF LIVE LOAD, 10 PSF DEAD LOAD, 240 DEFLECTION, CD = 1.25"

http://www.southernpine.com/app/uploads/SPtable41_060113.pdf

You'll see there's a maximum span of 16'-4" for 2x6's spaced 12" - so you might get away with it.

Even without the goat factor, I'd bump up to 2x8's for sure.


Should my AC condenser and evaporator be the same size? It's difficult to find a consistent straight answer on this. I asked earlier today on Reddit, and was told "It’s common to upsize the indoor (evaporator) coil to get greater efficiency".

When I search "next size up evaporator greater efficiency", these are the top results:

"Yes, it’s bad if your evaporator coils are sized bigger or smaller than your condenser coils."
People arguing 9 years ago on a forum about whether you want the condenser smaller or larger. Little agreement suggests people don't know what they're talking about.
"Matching Evaporator and Condenser Coils – An Absolute Must"

Number 6 says "Mismatched Coils Can Really Mess Things Up". Number 5 says "I usually go a half ton larger on the evap coil. The added surface area slows airflow and you get better heat and dehumidification.", while the answer to "Can you Oversize an evaporator coil?" says the exact opposite: "After extensive research, we have found that having a matched or oversized evaporator coil will not control humidity enough. Rather it increases the humidity level in the home, especially at night. The reason is that the evaporator cannot get cold enough to properly dehumidify the air, causing your air to feel sticky and humid."

I've tried other search phrases, and the results are generally the same: all over the place. I think this is a representative sample, so I won't bother exhaustively listing them all.

What's the truth? Is there any evidence to back up the claims of a particular side?

You have done a fair amount of research as you can see this an art and depending on what you want lower operating cost or dryer air the answer can be different.

To me I like much dryer air for 2 reasons the first is how much cooler and comfortable it feels, the second reason cool high humid conditions are a great mold factory in the ducts I found this out later on industrial systems.

The control of your system also has some affect where the sizes are exact and a very high efficiency throttle valve system setup it may not get as cold and not remove as much moisture unless set on a less efficient setting, again it is a power savings vs comfort to get in the mid to upper 20 seer the coil is not as cold so not as much moisture is removed, but down around 18 seer the coil gets really cold and removes a bunch of moisture. So even with a exact match there can be trade offs.

My split I think 23 or 24 seer has a dehumidifier setting that we cycle on 2-4 times a day depending on how humid it is.

Sorry to add another variable into your research but almost every system I have installed is slightly different so there is not a one size fits all unless you have a system that can vary it’s pumping rate then an equal match is best so you have efficiency for most of the day and dehumidifier for a couple of hours.


Outlet with two different circuits Have a question on wiring a duplex receptacle. My living room presently has several outlets that are controlled (completely, top and bottom) by a switch. It also has outlets that are not controlled by a switch and are always on. What I'd like to do is convert one of the existing outlets to have the bottom be constantly powered and the top be fed by daisy chaining from one of the outlets controlled by the switch. My plan is to break both hot and neutral tabs and have the 2 wire from each go to the receptacle. Is there a problem doing this? Let me know if it doesn't make sense.

Thanks
Dan

If you can Daisy chain from one of the existing outlets the correct way to do this would be to break both tabs to make sure you are using the same neutral as the hot. It is that easy and would be code compliant.


My washer keeps tripping my gfci I recently rewired an old house.  The laundry room is on its own circuit and the washer plugs directly into the gfci outlet.  Everything seemed to be working great.  The lights works and the outlets worked to plug in a shop vac or other various things. When I tried to install the washer and plugged it in,The washer started to fill with water and then tripped the breaker which is a 20 amp dual gfci afic. When i flipped the breaker I plugged a 6amp screw gun into the recepticial it worked fine so I tried my 9amp saw and once again it tripped the circuit. I am stumped.  Any suggestions?

Do not plug anything that has a big motor (like a washer) into a GFCI outlet.

Motors have big surge circuit controllers that can cause unpredictable imbalances in line load that will trip a GFCI even though there is no current leakage.


Correct transition for pvc conduit to liquid tight flexible conduit on a concrete slab I am installing conduit for a hot tub.  I have conduit coming up from underground at the edge of the slab and I wondering how to transition it to liquid tight flexible conduit on top of the slab.  The poorly drawn image below illustrates what I was thinking of doing.  Is this ok or would it be better to bend the conduit or use a 90 degree over the corner and use a straight connector to join the pvc to the liquid tight conduit?  I am planning on using 2' x 2' deck tiles to cover up the slab and the conduit after everything is installed. Thanks.

Your plan will work but depending on the distances in each direction, pulling the large wires that a hot tub requires could be tough. Think about using a PVC LB similar to the one pictured below. It's neat and clean and you can pull wires much easier with the LB access. You would have to stub a small  piece of PVC to the LB and use a female adapter to accept the liquid tight straight connector(Thanks to @ThreePhaseEel).


20 amp circuit breaker trips after using 15 amp miter saw Over the past few days I've been doing some cutting with a miter saw rated at 15 amps. And afterwards, when I would be cleaning up with my shop vac (11 amp) the circuit breaker would trip. Both times I just reset the breaker and continued vacuuming with no issues. The circuit is labeled 20 amp GFI on the panel and as far as I see it controls 3 outlets in my garage. The receiver from my cable company is plugged into one, garage door opener in another. And the third outlet is the one I use for the saw and the vacuum cleaner.

At first I thought it was the shop vac and the filter did look dirty and clogged, however I would think that it would trip the breaker every time I'd use it, which isn't the case at all. Plus it doesn't sound like it's overheating or struggling to pull in the dust and it would be the only thing working at that time. I'm not sure how it can be the saw either, since it doesn't trip WHILE I use it. I actually remembered another time the same circuit breaker tripped, which was again a few minutes after I made a cut with the saw and nothing else was on. I again just reset the breaker and didn't think much of it.

The outlets don't feel warm to the touch, no buzzing noises or smells, and I used an outlet tester to confirm that all are properly wired. It would make sense to me if the breaker tripped while I was making a cut with the saw, vacuuming and opening the garage door all at the same time, but this just seems very strange that it would happen a few minute afterwards. Does the circuit stay "warm" for some time after the load is removed? The circuit also never trips unless I'm doing something in the garage, so it again tells me it can't be anything other than the saw or the shop vac, however I just can't see how either one of them could be doing it by themselves. I'm going to call an electrician to have a look at the outlets as I'm not comfortable doing any sort of electrical troubleshooting myself, but does anyone have an explanation of what might be happening here? Thank you.

A large inductive load, such a motor starting, often causes a ground-fault circuit interrupter to trip even when there is no fault in the device. A snubber, a small capacitor and resistor across the line, can help mitigate the issue. A voltage surge protector can also help, but avoid protectors with large varistors from line to ground, which can also trigger the GFCI.

You might also need a Class C or other type of GFCI which allows greater fault current to flow for a longer time, depending on shop voltage, appliance grounding and insulation.


Stair riser templating when treads are already in I've made a huge mistake.

Got new treads / risers / skirt boards.

The treads don't have a groove for the riser, it's a flush tread all around.

Installed the risers (nailed in) then the treads (glued down).

I used a stair template tool to get the precise cut for the risers and the tread since the wall is not true.

Wife didn't like the white risers, so we decided to replace them.

However, the idiot that I am, built a shelf out the old risers and now can't place my template because the tread is in the way.

I could get a template by using a compass tool (if I cut the 6" arm down) but I worry that I won't get the bottom stair tread distance accurate enough because there's no great way to get a tape measure in there and get a precise reading.

I don't trust the accuracy of the laser measure either.

Any suggestions ?

I also realized I might have issues inserting the riser so I figured I would table saw the top of it at 45 degrees since it will be covered up by trim anyways.

If you must template, do what the countertop guys do: 3" strips of luan (or something like 1/4" ply), hot glued together in the corners with a couple of staples for good measure.


Does a continuously running furnace pilot light need a spark ignitor? I have a very old gas furnace with a continuously running pilot light.  The system has a spark ignitor that has recently gone bad but I'm wondering why the furnace ever had the ignitor installed if the pilot light is constantly on?  I assumed spark ignitors were only necessary for furnaces that didn't have a continuously running pilot light.
The picture does not have the pilot light running.

Does a continuously running furnace pilot light need a spark igniter?

It does not "NEED" one as the pilot light can also be lit with match or a lighter but it is  more convenient to use the igniter. The igniter is only needed if the pilot goes out and needs to be re-lit.
The igniter is for lighting the pilot light, not the furnace.
If you ever have to shut your gas off for any reason,  such as service  or vacation or if the pilot  just goes out, you can use the igniter to light the pilot light.
Once the pilot light is lit it stays on (should stay on) and when the furnace needs to fire up the constant pilot provides the flame needed to ignite the burners.
Most, if not all, modern appliances that have combustion now have electronic spark igniters so  there is no need to have a constantly lit pilot.
Pilot Lights Wikipedia
Pilot Light Safety


Smelly old paint on walls I decided to paint the downstairs bathroom. A girlfriend insisted on helping and was predetermined on saving me money(so she says, now I think she was trying to sabotage) by bringing me paint that she had left over from a remodel. Well when my brother-in-law opened the paint(by the way it was a I think 5 gal container)he was like "WOW, that smells really bad, like water dripped or had gotten in the container." She swore up and down that it wasn't bad, yada, yada, yada..Now my bathroom smells soooo bad, like mold. Only two walls have been painted. But that's two walls too many. So my question is how and the hell do I get rid the smell, because it's been about three weeks and it still smells. Do I need to strip the paint? I even tried covering it with a new color and you can still smell it. HELP!!!!

Short answer: It will have to air out for weeks to months.

It may be possible to heat the room up as hot as you can get it to speed the out-gassing process.

Moral of the story: NEVER paint with old sour paint.

Good luck!


Connect light with 3 wires to box with 6 wires I'm trying to replace a couple pendant lights in my kitchen, I replaced the first one just fine but I'm not sure how to wire the second light. Both lights are controlled by one switch, and I've attached an image of the wires for the light I still need to connect. x

The light fixture has 1 white, 1 black and a ground. I'd appreciate help wiring this light, and also just understanding what is going on with this setup. I don't have a wire tester at the moment, but as soon as it isn't so icy I'm going to go get one.

Edit: the small piece of wire fell out when I was taking the light off, I think it was connecting a couple of these other wires.

Color distinguish wires in cables, it does not connote wire function. If you want the latter, you can mark wires with tape.   There's one exception, neutral wires must be white but white wires don't have to be neutral.

So the all-white gaggle must be neutral, and since your lamp actually does need neutral, your lamp white should go there.  The pigtail probably fell out of that.

The black-white gaggle cannot be neutral, since black cannot be neutral.  Therefore neither can the white wire.  This is surely an always-hot wire, going onward to the switch in a switch loop. The third most recent Code change requires in switch loops, white must be the always-hot, so it is obviously hot and is not confused with neutral*.

Grounds are simple, all grounds connect together.  Green, yellow/green and bare a reserved for grounds and vice versa.

That leaves the two blacks plus the black on the lamp.  These are all accounted for: one is switched-hot from the switch.  One is onward power to the other lamp.  The third is obviously the lamp.  All these go together.

*The second most recent Code change requires white wires so used actually be re-colored with tape. The most recent Code change requires actual neutral to be wired to switch loops, so white is reserved for that.)


What is the absolute minimum garage door size that will still fit a (small) car? Is 2.1 m enough?

I am constructing a set of outward-opening timber ledge-and-brace doors for a workshop, through which one day someone may wish to take a car. Vehicle-storage is not the current intended use of the room, but I don't want to completely exclude that use for someone later down the track.

So my question is, what is the narrowest door I can build that will still permit a car to pass through? I'm happy to exclude large vehicles (SUVs and the like), because it's not a huge workshop anyway, it's got a low ceiling, and this is a pretty built-up urban area where most people have smallish cars.

I've read on forums that an average car width is 1.6–1.9 m; I've no data to back that up though.

Oh, and I want to make a narrow door because they'll be lighter and cheaper, and because I don't want to give up too much internal wall-space to the door (to reserve space for shelves etc.).

Here's an example of (sort of) what I'm doing:

Thanks!

Update: this is how they ended up:

The door doesn't need to be much wider than the car - 10cm or 4 inches either side of the mirrors should be plenty in a straight line.  But it's conventional to make the door very nearly as wide as the garage, for ease of access especially if you need to turn.

I've got a fairly typical UK family size car, and it's just under 1.8m including mirrors.  Even a modern supermini isn't much narrower than this. I suggest you pick a car of the size you've got in mind, and Google that model plus "dimensions".  Then you have to estimate how precisely you can line the car up.  With a line marked on the ground, and leaning out of the window, I know I can get to within ±2 cm on side-to-side positioning, lined up straight, but it's slow and boring (this is lining a van up to an awning). So I've increased by a factor of 10 for safety/convenience margin.

This would lead to 2 m as a minimum width for a fairly normal car.  This would feel quite tight but be doable.  You would of course have to have the garage wider inside to allow opening the doors.  Smaller cars can need more width as they're often 3-door, which means bigger doors; this effect can be bigger than the reduction in car width.


Do I need to ground black gas pipe? The backstory:

My HVAC friend, my dad and myself installed new gas pipes in my house after the 40 y/o pipe started leaking.  Suffice to say, the old pipe was beyond repair, every retightening of the pipe resulted in the next elbow becoming lose to the point, I would be tearing out drywall, air ducts and possibly beams to access it.  So we ran new pipe.

We got the permit, had the county do the inspection.  It passed, and we had Xcel (electric and gas utilities) come out and replaced the meter which was also old and leaking, and turn on the gas.

The setup passed inspection with a larger than needed ground wire going from the black pipe, near the meter, to a grounding pole going 5 feet underground.  Xcel comes out today to replace the meter and hook up the gas and says my grounding wire cannot be there, that it will ruin the meter and rust the pipe where the wire clamps to the pipe and that a small current runs from my appliances to the meter.  There is about 9 combined feet of pipe exposed outside, from the meter to where the pipe enters the house.  I asked, what if lightning strikes the pipe and the Xcel guy says "Lightning will hit another part of the house first."  So I call my HVAC, ask his opinion, I talk to a retired Master PLumber at Home Depot, and the county Fire Marshall and they all agree that it should be grounded.  Oddly enough the Fire Marshall comments, "even if lightning hits the pipe, nothing will happen".

Remember, this is a black iron pipe installation, not CGGT.  It is black iron pipe all the way from the meter to the room with the water heater and furnace.  From the black pipe, a yellow flex pipe goes to the water heater, and a stainless steel flex pipe goes to the furnace.

So the plumbers and county is saying something different than Xcel.  Should the pipe be grounded?  Is bonding at the furnace enough?

Can I put a thin layer of something between the clamp and the black pipe?  Foam, thin plastic, wax paper?  The Fire Marshall suggested dirt ?!?

According to National Electrical Code, the pipe has to be bonded. However, it can be bonded using the grounding conductor serving the equipment that uses the gas.

...The equipment grounding conductor for the circuit that is likely to energize the piping shall be permitted to serve as the bonding means...

As for lightning strikes, the gas company is probably correct. It's not likely lightning will strike the pipe, especially since it's right next to a house.

National Electrical Code 2014
Chapter 2 Wiring and Protection
Article 250 Grounding and Bonding
250.104 Bonding of Piping Systems and Exposed Structural Steel.
(B) Other Metal Piping. If installed in, or attached to, a building or structure, a metal piping system(s), including gas piping, that is likely to become energized shall be bonded to the service equipment enclosure; the grounded conductor at the service; the grounding electrode conductor, if of sufficient size; or to one or more grounding electrodes used. The bonding conductor(s) or jumper(s) shall be sized in accordance with 250.122, using the rating of the circuit that is likely to energize the piping system(s). The equipment grounding conductor for the circuit that is likely to energize the piping shall be permitted to serve as the bonding means. The points of attachment of the bonding jumper(s) shall be accessible.


Why do air conditioners have thermostats, not humidistats? I've noticed it over the years in various living quarters: an inside A/C temperature setting that's appropriate and comfortable for a given outside temperature is quite unbearable when the outside temperature changes (to result in a different number of A/C runs).

One may think this due to the positioning of the thermostat, but I think the problem is elsewhere — humidity.

As such, I'm curious why is it so common that air conditioning control units only have a thermostat, which so often requires such frequent adjusting when the outside temperature changes? Wouldn't it make more sense to have some sort of a humidistat instead, which would be set at a given point, and would, supposedly, require no further adjustment?

Is there any solution to this effect?

Maybe a control unit that lets you set a cooling value based on humidex, instead of °C / °F?  I'd much rather set my HVAC to 27 humidex for the whole cooling season, than keep adjusting it between 21°C and 27°C, up and down, all the time.

Some newer thermostats now offer a humidity setting.  So you can either choose to run your a/c to achieve a specified temperature setting or a specified humidity setting.  (I have an LG window A/C unit that has a humidity setting.)

I live in an area where our humidity level is pretty constant (6%-10%) except for maybe August, so humidity is not a big factor here.  I can see that in some places humidity may have a greater factor.

If a thermostat had a "feels like" setting, which took into account temperature and humidity, that would be ideal.  When the humidity in our area does jump up, my wife often complains she is freezing even though the thermostat is set to the same 72°F it always was.

If you do replace your thermostat look for one that also includes a "fan circulation mode" that will run every once in a while to move the air around without turning the compressor on.  This can create a dramatic cooling effect without changing the humidity level or wasting electricity.


Does a fixture connected directly to the ground stack (vented) need to be vented separately? I'm adding a shower in the basement (there was a half-bathroom already) and the new drain is literally right by the stack (probably few feet away, 3-4' max), so I would think the air coming from the stack itself (which is vented in the upper floors) would be more than enough to prevent any siphoning here, but I want to make sure that is the case and find out what code says about it. What are the conditions for a pipe to be acceptable as a wet-vent?

And, if I can't use that as a wet-vent, would an inline vent (like sure-vent) suffice in my case?

Thank you in advance for your insights.

========

Edit:

here is an actual image ( the Pex pipes are only there to get the copper pipes out of way! )

I also draw where the new shower drain will go and the possibility of a cheater vent in the wall.

Generally speaking: A Stack (even if it's vented) is not a Vent if it has a toilet on it above the point you want to use it as a vent. Older installs may not respect this. There were problems with not respecting this, code changed to solve them.
You can run a (dry) vent up to a point "6 inches (or more) above the flood rim of the highest fixture on the floor served" and join to the Stack where it IS a vent. In that case it would be the highest floor served, but you can join vents for the basement 6 inches above the flood rim of the highest fixture in the basement - but you can't then join that to a stack with a toilet above. You can run it parallel to the stack until you are 6" above the highest fixture and then join the stack.


How do I choose a water-based primer? I am about to paint a room with a water based enamel. Old coating is matt latex, I must be overly zealous when priming and painting it.

My main problem is finding a good primer, shopping around I have found and tested 2, both acrylic, one tinted (primer 1) and one not tinted (primer 2). Testing them on melamine (to simulate poor adhesion) I have found that:

Primer 1 is very thick, easy to apply, dries dead matt but is easy to wash off and strip with just water, even after 3 days.

Primer 2 is thick, calls for a 4:1 water/primer dilution (runs and drips like crazy) but when used undiluted on melamine is a tad easier to apply, covers well, dries slowly to a semi glossy sheen and cannot be removed with water, I have to use ethanol or scrape. Unlike primer 1 this one did have adhesion issues in one test (see attached photo, I have reproduced it with a paint).

My questions are:

Will the fact that Primer 1 can be removed with just water affect the adhesion and durability of it in a moist room? What about the paint's?
Will the gloss in Primer 2 affect the paint's adhesion? I know gloss surfaces do not stick as nicely, and I can't sand.
Those are all acrylic primers, Primer 2 has a decent solid content and high viscosity, would an acryl-styrene primer with an even higher solid content be better? Or is acrylic the way to go?

TIA

If you want good paint performance, it's less about the paint and more about the surface preparation.  You have to remove dirts and oils from the old surface, and scuff up the surface so there is some microscopic roughness for the new paint to adhere to.

Scuff-sand with a Scotchbrite style kitchen sponge lightly passed.  If you're galling up clumps of paint you are doing it too hard. There's no significant risk of lead dust, but if you're worried about that, keep the sponge wet instead of moist.

I hear "can't sand".  The paint doesn't care.  If you don't roughen the surface, it won't stick and will fall off in a few years.

Clean with Tri Sodium Phosphate or equivalent product, but thoroughly rinse it off.

If you're looking for a "product in a can" that will do this prep for you, there's no such thing.

As far as thickness, emulsion/latex paints are supposed to be very thick.  Most come out of the can ready for application by roller, brush or airless sprayer.  If you must reduce, follow the can's instructions.

If you have a very challenging surface, you need first tip-top prep, and if you must hire it, do so.  And then you need an oil primer. Fooling around with water based primers is a risk.

Once the prep is done, if I must use a water based primer, it's Kilz 2 simply because it's available everywhere.  For bare metal I insist on at least oil based Rustoleum 7769 Rusty Metal Primer (which still needs prep to SSPC-SP2 bare minimum, pref. SSPC-SP3).


Are whole-house GFCIs legal in the US? Over here in Europe, a common approach to GFCI (RCD) protection is to have one (three-phase) 30 mA GFCI breaker as the main breaker (or something similar such as one GFCI per (sub)panel or one shared GFCI for all the outlet circuits). Per-circuit GFCI breakers are mostly seen only in new construction if you want a real fancy panel. GFCI sockets are not a thing here.

The main advantage of this solution (apart from being cheaper) is that it's trivial to retrofit to older houses without having to disentangle all the neutrals first. One could also say that it's safer, because it forces people to actually fix the fridge that trips the GFCI instead of removing the GFCI. (The main breaker can't be replaced without calling in the utility company, which would obviously take a dim view of removing mandatory protection.)

However, my impression is that such a central GFCI setup is completely unheard of in the US. Is it so? Does the NEC theoretically allow such a solution? Do some homeowners go for it anyway to save a couple hundred bucks on GFCI breakers?

The protections do totally different things

Seriously, you do not understand the purpose of RCDs in Europe. All our attempts to make electricity safer are based on compromises between what is possible and what is affordable/implementable. These are greatly swayed by accident data which tells what kinds of accidents actually happen there. Which in turn reflects on housing stock and culture.

Parallel arc-fault protection is about arcing faults between Hot-Neutral, Hot-Ground or Neutral-Ground, which make heat.
Series arc-fault protection is about arcing faults inside an intended connection on a hot or neutral wire, which make heat.
Ground fault protection is about wayward (residual) current returning through some alternate current path, e.g. a human.

Europe's goal is to as cheaply as possible provide parallel arc-fault protection...  while providing some very limited degree of personnel anti-shock protection.

America's goal is to protect human lives from electrical shock where small-appliance receptacle outlets are near water.  Arc fault protection doesn't even enter into it.  GFCIs are usually in the wrong location to provide any sort of effective arc-fault protection; but they provide excellent parallel H-G and N-G protection (and none at all for H-N).  Arc-fault will come later as a separate initiative.

Let's try it Europe's way

You can put American, human rated GFCI on a whole-house if you really want to.  Easy enough; just get a 60A GCCI spa subpanel and power a larger subpanel from that. 60A@240V is large enough for every load in an American house except the fixed 240V ones like water heater, A/C, EVSE, range, electric dryer, etc.  Spa panels are about the price of a 2-pole GFCI breaker, so you won. Congrats.

snap

Wow, all your lights went out.  What happened?

Well, you know those six smart switches you insisted on installing on your old switch loops, where they had separate green and bare wires, and the instructions said put the green on neutral if you have it, otherwise put it on ground?  Each of those returns 0.5 ma on ground.  Your bathroom fan, that has a 0.4 ma leak to ground. Your cheap PC power supply has a 0.9 ma leak. The coffee maker, 0.4 ma. The fridge, 1.5 ma.

"But wait.  I have these exact same appliances in Chateau TooTea in France.  Why don't they trip the RCD there???"

Since US breakers are focused on human safety, they trip at 5 milliamps.   Europe only is after parallel arc faults, so they threshold at 30 milliamps, precisely so these numerous micro-faults do not "stack" to cause the RCD to constantly nuisance-trip.  30ma gives enough headroom that such trips aren't a problem.  The downside is it sucks at human safety.

"But they're spread out! There isn't more than 2ma on any one------ Oh... right. Curse my whole-house GFCI!"

... And that's why Americans use per-circuit GFCIs.  It allows our detection threshold to be low enough to protect humans.

Alright, lesson learned, let's try a 30ma whole-house

Yeah, that would actually work, but it would work in the European way, being a watch dog for H-G and N-G arc faults in in-house wiring.

Now one problem in American homes is that you have a few very large appliances that don't really benefit from GFCI or AFCI if they're grounded - range, A/C, water heater, dryer, EVSE, electric emergency heat on heat pumps, etc. If you recall before, I excluded them from the 60A GFCI panel because they're too big - they'd gobble up the GFCI capacity without benefiting from it. So I'd recommend doing the exact same thing here.

OK, what did this buy you?

Very weak GFCI protection on the circuits that don't already have it
Parallel H-G and N-G arc fault protection
No H-N parallel arc fault protection
No series arc fault protection.

For a grandfathered house that will not have per-circuit Combination AFCI protection anytime soon, would that be an improvement?  Sure.

For a modern house with 2017 tier GFCI+AFCI protection, probably a complete waste.

Dat wascally wefwigewatah

  One could also say that it's safer, because it forces people to actually fix the fridge that trips the GFCI instead of removing the GFCI.

How is it safer exactly? What a silly thing to worry about.

Mind you, you must consider perspective: Americans are after human safety, where GFCI'ing a grounded fridge accomplishes nothing.  In the European perspective, it reduces fires caused by >30ma parallel arc faults on the wiring to the fridge, or inside the fridge.  Which is a thing that could actually happen.  And, the ordinary fridge ground faults that vex Americans are almost never over 30ma.  So they would never trip a European home at all.

Keep in mind, when you hear about fridges tripping GFCIs, the fridge may not be faulting at 5ma.  It may be on the same circuit with that coffee grinder, those two smart switches, etc. which all stack to 5ma.

  The main advantage of this solution (apart from being cheaper) is that it's trivial to retrofit to older houses without having to disentangle all the neutrals first.

They're not supposed to be entangled in the first place.   And one thing you'll hear me say a lot (to newbs) about GFCI receps is "Stop using LOAD. Seriously. For wizards only."  And the reason I say that is so novices can avoid issues with the downline, such as ground-faulting hardwired appliances and crossed neutrals that the novice is really not prepared to fix.  It would be marvelous if everything got fixed 100%, but that is not going to happen.

Also the vast majority of so-called "entanglements" are actually intentional multi-wire branch circuits.  Those are fine. They need 2-pole AFCI (in most cases) and either 2-pole GFCI or per-receptacle GFCI.


How to properly level / build a fence for in my back yard? I'm building a fence in my backyard it's about 300ft of fence and this is my first time doing a project like this.

I wasn't 100% sure the best method for leveling, my yard is mostly flat no big slopes but there is some grades to it like with any yard as no yard is perfectly flat. Each side of the fence will run about 100ft.

I started off running the back braces perfectly level to the ground using a 4ft level and making sure they were perfect on installing each one but I soon noticed as I'm moving further down the line that there is a decent size grade and my bottom post as I move further down is around 8 inches higher off the ground then when I started.

In the second picture you can see how I'm building the front panels which I leveled the top border of that panel too which is sloping up and If I continue this router by the end of the fence line going level I'll be 8 inches or so off the ground which I don't want.

So my question is what is the best way I should be doing this? My yard I thought looked pretty level but it appears it's not nearly as I thought.

Do I get the idea of level completely out of my mind and for the braces just measure up from the ground and keep them all the same and have the panels flow with the movement of the ground?

Any help would be great appreciated. Thank you.

Level Each Section
With a gradual slope - i.e., no more than a couple of inches per section - I would make each section level but with some offset an inch or two as needed so that each section is approximately the same distance from the ground.


Drilling into a bathtub I am trying to install a bath shower door . I need to drill holes into my tub and I am using a Milwaukee Drill with Dewalt titanium drill bit set. I am not sure what sort of bath tub mine is (fiber glass or metal) but I am having a hard time drilling 2 pilot holes. I held the drill for 20 secs and still nothing. Do I hold it for longer? What is the correct drill bit I use?

It looks like you're starting with a pretty large bit. I like to use the smallest bit I have (don't apply too much pressure, as skinny bits break easy) and work up. You're drilling more holes overall, but each one goes a lot quicker.


How to fix water leak between tub and shower walls Less than a year ago we remodeled our bathroom.  A new tub and shower panels were installed.  I was told by the contractor that it was not necessary to caulk between tub and shower panels due to the new interlocking panel designs.  I requested it still be caulked.
In less than a month, a crack had formed in the caulk.  I wasn't overly concerned based the prior discussion with the contractor.
Well, now I have a water leak that trickles behind the caulk out to the edge of the tub/panels.  My drywall is wet and hole has now formed!
I have had a second contractor in for an estimate to fix the leak.  He stated there is really nothing out there to prevent this from leaking.  Stated he can remove old caulk and replace it with a upgraded caulk.  If that does not work, then possibly having to replace new shower panels with tile.
I can not justify this huge cost for a new bathroom less than a year old.  Any suggestions?
Betsy

I would avoid caulking again as it's likley to become a re-occuring problem, it's best to fix the source issue.

Contact the original contractor, they may repair the work if it's under warranty.

If they are unwilling, check with your local regulations as your original contractor may be liable for repairs, certainly seems like a fault with the original installation.

Home insurance may also cover you for repairs, if you are insured contact your agent even if only to register a case number early on in case it blows up to something that will need coverage.

If you are stuck without any of those options and don't want to overspend, there are companies that specialise in sealing bathrooms over tiles/panels using specialised  sealents, you should be able to find one that will do the job for under $200/$300 - ensure they provide at least year warranty. Google 'over tile waterproofing'.


Can I paint the background of my gas fireplace? I want to paint the background of my gas fireplace (behind the logs) a lighter color so the logs and fire will be more visible.  Do you know of a paint I can use to do this?

Yes.  These are painted all the time.  I just used this for a traditional wood burning fireplace.  You can search for fireplace paint but really you are looking for it to withstand the max temperature.  Since yours is gas I am guessing your max is well less than 1000 F.

Also most fireboxes are painted black so you can see the fire easier.  And because of the heat a lighter color may get burn marks in it from the heat.


How do I replace a non-removable hose connection vacuum breaker? Need advice on how to replace a Watts Series 8 Model 8A non-removable vacuum breaker.

You do know the meaning of non-removable, right? That being said, you'll need to replace the spigot. Those fittings have a brake-away threading system that allows you to tighten them for installation but breaks away the sleeve from the threads if you try to turn it counterclockwise. Something like the safety caps on pill bottles. Now, I have removed them with a Dremel drill with a cutoff wheel and carefully cut the breaker off of the spigot but it was a slow process so I wouldn't damage the threads on the spigot. the next time I came across one that had to be removed, i just replaced the spigot and added a new breaker.


Cut cord on window A/C I have a window A/C unit mounted through a hole in the wall. It's bolted in place, so fairly permanent. It has a 6ft power cord with what looks like a GFI on the end. I think the cord is ugly, so I'd like to cut it and hardwire it inside the wall. Are there any safety concerns, and does this violate any codes? I think I would drill a hole in the wall right next to the A/C, send the cord through that and connect to the back of the nearby duplex outlet. I believe the built-in power cord is stranded, so not sure if it's rated for in-wall use.

Flexible cords and cables cannot be used in place of house wiring (NEC 400.8(1))  They also cannot pass through walls (NEC 400.8(2)).

See this answer for more detail.

Cutting the cord also likely voids the UL listing of the product, not to mention the fact that you'll lose GFCI protection.

Hardwiring the unit would also mean you'd have to reevaluate the overcurrent protection, and possibly increase the breaker and conductor size.  This could also mean that you'd have to remove other outlets (receptacle, lighting, etc.), to reduce the risk of overloading the circuit.


How did they get constant hot and neutral at far switch? My sister had some renovations done and we don't know how they ran the wire (don't bury your junction boxes!!!). I have a wire tracer and am working through them, so we will get there, but I am not convinced they wired everything correctly.
The way the old wiring worked was there were two switches that controlled one light in the middle of the room. At the light, two outlets were branched off. This arrangement kept the outlets hot and allowed for constant power at the remote switch, which then allowed for another light to be run off the remote switch. I didn't think much of it when I helped her remove the switches, but when I saw the junction box it was unlike anything I'd seen.
Questions:

How did this wiring work?
Is/was this allowed?

My suspicion is the guys didn't re-wire it this way, so she will not have constant hot at the far end of the room.
This picture is the junction box before rewiring, at the light controlled by two switches. You can see the additional wires from the outlets branching off.

I’ll be darned.  I’ve never seen one of those before in the wild.
It’s a “Carter” 3-way

How did this wiring work?

It’s specifically for a case where the lamp is between the 3-way switches.  Always-Hot and neutral go to each switch, and through the lamp without connecting to it.   Obviously hot and neutral can also extend from or beyond either 3-way.  So we have hot and neutral everywhere (except the lamp doesn’t use either one).
Now, each of the 3-ways has 1 traveler going to the lamp.   The 3-way connects the traveler either to always-hot, or to neutral.   This gives us 4 conditions.
 Sw1    Sw2       Resulting state
 Neu    Neu       Lamp does not light. Socket is neutral.
 Neu    Hot       Lamp lights.  Socket is hot, obviously.
 Hot    Neu       Lamp lights.  Socket is hot, obviously.
 Hot    Hot       Lamp does not light. SOCKET IS HOT!

Is/was this illegal?

Oh you bet it was, because of that last case there.  Holy smoke-Andy!  The Edison shell is electrified at all, normally that’s impossible since it’s keyed to neutral and unswitched; and to compound the crime, it’s hot with the switch off! No, no, no!
However, we now live in an age where “bulbs” outlast “fixtures”, and therefore, the bulb socket is no longer useful and is only another failure point.  As such, it’s being done away with altogether.   Alternately, we have new socket designs such as GU24 specifically keyed to prevent incandescent use, and those are Euro-influenced (Europe doesn’t polarize, so they want to insulate both contacts).  This casts the Carter 3-way in a new light.
Personally, I don’t see a problem with it, as long as a) the fixture is bulbless and hardwired (I’ll guess Code supports my interpretation there), or b) the bulb socket is a modern “both pins protected” type like GU24 (and I’ll guess Code does not agree).
How to fix it
So.  My advice is to a) leave it, and b) fit a bulbless lamp there. You certainly don’t want anything with an Edison socket.   If the spouse is in love with a particular chandelier with Edison, then re-do the wiring as follows:

The traveler to one switch gets deprecated; cap it off on both ends.
The traveler to the other switch becomes switched-hot to the switch.
Place a smart-switch “master” at the switch box with switched-hot.
Place a smart-switch “remote” at the switch box with the deprecated wire.  It won’t use red at all.

Boy, I winding up to write you a solution with steam-era switches, then I realized “what am I doing, this is the 21st century”.
You will need to select smart switches that use wireless or powerline signaling, and whose remote wants always-hot and neutral.


Temporarily Unmounting Garage Door Opener for Repair The plastic gear in my CRAFTSMAN 139.53973SRT garage door opener needs to be replaced.

I can buy the replacement part without any problem.

But since this is the first time I am doing this, my questions are:

Is it possible to replace this gear
without unmounting the garage door opener?
If this isn't possible, how do I unmount the garage door opener with minimum effort and time investment?

I found the answer at http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/garages/msg0321575526348.html?38 - here it is:

First off you don't have to replace the worm gear. Second, you need to make sure that the bushings in the gear kit are not worn. You can tell by looking and the very top of the unit, you will see ground up metal, or on the top of your drive gear will have a bunch of ground up metal. If this is the case you will need to get a 41C4220A which is the complete gear kit.

Otherwise replacing the gear is a cinch.

Unplug the opener and pull the cover
off.
You will see two roll pins in the
shaft that the gear slides onto.
Position the gear so that you can
use a 5/32nd punch to drive out the
bottom roll pin. Your gear maybe
worn enough that you can grab it by
hand and position it, or you may
have to hit the opener button and
stop it so that it is in position.
At the bottom of that shaft you have
a smaller gear that drives the limit
assembly. Pull the triton shaped
keeper out and slide it off the
shaft.
Remove the limit switches. They snap
into the bottom of the motor
housing. You remove them by lightly
squeezing them together on the end
closest the gear you just removed.
Leave all the wires connected to the
limit switches. Unplug the RPM
Sensor. It is located to the left of
that big black cup on the back of
the motor shaft, it has a four pin
connector.
On the left and right side of the
motor housing you will see four
black bolts holding the motor
housing up. Use a 5/16th socket and
remove all four of them.
Slide the motor housing off the
shaft (you can let the motor hang)
and then the gear slides off.
Lube up the new gear with the
grease in the box and reverse the
above procedure.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE BLACK CUP ON THE BACK OF THE MOTOR SHAFT PRESSED ALL THE WAY ON AND THAT THE FOUR PIN CIRCUIT BOARD NEXT TO IT IS PLUGGED IN, OTHERWISE IT WON'T WORK PROPERLY.*

Check the bushing in the motor housing that the gear shaft slides through, sometimes this has to be replaced but, very rarely in my experiences.

Don't worry about using anything else in that box.


Remodel recessed light on drywall seam One of the spots where I would like to install a remodel-type 5" round recessed light, is right on top of the drywall seam in my ceiling. I'm a little hesitant to put it there because the ceiling must bear the weight of the light fixture. Will it be okay? Should I try to reinforce it somehow?

There's no issue with the weight-bearing capacity of properly seamed drywall.
It may be a little more difficult to cut the hole due to the joint, but there's no structural defect of note to supporting a lightweight light fixture designed to be supported by drywall.


Need help wiring a new double pole line voltage thermostat [

Just bought my first home and this is my first time posting, so please forgive me if my terminology is incorrect.

I currently have bedrooms upstairs each with 1 baseboard heater and thermostat for each. The circuit breaker is off and I've undone most of the wiring to it.

The thermostat is an analog, single pole line voltage.

I'd like to upgrade to a digital double pole.

It looks like there is 3 wires (really groups of wires, I don't know the term for this), possibly 10-3 or 12-3 coming into the junction box. I didn't specifically look that the gauge. It might actually be 10-2 or 12-2.

Do I simply need to connect 2 hots and 2 neutrals to the thermostat and I am set?

OK, quick terminology issue: Single-pole and double-pole.  The poles are channels, which could have any purpose.  A single-pole switches one channel; a double-pole switches two.  (ignore the "st").  (source)

For a thermostat, one pole is sufficient to turn the heaters on and off.  For the other pole, you'd simply bind the wires together - and I think that's what's been done with the white wires.

You say this powers 2 heaters, and that's the dead giveaway.  The power supply would be one group of wires, and the outputs would be two groups.  Now look at what's going on with that switch: you have one wire spliced into the red thermostat wire (that must be the power supply) and two wires spliced into the black wires (those must be the heaters).

Follow the one wire and it goes to the Romex on the right.  That Romex goes to the power source, clearly, and its wires should be considered "LINE" (always-on).  Which means the white wire in that bundle is the other pole.

The other Romex cables go to the heaters, and they are "LOAD" (switched).

This wire is /2 Romex since there's no red wire. (ground is not counted, so /2 means black and white).  The yellow sheath suggests 12/ since some manufacturers recently adopted that as a color code.  The markings on the sheath say for sure.

Are the white wires hot (240V) or neutral (120V)?   We can't tell.  It would be wired the same either way.  240V heaters don't need neutral, so they use 12/2 or 10/2 wire, and re-designate and supposedly, re-mark the white as another "hot".  Somebody went to a lot of trouble to put red tape on the Romex cables... shrug.  In the old days, marking wasn't required if the use was obvious.

So we must go down to the breaker panel.  Looking at the layout, it should be obvious that there's a unit of "space".  If the breaker takes 2 spaces, it is a 240V circuit. There won't be many of those.

Simply, turn off one at a time and see what it knocks out. Generally there is one thing on each 240V circuit (well, oven and stove may share a circuit).  This is a good time to mark those breakers once you figure what they control. Not least it helps you eliminate; heaters are very annoying to test because they take a long time to make noticeable heat.

If it's a 240V breaker, obviously, these are 240V heaters.

Although the smart thermostat may not care if it's 120V or 240V.  It needs to power itself, but it may be inherently multi-voltage.  Many things are nowadays.

It goes without saying that you have to find the breaker in order to change the thermostat.  If you don't realize that, you should not be doing electrical work.


Is it possible for a bathroom countertop to be held up by angle brackets We're remodeling the bathroom and want to get the countertop put in.  Instead of building a vanity cabinet, we want to have a floating countertop (quartz).

We found the piece we're interested in, and we were told it's about 200 pounds. They said that we must have the location for the slab to be placed ready when they come out.

I've looked at solutions, and it seems angle brackets are the way to go. We found some rated for 500 pounds, and can put four of them connected to the studs to hold up the countertop + sinks.  This would be surrounded on three of the four sides.

Questions:

Is this the correct route to go?
Do we have an alternatives that I should look at?
What's a good brand/product for angle brackets for this use?

Thanks!

Given a 6' wide slab, brackets are the right choice. In my ideal world, there would be at least 2 from the back wall, equally spaced, as well as ledgers on the sides. Be sure the brackets and ledgers are well attached to studs.

Stone/quartz/etc will often have plywood underneath to support the slab. Talk to your vendor about who is providing it, if it's necessary. If it's you, ask what thickness they want. (This-all assumes a built-up nosing.)

Lots of possibilities for brackets, but if you can't find anything locally, google 'fastcap speedbrace'.


Parallelling existing UF wire to use as feeder Besides being NEC non conforming to the smaller than 1/0 sizing,  what problems could/would occur if one paralleled the conductors color for color in a # 10 3 wire (black, red, white) plus bare ground UF cable?  Would this increase an allowable ampacity to 50 amps if each end of the phase wires were pigtaled into a # 6 THHN and properly polarized and phase connected into a 50 amp locked breaker.  Could this arrangement provide a feeder for a 50 amp subpanel @ 240 VAC since it would have a neutral and separate ground.  Thank you.

You're rationalizing.  You want to do it, and you are trivializing the many reasons why this is a bad idea, and trying to boil it down to one reason: that it's not allowed for wires smaller than 1/0. And then your logic is "well that's a silly rule, so I can just ignore it".

One of the wires breaks

The first problem is that if one of your wires (hot or neutral) has a simple wire break, now, ALL the current is flowing on the surviving wire.  That is why you do not just split wires like that.

"Oh, well, I'll just use two 30A breakers then, so every hot has a 30A breaker".  What about neutral? Neutrals don't have breakers.

Special equipment

Go read the paralleling rules.  There are a bunch of requirements, but one of them is that paralleling must use custom equipment specifically designed for paralleling.   I have such equipment in my shop.  I have six 1000 kcmil conductors going up to a busbar, 2 wires per bar.  The origin equipment is a disconnect switch with six 400A fuses. ONE PER WIRE.  See how that nicely solves the "broken wire" problem?

So you too would need "special equipment" at the origin of your paralleling rig, and that equipment would need to give neutral a breaker.  If I were out to violate code and wing-ding that, I'd use a 3-phase service panel, treating neutral as a phase, and fill it with 6 x 30A breakers. But I'd still respect the rest of the paralleling rules.

You'll be at least $120 into that.  Why did you say you wanted to do this? To save money?


What are the requirements for wiring an unfinished garage with lights and outlets? I found this DIY article online which suggests that running Romex along the center faces of studs and rafters was code compliant for unfinished garages.

How to Wire a Garage

The article is dated 2002, is this still the case?  I have attempted to dig through NEC 2008, but so far have not been able to find a reference to support this style of wiring.  It seems a lot easier than running conduit, but that is of course secondary to being able to pass inspection.

That article seems to still be correct.  When running exposed cable, the main concern is protecting the cable from damage.  Which means not running cable on the face of framing members, no horizontal runs below 8' (from the floor), and try to avoid perpendicular runs through rafters.

When running cables between two receptacles, you'll want to run vertically up the wall above the top plate before going horizontally to the next receptacle.  This will protect the wire from folks hanging things on it, storing things behind it (using it to hold things in the voids), and other goofy things people might do to it (as demonstrated in the article).

The article also points out why you want to try avoiding running cables perpendicular through rafters.

The article does not seem to mention that all 125-volt, single-phase, 15 and 20-ampere receptacles installed in garages must be Tamper-Resistant and protected by a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI).

The GFCI protection can be provided via a GFCI breaker in the panel, or as a GFCI receptacle.  If you are installing a GFCI receptacle, you'll want to install one at the beginning of each branch circuit that will contain receptacles.  Connect the feeder cable from the panel to the line side of the GFCI receptacle, and the cable feeding downstream devices to the load side. This will protect all down stream devices, as per code.


Help with electrical plan. What's right, wrong, suggestions? I'm trying to plan ahead for an electrical project on my basement. New ceiling lights (recessed and not), corresponding switches and some new outlets. I put a drawing together and I was wondering if I could use your guys' help in figuring out if I'm looking at the project from the right angle and if it's a good approach. Can you take a look at the plan and share any thoughts you might have? Like things I'm doing right/wrong...

Some notes on the drawing itself: the walls in filed with black represent walls I'm adding—new walls. The red represents existing elements (power outlets in this case) where I'm thinking about drawing power from for the new lights, outlets and switches. The green rectangles represent the areas of ceiling drywall I'm thinking of removing in order to accommodate for drilling the floor joists in ceiling from floor above and passing the necessary cables. The joists from ceiling run vertical in the image.

Thanks!

Assuming that the S's represent switches to control the lights, here are my thoughts...

Generally, you do not want your lighting on the same circuit as outlets in the same room. That way if you trip a breaker with a plugged in device, your lights don't go out. This is especially helpful when trying to do the wiring itself because if the outlets and lights are on separate circuits, then you can have the overhead lights on while you are wiring the outlets, and you can plug in lights while you are wiring the overhead lights.

If you don't have a nearby lighting circuit available, you will either have to add one to your breaker panel, or you will have to get approval from your electrical inspector or local code authority to use the existing outlet circuit.

The new best practice is that the power for lights enters the box with the switch, then it goes to the lights. (And in some places, this is code.) It's not clear from your diagram if that is what you intend to do.
From your diagram, it's not clear that you understand how 3-way and 4-way switched lighting circuits work. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiway_switching#More_than_two_locations or consult a professional.
For stairs, you must be able to turn on the ceiling lights from both the top and the bottom. I can't tell from your diagram if you plan on doing this, or if the existing lighting already does this. Since you're messing with the lighting in the area, the electrical inspector may insist on this, even if you aren't actually touching that lighting.


Two dryer vent connections in the laundry room We just bought a new house recently. I was hooking up the dryer and noticed I have what appear to be two dryer vent connections in the wall. One was labeled "vent" and the other was capped. I'm  curious, does anyone know what the second connection is for?

I believe the second capped dryer vent is a cleanout particularly if it is located in an area where it would NOT be covered by the dryer.  My guess is that the capped vent is beside the dryer and exposed while the vent opening is behind where the dryer would go.  The push today is to use fixed steel piping not the flexible junk since the plastic flex junk has been known to catch on fire when plugged up.  That means dragging the dryer out to get it out of the way is a major production involving contortions and likely at least once dropping a screwdriver behind the dryer while fumbling with the clamps.  It would be much easier to just remove a cap and stuff your vent pipe vacuum up into it and leave the dryer be.
But since this is a brand new house why don't you just ask the builder?


Why does my boiler vent steam? My understanding of a boiler system is that it is closed, meaning the water stays in the pipes and constantly recirculates.  However, there is a vent (3" PVC pipe) that is connected to it that periodically blows steam.  Where does this steam come from?

Assuming that your boiler and mine are similar, you have two vents or pipes and the main exhaust.

Main exhaust will emit carbon dioxide and water vapour, the products of combustion.  A modern boiler exhausts gas at a lower temperature than earlier ones, having given some heat to the incoming air, so it is possible to see the water vapour condense to form a cloud.  The same effect is seen from cars on cold mornings, once the exhaust pipe is hot and the car moving, you see little or no cloud.

There should be a "condensate" pipe, this releases water that has condensed inside the unit, again, this is to give up heat that would just be lost into the air.  This is acidic water, and needs to be drained away.  My Worcester Bosch boiler lets it out 100ml at a time, because if it is released as a trickle or drip, as early boilers did, the trickle could freeze on cold days, causing the boiler to switch itself off.

The other vent is a safety device; my fitter said "if there's a fault and the water tries to boil, it squirts out of there, rather than exploding or squirting scalding hot water inside the house."  So that's good....!

Hope this helps and isn't too patronising or inaccurate.


Why isn't my heat pump system kicking out cool air this year? I have a Carrier heat pump/air handler system (looks pretty old) with a honeywell T-stat (looks pretty new) and I am not getting cool air. Heat worked all winter, but I have used it in at least a month. The fan (inside unit, air handler) seems to work fine. The outside unit (compressor and fan) do not come on. I just replaced the filter and the T-stat batteries, and I tried resetting the breakers for the air handler/outdoor unit.

I opened the outdoor unit, and it comes alive when I push the contactor in. If I hold it in for ~10 seconds it will click and stay on after I let go. It sounds like both the compressor and fan are running at this point, but I still get no cooling. Sadly I don't own a multimeter yet. Is there anything else I can check myself, or is it time to call for service?

If both your central air handling fan and outdoor compressor are running and your not seeing any sort of cooling after a 10-20 minutes than I'd venture a guess and say it's time to call an AC repair service.

I'm curious what you are pushing in that makes the compressor turn on? Are you somehow bridging the main capacitor? Capacitors tend to be a common point of failure on AC units and can actually be changed fairly easily. Here is a pretty good article detailing the steps to do so.

To be honest though I'd guess that the bigger problem is the fact that you can get it running and it still isn't putting out cold air. The whole situation sounds like it's low on coolant (have you had it filled in the last few years?). AC's usually have a low coolant pressure switch that will keep the unit from running to prevent damage to the compressor when there isn't enough pressure.

Call an AC service out, many will diagnose your problem free of charge and be able to give you a much better idea of your problem. Be warned though, if your system is old and uses R-22 prices have shot up in the last year.


New receptacle tripped/sparked Today I switched out an receptacle and when I turned the power back on and checked the outlet with my receptacle tester, everything was good. I switched out another receptacle with no issues that is on the same circuit and then checked both of the receptacles again. This time when I tested the first receptacle, a spark flew and the circuit was tripped. I am not positive, but I think I tested the second outlet on that receptacle this time.

You can see that the second hot terminal is the one that is burnt. Also, the I took a picture of the original receptacle along with the new one. The other odd thing is that the original receptacle had the hot wire attached with a wire nut and an extra inch of wire, even though there is plenty of wire in the box.

Any thoughts about what happened and what needs to be done?

You have a metal junction box.  It is properly grounded.

When you plugged in the tester into that receptacle, the receptacle moved a bit inside the box, and the screw came into contact with the side of the metal box.  Or possibly a ground wire was bent up somewhere it sbould not be.

Solve it by wrapping the outlet in a couple turns of electrical tape, after screwing down any unused screws as Tester101 mentions.


What is this shower head? I have this shower head that I am trying to find another one of and I can't seem to find this exact type anywhere. Most of them have a flat front with little plastic orifices that let the water out, but those always clog up. This head has been serving reliably for over 20 years, so I need to know what type this is, and where I might find a suitable replacement.

Thanks!

Years ago I purchased a shower head that at the time was called "The Big Head" and I loved the shower experience. Fast forward to today and I searched for a similar replacement. I found the same shower head but it now is a "water saving" model; same design slightly less water. I bought 2 and I think they are great. It is made by delta with a model 52650-PK and can be purchased at any store that sells Delta products . I bought mine at Home Depot using the Delta #52650-PK for around $15.00. When I built my house 21 years ago, one of the showers had that same head you are looking for, and I replaced it with the one mentioned above. I like the new one better.  my 2 cents


How far does a basement egress window well need to stick out above ground? Is there code on this? I am having an egress window well installed today and was surprised to see the window well sticking out 2 feet above ground (1 foot if you count all the new dirt they mounded up around it). I was surprised because in all my research, most of the wells seem to be closer to flush with the ground (very few images I see on Google image search seem to have the well set so far above ground). It is far more of an eye sore than I was expecting for the $4,000 price tag associated with the work and the initial pictures I was shown before signing a contract.

The installers said it is required to have it set above ground so that people do not fall in and that most people cover the wells with shrubs, but I do not recall reading this in any applicable building code and it seems like planting shrubs to cover up a fire escape seems like a generally bad idea.

Can anyone confirm whether what I am being told is correct with an applicable code reference (if one exists)? If it is not required, I definitely want the well set an appropriate depth (or a shorter well placed) as I am unhappy with its appearance and would prefer to not have to do my own decorative brick work to cover it up.

Here is a picture of the egress window well:

Obviously there may be local restrictions, but on the 4 wells I had installed last year they highest one is about 3" above the surrounding ground level.

I agree - that looks rather awful. I'd definitely ask them to replace it with a better sized well. My guess would be that was the one they brought and they didn't want to deal with having to go get a shorter one from their warehouse.


Setting up an ecobee and need to adjust HVAC wiring My HVAC control board has two bundles of wires. One has 5 wires which runs to the thermostat but the 5th wire which I want to use as C is currently unused. The second set runs to the unit outside (condenser?).

My vague understanding is that I could just plug the unused blue wire into C beside the existing white wire and use it as C.

Here's some picture

You're spot on

Hooking the existing blue wire up to the C terminal alongside the white wire that's already there will do what you want and get you that C wire for your Ecobee.


What kind of paint should I use to paint a field stone foundation wall? I have a 1900 house with a field stone foundation. The foundation is in good shape. There is minimal moisture. I want to paint the walls to make it look nicer. What kind of paint should I be using?
I will be spraying on.

Don't!

"Painting a stone wall to make it look nicer" is "good" for a few months, perhaps. Forever after, it's a mess.

Stone walls don't need paint, don't benefit from paint, and look like [bleep] when the paint peels. Removing the parts of the paint that don't peel is difficult, so they look like [bleep] ever after.

Don't go down this road. Your house will look much better, as it has for 117 years.


Substituting lumber sizes for ground contact bridge sill and ease of handling for one person I'm building a small bridge over a creek on my property and using some forest service plans which recommend 8x8 ground contact lumber kept in place by earth anchors for the sills that the bridge stringers rest on.  It's not out of the budget to use the 8x8s, but to move them in place might be a little difficult with the machinery I have access to (basically none).  If the main force on these is a downward pressure, could I substitute four 2x8s stacked and attached together at bridge site?  The only concern I could think of would be water penetrating between the boards and causing them to decay faster.

Edit: the 8x8 (or built up beam) would be fully laying (lying? ) on a solid bed of compacted gravel (or concrete) and anchored using a duckbill anchor. Since none of this is suspended in air, I don't think deflection of the beam is a concern.  However, it's possible that it'll be completely submerged in water at flood stage, which happens 1-2 times per year and lasts for less than a day.

Edit #2

Here is a link to the page with the plans I'm using with some modification (just adding railings and using more stringers).  https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm12232316/.

Below is an image that illustrates the sill.  In this image, they have a heavy duty parking curb, (which is a possibility to use but those things are heavy and I don't have easy access to a machine to easily move them), but they specify that an 8x8 pressure treated southern pine could be used.

I do understand that a laminated beam spanning an opening should be vertical boards, but in this case, I thought the horizontal stacked approach might be ok and just make it a little easier to handle it as I do it myself.

Thanks!

I’ve posted several issues with other answers...I won’t repeat here.

Recommendation:

I prefer the solid 8x8 member idea, but if too difficult for the OP, due to physically trying to move the members around, then laminated members laid FLAT and anchored with straps (as suggested by @Solar Mike) and anchor with straps or hooks over the top , rather than any bolted or nailed connectors.

Having the members flat will help with the shifting of the bridge, due to movement (dynamic load) or water movement.

I’d definitely have the straps or hooks installed over the top of the “beam” so it doesn’t float away and doesn’t move off the solid base.....but I’d avoid using bolts to hold everything down.


Why does my boiler keep shutting down and reigniting after a minute? My central heating comes on via the timer and runs for about 30 minutes, then it shuts down for a minute, runs for 2 minutes, shuts down for a minute, runs for 2 minutes. This is a constant thing hence my house never reaches temperature and does not manage to get warm.  All the radiators get hot and the pump is working.  I have a central heating system with a hot  water cylinder.  I have had the boiler serviced but this did not make any difference.  I am desperate to get this sorted. Has anyone got any ideas?

I feel your pain, been there myself. This could be a problem with your boiler, it could be your system is gunked up, or it could be your thermostat commanding the heating system to turn on and off. My money would be the boiler and not the thermostat, but you could take the communication wires out of the thermostat and twist them together for awhile to see if your boiler stays on. If it does then buy a new thermostat and count yourself enormously lucky that it was that simple and cheap.

It could be that your heating system needs a flush, which is something you could do yourself with basic tools and some hose. Generally you would flush the system with water, then refill and add a cleaning compound for a couple of weeks, and then flush again and refill being sure to add a conditioner. If you live in the UK then these instructions may work for you. If you're not sure what you're doing then get a professional.

If it is your boiler and not your thermostat then your best option is to get in a very good heating engineer who really knows your boiler type well. There are simply too many boiler types and things that could be going wrong to give you advice, and you probably wouldn't be able to fix it on your own anyway.


Distance between floor and breaker panel? How far off the floor should my circuit breaker box be? I'm changing from a 100 to a 200 amp. The lead in wires are underground and come into the bottom of box making them too short to connect.

I don't think there's a minimum height, but there's a maximum height for breaker handles.

240.24 Location in or on Premises.
(A) Accessibility. Overcurrent devices shall be readily accessible and shall be installed so that the center of the grip of the operating handle of the switch or circuit breaker, when in its highest position, is not more than 2.0 m (6 ft 7 in.) above the floor or working platform...

So for a main breaker panel, where the main breaker is at the top. The center of the main breaker handle, cannot be higher than 6' 7".
Check with the local building department, as they may have a minimum height.
Practically speaking, you'll want it at a comfortable height to work in. You're not going to want to sit, or kneel on the floor while working in the panel.


Is there a reason NOT to use a garden hose to hook up two faucets? I have a faucet below my deck that is connected to a faucet that is screwed into the railing. They are connected via a 1/2" copper pipe which burst this winter in multiple locations. The simplest fix for me would be to just run some garden hose between the two faucets and bypass the pipe altogether. Is there a reason not to do that?

I could run copper or pex again, but it just feels like too much work at this point.

I can think of one (perhaps minor) reason.  Most hoses aren't designed to be pressurized all the time.  And when they do fail, they split and flow at full rate.  I flooded my neighbor's yard and gave myself a steep water bill for the month in this way a few years ago.


Need help with wiring a light fixture Could someone help me wire this light fixture? I've attached two pictures for reference. The outlet box contains three wire cables: two 2-wire cables and one 3-wire cable. Only one of the cables is live. There was a fan installed but I decided to remove it for a light. The new light fixture has two black wires and two white wires (+ ground). I'm not an electrician by any means. If someone can help me out, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,
slkern

The new fixture will be attached by the following: two black wires from the new fixture will be connected to the red wire from the ceiling box.  The two white wires from the new fixture will go to the whites in the box. Grounds will go to the bare wire.  P.


How are mini drill bits mounted on a regular sized drill? I have no prior knowledge of drilling but I've stripped a screw on one of my electronics so I need to drill it out to access the insides for a fix.

From basic research, I understand that the 'drill chuck' is the hole on the drill where the bit sits. However the majority of drills are suited for 'normal' sized bits.

So before I make the wrong purchase, I'd like to know what drill + bit combination I need for holes between 0.5-1mm?

One option that you have is to use a mini-drill chuck adapter or mini-drill chuck. I used the latter term in a search and the auto-fill in The Google added adapter, but the results were the same:

This image came from The Home Depot and will accept from 0.00 inches to 0.039 inches (1 mm) according to the specifications. You would find other mini-drill chucks with larger capacity.

I dislike the four-jaw configuration, but it's less expensive than a three-jaw chuck. It's easy to get a tiny drill bit misaligned when securing it in a four-jaw design.

My initial search appeared at first to return only four-jaw designs, but I was able to locate a three-jaw eventually:

It has a price similar to the Home Depot version, but appears to be an online resource known as iOffer.


different number of wires Trying to wire new cooktop.  There are 4 wires coming from the house - red. black, white and bare copper.  From the new cooktop, there are 3 wires - red, black and green.  What hooks up to what?  Thank you

Since your. Cook top looks to only use 240v. You won't need the neutral I would cap it with a wire nut or cover it with tape, the green is the grounding wire it connects to the bare copper. Next the blacks go to black and red to red these 2 wires are each 120v to neutral/ ground but 240v black to red. Thanks I read it 2x then answered thinking of 2 blacks updated . but black to red swap would also work but won't look right.