How do I put in a 10 ft metal pole for a metal driveay gate? I have 2 metal poles 10 ft poles and a metal entrance gate that is 10 ft wide and 4 feet tall.  I want to get it in the ground this weekend.  I am going to rent a gas post hole digger.  What kind of cement and how much do I need?  I read somewhere that it is a quicker idea to pour the mix in the hole and 2 gallons of water on top of that.
Can I get a step by step directions on how to put this in the ground?

Depending on the weight of the gate and your climate gate post holes are dug deep enough so as to not be effected by frozen ground heave. If you are located in this type of climate than 48 inches should be your goal to avoid having the posts disturbed by frozen ground forces. If you reside in a mild climate than 18-24 inches will suffice. The diameter depends on the diameter of the post, but figure for a 3-4 inch post drilling a 5-6 inch round hole. To help keep the post from possibly loosening the last 3-4 inches of the hole bottom should be widened to form an undercut (or a bell shape) making it wider at the bottom. A gas powered auger will save much time and labor. You will still need a hand operated post digger to remove the last of the dirt. Be forewarned hitting a rock will be a jolting experience even with a clutch. Once you have excavated a post hole to the proper depth insert the post. It should be positioned (if you drilled exactly) approximately in the center. You should support the post so that it remains in position while the concrete sets or you make adjustments. Any length of lumber or rebar that is available will do. Attach two opposing braces close to the top of the post (wire will fasten to anything well). Using an appropriate sized level, check the post for plumb alternating from 90 to 135 degrees on the pipe circumference (side to side and front to back). Adjust the support brackets to keep the post plumb. You should have at least (6) 60 lbs. bags (or equivalent) on site to fill a 48 inch deep x 6 inch diameter hole. Mix two bags at a time in a wheelbarrow following the directions for the amount of water (I believe it's 2 gallons per 60 lb. bag). When completely mixed shovel into the hole. After every 4-5 shovels tamp the concrete with a 2 x 2 or 2 x 4 to compact the mix and remove the air. The job will be most successful if you mix and pour the concrete without letting it set up. Fill the hole so that the concrete is a few inches above grade. With a trowel round off the concrete so it tapers away from the post. Finally, don't forget to inscribe the date and your initials in the still wet concrete. You can remove the post supports the next day, but let the concrete set a few days before hanging the gate.


Just installed aprileaire 700 whole house humidifier. Furnace takes air from outside I installed the humidifier on the supply plenum and digital guage on return as instructions showed.

I have a furnace that draws outside air into the return duct. This is a new construction home and is pretty air tight. Will the outside air coming in effect the rh reading?

Is there a special configuration for this? I connected the thermostat g wire to the digital meter g wire as instructed.. everything works fine,  just the rh is higher than i imagined and i don't think my thermostat does anything with humidity.. maybe i need to upgrade the thermostat?

Had to move controller (with sensor on back) farther away to where only in house air was moving through duct. In my house this was at the ceiling as the return plenum area was mixed with outside air and inside..

Sort of like a  "T" shape. Top Right side of T duct brought air in from outside, left side brought air in from return vents, and the middle (body of T/ Plenum) is where the air mixes together.. And of course outside air will have higher humidity, so it was messing with the readings.

Hope this helps someone else one day.


How do I fix stain after sanding drips in polyurethane? I applied the first coat of polyurethane after staining and the polyurethane ran. I sanded the runs and it is slightly lighter in color. Should I reapply stain at this point?

Many finish coats, including polyurethanes, can slightly darken a finish when applied. Your sanding, if it did not cut into the stained surface, may have just removed that darkening poly layer.

You should try applying a coat just to the area you sanded, feathering the edges with a nearly dry brush. Let it dry and see if the color has evened out.

If not, I would recommend sanding the whole side. If it has lightened significantly, re-stain the side and then re-poly. If not, just re-poly.

You may want to look at some of the wipe-on finishes. These are satin finish (not high gloss) and go on easily with much less chance of runs.


Numerous Cracks in Poured Slab I am building a home in the houston area. nearly 3000 sq. ft. 1 story house, so a pretty big slab.

I am noticing now while walking through the home during the electrical wiring stage that the slab has hairline cracks (probably 1/8") in nearly every room of the home.

Seems like they originate from the edges of the slab or at holes where the plumbing is.

I know that shrinkage is normal, but these cracks run the whole length of the slab and ive found them in all areas of the house. Ive walked through a lot of homes and havnt seen this before but maybe i just wasnt looking close enough.

Do you think this is a structural problem, not structural and just sloppy, or normal concrete laying and ive just never noticed it before.

I am having a home inspector come out for phase 2 to check before the insulation and sheetrock is set, but i guess its too late to do anything about the foundation. I should have had a phase 1 inspection...

I really appreciate any advice. Thank you.

Is this slab really the foundation? I'm aware of 'slab on grade' shallow foundations but I've never lived in a climate where that is practiced. In my region a foundation with footings would be poured first (even when there's no basement), then the slab would be poured inside the foundation walls. In this latter technique the slab is non-structural.

You also mentioned something about cables being tightened -- is this a post-tension concrete construction?

It's probably a good idea to have a conversation with your contractor about saw-cut control joints. Concrete will move and crack and will continue to do so throughout its life. 'Control joints' are so named because they [attempt to] control and conceal these cracks. If you have the slab cut then you get the opportunity to influence where the cracks will happen. For example, you can encourage the cracks to make straight lines and to fall in places where you wanted a grout joint. If a crack is going to telegraph through your tile floor, it'll be much easier to conceal or repair if it comes up in a grout line rather than crossing a tile.


Why is one baseboard heating hotter, and not controlled by thermostat We have a 3 unit house with hot water baseboard heat fired by an oil boiler. Apt 1 has her thermostat set at 70 but her room temperature is 82 so she set thermostat to 50 and the living room baseboard is hot, and not being controlled by thermostat.  All other baseboards in the apartment are working normally as are all baseboards in apts 2 and 3. We changed her thermostat but baseboard is still heating too much. Any ideas on what to check??

Being a 3 unit house you would have to verify the hydronic piping and which zones are which, going to which baseboards, controlled by which thermostats.  And then verify how the piping is zoned off, that all zone valves and check valves are functioning.  From the sound of it it could be ghost flow.

you would get a good answer asking this on The Wall at heatinghelp.com. They will know all the correct terminology and tell u what specifically to look for.


What is a suitable treatment for an outdoor table? I have a new outdoor table made from pallets. What is the best treatment for this wood?

Note: It will be in full sun.

I looked into this question when building a picnic table out of construction lumber. I was looking for a clear finish.

It turns out that all clear finished break down under sunlight, so the most durable finish is paint.

But if you want a clear finish, it seems the best thing is spar varnish, the kind you have to go to a boating store to get (e.g. epiphanes). It is made to stretch a little more to accomodate the extra wood movement you get with outdoor temp/humidity swings, plus it resists sunlight for longer. That said, you still will have to reapply regularly, I think every year or two.

stain is a compromise between the two. Like paint, it contains pigment, which offers sun protection. I assume less pigment means less protection. But it will allow the wood to look like wood (somewhat).


What type of screwdriver should I use to change the light bulb in my range hood? I have a MODEL # INCA HC HILO72 hood range
One of the light bulbs has burnt out.  Tried to take out the light bulb but the screws are way too tight and afraid of stripping it.  What type of screwdriver should I use?  Already disassembled the part to make it easier to work on too.
Note:  I am a female asking for assistance.  Thanks

Ok i posted all of this and THEN saw the model was of a different number. It is the only INCA HC unit i see on there website i think it may be the same or close enough let me know if these instructions apply. i will leave up the info and amend if i can find the exact unit, faber contact page.

After a little searching  i found the documentation for . your unit

installation and use PDF

AND

Parts PDDF

I would suggest you replace the halogen bulbs with led bulbs. Your bulbs have a base that is called a GU10 BASE. they now make LED bulbs with that base such as these.
led gu10 bulbs They will last for decades as opposed to replacing halogens frequently and will use much less energy than halogens.

When you get your old bulb out you can take it to the store to make sure you get a bulb with the same base and the same size so it will fit in your unit. You may find em at the big box stores or you may need to go to a lighting store.

Having change a few of these i should say they can be persnickety. you kinda gota push in on em while turning em and there usually is nothing grab on to for purchase. Make sure you fingers are dry and oil free and push just the right amount. its tricky.

  NOTE: i am a man who does not assume that because you are a woman you need my assistance. :)


AC Unit Not Cutting On My AC unit has the thermostat indoors, a unit in the crawl space and the outdoor unit.  Everything was working until I had a contractor come out and add insulation in my crawl space.  Now the heat/air will not cut on.  I have checked:

  1) Fuses in fuse box
  2) Outdoor breaker box
  3) Thermostat has batteries (working)
  4) Unit is set to cool

What else could it be that is preventing anything from cutting on when I turn on my AC from the thermostat?  (heat doesn't work either, so it's not limited to AC)

The thermostat cable could have been pulled loose or broken at some point.  When the thermostat is turned on, it should supply voltage to a relay on the AC unit and that normally makes an audible "click".  Checking the voltage on the thermostat wires leading to that relay should show 24vac (alternating current).

If there is no voltage, you can check the wire for breaks along it's path.  Because it is low-voltage, it doesn't have the same rules on splices and how its run as the main electrical wiring so it can get damaged more easily.  An existing splice could have been pulled loose.


Removing Wallpaper Glue - All of it or can I leave faint bits behind? I'm removing wallpaper right now. Removing the paper itself was easy. The problem now is there is a ton of glue left over.

I'm removing the glue using water+vinegar and then scraping it off. Most of it comes off easily, however there are a few spots where it's stubborn and refuses to come off. There's not much there at all, it looks like a faint stain.

Is it okay to leave little bits like that? I plan on applying a skim coat of mud to the drywall next.

mj

I also think removing as much old adhesive as possible is what you want to do. I made the mistake of not removing it all a few years ago and now I have to go back. Also, seal with kitz oil based primer.  The skim coat sounds like a lot of work to get it smooth. Is the wall that rough? Af for the need to prime, definitely after skimming, or on any holes you patch. I wouldn't prime before skimming unless there was still glue left.


Should I primer my walls/ceiling before I spray on texture? I have removed a wall and upper cabinet, replacing some sheetrock. I have skim coated and sanded the existing walls and removed the "popcorn" ceiling. My question is: do I need to primer the walls & ceiling before I spray "knockdown texture?

You should.

Something is needed to seal the new drywall.  Primer is much cheaper than paint.  The basic rule is if you want a wall to look uniform, you have to prime it first.

If this is a paint + texture can, when left unprimed, the drywall will suck all the paint from the texture into the wall, leaving an uneven mess behind.    If you're going to paint after applying the texture, I'd prime in between as well; the natural unevenness from the spray will lead to splotchiness.


Why doesn't my 3-way light circuit work in some configurations? I  updated some wiring in my garage. I added two 3 way switches. If there is a switch in the down position when the lights are off, I cannot flip my other switch to turn the lights on and vice versa. But, if the switches are up, the lights are on, then I can use a switch to continue to turn them off and on.I don’t know what the problem is, I believe I hooked all of the wires up correctly. Here is an explanation of my wiring.

Please note I am hooking up two 14–2 wires and two 14–3 wires.
 From the power source, I hooked the common black wire to the common black wire that connects to my black screw on my light switch. From that light switch both my red and white wires are connected to the white and red wires that run to my other light switch.  My black wire from that switch runs to the black hot wire that connects to my light fixture. From the light fixture, my white wire runs back to the white wire that comes from the power source. And then I have all my ground wires Pigtailed together.

I believe that is the correct way of wiring this set of wires according to what I have read and seen pictures of. I even swapped out the three-way switch That was not connected to the main power source. Does anybody have any ideas? Thank you for your time.

First, be clear on how 3-way circuits work.  Now it's really hard to be clear in a diagram or junction box full of Egyptian spaghetti (red white black green).  So we'll fix that -- thusly.

Here is a basic 3-way diagram.  Now this doesn't tell you anything that jsotola's diagram doesn't, except for one thing -- we are adding color to designate wire function.
Black and white are hot and neutral, of course.  Red is a traditional/common color for switched-hot.
The two travelers are different, but interchangeable, so they can be the same color without harm - in this case yellow.  Feel free to use purple or blue if you prefer, just as long as it's unlike anything else in the box.
You can't buy /3 cable in yellow-yellow-white. So we end up using the stock black white red.  And I say re-mark wires using colored tape to designate function.
Based on OP's description and comments, it sounds like there are two /3 cables and two /2 cables coming into a junction box like this:

Here I show the usual black-white-red cable colors, but I also "use tape" to re-mark them by function.  Boy, this makes a big difference in clarity.  This particular box didn't have a big problem with mixed colors, but some do.
Note that by OP's convention, the native-black wire is the one on the "common" (black screw) of the 3-way.
Now, if it's not working, it sounds like your travelers are not set up correctly.  I have a feeling you have them crossed with something else, e.g. At a 3-way for a wire meant for a common terminal.
Tip on 3-ways: look at screw colors.  The location of the common vs. other screws is completely random.  I have held two 3-ways from the same manufacturer in my hand and one of them, the common is upper left, the other, lower left.  WTH?  I've been tempted to try to collect all 12 combinations!


How to prevent heat loss over a recessed light? I have a recessed light installed in a sloped ceiling - no attic space over it. On a cold morning when there is frost or snow on the roof and I stand outside the house, I can see a warm spot directly over where the light fixture is. The light has been off all night so I believe this isn't heat from a bulb - just warm air escaping. What are some good options for preventing this heat loss?

I don't know the model of can (I might be able to poke around to find it) so I don't know yet if it's IC-rated. It's 120V (no transformer).

EDIT: I haven't tried to pull the can down but with the bulb out I can see it's a Juno ICT926 which is IC-rated. I see Juno offers two products: the ALG6 (Airloc Gasket) which is a plastic ring and a VB6 (vapor barrier) which seems like it wraps the box. Is one more desirable than the other or more appropriate for this problem?

if its ic rated  i recommend roxaul mineral insulation  over the fixture. if it is not ic rated or the rating  cant be determined i advise replacing it with one that is ic rated  and placing insulation over it.


Are there any non-cosmetic differences among quartz countertops? I'm planning to get a quartz countertop. One contractor told me that all brands of quartz are the same quality since they use the same patented process. Two other contractors told me there is a quality difference among brands. I've looked online and haven't found any definitive answer

Is there a quality difference in quartz from different companies, or are the differences only cosmetic? My highest priorities are durability and ease of care.

If you are going with quartz I suggest Silestone. I worked with it for years and it is very consistent.


Appropriate level of protection for mortar at 0-4 degrees? Its well known that mortar needs a temperature above about 4-5 degrees C to set properly.

Various websites state that protection, covering, or other tricks may be used for lower temperatures, but they are very nonspecific - none of them seem to have a table that says "at X temperature, these precautions are sufficient". I need a more specific answer, on the lines of "this will be good enough to ensure the mortar sets properly".

I'm laying a small amount of structural masonry. The masonry is 2 courses of dense concrete block on foundations (the foundations have already cured), and is outdoors. The mortar is 1:3 sulphate resisting cement to sharp sand, with 1:10 of sika-1 waterproofer in the water (there's an adjacent overflowing drain, I can't fix it so I'm doing what I can to keep it from permeating!).

Eventually the blocks will support a 1 storey external wall of a building, but that part will be done by bricklayers. I need to get some of the base blocks in early     to let me put a neighbour's fence back though :)

Here's a picture to give an idea:

I don't plan to use any other accelerants or additives, as they probably don't solve the basic problem and may provide false comfort, or not react well with the waterproofer. I'd rather rely on protection/warming only.

I have polythene sheet (DPM), hessian, and towels laying around. I also have some 3kW warm air blowers if needed, although that would mean setting up an enclosed shelter safe for electrical appliances around the block work, and a risk of over warming/drying, so I'd really prefer to avoid that.

Given temps around 0- 3 degrees (but not likely to be lower, maybe at worst -1 or -2 at night if very cold later on), what level of protection is appropriate to be sure the mortar sets nicely, and for how long should I use it?

Just tent the project for a few days. The heat from the ground and solar gain will keep the mortar from freezing. Cure will be slower, but that's ok if you aren't in a hurry. You could introduce a small electric heater, but don't go beyond that.

Be wary of running heaters inside the enclosure. It's very easy to dry out the mix to the point where it doesn't cure at all. I've seen front porches, beautifully formed, crumble under foot traffic after several days in a heated tent. The mix was completely dry near the heater.


How do I attach gutters to a french drain, does the perforated pipe need to run entire distance? We have an ongoing problem with water pooling in a pseudo gulley between my house and my neighbors house. We have water that drains from the backyards to this area, along with two gutter roof drainage pipes on each house draining to this little area. The distance from the top of the proposed drain pipe to the sidewalk is roughly 70 feet. The green dots on each house are the gutter points.

Every time we run the sprinkler system, or get a minute amount of rain, this area between the two homes turns into a lake. We cannot mow the yard for at least 3 days after because of the poor drainage and tearing up the grass. We want to route this water away and figured the best way to do so would be using a French drain system. The bulk of the collection/pooling area is in the box framed by the 4 green dots (the gutter spouts from the roofs of the homes). There really is not much of an issue with drainage in the area between the sidewalk and the front of the homes (the general area where the CATV box is).

When this lake system develops, our home (which is on a slab), starts getting moisture at the edges inside. In order to prevent mold, this really is a must-do.

I have the following layout of my house in my subdivision.

I am exploring the possibility of installing the prefabricated pipe with the styrofoam peanuts with the sock around it to basically do it all for me.

My main questions are:

If I were to run the pipe (the blue thing in the picture) the distance from the top edge of the houses to the sidewalk (~70ft), do I need to run this prefabricated stuff the whole way? This stuff runs like $45-50 per 10ft, so i would be looking at around 300-350 at least for just the pipe. Would it be possible to run it through the area that needs to have the water collected and then connect it to a standard pipe that runs the rest of the way to the sidewalk, where it can empty down to the storm drain?
I would [prefer] to have the gutter systems dump directly into the drain pipe. Is that doable? What would I need in order to do that?
I have heard of people using PVC pipe for this, is that really much better? I imagine the pipe inside is a lot smoother so it is easier for crud that builds up to get flushed out - but once again, not sure if the tradeoff is worth it.

I don't want to be a cheapskate on this, as i want to do it the right way. However, if I can save $200 by skipping running the prefab perforated tubing the entire run, I would like to!

You are trying to combine two systems: 1) collection of ground water, and 2) collection of roof drainage. This is a bad idea...don’t do it.

1) Perforated pipe is used to COLLECT ground water. The concept behind the use of perforated pipe is that water flows in the direction of least resistance. That is to say, ground water near the perf pipe will flow into the pipe and the remaining water will flow to that area. Then, the process continues until all the ground water has been collected by the perf pipe and carried away.

Introducing water from your roof into the perf pipe will prohibit ground water from entering the perf pipe system. (You’re defeating the purpose of the perf pipe system.)

2) Solid pipe is used to TRANSPORT water. The water you’ve collected from your roofs should be transported to a storm sewer system...probably in the street.

When you combine the systems, the water from the roofs will not only prohibit ground water from entering the perf pipe, but will introduce roof water into the ground water system due to a hydrostatic “head” pushing water OUT the perf pipe. (Water can flow both ways through those holes in the perf pipe.)

Recommendation:

I’d use perf pipe where you have ponding water between the houses and then use solid pipe to transport it to the street storm system. I’d also use solid pipe to collect your roof water from your gutters and downspouts and extend that solid pipe to the street storm system. I would NOT combine the solid pipes, because an abundance of roof water can backup into the ground water system and prohibit it from draining.

Btw, when you install the perf pipe, be sure to put the holes on the bottom...not the top. You want the ground water to enter the pipe as soon as possible. If you put the holes on top, then the ground water has to fill up to the top of the pipe before it can spill into the pipe.


Can I remove this interior brick chimney? Bricks are all messed up I'm curious if I can just remove the hump part? This is on the ground floor.

A masonry chimney can be used to carry exhaust from multiple sources. These may include an open fireplace on this floor or a gas-fired boiler in the basement. Some chimneys have more than one flue (the duct inside the chimney that contains the fumes) and the flues can combine inside the masonry so that the number of flues that exit at the top may be fewer than the number of inputs.

Before you consider demolishing that brickwork do some work to understand what purpose it served. Look on the other side of this wall as well as below and above it to understand what it may be servicing. If you can inspect the top of the chimney you can confirm how many flues there are. There are at least as many purposes to this chimney.

If you are not familiar with masonry work I would suggest having a professional come in to give you an estimate on demolition. They can help you to figure out what the chimney is there for while giving you an estimate of what it costs to have it professionally removed.

Assuming you conclude that demo is a good idea it's a straightforward task for someone with the right skills. But keep in mind that the replacement brick and mortar will not perfectly match what is there now. You can remove the "hump" but you will still see where it was in the brick unless you follow up by painting or whitewashing the entire brick wall.


How to tell amperage of a circuit breaker in basement? Also... adding a dedicated line for Treadmill? I'm not doing any of this work myself! I have ZERO electrical work background. I'm asking this to better educate myself so I can understand what needs to be done.

We bought a townhouse recently, it's only 3 years old (we're the second owners). Very new and up-to-date

We put a treadmill in the back room of the ground level floor (which has the door to our garage, a small room, a half-bathroom, and a small hallway with a few lights).

The treadmill is blowing the fuse... the whole downstairs floor & garage go out. It didn't happen right away... we used it a handful of times, then one day out of nowhere half hour in it blew. Now it'll blow when we first turn it on, or 5 minutes in. *We tried lubricating the belt to make sure it wasn't the treadmill and nothing worked. It did not do this in the upstairs bedroom of our old place, which was a much older house.

We've left it alone and have been calling electricians, but they were all very booked over the holidays so we are finally getting one to come out this weekend.

My questions are:

Is this normal?? Should such a new house be having circuit breaker issues with trying to support a treadmill? Did we get screwed on the electrical profile of our home?
Is there a way to tell the amperage of the circuit breaker for the downstairs floor? I found that treadmills average 10 - 12 amps
We plan on asking the electrician to give us an estimate to run a dedicated line for the treadmill. Is this the right approach?

Since everything is going out the circuit is overloaded. Standard breakers are inverse time trip this means if right at the max level usually printed on the handle (15 or 20) amps the circuit may hold for 10 minutes before tripping but if a short were to happen it would trip immediately. If you turn a light or 2 off you may be able to use the treadmill. Other things like freezes on the same circuit can cause the circuit to trip quicker if running at the same time as the treadmill. It is possible your old home had a 20 amp circuit and or was lightly loaded so no problem, now if a 15 amp circuit and  a heavy load the breaker is doing its job of protecting the wiring.  A new branch circuit would be a good path forward and possibly having the garage on its own circuit for the time you may want to run a power tool the same thing will happen there.


Maximum Distance Between Outlets In an answer to this question Iggy's answer contains a picture that says "Maximum spacing between receptacles on the same countertop space is 4ft."

Does this mean if I were to build a house with 28 feet of countertop in the kitchen, I'd be legally required to have at least 7 outlets, or more?  That seems like a lot, what if I just want 2 or 3?

Yes, in the US under the NEC and most local codes, kitchen counters require that receptacle are spaced no more than 4' apart.
Also, any counter space 12" or wider require a receptacle.

Bear in mind, breaks in the counter like sinks or ranges do not count as counter space.


Broken wall box, how to fix? It's old electric wall box for plug receptacle. Pulled a plug and it pulled box with it. It has two screw holes and one of them is broken.

Obviously in not gonna take it apart and install a new one.

Broken screw hole:

From side:

Covered:

If you can't repair the screw hole, the best option is to replace the box. If it's nailed into a stud and can't be easily removed, you might have to cut into it and destroy it. Once it is removed, you can replace it with an old work box mounted into the existing hole.


How to PROPERLY test that your smoke detectors work? I installed two new smoke detectors in my house a few months ago and have been testing them using the 'test' buttons.

Today I decided to give them a more realistic test by placing a burning and then extinguished match underneath them. To my surprise neither was activated.

Thinking this may not have been enough to trigger a modern smoke detector I then removed them from the wall and placed them above a large saucepan of burning paper for around 3 minutes. There was lots of smoke and the flames were only inches below the smoke detectors. Yet again, neither detector sounded an alarm.

I contacted the manufacturer, and they say that this is 'normal' and that their smoke detectors are 'burned toast proof'.

To me this sounds like BS. If 3 minutes sitting directly above flames and plumes of smoke is not considered enough to set the alarm off then just how alight would my house have to be before I was alerted?

So, how should I properly test these smoke detectors in a way that the manufacturer cannot simply brush off?

Proper test methods depend on type, as there are different technologies employed depending on model. Some use a photo-sensitive element to "see" smoke, others use a radioactive element to detect products of combustion (even invisible ones), others "see" flames with an infrared detector and others detect heat.

You should test them exactly according to manufacturer's instructions and if they do not perform then replace them immediately. Like any other consumer product, you should deal with the seller and/or supplier and manufacturer for grievances related to defective products.

Exercise your right not to buy crap products and you will end up with reliable smoke/fire/CO detectors.


How to solve sweating slab syndrome? I live in a 4 floor condominium in Makati, Philippines.
Recently, I noticed that my floor always feels damp.
My unit is at the 4th floor.
When I tried seaching it in the internet, I think it is a sweating slab syndrome issue.
However, articles in the internet do not have a clear description on how to solve this.
Is this something that can only be prevented but cannot be fixed once it is already there?

Moisture, (and more precisely “condensation”) is the cause of sweating slab syndrome.

There are several causes: 1) lack of ventilation, 2) rapid change in Dew Point, 3) negative air pressure in living unit, 4) concrete slab sealed,

1) Air movement will “dry” moisture.

2) This is what I call, “The coke bottle effect.” If you take a coke bottle out of the refrigerator, it will immediately have condensation form on it. In your case, if your room is at 70 degrees with 50% relative humidity and a warm front moves in at 80 degrees and 80% relative humidity, then the Dew Point will change and NON-ABSORBENT surfaces will swear.

3) We design most buildings to have “positive” air pressure. If you have a negative air pressure, you’ll allow damp air into your environment which you’ll need to treat.

4) If your slab has been sealed, there’s no place for moisture to go, except lay on top of the slab.

You’ll need to experiment with fixing these items to correct sweating slab syndrome.


What are these fuses? Just come across a fuse box that I've never seen before. The box looks like this:

They are like light-bulb-type things that host a fuse inside of them. The fuse looks like this:

They work similarly to light bulbs too, with caps that screw in.

Any idea what these fuses are?

This is not necessarily a Weber product, but certainly an IEC 60269 "D type II" fuse, quite common in Europe. The "D" is short for "DIAZED", a registered trademark of Siemens AG. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60269#D_type_fuses for more details.

The colored button (red, blue) in the middle indicates the rated current (red = 10 amps, blue = 20 amps, see Wiki page above), and pops off when the fuse breaks (clearly visible through the glass window, so you know immediately what happened). To replace a broken fuse, unscrew the cap, and don't stick your finger into the hole (the whole thing is otherwise safe).

A side remark (in case you do not speak french): The labels read

cuisinière (left column) = electric stove
lumière (middle column) = light
chauffage = heating
frigo = fridge
machine à laver = washing machine


Change disposal from direct wire to outlet when changing unit I'm swapping out our original, builder-grade disposal for a new one, and the one I ended up getting and starting to work with was wired with a plug. The original unit was connected to some 3-wire cable that vanishes into a hole in the wall on the back of the cabinet.

I figure the best way to approach this is to add an outlet -- is it as simple as connecting the existing 3 leads to an outlet? Should I use a GFCI? Should the outlet be recessed (if possible) or is it okay to mount it in a box on the back wall of the cabinet? The dishwasher is currently direct-wired as well and I think they're on the same circuit.

Thanks!

UPDATE:

I installed a metal box by screwing it to the back of the cabinet, and the cable is now coming through it. I attached the 3 wires directly to a GFCI switch, but whenever I flip the breaker on and toggle the wall switch to turn the disposal on, the breaker trips. So something's not right. I'm going to switch to a regular outlet and see if that helps.

UPDATE 2:

As requested, here are some pics of the wiring as it is now, pigtailed into an outlet. The GFCI outlet was the same as this except I wired it directly to the cable coming out of the wall, and used the terminals that weren't blocked out by the yellow LOAD sticker.

I'm not a code expert, but I don't see why that wouldn't work just fine. Yes, use a GFCI due to the increased likelihood of water exposure (assuming that the breaker isn't already GFCI-protected). A winged remodeler box will work well assuming you steer clear of framing.


How can I add lights and a switch downstream of a pull-chain fixture? I have a challenging wiring question.

I have power coming in to a pull chain light fixture(beginning-of-run). it needs to stay in its current position. I need to borrow power from it and add two downstream STANDARD light fixtures, with a power switch at end-of-run.

The goal is to have the pull-chain light fixture, function independently (regardless of downstream switch position). The two downstream lights need to be controlled by the light switch at end-of-run.

Thanks.

So your existing fixture (assuming standard US wiring, you'll have to verify) has a hot (black), neutral (white), and ground (bare) and has constant power.  The additional lights will need 4 wires - constant hot to travel to the switch (black), a neutral (white) and a switched power that will come back from the switch (red).

The existing wire (assuming 14G wire for lighting circuits) is sold as "14/2" cable.  The ground isn't counted in the number scheme, so it's considered to have 2 conductors.  What you will need for the rest of the run is "14/3".  This new cable (black, white, red) will run from the existing light to each of the new lights and then to the switch box.

At the existing light, black connects to black and white to white, but the red will just be capped off and unused.  Red will be power coming from the switch.  In the future if you wanted the pull chain light to be controlled by the switch, you could hook that light's black wire to the new red.

At the new lights, white will connect to white and the black on the fixture will connect to the "switched" red wire.  The black wire of the 14/3 will not connect to the new light and will just "pass through" the box.  In each box, all ground wires are connected to each other and the bare or green wire from the fixture.

At the switch, the white wire will be capped (unless you use a smart switch that needs the neutral) and the black and red wires will connect to the two screw terminals on the light switch.

Older wiring practices would allow you to do all of this without the extra red wire, but now all switch boxes require a neutral so you must use 14/3 to do it properly and allow for future flexibility.  You could do this now with a mix of 14/2 and 14/3, but if you just use 14/3 you don't have to buy 2 rolls of different cable and again, it gives you flexibility later.

Diagram added by request:

The "dotted" red wire is optional and if you never want the pull chain light to be on a switch it will serve no purpose.  The white wire going to the switch is not used unless you have a smart switch but it is required by code.


Difficulty finding studs on external wall of renovated house - any good rules of thumb? I'm trying to find studs on an exterior wall of a recently (10 years?) renovated house that I'm renting.  I've had issues before where the studs in a wall seem to be a bit wonky - irregularly space, sometimes studs that don't go all the way up to the ceiling, etc.  I also have problems where my stud finder will think there's a stud, but when I screw in there, it turns out there is no stud.
Fast forward to today - I'm trying to hang some curtain rod holders over a double-door to the outside on an external door.  I found one stud to the left of the glass door, but I'm struggling on the right.  My magnet stud finder found one down low, but it doesn't seem to go all the way up.  And my other-kind-of stud finder, gives me unreliable lights when I run it across the top of the wall looking for one.  It has hinted at a couple of places that turned out to be empty behind the drywall.
And, oddly enough, there don't seem to be any above the door frame - though when knocking on it, that part of the wall sounds solid (as opposed to the hollow sound you get on most walls).
So my question is this - when contractors are doing renovation work, and may be adding extensions or things like that, are there any rules of thumb for how they build things out?  Are there times when the studs above a door frame would be differently spaced than those below?  And are there any other kinds of wall construction that would lead to me finding so many frustratingly non-standard walls in a recently renovated house?
For what it's worth, here are 3 pics of the inside wall (since a single photo is all washed out due to the light from the door), and one of the outside.

Since it's an exterior wall, you may have "cross strapping". It's a technique to frame a wall using 2x4 studs, and then cross strapping it (horizontally) with 2x1 straps to increase the space for insulation.
In this case the drywall is fastened to the strapping, and the fasteners will be aligned horizontally, rather than vertically along studs (see drawing).
They could run 24in or 16in apart (vertically separated)

From https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/energy-efficiency-homes/make-your-home-more-energy-efficient/keeping-heat/keeping-heat-chapter-7-insulating-walls/15641
If this is your situation, you would likely not be able to use the straps for hanging curtains: there will likely be no strap where you need one, and they are not for bearing a load.
The solution is to use longer (2.75 - 3in) and stronger screws (#10) to reach deeper to an underlying stud or header.
The best bet for locating the studs is at the edges of the window opening. That's where you'll find the "king" and "jack" studs (see drawing).

From https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/energy-efficiency-homes/make-your-home-more-energy-efficient/keeping-heat/keeping-heat-chapter-7-insulating-walls/15641
The stud finding techniques in the other answer, by Jon, are indeed good, but with strapping it's still hard to get reliable results from either.
Also, a stud finder with "deep scan" might or might not work. I've had no success with one.
If you are ok with a bit of drywall filling, you could carefully drill a 0.25in hole through the drywall and poke through it with a 3in nail, coat hanger etc.. to see if you hit a stud after the strapping space of about 0.75in. There will be insulation to contend with: and becareful not to twist out insulation or vapour barrier that gets caught on the drill.
If you are worried about punctures in the vapour barrier after all the drilling, you can squirt in some expanding closed cell foam through each hole, to re-seal them, before you patch the hole.


How to fix a window, keeping rain out but allowing wind in? It's always raining heavily here at my place and I had to keep the room windows shut due to the electrical appliances near the window inside the room. However, the room quickly becomes ill-ventilated.

What's the best solution to this dilemna?

Is there a window or material covering that does not allow rain and water to enter, yet allows the wind to enter?

You can get a Tilt and Turn window - a window that tilts inwards slightly (and locks in place so that it doesn't tip back anymore) to let air circulate, but can also be opened as a traditional window too (albeit one that typically opens inwards instead of outwards).


What type of wire for sub panel to detached shed in Colorado? I am getting so many different answers on what to run to my detached shed. I am going to pull permits soon and have it inspected before hand - but im trying to blend in the codes for what it is allowed in Colorado

So, I am building a 200 sqft shed that will power up around 5 or 6 outlets along with 3 security cameras, power tools such as table saws, circular saws, battery chargers etc.

ive been told to use a double pole 30 amp with UF 10-3 wire to feed my sub-panel (which will be 70 amp sub panel) The sub panel is going to have 2 x 15 amp circuits and 1 x 20 amp circuit for my tools.

I also been told to run a 70 amp with number URD #4 cable (4 wire) to feed the 70 amp sub panel.  I am not sure if thats overkill, or if that will give out TOO much power to my 70amp sub panel and if that will be too dangerous?

So, my shed will be about 70 feet from my main panel, so I will have to dig a trench. I was also told not to use a conduit (pvc pipe) for the UF rated wire - instead it will be bare burial. is that code?

Use a fat conduit and appropriately sized THHNs instead

Direct-bury wire (UF) is vulnerable to excavation damage and difficult to upgrade if you want more power at the shed later.  Hence, it's better to slap a fat PVC conduit in now while you're digging the trench for the first time -- conduit's cheap compared to the cost of renting a trencher.  Inside the conduit, you'll use 3 THHNs of appropriate size and color for 2 hots and 1 neutral (voltage drop control will likely mandate a larger size than the 10AWG minimum you were thinking of) as well as an appropriately sized bare copper ground (10AWG for a 30A feeder, 8AWG for a bigger feeder up to 100A) wire.

Don't skimp on the subpanel either

Buying small electrical panels is penny-wise and pound foolish as a larger panel now is always going to be cheaper than upgrading later.  I'd recommend a 100A/24slot subpanel at a minimum here (you can always feed a large subpanel with a small feeder, just not the other way around -- remember that the protecting breaker must be the bottleneck so it can keep you safe from overloads). You'll also need a main device (it can be a breaker or a molded-case switch) at the subpanel to serve as a disconnect switch for the shed in addition to the breaker in the main panel protecting the feeder.  (That's so you, or the FD, can shut power to the shed off quickly if it catches on fire -- "firemen don't deal with wires" after all.)

Last but not least, you'll need a ground electrode (Ufer ground if you haven't poured the foundation yet, rod if you have and need something you can put in now) in addition to the grounding wire -- the grounding wire provides a fault path (safety drain) back to the source while the ground electrode dissipates built-up static charges, induced voltages from lightning, and the likes.  Don't forget to pull the bonding strap or screw from the subpanel when you put it in!


How do I replace this smart switch to this exisiting light switch I have a deta grid single gang smart switch it has active neutral and a clear terminal.

Before calling a sparky, I would like to understand what would be done.

Is it a matter of connecting a wire from the neutral terminal on the smart switch to that black neutral in the picture and use the existing wire I'm terminal to the active. What is the white and loop wire used for?

Thanks
Phil

what seem to have installed is a manual dimmer then one end of a 2-way switching setup,  the cable with red and white carries the selection made at this switch to the other light switch. or possibly it receives the selection from the other switch.

The three terminals on that switch have embossed labels, but the colour rings carry the same message.

black is neutral
red is active
white is the output to the lamp.

as for wiring this end those two blacks go in the black hole (labeled N for neutral)
the red from the 3-wire cable goes to red (labeled A for active) and the red from the red-white cable goes to white. (labeled A1) use the joiner taken from the neutral wires to join cap the end of the white wire.

At the other end  the red-white wires will go to a switch and there'll be another red witre, join those two red wires and put another cap on the white wire. fit a blind face plate attache the remote control.

once you figure out when end of that setup the power comes in from that goes to the red,  switch the switch on and off, the wire that stays live all the time is the input, it goes to red.

the one that goes live when the light is on that goes to white.

the other one gets a cap, and the two neutrals can go in the black hole.

the other switches for this light on this circuit will have to be disabled that means removing them and joining the wires permanently.

or maybe you should get a smart switch that has a wired remote.


Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter vs AFCI What is the key difference between a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter and an Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter?

The Acronyms AFCI/GFCI kind of tell us that they do, detect ground faults and arc faults, But I only have GFCI's on 5 different outlets throughout my house and in the past couple of weeks I've had a few problems that made me think about this question, A projector had an arc that blew the GFCI, an old outdoor receptacle so old that it was falling apart ( not rated for outdoor use ) and the wires were also loose so when my wife went to use the hairdryer it blew the GFCI that was in series with it, then there was an outlet where the hot wire broke off at the receptacle in one of the bedrooms and It blew the GFCI

wouldn't that mean that a GFCI is basically a AFCI ?

What can happen...

If you look closely at the way many AFCIs behave, they will trip on a gross ground fault. This is no accident; instead, they rely on this behavior to catch arcs-to-ground specifically (it's the same reason IEC systems use RCD protection panelwide).  The converse of that is that an arc-to-ground will trip a GFCI as well. This is one reason why Ground Fault Protection of Equipment (GFPE) is called for by certain parts of the NEC -- GFPE devices are like GFCIs, only with a higher trip threshold (30mA or 100mA vs. the 6-10mA of a GFCI), and are only seen in breaker form due to their limited scope of usage.

But, you still need AFCI

However, the discussion above does not cover arcs between hot and neutral.  These arcs will not trip a GFCI or a regular breaker, since they simply bypass the normal load path at a level too low for a normal breaker to trip on, and are why AFCIs were originally developed.  These use electronics to "listen" for the broadband radio-frequency signature (snap crackle pop) created by arcs, and distinguish harmless arcs (from switching action, hot-plugging of receptacles, light-bulb burnouts, or the commutating of motor brushes) from hazardous ones.


How can I repair a torn out cabinet hinge mount? So the story goes that our roommate (who does not live with us anymore) slipped in the bathroom and somehow managed to break the cabinet door off the wall part of the cabinet. The point is when she pulled the door the bottom hinge tore out and caused a hole (approximately 3"x3.5") in the particle board wall of the cabinet. I don't know if there are any fillers I can use to patch this up that will hold the hinge and door. I'm fairly handy and have just recently started with simple wood working projects so please forgive my lack of terminology. I really do not want to replace this whole cabinet wall structure if I can avoid it. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated!

I have had success with 5 minute epoxy. The epoxy bonded well with the particle board and allowed for re-drilling of torn out screw holes.  If the hole is really big then you are looking at a "dutchman" patch.


Adding c wire to old furnace So some background, converting from an oil to a gas furnace and was looking at adding a smart thermostat. Two things that kind of raised questions and I cant seem to find much answers too. One is the thermostat, the original one only has a red and white which seems typical, what I couldnt find an answer to is that they seemed to be connected to 12/2. Where the thermostat location almost feels like the previous owner replaced a switch with the thermostat. Another question is, where do I add the common wire in the furnace? I tried following the old wire connected to it and it doesnt look like there is a spot for a common wire or it is called something else.
So I guess my two questions are:

Why would the old thermostat wires be connected to 12/2?

If possible where do I connect the common wire inside the furnace?

On the L8148E terminal B2 is the common terminal, connect your C wire there.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZJ2tch3_oc&t=200


home not getting 220v The power company turned off power due to late payment.

The power is now on. Lights, tv, etc work.

What's not working is the water pump, dryer, ac/heater.

Called the power company and their side is good.

So here is what I have done so far:

Checked the inside house breakers, none tripped or bad.
Went outside of house to breakers for ac/heater and ones for water pump. None are tripped or bad.

That leaves the 100amp box/breaker just after the meter box. I have 110v and 99v coming from each leg thru the 100a breaker, checked between legs for amps and i get 20a+-. I should be getting 220-240a, right? So maybe the 100a breaker has a bad leg?

Next I checked the 100a breaker where the meter box wires screw into the 100a breaker. Now here is where I'm a little confused. I checked for the volts from meter wires and the ground wire from meterbox. One leg is 120v(good), the other leg reads 0v(no power?). The eletric company says all is fine on their side. Am I testing wrong?

You are mixing amps (a) and volts (v) in your description so I can't tell what you have measured from that. I seriously doubt you are measuring amps, so assuming you are measuring volts, having a 20V difference between the two legs indicates a serious problem with something; either your skill-set or the equipment. I agree that you should exercise the main breaker a couple of times; a bug may have crawled into it while it was off, and now its squished carcass is causing a resistance. After that, it's time to call an electrician.


Entertainment Area is cooling required with this setup? Where to position fans? I am getting my entertainment area setup and I wanted to get opinions on where I should install intake/exhaust fans and if it would even be required.
Within my "nitch" I am going to have an amplifier, Xbox, AV Receiver, and potentially a center speaker or BlueRay player. (not sure just yet).
I am skeptical if any sort of cooling will even be needed considering my setup but I am honestly not sure. My question is:

Would cooling even be required considering my setup?
If I did add cooling (required or not) where should I setup the box fans at?
I want to make sure the area stays cool (i.e: doesnt over heat)

I am attaching pictures to give more insight on my setup. Also below are a few notes.

Fireplace is electric.
The entertainment area will have the devices squeezed in close to one another but nothing is technically "sealed off"
There are two access panels on each side of the fireplace so there is a small 1 inch gap on each side which allow fresh air in.

Thanks ahead of time :)

After months of testing I can confirm there is no issues. The area contains enough hollow space for the heat to rise and disperse with no form of overheating.


Sonoff Mini with Home Accessory Architect firmware I am using a Sonoff Mini in DIY mode with HAA firmware and connected to a wall switch on S1 and S2 connectors. I have wired it like this:

I am also using the default configuration JSON for Mini offered on the templates webpage:
{"c":{"l":13,"b":[{"g":0,"t":5}]},"a":[{"0":{"r":[{"g":12}]},"1":{"r":[{"g":12,"v":1}]},"b":[{"g":0},{"g":4},{"g":4,"t":0}]}]}

The problem is that actuation using HomeKit doesn’t work at all. I can hear the relay clicking when I try switching on and off, but that does not have any effect on the state of the lamp. The wall switch works, but that does not change the lamp status in Home app. Plus, the LED light connected to Mini flickers.
I wonder if this is a configuration issue or a hardware one.

Frame challenge: There are a couple of serious problems, right off the bat.
Sonoff is not legal to use
They sell it knowing this. There are certifications they must obtain, and that would require them to vastly improve their build quality.
All work done in El NEC territory requires equipment to be approved; and that means by a competent NRTL.  Sonoff didn't bother to get anything approved, and it doesn't have the marks of any competent lab -- RoHS and CE are not labs at all, and the Chinese consistently fake the CE mark; it is jokingly referred to as "China Export".  In the EU, whoever imports a CE-marked device into the EU is responsible for it conforming to Conformité Européenne.  So if you got it mail order (even if it came via an Amazon dropship warehouse)... you're the importer!  So sadly, as useful as Sonoff devices are, they are simply Chinese dreck from a safety and regulatory view, and should not ever touch mains wiring.  You need to investigate other brands that are UL-listed or regional equivalent.
The branch to the switch, and switch, need to be Class 1 wiring methods.
The device needs to be entirely inside a class 1 enclosure, and further, the "low voltage" S1 and S2 leads need to remain in class 1 wiring (i.e. THHN, Romex or twin-and-earth). Further, the switch and its enclosure needs to be mains rated; so a random $1.00 Handy-Box and 60 cent Leviton switch will suffice, but a random toggle switch off Mouser stuffed in a project box will not.  S1 and S2 cannot be wired into anything else unless all that, and everything it's wired to, is also inside class 1 enclosures.
I mention all this because this may compel you to a different design method, which would moot your question.


Should my boiler be warm to the touch? I was lightly dusting my boiler yesterday and it was quite warm to the touch.

The boiler is around ten years old and is tank fed.

Is it normal to feel warm?

Yes. But it shouldn't be hot. You should be able to keep your hand on it (this is a general idea in electrical products). Newer boilers get less warm, but that's for reasons of energy efficiency (they're better insulated).

If its getting too hot to keep your hand on it, and it hasn't been serviced recently, it may be worth getting it generally checked over.


need wiring diagram for a bedroom Wiring Diagram for bedroom needed.  I will have one ceiling fan with light controlled by a three way switch then from the ceiling fan unit need power for two independent switches to control led light strips in two seperate closets. attached below is what I am thinking but I need advice / second opinion on the best and code compliant method to wire this room. I have access from attic to drop down wires where need be. I  need closet lights to be able to come on or off regardless of whether or not the ceiling fan light is on or off. Need help as soon as possible with any ideas.  All lighting will be LED and eventually be using a smart home system.  thanks for your cooperation and assistance in advance.

You only have always-on power at the first switch (the 3-way by the door).  At the fan/light, you only have switched power, controlled by the two 3-way switches.  So, you need to run a 14/2 connected to the power coming from the panel (at the switch by the door) to the two closet switches to supply them with power.

You need two wires to have an electrical circuit - "hot" (black in house wiring) and "neutral" or "return" (white in house wiring).  When you wire a 3-way switch, you need an additional wire connecting the two switches:  The neutral wire is always connected, and the switches choose which of the two other wires to make the hot leg of the circuit.  When both switches are connected to the same wire, the load gets power (the light/fan comes on), when they are connected to different wires, the load is switched off because there isn't a complete circuit.

You could have an "always on" circuit at the light/fan, but you would need to run 14/4 - four conductors - between the two 3-way switches - neutral, plus the always-on hot lead, plus the two switched wires.  Then, from the second 3-way switch (the one connected to the light/fan), you would run 14/3 to the fixture, with neutral (white), hot (black) and switched (red).  At the fixture, you would connect neutral and switched to the light/fan to supply it with switched power, and you'd have the neutral and hot leads to continue to other uses, such as your closet lights.

That's not the way I would do it, though:  As I said, run a 14/2 to supply your closet lights, tapping off the mains at the 3-way by the door.  That avoids having to use 14/4 altogether, and you only need 14/2 going from the second 3-way to the fixture - neutral and a (switched) hot lead.

Referring to your diagram, instead of having a 14/2 going from the ceiling fixture to closet #2, have a 14/2 going from closet #1 to the switch by the door.  There, as I said, connect the new 14/2 to the wires coming from the panel for power.  No other changes are required from your plan.

Actually, you don't need two 14/3s, you only need one 14/3, plus a 14/2, going between the two 3-way switches because you don't need two neutral wires:

In this diagram, the blue lines represent the neutral (white) wires - which wouldn't show up well if they were white lines :)  The selection of whether to use red or black to connect the light and fan hot leads between the inside 3-way switches and the fixture is arbitrary - pick one that works.  As you can see, the white wire in the 14/3 between the 3-way switches is the neutral.  Assignment of the other four wires is also somewhat arbitrary, just be sure you have the switches connected in matched pairs.


The holes in our ceiling junction box are not parallel to the walls. Do I have options other than removing the junction box? The base of the new ceiling light is a 30” x 9” rectangle. Mounting it as the bracket currently sits would look really bad—not at all square to the room.

I don’t need the hole moved much; maybe an inch would be enough. I tried looking for a bracket that might work but came up empty. Sometimes that’s because I can’t find it and sometimes it’s because it’s a bad idea.

Any and all help appreciated!

Here’s a picture of the bracket. The red line is roughly parallel to the wall.

You can try an adaptor (universal crossbar) (adjustable swivel crossbar)

Or just live with it as is?


Do I need to 'burn out' the LP in the gas lines prior to swapping out an appliance? I need to replace the flexpipe between my steel pipe and the propane insert. The one installed is too short.

Alas, there wasn't a shut-off installed at the fireplace, so I needed to shut off the LP from the tank outside.

I figured before I unhook anything, I should try and burn out the LP in the line via the gas range.

Question 1: Is that a necessary step? Seems that's safer than letting what propane is in the piles leak out into the room as I decouple the connections.

Question 2: How long should it take to burn out what's left in the line? I've been running the burners for about 10 minutes now. The flame has gone down, but it's still going (there's maybe 40' of pipe between tank outside and range).

(PS, I will be installing a proper shut off valve as I replace the flex pipe to avoid this in the future.)

no.  the problem you find will be the odor of the gas, not the fire risk.  Just air the room a little, you'll be good.  keep the candles for the next day.
Good idea put in a valve for next time.


Can I use a Sharkbite on a running pressurized pipe? My main water shutoff valve no longer turns, and getting the city to come and shut water off at the curb is a bureaucratic hassle. I'd therefore like to install a valve without being able to shut off the water to the house. My thought is to cut the pipe downstream from the existing valve and install a new valve there, then use the new valve as the shutoff for the house.

Is it possible to install a Sharkbite (or other push-to-connect) valve on a pipe that is fully running? I assume I'd get pretty wet, but is there any reason why this wouldn't get the job done?

The water line into the house is 3/4-inch copper.

Assuming this is inside your house, don't even think about it unless you are prepared to clean up the mess from water a couple of inches deep on the floor (and getting into the rest of the house under the doors, etc), and spray all over the walls.

If you have never tried this before, expect the jet of water to knock things out of your hands, so the job takes even longer while you are wading around in the flood trying to retrieve them!

You don't say what country you are in, but in the UK you should be able to find the shut-off valve on the curb and close it yourself. It's not clear why you need a contractor to do it for you.


Can I use 2 runs of 10/2 UBF for my Shed 90’ from House? I want to run a window AC unit in Summer And an electric heater in winter. That for one 20Amp circuit. Other circuit for lighting and miscellaneous power tool operation. The 20A breakers square D Homeline type GFCI and CAFI with plug on neutral. Home Built in 85 with older Square D 100Amp panel. Do I need a sub panel and extra grounds being these are runs with ground back to house.

You can't run 2 separate circuits of the same type to an outbuilding.

If they are 120V circuits you could run the two as a multi-wire branch circuit, which counts as 1 circuit.  You would need 10/3 cable for that.

Alternately, you could run a 10/3 or larger cable and feed that to a subpanel.  That may be more of a production than you want to get into, because it'll mean selecting a subpanel with a main breaker*, as well as driving two grounding rods.

* Actually the purpose of the main breaker is to be a disconnect switch.  You need one.  Choosing a main-breaker panel is the cheapest way to obtain this. You don't care what the value on the main breaker is.  It could be 200A for all you care lol.


Is Schedule 80 PVC Conduit Suitable for Short Directional Boring? I'm running some electrical wire around where I'm building my house. There are two places that I'd rather not dig through: A driveway and a creek. The creek is the most important, because the state will require me to get a special permit, dam the creek, and temporarily redirect the flow before it will allow me to dig through it. Ick.

As a result, I'm going to use directional boring (a.k.a. horizontal directional drilling or HDD) to go under the driveway and creek. That way, I never have to disturb the creek bed or dig up the driveway. However, I'm a little uncertain about what type of conduit is permitted to be run through this directionally bored hole.

The only thing I can find in all of the Codez is this, in 300.5:

  (K) Directional Boring.
  Cables or raceways installed using directional boring equipment shall be approved for the purpose.

In all my Interwebz searching, HDPE is clearly approved for directional boring use. However, I've called every electrical supply store and warehouse (that will deal directly with clients, as opposed to only retail outlets) in a 60-mile radius, and none of them sell HDPE conduit. Some of them can order HPDE conduit, but only in huge reels, and they won't sell it to me by the foot. I have to buy the entire reel (2000 or more feet). I only need to bore for 30 feet under the creek and 30 feet under the driveway!!!

So then I take a look at my PVC conduit. The Codez says PVC conduit shall not be used in areas where subject to damage, except when approved for such use. Schedule 80 is commonly used under driveways and roads because that's considered "subject to damage." Both my Schedule 40 and Schedule 80 say they are approved to conform with UL 651. I can read the scope for UL 651, which says (in part):

  1.2.4 In addition to the applicable requirements specified in this standard, Schedule 40 and Schedule 80 rigid PVC conduit intended for directional boring shall be subjected to the performance requirements in 6.12.

However, I can't read 6.12 because you have to pay for it ($$hundreds to thousands$$). It sounds like complying with 6.12 may be an optional part of the standard, but the conduit doesn't say that it conforms to some part of the standard and not others, just that it conforms to UL 651.

So there you have it: I'm not sure what to do. Can I just put Schedule 80 PVC conduit through this directionally bored hole?

I don't know what regulations allow, but I have never seen horizontal boring done without installing the HDPE flex conduit as part of the process.

They bore by pushing the bit forward until they hit the destination.  Then they swap the boring bit for a pulling end, and pull the conduit back through the hole as they are removing the drill rod.  There is no separate conduit installation from the boring; you can't realistically push conduit through the bored dirt afterward.

How are you planning on doing the boring?  Is this something you are going to jerry-rig yourself, or hire a company to do?  If you are hiring it out, they likely will have some leftover end spool.  As you say, 30 feet is a small fraction of the 2000ft spool.  It should not be hard to get that as leftovers from the boring company, I would think.

And if you are doing it yourself, perhaps you can still buy some end spool offcuts from a boring company.


Where should I discharge my bathroom exhaust to? Everyone in general lean towards roof or gable end of house venting. Then of these two whichever is shortest run..Also everyone agrees down hill slope toward exterior of house..If one is to vent through the roof no house could accomplish this. The slope would inevitably point back to the ceiling. My house has two baths on the front side of house..Currently they vent to the front side of soffit..If I vented them both to the Gable 18ft of pipe would be needed. If vented through the roof 13ft would be needed to get to the back side of the ridge vent..Any advice would be appreciated.

I have a similar issue. The conclusion I have come to is that the shortest available route that is horizontal is probably best if you have to take account of cold climate and that a solid pipe if possible is even better. You will need to note the distance spec of your fan and go for more power if necessary.
If you have very cold winters you may have problems with steam condensing in a vertical pipe and dripping back into your bathroom. In any case the vent conduit should be covered with insulation.


Legality of removing meter If I cut the pin on my meter and remove the meter in order to replace the incoming power breaker, will I get in trouble? I live in the United States.

This is generally a contract (utility rules) problem

For just about all utilities in the US, what happens if you break a meter seal is governed first and foremost by your utility's service rules.  Typically, the primary punishment for such thing is the utility denying you service; if actual theft of electricity is discovered, they can go further by taking the thief to court.  However, for cases like yours, where a meter needs to be pulled for work, there will be processes in place, either to accept requests for disconnects for scheduleable service, or to allow the breaking of meter seals for emergency work.

For the former, Duke Energy simply has you call their residential customer service line (7AM-9PM EST) and ask them, with 24h notice, of wanting to "drop service" at a specific time, and then have it "re-tapped" when the work's done, as per their page on the topic.  For a true emergency scenario, they also have a procedure by which one can cut the meter seal, then call, but that will require them to come out in person to reseal the meter when done; with modern smart meters, they can drop your service remotely by triggering a disconnect internal to the meter, which makes this sort of request far easier for them to handle.


How can you rid your house of 'Sick Building Syndrome'? It's a rite of passage - You and your spouse are expecting, and it's your responsibility to paint the baby's room.

But before you do so, make sure that you use only latex/low VOC paint, keep the room well-ventilated for at least a few days, and try to keep the pregnant mother away from the room while you're doing work.

Well, I did all of that. Unfortunately, my wife appears to be experiencing 'Sick Building Syndrome'.

My Question: How can I remedy this situation? Can I buy an appliance to rid the air of harmful particles? Can I hire a professional to clean the air?

Also, please bear in mind, I'm not experiencing any discomfort myself. My wife however, has a dry cough, some asthma symptoms, and a burning sensation in her eyes.

Sorry there is no such thing as 'Sick Building Syndrome', it is just a lazy way to label a problem that is not understood.

So you first need to find out in detail what is causing the problem.

Given that your wife is expecting, it may have nothing to do with the building at all…..

A doctor may be able to do tests and give you a list of the things she is sensitive to, so you have somewhere to start – it could just be something as simple as dust you liberated while clearing the room to paint it and nothing to do with the paint.


Outdoor burst pipe best practice for the winter We had an outdoor tap (faucet) fitted in the summer last year here in Edinburgh UK. The temperature here often dips to just below freezing over the winter. Outside, at least. The plumber suggested we should turn off the water under the kitchen sink (a screwdriver turnable valve), but also leave the tap/faucet fully open on the outside wall. That last to allow cooling water to expand up and out as it is freezing - hopefully slowly. That's exactly what we did.
Anyway, Today (March 21st), I closed up the outside tap, and under the kitchen sink opened up the wee valve.  Guess what? .. super spraying burst pipe outside!! There's a copper pipe rising to the tap, from foot level, and it has burst a couple of feet up. We followed instructions to the letter :(
We need to get that repaired, but what to do instead for next winter?  Under the kitchen floor (a crawl space for slim people) there's push-to-fit plastic piping. That goes out through a cavity wall as copper pipe, before making a 90 degree turn up the wall at foot level.  Is polystyrene insulation enough for the same pipe? Do we need a mechanism to fully drain the outside section?
Outside:

What I would do ( have done) is replace the elbow with a "T" and add a valve to be opened in winter . Presumably the valve will be below grade and will need something like a sprinkler valve box. I have a few similar drain valves in my sprinkler system.


2x6 deck joists: salvageable or need replacing? We have a roughly 10x30 elevated wood deck off the pack of our house. The joists are all 2x6 16oc. The posts are 4x4 and are holding up a beam that the joists hang off of with joist hangers. I feel this deck is under built, though I will say it feels very solid for what it is.

I plan on doing the following:

add a beam under the joists a foot or so in (to lessen the initial span).
use 6x6 posts.

The big question: Do I need to replace the 2x6 joists and make them larger?

I'm finding mixed answers out there on the internet. Some span tables include 2x6 and claim about a 9'6" span when 16OC. Others simply say "don't use 2x6 joists.

If I do have to replace the joists, we're probably looking at a full tear down and starting from scratch. I can live with that, but if I can save the time, money, and extra waste going to the dump by keeping the 2x6s, I'd be certainly for it.

According to the table in the 2012 IRC code a exterior deck needs to handle a 60lb per sq ft (40 lb live + 20lb dead load). Most treated lumber that I am aware of is #2 southern yellow pine, using that criteria on the table in the code book, your joists can carry a 10'-9" span.

The biggest failure in deck construction has not been the posts or the joists, but the connection to the house. I believe code now requires through bolts into the band joist, or the joist of the house, or posts at the house is cool too.

The length of the post will dictate whether they need to be 4X4 or 4X6. Its a deflection (bowing) thing. IMO 4X4 for a 10' span is not overloading the post, a 16' span may...


Can I put a 20Amp breaker on my existing 15AMP garage circuit? I bought a dust collector and I am trying to find out if I can run it together with the table saw at the same time on the existing circuit. Not sure what the 2x15 circuits are for (house built during the 60s but the electrical is more recent. No per room AC devices.
The forth picture shows the inside wiring but it is made of collated pictures (the washer is partially blocking the electrical panel closed door and I can't take an one shot overall picture) I marked with red lines where I stitched the pictures
Here are pictures of my electrical panel

Here is a close up of the wires on the right side (from top to bottom, not fantastic pictures for the same reasons explained above) Maybe this can help you determine what wires I have and if I can install 20AMPS breakers at least for the garage (the circuit is on the left side but the wires seem to be the same)

Edit:
Table saw Ridgid 3650
Dust collector : Harbor Freight 2HP 70 gallons dust collector

Don't try to run a saw and a dust collector on the same circuit

You seem to think a 20A circuit will magically support both. No, it won't. You sink the time, energy and cost into getting that single 20A circuit, plug both in, and you'll get a snap for your trouble.  Stop trying.

You need a 15A circuit for the dust collector, and Bob's your uncle.   For the table saw, a [different] 15A circuit might work.   If the saw has a NEMA 5-20 plug (rotated neutral), then  you definitely need a 20A circuit including 20A wire.

Now if the saw has a standard plug but still trips a 15A breaker reasonably often, and you are prepare to dedicate that circuit to this saw only, then take a picture of the motor nameplate on the saw, and post it here in a new question asking "Based on this motor nameplate, can I bump this breaker? Canada code." There might be a magical exception.  Maybe.  There are some numbers that need to be crunched.  Don't go slapping in a 20A breaker on that hope. Capische?

A 20A circuit absolutely requires #12 copper or #10 aluminum

You cannot simply slap a 20A breaker on any cable that uses #14 copper or #12 aluminum.   Remember, even if  you are able to exploit that magical exception, that only works on a circuit dedicated to one specific tool.

You can tell what  your cable is by reading the words printed on the cables for about 1 foot.  There's a lot there, but there should be something like 14/3 AWG or 14 AWG, and Copper, CU, Aluminum, or AL.

Given that the cable near the panel is in unfinished space, and garages often are too, you may be able to run new cables and then obtain new 20A breakers for those cables.  This is the normal approach when acquiring new power tools.  It's part of the ritual.

Check with your local EATON dealer (or ThreePhaseEel if you can post a picture of your panel's label), but it appears at first glance that your panel takes EATON type BQL breakers (or BQLT if you need double-stuffs).  These cost C$20 per space at Lowes, which figuring for exchange rate and VAT is probably about twice a common BR breaker.  They bolt down, so you must power down the whole panel to fit them.  But that's easy enough.

"But Commander panels are dangerous!"

OK, let's think this through.  There are dangerous panels out there, but their troubles generally fall into 3 different areas.

The bus stabs not having good contact, arcing and starting fires. This panel uses bolt-down breakers, which makes this a complete non-issue.
The neutral and ground bars making poor contact with the wires for some reason.  Later research proved much of this trouble was actually caused by screws not being torqued down to spec.  Because of this, US NEC now requires installations use a torque screwdriver.  In panels with suspect G/N bar problems, this is the best answer.
The breakers themselves being duff.  FPE and Zinsco got caught out cheating their UL listings.  I don't know why CSA (Canada's UL) delisted Commander panels, but they did. The fix here is replace the breakers with reliable modern stock. That's not an option for FPE or Zinsco (the $80 Connecticut Electric replacement breakers are even worse than the originals)... but Eaton's BQL line is the replacement for Challenger, and it appears to be simply a repackaged BR breaker with a  boltdown flange instead of a stab clip. And, they are sanely priced.


20 Amp single receptacle on two 15 amp breakers? I bought a new Master Blaster that draws 18 amps when using both of its motors that I intend to use to when washing/detailing my car.
In my garage, I currently don’t have a 20 amp outlet. I have two 15 amp outlets and then I found a single large round dryer outlet that was rated for 30 amps and 250 volts. When I pulled it out of the electrical box, I found one black wire, one white wire, and one ground wire.
The part that’s confusing is that to shut off electricity to the black wire I had to flip one 15 amp breaker and to shut off electricity to the white wire, I had to flip another 15 amp breaker (see pictures). I’m guessing they added the two to get the 30 amps for the dryer plug.
I purchased a single (only one outlet) 20 amp receptacle that has a brass screw, a stainless screw, and a ground screw. Can I swap the 30 amp for the 20 amp without running into any problems? The single 20 amp info on the box says that the wires should by up to 10 AWG for this receptacle. I’m not sure if that’s what I have running through the wall.
I’ll likely use the 18 amp Master Blaster for maximum 10 minutes at a time with a 25 foot 12 AWG extension cord.
Is this wire setup in the wall up to code?
If not up to code, is this still safe?
Any issues with this setup (two 15 amp breakers for two different wires, the 20 amp single outlet, the 25ft extension cord, and the master blaster)?
Most important is, what do I need to do to set up the 20 amp single receptacle where the dryer plug used to be and not burn the place down?

What a mess...
Assuming that your diagnosis is correct - two wires in the same cable connected to totally separate breakers, you have several different problems going on:

A 30A dryer receptacle should be on a pair of 30A breakers. This is 2 independent 15A breakers. You don't add (though it sounds logical) 15A + 15A to get 30A, because the 30A refers to 30A @ 240V. Each of those 15A breakers is actually 15A @ 120V. The two existing breakers together gives you 15A @ 240V.
Breakers for a dryer or similar 240V load need to be in a pair that trip at the same time. That is important for safety. As you already discovered, you could turn off one breaker but still have power in the box. If you had a dryer plugged in and it tripped one breaker but not the other, you might think there was no power in the box and get zapped while trying to fix it. The only way to do that properly is with a pair of breakers that are side by side and connected together (really "one device").
Most of your breakers are "double stuff"/"half size". That is not in and of itself a problem. However, a pair of breakers to provide 240V needs to be either 2 full size breakers side-by-side or the middle set of 2 pairs of double stuff breakers, as I believe is the case with the 40A pair in the lower left.
A dryer normally needs two hots + neutral + ground. There is a grandfathered way of two hots + neutral, no ground. Your cable just provides two hots + ground or hot + neutral + ground. My guess is that it was wired up using the ground wire as the neutral wire, since black & white were definitely hots. That is another Very Bad Thing.

So what you had before was:

Wrong size breakers - 15A instead of 30A
Wrong arrangement of breakers - not next to each other
Not common trip
Neutral on the ground wire

Basically, a disaster waiting to happen.
On to your new setup. You did not indicate if this is a 20A 120V device or 20A 240V device. My guess is that it is 20A 120V. If that is the case then:

You need to determine the size of the cable wires. My guess is either 12 AWG or 10 AWG. 10 AWG is what you need for 30A. 12 AWG is the minimum for 20A. 14 AWG is the minimum for 15A. If it is 14 AWG then forget about it and start over.
You need a single 20A breaker. You should be able to replace one of the existing double stuff breakers. You can replace the 15/15 with a 20/15 or the 15/20 with a 20/20. Do not upsize anything else at the same time - i.e., if you replace the 15/15, you can't put in a 20/20 because you have to assume that at least some of the wire on the other 15 is only 14 AWG.
In the panel: The black wire from the cable goes to the new breaker. The white wire goes to the neutral bar (except...GFCI, see below). The ground wire might be going to the neutral bar or the ground bar right now, or (hopefully only if this is the main panel) neutrals and grounds mixed together. But seeing what a mess you already have, anything is possible.
This will leave you with one unused 15A breaker, which can be used for another new circuit.

GFCI could complicate things here. Generally speaking, new receptacles in a garage (among other places) need to have GFCI protection. That can be at the panel, except not normally as part of double stuff breakers, and you are out of space to do anything except double stuff without a lot of extra work. So that means taking back the single plain receptacle and getting a GFCI receptacle (single or double) instead.
But I'd be really concerned about other problems. Knowing about problems with just one dryer circuit, who knows what else is possibly wrong. Touching "anything" in the panel could be a recipe for disaster.


Is the proposed solution to this masonry project okay? We will going to build long interior, round(little bit) shaped staircase (similar to this) from concrete, and I needed to get instructions
with physics that it will possible to make it without any middle pillar that 12ft long staircase. So because of that We suppose
to burrow the ground and concrete the base about 2-3ft tall where stair going to start.

I do not have particularly deep knowledge about staircase masonary. After a consulting mason, that he doesn't have a good
alternative. If those solutions aren't reasonable, is there anything we can do that without making middle pillar??
How can we convince him??

If you had an professional engineer design the whole unit as an assembly it may be possible to have the railings and metal concrete reinforcing members in the steps and risers work as a trussed span structure that was only supported at the bottom step and at the top step.

This is definitely not a project for any local neighborhood handyman, general masonry contractor or DIY type work. Also do not expect this type of project to be low cost.


Is sealing via tape necessary for knee wall foam board insulation.? I have dramatically improved the ventilation and insulation situation in my house's knee wall attic space, but I have one concern.

I nailed up foam board over the studs and fiberglass batts.  Do the seams really need to be sealed with expanding foam or tape?  How much more performance would I gain?  If so, which is the better option?

Sealing the seams will not increase the R-value of the insulation.  However, sealing the seams is important as an air infiltration/moisture seal, preventing air from infiltrating  and, as a result, preventing moisture (condensation) from occurring between the foam board and batt. Typically expanding foam creates a better, longer-lasting seal than tape.


Ceiling Fan Install - detecting voltage in fixture Hello all and thank you in advance for your time!

Here’s the situation: new construction master bedroom. I have a ceiling fan that operates with remote, no light kit. Then i also have a set of 4 can LED lights. The wall has 2 switches. One switch is a dimmer on a three way that turns the lights on. The other provides power to the fan and is NOT on a 3 way.

I have attached white to white and black to black as per fan instructions. This leaves my red wire as an extra and is capped. The fan works correctly as well as all lights function correctly! Great!

The problem I’m having is that when the lights are switched on, the fans hanging bracket, as well as down rod are showing voltage on my voltage detector. All grounds are connected (bare wire from ceiling, ground from hanging bracket and ground from down rod)

Is this an issue? I just want to make sure I’m good here and not gonna burn the house down!

Non-contact voltage detectors can commonly give false-positive voltage indications from what is known as "phantom voltage".  This alerts you that there may be voltage present in the circuit, but isn't a reliable way to tell which wire the voltage is on or if it's even "real" voltage.

Since the red wire is capped, you should be fine, but if you want to double check with a multi-meter, connect the black lead to a bare ground wire and then touch some non-panted areas of the mounting bracket and fan casing (screw holes are good non-painted areas to test) with the red lead.  Try not to touch any bare metal with your hands while the breaker is on since you are concerned with stray voltage.  You may also want to check the voltage on the red wire to make sure it is independent of the black.  If you get readings of considerably less than 120v, this can also be phantom or induced voltage (like 50v or 60v, etc).


Is it generally safe to use a lower wattage bulb in a light fixture? (Specifically Halogen bulbs) I just bought a light fixture that uses GU10 base Halogen bulbs and came with 50 watt bulbs that are way too bright for my purposes.

The documentation lists the maximum wattage bulbs that can be used for the fixture, but makes no mention of the minimum safe wattage. I also couldn't find any information on the vendor's web site.

As a general rule, is it safe to use any wattage bulb in a fixture that is below the maximum, or is there a risk of overloading them somehow or burning them out too quickly?

AFAIK, bulbs with a GU-10 base are driven directly from electrical mains, in which case it's OK to use a lower-power bulb.  Your fixture won't reach the temperatures that it's capable of withstanding.

The only place that I know of that it might not be OK is with low-voltage (usually 12V or 24V) lighting systems such as track or task lighting: some transformers have a minimum power output that they like to supply, so if you use lower wattage bulbs, you should use more of them to compensate (somewhat defeating the purpose).  If this applies, you would have an entry for Minimum power on the specifications for the lighting system.


AFCI wired strangely Folks I want to replace several breakers in my panel with AFCI's.  Looking at the directions it appears you wire the power and neutral posts to the AFCI and the breaker pigtail to the neutral/ground bus.  Well when I pulled the panel and inspected the AFCI's already installed required by code only for bedrooms only the power(black) wire was installed in the AFCI breaker.  The neutral & pigtail was installed on the neutral/ground bus.  Is this an error and can I simply wire the AFCI with the power (black) wire and attach the neutral wire to ground?

You have an alien breaker problem

You must use same-brand breakers in your panel  (or certain very specific competitor breakers that are UL-classified for your panel, but those classified breakers are almost never stocked at retail).

Combination AFCIs detect both "series" faults (in line with the load, by listening to the wire for crackle-pop noises) and "parallel" line-to-ground arc faults (either by having a limited GFCI built in, or by listening more carefully).

Earlier combination AFCIs used the "limited GFCI" strategy, and so, they need to be wired just like a GFCI. This also means they cannot support 240V loads or multi-wire branch circuits (unless they are built as 2-pole breakers).

That's solved by some of the newest AFCIs, which use the "listening more carefully" strategy.  These are a technological progression from earlier design AFCIs. So I am very alarmed that your existing breakers don't need neutral, but your new breakers do.

Maybe this is a GE panel having the fancy neutral-less AFCI breakers, and here you are coming back from the store with Eaton BR breakers because they were on sale.  No, no, no, no, no.
Or alternatively your builder fit an Eaton BR panel, and used the new GE breakers because they play well with multi-wire branch circuits (but not BR panels), and here you are, coming back from the store with the correct BR breakers.
Or it could be a case that you went to an Eaton dealer, and they pressed Eaton CHQ breakers into your hand for your Square D QO panel, and that combination is UL-Classififed, so A-OK.
Or your original breakers might be the GE neutral-less AFCI, and the new breakers are the GE needs-neutral kind, e.g. because they are dual-function AFCI-GFCI, which is A-OK.

We don't know.

Regardless, you can't leave the uncertainty, because it's dangerous.  Let us know when you can edit your question to include more info about your panel, existing AFCIs, and candidate AFCIs, and we will backfill better info.

Have no moral objection to returning wrong AFCIs to the store.  They should not have sold them to you.  Lots of lots of shopkeepers "conveniently believe" that any of the 1" breakers will fit any other panel, and while they will clip in, the stab does not contact properly and they will arc and set the panel on fire.


How to replace recessed halogen light from an eyeball fixture? I have a fused halogen bulb in this eyeball fixture. It's fairly resistant to twisting and pulling. The previous tenants managed to damage a similar fixture in another room, and I don't want to end up the same.

How do I safely replace this bulb?

I'm also thinking about replacing all the halogens here with LEDs. Do I need anything other than LED bulbs that fit in the same socket? I remember seeing something about mains adapters for the LEDs. Are these necessary?

The eyeball or gimbal fixture has spring loaded clips. SHUT OFF POWER, take utility knife and score any paint that may have sealed the ring to ceiling, pull the ring from straight down, compress and release spring tension, pull assembly out of can. By holding the socket in one hand and twist bulb with other......yes/no...safety glasses, gloves, and a bag to put over bulb and assembly and break bulb.... sometimes you can just twist the bulb until it releases from its base, the socket will now be free from gimbal assembly, I use a pair of linemen plier to free the base from the socket...yes/no replace socket....MAKE SURE POWER IS OFF FIRST


One of our toilets refills VERY slowly - takes 15-20 minutes after flushing. Note: Like another user's query, our bowl fills okay, but the tank refills very slowly - takes 15-20 minutes.
We can't detect any leaks. I've adjusted the water valve. I've put a brick in the tank to raise the water level per someone's suggestion. I can't detect any issues with the flush handle or any of the components in the tank.  However, understand: Both my husband and I are totally UNKNOWLEDGEABLE about this sort of thing. We managed to change the flush valve a few months ago, and I think he changed the entire interior mechanism as well - but beyond that, we're helpless!  We simply can't afford a plumber(still paying off a $10,000 water re-route from two years ago).
Ideas?

Assuming the old valve was replaced for just not shutting off & this is only happening after the new toilet valve went in. Then yes, it's debris in the line that ruined the new valve, likely from operating the shut-off valve. The toilet valve should be replaced again after flushing the supply line while opening & closing the shut-off valve to make sure all debris is gone.

You may want to turn the house main down a bit, you just want to flush the line (turn on a faucet closest to the main) & turn the main mostly closed so the faucet drops its flow to half but not less, you still want to scrub out the debris pretty good.

***** THE MAIN may also have debris so remove the faucet's aerator & operate the main until water runs clear.*****


Filling potholes in my dirt driveway My driveway (see picture) has developed potholes that are so deep that the high parts can hit the bottom of the car!

My driveway is a dirt driveway with crushed blacktop on top. Also, it is very steep in the section that has potholes. So I think that if I were to just fill the potholes with dirt, the next rain would wash them right out.

Any suggestions on the right approach to fix this problem?

My question is similar to this one, but my driveway is already shaped correctly to guide the rain water. I would like to figure out how to fill the potholes with dirt and at the same time get the dirt to adhere to the bottom of the pothole.

Thank you in advance!

Stick with the crushed rock.  In the deeper holes you could start with 1-1/4"minus.  As you get closer to the surface you go smaller and smaller.  forget the dirt.  you are wasting your time.


How to fill a hole in the living room? There is the circular hole in the floor in my living room near radiator which leads to a relatively big space underground! If I want to judge using my eyes,I think the size is around 50cm/1.5feet depth and 30cm/1 foot width and 30cm/1 foot length. I think a mouse entered my house through this hole which is man made. I don't know why there is such a hole near radiator.

I cannot completely fill the hole because it opens to a larger space. I want to lay a plastic sheet over the hole and then push the sheet into the hole. Now I have a cup-like plastic sheet inside the hole which I can fill with cement or mortar.

I am wondering which is better, mortar or cement? I think cement must be better because mortar is made of cement itself and sand and lime. Thus I think the cement must form a stronger piece of solid.

I would be happy to know about other possible solutions too.

Here is a photo:

There are two solutions that should be easier and cheaper than cement or mortar.

Cement could certainly work, if you can get it to stay in place while it dries.  Get some steel wool, which mice won't chew through, and a can of spray foam such as Great Stuff (there's even a pest repellent version of it available at Home Depot).  Stuff steel wool around the hole and fill it in with spray foam, which will expand and can be trimmed with a knife after it dries.  This will keep bugs out and the steel wool will keep mice from chewing through, and it's fast, easy and cheap.

Alternately you could get a small piece of sheet metal.   Use some construction adhesive to hold it in place and it should keep bugs and mice out.


Type of Plasterboard to use in a bathroom? I'm installing a few framed/stud walls in a bathroom which will be covered in plasterboard and will eventually be tiled.

The walls are not going into a shower, bath or other area where they are likely to be in prolonged contact with water, so will I need to use moisture resistant plasterboard and stainless steel screws or will standard plasterboard/screws do the job?

Standard drywall is just fine. In fact, as a builder we rarely used moisture-resistant drywall even above shower surrounds. Proper ventilation and good quality paints do the job just fine. We never had callbacks.

In my opinion, if you think you need moisture-resistant drywall, such as for tile backing, you should be using cementboard. Drywall of any type isn't appropriate for areas that regularly get splashed.