Ceiling occupancy sensor with wall switch override I am planning to finish my garage and currently planning the rough-in. I wanted to add a way for the lights to come on automatically if the garage door is being opened at night, or if I go out to bring out the trash and it's dark, then for the lights to go off automatically. I am thinking I need a ceiling-mounted occupancy sensor like the Leviton ODC0S-I1W with controls set to activate with darkness. I would also want these lights on a switch or two, so if I am working in the garage, I can flip either wall and keep the lights on without needing to walk past the ceiling sensor.

Is this configuration possible? If so, what would a compatible wall switch be and how should this be wired? Thank you.

What usually throws people in this situation is conflicting control schemes.  People think "If the motion sensor throws the light on, and I throw the light switch off, it should go off".  But if you can live with the "either/or" arrangement, turn the switch off and the light stays on because the motion sensor wants it, then this is easy.

Start by re-marking wires; this will make life much easier.

You'll need black and red electrical tape. Get a 5-pack of colored tape for $4-5.

Black = always-hot
White = neutral
Red = switched-hot

The black wire on the lamp itself should be re-marked red.  If the lamp is a spur line (i.e. it's not a switch loop), then /2 cable will suffice, but re-mark the black wire red on both ends, since it will be switched-hot.

Cable sizes must match what is already in the garage, and 12 AWG=20A breaker, and 14 AWG=15A breaker.

Also note that since 2011, plain switches need always-hot, switched-hot and neutral, so black, red and white needed there.   The motion sensor will need the same.

At this point, you cable it up in whatever way the wire routing best lends itself.  You need to connect the wall switch, the motion sensor, and the lamp, any way which proves most practicable/economical.  Think of that as a triangle, with power coming in any one corner.  You are only allowed to cable 2 sides of that triangle.

Supply gives black and white.
Switch needs black, white and red.
Motion sensor needs black, white and red.
Lamp needs red and white.

So "connect the dots" as it were.  Some places will need all 3 colors, perhaps some only two. If you have a segment that only needs red and white, you can use /2 cable and recolor the black as a red.  You shouldn't have a segment that needs only red and black.

  Now, if you're in an old-style (2-wire) switch loop, first, you must replace that cable with a /3 cable if that is possible. If unable to replace, then tag the black wire red, and the white wire black, due to an NEC requirement.

The motion sensor is an interesting one. They have 2 blue wires, which go to the relay... that makes sense.  Remark one of the blues black, and the other red.

Wire it up

Due to our care in pre-marking wires, this is simplicity itself: at each box, connect blacks to each other, whites to each other, and reds to each other.  And we're done.

Wow, that was easy.  This is why we did all that remarking before.  I love my colored tape!

As to how specifically to wire it, I can't tell you how, because I don't know which cable routes are easier than others, and I don't know where the power is coming into the system.   However, you can draw it yourself.  Here.

You're not allowed to make a triangle with cables.  So Scribble out one of the three cables, you can't use it.
Figure out where you want power coming in (based on what is easiest to run the cables to), and draw in a "cable" to that box and extend the black and white "wires" to it.
Staying inside the cables, connect all the whites, blacks and reds.
Each segment should now have 2 or 3 wires, depending.  If any have 2 wires, and one is red, re-mark a  wire with tape to be red.


How do I remove carpet adhesive from concrete? I have a 12x15' sun room that currently has carpet over concrete. I pulled a 3' section of carpet and the entire floor has adhesive.

Can I remove this using a liquid chemical or do I need a machine?

The house was build in '96 so I'm assuming there's no harmful chemicals existing on the floor to worry about.

I plan to tile over the concrete when finished.

The glue used by the floor covering industry to adhere carpet to a floor is one of the most tenacious, and laborious bonds to break. If you want to burn some calories grab some knee pads and a 6 inch floor scraper (and some extra blades). Use a sweeping arch to slice the residual adhesive from the floor. Or, if possible, rent a 17 inch floor scrubber/buffer machine and ask for a couple of 36 grit sanding disc's. The sanding discs will eventually clog with glue. I've found that some handfuls of silica sand broadcast on the floor speeds the glue removal and lessens the amount of glue clogging the disc. Wear a respirator if using silica. Breathing it can cause silicosis to the lungs.


Wiresize required for air conditioner of 1.5 tonne is 2.5 sq mm will work? My home has copper wire of 2.5 sq mm fitted with 15 Ampere plugs for running appliance. All wires are connected to main electricity meter with max distance (i think it is required) of 40 foots/feets.

The voltage is 220 volt which vary from say 180 to 240 may be. The power consumption stated by AC is 1550 watt (3 star 1.5 tonne voltas AC)

I will be adding a stabilizer 4 KVA to AC and that stabilizer will be inserted in socket of 15 Amperes.

Can you please help will it work?

2.5mm^2 wire is good for 18A inside a wall, so you are limited by the 15A sockets. A 220V 15A socket can deliver 3.3kW, and even if the voltage drops to 180V it can still do 2.7kW.  Your aircon requires 1.55kW so there is enough power available.

Depending on the type of aircon, it might draw more Volt-Amps than it does Watts. This would happen if it uses a big motor, and has a poor power factor.  Most aircons would be fine, but without looking in the manual for your particular model, it's hard to be sure.

Stabilizers are rarely used in my country, so I can't say much about that part of things, but your 15A sockets cannot supply 4KVA. If the load on the stabiliser stays at 1.5kW, it may be that the stabiliser will always stay below the 2.7kW which is available. If it tries to draw 4KVA from your sockets, there will be problems - either blown fuses, or, if you don't have fuses then a house fire.  Check the manual for the stabiliser to see how it works, and make sure you install 15A fuses somewhere between the wall socket and the stabiliser.

If in doubt, get a qualified electrician in.


How do I improve specific gravity in a 4 year old battery The specific gravity indicates almost nonexistent acid level.   Barely above water.   What is the best way to bring this battery back to life.  It is a 6 volt solar battery.

In most cases, take it on a trip to the recycling center, or trade it in to be recycled when you buy the replacement. Lead acid batteries are a consumable item in solar service, and more so if the solar service is poorly managed such that they are not brought to full charge, or are over-discharged on a regular basis. They are a finicky and fickle part of the system, but less costly than batteries that are more tolerant of imperfect operating conditions.

You can charge the heck out of it, but it's probably past saving that way. You may be thinking "I can just add acid" but that does not actually work since the problem is not lack of acid, but where that acid has gone, chemically. Add sufficient distilled water, only, but I very much doubt you'll bring it back from the grave.


How can I insulate my garage? My sister's garage gets very cold and very hot as it is not currently insulated. She has the heating/ac unit in there as well as a deep freezer. The attic space directly above the garage has no insulation and the exterior wall is just cinderblock with plaster on the outside of house. All other walls are just cinderblock with a bedroom on the other side with regular drywall.

This racks up the electricity bill as both the ac/heater and freezer needs to compensate for the large temperature difference. Also the garage walls that are part of the interior of house are not insulated, so that breaks the buildings insulation envelope further.

We want to replace her current garage door with an insulated one. We also will be adding insulation to the attic space. So my questions are:

What types of insulated garage doors are available on the market, pros/cons?
How would we insulate the cinderblock exterior wall?
How would we insulate the cinderblock interior walls?

The easiest way to insulate concrete block is to glue foam insulation board directly to the block. These boards come in 4 ft X 8 ft sheets and different R values. The other method is to build a wood or steel stud wall along the block to hold blanket style insulation along with electrical wiring etc. This method is a lot more work, but gives you a base to install sheetrock later on.

Depending on whether or not you want the attic area insulated or not, blanket or blown in insulation can be installed into the ceiling. ( this assumes you have a sheathed ceiling). Otherwise, you can install blanket insulation between the rafters. Depending on budget, sprayed in foam insulation is fantastic.   You may also want to look at some venting to help exhaust hot air during the summer months. I may add a few comments later, but here's a start.


How to reinforce a flimsy settee? we have a Settee that does not feel very sturdy. It is rated at 250 lbs and there is a slight wobble. What can I do to make it steadier and more load bearing? (e.g. 400lb)

Here is the settee: http://www.wayfair.com/Skyline-Furniture-Velvet-Settee-Loveseat-I-6006-SKY1440.html

Here are the instructions: http://imgur.com/a/LT7xt

Structually, it's essentially two solid wood sides and a bench held together by four 5/16th bolts.

Am I right in thinking that the legs are the weak point?

According to the instructions, it appears that there are six washers and nuts holding it together. If you only used four, that might be a problem. ;)

I would go back over the piece, checking the tightness of the nuts. Side-to-side motion is likely a problem with the nuts, not the legs.


How can I fairly distribute water pressure and flow throughout my home? All new home plumbing.  Well fed, so we have our own booster pump and we control the water inlet pressure.

My goal is to split the house into four "zones" that I can turn off, independently with a valve.

So far, so good.

But a secondary goal is to have each zone affect the other zones as little as possible and so my plan ... is to run the inlet pressure very high - 80 psi, in fact - into the manifold.  Then, each zone that stems off the manifold has a pressure regulator bringing it down to 50 PSI.

The system and pump design assume an absolute max flow demand of 15 GPM. I expect that will be sufficient for our needs.

So, assuming we stay below the 15 GPM pump output, do I gain anything at all, no matter how marginal by running the inlet at 80 PSI and limiting the zones to 50 PSI ?

Thank you.

Piping systems restrict the flow of water through them. Elbows, valves, joints, and straight pipe all inhibit flow. When all faucets are off so there is no water flowing, the pressure throughout your home plumbing system will be equal at all points.

When water begins flowing, the pressure throughout the system will no longer be equal. The pressure near the source (your pump) will be highest. The pressure measured right before the water exits the faucet will be the lowest. As the flow rate increases, the velocity of the water through the pipe increases. The speedy water flowing past the stationary pipe and fittings causes friction. The friction turns the water's kinetic energy into heat. We see this as a reduction in pressure as we measure farther and father from the pressure source.

We can reduce the friction effect by increasing the pipe diameter. As we increase the pipe diameter, we slow the water velocity. (side note: 'pi * r squared' says area is the square of diameter, so doubling the diameter makes a huge reduction in velocity.) Using a 3/4 inch pipe instead of a 1/2 inch pipe will reduce the friction losses because the water will be flowing much slower.

In practice, you should run larger pipes to supply multiple fixtures that will be running simultaneously.

If the piping system in place is too small, and assuming the system can withstand a higher pressure, you can increase the pressure. As stated, when there is no flow in the system, all points in the system will experience the higher pressure.

To achieve your goal of ~50 PSI at each fixture, you would then install a pressure regulator upstream of each fixture. The regulator will reduce the upstream pressure, and supply 50 PSI to each fixture, up to a limited flow rate.

In practice, installing pressure regulators throughout a home water system isn't usually the best idea. Home water systems are expected to operate without attention or maintenance for many years. The point-of-use fixtures (e.g. faucets, toilets) are visible, and failures are obvious. A regulator, with internal moving parts and an elastomeric diaphragm, are often not visible. If one fails in a way that it leaks, the failure could cause significant damage.

Another responder suggested adding one or more pressure tank (accumulator). An accumulator stores energy close to the point of use. When the system is idle, all points will be at 50 PSI. When you open a faucet, the water will be partly supplied by the piping system, and partly by the accumulator. If the faucet remains open, the accumulator will run out of energy. Quite suddenly, the flow at the faucet will reduce.

As soon as you close the faucet, water will continue flowing from the source (pump) to the accumulator, re-pressurizing the accumulator until its pressure is equal to the source pressure. At that point, water will stop flowing, and the pressure at all points in the system will again be equal.

In practice, an accumulator solves a problem for a remote bathroom fed by 1/2 in. piping. If a person flushes the toilet right before entering the shower, the accumulator will maintain the pressure to both the toilet fill valve and the shower. When the toilet finishes filling, the flow to the shower will be relatively unchanged.

Further in practice, modern shower valves include a pressure balancing device (or scald guard), which limits the flow of hot water if the flow of cold water is reduced. Search for 'pressure balancing' or 'thermostatic' shower valves.


Does always-on safety lighting need a switch or other requirement? With such low-power LED lights available, I've been setting up some of my lighting to simply be on all the time, 24x7, e.g. 1 of 6 downlights or 1 out of 4 LED "tube"s in a troffer.   Usually I just establish the convention of leaving the switch on. However I'd like to re-task those switches to other purposes, and simply hardwire the light into always-hot.

What does the National Electrical Code say about that?  Does it require a switch so the light can be turned off easily by people in the room?  Does it suffice that there's a circuit breaker in the panel? Does the light need to be marked with which breaker operates it?  Is there a serious user-interface/usability issue with lights that can't be turned off?  Is there anything I'm missing?

There's no code problem having a light on 24 hrs and switched at the breaker, but the breaker must be switch rated. Most new breakers are rated as such. You can check on one side of the breaker there will be a circle with the letters SWD stamped inside of it.


How to wire a light fixture with 3 white wires in box? I just removed a light fixture which was connected to three wires. One light wire (both are brown) was hooked up to two white wires, and the other wire from the light (also brown) is connected to one white wire. I thought there had to be a black or red "hot" wire in electrical boxes. How should I attach my new light, which has a black, white and ground wire? I am assuming that the two white wires might be my hot wire, but how to know? The ceiling lights and house date from 1990.

If the old fixture worked, at least one of the white wires is hot.

The easiest way to check which is hot is to use a non-contact tester. If the fixture is already removed, leave the two wires bundled together with a wire nut over the end. Put a wire nut on the single white wire. Turn the breaker back on.  Only one of those should register on tester. That is the hot side. The other should not register. That is the neutral.

Once you know which wire is hot, mark it with black tape or a permanent marker.

If the the fixture is still attached, you can do the same thing with the fixture hanging down. Once you know what is what, turn the breaker back off before wiring.

The black wire goes to the hot wire, the white to the neutral.  The ground wire should be attached to a green or bare wire if there is one in the box, or to the box itself if it is metal. If not, just cap it.


What dangers present themselves when someone uses the grounding system as a neutral? What dangers present themselves when someone uses the grounding system as a neutral?  I'm just looking for insight into the theories.

Unlike the European   double-insulated 2-wire single-phase distribution system, the American single-phase system implements safety by using a 3-wire system consisting of a 'hot', a 'return' and a 'ground' wire. It takes just 4   milliamperes of current to flow from the 'hot' to the 'ground' to activate the ground-fault circuit interruption of a well configure 120 VAC power distribution circuit. Any more than 4 milliamperes results in sufficient current to cause cardiac arrest in large people.

If you are using the ground wire (green) as a neutral, not only do you have an unsafely configured AC power distribution circuit.  But also, you do not know what "else" is between the green wire at the point you tap it and the point where the green wire is bonded to the return (usually at the panel).  Almost all electrocutions that occur with swimmers swimming close to marinas occur because some electricity is returning via the green wire (faulty boat or marina circuit).  DO NOT DO IT YOU COULD KILL SOMEONE IN YOUR HOME!!!


Back up sump pump not working I installed a backup sump pump following the instructions.   The backup pump will turn on  but does not eject any water from the pit, the water only swirls around.     The pipes aren't clogged: the main pump works great and it is new pipe on the backup.     I tried drilling a hole in the pipe above the backup and water will shoot out the hole when the pump turns on but not up and out through the main discharge pipe.    There is a check valve on the main pipe, but is working as the main pump does empty the pit.   My only guess is that the backup line hits the main line at a 45 degree angle and the water coming up doesn't have enough force to open the check valve.   Again I installed it as indicated in the instructions.   The backup is battery operated and both the pump and battery are brand new.  Anyone have any ideas?

Letter I in that diagram, the primary pump check valve, is your problem. It is either missing or not operating correctly. The water being discharged by the backup pump is draining out the inlet of the primary pump.

Also, the primary pump check valve needs to located below the wye fitting and above the primary pump like it is in the diagram. If it is above the wye fitting, then it won't work.


New vanity and moving the plumbing How do I move the plumbing to the left about a foot? The picture shows the main pipe originally was moved to the right about a foot but now I need to move it to the left. I would like it lined up with where the pipe originally was.

Also, the vanity only has one hole for the sink and my other one has 3 holes for the sink, so how do I prepare the lines for one whole ?

The supply line and your drain lines are likely teed behind the wall, above the cut-out section. My guess is the vent pipe runs vertical out of the tee with the drain, so it won't need to move. You might be able to simply cut the pipes coming out of the tees, add couplers, and run new connections straight out. Or you might need to replace the tees with ones rotated properly. Before starting, make sure you know exactly what your plan is, ensure the water is shut off from the source, and if you're not confident in your ability to make straight cuts and new plumbing connections, call a plumber or a general handyman.

For your second question, it just means your vanity is expecting a single-hole faucet. These still accept both supply lines, of course; they just screw into the mixer valve under the countertop. If your vanity didn't come with a faucet, you'll need to buy a new one as your old three-hole faucet won't work (unless you can drill new holes in the vanity).


GFCI for aluminum-wired house I recently bought a house built in the US in the 1970s. It has all-aluminum wiring.

A last-second fix to pass the occupancy inspection involved replacing some malfunctioning GFCIs with, unbeknownst to me, the cheapest available basic GFCIs.

None of the replacement GFCIs are marked CO/ALR, but I could not find new production GFCIs rated for CO/ALR either.

What is the preferred GFCI for aluminum-wired houses? Should I simply check the connections periodically, or is there a better way?

EDIT- breaker panel shown

Kill two birds with one stone.

Given the aluminum wiring, you really want AFCI breakers in the panel.  That will catch most aluminum wire failure modes.  Thing is, once you are committed to an AFCI breaker, an AFCI+GFCI breaker is only $10 more.

All breakers are Cu-Al rated, which is a standard for breakers.  This standard is fully modern and usable.  Not to be confused with the old, faulty Al-Cu rating for receptacles and switches which is what caused all the problems with aluminum wiring.

Once you have an AFCI breaker, convert receptacles and switches to CO-ALR at your leisure. And done.

Pigtailing

Yeah, you could put copper pigtails on the aluminum wire at the outlet.  However a couple problems with that.  First, most splice types have problems. Alumiconns are excellent if torqued properly, but they are both expensive and bulky, and the box is a tight fit already with a GFCI breaker.  You could end up needing an extension box such as a Legrand Surface Conduit Starter Kit.


Help me test my electricity usage monitor? I just got one of these; I love it and it seems accurate. But I would like to check its accuracy.
Can anyone think of an appliance with very predictable constant power consumption that I could use to test it?
If not, can anyone think of other ways to test it? I was thinking I could get a second one, and either test them side-by-side with similar appliances or plug one into the other and see how close they are. Or maybe I could hook it to a large appliance and compare the power use to the increase in power consumption on my main meter. Not sure....
Edit: h/t @Harper - Reinstate Monica maybe I can use this method: https://youtu.be/xCVnW_Ou470?t=107
Thanks!

Update: I tested my Kill-a-Watt with the following devices:
18W portable fan with single setting - Kill-a-Watt says 17.6
120V 8A portable drill, trigger all the way down running in the air - Kill-a-Watt says much less than 960
1500W electric kettle - Kill-a-Watt says 1487
The drill is the outlier. Based on the comments this seems normal for electric motors not encountering much resistance.


Where to strip direct burial cable? I'm using 12/2 direct burial cable to get power to my shed. When using the conduit to bring it up from the ground to the breaker box, where does one start to strip the cable? Would it be from where it enters the conduit (that would be buried), or just before it exits the conduit ( inside the breaker box)?
My understanding is you are not allowed to run direct burial through conduit.

For the reason why you can't strip the cable where it enters the conduit, that has to do with rating of the individual wires. While it is possible that the individual wires inside a UF (or NM or any other) cable may be the same type/quality (THWN) that can be run directly in conduit, there is no guarantee. Even if they are "basically the same thing", if the wires are not individually marked to indicate they are manufactured to THWN specifications, you can fail inspection. On the other hand, if you run a cable through conduit where the only purpose of the conduit is to provide protection from damage (e.g., UF cable outside, NM cable inside) then the rating of the wires inside the cable doesn't matter.


Do I need a hydraulic jack to do main beam jacking? I am planning to do some minor jacking of the main beam of my house (two stories with a lot of furniture and books) and some of the joists in order to correct a sag of about 1/2" and replace old "timbers" (literally tree trunks) with concrete lolly columns. According to books I have covering this kind of renovation, the recommendation is to use a hydraulic jack (like a 40-tonner) to do a micro-lift, then actually hold it with a screw jack (say a 25-tonner). After the screw jack is tight, you remove the hydraulic jack. Then the next month you put the hydraulic jack back again and repeat the process. You only need one hydraulic jack which can be used to service all your screw jacks.

On the other hand I have read accounts of people doing small jacking jobs and they seem to claim that you can actually lift with the turning bar/screw jack directly and seem to have success without the added help of a hydraulic.

Should I get the hydraulic jack or just try manually using the screw jacks alone first?

The hydraulic jack is an excellent way to be sure you have enough leverage, but more importantly, a high degree of control.  Jackscrews are not as good at lifting by rotating the leadscrew due to high friction, which is overcome with a cheater bar so there is not as much feel developed.  The jackscrew is excellent for holding a load securely, whereas a hydraulic jack might slide if the actuator is not secure.

If you are worried about cost, you can probably get by with a much smaller jack, like 5 or 10 ton.  Harbor Freight has a 20 ton jack for $100.  My local tool rental has them for $8 per day.


What should the water main connect to first: carbon filter or water softener? I have an Amazon Gold carbon filter and water softener. It's not clear to me if the water main should go to the carbon filter first then to the water softener or vice versa. So, which goes first?

The filter can help keep the softener from getting dirty while the filter doesn't care if it gets hard or soft water. So I'd have the filter first.


finding the easy to install vessel sink drain stopper I have a vessel sink which is lacking a drain stopper. The vessel sink does not have a pop out system (buttom to pop out the drain). The internal diameter is probably 1 inch. When i look for drain stopper they look like i have to unscrew the pipe from below and then install it. What do i need to buy that is eayy to install without unscrewing the pipe and works well?

Searching for rubber drain stopper or rubber drain plug gets plenty of results. For example, Amazon - Danco has a range of sizes from 7/8" to 1-3/4". I can't vouch for this specific brand, but I have something similar in my tub. The basic idea is rubber will compress a little and if it is sloped a little instead of a cylinder, it can adjust to fit. Measure the drain and pick a stopper that is, ideally, a little larger than the drain at the top and a little narrower than the drain at the bottom.


Attaching wood railing to cement I want to remove the metal railing and put in a proper wood railing. I was planning on cutting the pipe flush with the cement and then using a bracket to connect my 4x4. However, when they put in the pipe they left a mound of cement so the bracket can’t sit flush to the ground. What is my best option? Could I just run my 4x4 from the top step where the yellow circle is? Is there a type of bracket that could work in my situation? Thanks for any help!

As explained in my linked answer, I cut a half-lap joint into the 4x4 post. I set the post on top of the step with the lap hanging over, then drilled holes and drove sleeve anchors through the wood and into the concrete.
Here is a highly non-technical Paint sketch of what I'm talking about. On the left is the view looking toward your door (essentially the view of the picture you shared), on the right is the view from the right, looking at the steps. Grey is the concrete step, brown is the wooden post, red represents the sleeve anchor.

You would want to be sure the post is sitting on a level spot of concrete. Either grind the concrete flat right at the corner of the top step or move the post in, away from the bulge around the current pipes.
To avoid having to deal with the mound of concrete entirely, and to avoid cutting the 4x4 post, you could put the entire 4x4 post on the "outside" of the steps, like this:

I used 6" anchors for my half-lap solution with roughly 2" through the wood and 4" into the concrete (I actually bought 7" bolts because that's all they had in stock that day). If you go with the full 4x4 on the side, you'll want to use anchors at least 8" so you have 4" through wood and 4" into the concrete.
Put one post at each end, put a railing (plain and simple or fancy and decorative) between them and Bob's your uncle!


Is there a better method for affixing UPVC floor trim to skirting, other than the adhesive tape provided? Can anyone recommend a better method of affixing UPVC (e.g. Homelux) floor trims to skirting other than the adhesive tape provided?

Can you mechanically affix them or is it just down to adhesives?

I don't like liquid nails as it dries out to no bond in 10-years or less & prefer Lock-Tite "caulks". But yes, you can nail that stuff. You'll need to pre-drill it (or it will split & explode) for the shank & for the nail head, since you're drilling & filling anyway you may prefer to screw it like I do.


Is there a tool to find a the closest spot on the other side of a wall? I need to install a water line for a new fridge, and would like to know what is on the other side prior to drilling a hole in the floor - is there any tool which would let me place a "marker" or a "beacon" where I intend to drill the hole, then go into my basement, and find where it would end up on the other side if I were to drill there?

edit: I have done my best to measure/map it, unfortunately I don't think it's very accurate since I don't have a good point of reference on both levels. I was hoping for something other than drilling a pilot hole, because there is an air vent that runs in that general area, and I don't want to poke a hole in it

The most common technique (other than careful measuring and mapping) is to drill a very small pilot hole through the flooring alongside the baseboard. The hole can be less than 1/8 and you can run a straightened clothes hanger through the hole to find it in the basement.

The hole would probably be behind or under the appliance, if the location were good, or it could be filled with wood putty or something similar if it shows.


Can I use the T terminal in my furnace as the C for a Wifi Thermostat? I've read many posts on this, and believe I know what to do, but want to make sure.  My furnace (a Lennox G14 Series) does not have a C terminal which needs to be connected to the C terminal in my new wifi thermostat.  In the attached picture of the terminal strip in the furnace, the red wire on the T terminal and the white wire on the Y terminal go to the air conditioner.  The other 4 wires go to the thermostat.  I've measure across the R and T terminals and get 28vac.  Based on this I believe I can use the T terminal for the C connection...is that right?

Eventually I'll run a 5 wire cable but for now I plan on stealing the green wire to make the C connection if I can use the T terminal.

UPDATE: I've added the wiring diagram from inside the furnace.

Note: the solution here is the querent's -- I'm simply writing it up in a CW answer to get this off our plate as the querent has not returned to migrate it from his question-edits to an answer himself.

SOLVED (01/04/15): I decided that the T terminal was exactly what I needed so gave it a try and everything is working perfectly. I also pulled in some 18-5 thermostat wire. Here is my setup, in case it might help someone else:

Furnace: Lennox G14Q3-60-13

Thermostat: Honeywell RTH6500WF

I've attached pictures of my connections.


How difficult/costly would it be to extend a 400V 3-phase domestic supply 150m down a garden in the UK? I do a lot of technology work for a large country house in the UK.  We're currently looking at getting electricity 150m up the garden.

Despite being a residential property, the electrical supply appears to be 3-phase (the main supply cable looks to be about 50mm diameter and there are Danger 400V warning signs around it.)  Given that we might want to run large events in marquees at the site, it seems sensible to try to dispense of the need for generators and get 3-phase up there if possible.  We would prefer to bury it but can run it above ground if necessary.  It would terminate in a well-constructed, waterproof timber building I'm hesitant to refer to as a shed.

So my questions:

Compared to solving this problem with a high-current single-phase installation, are there likely to be any extra costs or regulatory hoops to jump through to do it with 3-phase?
Can we legally terminate it in our timber structure and distribute both 3-phase and single-phase sockets from there?
Do we need to get permission from the power company or any regulators?

And for the record—no, I'm definitely not going to attempt any of this myself;  I just want to know what I'm talking about before I start calling electricians.

Compared to solving this problem with a high-current single-phase installation, are there likely to be any extra costs or regulatory hoops to jump through to do it with 3-phase?

No, there will not be any extra regulatory hoops.

As to materials cost a three phase DB will cost more than a single phase one but the cable is likely to work out cheaper. Overall I would expect for a given power level a three phase feed to work out cheaper than a single phase one.

Don't expect this to be a cheap job, mostly because you are going to need a long peice of fat cable. Using aluminium cable is an option to lower the cable costs but it can be difficult to find electricians who know how to work with it safely.

Any electrican who regually does commercial work will know how to deal with three phase.

  Can we legally terminate it in our timber structure and distribute both 3-phase and single-phase sockets from there?

As long as the structure is sturdy, weathertight  and reasonablly permanent the fact it's timber shouldn't be a problem.

  Do we need to get permission from the power company or any regulators?

The job will be notifiable under "Part P" because new circuits are involved but nearly all electricans will be part of self-certification schemes so that should be a non-issue.


A/C Runs non-stop and shuts down without reaching desired temp I have had a repair man out 4 times and he says he can't find anything wrong with the unit. I cannot even feel air coming out of the diffusers unless I climb on a chair and put my hand right next to them. The A/C runs non-stop when it's hot. It will run for 5-6 hours and shut off while the temp in the house is 79 and the thermostat is set at 74. What could be causing this? We have had coolant added. The a/c man says the coils are clean. I can feel air being drawn into the unit at the intake.

Here are some things that you can do:

check the air filter, could be frozen or dirty enough to restrict airflow.
check for any possible ice build-up
shut down the system from the breaker for 30 minutes: this will reset the system and allow time to melt any ice build-up. Power back on and see if the temperature holds.

Here is what I would recommend to have a professional do

Verify that the thermostat is working correctly. You didn't seem 100% on this point and a bad thermostat would give the results you are getting.
Have the pressure re-checked. Too much or too little coolant can affect the efficiency of the unit.

Get a second opinion

The issue should have been resolved by a professional within 2 visits. If it takes more than that, you need a fresh pair of eyes to look and re-assess the problem(s) with the unit. Even if you need to pay an additional fee with someone else, it might be worth it to get the correct resolution.

If the unit is under warranty, you can request from the company responsible to send a different technician for a second opinion at no charge.


Using red wire for smart thermostat voltage I want to add a smart thermostat. Why can’t I use the red wire voltage for the c wire? I’ve read where some say red wire is intermittent voltage, but mines constant.

I haven't encountered the intermittent comment before, typically the R terminal in the furnace is +24vac, usually using red wire to the R on the stat. If using a tester on vdc setting the display will be erratic.
There is no code for color thermostats (or most other devices less than 50V).
But a trade standard many techs use Red for the R +24 hot , White for W heat switchleg, Green for G fan switchleg, Yellow for the Y cooling switchleg.
Historically there has been no use of the C 0vac common at the stat, so no real standard has developed, just using any left over wire or stealing the green fan control wire if only 4 wires are available and reterminating both ends of the green on C.
But if somebody has a cable with a different color set, like a 4 wire phone cable, any color swap can be used so it is absolutely necessary to document the old terminations before disconnecting the stat. Wire tags are good, pictures are great. If your documents fail you can usually recreate or confirm colors by looking at the furnace end of the cable, those terminals will be marked.


chipmunks burrowing under above ground pool Chipmunks have burrowed under above ground pool causing liner to indent over their burrow.  How do I stop further erosion under liner?

Get rid of the chipmunks. The liner stretches to drop into depression. If it stretches too much ,it will have a small leak. This mobilizes the soil to sink further; not leading to a happy ending ( been there, done that). I think the only practical repair is a new liner and fill any low spots before installing it.


shop vac operation - is the filter required if you bag? I just watched this video... and have a question as a result

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brJ7CQgQs4U

Based on what you see in the video, no matter the type of debris you vacuum -- isn't the filter basically useless if you always use a bag?

The filter is going to provide a means for the bag to not get sucked into the vacuum motor inlet. I have nearly the same machine as shown in the video and when the filter is removed, there is enough open space that the bag would block the inlet. One might think that should not matter, as the bag is porous, but what will happen is that small diameter opening will collect all the debris, quickly clogging the machine.

A very effective alternative to clogged filters and consumable vacuum bags is a cyclone-type chamber prior to the vacuum. There are disadvantages to having a second assembly, of course, but it creates a separation suitable to keeping the filter clean.


How do I fix scratches from sanding drywall? I've never sanded drywall/spackle before so I don't know what is acceptable or not. I'm remodeling my bathroom and have put down a few layers of spackle. Everything looks good and I just wanted to touch it up with some sanding.

I'm using a 220-grit screen and it's leaving small scratches behind. It looks worse than it did before I  touched it! I'm not pressing particularly hard.

Is this normal? Does primer fill these small gaps? Or should I go get a finer grit? I checked the big box stores online and it seems 220 is the finest they carry, so I'm guessing these scratches are normal.

I was going to sand all the spackle, now I'm thinking I'll just search around for ridges and sand them down, and leave everything else alone.

Click for full size image

Wet Sanding
If you want a smooth surface, you could try wet sanding it.  Purchase a drywall sanding sponge (~$4.00 at any home improvement store), and use that for the final sanding pass.

Fill a bucket with water.
Dunk the sponge in the water, and then wring it out to remove as much excess water as possible.
Using a light circular motion, buff the compound to a smooth finish.

Alternatively, you could purchase this 3M drywall sanding sponge.

In has both medium and fine grade on one sponge, and it can be used wet or dry.  Similarly, use this sponge in a light circular motion.
Personally, when I'm patching drywall I tend to use a damp microfiber cloth for my finish sanding.


Install wire rope to several steel tubes? We have 13 1.5" round steel tubes that go around a small area in our backyard Each tube has a small hole that crosses the tube. I'm including the basic design:

I would like to use wire rope (or steel cable) to go around all these tubes, and make a rudimentary fence.

What would I need? The tubes are galvanized, but I wouldn't want water to go inside the tube.

Thanks.

These are the regular tubes:

This is the regular wire:

The chain link fence folks have all kinds of fence post caps that could be used to keep the rain out. Also there are nylon caps for EMT.  You could convert the tubing to iron pipe threads and install threaded PVC caps.  As to the holes and lacing the cable, before installing poles, I would put them on the drill press and pre-drill.


How can I permanently seal or cover a crack where a steam pipe enters the ceiling? We're looking for a solution to cover or fix a crack that keeps reappearing around a a steam pipe we have.  No matter how well we patch it and paint over it, it keeps coming back.  Can anyone recommend a modern cover or a way to solve this issue. I have included a close-up photo below showing the crack around pipe.

Your crack is forming over and over because the steam pipe is getting hot, expanding, and cracking your plaster.

The solution is to cut the plaster back about 1/4" from the walls of the pipe all the way around, then to cover the seam with an escutcheon that hides the crack.

Example of a smaller escutcheon:


why is my led bulb running dim? I have five LED bulbs outdoors near the Twin Cities in Minnesota, all of the same brand (Feit 800 lumens, if that matters), which have been installed somewhere around mid-summer 2013. We don't have dimmers, just a bog-standard on/off switch.

Four of them work perfectly fine, but the fifth doesn't. It glows dim, while all the others burn brightly. There haven't been any circuit, wiring, switching or other changes; the only thing I can think of is that we're springing out of a reasonably cold winter.

This bulb used to work well, too, similar to the others. And it's now consistently dim.

This is in a slightly-difficult-to-get-to spot, hence the question instead of pulling out ladders and playing with different bulbs / configurations.

Is there anything that could contribute to this issue?

Well, turns out that repeated slamming of the front entry door isn't good for many things, electrical connections included.

I finally had a chance to open the outdoor sconce yesterday and saw that one of the neutral white wires had sort of slipped out of its wirenut, and wasn't holding on very well to the others. I don't know why this resulted in lower voltage going through instead of arcing, but that's probably a good thing.

Fixing this was a simple matter of winding the tip of this loose wire a bit deeper and screwing in the wirenut a little stronger than it already was. Did this to the hot black and bare ground wires too, and the light's as good as new now.

Lesson learnt? Electrical gremlins don't need to be caused by faulty installation, sometimes things that you don't expect to break (like immobile wirenuts) also loosen up due to mechanical vibrations.

Next step? Trying to convince the family that slamming doors isn't a good idea, but that's a battle I'm not going to win in any case.


Galvanized nails for ACQ treated lumber = must be hot dipped, or not? We're having some construction done requiring treated soleplates on concrete slab.

As such, galvanized nails were used. However, they don't appear to be hot-dipped. My understanding (going back several years when I was building a deck back when ACQ was relatively new) is that hot dipped is a requirement for ACQ treated lumber.

So I went to get some, but then noticed that a lot of the galvanized nails at Home Depot now say "for all treated wood" even though they clearly aren't hot dipped. Here's an example.

Has technology changed a bit and are there now galvanizing methods that are suitable for ACQ that aren't hot dipped? Or is this some shoddy product claims?

I obviously don't want to re-nail every stud to the sole place if it's necessary, but at the same time, I want to make sure the hardware is suitable for ACQ use.

There are different levels of zinc galvanization. If you want it to last longer, then get a thicker layer of zinc on the outside of the steel.

One way to get a thicker layer is to hot dip galvanize it. Another way is use a Simpson hanger that is Z-max plated which is basically just twice electrogalvanized steel plate and actually not hot dipped.

If it's galvanized just a little bit, it'll technically be okay for treated lumber. If you want it to last longer, then get more galvanization on there. Zinc is a sacrificial coating, so as it corrodes it protects the steel less and the steel will begin to rust.

Yes, I would definitely be worried about non-specific product information. If it just says it's galvanized, then assume it's the least amount possible. They'll brag about anything better than the minimum basic electroplating. Look up Simpson's Corrosion Resistance Recommendations and Classifications to determine your environmental situation and its requirements.


Sink is coming off the wall (visible separation). What material do I need to "glue" it back? As you can see in the picture, my sink is "tilting", or coming off the wall.

It is still in place but if pressure were to be applied, it would fall down completely I reckon.

I can push it towards to wall, it sits back but naturally comes off again.

What kind of gel, sealant etc. or such material I can buy and apply to glue it up there again?

I'm hoping something exists that is not cement that I'd need to prepare.

It's probably not going to be as simple as "tighten up the bolts" - mysteriously unscrewing themselves is a low likelihood .vs. "there's some deterioration in the wall where they attach" which will need to be addressed. Or "Someone sat on the sink and stressed them/the wood they were attached to." So, the sink probably needs to come off to effect a lasting repair, unless you have a child that has discovered tools and unscrewing things who's running around the house unscrewing things at random (don't laugh too hard if you have one that could still reach that stage, or the laugh may be on you.) Sink bolts are inconvenient enough that it's probably not that, though.

Once reattached, caulking is the typical material for sealing up the joint line - look for "kitchen and bath caulk" - it's got anti-mold/mildew additives. Exactly what type (material) of caulk is a matter of opinion (which quickly goes off-topic as being a matter of opinion.)

Edit: Knowing now that the sink was stressed, the first step will be to see what you can find for fasteners - many sinks are mounted via a "bracket" (as @comintern notes) which may not even be visible until the sink is lifted off of it. If you do look under and see bolts or nuts, try tightening them, and (if that works, rather than they just spin in the wall) then give it a week or so to see if the sink stays put before deciding you're done.


Why is cracked bath tile a problem? I have some old baby blue wall tile in a house I purchased a couple of years ago.  During the home inspection, the inspector noted the cracks as a possible area of improvement.  I've been keeping an eye on the tile over the years, and I noticed several more cracks showing up.

I've been watching for water damage (from the access panel) and I can't see any.  So how big of a deal are cracks in wall tile?  What are the possible consequences if left untreated?

I would replace the tiles, but I don't have any spares from the previous home owner (and they're ugly anyhow).  I'm trying to estimate how much time I have before a bathroom remodel is going to be on my home improvement list.

I am going to guess from the look of the tile that the shower was installed years ago.  It was probably installed directly on some form of drywall.  Using drywall vs concrete board has one dramatic affect (other than waterproofing).  It will move/swell more during hot/cold, humid/nonhumid seasons.

Is it a huge concern?  Well at the very least I would epoxy the cracks.  Normally I would replace offending tiles.  If you have access behind this wall, what do you see?  Is it drywall?  If so that kind of answers your question.  Does it need to be replaced right away.  No.  Especially if you can see it.  Also since you have access to the wall from behind, how solid is the wall?  There should basically be zero movement on a bathroom wall.

You also might want to think about adding more insulation to your house.  If temperature and humidity changes are varying enough to cause cracking, maybe you can solve the root cause.  Then maybe the cracked tile lasts long enough to where you can just replace it when you want.


Repair cracked plastic I recently purchased a lawnmower that is in need of a new hood.  The replacement cost for the hood is $400 so I am looking at a way to repair the old.  As you can see its severely cracked.  I am more concerned with structural stability than aesthetics at this point.  Does anyone have any thoughts on fusing the cracked plastic and fixing the gaping hold on the top of the hood?

Or alternatively I am looking if anyone knows of a model that would be compatible as a replacement.  Its a Craftsman DLT2000 (Model 917.272264).

Sheet aluminum and pop rivets. Extra points for using old beer cans as the aluminum source, label side out, but flashing is a bit thicker than today's beer cans.

Hairy (loaded with fiber reinforcement) Bondo. "Bondo Hair" is the actual label on the can. Some screws or pop-rivets might still be needed to help the bond to the plastic at the edges. Looks awful, but quite sturdy.

Run with no hood at all. It doesn't really serve a functional purpose. And then you can start taking parts to a chrome shop and have a real hot-rod lawn tractor eventually.


PVC pipe transition from 1 1/4" to 3/4", in lawn application - will joints hold? My main run is 1 1/4" PVC.

If I reduce straight to a 3/4", will that blow out the joints?

Should I transition to 1", then to 3/4"?

The water source is well, with good pressure.

I believe a direct transition, properly cemented, at normal water pressures, should hold just fine.

The downside to a gradual reduction as you described is the exact concern you put into your question - joints.

Your gradual transition idea will give more opportunities for joint failure simply because there are more involved.

PVC cement often surprises me how strong it can be.

So my recommendation is that you try a direct transition first.  In other words, don't try to solve a problem until you know it exists.  Make sense?


How to remove a tub insert We're looking at the effort and time for a bathroom renovation, and the biggest item on the list is replacing an old fiberglass tub insert/surround with a standing shower insert/surround.

Looking at the new inserts, I see that installation involves screwing the base and surrounds directly to exposed studs...so I'm guessing that's how the old tub is installed now.

The question is, what's the correct way to go about removing the old tub? I see no visible place to remove screws (clean sheet rock up to the tub and surround). Is it bust a bunch of holes and hope for the best? Is there a correct way of doing this that minimizes a.) damage to repair later and b.) time involved for the whole affair?

I recently took apart the bathroom in my basement. It was a steel tub and I had to bust up the tiles around it to take the screws out, then bust a hole in the other side of the wall to disconnect the plumbing. If you don't need to save it, take your anger out on it. Just be careful not to smash it near the plumbing and be careful to smash it only where it's not directly contacting a stud. If you hit it wrong, you could damage the other side of the wall. I would get everything around it down to bare studs before trying to remove it, just to be safe so you can see what you're doing.

Also, some bath tubs have their base set in thinset. If that's the case, you'll probably need to cut a section of floor board out and replace it.


How can I make my garage door quieter? My garage door is loud. I didn't realize this until I visited a friend who has a garage door that's nearly silent. He says he has a belt-driven door opener and nylon door wheels, while I have chain-driven opener with metal wheels.

Are these really making his garage door quieter, or is my noise generated by something else?

If so, are these parts user-replaceable?

I repaired and installed residential garage doors and openers as well as commercial and industrial doors and operators for twelve Years. The steel rollers don't make a really big differance. They will click as they turn if they are a year or more old but that can usually be stopped by using a lubricant.  WD-40 is great for cleaning out the grime/dirt but doesn't leave a residue being that will keep them quiet.

You are going to notice a big difference if you change your opener/operator to a belt drive though.

My recommendation is to buy a belt drive operator from a dealer. I say a dealer because they get the solid one-piece rail, whereas the 'sears' ones have to be assembled and retightened once every year or twp.


Insulating small rim joist spaces My house has very small rim joists spaces in the basement.
I have noticed that the floors are cold, as are the walls. So I want to take action and this is where I thought to start.
My problem is that the space is maybe only 2" and quite deep, which is going to be very difficult to do the traditional way (using foam board and spray foam).
Should I buy some insulating spray foam and just seal the cavities? As far I know this is fine as long as it is air tight to prevent mold and such.
Any information would be super helpful! I included a picture, although it is not easy to see what's going on.

Yep, spray foam is the ticket. The conventional stuff expands greatly, so go easy until you get a feel for final volume. You'll end up using way too much and having a mess otherwise. You can certainly do it in layers.
Be aware that open cans can't be stored for longer than a few hours or so. They cure up and quit working. Don't start a can unless you'll finish it, or at least most of it.
Also note that urethane does not come off skin, clothing, and other objects. Protect yourself and your property before starting to spray.


LED panel wire connection space I'm replacing old 2x2 fluorescent drop ceiling lights with LED panels. The space provided to contain the wire nuts and connections is super small. Its a 10Lbs in a 2Lb bag kind of situation. In total, I've over 100 panels to replace. I don't know if I should just add a junction box for each panel and drop one feed down to each one. or look for another LED panel with a larger enclosure.

Here's the normal way to do that, which your LED vendor was expecting you to do.
Bring your Romex cables into a 4 x 4 x 1-1/2" metal box ($1) attached to the actual ceiling.  Sheath must extend at least 1/4" beyond the cable clamp.  Wires must extend at least 6" beyond end of sheath.   Box must be within 5' of the light's attach box.
Install a 10-32 ground screw in the ground screw site on the metal box.  Both Romex grounds ground there.  (in metal boxes always ground the box first).
Get a pre-made metal jacketed wire whip, or make one out of AC cable and knockout fittings. If it has a ground wire, you got MC cable by mistake.  Must be <6' long so the shell can provide ground.
Up in the box, do the expected thing.  Fit a blank junction box cover.
Down in the LED fixture, splice hot and neutral.  Ground is delivered via the cable shell and properly fit connector, so it doesn't take any space in the box.


What kind of plug adapter do I need? See the image below. This is from a lamp. Clearly it needs some kind of adapter to go into an outlet (I assume it came with one many years ago). Any idea what the name is of the kind of adapter I need? And do I need to pay attention to voltage, watts, etc when making the purchase?

Here's the label that sits right under the lamp. It reads 50W Smaller 12V Type T Bulb, with various markings underneath it.

And finally, here's the lamp itself.

It's very likely to be a proprietary connector. Even if it conforms to a standard size like DIN (as @Trout suggests), that doesn't really tell you anything about the electrical requirements. The part your missing may have a transformer, a dimmer, or allowed ganging of several lights together.

Unless you find more markings on the bulb or cable, I would not assume anything about the lamp — could be DC or AC, could be 220V, 110V, or low voltage.

(You don't say what country you live in or whether the lamp is likely to be foreign. There are several countries that use plugs with 3 round pins in approximately the configuration of your plug, but yours looks smaller. It's a little hard to tell scale from that photo... any chance of pin-to pin-measurements?)


Wiring a ceiling fan to a possible non grounded line I am wiring a new ceiling fan and noticed there is no ground wire unless the two twisted copper wires are the ground. Does the green connect to the fan itself by attaching it to the black screw on the yoke? If not, I have no idea what to do next. Here is a photo.

Thanks for any help.

The two twisted copper bare wires are the ground. You can take the green wire, strip some more insulation off it, and connect it to them with a wire nut. Enjoy your new fan.
Yes, the fan becomes grounded by attaching it to the mounting bracket.


Does anything look wrong with this Furnace burner start up? Here is the back story:

Starting to finish basement, needed to exhaust my furnace outside
instead of drawing in air for combustion inside the house. Hired
HVAC person to do this in the fall.
Winter arrives, I go to run furnace, first really cold day and the
furnace won't start up (an Armstrong Air unit) that is 8 years old. Error codes tell me: "pressure switch open with inducer on".
I call up same HVAC person. There is no report, but he determines
that my exhaust motor is the culprit. It is replaced. They do not
replace the pressure switch or give me any diagnostic reports or paper work. The repair costs me $600 (that is the
cash deal). Tells me that it includes parts warranty and labour
warranty for a year and to call him if it happens again.
Furnace starts running for 10 more days. Gets really cold again, and
furnace stops working again with the exact same error code. Same
HVAC repair person comes back and tells me that my heat exchanger is
cracked without opening anything up within 20 min of being here
(based on the flame at the burner) and tells me the entire furnace
needs to be replaced.
He leaves with the furnace running again after simply disconnecting the
air intake pipe from outside, saying I can leave it off until I decide on
which new furnace I want to install and gives me the fear mongering
talk about CO2. He also wants to sell me a refurbished furnace that he has, or offers to sell me a new Payne unit which seems to have a less than desirable track record.

I have come to the conclusion that this guy has taken me for a bit of ride and overcharging me for the service (which I confirmed with another reputable person in town asking me to quote the same work), and he also didn't necessarily honour his warranty after charging me another

I ended up putting a shop vac on the end of the intake pipe (disconnected) and blew some hot air through the tube from the outside to melt any ice or snow inside for about 10 min and made sure there was no obstructions. I reinstalled the intake on the furnace and the furnace seems to be running fine right now.

I know these Armstrong furnaces are not the most reliable, but I would like to get an opinion to see if there is anything abnormal about the flame that would indicate a cracked heat exchanger. There looks to be a bit of rollout during the initial ignition, but beyond that, to my untrained eye, it flames seem to be fairly concentrated through the openings and not like the examples of rollout I have seen online. Here is a video of the startup sequence of the burners.

https://youtu.be/3zoq5lxpHGk

Any thoughts?

First off I did not see anything in the video to make me think there was a cracked heat exchanger. The heat exchanger may be cracked but the video does not indicate so. It seems that removing the inlet pipe fixed the problem? The furnace installation instructions has vent tables showing what size pipe can be used for various lengths and amount of elbows. For instance a 90,000 btu furnace can have a maximum of 70’ of pipe and 4 elbows with 3” pipe but only 20’ of pipe and 4 elbows with 2” pipe. And this is combined for both pipes, not for each pipe. So adding the second pipe may have pushed you over the limit. This furnace comes with a restriction plate that must be installed if using only 1 vent but must be removed if using 2 vents. Was it removed? And in my experience these tables are often over generous. I have pushed the limits of the tables and have had venting problems. I had to either increase pipe size or reduce the amount of elbows or both.


"Plastifying" rusty integrated dish drying rack (food contact) I have a dish drying rack integrated inside a slot above my sink. It is now rusty but I haven't been able to find a new one with the right size, despite searching in many stores.

Since the rusting seems to be only superficial, I have been thinking I might remove the rust then "plastify" it somehow so that it does not start rusting again immediately.

I have found spray products like "Plasti Dip" and "Rust-oleum" but they seem to be for cars and floors, so I am not sure about how safe they are for contact with wet plates and glasses. A person used such a spray on a dish rack but then used the dish rack to store non-alimentary things.

I can't use the solution at How to repair (and is it worth the trouble to) a rusty dishwasher rack? since my rack is totally rusty, I can't just "repair" it with the suggested product that bonds to the remaining vinyl.

How can I avoid rust while ensuring food safety?

They are completely safe for use.  But before you apply one of these plastic products,  first get some rust reducer.  Sand or scrape to remove most of the rust, and then apply the rust reducer.  These reverse the oxidation process as well as providing a smooth surface suitable for painting or covering with those plastic products.


Can anyone identify this tool for me Hello I'm new here so not sure if this belongs here, if not please redirect me to the appropriate stack exchange.

Now for the question does anyone know what this tool (thing) is?

This has been bothering me for a long while so any help in identifying this would be greatly appreciated!

It's a floor jack height extender.

Wow! I really love all the comments. The ones I'm actually familiar with had knurling on the sides instead of the black, looks like abrasive, coating shown on this one. They came in three different sizes and the set included a jack with a hole in the lifting plate that one end of the height increaser would fit into and a flange that would fit over the top for more stability. We mostly used them for support when working under machinery that had been partially lifted as they were easy to operate in confined areas without that 12" handle that's on many other types of supports.

Do you have any other parts like I've described?


Backed up kitchen sink drain that gets worse when I run garbage disposal I have a kitchen sink that is recently backing up when I run the sink.  I ran the garbage disposal thinking this would solve the problem but once I turn off water (lots) bubbled up into the sink.  If I just leave it, the water does drain out.  And in fact I thought the problem was fixed because I rapidly poured a whole kettle of boiling water down the sink and it all quickly flowed down the drain.   I reheated kettle and repeated 5 times. We even ran the dishwasher over night and as far as I can tell, it got the dishes clean and didn't back up (no water in dishwasher).  But when I turned on the sink and the garbage disposal in the morning, same problem.  Water comes gurgling up.

I'd like to know

Why do things seem worse when using garbage disposal?
What's going on and how do I fix it?

I did see this article:
Water backs up in adjacent sink only when garbage disposal is used

and maybe that addresses my problem?  But note that I just have a single drain not a double one.

Thanks!
Dave

Update.  Photo shows plumbing under sink.  Notice I was able to undo bottom connection of trap but NOT top connection.  I unscrewed the fastener.  Should it just pull down now?  For the life of me, I can't budge it.  AND I may have caused leak from pulling/twisting.  Seemed like water was coming out when I ran garbage disposal right now metal fattener on outside of disposal (connector to tube) Adding photos as requested:

Sounds like your trap has something caught in it.

If it gets worse when you run the garbage disposal it would be because it is trying to push more down there.

Sounds like Drano would be a good first step.  And if that doesn't work then pull off your trap and take a look.


How do I set traps in the kitchen ceiling when my roof is flat and I lack access? At night we can hear mice scuttling about over the kitchen.  This area of the house has a flat roof above it, and a solid drywall ceiling with no access to the space between the ceiling and the roof.  There is no evidence that the mice have gotten below into the kitchen, but I suspect that it's just a matter of time before they do.

How do I set traps when I can't put the traps where the mice are?  Any ideas welcome.

Although you cannot access the area between the ceiling and roof, you should certainly give all due effort to finding possible point(s) of entry for the mice. For one thing, you can bait or place traps nearby (trial and error here might also help to identify whether or not your hunches are right about points-of-entry).

More importantly, trapping the mice will have limited benefit if you can't cut off access to other mice.


Romex cable tidying in basement Old house, crazy town in the basement in regards to wiring. I'd like to clean it up a little, at least visually - happy to get contractor out if needed - but not sure what to ask for. So what would be my options for for this? Vast majority of wiring is attached to joists with electrical staples.

I cleaned up the wires in my basement by removing the ones that were no longer being used for anything--old phone wires, TV cables, doorbells, even a security system that had been removed years ago.  This removed about half the wires I had.
It looks like some of yours could be similar.  Then, if you have some wires that aren't stapled up nicely and are droopy, you can fasten them to well-secured wires with cable ties.


Can i wire ceiling fan ( no light) and 2 recessed lights on One dimmer switch? I have 3 romex lines (black and white)coming into switch box.

Recessed lights
Fan
Power from breaker

If I want 1 dimmer switch how do i connect?

You'll need a special sort of dimmer for this

What you need for this job isn't an ordinary dimmer switch, it's a combination dimmer/fan speed controller.  Fortunately, this isn't too rare a product (most of the major lighting controls manufacturers make them).

Once you have one (get one that's a self-contained unit vs. one that needs a module in the fan base), simply wire it as per the instructions, and you should have speed control of the fan and dimmed lights at that point.  (If you get stuck, ask another question here, specifying the make and model of the fan controller in question.)


Install New Lyric T5 on second AC, first one went great, this ones confusing, help! Ive got 2 thermostats hooked up to 2 heat pump style AC units at my house. Over the weekend I impressed myself and installed a Lyric thermostat to replace a broken thermostat (on the inside of my house) to one of the AC units. It went so easily, I want to replace the other, probably with a Lyric T5.

In any case, the one I did, the wiring was a pretty simple, one to one relationship, where I could match most things, but it did take a few trips to the air handler to find my C wire. The second thermostat doesnt seem to be wired as simply as you can tell by the photos below hopefully.

I think my C wire is black and hiding behind the thermostats housing, any confirmation on that would be great:)

I can see that my R terminal and my O terminal both have 2 wires in the connection to the board. I also notice in the pic of the current thermostat, that the red wire is split and going to an RH and RC connector. I didnt have that on the first thermostat, so Im wondering what to make of all this?

Some other things of note that I dont understand in the pic of the thermostat as well:

I dont have any kind of gas heat for anything, not water, not anything but it looks like a yellow and blue wire go into that contact on the thermostat.
The white wire runs to a contact thats labeled electric and while the unit is run by electricity, Im not sure what that one is for.
Lastly, that green wire runs to nothing.

I would appreciate any help anyone can give me as to why some of these contacts have dual wires running into them as well as what goes on with the gas/electric portion as well as the green wire, of that thermostat.

Thanks very much in advance!

Attic:

Thermostat:

Rc and Rh – split connections for 24vac if the system has separate cooling and heating control transformers, respectively.  Most systems have a single control transformer on the heating side only and in that case Rc and Rh usually are shunted together at the thermostat as shown.

Elec/Gas – this is a label for the switch below the labeling, not the wire terminals above.  If you do not have a gas furnace, this switch should be set to “elec” as shown.

Blu + Ylw wires – these look like they are connected to the thermostat terminal marked “Y”.  Look above the lower set of terminals under the wires.  “Y” energizes the compressor for cooling mode.  “W” normally energizes the furnace, but since you have a heat pump these wires are shunted together (compressor needs to be on in either cooling or heating mode).

Wht + Grn wires – one of these probably runs to the “O” terminal and the other runs to the “G” terminal.  I cannot tell which is which from the thermostat photo.   Based on the other photos, green connects to “G,” which controls the indoor blower and is typical wiring.  “O” controls the reversing valve.  When “O” is energized, the outdoor unit is in cooling mode.  When “O” is not energized, the unit is in heating mode.  In rare cases the terminal is marked "B" instead of "O," which has complimentary functionality relative to "O."

C wire – Based on the above photos, the black wire is in the bundle of thermostat wires somewhere, probably hidden behind the thermostat as you suggest.


Can I use flexible tube to replace a segment of copper pipe? I am installing 1/2" copper pipes to supply water to my own new gas heater.  The pipes need to pass around corners that are full of obstacles.  I am not a professional plumber but know that I normally would need to use various kinds of compression fittings to connect pipes in order to go around the obstacles.

However, I also notice that flexible tubes like the one shown in the pictures are available.  And actually, below the basin, these tubes are used to connect the faucet to the water supply valve.  Now, I am wondering if these flexible tubes can be used in the section that go around the corner instead of copper pipes connected by various kinds of fittings.

Is it a practical solution?  Copper pipes installed by professional plumbers rarely involve flexible tubes so I am wondering if there are some other concerns I'm not seeing.  Note, the pipes are installed indoor only.

There are flexible hoses made for connecting to water heaters but they are usually only a few feet long and are only meant to make it easier to swap the heater for maintenance. They are also much larger, usually 3/4" size, because they are feeding the entire house. The hoses you show in the picture are 3/8" and are only meant to serve a single small fixture.

If you are trying to go around obstacles consider using PEX tubing. You can connect a push-in fitting (like sharkbite) to the copper end and then run flexible PEX around the corner as long as you support it every few feet. However you may need to switch back to copper for the last 18" near the heater due to code restrictions on using PEX directly to the heater. The push-in fittings are more expensive but can be used for PEX to copper connections and require no soldering.


Whirlpool dishwasher having issues, what would cause these symptoms? I have a Whirlpool dishwasher (type 575-0). Over the weekend, the dishwasher control buttons simply stopped working. No LEDs came on when the button was pushed, dishwasher didn't start, nothing.

Yesterday I disassembled the dishwasher, reset all the connections, and clean up the door switch. After reassembling the dishwasher and turning power back on, exactly one light came on (the sani-rinse). Thinking it was just the lights, I pushed start and when I closed the door, there was a mechanical grinding sound. I don't think it was the integrated disposal, it sounded more like a pump or valve. It definitely didn't sound good. After that happened, the board was once more dead. After resetting the power, again the single light. I tried putting it into diagnostic mode, but nothing happened.

Does this seem like a control board issue? With the odd sound, I'm wondering if one of the pumps/values is causing a problem that breaks the controls. The control board costs 1/3 of the amount of a new dishwasher, so I'm not going to replace it unless I know that is the problem.

Does anyone have any ideas on what the issue could be?

After smelling burnt plastic for a few hours, I can safely say it was a short.


Would it be out of code to switch a receptical this way? I'm installing a door jamb switch for my pantry. I have a single receptable in the pantry (For powering puck/bar lights). Given the PITA it was to get fishtape around a corner into the door jamb switch, I'd like to only pull a two wire conductor conductor to the door jamb switch, but want to check if this is pretty much a universal code violation.

 ---   2 wire conductor (+ground) going to switch       ---
| * |--------------------------------------------------| * |
| * |--------------------------------------------------|   |
 ---                                                    ---
 |||
 ||| 3 wire conductor coming from line
 |||

Basically, a line feed would go through one side of the switch, and the other side would be the load leading back to the outlet. Is this majorly out of code, or is this something I can get away with?

You are probably OK on two counts:

the room is not considered habitable
the wiring is a switch loop controlling a receptacle rather than a direct wired lighting load.

This is covered by NEC 404.2(C). This is the 2014 version.

Note that not all jurisdictions subscribe to all NEC code, and some use older version.


AFCI breaker trouble? I have installed 3 AFCI breakers, and every one trips under instantaneous load. I cleaned up all the wiring in all the boxes as best I could, and checked for cut/bare wires. I replaced all the breakers with standard breakers, and everything works perfectly. What gives?

AFCIs trip on ground faults too

Most AFCI breakers require the circuit neutral to be connected to the breaker like a GFCI breaker, not to the panelboard neutral bar.  This is done so that the AFCI can correctly detect certain classes of faults (such as a neutral to ground arc), but also gives them properties similar to a GFCI in that they will trip on the same wiring errors that trip GFCIs (such as improperly wired or shared neutrals), and will do so as soon as load is applied in the case of an errant neutral wire.   Fixing the neutral wiring will make them happy again.


How can I safely bury unused speaker wires in my wall? Just bought a new place, and I've got a speaker wall plate with 2 binding posts sitting chest high in the room that are driving me nuts aesthetically. (two actually, one on either side of the room). They're not connected to any audio system, nor will they ever be, as we live in a Wifi world now, and I want them gone.

My current plan is to remove the plates, snip the red and black wires, wrap each separately in wire nuts (as they don't come into contact with each other as they stand), and then plaster and paint over the wall and bury them forever.

I would love to hear from people smarter than me who may see flaws in this genius plan. My concerns are mainly safety issues I may not be considering. Help?

There is an important difference between low-voltage (speaker, network, phone, alarm, etc.) and mains voltage ("mains" is more of an outside-the-USA term but is to make it clear as "120V" is "low" in certain categorizations).

A junction box containing mains voltage should never be plastered over. The problem is that if you don't know what is on the other end then it could become live someday and then you would have a potential hazard. If all wiring were single point-to-point then that would never be an issue, but if, for example, a cable from the main electric panel went to multiple unused locations, one of which was covered up, and the cable was disconnected (but not clearly marked) then you could have a future situation where someone toned out the wire to find the other end and reconnected it to the panel, only to find out the hard way that it was also connected to a hidden location. So you can't do this with mains wiring.

However, you can do this with low voltage (e.g., speaker) wiring. That being said, if you can find the other end and remove the wire altogether, that would be preferable. Or at least tag the other end so that a future user will know what is going on. "Living room back wall, removed plate/covered" would let some future user know what is going on and not leave them wondering "where could this wire possibly go". You might think the wires would never be useful again, and that is likely to be the case, but there are always exceptions.

Since you have two locations, this should be easy. Either they both go to one place (perhaps a patch panel in the basement) or they may actually connect to each other as a way to have a stereo system on one side of the room with speakers on the other side of the room. It should be simple enough to test with a multimeter, though with a toner it would be even easier.


Is huge gaps between wall and baseboard normal after reinstall them? recently I have a contractor installed hardwood floor in my house. However, after the baseboard are reinstalled back, there are huge gaps between wall and baseboards. They said it is normal and let myself do the caulking. But about 30% of the gap is pretty huge and hard to caulking. I uploaded a few pictures using a coin to measure the gap. Could anyone help and tell me if this gap is normal or not? Thank you!

If the new hardwood floor was about 3/4" thick, there may be no way to nail the baseboard trim to the 2X4 plate. That new height of the finished floor raised the trim above that 2X4 plate. You may need to locate the studs and use them as your nail surface. This is common when you add a second floor on top of another floor. You could also try nailing near the bottom of the trim, on a downward angle to try and "grab some wood" near the bottom of the trim boards. A nail gun may help in this process.


What wall anchors should I use to hang a frame on plastered breeze block? I have a fairly hefty wooden calendar 2.5kg (5.5lbs). It has two hanging key slots in the back to hang it from. The keys are about 5mm wide on the narrow bit with a depth of 10mm.
I want to hang on my wall which is breeze block with about 15mm plasterboard over it.
I'm not useless with DIY and will be able to hang it myself, but I just don't know what hardware I need to put in the wall with the mix of materials etc...
Hope you will be able to help/advise.
Thanks

That's a light enough object that standard hollow-wall anchors (plastic plugs) should work fine. They'll do the job whether or not you hit a portion of the breeze block behind the wallboard.

Carefully locate the mounting points on the wall.
Drill for your plugs--usually 1/4" or 5/16". Note that hitting the block will severely dull your bit. You may want to use masonry bits for that part.
Insert the plugs and then insert appropriately sized screws.


Two 20A circuits in a single kitchen receptacle - what size box do I need? I am wiring up my kitchen receptacles to have the top outlet on circuit A and the bottom outlet on circuit B. I found this question, which was helpful, but I was flipping through the 2017 Ugly's Residential wiring guide and I saw a section on Box Fill Calculations and I'm really doubting the boxes I'm using are big enough.
My best guess is that I need at least 22.5 cubic inch receptacle boxes, but I'm currently using 18 cubic inch boxes with Wago connectors and pig tails. I do plan to add a receptacle extender to these boxes, since I will be tiling the backsplash, but I don't think that will be enough.
| Item                   | Unit Volume     | Total Volume |
| ---------------------- | --------------- | ------------ |
| 8 conductors           |    2.25 ci each | 18.0 ci      |
| ? clamp                |    2.25 ci each |    ?         |
| 1 device               | 2x 2.25 ci each |  4.5 ci      |
| ? grounding conductors |    2.25 ci each |    ?         |
| ---------------------- | --------------- | ------------ |
| Total                  |                 | 22.5+ ci     |

I don't think I have a grounding conductor since I'm using PVC boxes, but I'm thinking the Wagos are considered clamps, in which case I'm using 5, so that would be another 11.25 cubic inches, 33.75 ci total. Is that the correct minimum box size required for two 20-amp circuits going to a single duplex outlet? Any suggestions for how to go about this?
Below is a picture of a test box I wired up for reference:

Cable clamps are things which, well, clamp the cable to keep it from flopping around where it enters the box.  You must only count cable clamps for box fill if they exist, and if they intrude into the box.   If so, all of them together count as 1 of the largest wire.
Equipment safety grounds must be there. You need to ground stuff; using plastic boxes doesn't reduce the need for grounding - actually it makes grounding more important since the outlets can't ground to the box!  If you have any grounds and you darn well better, then all of them together count as 1 of the largest wire.
Pigtails are free.  At least in a statutory sense; they certainly take a lot of room.   However there is no need to use pigtails if you invest in the better, $3 "Screw-and-clamp" type receptacles, which are able to clamp 2 wires under each screw. Stuffing a recep with 8 stiff #12 solid wires into a box, that'll be fun. Seriously, I'd pigtail with stranded wire, and still use screw-and-clamps (since putting stranded wire on a screw is hard).
Your setup has 2 circuits serving the same yoke.  Those 2 circuits MUST be handle-tied. or on a 2-pole breaker.  As a practical matter, that will oblige you to put them on opposite poles, unless you do something weird with a GE panel.
If you are using GFCI breakers, you might want to acquaint yourself with the Multi-wire branch circuit. This provides a way to do this same thing with only 6 wires instead of 8.  (neutral must be pigtailed, and if you don't pigtail the others, you're only muscling 5 wires).  MWBCs are generally considered archaic because of the need for a 2-pole GFCI breaker, but you're pretty much there anyway, so why not?


What to use to harden up a gravel driveway I have a gravel driveway uphill. I put new 1/2" rock gravel in last fall because of washout. I also spread concrete and sprayed it, but it didn't take. I have a 05 Harley Davidson Road King custom that I can't get up or down the driveway without almost dumping it.

Can I put anything on it to harden it up enough to get my bike up and down? It's too long to cement or asphalt it.

What shape is the gravel?  Go look at railroad ballast, you want that stuff, aka "crushed stone", very jaggy and will interlock when tamped down. Very hard to shovel for that reason. You want a smaller size though.

Any sort of round or half-round pea gravel type stuff has to go.  Get a loader, shovel it outta there, save it for aggregate for concrete.

The difference is night and day.


Should I replace ELV 12V transformers with LED drivers? I have 3 pendant lights, each with its own ELV 12v transformer stuffed into its junction box, controlled by a Lutron MA-PRO dimmer that supports ELV, MLV, LED, and incandescent lighting. I would like to replace the existing 50w xenon bulbs with dimmable LED bulbs. I tried just the bulbs, but they flicker. Should I replace all of the ELV transformers with LED 12v drivers? Is it okay to stuff the transformers/drivers into the box?

How to apply LED lights
You should probably read Lutron Application Note 559. It describes how to attach LEDs to that dimmer, and makes specific product recommendations.

They have two different groups of LED lights they recommend, depending on if you want to dim down to 20% or want even lower light.
How to install the ELV “transformer”
Firsts, you must use a device that is approved (NEC 110.2), and that means UL-Listed (not RU-Recognized), or another equivalent “NRTL” such as ETL or CSA will suffice.  No CE, no cheap Cheese junk off Amazon.
Second, you must follow the installation instructions that come with it, since those are part of the UL listing etc.  They will tell you where you can and can’t fit it.  As long as you install it per the approved instructions, you’re golden.
LED drivers are probably not what you want, at least I don’t think they are what you think they are.  But as you see with “transformers”, it’s very common for people in LED marketing to toss around the wrong words for things.  I would build out at least one pendant light with exactly the products which Lutron recommends in Note 559, so if problems come up, you can narrow it down between the dimmer, “transformer” or LED.


How would the filament tube of a typical incandescent lightbulb shatter without the filament burning out? Several lightbulbs in my friend's old, brownstone NYC apartment have been going out in a strange way. The filament looks perfectly fine, not burnt out, but the tube around it is shattered. Power surges / failing circuit breakers would have to burn out the filament, right? What could be causing this?

The only thing that would fracture glass other than a defect would be a severe or extreme temperature change that would change the expansion of the glass unevenly. Look for dripping water or oil or something making contact with the lamp in a single area.

Good luck


Three different well pumps not working but have power We bought a 1hp shallow well jet pump (Everbilt) a couple months ago to move water from a cistern to use in various places on the farm.
It stopped working all of a sudden a week ago. Test meter says ~123v going into the motor, even when I take the cover off and probe the inner wiring.
Tested the start capacitor and it rises and falls as I should expect. Shaft turns. There was no hum, click, noise, or anything when we apply power to the motor. So I figured it was a crap motor.
Went to another hardware store, got a different brand (Zoeller). Spent an hour removing the old motor and replacing with new and I got the EXACT same result. 120+v into the motor, but no sound, hum, clicks....nothing. I test the capacitor on this one, too.
I'm thinking that there's a slight chance I got a bum motor a second time. So I plugged in a 3/4hp portable irrigation pump we already had to the same electrical source and it works. I try the Zoeller motor on a different breaker at the post, still doesn't work.
So I order ANOTHER 1hp motor (Red Lion) and the first thing I try is wiring it up to see if it runs. Same result! There's power going into the motor, but NOTHING HAPPENS. Still no hums, clicks, no smoke, nothing. I have other items like heat lamps and lights plugged into this building and they all work; even if I have them on this circuit.
I've never seen anything like this. An AC motor is fairly simple. Yet 3 pumps (2 of which brand new) not working even the power is obviously there. Esp when I plug in another motor (which is a cheap harbor freight one; these others are more expensive) and it works just fine. I switched them all to 115 instead of 230...it's the first thing I do.
What else am I missing or am I so unlucky that I just bought 3 bad motors from 3 brands in a row?

Since you are measuring voltage it is a real possibility you have an open neutral, yes you can have an open neutral and measure 120v +- this is quite common in circuits that use backstabs an easy test put a table lamp on the circuit if no light measure the voltage 120v open neutral if you read zero volts it’s an open hot. And you were reading a phantom voltage to know which wire to trace it helps to put a load on the circuit verify the hot measurement under load.


How to cover this gas line sticking out of the wall? I'm looking for nice a way to cover this gas line plug sticking out of my wall. It's an eyesore that is no longer needed, I believe a leftover from the oven in an extra basement kitchen area. It sticks out about 0.75" from the wall.
I know they make domed cover plates for plumbing cleanouts (such as this), but those typically screw right into a plastic cleanout plug. In this case, it's a metal plug/cap. Ideally I was hoping to find something similar (domed blank cover plate) that I can screw into the wall with wall anchors. I'm not really sure what I should be searching for though. Any suggestions?

I think if you remove the plug and replace it with a flush plug, then spackle the crack around it and paint. It would (IMO) be less obtrusive than a cover.


My kitchen lights won't turn on, what could be the problem? My kitchen light will not turn on, even after I replaced all 4 bulbs. What could be the problem? The breaker is working fine, all the plugs and other lights are working in the proper condition, and GFCI switches were all reset.

Do I need to replace the entire unit?

Assuming florescent lights, the most likely cause is a failed ballast. Generally a bulb or socket issue will only affect 1 or 2 lights, not all 4.

Replacing a ballast is pretty straight forward and just requires re-connecting the necessary wires.  Make sure you note the old ballast type, as well as the bulb types and wattages when selecting a replacement.

If it is an older fixture with T-12 bulbs, you will most likely need to replace the ballast and bulbs with newer T8 bulbs that are more energy efficient.


Using portable generator with transfer switch See related question here: Determining generator loads
I live on a property with 600 AMP service (2x200AMP service to home, 1x200AMP service to workshop / barn).   The home and barn are new construction, and due to the rural location, standby generator transfer switch for the property was provisioned (Without the generator being purchased).
I don't currently have the funding for the standby generator, and was hoping to configure my portable generator to use the existing transfer switch equipment in the mean time.  The portable generator that I have is a 9000 watt unit equipped with a NEMA 14-50 receptacle.
Is there a way I can use this existing transfer switch along with a NEMA 14-50 plug and cord to power my home during power outages?

Yes
Sure, that ought to be possible. That looks like an automatic transfer switch.  It was set up on only one of the two 200A feeds to your house.  Presumably whoever wired your house was conscientious about putting important loads on that panel.
However, the switch is not hooked up.  The wires bypass the switch.  They left you some slack, but not enough slack to hook it up.   Note that the wires you see go between the main panel (which is right there) and the house. One wiring run must be replaced with new wire.  Obviously that should be the 3 foot run between transfer switch and panel.   The installer will know this.
Knocking out a KO at the bottom of that panel and sticking a NEMA 14-50 inlet there won't be a problem.  I would have the contractor do that, since it's cheap/easy work.  If you want it somewhere else, you could DIY extend it to another location using Rigid conduit and #8 THHN wire.  Rigid is hella expensive, but it only needs 6" burial cover so you can trench it with a garden trowel, which makes it very DIYable. No trencher rental.
The contractor will also need to add a manual "Util/Gen" button to the ATS, so you can throw it manually between Util and Gen.  That will require understanding of the ATS, so hire someone who knows the system.  This might bypass the electronic controller on the left wall, or use it.  Don't be surprised if it also requires installing a battery.
I'm presuming you'll have a contractor do it. If you want to DIY this whole kaboodle, you'll really,  really need to do the research on that ATS very thoroughly.  Adding the switch button is non-trivial. I would mount the button outside the ATS rather than carving up the ATS case.  If you need momentary pushbutton switches, a variety exist, including those made for the GE RR7 lighting system. Those fit in a standard form-factor and can take a weather in-use cover.
The future
Honestly, long-term... solutions like the Tesla PowerWall (well: better than the Tesla PowerWall) are coming up so very fast that installing a big 15+KW generator may not be the way to go by the time you're ready. Heck, even today, if you homebrew it, you can install an enormous battery+solar system for the price of the bigger generators.
Even if the solar is unavailable, just get a portable generator like that one. Such a system allows a small generator to punch way, way above its weight class.  For an all-gas house like mine with light electrical loads, you get to run the generator an hour a day at the time of your choosing, just to top up batteries.  For big loads, the battery starts and carries loads the generator couldn't possibly; the generator's only job is to keep the battery topped up, and it runs at full power/peak efficiency until that's done, then you shut it off until needed again.
It's a sweet combo, really. And most of the time the solar carries it anyway; and when power isn't down, you have the solar backfeed onto the grid via whatever arrangement your power company will accept. So you're making money on the deal too.
You  have to look at the various systems available and how they install; many will want a setup like that ATS you have.


Why do my upstairs toilets run randomly? Two upstairs toilets will run randomly.  If I run water in the sink briefly it stops, then often the adjacent bathroom will start to run.  Same thing happens when I run water in the sink there.

The upstairs / second story is an addition to a ranch house done roughly 10 years ago.  Have a well, not city supplied water.

First thing, replace the flapper; it's cheap, easy to install and probably half if not all of your problem. Opening a faucet just triggers the fill-valve sooner than it would normally try to make up for the slow leak.

Next, try tightening the the screw that holds the float at the correct fill level. I like to see at least a 1\4" before it will spill into the over-flow. Yours may have a fill-level line but don't be afraid to short it some. Be aware that messing with the guts might make it worse. Be prepared to replace the fill valve assembly along with the flapper, which will almost certainly solve the problem (for another 10 years).


Extremely loud pop inside apartment building, half the outlets (on the same curcuit) wont work in my apartment There was an extremely loud pop somewhere above my apartment in my building. Over the next few minutes a strong smell started coming through the AC, random lights would flicker then cut out, and items would stop working all together (night lights, child monitor etc.). this happened throughout the building. i was told it was a power outage by our power company, however, i have never been in an outage where random outlets would work/not work that were on the same circuit in the breaker box. some lights/outlets would be constantly browning out while others were not (also on the same circuit). resetting breakers did nothing, resetting outlets did nothing. i unplugged everything and waited outside until the issues were resolved. everything started to work again about 2 hours later.

I was just curious if i should be worried about anything because the housing authority had no answers and the power company just said it was a power outage. But there was a very loud pop (borderline small explosion) sound and a burning smell in my AC. thanks for any help

Did you happen to notice if the transformer on the utility pole nearest to your house now looks shiny and brand new?  From your description, it sounds like it blew.  When this happens, for a few moments the voltage coming into your house could theoretically be anything (up to the high voltage side supply, usually several kilovolts), as the various windings within the transformer melt and short together.  Given that, it would be wise to check that all your devices are still functioning properly.  If not, check to see if your homeowners or renters insurance (if any) covers this.

You mentioned that some outlets were working fine while others were browning out -- how did you determine that?  If you're just going by which devices stopped working or dimmed/slowed down, that's not a reliable indicator, since many modern electronics with switching power supplies will continue functioning even on very reduced voltages, but other devices will not.