What is the name for fixed metal venetian blinds? I am about to build a canopy/enclosure for heat pump outdoor unit to protect it from strong wind and angle rain. It needs to cover the unit all around but still allow free air flow.

Ideally the walls of such an enclosure would be made of metal "venetian blind" panels that are fixed/unmovable. The panels would look like this but without the ropes:

Is there a common name for such panels under which they are available on the market?

Some possibilities come to mind :

Louvered panels,

slatted panels,

slatted ventilation panels.

A google search for the text below gave many from 4" by 4" to fencing and all types in between.

slatted ventilation panels


Why would half my attic roof be drywalled I live in a townhouse (about 40 years old) and my neighbors recently had a piece of drywall fall from their attic roof and create a hole in their upstairs bedroom ceiling.

I examined my attic which is really just a crawlspace and on both ends there is drywall shimmed against the attic ceiling, about 3 rafter sections on each end have this drywall. There is about 20' in the middle with no drywall. It is not nailed or held in place by anything except smaller pieces of drywall about 3" by 3" that are nailed to the rafters. The drywall against the ceiling rests on these smaller pieces. About 25% of the drywall has sagged and has fallen down onto insulation (luckily it hasn't punctured my upstairs roof).

Why would a builder do this?

It's an "approved" substitute for a "fire wall" that does not extend 30" up through the roof.

The Code requires fire walls (and sound walls) between multi-family housing units to extend 30" above each unit. However, one approved "alternate" design allows the fire wall to terminate at the bottom of the roof sheathing, if gypsum board extends out from the party wall 5' (I think) on the bottom of the roof joists. (The portions that are missing, could be sloppy work that has already fallen down and removed.)


Cleaning film out of plastic drain pipe The drain pipe and trap on my bathroom sink are made of plastic, and every four to six months I find that it slows down. When I disassemble it, the pipe walls are coated with maybe 1/8" of disgusting brown and black slim, probably fungal in nature. I end up having to shove paper towels through the pipes, which pushes out the slim in a stomach-churning sleeve-shaped blob.

Is there a product I can use to prevent this, or to clean it up when the drain slows?

My sink is cultured marble and the drain itself is stainless steel, so I don't want to damage them.

That sludge is really just a mix of soap, water, skin cells, hair, tooth paste and all the other lovely stuff that goes down your drain. I doubt it is fungus.

You can't really prevent it.  There are all sorts of chemical and non-chemical mixtures you can try to clean it out, but I think removing the trap and cleaning it out is the best bet. If the trap is easy to remove, why pour harmful chemicals down and into your water supply?

If the sludge is soft and comes off easily, you might have some luck filling the sink with really hot water and then draining it quickly.


How to join hardwood rows from two rooms at doorway? Imagine I have two rooms connected by a doorway (no door). You start setting hardwood in both of them independently but at the same side. After X rows of hardwood, you will reach the doorway from either room and then you will need to join the two independently started sets of rows.

The problem is, except for of some geometrically perfect house and 100% perfect row setting with no gaps, it is highly unlikely that the row sets from the two room will line up so that, when they do, you can join them with a single piece.

One solution I was thinking of is to introduce some kind of divider WHICH I WANT TO BE FLUSH WITH THE FLOOR (so no aluminum dividers), which would delimit the two row sets and eliminate the need to have them line up. Is there something like a 6" wide maple (which is what my flooring is) threshold that is 3/4" thick so that it is flush with the floor and looks like a projection of the doorway jamb on the floor?

If such a piece is unavailable, I was thinking to makeshift my own out of 3 strips of hardwood where the one in the center would be whole (tongue and groove), and the two facing out would have the tongue and the groove respectively ripped off so as to join the center piece but be square at the edges where they would be meeting rows of regular hardwood on either end.

Yet another thing to do would be to not start room 2 until I reach the doorway from room 1, then set one binding strip and work back room 2 from there but that would involve rotating the tongue-groove position which is moderately PIA but it can be done with spline and wood glue (done it once already, don't ask me why).

I think your plan is good.  I use a metal L to do my transitions like this.  You have to figure out where you want your "perpendicular threshold" boards to start and screw in the Ls on each side.  This way you can start at the doorway and jam the boards against the L.  This will give you a nice straight line.  I have also left the Ls in some transitions and it gives a really cool look.  But if you don't want them then take it out after your surrounding rooms are done and nail in your threshold area last.


Should plumber's putty be placed on the sink or on the flange during a flange install? I have seen this done both ways.  I put my plumber's putty on the sink in a circle that meets the bottom of the sink or top of the ring.

I have seen others attach the putty to the underside of the flange.

What are the positives and negatives of each and which is right?

On the sink

On the Flange

There is no "right way", but the "theory" is:

On a loose fitting (fitting has play inside the hole), placing the putty on the sink will create a better seal on the area actually making contact. On a tighter fitting, placing the putty on the flange will seal the areas closer to the center leaving less room for voids. See this diagram (tight fitting on top, loose fitting on bottom, "risk" for voids/incomplete seal in red):

Honestly, while the "theory" isn't bad, in practice it simply requires that you use enough putty to make a good seal. The net effect is that the putty just needs to be sandwiched between the flange and the sink to prevent water from leaking, either from an (intentionally) stopped sink into the overflow (bathroom) and thus down the drain, or from around the flange into the cabinet below when the flange acts as a reducer or on sinks without overflows (kitchen).

So, whichever way works best for you is the "right way".

Edit: Updated diagram to reflect the proper amount of putty.
Edit(2): Updated diagram to reflect proper amount of putty including over-puttying.


central air and high efficiency furnace When the central air is running, cold air blows outside through the intake and exhaust pipes from the HE furnace. Is this normal? Can I block/seal off these pipes for the summer and uncover them before  we use the furnace for heat in the fall. Or is there something wrong with the system?


How to white spray paint bath window for privacy? What are tips to paint on privacy for bathroom windows?  White spray paint sounds easy, but would make it harder to clean the window, would it not?

Pros: Privacy with natural light. Window shades stay open while showering which keeps the condensation away, thus improving life of wood window frame.

Cons:  Unless the paint dries smooth-as-glass, it will collect dust much more quickly and be more difficult to clean.

What are professional tips to apply paint to windows for bathroom privacy and ease-of-cleaning?  Electrostatic paint?

Have you thought of a bathroom window film? It's very easy to put there, and it works really nicely. I mean one of these:

They  come in a variety of patterns, from plain to very fancy. I think they are easier to apply than the sprays (I've put them on couple windows without any problems). They are made to be in the bathroom so they last long, and the surface is easy to clean from dust.


Is 1/2 inch hardboard more durable than mdf for a table top? I'm totally new to woodworking and as my first project I want to make a small table. I'm planning to paint it so the wood material will not be visible. And I want to bevel the edges using a router. I'm trying to keep it on a budget since it is just a practice. There are several board materials I can use with almost the same price. OSB, plywood, MDF, and hardboard. I read online that mdf is stronger than plywood and OSB. But I can't find any info on the strength of hardboard. So my question is, if I use two layers of 1/4 inch hardboard, would it make a stronger tabletop than 1/2 inch MDF? Thanks.

ANYTHING is better than MDF for your project as it is a terrible material for furniture, especially custom made furniture.  Also you can't use a router on MDF - well you can but it will not turn out well.
So you can probably find pine, oak and cedar at big box.   All stronger than mdf, all suitable.   If you are painting, pine is my go to as you can cover it without seeing the grains.  (there are many many other choices of solid wood planks if you want to order or go to lumber yard.  I just answered the question in a wood that is reasonably easy to find.)


Grounding a subpanel box in the same dwelling Do I have to run a seperate ground to the ground rod from the subpanel

A sub-panel connects to the main panel with 4 conductors (hot,hot,neutral,ground).  A sub panel must have separate ground and neutral bars. A sub panel does not connect directly to the ground rod.


Identify this screw head (was: Security Torx) Am attempting to open an old device cover (an adapter) and it has these screws (please see attached image, sorry for the bad quality, I couldn't get better focus than this.)

Would really appreciate if someone could guide me identify it and/or point to where to obtain a driver for it. (Or even more awesome if any tips of opening it using any hack without a specialty driver, if possible!)

Update Addendum

Well I am happy to report that — thanks to the help and solution below — I have acquired & successfully opened the Tamper-proof/Security Torx screw using the bit! (see more bad images below, :D Though I notice that a kind contributor has edited my original picture and fixed some text too, thanks!) :)

This is a tamper proof torx screw. There are torx bits with a hole in the center that will remove them, if you are bold you can try smacking the center pin with a punch at an angle (small ones usually snap off) and then a standard torx bit can be used to remove it.  Check  online and I bet you can find a tamper proof bit kit for under 15$.


Is it possible to install a ceiling fan without an electrical box? A while ago I had some electricians install a ceiling fan mount. Now that I've finally gotten around to installing a fan I've discovered that they didn't install any sort of electrical box to house the wiring. The hole they cut in the ceiling fell on a joist, so evidently they just gave up and installed a round resin adapter plate that they screwed to the joist, which the ceiling fan mount can then be screwed to.

Is this arrangement up to code (in MN) at all? How should I go about fixing it?

Based on your description, I "see" the ceiling cut out, a resin disc screwed to the joist. The disc has two or more empty holes that correspond to the device mounting holes in a standard octagonal junction box. Then there's a length of romex cable just hanging loose to which you're supposed to connect the fan.

If your fan's installation instructions indicate some part of the fan can be used to make connections, such as the ceiling canopy, you may be in luck. Make the connections there. More than likely, they'll assume you are providing a junction box in the ceiling. First ensure the fan's mounting kit is compatible with your resin plate. You'll need to get the wires from the down pipe, through the plate and into a nearby junction box you will install. The fan wires need to be long enough that there's at least 6 extra inches after running into the box. They must not bind against anything.

You'll need an old work box, a blank cover plate, some wire nuts (may be part of the fan kit), a short length of 1/2" flex conduit, a flex to box connector, and a plastic conduit bushing to protect the wire insulation where it goes into the conduit above the fan. You'll also need a romex to box connector if the box does not have them built in. Any wire running in a concealed structural space needs to be in conduit or non-metallic cable (romex), or a few other less common options.

You install an old work box by cutting the proper sized and shaped hole in the ceiling in a place where the box will not hit anything above the ceiling but is close to the resin plate on which the fan will be mounted. Do not install the box at this time, I'm explaining what will happen, but there's other things to do first. You would place the box in the hole, the box's flange keeps it from being pushed through. A couple retaining tabs are turned with a screwdriver so that the box will no longer be able to be pulled out.

If the romex cable is not attached nearby to a joist, you'll need to do so through the box hole. Locate the hole so it's close enough to do this, but not so close the wire is kinked or crimped after the box is installed. Remove an appropriate knock out in the box to connect the conduit. You can cut or drill a hole if need be. After securing the romex, feed it into the box. Feed the attached conduit through the hole and back out through the resin plate. It can be routed next to the plate as long as the fan ceiling canopy fitting will cover it. Or cut a hole in the plate if need be. Install the box and cut the conduit to length at the resin plate. Install the protective bushing. Install the fan on the resin plate. Push the fan wires through the conduit at the resin plate and into the box and make the connections. Install the fan ceiling canopy and box cover plate.


Waterproofing a basement before finishing it So I currently own a home to which I would like to finish off the basement in the near future. Currently the basement is just concrete with cinder block walls on the outside.  I have a normal sump pump in the corner like most places.  I know in the past, the previous owner had light cracks in the cinder block walls, as there is evidence of patching the walls with cement. For the time that I have lived in this house (about half a year only) I have never had any water problems at all. The only thing noticed during the home inspection was that the moisture was a little high on one side of the basement, but not an actual leak.

Anyways, my question is what is the most recommended way to solve this to prevent future problems? I do know there are channel type systems like the squidgee (http:\www.waterproof.com) but I have heard mixed reviews about drilling holes into your walls, similar to drilling holes into a boat to better protect it.  I do know that I will need to build my walls about a foot or so away from the cinder block walls. So should I invest into a system like the one I showed? If I haven't had any water problems, should I do nothing? Or are there outside options I should look into? I would definitely not like to tear up my yard.

I am not asking for specific brands or anything as I imagine that is off topic, but just general methods that are recommended and reasoning as to why.

Always start outside, where the water is. If you're even slightly up-hill in any direction that doesn't affect another property. Then, Grading & Sculpting the land will never be outdone by any other system & it's free to operate with no maintenance in your lifetime. No back up battery, no back flushing & no worry.

Other than that, where you have no drainage area or direction then still treat the outside to keep the building dry & especially free from being eroded. Handling water after it comes in means you're only collecting it after it's done it's damage. Would you wash & wax your car that was run over by a trash truck?


How far can I move my bath tub trap from the vent? I am remodeling the master bath and I need to relocate the bath tub. I will be extending the trap about 3-4' from where it is now. I'm wondering if I need to relocate the vent pipe as well. How far can it be from the vent?

It depends on the diameter of the trap.  Under International Building Code use table 906.1.

A 1.5" trap can be 6 feet from the vent (if your trap is only 1.25" the maximum distance is 5 feet).

It looks like you should be fine in your situation.


What happens if you wire a four-prong dryer cord backwards? What happens if you get the red and black wires of a four prong dryer cord backwards?

This question assumes:

we are talking about U.S. Residential wiring
the person doing the wiring gets the green and white wires in the right place

Assuming you are asking about US residential biphase 240 volt wiring (or equivelant), then there is nothing wrong with reversing the black and red wires.


Partial home electrical rewire I am a new homeowner. My lady and I have lived here for almost one year now. I've lived through a near-complete home restoration throughout my youth in my parents' home, and have picked up quite a few sets of skills when it comes to all things DIY. I've worked in a hardware store for several years, and have refined said skills there.

So far, I've basically only touched aesthetics in the home - removed all the old floors on the main floor, to set down a new subfloor and hardwood.

We are now planning more major renovations in the home : tearing down two walls upstairs to convert from a two bedroom floor to a master suite. Seeing as I will be doing major work, I wanted to get your input on my electrical situation.

The panel is a new (less than 10 year old) 200A breaker box. The electrician who installed it rewired into the box the original home wiring - non-grounded paper-covered wire. It looks tired and brittle. This also causes me issue when wanting to plug certain appliances that require a 3-pin plug (the original plugs are the old two pin plugs).

I have an unfinished basement where I can follow every single wire from panel to wherever it runs upward.

In your opinion, is it possible to rewire the portions of the house affected by simply removing my connections from the panel, then opening the wall boxes, attaching a wire fish and pulling the old wire and fish through the walls, to be able to pull new wiring back, or could I run into trouble doing so? I know that some areas are tighter and I will need to pull some drywall, but in your experience, could I get lucky enough that this could work on some lines?

Thanks for your time.

Not likely.  The cabling it almost certainly secured with staples within the walls, ceilings, and floors.  Which will make it impossible to use the existing wiring to fish the new cables.


Connect open neutral in box? I am adding an outdoor floodlight and when I opened the motion sensor box for the existing lights, I found the neutral wire feeding the light was not connected in the box.  I think this neutral should be connected with the other neutrals in the same box, but I wanted to make sure that is correct before rewiring it.  When I checked the light fixture itself, there are several neutrals wired together in that box.  Should I join the light neutral with the other neutrals in this box?

Note: There were several other issues with this box also that I fixed (box not grounded, not outdoor rated box, no cable clamp etc.).

I have seen two 14/2 cables used instead of a 14/3 cable. 14/2 is a hot (black), neutral(white) and a ground(bare copper), 14/3 is hot, neutral, and a load (red). It is used for three-way switches or smoke alarms where the third one is used to signal all alarms to sound when only one detects smoke.

I don't know what your setup is but it may be similar to the smoke alarms, which would mean that the neutral is not used. The original installer may not have had 14/3 for whatever reason.


Low water pressure for water filter cartridges Will these filters still work on Low Water Pressure?
These are the standard 10 inch filters.
I know that overpressure can render the filters useless.
but how about low pressure? will it still work?
let say 0.48 MPa or 69.61 PSI, around 3.5L per minute flow rate. will the filters still work properly?
Thank you so much.

I use those same type filters on my kitchen cold water supply to filter out the chlorine taste in the water. This is where we get all our drinking water and water to make coffee. The water pressure in my home is between 70 and 75 psi. I replace the filter once per year.


Toggle Light Switch - Two Lights, One Electrical Source I want to create/buy a switch like this:

(this is a two wheeler turn indicator switch)

My needs:

I've got one electrical source
If I move the switch to the left side, then the left bulb
should glow and if its on the right, then right bulb should
glow.
If the switch is in the central position, then both the lights
should be off

My doubts:

What's the name of this kind of electrical switch for household use?
How can I wire this?

Please advice.

Thanks in advance.

Your question is unclear, your first "doubt" tho gives us the clue tho that you want the "functionality" in a switch styled different than what you have pictured.

Google "SPDT Center Off switch", it's available in many form factors and styles, including "wall switch" or household type.   (Avoid "momentary" in the description, those will 'spring' back to center rather than stay maintained On in one position or the other--I mention this only because Google search suggestions try to force me into the 'momentary' switches.)

(SPDT = Single Pole Double Throw)


Looking for a practical way to find the metal posts locations in finished walls I am looking for a practical way to find metal posts location in a finished basement walls or finished ground floor walls. I am trying to understand how my house was built. I would like to remove a wall to make an open concept kitchen & living.(pictures below). Cathedral ceiling in the living might be an option

How do I find out where the steel posts are located?
The same question goes for any horizontal steel beam that might be installed in a house.
My house is a bungalow, rectangular shape (25'x47')
The trusses look like this:

Apparently the roof sits on the exterior walls only but I suspect that there must be some bearing beam on the ground floor

Here is where I am driving with this investigation

The diagram was created when I did not have access to the house, but now I know what the trusses are like.

To find a metal post, I would try using a magnet. The stronger, the better. A massive speaker magnet in hand should give you an indication what is where. (Warning: strong magnets can BITE!)


Crawlspace Post to beam lumber grade Recently we replaced some of the rotten and cracked true size 4 in x 6 in. posts under the house in crawlspace. The old posts were resting on concrete pads 24 in. x 24 in. and supporting a true size beam 4 in x 8 in.

The lumber we used is 4 in. x 6 in. x 8 ft. Pressure-Treated Landscape Timber , since we couldn't find any true size to match the old one. This lumber is rated as #3 grade but does not have any knots or cracks and labeled as not being used for structural purposes.

Should I be concerned about its strengths? I presume that is Douglas Fir.

Not using graded lumber can get you in trouble. Or what I mean is using a lower grade than allowed for a residence. If you ever have an earthquake this could be an area that the insurance company says they won’t cover your loss. And you want to use material that is below grade 2 and specifically listed as not for structural.
I would not have this prior to my loss, don’t give them any reason for denying your claim.


Can I have a 20 amp breaker, 12 gauge wire, and a 15 amp switch? Can I have a 20 amp breaker with 12 gauge wire run to a switch that is a 15 amp and use 14 gauge wire from the switch to the ceiling fan only?

No. You could have a 15 amp breaker, and this would then be fine (oversized wire is OK.)


What's a simple solution to have 2 NEMA 14-30 receptacles and switch power between them? Currently I have a NEMA 14-30 receptacle for the dryer. I'm wondering is it possible to split one receptacle into 2 NEMA 14-30 receptacles and install a switch to select which receptacle to use when needed?

I need to have an extra jack for my car charger, otherwise I have to unplug the dryer every time I need to charge my car.

You could use a double throw switch.

Other materials required are just commonly available residential wiring supplies. Enclosures or boxes, wire, conduit, etc. Exactly what you use is unique to your situation and difficult to speculate about.

Update:
Do note this is not the cheapest of devices. As noted by longneck, running a new circuit may be cheaper. This would be quite true unless the panel is a fair distance from the outlets. Now that we have more detail about the intended use, running a new circuit as suggested by Michael Karas is the only reasonable solution. You do not want to be in a position where you cannot charge your car because you need to dry your clothes, or vice versa. You spent good money on a nice electric vehicle, you deserve to have a proper charging setup for it.

This is so important that in the off chance your service cannot handle the additional load, you should seriously consider what's involved in upgrading the service. There will be additional benefits to this beyond being able to charge your car when you need to.


Stairways Hand Rail requirements On what Building & Safety or any building' s Jurisdiction, within the United States, will this hand rail be acceptable and approved for residential usage.

Residential stair handrails that are circular (like rope) need to be minimum 1 1/4" diameter; is that 1 1/4" rope?

Residential stair handrails are supposed to be not less than 34" from the tread, and not more than 38". So if that rope has enough slack to be raised or lowered beyond those limitations... no good.


Trash can 'repositories' in Luxembourg/Central Europe We have a question on your collateral cousin's site: Travel. It was voted off-topic but still has interest. Perhaps you can entertain it here?

A traveller was on walk-about in Luxembourg and observed that there is an apparent uniformity with respect to the way rubbish bins are left outside for collection.  It is in a purpose built pit roughly 55 cm/25 inches deep. The photo is uploaded here as a matter of convenience...

We understand that there is practical merit to this arrangement...

Wind is less likely to knock them over;
Feral animals are less likely to knock them over;
They are less likely to fall upon and injure a toddler;

...but these reasons are speculation and not nailed down with the precision that would satisfy an interested person.  There has been other speculation that the placement of rubbish bins is a regulated activity and a different line of thought that it may be expensive (either to install or to place the bins there for collection). Part of a building code for Luxembourg?  I have suggested that there might be a cultural influence like "monkey see monkey do".

Have any of YOU contemplated having this type of rubbish bin 'repository'? What do you call it so as to help Googlers?

Question: is there something peculiar to Luxembourg to cause rubbish bins to be configured this way?  Or more generally, are there other locales where one can see the same uniformity?

Via a Luxembourg regular visitor on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Luxembourg/comments/50cxwq/can_a_luxembourg_resident_answer_this/d73vb3y

  These receptacles are build right next to the entrance-way, need little space and as they are built into the ground you can easily hide the ugly trashbin with hedges and bushes around them.

This simply seems to be an aesthetic feature to make the bin less obvious. No purpose for automated pickup or weather or anything else.


Best and easiest way to seal insulation above concrete pour in unfinished areas of basements? One of the things my crew is doing is trying to quickly make unfinished areas in basements look nicer and easier to clean.
We usually stuff all outer joist walls with roxul to insulate and while this is effective it looks awful.
It isn't easy to hide this either because often the joists are a good 2-3" above the concrete that the insulation is sitting on.
So we either install plywood strips then a strip of 2x4 on the bottom to cover the gap or more common adding a 2x to the joist then a strip of plywood past or to the wall.
Goals here:

Looks nice.
Keeps insulation from falling or dirt/debris.
Wind break - not expecting an air seal at all.
Can easily be moved if home owner needs to run pipe/wire (we usually have 2-3 screws per 6' strip)

So is there a better way of doing this?

For a quick cover to make it look better, how about drywall screwed to the studs?  Keep insulation & drywall at least 1" off the floor to keep moisture from wicking into it and add a wide vinyl trim ţo cover the gap.


Should I cover or move this outlet? I've got this lovely situation in my garage where there's an outlet right above the deep sink, and while I don't have my tape measure handy I'm fairly certain this is less than 6' from the sink, and the washer is plugged into it.

Should I seal this outlet off (with a blank wall plate)? If I do, I'll need to use an extension cord to plug the washer in since it's to short to reach the outlet in blue (about a 6' span), or alternatively I could relocate it. Or should I just put a GFCI outlet above the sink or a GFCI Breaker on the circuit and continue to use it?

Current code in many places (ymmv since we don't know where you are) calls for GFCI outlets throughout a garage.

From a practical standpoint, a GFCI above the sink is recommended for safety, so I'd change it. (This assumes you don't have a gfci breaker or another outlet upstream that makes your sink outlet into a gfci.)

If you don't like the cord looping over your sink, be sure to get an appropriate extension cord. Look for a 15A rating and stay as short as possible. (These often get called "air conditioner extension cords".)


Where can I connect RO drain saddle? I'm trying to install an RO system and I have it 99% complete except the drain saddle. I don't see any room for me to install it.
There's not enough space in the elbow and the vertical black pipe is too thick. What are my options?

You could use a product like this drain line adapter, instead of the saddle. That would allow you to connect both the RO, and dishwasher drain into the disposal.


What types of electrical outlets are found in a typical home in the USA? I do not live in the USA. If I were to buy a home in the USA, what are the key facts I should know about USA household electrical supply at outlets in homes? E.g. when buying a clothes dryer or other appliances.

I'm asking this question for a couple of reasons

Diagrams like this suggest that US householders need to know about more than one type of electrical socket. Diagrams like the one below are even more intimidating. Clearly households in the USA typically have only a few of these, and presumably the 1-15 and 5-15 types comprise the majority of outlets in a home. But which others might be encountered?

There are a lot of questions on this site that would not arise in my home country.
A list of the common charactereristics of USA domestic power arrangements in households might help people reading this site to understand what answers apply in the USA but may not apply in other countries.

Here's some questions that would not arise where I live

Where does the ground wire go in a 3-prong dryer cord configuration?
Can I connect ground to neutral in a 3 wire outlet?
How can I plug my 3 prong dryer into a 4 prong receptacle?
Why do my appliances show two sets of power consumption ratings and which one applies to my house?
Ground Wire Installation
Electric ground from another circuit
Electrical outlet has two black hot wires but one neutral white wire?
Tricked by a 220 volt outlet hack job
How can I figure out why this electrical receptacle is dead?
Is it okay to run a switched and unswitched hot on the same neutral?
How can I connect a 120V compressor to a 3 phase WYE 208 electrical system?
Can a NEMA 6-15 Device be connected to a NEMA 6-20 receptacle?
Can a built-in dishwasher be plugged into a receptacle?
How can I connect a 120V washer to a 240V circuit?

Where I live, all outlets in a home are 230V, 50Hz, single phase, earthed, switched and have a common physical outlet design. In some homes you may find one ungrounded shaver socket with a different design. In a very very few of the homes built before 1947 and which have never been rewired, you may instead find two types of older design of outlet.

The relevant Wikipedia article doesn't give much detail for the USA.

So, what types of electrical outlet and switch arrangements for power and lighting might be found in a typical USA home?

To answer all the issues you raise would require a book on US electrical wiring. Or several. And a copy of the Code.

The vast majority of outlets in residences in the US are attached to branch circuits that are rated at 15 Amps and 120 Volts. Current practice and code calls for outlets like these

This version is tamperproof, required in many jurisdictions. The non-tamperproof look similar, but the slots do not have internal baffles

You may see different styles, such as Decora, or decorator style, which are functionally identical to basic outlets, but have a rectangular face

20 Amp circuits generally require slightly different outlets (if you are going to draw the full 20 Amps or there is only one outlet on the line) like these

But you can also find the lower 15 Amp outlets on circuits that are properly wired for 20 amps. Obviously 15 Amp outlets are limited in use to 15 Amp appliances, even if they are on a 20 Amp line.

Certain locations, especially where there is a risk of moisture, such as bathrooms, require a ground fault interruper (GFI) type outlet

These also come in tamper resistant and 20 Amp versions and vary like the basic outlets.

All of the above are grounded outlets, required in almost every jurisdiction for new construction and renovations.  Some older installations may have ungrounded outlets.

These generally cannot be used except as a direct replacement for an existing one, and even then setting up a properly grounded outlet is preferred and may be required.

All of the 120 Volt outlets require a hot wire (usually black or red) and a neutral wire (always white). Grounded outlets also require a ground wire (green or bare). Outlets can be always live or switched. Live outlets have the hot wire coming directly from circuit without interruption. Switched outlets have the hot wire going through one or more switches before reaching the outlet so that the power can be turned on or off.

All of the 15-20 amp outlets shown above are duplex, that is there are two receptacles for plugs on each.  These almost always are bonded together by a strip of metal.  When you wire to one, both are energized. This bonding strip can be broken off allowing each of the receptacles on the outlet to be powered separately. This is most often done to allow one receptacle to be always live and one to be switched. This also allows each receptacle to be on a separate branch circuit (for heavy power use).

Some residences use higher amperage outlets for large appliances, such as an electric stove or dryer, and the outlets vary base upon a number of factors. Examples can be seen in the chart linked in the question.

Similarly, some residences use 240 Volts for large appliances and wells, and the outlets also vary considerably, and can be seen on the linked chart.

This is a very brief summary of the type of outlets most commonly seen in US homes. The full range of outlet types and uses is beyond a simple summary.  The range of possible switching and wiring configurations also is nearly infinite.  But this site welcomes questions on any particular configuration or problem you may encounter, so ask away.


Can I use an "impact driver for concrete" to drill or drive screws in wood? I'm making a slat board fence with old weathered wood and 2x4s.
My new cordless drill has 2 battery packs. I bought an impact driver for concrete but never used one before.
Can I use my impact driver for screws and my drill for drilling? or vice versa?
The drill has variable torque and variable speed. I'm using drywall screws on this wood. I'm tired of switching my drill from drilling to screwing and back, so I want to use two tools, one for drilling and one for screwing, to work continuously until my project is finished. I have hex bits for both drilling and screwing.

I have seen people use the impact drill for screws, they tend to deform the screw heads so that you cannot remove the screws later. For drywall that's irrelevant, for assembling something with wood, it might be. But...
Drywall screws are not a good choice for wood anyway, the shafts are thinner and weaker, because for drywall, you don't need the screws to be any stronger than the paper on the drywall. It's a LOT easier to twist the heads off of drywall screws when installing them and for them to break off afterward.


How to rewire a microwave exhaust fan to work as a stand alone exhaust fan? Have a used microwave oven exhaust fan which I plan to use as a stand alone fan. The wiring on the fan is the enclosed picture. The question is how do I wire this to work as a stand alone fan?

Update:
ThreePhaseEel and others thank you.
Is the T/P symbol on the motor schematic stands for Thermal Protection? Right below the schematic diagram of the motor in big letters it states Thermally Protected.
The external thermal protection is probably for knowing when the fan has to come on for microwave usage, because the microwave needs to cool and NOT for protection of the motor itself. So I think this thermal protection and one of the yellow wires going to this thermal protection can be eliminated if the unit is going to be used for a stand alone fan.
Just to clarify: So a double switch is needed if both speeds are to be used but if only high speed is going to be used then just the blue wire needs to be connected to power and it can be turned on/off by connecting and disconnecting the power cord.
For a double switch the blue wire from the motor to one side of switch for high speed and yellow wire to the other side of the switch for low speed. The other side of the switch gets the black wire from the 3 prong plug.
The black wire from the motor is connected to the white/neutral wire from the 3 prong plug to complete the circuit.
What about the green wire of the 3 prong plug? Where does that goes or is it left out?
The capacitor stays for the initial motor torque. Nothing to do there except to enclose it in the same box as the switch and to insulate the wires going to it

You need to install a switch (toggle, rocker, paddle, etc.). Connect the Black wire from the plug cord to a terminal on the switch. This will be the Hot wire that carries the power to motor. On the other switch terminal you can either wire the Blue (for High speed) or Yellow (for Low speed) that come from the motor of the fan.
You should probably keep the Thermal Fuse as it may be protecting the motor and an integral part of the system. The Thermal Fuse is a safety device that has a bi-metal disc inside that connects the Blue and Yellow wires to complete the circuit. If it senses a higher heat than what it is calibrated for the disc warps and opens the circuit stopping the flow of power until it cools and snaps back and closes the circuit.
Always enclose a switch with an UL approved enclosure with a cover plate and wire clamps.
You could probably use a Double Switch [![enter image description here][1]][1]
[1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/tnIYd.png  so that the Dual Speeds will be available.


Honing Fluid/Knife Sharpening Oil I am looking to sharpen a knife, and i seem to be out of oil... Is there a quick hack or home substitute i could use for this? I have 3-in-1 oil (white bottle) but aside from that (in terms of tool oil) all i have is the standard home/cooking stuff, Vegetable, Mineral, Olive, etc.

I regularly use 3-in-1 on my oilstones, to no ill effect.  A commercial honing oil is thinner, but as long as it can float the metal particles, you're good.  You can clean some out with a spray of WD-40, if it's starting to fill up.

(The knife aficionados are going to hate this answer.  It's got 3-in-1 and WD-40 in the same paragraph.)


What are the options for filtering fresh air entering a building (especially outdoor air with wildfire smoke)? I'm confronting once again the California wildfire season. The outdoor air quality is poor right now and it's spreading all over. If we bunker down in place I'm worried about the air conditions inside our living space getting too unbearable. We have a couple of portable HEPA filters and they do a great job filtering and recirculating the air, however we still need fresh air in the building. The trapped heat, humidity, increasing carbon dioxide concentration, major stuffiness, etc is a lot to deal with during the summer heat where normally opening a window to the outside would mitigate all of the above causes of so called "stale air". However in these wildfire conditions ventilating with outside air subjects you to wildfire smoke which immediately and overwhelmingly infiltrates the house.
How can one exchange stale air with the outside while filtering the incoming air sufficiently to ideally eliminate wildfire smoke?

To be concrete we're talking about taking outside air with a Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) reading greater than 150 and dropping it down to the healthy range of at most 50.
PM2.5 > 150 ---> PM2.5 <= 50

Here's some background on wildfire smoke that the filters will need to contend with:

Particles from smoke tend to be very small - less than one micrometer in diameter. For purposes of comparison, a human hair is about 60 micrometers in diameter. Particulate matter in wood smoke has a size range near the wavelength of visible light (0.4 – 0.7 micrometers).
https://www3.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/files/ambient/smoke/wildgd.pdf

Particulate Matter, or “soot,” is made of microscopically small particles, either solid or liquid. The smaller the particles, the deeper they can penetrate into the respiratory system, which causes more significant health problems.
Particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter can cause significant health problems. Particles under 2.5 micrometers, called “fine” particles, are considered the most dangerous. Fine particles can easily bypass filters in the nose and throat and penetrate deep into the lungs. Wood smoke from woodstoves and fireplaces is the major source of fine particulate matter in the wintertime in the Bay Area.
https://www.sparetheair.org/understanding-air-quality/air-pollutants-and-health-effects/particulate-matter

Clarification
In case this subtlety was missed, this question pertains to the filtering at point of intake into the building, not after the outside air has first entered the building where at some later point gets filtered by some device inside the building. We're taking about filtering air actively entering a building, not air that has already entered a building.
To use a car cabin as an analogy, think about when you use the recirculate function, eventually the air gets pretty stale and you need to open the windows. To be sure filtered air is not the same as fresh air because the composition of fresh air is more than the absence of particulate matter. In a more or less closed system such as a car you can recirculate through a filter indefinitely and have the cleanest air, but eventually you run out of oxygen. In short filtered air is not equivalent to fresh air.

Electrostatic air filters are awesome I had a large set n my last house on the air handler intake. Even when we could not see the mountain across the street the air quality inside the house was excellent.
I can say this as one of my granddaughters has severe asthma we normally leave the fan running 24/7 that system has a small make up air intake that enters the duct several feet prior to the grid. So a small amount of fresh air is being drawn in the home and filtered, during the bad smoke I had to clean the filter under a month because it was filthy but the entire time my grand daughter was inside she had no problems They stayed for over a month because prior to that she had been hospitalized.
I have seen portable electrostatic fans that do the same thing and these are less expensive than hepa filters because the filter needs to be changed and you can not just put a hepa filter in your air handler because of the pressure drop.
I have not used the passive filters Ecnerwal comments on but know customers that like them but they also need to be cleaned regularly and do not have alarms like the powered ones do when dirty (some start snapping some set off a buzzer) but the passive ones are much cheaper than a hepa or hardwired/ ducted electrostatic filter.
I would verify you have make up air on your air handler it is usually a small duct less than 4” on the intake side of the air handler some times located in the crawl space or attic and it can be as small as a 1” hole I would guess mine was dampened down to aprox 1” because we ran the fan 24/7.
@jxramos answer looks like a good one but since I did not see electrostatic I felt this should be covered the portable fan with electrostatic grid would be my suggestion for constant filtering or try the electrostatic if you keep your fan running we found it worked the best for our granddaughter 24/7.


Should I fill in 15-20 nail holes in my roof underlayment? If so, how? I goofed right off the bat when installing shingles for my garden office roof.  I forgot to trim the rake of the first shingle in the starter strip.  The net result is that it wasn't aligned properly.

(Thankfully?) I caught this pretty early and removed the improperly installed starter row.  I still have about 15-20 holes left in the underlayment (which is 30# asphalt felt).

Should I fill these in? Or just proceed with putting a new starter strip over it?

The holes are only near the edge in the starter strip. The rest of the roof is fine.

Yes, I would repair it with the same, or similar underlayment if I could. I would create small round patches, about 4 - 5  inches in diameter and then glue them down with a caulk that can stand up to those temperatures. Most roofing caulks would work well. Just be sure to make the job as smooth as possible; wipe away any excess caulk.


Washer "wall outlet must not be located behind dryer." Recently I noticed a washing machine manual which says "Wall outlet must not be located behind dryer." A quick Google search reveals this is pretty common, but what's the reason for it?

I understand that the washer needs "regular" 120V AC and not 220V like you sometimes find behind a dryer, but why would a regular outlet box that happens to be behind an adjacent dryer (i.e. not too far away for cord length to be an issue), be unacceptable?

Some of those are up/down washer/dryer combos, and the dryer is actually mounted to the wall in a semi-permanent fashion. As such, you can't have the washer plugged in behind the dryer because it is no longer in a freely accessible receptacle, electrically the washer is sort of permanently installed itself (which is a bad idea in general.)  The ones that aren't, I suspect, are guilty of a lazy GE washer manual writer.  It is not a code requirement of any sort.

*edited with more detail


Why is my hardwood splitting apart and how do I fix it? I purchased a new home about 2 years ago (the home was built in 1968). I paid someone to resurface/stain my hardwood to be darker and to also get rid of my metal heating vents and replace them with hardwood heating vents that flow naturally. The outcome was wonderful.

The problem I'm running into is that this winter (not the prior winter) I started to notice that a lot of the hardwood is starting to come apart and leave large gaps between the boards. It's not every piece, but it's also enough pieces to be noticeable, with some pieces being very noticeable.

Even though I have hardwood throughout most of the house, it seems to be a problem in the dining room area for the most part; I have my dining room, family room, stairs, and all bedrooms upstairs with hardwood, but only the dining room seems to exhibiting issues.

I checked my heating unit and it has a built in humidifier, and I think that seems to be working (I opened it up and water was in the honeycomb item). I also am not sure why this seems to be only happening in the dining room (it's situated above the heating unit which is in the basement of course).

What is causing this?

Is this due to winter?
Do I have an infestation issue (termites perhaps); note that I have not noticed any critters like ants or anything else in the home?
Is this a humidity issue?

How do I fix it?

Do I have to do something to fix this?
Will it naturally fix itself when the weather warms up and wood expands?

They say that wood never sleeps.

Seasonal fluctuations in relative humidity cause wood to expand and contract. Winter is traditionally the dry season, which causes wood to shrink. Similarly, summer is typically more humid, which causes expansion.

This is absolutely positively not an infestation of any type.

Not sure why this wouldn't have happened last year, but local weather or changes to your humidifier may have been related.

Short version: don't worry about it.


50AMP GFCI to Double Pole Switch with 6AWG I will be preparing the electrical for a new hot tub installation. I have a sub-panel inside the house in the basement literally 2-3 feet from the panel. That panel also contains a 40AMP GFCI wired to a digital timer inside the house to a double-pole switch and outlet which turns the pool motor on and off that was installed by an electrician.

I would like to do the same thing with the hot tub so that I can keep the 50AMP GFCI breaker in the sub-panel out of the elements, then connect that to a turn-off switch outside which would then feed the hot tub. What I am confused on is the AMP rating for the switch. Do I need to purchase a 50AMP double pole switch (ex: https://bit.ly/2lwNOey)? The pool motor is using 12-3AWG out of the timer to a 30AMP double pole switch making the connection to the switch easy. If I run 6AWG from the 50AMP GFCI breaker to a switch, I am not sure how that could be connected. Can it be less gauge wire? Do I use crimped on connectors?

Any help/input would be appreciated.

You can do A LOT of things, if your sub panel is actually "sized" for it. If your sub panel is 100 Amps, then yes, you can do that hot tub. But first things first.


What is the difference between Square D and QP single pole circuit breakers, and can they be mixed? I just noticed that all of the branches from my upstairs service box are run off of 15 or 20-amp type QP circuit breakers, except for one 15-amp line that is for the hard-wired smoke alarms- it uses a Square D type breaker.  What is the difference between these two, and can they safely be mixed in a breaker box?

Some research says that a QP circuit breaker is the 1" or 2" wide breakers that protect a 110V or 220V circuit respectively, and is made by Siemens.  Square D is another manufacturer of circuit breakers and service panels.

Ideally, you would want to have all your circuit breakers be manufactured by the same company that makes your service panel; the manufacturer will -- one hopes -- certify that their breakers will work correctly in their panels.  Some manufacturers produce breakers with the same mechanical fit as others, in which case it would be up to that manufacturer to say if their breakers will work in a panel made by the other.

I'm assuming that the Square D breaker actually fits in the service panel, so to determine if it's OK, you'd have to do some research to see if Square D certifies their products to work with the panel, or if the panel's manufacturer does the same.

(Side note: per NEC2008, smoke detector circuits have to be protected with an AFCI if there's a detector in a bedroom.  This might explain why that circuit is different.)


How can I prevent wasps from nesting in my eaves? Every season paper and / or mud wasps like to build nests in my eaves. I have no compunction with spraying them with raid when I see them but I'd like to prevent the nesting from the start if I can.

I don't mind using chemicals.

I don't mind wasps on the property in general but I specifically don't want them under these particular eaves.

Wasps do not like strong mint fragrance. You could apply mint essence/oils to the problem areas, though I'm not sure if you'll get a whole season of protection from a single application, so you may need to reapply every few weeks. For a more permanent solution you can plant mint, citronella, or other insect repelling plants. Just be aware that practically all mint varieties spread aggressively and are nearly impossible to completely eradicate if you change your mind later. Planting in pots may be preferable.

Using decoy nests appears to come with mixed reports of success. These are a fairly inexpensive way to address the problem, that you can set and forget. Judging from the review sentiment, it appears to be important that you get your decoys up before the wasps show up in spring. If you're too late they'll ignore the decoy or worse, they'll use it as a foundation for their own nest.


Will a doubled P-trap cause problems if it has a vent between the traps? Our plumber discovered that the drain pipe under our bathroom sink (which is done properly with a P-trap and vent) has a second P-trap down in the crawl space, which is incorrect.
I've been researching this and understand that having two in-line P-traps can cause drainage problems because air gets trapped between the two traps and water can't push it out.
However, in this case, there is a vent between the two traps, so I think that particular problem may be ameliorated. It's still done incorrectly though, and I'm trying to assess the risks.
What other problems could this second P-trap cause?

Debris is more likely to settle in the second trap due to lower drain velocity at that point
It's more difficult to clear debris there because you can't conveniently disassemble the trap
System cleanout with an auger is impeded by the extra trap bends, which tend to be sharper than other underground bends


How can I hang a poster on a metallic surface? I want to put a poster on the sliding door of my closet, but the doors are metallic, so I can't really punch holes in them.

Also, it goes behind the other door when it slides, so the system holding it cannot be much thicker than the poster itself or the other door won't be able to slide in front of it.

Ideally, it needs to be held as flat as possible and with as little spacing between the poster and the door, as sagging could cause the poster to be torn when the other door slides back and forth in front of the poster.

If it would work use magnetics. For supper flat use scotch tape, and tape the corners, or you could use poster adhesive strip but that will rase the edges a little.


Oven wont turn back on after turning off circuit breaker I accidentally flipped the oven circuit breaker in my electric panel to 'OFF' while baking (was fixing a separate electrical problem), and now my oven won't turn back on (no clock or anything), even after I flip the circuit breaker back to 'ON'. Before I rip the oven out of the wall to check for blown fuse boxes, any ideas on what I should try? Do I have to wait awhile before turning the circuit breaker back to 'ON'?

Update: managed to access the control board. The fuse looks fine, so I'm not sure it was a power surge that killed the board.

I'd say this is a sign that turning the power back on did the control board in -- inrush often can send a marginal component to its grave.  I'd check for power to the control board -- if it's getting power, then it's toast and needs to be replaced.


How do I stop the mantel over my gas fireplace from getting way too hot? Can anybody tell me how to redirect the heat from going up to coming out the front? The wall and mantel gets so hot that we can't touch it, so we can't use our fireplace.

Most gas fireplace inserts can be fitted with a circulating fan:

http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Fireplace-Replacement-Blower-brands/dp/B005CFLE30

That said, while your mantle may be getting too hot to touch, it (hopefully) was installed per manufacturer instructions and to code.


Is it possible that my coated gas pipes have developed multiple leaks? My plumber is telling me my gas black pipes all have to be replace cause there are multiple leaks. Home was build in 1920s. There's a coating around the pipes, so is it still possible to get pin holes? Is it harder to redope/tape the joints? Or is the plumber just a con?

The pipes are almost a hundred years old.  Leaking in multiple places means they are deteriorating.  Whether pinholes or at the seams I don't know.  But both options are bad.

They could check every inch of pipe and repair each leak.  But that won't help the parts that haven't quite failed yet.  So a month or two down the line you will have a new gas leak.  And the labor to do such repairs will probably cost more than ripping it out and installing new, known to be good pipe.

Replacing the whole thing is a very reasonable suggestion.  Especially with gas lines where a leak may very well kill you and your loved ones.

If you think the plumber is making the leaks up, get a second opinion.


Should I bond pipes to ground in detached building subpanel? In California.

My subpanel has a dedicated ground conductor run to it (ground and neutral bonded only at the main panel). The subpanel is in a building with its own plumbing, not connected to pipes where the main panel is located.

I know that I should not bond ground to neutral redundantly in the subpanel, but should I bond ground to plumbing independently from the subpanel?

My concern is that this will create an alternate path to ground.

You need to bond the subpanel ground bus to the plumbing

You will need to run a bonding conductor from the subpanel ground bus to a grounding clamp on the plumbing, as per NEC 250.104(A)(3):

  (3) Multiple Buildings or Structures Supplied by a Feeder(s) or
  Branch Circuit(s). The metal water piping system(s) installed
  in or attached to a building or structure shall be bonded to any
  of the following:

  (1) Building or structure disconnecting means enclosure
  where located at the building or structure

  (2) Equipment grounding conductor run with the supply
  conductors

  (3) One or more grounding electrodes used

  The bonding jumper(s) shall be sized in accordance with
  Table 250.102(C)(1), based on the size of the feeder or branch-circuit conductors that supply the building or structure. The
  bonding jumper shall not be required to be larger than the
  largest ungrounded feeder or branch-circuit conductor supplying the building or structure.

This ensures that if the plumbing somehow became energized, the breaker would trip and disconnect the fault, instead of leaving the plumbing floating off to shocking voltages.

Don't worry about parallel paths here

As long as you have one and only one neutral-ground bond, located at the main service entrance, you are safe from parallel-path problems.  Since ground wires don't normally carry current, they are free to run in parallel with each other, metal plumbing systems, metallic structural elements, and so on.


Re-wiring a bathroom So I have a bathroom that I am going to remove the old wiring, add a new breaker and pull new wire to from the breaker panel the bathroom. I want to install an exhaust fan and a vanity light on the same switch with a new duplex outlet next to the switch. The outlet should have power independent of the switch. Wires will run through the attic down to the vanity and down to the Outlet and switch. Would some one help me with a drawing of how the wires should run.

Thanks,

The easiest thing to do, would be to wire it up like this.

Grounding conductors excluded for simplicity. Make sure the grounding conductors are connected properly.

Install a 20 ampere breaker in the panel.
Run 12/2 with ground from the panel to the switch box.
Run 12/2 with ground from the switch box to the fan, and the light.
Connect the black ungrounded conductor to the two switches and GFCI receptacle, using pigtails.
Connect the white grounded conductor to the GFCI receptacle, and whites from the cables running to the fan and light.
Connect the black from the fan cable to one switch.
Connect the black from the light cable to the other switch.
Connect all grounding conductors.


How can I 'share' lights between multiple circuits? I am installing a rectangle of 3 x 4 recessed can lights in the ceiling and would like to have 4 separate circuits where each individual row of lights can be illuminated by its own switch.

This means that the lamp in each corner would be lit if either or both of the switches for those rows are closed. Four possible combinations are shown here:

I looked at relays and multi-way switches but could not find an example of how the corner lights can be wired and still only use four switches.

If anybody could point me in the right direction, that would be great.  Thanks.

The problem is, whenever you turn one set of lights on, power can go through that shared light into the other circuit.  So each switch controls all lights.  While it -might- be possible to make 2 light groups (1 common light) work the way you want with two 4-way switches back-wired through each other, you're asking for something even more complicated.  Each switch interacts with 2 others, which means you'd need at least triple-circuit switches (likely paired 4-ways).  I don't think they make those.  Certainly not in home light switch form-factors.

This will be much easier if you start with home-automation tools.  Most vendors make an in-wall module for a slave device; then you just need to install and configure smart switches to manage them.  Or you could go for all wifi bulbs, and have the option of other light patterns if you wanted.  And maybe even programmable color.


How feasible is a brick veneer fake wall? We want to brick veneer our chimney breast (Which has a TV mounted to it) but I had a thought that would allow us to hide the wires, brick veneer the wall and also keep the wall behind in a clean state that would allow us to easily revert the brick veneer if we so wish. However... I'm most certainly a DIYer and don't want to jump head first into it without exploring whether or not it is a wise idea.
My plan is to use a piece of ply wood that is the same size as the chimney breast.

Channel routes for the TV cables into the back side of the plywood.

Cut hole out of the plywood for the TV mounting bracket.

Apply brick veneer/brick slips to the front side of the plywood with the mortar leaving 8 exposed holes around the edges for mounting purposes.

Attach plywood to chimney breast with 8 large screws and rawl plugs.

More information:

The chimney breast is not plaster, it is some form of brick or concrete.

The fireplace is not in use. It is blocked up and has an electric fire mounted in it's place. (never used)

The house is a UK semi detached 1960s/1970s construction

The this is the wall mount bracket for the TV

Does this sound like a wise idea? I've had concerns over the weight of the brick slip tiles but having never undertaken a task like this before I'm not sure.
Here is a pic of the wall in question, the bit above the mantle piece is the bit we would like to brick veneer

I think you might have better results with construction adhesive rather than mortar for sticking the brick chips. Mortar would just be for the joints, for appearance sake.

In the US this was popular decades ago - and I have to say, I never saw one that looked convincingly like real bricks.


Grounding a 3-wire sub-panel in attic Early 1960's home.  200-amp main service panel on first floor.  3-wire (L-L-N) feeder to 100-amp sub-panel in the second floor attic, about 25-30 feet from the main service panel.

Neutral and ground bonded at main service panel.  I have 2 grounding rods on opposite sides of the house, more than 10 meters apart.  One conductor connects at the service meter and the opposite conductor at the main service panel (located in middle of house).

Sub-panel does not have a grounding conductor.  Neutral and ground are bonded and NOT grounded to the sub-panel box.

Am I safe?  The lack of a grounding conductor from the sub-panel makes me uncomfortable.

Possible options?

Leave it alone.
Run a grounding conductor from sub-panel to the main service panel.  This might be possible, but will be difficult at best.  Also separate neutral and ground at sub-panel.  Install ground bus bar and bond to sub-panel box.  Right?
Run a grounding conductor from sub-panel to main service panel grounding rod.  Leave the rest alone.  This is easier.  Is it safe?

Option 2 is the only one that will improve safety here.

A single wire break should not create a dangerous condition.  But that is exactly the situation you have, because every circuit in the subpanel has a bootlegged ground.  If that neutral wire fails to make good connection, the ordinary loads in the subpanel will "pull the neutral hot". That normally wouldn't be a big deal. But because all those grounds are bootlegged, it will ”pull all the grounds hot” too.  So now switchplate cover screws or the panel cover itself can bite you.

By trying to put on grounding theater, the last guy made things worse than no grounds at all.  Worse, Code once endorsed this, and still does where dryer and range sockets are concerned.

Now you don't have to go back to the panel.  It will suffice to reach the grounding electrode system, i.e. The bare wire running to those two ground rods.


What could cause low hot water pressure only in the line to one shower? In my house I have a water pressure issue:

Pressure is fine everywhere except for the hot water supply to the second floor shower
There is another shower in the basement that has good water pressure
The water heater is also in the basement
Both lines to the shower are copper

The issue is not with the shower head as the hot water pressure is also very low out of the tub faucet compared to the cold pressure. I have disassembled and removed the entire faucet assembly including the cartridge, and when the water is turned back on pressure is low even directly from the pipe. The shut-off valves for hot and cold are fully open as far as I can tell.

So, what could be the issue? Could the hot water line only to that shower be blocked? How can I clear it?

I've had exactly this issue, on the hot line to a tub, and eventually (disassembling the piping as I went) found an elbow almost plugged with solder - a half-inch pipe with a 1/16" or smaller hole through the nearly-plugged fitting. Someone got over-entusiastic feeding solder (probably 40 years ago for the one I found - and someone lived with the tub that way for probably 40 years, which is the puzzling part.)


Floor panel bulging up recently I noticed a portion of my floor that seems to be bulging. I imagine it might be because the weather has been warming up (Central Texas) causing all of the stress on the floor to gather at this point. Could this be the case? Can I possibly fix this? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

you have a water leak somewhere in your wall find it fast. since it has been raining for 2 weeks its most likey rain water from outside. im assuming this is wall is on the side of your house. so the other side of this wall is out side? also how old is house. is it on a concert slab or pier and beam. i think i see the paint pilling on the baseborad so the rot is also in the way more info is needed


Using a Multiple Load dimmer to it's full rating? I've done some digging, and most of what I've found says you can use a dimmer to it's full capacity, but most wouldn't recommend doing so, which could cause the dimmer to fail.

I'm having trouble finding a 1000 watt 3 way dimmer that matches the everyday toggle that is in the rest of the house.  Best I can do is the 600 watt Ariadni from Lutron, and it will be ganged with a normal 3 way switch from a separate circuit in a single 2 gang box.  Not being able to find a higher wattage dimmer means the fins would have to stay in place, right?

It would be running 12 50w PAR20 bulbs, dimmable LED's, or a mixture of the two until my stash is gone.  This switch is rated to have multiple styles of bulbs combined in the same circuit, but I'm curious about its results with combined bulbs.

The 1000 watt version of the Lutron dimmer you mentioned in the question is the best solution.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MASMU8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_2M1gAbZC0JPCV

You're correct that 600 watts on a 600 watt dimmer never lasts.  My personal theory on that is that in a perfect world input voltage would be the rated 120v.  In the house, in the real world, voltage could be 10% or more lower, which changes every other variable and effectively increases current draw slightly.


Can I connect an indoor water meter to water heater with PEX? So I have a water meter in our basement, connected to the city line via copper (it's also our electrical ground). From the meter is decades-old galvanized leading to a leaky shutoff (which I plan to replace). This galvanized goes forth through the house, with more recent connections to rooms made with PEX.

I moved the kitchen water line yesterday and we had a whole-house pressure drop. I believe corrosion has dislodged and become stuck in the line, so I plan to replace the remaining cold water galvanized with PEX.

My question with this: is there a reason to avoid PEX coming from the indoor meter? I'm thinking not, because it's cold water (I know I need 18" copper going into the water heater). I'd rather redo the line in PEX and go into a manifold if I can. But, I can do copper if there's a compelling reason to do so. I plan to check with the city on the meter itself, but thought I'd ask you-all first. :)

IMO I would use something more robust like copper, galvanized, or brass from the meter to the shut off if exposed at all.  Then use PEX after the shutoff.

Just know PEX is not designed to be left exposed to UV light like the sun or physical abuse of any kind.  If receives much of either, I would use another material or get it covered up.

On that note, we see PEX all the time on both sides of a shutoff and you  probably (not entirely sure of your circumstances) can use PEX from your meter to your shutoff without any problems.


How can I stop my boiler from making all this noise? I'd like to preface this post with the fact that I'm a complete diy amateur.  I may say stupid things, or things that make no sense.  Please feel free to correct me as I'm always open to learn.

So, it's winter in my area and it seems like pretty much every morning at 5am, I have some pretty loud sounds in my house.  They're pretty much like pinging and popping sounds.

I suspect that it's my furnace, since I've never heard these sounds in the summer (I turn the boiler off in the summer, pilot light and all), and I did experience this last winter but to a smaller degree.  At that point I suspected that it was just the house settling.

I have a central boiler with connected rads in each room.  What is strange though, is that I've changed the time when my house heats up (I've heated up the house at 4:00am, and at 6:00am) and I still get the sounds at 5:00.  Is it possible that there's some sort of a self-test going on?  I really don't know much about boilers.

From what I've read, a lot of people suggest bleeding the system, but I'm not 100% sure how to do that.  There's a sort of barrel in the ceiling of the room where my boiler is, with a typical valve and threading where I could hook up a hose.  I want to say that this is the expansion tank, but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure if I should just attach a hose there and open that up until water flows steadily or what?  Since my boiler is a "closed system" and just uses this tank when overflowing (by magic?) I'm guessing that I should not do this.  How can I be assured that my boiler will self-fill itself if I overdrain?

Other suggestions have said that I should go to the highest point in my house and open up the rads individually until water flows (while the water inside is hot? cold?), then shut it off, and systematically hit each radiator moving down the floors until I've done them all.  Although I've never been able to find a legitimate article that says whether this applies only to standalone radiators, or also to closed-circuit boiler systems.  I did take a quick look at one of my rads and found something that seemed like it may be used to bleed the system, but it looks like if water came out of it that it would be very messy and hard to control.

If anybody could provide me with some reading materials about how these systems typically work as far as how they self-fill and self-regulate, etc. (I have done some Googling and reading, but didn't find a single good resource) that would help a lot as well.

Bleeding radiators is quite simple, and can usually be done by homeowners.  All that's required is a radiator key, a towel and/or bowl, and a bit of time.
Why Bleed Radiators
Even with closed systems, air can still find its way into the system. When it does, it will collect at the highest points available (the top of radiators).  Trapped air can cause radiators to heat less effectively, so removing it will help reduce your heating costs.
How to Bleed Radiators
To bleed the radiator, you'll need a special tool called a "radiator key". A radiator key is a small key like object that will fit on the bleed valve of the radiators, and is used to open/closed the valve.

The first step in bleeding the radiators, is to turn off the system.  Next, you'll have to locate the bleed valve on each radiator.  This valve should be near the top of the radiator, and will look something like this.

Insert the key into the valve, and hold the towel and/or bowl below the valve. Slowly turn the key anticlockwise, until you hear a hissing noise or water starts to drip from the valve. Once water starts to drip, close the valve by turning the key clockwise.

WARNING: Never open the bleed valve too fast, too far, or completely remove the valve stem.
CAUTION: Water dripping from bleed valve may be hot. Contact with aforementioned water could lead to injury.
Repeat this procedure for each radiator in the system.
Repressurize the System
After bleeding the radiators (or even before bleeding the radiators), you may notice the pressure in the system is too low. The typical rule of thumb is that for a 2 story home, the pressure should be between 12-15 lbs. or 25 - 30 ft. If you notice the pressure is a bit low, you'll want to top the system off.
There should be a supply pipe connected to the boiler, with a valve that is fully closed.  This pipe should come from the cold water supply system of the house.  Once you've located the supply and valve. Open the valve slowly, keeping an eye on the gauges, close the valve again when the gauge reaches the optimal level.


Receving 120 and 220 volt readings when testing a home outlet I recently redid a room in my house (older home built in the 60's i believe). I decided to replace the outlets as well as they where loose and wouldn't hold plugs very well. When i pulled a few of the old outlets i found what i looked up to be called "bootleg grounds" on two of the three i replaced. I installed the new plugs without the jumper as they appear to be in conduit boxes and i read the jumper was a really bad idea. I looked up how to test these outlets to be sure the ground is there. (i have a nice fluke multi-meter) When i tested between the two slots i get 120v as expected, now hears where it gets weird and you have to forgive me as im a novice with electricity. when i tested from one slot to the ground hole i also got 120v which i believe is the hot to the ground so that should be expect as well, but when i switch to the other slot to the ground hole i get 220v, which i believe is a big problem, what i want to know is what could be the cause of this so i can try to start hunting this down. Could it be other outlets down the circuit with bootleg grounds causing the voltage to double essentially acting like a 220 circuit? I'm going to start looking for other outlets with the bootleg grounds but i wanted to get more info on this at the same time. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I ran around and tested a few more outlets some I'm getting 330 volts at and other 500+ volts..

Are you sure you're really seeing 500 v, and not 500 millivolts? Those meters can automatically switch scales. – Mark 6 mins ago OMG this was it... im kicking myself now. Everything looks ok im getting 120 between slots, 120 from one to ground and like 2 volts from other slot to ground.. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH, i was running around thinking my house was going to explode!


How long should I wait before painting or staining pressure-treated wood? My husband is installing a new deck with pressure-treated lumber at our home in Tennessee.

How long does he need to wait to paint, or should he stain the deck now?

I am a painter and I build also and I personally will not warranty the work unless it's after 6 months. Pressure treated (PT) lumber takes months to shrink and re-contract on and off so the paint will crack and not adhere correctly. Also, the PT you buy at Lowe's or Home Depot gets moved around a lot so you may have a load of wood with boards that are weeks apart from drying. Personally, and unfortunately, I would wait longer than a month. I live in Vermont and we're known for tearing our decks to hell due to the non-stop rain and snow, but that's what I've heard a lot: 6 months.


What is the metal I have in my wall? I've been trying to mount a TV on my wall, and have encoutnered a problem locating and drilling into studs.

I used a stud detector to look for studs in my wall, and proceeded to drill.

Instead, I have just hit a metal plate. I did some searching and reading, and it does not appear that the metal is a metal stud. I say this, because I can drill above or below where I hit the metal, and hit nothing. If I drill to the side I also hit nothing. The metal objects seem to be 16" apart.

Whatever the material is, is very tough. I was reasonably certain it was not a protective plate, so so applied some pressure to drill through, but was unable to even get close. I can see where I drilled on to the metal, and it barely left a scratch.

I don't have the experience to cut open and replace a section of my drywall, and so would prefer to avoid that if possible.

I've attached a photo of my wall. I tried to get FiOS installed which was a problem because of the metal I have in my walls, although the technician was not more specific.

What would this metal be that I can drill above, below and to either side of it?

edit: not sure if relevant, but the entire door frame and door are metal also.

edit2: the metal does not go in a straight line from top to bottom, but is rather on a diagonal slant. There is no wood to be found anywhere surrounding the metal.

edit3: I managed to take a picture inside the wall, by putting a phone through the hole to feed speakerwire. It looks like something is bolted in..not sure if this helps to identify what is there though.

What makes you reasonably certain it's not a protective plate? I ask because this is almost by definition what a protective plate does.

This is likely protecting an electrical cable. When you run wires to outlets or switches, it's good practice (and required by code in many places) that you place protective plates on the wooden studs where electrical cable has been ran through it. This is an important safety measure, to keep you from drilling or nailing into a live electrical cable.

for example:


Blower turns on and off even though the unit is satisfied My heater works fine when I set the temperature to 69 and the temperature hits the desired temp it shuts off, then about 2 mins later the blower turns on like the heater is going to start up again, but since the desired temp is still satisfied the heater never comes on, the unit recognizes the fact that the system is satisfied so it then shuts off the blower.

Welcome to DIY!

The blower runs when the heat exchanger goes over a set temperature and turns off when it goes under it as I bet you already know. However, heat is still transferring from where the fire was burning so it can warm back up and turn back on for a minute or so. The blower doesn't care if your thermostat is satisfied or not as it goes by it's own temperature control to make sure the furnace doesn't get too hot. That is probably your issue.


How to replace old ceiling fan-light with just a light fixture I would like to replace and old ugly ceiling fan-light in my dining room with a pendant type light. The original ceiling fan light was controlled by a dimmer switch on the wall and to operate the fan it was a pull chain. After taking down the fan and wiring the new light with what I thought were the correct wires, it still doesn't turn on. Does anyone know how to go about this?
I've attached pics of the wiring after I've pulled the fan down. Any help would be appreciated.

I believe that you have a standard switch loop, coming off the black bundle as white and returning as black. That return black, which is connected to the red wire, is your switched hot.

So...

The white from your fixture goes to the white bundle (possibly without the jumper, which doesn't seem necessary).

The black from the fixture goes to the single black wire (to which the red is now connected).

The black from the fan that connects to the black bundle will simply be eliminated.

Make sure you have a good understanding of how to make safe connections with wire nuts, including the capacities of the different nut sizes.


How can I attach plywood to a wall without damaging the wall? I live in a rental and want to avoid permanently renovating the walls. And I have very little home improvement experience.

I would like to temporarily attach plywood to the interior walls in a way that doesn't damage the paint underneath. The plywood wont be structural.

How would you affix the plywood to the wall and be able to remove it later?
And how do you panel the wall evenly so it doesn't look like a jigsaw pattern?

You can hang the plywood panels with french cleats to minimize damage to the walls.  One half of the cleat is screwed to the wall and the other half is screwed to the panel.  Then they hook over each other to hold the panel on the wall.

Make sure the cleat is screwed into studs so it can support the weight of the plywood.  You can use a strip of wood screwed to the bottom edge of the plywood panel to hold it out from the wall even with the top cleat.


Using rj45 connectors for home alarm wiring I'm setting up my home alarm (a dsc 1832) using cat5 cables (these were the closest I could find in my country to the specs recommended by the 1832 manual).
I've had to make some splits since the cat5 cables has 8 wires and most sensors only need 4, but joining each wire individually is a bit of a mess.
¿Would using rj45 connectors to join the wires have any drawbacks? I already have the rj45 crimper and tester so I'm hoping that could simplify the installation.
More context: Old house, there was a single pipe we could spare for networking, alarm and doorbell, and given the topology there was no choice but having to join some wires since we couldn't fit more cables in the pipe to run everything end to end. All concrete walls here, getting a new pipe in for cables is very expensive. RJ45 connectors are very very cheap.

There's no sensible application for RJ45s in a proper alarm system install, unless some alarm company comes out with control panels and sensors equipped with them. The alarm you mention is not...
The sensors and control panels don't work with them, being designed for screw connections to stripped wires, and your cables should run from each sensor to the alarm control panel unbroken. Adding connectors in the middle just adds points of failure that not having connectors removes.
You chose to make some splits. You didn't have to, and it's not a best practice, which is one complete cable to each sensor, and if you have extra wires you don't need right now, no big deal, as opposed to cutting cable jackets open midway and extracting a couple of pairs, which is a hack, and an additional potential point of failure. Or chopping off the cable and having a junction to two other cables, which is a worse hack.
I can't see any way that crimping RJ45s in the middle of a cable running between screw terminals at the control panel and screw terminals at the sensor "simplifies" anything. You'd need to connect jacks to the sensor and alarm panel, which is still "joining each wire individually" and more places to fail.


How to Replace bottom of exterior door I have a 1938 house. The back door which is half glass on top is solid wood. There is rot at the bottom because of no weather protection. I’d like to replace with a new solid piece of wood.
Not sure the best way to secure it to the door. Should I use dowels and glue?
The other issue is a cat door had been installed at one time then chewed up by a dog. It needs to be replaced and the area it is in fixed up.
Any suggestions?

The long answer. For the TL;DR, skip to the bottom
A repair isn't difficult per se, but it will take time, energy and tools.
That bottom rail of the door is a separate piece of wood glued to the two vertical stiles on either side. It is likely a reasonably standard "cope and stick" cut on the ends. You will need a router and a "cope and stick" bit set to make the cut.

Take the door off the hinges and lay it down on some saw horses.
Put up a temporary door, because it's going to be off the hinges for a couple of days
Using a saw, cut that bottom rail near each end to remove the bulk of the wood
Measure the vertical size of the piece you just cut out, and the thickness of it. Write this down, you'll need it later.
Remove the little pieces of rail that are left attached to the stiles. You'll be breaking a glue joint, and often, the glue is stronger than the wood. Heat will often soften the glue allowing it to be removed, but there's no guarantee. It will depend on the type of glue used. Asking about glue separation on the Woodworking.SE when you get stuck would be a good idea.
Pull the cut up panel out of the door. This should be easy - it should not be glued in. Wood expands & contracts, so the panel is left floating so the door doesn't tear itself apart.
Buy a piece of plywood the same thickness as this original panel and cut it to the same size as the panel. Set the new panel aside, chuck the old one into the burn pile.
Find a "cope and stick" bit set for your router that matches the profile of your door. You may want to take the big piece of rail you cut out to your local woodworker's supply place (Rockler and Woodcrafter's are two big chain stores in the US, as examples of what I'm talking about. If you've got a similar non-chain local store, I'd encourage supporting them) to have them help you identify what set will work for you.
Cut a replacement rail oversize for the dimensions you need.
Cut the cope along what will be the top (facing the panel)
Cut the "stick" along one edge.
Carefully measure the length and cut the "stick" along the other edge.
Slot the new plywood panel into place
Liberally apply glue to the rails and to the stick cuts on the new rail
Slide it into place in the door, making sure you've got good glue contact with the stiles, but not with the panel
Clamp the stiles across the rail to hold it tight while it dries.

Tighten the clamps firmly
No, more than that
No, really, even tighter!
Now, add a couple more clamps
Yes, more than that
As a matter of fact, if you can have clamps completely along the "height" of the new rail, you're just about right.
No, a woodworker can never have enough clamps.

Wait for your glue to dry. I'd give it a full 24 hours under clamp (unless your glue of choice calls for a longer drying time or the weather is cool).
Scrape the squeezed out glue from the joints
Scrape, sand or strip the paint off the rest of the door
Sand the whole thing smooth
Paint the whole door with a couple of coats of quality, exterior paint.
Rehang the door

TL;DR:
You know what... Unless you've already got the tools and woodworking experience, just replace the door with a new one. You can pick up a pre-hung, plain steel door at your local home center for around $100. You can get a "fancy" one with a window and and internal sliding blind for under $200. If you go to a nice wood door, it'll probaly be $400 and up. You'll spend more than $200 on a cope and stick bit set and a router capable of spinning them, plus all the other tools that you probably don't own yet.
Of course...
If you want to get into woodworking, this is the perfect excuse to buy the tools. Just know that this isn't a perfect beginner's project.


advice for cantilever on temporary, free-standing wood structure My daughter wants a piñata at her 6th birthday party. Unfortunately our back yard has no convenient tree limbs or other ways to hang the piñata, so I want to DIY something to hang it from.  I'd prefer to avoid driving posts into the ground, so want something freestanding.

I have lots of extra 2x4s in the basement I can use to build it, but I'm not sure about the shape and size of the structure needed.

What's an easy structure to build that won't fall over when a kid whacks the piñata, but also provides lots of room underneath the pinata for kids to whack the thing and dive for the loot afterwards without hurting themselves on a misplaced chunk of knotty pine?

To make it easy for kids to walk up and whack the piñata, and to avoid injuries when the kids scramble for the loot when the thing breaks, I am assuming that the most important design requirement is that the piñata hanger has to cantilever out over a large empty space.

This led to this idea:

Assuming the long pieces are 5-6 feet long, will this design be reasonably stable?  Any suggestions about proportions/bracing, etc?  Is there a better design that's about as easy to build?

If it were me, I would erect two posts a fair distance apart at the edges of the yard and run a clothesline or other sturdy line across from their tops.

The posts can be put in holes dug into the ground for semi/permanent use, and/or staked with ties.  I would not attempt to make a base to hold the posts up because the leverage of a top line is so high there is always the potential of pulling the posts down.


What is the proper way to install a junction box above a dropped ceiling? I'm doing some remodeling in my basement and part of that work involves moving a switch.  When I was tracing the wires for the switch I found this above my dropped ceiling:

Now, I'm no electrician, but this does not look up to code to me.  Further investigation revealed this in another area of the ceiling:

I'm unsure if these junction boxes are installed to code, the one with all the wires hanging out of it looked particularly suspicious to me.

Now, for the first picture, my idea was to install a junction box in between the joists just to the right of the picture (hot wire is coming in in under the joist to the right, the switch & an outlet are toward the camera, and the load the switch controls is off to the left).  I'll probably end up re-running a couple runs of wire, but that's not a problem as everything is accessible right now.

My primary question is, does NEC allow for junction boxes installed above a dropped ceiling?

Are the boxes in the second image installed correctly, and if not what is the correct way to install a junction box in this space?

There is no problem with installing junction boxes above a suspended ceiling, as long as the box is less than 100 in.³ and securely fastened.  National Electrical Code has this to say...

National Electrical Code 2014
Chapter 3 Wiring Methods and Materials
Article 314 Outlet, Device, Pull, and Junction Boxes; Conduit Bodies; Fittings; and Handhole Enclosures
II. Installation
314.23 Supports. Enclosures within the scope of this article shall be supported in accordance with one or more of the provisions in 314.23(A) through (H).
(D) Suspended Ceilings. An enclosure mounted to structural or supporting elements of a suspended ceiling shall be not more than 1650 cm3 (100 in.3) in size and shall be securely fastened in place in accordance with either (D)(1) or (D)(2).
(1) Framing Members. An enclosure shall be fastened to the framing members by mechanical means such as bolts, screws, or rivets, or by the use of clips or other securing means identified for use with the type of ceiling framing member(s) and enclosure(s) employed. The framing members shall be adequately supported and securely fastened to each other and to the building structure.
(2) Support Wires. The installation shall comply with the provisions of 300.11(A). The enclosure shall be secured, using methods identified for the purpose, to ceiling support wire(s), including any additional support wire(s) installed for that purpose. Support wire(s) used for enclosure support shall be fastened at each end so as to be taut within the ceiling cavity.

Code Violations
In the first image, the wires being spliced together like that violates NEC 300.15.

300.15 Boxes, Conduit Bodies, or Fittings Where Required.  ... Where the wiring method is conduit, tubing, Type AC cable, Type MC cable, Type MI cable, nonmetallic-sheathed cable, or other cables, a box or conduit body shall be installed at each conductor splice point, outlet point, switch point, junction point, termination point, or pull point...

I've also noted some violations in the second image.

Click for larger view


Was my pressure release valve installed backwards? I realise that this may well be beyond the scope of an SE site, but I'll give it a go nonetheless.

We've recently had a leaky pressure release valve on our Megaflo hot water tank. We have no boiler as such, all hot water is generated by two immersion heaters (on/off peak).

We reported the leak to the building maintenance company (our flat is rented), and after significant scheduling issues which I won't go into here, the valve was replaced last night. The engineer (I use the term loosely) fitted the new valve, tested it by checking for leaks and manually turning the valve, and left.

I then went to run hot water, only to get nothing at all (not even cold water) from the hot side of any of our taps (we only have mixers, one in the kitchen, bathroom and bath/shower combo).

Called the out-of-hours support guys out, only to be told (by two separate engineers no less) that the valve had been fitted the wrong way around, but they cannot fix the problem (and that they're not technically qualified to even diagnose it officially) because they don't carry the UK G3 certificate to work on our type of boiler (unvented?).
My questions  are:

Is the valve the wrong way around?
Is the current setup dangerous in any way?

Photos of the plumbing layout as left by the engineer are below - I've numbered the pipes to give context across photos.

Click for full size image

I should point out that the crude line on the last photo is for context, the pipe curves behind the tank.

In your third picture, you can see a small arrow pointing to the left. That's the direction the water will flow through that valve. It likely has a check valve incorporated which will prevent water from flowing backwards. I don't believe this setup is dangerous since excessive water pressure will be backfeed into the cold water lines, and if those exceed the normal pressure levels it will go out the pressure release valve.


How can water be diverted away from the street curb in front of my house? How can water be diverted away from the street curb in front of my house?  Several of my neighbors are draining water from their sump pumps onto the road and it runs down the curb and collects in front of my house.  Leaves and water are constantly filling up the curb in front of my property.  The opposite side of the street is dry but there's always water sitting in the curb in front of my house, even days after it has stopped raining.  It's frustrating to open my mail box and accidentally drop a piece of mail into the water.  Also had to ask my newspaper delivery person to stop throwing the newspaper on my driveway since it's constantly wet from run off from the neighbor's sump pump. Would it help to spread gravel or rocks along the curb?  I live in the city limits and there are sewer drains at various locations along the streets.

Sure you can get rid of the water, but it would take re-grading the street or adding additional pipes.

The street is in the right-of-way so you’ll need a permit and engineered drawings. We often take care of our clients roads, maintenance, etc., but it’s expensive once the City has screwed up the layout and paving.

You have a “low spot” that will need to be 1) raised, or 2) additional underground drainage added.

1) If there is adequate slope, a topping can be installed and re-contour the street so the water drains away. An engineer will need to survey the area and show the City how it could be done.

2) Additional pipes could be installed, but , again, an engineering company will need to show depth, slope of pipe, size of pipe, how to connect (and where) into existing storm pipe, etc.