Is it normal for A/C performance to improve when vent covers are removed? I recently moved my office to the second floor of our home and I haven't been able to get the temperature below about 78 even though the thermostat is on 72.  My son's bedroom had been the same way until the other day when I removed his vent cover (diffuser) to paint the ceiling.  Today I noticed his room was like a freezer, so I removed the vent cover in my office and now it is cool in here.  Is this normal?

My vent cover is round and looks like this:

with the exception that mine only has two openings rather than three.

Here's my theory...when the diffuser is on, the cold air is mostly pushed out along the ceiling where the air is the hottest.  This warms it up as soon as it comes out, before it has a chance to "fall" down to where I am.  By removing the cover, the air is being pushed straight down, essentially cooling the air lower in the room rather than near the ceiling.

My cover is about 30 years old, so perhaps it is poorly designed?

It's possible.

And may make sense if you think about how the system is working...

First the temperature near the thermostat goes above the set temperature, which causes the thermostat to call for cool air.  The A/C unit kicks on, and starts blowing cool air.  Once the temperature near the thermostat reaches the set value, the thermostat tells the A/C unit to shut off. The A/C unit shuts down, and stops blowing cool air.

While the A/C unit was blowing, the 30 year old vent covers were restricting the air flow from the ducts. So while the proper temperature was reached at the thermostat, not enough cool air was supplied to the other areas of the house. So the area near the thermostat may actually reach the proper temperature sooner, because that area had unrestricted air flow and received a bulk of the cool air.

When you removed the vent covers, you allowed more of the cool air to enter the other areas (away from the thermostat). So it took longer for the area near the thermostat to reach the desired temperature. Now, because the majority of the cool air was supplied to the other areas (away from the thermostat), those areas were cooled more than the area near the thermostat.

In a perfectly balanced system, all areas would reach the same temperature at the same time. Alas, we don't live in a perfect world. So you end up with a hot office and a comfortable temperature in the rest of the house, or a frozen office and a comfortable temperature in the rest of the house.

To fix the problem you could try to balance the system yourself, or you could call in an HVAC company to balance it for you (which will likely include installing dampers and new vent covers).


In what year did venting bathroom exhaust out of the house become a code requirement? what was the year for code for vented bathroom exhaust fan?
What is the code for vented bathroom exhaust fan?

This completely depends on your location, and what codes you follow.  The first mention of exhausting to the outdoors I could find in International Residential Code (IRC), was in the 2003 version.

  International Residential Code (IRC) 2003

  Chapter 15 - Exhaust Systems

  SECTION M1506 MECHANICAL VENTILATION

  M1506.2 Recirculation of air. Exhaust air from bathrooms and toilet rooms shall not be recirculated within a residence or to another dwelling unit.

In 2006 the code was moved and updated a bit.

  International Residential Code (IRC) 2006

  Chapter 15 - Exhaust Systems

  SECTION M1501 GENERAL

  M1501.1 Outdoor discharge. The air removed by every mechanical exhaust system shall be discharged to the outdoors. Air shall not be exhausted into an attic, soffit, ridge vent or crawl space.

  Exception: Whole-house ventilation-type attic fans that discharge into the attic space of dwelling units having private attics shall be permitted.

In 2012 they added a reference to another code section.

  International Residential Code (IRC) 2012

  Chapter 15 - Exhaust Systems

  SECTION M1501 GENERAL

  M1501.1 Outdoor discharge. The air removed by every mechanical exhaust system shall be discharged to the outdoors in accordance with Section M1506.2. Air shall not be exhausted into an attic, soffit, ridge vent or crawl space.

  Exception: Whole-house ventilation-type attic fans that discharge into the attic space of dwelling units having private attics shall be permitted.

  SECTION M1506 EXHAUST DUCTS AND EXHAUST OPENINGS

  M1506.2 Exhaust openings. Air exhaust openings shall terminate not less than 3 feet (914 mm) from property lines; 3 feet (914 mm) from operable and nonoperable openings into the building and 10 feet (3048 mm) from mechanical air intakes except where the opening is located 3 feet (914 mm) above the air intake. Openings shall comply with Sections R303.5.2 and R303.6.

  Chapter 3 - Building Planning

  SECTION R303 LIGHT, VENTILATION AND HEATING

  R303.5.2 Exhaust openings. Exhaust air shall not be directed onto walkways.

  R303.6 Outside opening protection. Air exhaust and intake openings that terminate outdoors shall be protected with corrosion-resistant screens, louvers or grilles having a minimum opening size of 1/4 inch (6 mm) and a maximum opening size of 1/2 inch (13 mm), in any dimension. Openings shall be protected against local weather conditions. Outdoor air exhaust and intake openings shall meet the provisions for exterior wall opening protectives in accordance with this code.

NOTE: It's possible that this requirement existed prior to the 2003 code version, but I was not able to find it. Also note that this is only one building code, and that others do exist.

Thanks to @HerrBag for making me take a second look at 303.3, it appears there is mention of exhausting to the outside in the 2000 version of IRC.

  International Residential Code (IRC) 2000

  Chapter 3 - Building Planning

  SECTION R303 LIGHT, VENTILATION AND HEATING

  R303.3 Bathrooms. Bathrooms, water closet compartments and other similar rooms shall be provided with aggregate glazing area in windows of not less than 3 square feet (0.279 m²), one–half of which must be openable.

  Exception: The glazed areas shall not be required where artificial light and a mechanical ventilation system are provided. The minimum ventilation rates shall be 50 cfm (23.6 L/s) for intermittent ventilation or 20 cfm (9.4 L/s) for continuous ventilation. Ventilation air from the space shall be exhausted directly to the outside.

Since this is as far back as I've been able to access the IRC (so far), I can only come to the conclusion that it has always been a requirement. At least ever since mechanical ventilation has been an approved bathroom ventilation method.


Keep losing power and after some time it comes back on? Keep losing power to 1 living room and all kitchen outlets, light above sink, clothes dryer and porch light.  The circuit breakers are not tripped, and after a random amount of time the power comes back on...and equally random times go out again. Why is this happening???

I would unplug anything plugged in to the receptacles that are loosing power. Call your power company and tell them what is going on. You maybe loosing a phase of power at the panel and or the meter. You all so need to call a local electrical company and have them check the panel.


Sulfur smell in one hot water heater, but not the other hot water heater We have two hot water heaters in our house; one is in the attic and one is in our crawl space. We have a sulfur smell coming from the crawl space hot water heater, but the water smells fine coming from the attic hot water heater. Our cold water smells fine throughout the house, so we don't think the well water is the issue. The smell seems to be isolated to just the hot water heater in the crawl space. Any suggestions as to why one hot water tank would smell even though the other hot water heater smells fine?

Your crawlspace Water Heater's Anode Rod is shot. This can be replaced at minimal cost compared to a new water heater by a plumber or HVAC guy or by you with some good straining on a long breaker bar...AFTER the Water Heater's been turned off, de-pressurized & very slightly drained.

Solid or Segmented Anode Rods, depending on "ceiling" clearances, can be obtained at Home Improvement or Plumbing Supply places. If one Water Heater went the other could be close behind & should be done as well, since checking it is the time to just replace it. There's nothing wrong or bad about replacing it too soon.


Is installing a chimney liner a DIY project? My chimney (25ft approximately, one story house) was recently inspected and the guy recommended a chimney liner for the furnace due to the grouting having been eaten away. He quoted $2000 for the parts and labor.

It looks like this should be a fairly simple thing to install, not only that but the most expensive and largest diameter kit I could find online was still well under $1000.

Is this a reasonable DIY project?
What sort of surprises should I be aware of? (i.e. needing to expand the hole in the basement)

How high is your chimney?

We're looking at installing a wood burner and had someone round to quote. We discussed the options and they were adamant that they would need scaffolding erecting to reach the top of the chimney. They said that manoeuvring the liner up the outside of the house would be nearly impossible without it.

Now our's is a three storey house so that's a lot of scaffolding and I expect that to be a major part of the cost. So the quote could well include that which you might not have accounted for.

This would make it, for me, something I'd be happy to pay someone to do. We fitted a lightweight pipe in another chimney where we had access to the top from inside the house and that was very easy, but a heavy weight liner for a fire/furnace would be a different matter altogether.

In your case - for a single storey house the cost of scaffolding (if any) will be a lot less.

What you should do is to ask for a quote that's broken down into parts. So you want to know (as a minimum):

the cost of materials (not just the pipe)
the cost of labour
the cost of scaffolding (if any)
the cost of removing waste - in the UK this can be significant

Given that the cost of the pipe you found was less than $1,000, $2,000 for the whole job doesn't seem too outrageous when you consider the other factors. As a rule of thumb I look at the cost of the parts and then double it to account for the labour charges.


Troubleshooting Electric Water Heather My water heater stopped working in the past few days.  All water comes out cold.  The water heater makes no noise and is also cold to the touch.

I have tried cutting power to the water heater (see switch on outside of fusebox pic #6).  I have tried hitting the reset button on the water heater (see pic #3).  Neither of these actions resulted in any discernible effect (no noise, no hot water, etc...).

I suspect the issue may be w/ the fusebox which sends power to the water heater.

Under the assumption that the heater itself is not to blame, how do I troubleshoot this?  Can I do it w/ parts I pick up at home depot?

It turns out the problem was the meter.  The water heater's breaker box wasn't getting any power from the meter, and so the water heater had no power.  This explains why I never read any real amount of voltage anywhere.  Electric company sent someone over to resolve it.


Both prongs of an outlet carries live electricity of a switched plug I live in an old house which was build in 1920s.

On the hallway, there is an outlet and a ceiling light which are both control by one switch.

Recently I use contact pen style tester to check the outlet.

I found out both prongs of the outlet carries live electricity at the moment the switch is at it's OFF position. When the switch at the ON position, one side of the outlet is hot, the other side is neutral, or it carries no electricity.

I decide use a multimeter to measure it's voltage reading of the switched outlet.

when the switch is at its ON position:

I put red probe of the multimeter into Hot, the black probe into Neutral,
the voltage reading: 120 volts

when the switch is at its OFF position:

I put the red probe into Hot, the black probe into Neutral,
the voltage reads: 2.8 volt

I put red probe into Hot, black probe into D-shape prong(Ground)
the voltage reads: 0 volt

I put the red probe into Neutral, black probe into Ground
voltage reads: 0 volt

I believe the Ground is not grounded, and there is no neutral wire when the switch is at OFF position

I use a long extension cord, plug it into an outlet of another room, to bring the neutral wire next to the outlet for testing.

I put red probe into the Neutral prong of the extension power cord that pluged into  an outlet of another room

when the switch at its ON position:
Hot prong of the outlet: reads 120 Volts (hot to Neutral of a different outlet)
Neutral prong of the outlet: reads 0 Volt (Neutral to Neutral of a different outlet)

when switch at OFF position:
Hot prong of the outlet: reads 120 Volts (hot to Neutral of a different outlet)
Neutral prong of the outlet: reads 100 Volt (Neutral to Neutral of a different outlet)

The conclusion:
the switch, the outlet, and the ceiling light, work normally. The switch controls ON and OFF of the light and the plug.

BUT, when the switch is at OFF position,
Both prongs of the outlet carries live electricity, one prong with 120 Volts, an other prong with 100 Volts'

Is it normal? or is it dangerous?

edited as Harper suggest, thank you Harper.

Thank you, Retired Master Electrician
Thank you, Kris
Thank you, Ken

My problem is solved now.

Kris is right.
In old connection, the hot wire was not switch, instead, it switched the neutral.
I rewire the circuit, connect hot wire to the switch, twisted the neutral wires together and cap it.

After rewired the Outcome:
When switch OFF: Hot to Neutral reads: 0. with pen tester, both prongs unlit
When switch ON: Hot to Neutral reads: 120 volts, with pen tester, Hot prongs lit, Neutral prongs unlit

Thank you. All.

Houses of that age will not have a grounding system. Also houses that age have switched neutrals. Meaning the neutral was switched instead of the hot. Back in that time no one really saw that as a problem until it lit up enough electricians to become something that needed to be changed.

By the way I don't think the first NEC didn't come out until somewhere around 1927. So you might want to get with someone and make plans and a budget to rework the electrical in that house because I am sure it is full of surprises.


Cupric chloride on pressure relief valve of gas water heater I found more cupric chloride on my pressure relief valve after back from a 2 weeks vacation, should I worry about it? And, what should I do before turn on the gas water heater?

It used to has some cupric chloride before, but not that much. It may already gain more cupric chloride but I didn't notice it before.

Thanks

Wipe it off with a wet rag, then see if it comes back. This could be the result of too much flux being applied before soldering and the excess not wiped off. If you cannot get it off with water, you could try household vinegar on a rag, then wipe all the vinegar off with a wet rag.

The excess flux would have to have been carried down the pipe by water on the outside of the pipe. This could be water condensed from the air on a cold pipe or water from the water heater. If it's from the water heater you will probably find the source if you clean the pipe off and keep it under surveillance.

Where does your overflow pipe go--to the sanitary sewer or to the outside? You could see what happens if you open the PT relief valve by operating it manually with the lever. But only do this if it won't create a mess. Also don't run too much scalding water directly into the sanitary sewer because this might damage the drain piping.

EDIT There is no reason to delay getting the water heater back in service because of the deposits on the TP relief piping.


What kind of electrical outlet is this? Red, winking-face shape I found this outlet on the second floor of my apartment.

I thought the plug could be an isolated ground plug, but then why is the connector so weird?  And I dont live in a hospital.

Important: I found this plug trying to analyze the fuses in one of my rooms. I'd like to hopefully find there to be ~25A of possible current in this room - right now the fuses are at 20A. So if i could somehow pull a lot of current from this plug that would be dandy.

The formal technical term is Ms. Winky (sockets are female)...

That is a NEMA 6-20. It provides 240V at up to 16 amps continuous.  The fuses must be 20A, that is the only size allowed here.

As a general rule, you can never give yourself more power by up-sizing fuses or breakers, so put that idea right out of your head and never consider it again.  It's not like we randomly use excessively large wires for no reason.  Fuses and breakers are already the max the wires will allow.

There is no neutral here, which means you cannot derive 120V except with a transformer.  You cannot take neutral from anywhere else for a variety of reasons.  However if the cable supplying this outlet also includes a (capped off) neutral, or if the wires reach this outlet via conduit, an upgrade is possible - ask.

Also as a general rule, any load that requires 25A @ 120V (3000W) is very stupid.  That's not how power is done in North America.  Common receptacle circuits are 15-20A.  The vast majority are 120V (permitting 1440-1920W maximum (80% is the max for a plug-in appliance).  However, 240V is well supported, giving 2880-3840W maximum.  Therefore: Any appliance that needs 3000W would be manufactured to use 240V.

You are keeping your load a secret, so we have to guess. You say it needs 25 amps (3000W).  If it is an array of PCs or other load that is capable of running 120V or 240V, then you are in luck.  You can get 4800W (3840W continuous) out of this receptacle.  Just get a NEMA 6-15 power strip and cords and you're off to the races (6-15 is more readily available than 6-20).

If your load absolutely requires 120V, then buy a different thing, or  get an isolation transformer (not a stepdown transformer) of appropriate size.


Can I run computer network wiring next to the furnace exhaust? I am in Ontario and I want to run computer networking wire from the basement to the second floor.  The most direct route is inside the box that carries the furnace exhaust to the chimney on the roof.  The wire would be outside the metal furnace exhaust but inside the wooden box that contains the metal pipe.

Any chance of running it outside the wooden box? In my old house, there was a small gap down they one side that I was able to push a metal fish tape down all the way to the basement.


Insulating shower stud corner I have a corner in a shower location that butts up against one exterior wall of the house, and as you can see there it is enclosed yet there is no insulation in there. What is the best way to insulate this corner? I have yet to find a good consensus on the internet. Thank you!

I would drill a 1/2 hole in one of those studs, every 12 inches, and put closed cell spray foam in that cavity. Closed cell is mold/mildew resistant and will expand at a reasonable rate to fill that area.


Why does my Qlima™ portable gas heater shut itself off? Just brought Qlima gas heater with flame effect.  It starts out ok, but after few hours, the flames turn blue and the heater turns off.

Any ideas why this is happening?

According to Qlima website, the heater is equipped with oxygen depletion sensors (ODS). These sensors can tell how much oxygen is left in the air. If the oxygen level decreases then this activates the sensor and the gas shuts off to the logs.


Best practice for making headers for deep (2x8) walls So I am working out a framing plan for an exterior wall made from 2x8s and I want to put a door in it.   I plan on using two 2x12s for the header.

The question is, what is the best practice for building the 2x12 header in this deep of a wall?

The width of the header would ideally be 7 1/4" so that the cripple studs above the header are flush with both sides of the header.   But that means filling in with 4 1/4" of material, which seems strange.

Do I just make a box out of 2x12s (two the length of the header, plus two at 4 1/4" making the short end of the box)?

Edit:  And perhaps would it be best practice to add one 4 1/4" 'header spacer' in the box under each cripple?

I am not familiar with 2x8 framing construction (is that even a thing?) but you might look into the way 2x6 construction @ 24" o.c. (a.k.a. "advanced framing") is done. Advanced framing is laid out a little differently than standard 2x4 framing, including different headers, single top plates, no cripple studs, among other differences.

I guess it partly depends on why you are doing 2x8... is this for load-bearing purposes? In which case you really should have an engineer design this highly unusual wall. Or is it just so you can fit more insulation in the cavity, in which case I would think you could just follow a 2x6 framing plan but use 2x8s instead. In any case, double 2x12s seems like a very serious header.


PPE that can withstand molten slag from arc flash I plan to get the following PPE to protect against arc flash (which my electrician experienced before).

But I found out it can't even withstand molten slag from injuring the arms. Our PPE standard or specifically 70E is only to protect chest/face from 1.2cal/cm2 arc flash.

I was told to look for chromated leather PPE or aluminum fire suits. But I couldn't find these in google. So what kind of PPE do you use to withstand splashing molten slag from arc flash category 1 or from welding, ironworks or stuff like that?

Go to a welding supply, buy leathers. They will stand more abuse than most other things, but they are also a consumable, meaning you need to replace them as they become damaged in use (upside - welding leathers are usually not terribly expensive, as leather goods go.) The "cape sleeve and bib" is a good combo if you only need protection from the front, in warmer weather.

Be careful what sort / style of footwear you choose - a common error which tends to become a learning experience when cutting steel (lots of molten slag) is having footwear which does not shed incoming slag onto the floor - either because you've tucked the pants into it (don't) or because the tongue of a lace-up boot is arranged in a way that allows slag to collect and slip into the boot, following which the occupant of the boot has a strong interest in removing it as fast as possible, and different boots. Or the old "wearing fabric boots that melt" problem (or sneakers for the more foolish) or low-top shoes rather than boots.


Copper or Aluminum flashing Which is a better option between Aluminum flashing v/s Copper flashing ? Just spoke to a roofing company, they said copper flashing may spoil/change color of shingles (due to rain) and aluminum flashing may be better option. Not sure how true this is.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.

Although some may say this is an opinion but copper will outlast aluminum 10:1
Copper over years will have a patina that is either green or brown depending on the conditions. Aluminum if not coated will turn a dull tint and pit over time. Depending where the flashing is used it will also prevent mold growth.
As an example of long lasting I have worked on 100+ year old homes that had copper gutters and flashings that were still in great shape.  I cannot say I have ever seen 50 year old gutters or flashings made of aluminum.


Knee Wall Without Top Plate I'm finishing our attic and I can't quite figure out the best approach. The house came with the attic already "framed" with a kneewall, but the studs are just just angled directly into the rafters like this.

As you can see, there's no top plate of any kind. My understanding is that you need a continuous surface to attach the drywall, so I need a top plate for the knee wall and a bottom plate for the ceiling wall. Or is that overdoing it? If so, what prevents the drywall from cracking at that seam?

We've already done one room by cutting a short top and bottom and toenailing them in between the knee wall studs. As you might imagine, this is very time-consuming and frankly doesn't look great. I don't want to rip them out a build a whole new wall because I'm not 100% confident that none of them are structural. I've  considered just building a new frame on top of the existing studs with a whole new top and bottom, but that also seems like overkill (and complicates insulation).

I tried researching this elsewhere, but all the discussion I found centered whether to bevel the top plate when you build it new. I never found any discussion one way or the other on a bottom plate for the ceiling wall. Do you generally not attach the bottom edge of the drywall to anything?

So what's the best way to approach preparing this wall for drywall?

The normal way to do this is to install blocking between the rafters (for the ceiling drywall backer) and between the studs (for the wall backer). You don't need to toenail all of them... you can screw about half of them.

Easier from a building perspective, run full length 2x4s (or equivalent) top, middle and bottom of the wall (assuming it's under 4' -- if it's taller, then 2 middles). Run 2x4s on the underside of the rafters on 16" centers. You've probably figured out by now that this is a ton of lumber with the added non-benefit of less habitable space.

Neither of these options require bevel-ing. A tiny gap at the edge of the drywall doesn't matter.

If the underlying problem is the cutting, rent a miter saw for half a day and cut your blocking in one swoop.


What Is A Shed 'Base Plate'? I've assembled a 8x12 shed kit in my backyard.  I'm now preparing for the final inspection of the lengthy (and costly) permit process.  I've been informed that I also need to:

  Install two 30-40 inch shed anchors and attach to the shed's base plate on opposite corners.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what a base plate is.  My attempts at searching online shows pictures of things that look like this:

Or

The problem is, I don't have anything that resembles either of those.  The 'base' of my shed looked like this.

Because I've finished assembling the shed, I no longer have access to the larger 4x4s.

Given that I've finished the shed and I don't want to rip it apart, it seems reasonable that the 'base plate' would just be the exposed piece of wood at the bottom of the shed, but I'm concerned that this is wishful thinking and that it would make more sense to anchor the larger 4x4s which are no longer accessible.

My experience with a few sheds and the additional research performed today indicate that the base plate in the example provided is the structure in the first picture.

Requiring or recommending that anchors be secured to opposite diagonal corners would lead me to believe that the forces of nature applied to the base plate would be transferred through the 2x lumber framing, then to the 4x members and then to the anchors.

This requires that the attachments between the 2x lumber and 4x lumber be secure enough to handle those natural forces.

Without access to the 4x locations, as noted in the post, one would use opposite diagonal corners or perhaps all four, but provide for as much distribution of force as possible from the 2x lumber to the anchors.

If the inner portions of the frame are accessible, doubling up by adding another set of 2x lumber to be anchored would improve/increase the distribution of natural forces applied to the shed. This same logic applies to the four-corner option, rather than limiting yourself to two.

If one is particularly concerned about the forces of nature being applied to the shed, there appears to be sufficient room to add one each additional anchor and doubler to the longer sides.

Our professionally installed sheds secure the ground anchors at each end and each corner, 48" deep at the exposed 6x lumber, but strangely enough, into end grain, which I would not consider to be particularly strong (but it meets engineering design and local code!)


Hanging an antique clock on drywall (no studs available) using rope I have an antique clock weighing 10.2 kg (22.5 lb) all told.  The only available space on which to hang it is drywall, and I can't find any studs whatsoever.  Also, the clock is made out of fragile old wood and only has one large mounting hole, originally intended to take some kind of hook.  I don't want to put anything metal in there because it'll chew up the wood.  I came up with a plan involving a pair of rope loops:

The rope loops will be attached to the wall with molly bolts, each rated to hold significantly more than the total weight of the clock.  I'll then run some kind of rope harness through the loops and the mounting hole in the clock.  I have ten feet of nylon paracord (rated load 200 lb) to work with.

The question is, first, is this a sane plan, and second, what is the appropriate harness?  Which knots, where?  In what pattern should the lines run?

Note that the backplate of the clock is quite thick, 1.25", and should be as flush against the wall as possible.

That plan sounds a whole lot more complicated and difficult than is necessary. Simply use a single drywall anchor that is rated for more than the weight of the clock with a long screw that will extend far enough into the hole on the clock to be secure. These anchors are a perfect easy solution.


What are my options for replacing a rotted fence post that is slanted in a large concrete slab? My fence line sits on a slab of concrete that separates my house from the neighbor's house. So far, I was able to complete two posts via extracting the post rot and replacing the post in the 4x4 slots in the concrete slab.

However there is one slot that is very slanted.

Here is another picture of me holding a metal bar upright against the slanted concrete as the fence post would naturally be fit(Not letting it lean with gravity):

Given that this concrete slab is very large and would be a large task to break-up.

My first idea was to pour concrete into this slot, level it to the main slab, and install a Simpson Strong Tie Fence Post Base to which I would put the new 4x4 in.
Another thought was to shave enough off a 4x4 post so that it would fit in the natural leaning position, and then use a couple of E-Z Fence Post Menders to properly support it.

I'm wondering what other options I have for the DIYer. Both of these options sound like I might be headed in the wrong direction.

Thanks in advance.

How many of these posts do you want to replace? Where I live most people are now using round tubular galvanized steel posts about 2-3/8" OD instead of 4x4" cedar or pressure treated. There are special brackets for the rails that clamp around the poles. These poles do come in different grades (wall thicknesses) and in your case I would think a better grade would be appropriate since removal from concrete in these 4x4" holes would be very difficult compared to poles in holes in the ground even set in concrete.

If you put those galvanized round poles in the 4x4 holes, there would be enough play to get them plumb and then pour in concrete. There is also a kind of polymer foam for posts which is touted to be secure, but more workable than concrete. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sika-33-fl-oz-Fence-Post-Mix-483503/205671519


Do PVC glue, cement leave traces? Before a month, I bought a domestic air conditioner for my bedroom and the person who came to install it, used somewhere PVC glue with that strong toxic smell (you can smell glue without to have to turn on the air condition).

I don't know if they generally use that glue to install an air condition.

The smell stayed for days and the air condition was also periodically on (not for very long, only 10 hours in total because there was a glue smell in the air).

Now that smell left and I was wondering if it's safe to turn on the air condition and sleep or there are any toxic remainders (in the air) ?

It was the glue outgassing a normal part of the process, the pvc was probably for a condensate drain (normal).  If you would left it running it may have out gassed faster but yes it is safe to use now.


Mend a Silicone lump Last night I made a vertical silicone bead Roughly 1.8m long. I used a fugi tool.  The bead has a 10cm section that looks lumpy in the Centre. Now it has been curing for 12hours. Can I cut this section out a reapply a layer?.

The stuff cures at about 1mm per day. Wait until it has cured all the way through before cutting into it.


Turning off a towel rail My friend moved to a flat in UK a few months ago, and his electricity bill is soaring. There is no gas in the flat, only electric heating.

One curious thing I noticed is that the towel rail (similar to the one in the picture below) cannot be turned off: there is no switch on it, and there is no accessible plug. I did not see a specific switch related only to the towel rail, although I may have missed it.

All towel rails I've seen before had either a button or switch on them, or at least you could easily unplug them from the wall.

Is this the way UK towel rails are supposed to work?

Otherwise, should I try unscrewing the plug cap to see if I can access an actual plug underneath it? Or is there  another way to do it (and I simply missed it)?

There is probably a switch just outside the bathroom.

If this is rented accommodation your friend would have to ask the landlord's permission to get any changes made.

There won't be an "actual plug" underneath the cover. That's just a fixed-wiring outlet called a fused connection unit (FCU).

You might be able to add a pull-switch (cord to ceiling-mounted switch). This would probably be safest.

You could probably replace the FCU with a switched version (SFCU) if the outlet is outside the zones specified in the regs. It has to be at least a specified distance from the bath, sink etc.

You may be able to get IP44 rated SFCUs.


Line voltage thermostat to shut off attic fan when outside temp is close to inside? I have an attic fan with a thermostat, but with the high heat these past weeks, the outdoor temperature is often above the thermostat setting. Thus, I'm just replacing all the air in the attic with more hot air from outside the attic, at the same temperature. Its a huge waste of electricity.

I'd really like to find a thermostat that will compare the outside temp to the inside one, and shut off the fan only if the temperature inside is w/in 5 degrees or so of the outside temperature.

Does such a product exist?

The only easy way (and non dynamic) is to have an external temp switch that turns on the internal main switch. Or the other way around depends how you want it to work.

Outside 35Degrees   Inside 25 Degrees
External >30(OFF) --> Internal >20(ON) --> FAN OFF

Outside 20 Degrees  Inside 25 Degrees
External <30(ON) --> Internal >20(ON) --> FAN ON

My logic might be slighltly flawed but its the only way I can think of. Otherwise you have to buy some more inteligent system (usually expensive) or make your own microcontroller based relay

A Thermostat With Adjustable Hysteresis

http://electroschematics.com/6606/temperature-controlled-relay-circuit/

http://www.enercorp.com/contr/ettr.htm


Is it correct for air to flow into home from under an addition? I have seen multiple houses sitting on concrete basements or slabs where additions were added on to the house in the 1970s-80s and air flows directly from under the addition to inside the house. The additions are not on concrete slabs, they appear to be just on piles with a crawlspace between the floor of the addition and the dirt below. Air then seems to get sucked from the crawlspace into the house when the furnace runs.
Is this the correct way to do an addition? Would it be better to pour a concrete slab under the addition which is connected to the concrete slab the rest of the house sits on, and build on that? Would that eliminate this air flow?
There is high radon around here and it always concerned me that the air sucked in from under the addition probably results in much higher radon levels inside the house.

Radon emitted from soil can pass through concrete quite easily. Furthermore, concrete and other earth products themselves can emit radon as well.
The fresh air vent coming from under an addition will not be any better with or without a concrete pad if the radon source is not properly mitigated.
If you have a concern for radon exposure in your home the only practical solution is to have your home professionally tested and mitigated if necessary.


Removing Drywall around Windows I am removing all of the drywall in my bathroom due to old age and some damage over time. I have removed most of the drywall but have come to this point and I am a little unsure what to do. I have looked online for some demos or videos on what to do around this area but have come up short.

I know I have to remove the trim to get to the drywall behind, but do I have to remove the window sill or the window itself to get to the rest along the insides of the window enclosure itself? And help would be appreciated. Thank you!

When I am doing demo work I usually pull the trim, if the cill is in good shape I might not remove it unless changing the look like going from painted to stained wood finish.


sub panel in garage? I have 200 amp service. I want a subpanel to handle my garage outlets hot tub and a small welder. besides normal power tools such as a miter saw table saw and ets. I have 3/4 inch pipe ran to my garage already. What are your recmondations. is 60amp #6 wire enough. Can I bulk up the wire such as a #4 run 3 runs in 3/4inch pipe even though its over kill?

You need 4 wires for a subpanel (neutral and ground separated) - as such, 6AWG is all that fits - 4 AWG would require 1" conduit at a minimum (even for 3 wires.)

I don't keep this in my head - I use this, or one like it:

http://www.electrician2.com/calculators/rf_calculator.html


Is it likely that this single skin brick wall can support a large kitchen cabinet? I would like to hang an 80cm x 80cm x 37cm cabinet on this single skin brick wall (where the ladders are currently hanging). The bricks are 10cm deep. The span of wall, each side of the pier, is ~300cm.

The cabinet weighs ~30kg, and would be attached to the wall with a steel hanging rail (with x4 6cm deep fixings).

Inside the cabinet I will store cleaning products, clothes, etc.

I have no concerns about the strength of the individual fixings, but I'm wondering if it's wise to attach heavy objects to such a large "skin" of single brick.

I cannot find any online resources for recommended maximum loads on this type of wall (or any wall, in fact).

I'd have no qualms hanging a kitchen wall cabinet on a single skin garage wall. 37cm deep sounds like a base cabinet. That's going to give scope for larger loads.

Should still be fine though. The closer you hang it to one of the piers, the better.


Floating desk on concrete block wall I have a concrete block wall with dot and dab plasterboard. I am looking to attach a wall to wall floating desk to it. I appreciate a number of questions relating to floating desks have been asked previously and I have read through these but still have some questions.

A picture of the intended design below:

The desk will be utilised for two sets of keyboards and mice only. The monitors are wall mounted and the rest is located elsewhere. That said, I think it is important that it can take the weight of an individual sitting on the edge of it - as people do!

I appear to have three choices of how to mount the floating desk.

1) The first is to run wooden battens around the three sides of the desk and effectively rest it in place. This appears to be the weakest option as with the desk being over 2m wide, it is likely to sag. Also, it seems unlikely to sufficiently take the weight of someone resting themselves on it.

2) To use L shaped brackets such as these. I am assuming these can be attached directly to the concrete block walls using expanding sleeve anchors but I have concerns as to whether they will simply pull out. I am also unclear on whether there is a solution that would enable me to attach these directly over the plasterboard (as there is a gap between the plasterboard and the concrete block, so I imagine some kind of spacer would be needed) or whether I'd need to remove the plasterboard then apply directly to the concrete block.

3) To use a bracket that is side mounted onto wooden studs. To achieve this, I would need to build a half height stud wall and attach this to the concrete block work. These brackets would then be attached to the stud work, then new plasterboard applied to the studs. If this is the preferred route, how would I effectively ensure the stud work was attached sufficiently securely to the concrete block work so it did not simply pull away?

Any suggestions or input on my options appreciated! Thanks.

The hardest piece of your question is the sag and being able to support the weight of someone resting at the mid point.

A 2x4 ledger attached to the 3 walls to support the desk solves everything except the sag.

At ~7ft across, for the sag the best option is probably metal angle iron set back 6" from the front and secured to the side walls using either a bracket or the ledge used to the support the desk.  Maybe a 2"x2" angle iron at 3/8 thickness.  You could also use a couple brackets from #2 to add support to the angle iron from the back wall.


Is the ceiling above a shower a "wet" or "damp" location? I want to install recessed lights in my bathroom, in particular in the shower.  The definition for a "wet location" in the Canadian Electrical Code is something like "where it might get sprayed with water".  According to that, I would think the shower ceiling is a wet location, but most lights I've seen advertised for shower use are listed as "damp" (even a few "dry") location.  So... which one is it?  (I'm in Ontario, Canada).

The NEC seems a bit more specific than the CEC regarding lights above a shower/bath, but even then it's not clear what they mean by "subject to shower spray" (direct, indirect?).  The ceiling wouldn't normally get sprayed, but it's of course possible.

The ceiling surface should be considered as a wet location, as it could be sprayed by water as you said. However, the above ceiling space is not in direct contact with water as the ceiling itself is blocking the potential spray.

The trim for the fixture must be wet location listed, whereas the fixture itself would be damp listed. (The fixture would only be dry depending on the height of the ceiling over the shower itself)


Bathroom GFCI outlet tripped after turning on my razor! Yesterday, I opened up my old "Racine" brand razor and cleaned out the whiskers that were in it. Afterwards, I turned it on and I noticed it was quieter. But a minute later I noticed that the familiar "buzz" came back, so I applied some machine oil on the blades. Then I turned it on and my bathroom GFCI tripped.

1...Did that old 1960's razor finally receive a ground fault?

2...Had it not been plugged into a GFCI outlet, would I have been electrocuted instead?

3...Did my opening it up to clean it out have anything to do with it?

I did not spill any water on it. And
I don't think my applying oil on the blades had anything to do with it, as I have done that many times before. But this was the first time I have ever opened it up to clean it out. I also noticed something was rattling loose inside it shortly before the GFCI was tripped.

In any case, it looks like it's time for me to buy a new razor! And when I throw out the old razor, I'll be sure to cut the cord off first, lest some dumpster diver (like me) pick it out of the dumpster.

Yes, since your razor has two prongs, it cannot develop a ground fault by itself... a ground fault requires a third path.  Indeed, the path was through you, and indeed, it probably would have killed you.   And this is why we have GFCIs in bathrooms.

Tearing it down was probably the triggering event.  My guess is also that the unit is repairable, but will need some careful and/or expert attention.  It sounds like you did find a problem, but shrugged it off because you want to shave.  You will not find another unit of this quality except maybe the $100+ Euro jobs.


Lichtenberg figures inside plastic casing of multicooker I've had to disassemble a multicooker (this one, specifically) because I noticed a lot of condensation in the display/contol unit.

As I was doing so, I saw that the inside of the casing is covered in lichtenberg burn marks.

I haven't had an problem with the cooker, but I'd like to know if this is normal and reasonably safe.

Those types of burn marks are an indication of electric current being where it should not be and should definitely not be considered normal or safe. You should discontinue use of that appliance unless inspected and repaired at a manufacturer recommended repair shop.


Are plastic dryer vent fittings (not hose) allowed with gas dryers? I'm trying to use a ovalized to 90 degree connector for my metal flexible hose connector in my dryer
and the only one I can find is plastic at the big box store that is made for specifically for dryer vents.
I know not to use plastic flexible hose. The fitting will not be concealed, but there seems to be conflicting information regarding the use of plastic but cannot find an official recommendation.
Not looking for specific product endorsements just general guidance on the use of PVC.

In general, yes, unless otherwise specified.
I wasn't able to find much information about the specific one you linked, but if you go to other home improvement websites, they tend to list more information, as well PDF spec sheets. Home Depot for example, has a bunch of these made of plastic, that all say they are OK for use with gas or electric dryers.
If there is a manufacturer phone number on the box or tag for this specific unit, I would just give them a call and ask.


Can buffing and sanding attachments be used with a fixed speed powerdrill? Have wondered about this possibility. I've seen some 'As seen on TV' ads where they sell all-in-one DIY power-tool kits which can act as a drill (reversible), power screw in/unscrew, hammer, buffing, sanding and even cutting tool.

Are such attachments available for regular consumer-grade power drills, and are they effective, or even semi-effective (in the 'your mileage may vary' sense) ?

Note that this is only for some occasional use, by a DIY hobbyist. Not for professional grade work.

The answer is yes, but not as effectively as a purposefully designed tool. Take a look at buffing and sanding tools' RPM. It's significantly higher than that of a power drill: 8,000 - 15,000 for an air powered palm sander vs 300-1,500 RPM for a standard variable speed drill.

Other aspects depend upon the modular design of the particular tool you're interested in. For example, a simple rotary sander will leave circular scratches in wood that a random orbital sander will not. These scratches become very evident when stain is applied.

Power is another factor. Purpose-built tools are designed to provide peak power in their application range. A multi-purpose do-it-all tool will likely compromise this "tuning" to be able to work in all applications.

If I'm understanding your question correctly, tool kits like this do exist outside of the gimmicky "As-Seen-On-TV" ads. The Ridgid Jobmax is one example, and the Black & Decker Matrix is another.


Replace Banister Rod? We have a broken banister spindle (see pics). What's the best way to fix this? Do I have to take it apart? Or is there a trick to this that I'm not aware of?

The simplest way to insert the new spindle is to make sure the hole in the bottom of the handrail is deep enough that the new spindle can be inserted higher than its final position, high enough to allow the bottom stub of the spindle to clear the hole in the step and then be lowered into the hole.

Once you have sized the spindle and tested it for fit, remove it, place some glue in the upper and lower holes, and reinsert the spindle, You should then pin it to the stairs with a finish nail in a 45 degree angle, then fill the nail hole with wood filler or caulk.


Setting posts for a sturdy garden fence So spring has arrived, and we have decided to build a 20' x 40' enclosed area in which to place a garden (we have many deer, rabbits and other garden veggie thieves in the area).

The plan is to build a 5' tall fence, using 4x4 cedar for the posts.  The posts would be set ~3' into the ground.  We are in an area with a pretty active freeze/thaw cycle (Minnesota).  The fence panels themselves would be framed metal garden mesh (i.e.- a doubled up 1x4 "frame" with heavy duty wire mesh typically used for horse fences in the center).  This should greatly reduce the wind load on the fence, as there will be little surface area.

I went and calculated the amount of quikrete I'd need to set the posts in, and it came to nearly $40/post (5 50lb bags per post).  With 14 posts, this ends up being $580 just for the concrete for the fence!  After doing some reading, it appears that some fence builders will use 3" of pea gravel as a base under the post, then fill around the post to about 1' below the surface with compacted pea gravel, then do 8" of concrete, topped with 4" of soil.  For a garden fence that will have relatively small lateral loads, does this seem to be an appropriate way to do things?  Any thoughts on how I should set these posts?

Pea gravel for the base of the hole makes sense...for drainage. On the sides, less so. I'd opt for crushed rock which will compact better when tamping. If tamped properly, you likely don't even need concrete.


Switching light without three way Just looking to get someone's opinion on the legality or practicality of this circuit:

There was another question posted recently where someone was asking about the ability to switch a second light both independently and dependently of a three-way circuit. This was the first idea that came to mind, but I've never seen a circuit like this and could only imagine the headache trying to troubleshoot this if you stumbled upon it in the future. Basically a regular three-way circuit, but then connect a third switch in reverse with another source of power tapped from the common in.

Condition matrix

              | Circuit 2 Pos A | Circuit 2 Pos B
Circuit 1 ON  | L1 *, L2 *      | L1 *, L2 *
Circuit 1 OFF | L1 o, L2 o      | L1 *, L2 o

I do not believe it is against code directly, but is there something prohibiting this setup? (Neutrals at each switch box, but I ignored that for clarity in the picture.)

The problem with "electronics style" schematics is they completely ignore wiring methods.  Wiring methods are the heart of electrical. Understanding this craft (or lack of understanding) is the #1 difference between electricians and electrical engineers.

So I've redrawn, first using wire colors for function so I don't lose my mind... and second making a real effort to consider wiring methods and routings.

Now, I used red for both switched-hot circuits. In actual field application I would probably use orange for the second switched-hot, otherwise the next gal might mistake the 2 reds for travelers.

Now, with wiring methods considered, small problem: you need four conductors between the 3-way switches. Again back to wiring methods, you can't just hork this together with a couple of /2s, and you can't slapdash a solitary THHN wire along a /3.  You will need the less common /4 cable, or run conduit between and use THHN.

I snubbed blue for neutral because /4 actually has a blue.

Other than that, it's as straightforward as can be. We can plainly see it's a "tree" topology and no tricky loops, so currents will be equal in all cables.  It's all good.


Mounting a microwave w/o the upper cabinet I'm working on a kitchen remodel and the designer has asked that the over the stove microwave be mounted under a floating shelf! The shelf has a capacity of 50lb and the microwave weighs 63 lbs. Is there any way I can mount this using perhaps some other support? Is there a way it can be supported solely by the wall bracket? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks

The microwave doesn't "dead hang" from the shelf (very little would be able to support a microwave if that were the case). There's typically a mounting bracket you put on the wall and the cabinet holds the front up.

It should be noted that there's no way to mount it solely to the wall (this quote typifies all the answers)

  I just hung a Whirlpool OTR microwave and attaching to the upper cabinet is a requirement. The lower bracket supports the back of the microwave, but does not keep it from rotating down.

The only way I've seen this done is either with a bracket or shelf under the microwave. (which limits the size)


How can I confirm that an exterior door is hollow core or solid core? And prove it to a skeptical father? My elderly father doesn't trust that his daughters know anything about home repair or maintenance. I keep pointing out that I've bought and sold 2 houses in the past 15 years, so I know something about it. They are ignoring my recommendations on GFCI outlets, but that's another matter.

Their realtor has told them that their front door is hollow core, not solid, and that he needs to have it replaced with a fiberglass door. It's also possible that he was listening to the realtor say that a fiberglass door would fix the binding lock in certain seasons and having to get a locksmith and misinterpreted the reason. Or the realtor thought chipping veneer was ugly and made up a reason to replace it.

It's a ~70 year old house, and they've had it ~35 years, so the door is at least 35 years old. If so, it survived the previous family having active boys. The door appears to be stained wood veneer. On the edges of the door you can tell that the wood is different for about a quarter inch on both sides. Something with minimal wood grain on the exterior or interior. Where the veneer, or the top layer of wood has come off, it's wood underneath.

The area where the lock was replaced with one shaped differently shows bare unfinished wood in the area that is exposed now.

So what is the least destructive way to conclusively confirm whether it is solid or hollow core? It is fairly heavy to open and close, but I may be comparing it to thinner, narrower doors that are also hollow core.

Also, because the door needs replacing, they are ignoring calling a locksmith, handyman, or letting me fix the deadbolt that is sticking. The door has had problems seasonally for decades. Sometimes you would have to pull the door hard in one or another direction in order to turn the deadbolt. This has gotten much worse since they replaced a broken lock. I think the new deadbolt is marginally larger than the old one, and the tolerances on the strike plate are too tight to accommodate seasonal swelling. Dad says the door keeps moving in one direction, but if it's doing that, it would have been doing it for decades and then the door wouldn't close. 1/8" motion for 35 years is 4 1/2 inches.

My proposed solution is to buy a larger strike plate, perhaps a quarter inch larger vertically and horizontally in the hole. Filing down the existing one would be an option, but its reinforced in two directions that would prevent that. I've got a Dremel clone, but am not sure which accessory would best file it down.

Since you're going to replace it anyway, drill a small hole in it. It's the only way to convince your dad. You can easily patch the hole afterwards. Good luck.


What should I do with my leaking chimney? We have a brick chimney on the side of our 110 year old, 2 story house.  We aren't going to use the fireplace - we have a ventless insert we are going to use.  The chimney leaks terribly.  We are thinking about taking it down to just above roof level and stuccoing the rest of it, plus adding flashing to the sides where it joins the house.  Is this a workable solution? We don't really want to remove the entire chimney - it "fits" with the age of our house.

Ventless gas fireplaces are a suspected health hazard, and may dealers won't sell them.

I strongly suggested a vented model, which will have two pipes: one for fresh air, one for exhaust.  The new cap will likely solve your dripping problem:

If you have doubts about where the leak comes from, get a hose.  Wet the chimney 1 meter above the ground and wait for the drip to stop.  Repeat this until you get to the top of the chimney.  I'll bet the leak is in your chimney cap, or whatever masonry topping the thing has.


Do I need an upgraded meter base when changing 100 amp service to 125? I live in Canada and was wondering if anyone knows if you have to change the meter base when your upgrading your panel from 100 amp to 125? I have  1/0 aluminum feeds from city with a new 1 1/4 pipe to inside with number 2 copper.   I'm just not sure if the city will complain about me leaving the 100 amp meter base or if I'm suppose to switch it to a 200 amp meter base.

The power company is going to confirm that its 1/0 aluminum at the transformer and the meter base, if so I can replace the #3 copper with #2 and upgrade to a 125A in the house. Its an underground service so to trench and replace the wires could be quite costly. I just don't want to leave the old meter base and get pinched for it. But at the same time I don't want a huge monstrosity (200A meter base) for no reason.

Yes, but only if the meter base isn't already 125A.  I find it curious that they'd run 1/0Al when #1 would have sufficed for a 100A seevice.  It was like someone intended to go to 125 later.  Perhaps this same thinking guided the selection of the meter base.

Now,  as far as that service panel.  Far and away the most painful thing about changing a service panel is physically fitting all the cable entries and conduits to the edge of the box proper.  Yet, the working innards are what makes a panel 100 vs 125A, main vs sub, 2-pole vs 3-phase etc.  But think about it.  Manufacturers make hundreds of panel sizes but only a few box sizes.

So it's worth the legwork to see if the manufacturer can sell you a box with the guts you need that fit the same bolt pattern on the box you have wired-in.


How to run Ethernet cable along a brick wall? I want to run an Ethernet wire from the living room where my TV and router are to the basement where my office is. The problem is that when I lifted the drop ceiling in the basement, I saw that the drywall is attached directly to the brick wall (actually looks like concrete blocks) that I share with my neighbor.
The wall to the right is where the cable hookup is and that goes down to the basement as well.
Is there a way to run the cable along that brick wall or should I drop the Ethernet cable in the cable hookup box?

Edit:This is interior wall

There are cable clamps available that have nails suitable for masonry walls


How can I fill the gaps between barn wood siding boards? I want to better weatherproof an old shed that has barn wood siding.  Most of the boards have a gap between them, and these gaps can be as wide as 3/8" although most are more like 1/4".  The boards are about 3/4" thick and are run vertically. and they constitute entire wall structure (i.e. there is no internal finishing, it's just sided and that's what you see both inside and out).

I would like to seal this thing against Ohio weather.  What sort of filler or caulk (or ?) should I be looking for to fill that kind of gap?  And how do you go about applying it when you can't get at both sides of the board at once?  As in, if I apply caulk, what's to keep that caulk from just pushing through the gap and out the other side?

Do not try to use caulk between all the boards. It will look like crap and on top of that, like you already indicated, it will be hard to put in there in the first place.

The proper approach to this is to install vertical strips of wood over the cracks from the outside. You can choose to use something like 1x2 inch cedar strips. Or if your shed looks like it is 100 years old and you want to maintain that look you can search out a source of recycled barn boards and rip them into strips to use on your shed.

The vertical strips are called batten strips. Often folks use even wider strips that may be 1x3". Here is how a typical structure might look:


Is the lack of a vapor barrier in the attic causing my mold issue? For the last couple of days we have noticed more and more mold growth on the ceiling throughout the house.  Wondering what was going on, I climbed into the attic this past weekend and notice that no vapor barrier was ever put in place along with an inadequate level of insulation. I plan on blowing in the additional insulation to bring the home up to the recommended levels, but what can be done in regards to the missing vapor barrier?

Update: I live in central Wisconsin. I am seeing the mold in the living area of the house mostly around the can lights.

Moist air is condensing (barring any oughtright leaks) It is most likely due to air leakage from house to attic:

Ceiling to attic is leaking moist air, condensing. Solution: air
sealing of all penetrations (light fixtures, ducting, electrical,
gaps in construction)
Insufficient insulation, combined with air leakage allows
condensation to occur.   Vapor barrier (VB) insulation (batt with
paper facing) should NOT be placed OVER any existing insulation,
creating a trap.  If used, the VB is placed against the heated side
in winter.  Do not use poly for a vapor barrier.  The assembly must
be able to dry in either direction, should condensation occur.

Update RE can lights
Recessed cans are notorious for leakage.  If they are IC rated (designed for direct insulation contact) they can be air sealed with a ASTME 136 rated firecaulk directly.  If they are non-IC, a XPS box can be built that meets the clearance requirements of the fixture (insulation must be a minimum of 3" around a non-IC fixture (NEC 410.66))  Many commercial products exist for covering cans.

Video: Airsealing recessed lighting by Green Homes America

I've seen this condition develop when a bath vent fan was dumping air directly into the attic and it saturated the insulation and it grew mold down through the drywall.


Remove a light switch to an outlet - knob and tube I have an outlet with a light switch that currently controls it.  What I would like to do is remove the switch so the outlet is always hot.  I considered just removing the switch and connecting the two wires, but it's knob and tube and changing anything makes me nervous.

Is this safe to do?

The best solution is to replace all old cloth insulated wiring.

If you can't replace a section of cloth insulated wiring the next best solution is to not touch it at all, because  deteriorating insulation will deteriorate much faster every time you touch it.

If you are forced to touch a cloth wired circuit, re-insulate with either heat shrink tubing or electrical tape everything exposed while working on it, and upgrade the breaker to AFCI. Given the likely age of any cloth wiring you encounter today, all circuits that you can't rewire should be upgraded to AFCI breakers. Unfortunately, if your circuits have any of their neutrals crossed or shared AFCI won't work and using the new breakers would still require a rewiring. As another response pointed out what you are doing is safe and legal as long as the insulation is in tact, which is always the question with this type of wire. Where the wire's only contact with anything else are the glass knobs, it is safe even without insulation unless something does come in contact with both wires for any reason.

I completely rewired my house, the original wiring was approximately 100 years old, most of the insulation was still in very good shape, but there were also places where it crumbled to dust the moment it was disturbed.


Do I remove cornice when I'm getting rid of horse hair plasterboard walls? I'm removing old plasterboard walls and getting someone to help by cutting along the top edge. I did this so I don't have to remove the cornices (which seem fairly good condition). However, I'm concerned I still have a 10 to 20 mm of old plasterboard along the top edge of the wall, where it meets the cornice.
Is this going to be difficult to join new plasterboard (gyprock) to the old old horsehair plasterboard????? It's right at the top of the wall, so not that noticeable?

Normally I would remove the cornice and replace it once the drywall is finished and painted - because that is usually the easiest, if you are okay with installing new crown molding.

If that's something you aren't interested in doing (perhaps it's a molding you can't copy and don't want to get rid of), then you can finish your job without removing it. First, remove the plaster down to the studs, from the floor to about an inch below the cornice. Then nail strips on each stud to shim the surface of the drywall out to the surface of the old plasterboard which is still visible under the cornice. Plaster is generally about 7/8", and if you're using 1/2" drywall, that would be a 3/8" shim the length of the stud. (You should measure the plaster thickness in several places to be sure of this thickness, though.) Rip 2x4s into a lot of 3/8" x 1-1/2" strips and cut to the length of the studs. 4 penny nails are sufficient for tacking these shims onto the studs.

Then, hang the drywall as normal. Use 1-5/8" screws so that you grab the studs behind the shim strips. When taping, run tape right up against the cornice all around the room. Then finish as you would finish any butt joint, feathering down twelve inches or so.

Once sanded and painted, no one will ever know that there is plaster behind the cornice.


Ground wire sparking I have a metal junction box with a main feed. If the ground wires touch the metal box the breaker pops and the ground wires spark. The main feed comes out of a ceiling light fixture box. The ceiling box is two wire BX. I'm using NM to feed the junction box. I grounded the NM to the light fixture mounting stud. Poor ground? Wires touching?

More details...coming out of the junction box I feed a switch for ceiling lights and a feed to a bathroom combo switch. The ohm meter tells me everything is correct at the bathroom combo switch. Everything works perfect. Except when the ground wires touch the metal junction box. Any ideas please?

Either the junction box has power on it because of some loose hot wire or the ground itself has power on it because of a loose wire somewhere along the circuit.

Most likely though, since the ground doesn't blow the breaker on it's own, the junction box is powered somehow. In one way or another, power is feeding through that box. It could be from the sheathing of the BX or any stripped or loose hot wire touching any of the system. Go back and double check all connections, something isn't right. Be safe.


Best way to remove all-metal staples from NM wire? Recently purchased an old home that has many different generations of wiring throughout it (K&T, cloth "romex", blue NM, modern NM, conduit-fed).

At various points they were fond of using all-metal staples to attach the romex runs to the studs/joists. There are times where I cannot re-run the full wire and would prefer to re-use the existing NM run (if it's in good condition), but sometimes that means removing these staples.

What's a good approach to removing them without damaging the cable?

Options abound, but I like side cutters or tile nippers (similar to 'end cutting pliers'). With either, grab the leg of the staple where it enters the wood and pry it up. Don't ever pry against the cable.


Programmable light switch failing or acting oddly? We have a Honeywell programmable light switch at the front door.  The light switch can be programmed for days of the week; it's set to go on at 5pm, off at 7am, every day.
The other day the light fails.  I try turning the light on and off. That doesn't work.  I assume it's the bulb, so I replace it.  Doesn't work.  I try another known bulb: no go.  Doesn't work.
So then I'm thinking the switch itself is bad.  But there are three weird things:

When I'm screwing in the new bulbs, the bulbs flicker on for just a split second as they're going in.  This isn't a matter of position or angle or anything.  They just flick on and then off.
In the same way, the switch itself has a little on/off button.  And when I try to reset it by turning it off and on, the light bulb flickers, just for a second.
The programmable switch works with a little LCD display on it -- like on a Casio watch.  And the display is now always off - regardless of whether there's a bulb installed.  I think there's some way with these kinds of switches that the switch needs a completed circuit through the bulb in order to power the switch display (or something like that), but I definitely don't understand how that works.

All of this is to say: Am I still right to assume the switch itself is bad?  Or could it be the socket up there on the ceiling?  Obviously, the socket issue, since it's inside an outside fixture, is more of a pain in the neck.
Thanks in advance!
OK.  Added a picture of how it was wired. I believe this to be original 1920s knob and tube wiring.  Wondering what options I have for a switch replacement in this case, either with a programmable or even a smart/wifi outlet.

Your switch is wired up wrong
The RPLS530 does not require neutral, according to its instructions; however, yours appears to be incorrectly wired.  According to the instructions, C and 2 need to be connected to the incoming hot in a single-pole setup like yours, while 1 connects to the switched-hot off to the fixture.  I would expect the switch to function incorrectly in your current wiring (with 1 and 2 to always-hot and C to switched-hot); however, it does not explain your current behavior, so I would suspect the switch has failed, based on the troubleshooting you've done so far.
It appears that you have no neutral at the box
Furthermore, it appears that you have no neutral at your switch box, since I see no wires spliced through in the back of the box in your picture.  This means that you'll want to go with another RPLS530A, or a similar type that does not require neutral, as your replacement switch.  You'll need to obey the device's minimum load rating when you do, though; for the RPLS530A, you need to provide at least 40W of load for the switch to power up properly.


Why do I need to turn off two breakers to cut power to an outlet? I have to shut off two circuit breakers to this one receptacle only. It doesn't affect any of the others in the lower level except for one meaning I just shut circuit breaker One off.

When I took the receptacle apart, I found two pigtails--1 for the hot and the other for the neutrals. Please note that two wires from the hot pigtail went to the receptacle and only one wire went to the neutral receptacle from the neutral pigtail.

They both had three wires in their respective pigtails. I paired each of them to determine which is hot. Pair one lead to circuit breaker 1, pair 2 lead to circuit breaker two and pair three was dead with these wires going to the next receptacle on the lower level. Pair 2 wires leads to an outside outlet.

I tested them using alligator clips with a circuit breaker finder. Pair two wires through showed it was hot (also used a volt sensor) was in actuality not when I tried to wire them to a receptacle. Pair 2 needed the power from pair one to operate outside. I don't own a multimeter.

So why does it take me to shut off two circuit breakers? Hope this is clearer.

It doesn't matter if hot and neutral are the same wire gauge (the breaker must be for the smallest gauge used). I have a bunch of 10AWG neutral on long 20A branch runs, because I had a surplus and wanted to reduce loss.  If mixed, they absolutely must run in the same cable or conduit - it is not acceptable to use a hot from one Romex and a neutral from another Romex.

Are you sure you're not looking at capacitive coupling?  If a dead wire runs alongside hot wires, it will pick up a "radio signal" from the other wires, and that phantom voltage can be detected by a very sensitive meter such as a modern DVM.  Usually something will seem "a little off" like it will be 10V lower than every other wire.  The proof of the pudding is to hook it up to a night-light or use a lower-impedance voltmeter, the voltage will vanish like a ghost.

When backtracing circuits, I pull off the hot and neutral, then nut them to a resistor of known value, and then measure looking for that value of resistance.   I don't leave the neutral on the bus because I want to isolate/pair it.


Why is my air compressor drawing too many amps? I have an old air compressor (1970s/1980s vintage) that has recently started tripping the circuit breaker that it is on. I hooked up a clamp meter and found that when the compressor motor is running with no load (belt removed) it is drawing 12 amps and when the belt is in place it is drawing 27 amps.

The motor is a 1hp unit with a listed FLA of just over 17 amps @ 120v. I've checked for any loose connections as well as looked it over with a thermal camera while it's running and see nothing that stands out as obviously abnormal.

The motor can be wired for either 120 or 240 volts, and is currently wired for 120 volts. There are four wires inside of the connection box on the end of the motor.

What would cause such a high current draw and what should I check next?

With no load on the motor you should not see or even be close to FLA at speed.
Sounds like time to add grease/ oil to the motor bearings. You could also replace the bearings.
It is common for older motors to start to draw more as the bearings fail.
I would not wait long or the rotor may start hitting the stator then it is time for a new motor most of the time.


Shut off valve turned on - no water flow My faucet drain stop needed fixing, I went below the sink, shut off the valves.  After turning  the shut off valves back on, no water flows through the faucet. Both hot and cold worked fine before doing this. The house is 8 years old.

Any ideas?

First of all, make sure the valves below the sink are really turned on all the way. Sometimes they get stuck.

Second of all, check to see if the tip of your faucet (the part where the water normally shoots out) has a fitting that you can unscrew. Many faucets have a little mesh piece here that can get clogged. It's possible that's your problem (although if you are not seeing even any dripping, I doubt this is the issue, because it's hard to imagine the mesh piece becoming so blocked suddenly that no water comes through at all).

If you're confident that the valves are on and the faucet head is clear, then it's likely you have a blockage somewhere between the valves and the faucet. If neither hot nor cold water comes, then the blockage is probably in the faucet hardware itself, rather than in the hoses that connect the valves to the faucet. (If the hot or cold hose were blocked, then the other water should still work.)

I'd turn the valves back off, then disconnect your faucet hoses. At that point, turn each of the valves on quickly just to make sure that water comes out of both of them (if it doesn't, then there is an issue with the valves, not the faucet). Next, remove the faucet from your sink (you might have to loosen a nut or two underneath the sink to do this) and see if you can see what is blocking water from passing through it.

Depending on what kind of faucet it is, you might be able to disassemble it into smaller pieces, which would probably help to find the problem. Or it might be a single piece.

If you can't see any blockage, you could try flushing water backwards (i.e., pump water in from the part of the faucet where water normally comes out) through the faucet using e.g., a garden hose, in the hope that that dislodges whatever is the problem.

If all else fails, replace the faucet.


Do toggle bolts have to be perpendicular to the floor? Recently I installed floating shelves on my drywall using toggle bolts. I noticed some websites mention that toggle bolts need to open up in a way that is perpendicular to the floor. When I installed them I didn’t pay attention and I’m wondering does it matter if my toggle bolts were installed with the wings being parallel to the floor?

I can think of two things.

When installing, being horizontal will help the wings unfold, as one of them isn't fighting gravity.
Once installed, load is often in shear (meaning not straight-out, but at an angle downward).  If installed vertically, this will put much more load on the top wing of the toggle than the bottom wing, and it could be a "point load" which might help it dig into the backside of the wall in a non-desirable way.   If laid horizontally, the wings will see more of a pulling load, and be loaded evenly.

However, it would be tricky to keep a toggle from turning as you install it, so I don't see any way a novice installer could control whether it's horizontal or vertical.


How do I keep water from getting under the garage door? Our garage door, pictured below, is right on a sidewalk that slopes downward slightly as it moves past the garage. The result is that one side of the garage door is 4 inches below grade while the other side is 1 inch above grade. There is no drain. A previous owner attempted to keep water out by pouring the cement bump right at the door you see in the picture below to force water to run past the garage door. The problem is that the bump is cracked and does not form a seal with the garage do, so a little water (not to mention draft) still gets into the garage when it rains.

I'm considering repouring the bump, ensuring it is more flush with the garage door, and adding weather stripping. What do you guys recommend? Alternatives? Is it worth considering some type of drain?

@ArchonOSX's answer is good, as long as the local drainage is good enough. If not, I'd install a trench drain that extends further down the slope to where it can discharge back onto the sidewalk, but that depends on the situation.

I'm guessing the door is 8' wide, and the sidewalk falls 5" across it, which means the sidewalk has about 1/2" per foot pitch.

Let's say you install a level trench in front of the door, starting 1" below the door and with a depth of 4" (with a grate on top). At the downhill end of the door the trench bottom will be 4" below the sidewalk.

Then you have to get rid of the water. Drains should have 1/8" per foot pitch, so the sidewalk will fall 3/8" per foot faster than the drain. So, it will take another 11 feet before the sidewalk is below the bottom of the drain. If you have that kind of space you can just extend the trench to that point and then turn it back to the sidewalk.

If not, improvise.


Cleanup after carpet spill I just spilled 14 ounces of an energy drink containing fructose and small amounts of fruit and vegetable juices on my (probably nylon) carpet.

I immediately covered the stain with about 50 ounces of salt, waited ten minutes, and vacuumed up the salt.  There is no visible stain, the entire area is either completely dry or just barely damp to the touch (I keep changing my mind), and there is no sign of any stickiness or other remaining evidence of the spill.

Question:  Am I done with the cleanup, or should I be worried about sugar or other ingredients staying in the carpet and doing ongoing damage, either directly by interacting with the carpet fiber or indirectly by attracting bugs or rodents or God knows what else?

If you're still worried, alternate lightly dampening the area followed by blotting away the water with a colorfast absorbant cloth; that should delute and rinse away any remaining residue. But if you can't feal any residue after it dries, I'd duggest not worrying about it and trusting that it'll be dealt with next time you hit the area with carpet cleaner.


fix broken water pipe in garage (burst in winter) Last winter, the water pipe in my garage was apparently not emptied entirely and burst when the water froze. At least that is what I assume, because when I turned on water in spring, it sprayed out of the wall.

Aside from hiring a professional to fix it, what options do I have? I'll probably not be able to fix the pipe myself, but it would be good if I could at least figure out where it burst and if it is only in one place or several, so that I can understand what the damage is and get an estimate of the costs I'm facing.

If I can combine this with preventing the same problem from happening again, I'll be happy.

(if it matters, the pipe runs from the house, is apparently dug deep enough in the yard, but of course has to come up into the wall inside the garage. The water spray was in the corner where I strongly assume the pipe coming up, because it's right next to the sink and toilet.)

You'll need to open the wall to figure out where it's broken and try to see if it's in multiple spots. Depending on the piping you have and exactly where it's busted, you might be able to fix it yourself with some SharkBite fittings and new pipe. Either way, you'll need to start by opening the wall and locating the break(s).

As for preventing this issue in the future, you'll need a way to drain the pipe. The normal way is to put a shutoff value and drain valve in the warm area (your house) on the pipe that goes to your garage and use that to blow out the pipes with air. In the warm area, you'll want the drain value on the side of the shutoff value that is closer to your garage. Then once your garage line is blown out, you can leave the drain valve open until you're ready to recharge the line. Be sure to blow out each fixture in the garage and put anti-feeze in the drains, toilet trap and some in the toilet tank as well.


Power to loafing shed I need to run power to my loafing shed for lights, fans and blowers for show livestock. The blowers pull almost 20 amps each so here is my plan.

Underground service using 4 awg thwn in conduit. 130 ft run.
60 amp breaker in main panel
Outdoor Sub panel in shed. The shed is covered on 3 sides and front is open.
2 ground rods at subpanel. May have to install horizontally due to rock in ground
3 circuits coming off subpanel. 2 dedicated for the blowers. 3rd will be for lights, fans and stock tank heater. All outlets will be 20 amp on gfci.
Obviously stock tank heater will be close to water so I will use liquid tite conduit there.

My questions are

Do I need a gfci breaker for the 60 in the main panel? Will 4 awg wire fit in a 60 amp breaker?
Is 4 awg large enough?  Can I use aluminum?
Is 1" conduit large enough for 3 4 awg wires. I will not need 240 so only three wires

I have found hundreds of threads on how to run power to a shed but this is different since it's not completely protected from the weather.

Thank you

Thank you for your help. A couple of things I left off. One is I'm out of city limits and no imspection required, but obviously want to do this safely. Two is the structure is wood frame with metal siding/roof.

After some more research and reading here, I've come to the conclusion of running 1 awg Al as my feeder. My current shop panel this will feed off of is wired up with 2 awg Al.

Another problem is getting the 1 awg Al hooked up to the 60 amp breaker. My plan is using one of the Polaris insulated connectors. Anything wrong with that?  If I understand correctly I can connect my Al with Cu with no problem with corrosion.

If everything I run is 120V, will running 240V to this shed help anything?

I get the idea of using 240V for the blowers, but we take them on the road to shows and there are no 240 outlets available. I will have to buy two sets of blowers. One to use at home and one on the road.

As far as using 60 over 100, I don't know. Just have to pick something I guess and go with it. The 100 sounds like a good idea.

I did look at my neighbors setup today and his is very similar. I am concerned now because his subpanel is wired with 2 awg Al on a shorter run and he said the blowers will trip a breaker on startup during the winter. After the breaker is reset everything is fine. He is also using an extension cord off his panel.  I run into the exact same problem currently when I use my metal chop saw. It trips on startup and works fine after reset.  My idea is to wire up gfi's maybe using 10 awg off my panel.

I do believe the weak link will be one I cannot easily fix. My shop is about 150' from the meter. The electrician who wired it used 2 awg Al up to there. I found some 2-2-2-4 Al mobile home feeder at Lowe's today for $1.50/ft. I think I will use it ran in some conduit unless somebody tells me that is a bad idea.

Again thank you very much to everyone for your help with this.

He's tripping the 20 amp branch circuits.

I do have one more question. The scenario is my shop is concrete floor with metal framing and siding. Panel is mounted to wall via struts. #2 Al ground wire is ran from the meter to the panel. I don't believe they ran a separate ground rod to the panel. I already have a ground rod right outside the building where we had some lightning rods installed. Am i going to hurt anything by running a ground wire from the panel grounding bar to the ground rod?  It's going to cost me a few dollars for 6' of Cooper wire to do it and next to zero effort.

Also was thinking about burying a ground rod in the trench for my water line and use it to ground the water tank (run the wire into the tank) where the heater will be locate. This is what the manufacturer of the heater recommends. Then tie it into the ground on the outlet box where the heater plugs in. Good idea?  I assume it's impossible to have too many grounds?

Fatter is better

Upsizing your conduit now costs pennies compared to having to dig it up and replace it later, so I'd put the fattest Schedule 80 PVC you can in now -- at a bare minimum, I'd go with 2", with say 3" being an even better choice if possible.  This will also make your pull job easier than if you used the smallest possible conduit -- it might even save you a call to the electrician and their truck o' tools!

Also, don't try to stuff a nasty ol' SE cable down that conduit -- you're using more fill than you need as SE cables are made with fatter ground wires than strictly necessary, and the jacket is simply going to hamper your pull, as well.  It might mean you have to hit up the supply house or order in the appropriate XHHW-2 single conductors, but you'll be thanking yourself that you did when you are doing the pull!

4AWG Al will do the job, but you probably want fatter wire than that as well, or to go to 240V

While putting 60A through 4AWG Al XHHW-2 with 75°C terminations is within the NEC's ampacity limits, it does yield a 6.5% voltage drop, which is well in excess of the 3% limit recommended for feeders.  Staying at 120V means you have to go up to a whopping 1AWG for aluminum conductors to  get the voltage drop close to 3%; 240V gives a major advantage here, allowing you to run over the 4AWG with a voltage drop less than 2%.

Speaking of aluminum -- unless your AHJ is ridiculously fearful/uninformed and requires copper for everything, which I have heard of in some towns, modern aluminum is fine for a feeder -- breaker and panel lugs in loadcenters are all aluminum-rated these days, and the AA-8k series alloys used for aluminum building wire these days aren't nearly as ill-tempered as the old EC grade stuff.  Still, it's essential that you torque the lugs to the breaker/loadcenter manufacturer's torque specification (an inch-pound torque wrench with a screwdriver bit adapter will do the job) in order to produce a long-lived connection as aluminum isn't as forgiving of overtorqued connections as copper is; never mind that the 2017 NEC requires the use of torque tools these days! (See 110.14(D) for details.)

Speaking of 240V...

240V to the shed is a better bet than 120V to the shed given the size of your feeder and your loads:

Your 20A 120V blower motors clock in at 1.5HP apiece -- motors this size should be able to be rewired for 240V, or at least available in 240V versions.
Modern LED drivers and fluorescent ballasts are available in 120-277V universal voltage options, so that takes care of your lighting
Fans are definitely available in 240V as well -- if nothing else, you can get condenser fan motors and use those

This leaves the stock tank heater and possible convenience receptacles as 120V loads; that, and any GFCI protection itself you want as two pole GFCIs require a line neutral as the electronics inside run on 120V.  Given that, I'd run a neutral + 2 hots and ground, so that both 120 and 240V loads can be accommodated, while keeping the amount of 120V load down .  More specifically, I'd go with 1800W max for the stock tank heater -- this leaves you with 15A on the other side for the convenience receptacle if you wish one, 20A for both blowers when wired for 240VAC, and another 5A@240VAC for the lights and fan, allowing us to get by on 40A total.  Of course, if you're stuck with a 120V fan, that will increase things a bit unless you can get away with a smaller stock tank heater.

However, since you're stuck with 120VAC for the blowers, the best plan is to run 240VAC anyway as that gets you two opposite legs -- stick one blower on each leg, with the fan + lights + receptacle on one leg and the stock tank heater on the other.  This again gets you down to 30/40A of 240VAC, which is a cakewalk for 1AWG aluminum and eminently possible on the 4AWG.

Livestock hate tingly electrical feelings

Livestock don't put up well with stray currents that us humans tend to shrug at -- their longer gait means that they get more step potential than us humans do, and they aren't as good about voicing their displeasure about the situation to the electrician either.

This means that your grounding system is rather critical.  If I were you and I was building this barn from scratch, I'd use a full equipotential grid in the style of a swimming pool's, laid into the barn slab and exothermically welded to the slab reinforcing steel as well.  Since that horse is likely out of the barn already though, I'd use an equipotential ring ground electrode consisting of a circumferential trench just outside the barn footings, dug to the footing depth, the water table, or bedrock, whichever comes first.  Into this trench goes appropriate reinforcing steel as well as copper wire mesh (again, you can get this stuff for pool equipotential bonding) formed into a vertical I-shape and exothermically welded to the rebar. A 6 AWG bare copper "tail" is exothermically welded to the mesh near where the feeder enters, and concrete is poured around this all.  The tail then serves as your grounding electrode conductor and attaches to the ground bar in the structure's subpanel; it doesn't need damage protection either provided it's run along the barn wall.

Needless to say, the feeder must have a separated equipment grounding conductor (I'd use the same 6AWG copper as was used for the "tail", pulled through the conduit with the rest of the wires), and the neutral/ground bond at the subpanel must get pulled, or else you'll find yourself in stray current HELL as the earth, your feeder EGC, and your feeder neutral all wind up in parallel if the subpanel is left bonded.

As to the stock tank?  I'd run more of that 6AWG copper from either a bonding plate inside the stock tank (get a "Bondsafe 680" or equivalent from the nearest swimming pool people) if it's fiberglass/nonconductive or   a solid connection (listed lug, exothermic weld) to the stock tank itself if it's metal to the outlet box for the stock tank heater, where we attach it to the ground wires there.  Again, the basic idea here is to make it so everything's as close to the same potential as possible.

GFCI protection is better provided on individual branch circuits

Most smaller subpanels (100A and below) use a backfed main breaker architecture -- the main breaker is really a repurposed branch breaker.  This is fine for ordinary breakers, but won't work with a GFCI in place of the submain -- trying to feed power into the LOAD end of a GFCI breaker is a good way to fry the GFCI's trip solenoid.  As a result, it's better to put the GFCI protection, in branch breaker form, on the individual branch circuits that need it -- any convenience receptacles will need such protection, and it'd be wise to GFCI protect the stock tank heater as well.  Putting the GFCI on the upstream end of a long feeder isn't wise either, because the leakage currents to ground on long feeders can be a bit on the significant side, contributing to nuisance tripping.

Last but not least -- the QO260 and HOM260 accept up to 2AWG wire -- so you can use a short length of 4AWG aluminum or copper as a pigtail between the breaker lugs and an AlxCu rated mechanical connector, such as the Polaris connectors you mention.  Note that the Polaris connectors that accept 1AWG require pretty heavy torque for a connector, so you'll need a torque wrench capable of 180 inch-pounds or 15 foot-pounds to tighten them. The liquidtight conduit is fine for a hardwired stock tank heater, although I'd run a dedicated ground wire inside it even if it is LFMC, and a typical NEMA 3R is fine for the loadcenter box no matter where you put it (I'd be leery of using a NEMA 1 enclosure inside a three-sided shed though, as sideways rain is a thing where I live.)


What happens if the neutral is switched rather than the hot wire for a light? Power comes into the hole in the ceiling for a light fixture, but by-passes that and the neutral wire goes down to the switch, and the black wire then comes back up from the switch. What side effects (to the light, or to up-/down-stream, or nearby connections) would there be if that switch's black wire is attached to the neutral wire of the light, and the incoming/ceiling power neutral wire is attached to the black wire of the light?

I would say are you sure the neutral wire is being switched. What you describe sounds like a common “switch leg” where the white wire carries the hot from the fixture to the switch and black takes the switched hot back to the fixture.
This was code for many years the white was supposed to be reidentified as black with paint, tape as a hot most commonly overlooked.
If the wire was actually switching the neutral so the lamp had power all the time this would be a code violation and present a hazard to someone changing the lightbulb in the future.
I would verify hot vs Neutral with a meter to make sure as we have seen diy try to reword a switch leg that was properly wired.
The white being hot all the time keeps it from being mistaken as a neutral and the reason code required this.
If they switch the neutral it is easy to fix and the colors at the light would be correct.


What material is allowed for a furnace room ceiling material? What types of material, other than drywall, are acceptable by Ohio HVAC Code for the ceiling of a small furnace room which will:

Have return air ducts (only) passing through it to attic space.
Butt up against a brick chimney on one edge (B-Vent installed in the flue)

Definitely don't use WOOD as suggested by DMoore! Yes, consult your local Ohio codes.

A new material, probably not rated or considered in Ohio code, but used extensively outside the US, is MGO board, which is fireproof, waterproof, mold proof... I wish this would get certified, as it's a much better idea than drywall in the first place! This is NOT Chinese drywall, which is just poor quality unregulated imported garbage. A reputable MGO board company will probably have certifications soon for this type of installation.

At least be glad that the old asbestos board, which was used extensively decades ago, is gone, after the medical concerns surrounding that material arose.


how to bypass an HVAC unit float switch (safe-t-switch) rats keep chewing through the safe-t-switch wires even when I taped them up heavy. before I get rid of all rats I need to just bypass the float switch. at least then I can use the heat while I'm home.

All you need to do is short the wires together: cut the wires, strip them and twist them together.

Or, trace the wires back to where they hook up in your air handler and connect them together there.


Joining shafts to resist twisting force I need to join two round metal shafts in such a way as to effectively transfer torque between them. I'm not able to add very much external linkage, just a coupling cuff around the joint to force them to stay aligned.

So I need to be able to cut a "key" and "lock" into the 2 ends so that the torque will be transferred from one to the other without trying to twist the joint apart.

Is there a standard way of doing this? I have fairly minimal metal working hand tools so simplicity of the joint is more important than effectiveness.

My current thinking is to use a "halving joint" like this:

A "mortise-and-tenon" will be more effective but I think will be far too difficult to prepare:

Is there a method that can be easily cut and also provide a strong interface?

You are making this much more complicated than it needs to be. A coupler with two or four set screws is all that is needed.

If the thickness of the coupler is too much then use a thinner tubing and just drill two holes all the way through the tubing and the ends of the two shafts. Then insert a small diameter pin through the holes. The pin can be held in place by using a center punch on each end of the pin to expand it slightly so that it rivets itself into the hole in the tubing.

For really light duty work the tubing could even be brass and use a pin that can be simply soldered to the tubing.

All these ideas can be implemented with the most basic tools.