How can I fix a window with cracked glass? I have a bedroom window with cracked glass, and I'm trying to figure out the manufacturer so I can get it fixed.  The windows are double hung, and three pictures are attached.  I looked all over the window, and I could not find any stickers or identifying information.

I'm near Boston, MA and the windows were installed in about 2007.  I know they are not BF Rich, and I talked to someone at Home Depot and he didn't know.

As an alternative, should I contact someone other than the manufacturer to get it fixed?

I had a similar problem.

It was easy enough to remove the window, and take it to my local glass shop.  They had a new pane put in by the next day.

If it's a screened window, you can do this when the weather is nice.  Otherwise, you'll need to cut a piece of plywood to block the hole while it's being repaired.

Taking it into the shop allows for considerable savings over having the truck come to you.

Call ahead and book a time.  You might have it done in a couple of hours.


We have a light switch in the kitchen that is wired to the central ac? We bought our house 2 years ago and thought this was just an unused switch, it doesn't turn anything on that we can see.  Then the other day my husband was putting up a ceiling fan in the kitchen and opened up the cover.  It says for AC only.  Does anyone know why this is there or what the function might be?  It does not turn on the AC, we have a programmable thermostat that controls it.  Thank you!

I think it means Alternating Current (AC) voltage only, not Direct Current (DC) voltage.


Can you install hardwood floors on a concrete slab? I was told the slab is like a sponge and the moisture would ruin the floor.

You don't want to ever install a wood floor directly on a concrete slab (despite what your contractor might say), even using the traditional underlayment.

You have to create a buffer between the concrete and wood with something like DRIcore® or DELTA®-FL.

Though I have heard that even with systems like this, you can still run into problems if the moisture gets under the sub-floor and can't escape. Mold and rot can develop if moisture can't escape, so you'll want to make sure any moisture that gets in can always get out.


Chinese Breaker Box (240v split-phase?) Lacks Neutral Wires and Grounding Bus I recently spent Chinese New Year at my girlfriend's apartment (in China) and woke up one morning to find we'd lost power. I opened the breaker box in the apartment to find the main breaker (2P 40A) had tripped and the top screws looked blackened. I couldn't get the breaker to switch back on even with all the other breakers off, so I reasoned it was shot and needed to go to the local hardware store to get a replacement.

As I studied the wiring layout before heading over a couple of things caught my attention. As an American, I'm accustomed to a breaker bus that the breakers snap into to receive power from the main breaker. No such thing here. Obviously I'm also accustomed to 120v but not unfamiliar with 240v circuits both in the US and from time living in the UK.

I understand that in the UK, 240v to individual homes is carried on a single phase with hot, neutral and ground. My expectation is that China would follow Europe's lead as it's also 50hz and because it does so in most other areas. However the supply coming into this apartment has two hot legs, no neutral, and no grounding bus †. That makes it seem to me like it's split-phase center tap with the 240v being line to line.

If that's the case, I'm guessing the lack of neutral is not as concerning as I initially thought? However I also notice the two hot legs are not balanced: one feeds two 16A breakers while the other feeds three 16A breakers. Don't the two hot legs need to be balanced if it's line to line to compensate for the fact that there's no neutral?

The main 40A breaker also seems too small to supply three 16A subbreakers at 80% of their load, so I bump up to a 63A breaker. However, the house's breaker box is actually a subpanel, with the main panel being downstairs in the apartment block's stairwell with the meters. Everything is fed by the same kind of 2P 40A breaker that served as the main breaker in the house panel, rendering the 63A breaker redundant! I have no access to the interior of that panel as it's locked by the utility company.

I'm also concerned that the wire gauges aren't correct for the amount of amperage being carried both to the breakers and from the breakers to the individual circuits.

The blackening of the top screws of the old breaker is also concerning. Is too much resistance on the wire or screws/breaker a possible cause?

Being a little out of my depth here, my first inclination would be to call a licensed electrician were this the United States. I don't really trust the knowledge, workmanship, safety practices or ethics of Chinese tradesmen though (the first electrician to come out from the power company bypassed the breaker on one leg as a fix, you can see in the photos below!), so any advice would be appreciated. I've also reached out to electrical contractor friends in the US.

† There are however two ground wires from opposing directions spliced together, maybe one is tied into all the outlet boxes and the other goes to true ground, or a ground bus in the main panel? I didn't open the outlets to check because everything is concrete and there's no obvious way to get the faceplates off without breaking them.

Post Replacement: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19-SPGJ7ZlcAUCoJdVkEVi5PGr-vDTqgIAA/view?usp=drivesdk

Pre Replacement:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Zh1WuyMr0gMEhNd21DWkNucW8/view?usp=drivesdk

Don't the two hot legs need to be balanced if it's line to line to compensate for the fact that there's no neutral?

No, if there is no neutral then all the loads must be connected across phase to phase. In US terms this would mean that there are no 120V loads that need to be balanced.

I'm not convinced you have two hot legs from a US style split-phase supply.

The Chinese standards seem to be pick and mix of other countries standards. Note that Red=Live, Blue=Neutral, Green/Yellow=Earth is a valid colour combination in Australia.

The four "two-pole earth leakage breakers" (tengen DZ47LE-32 C16) are marked with N for Neutral at one connection.

I would therefore, naively perhaps, expect the blue wires to be neutral and to have zero or very low voltage with respect to the green/yellow ground wires.

I don't see any normal bus connectors, it seems the installer used red wires to construct buses live and instead of the neutral terminal that would be found in a UK consumer unit.

CE marked C16 circuit breakers should be 16A breakers with a "normal" sensitivity range.

  The blackening of the top screws of the old breaker is also concerning. Is too much resistance on the wire or screws/breaker a possible cause?

The clamping screws were not done up tight, the cables were not inserted correctly or the switch was passing too much current. Or all three.

Example, for comparison purposes, of an old and unusually neat UK equivalent showing copper bus bars at bottom connecting live feed to single-pole breakers, terminals at top for neutral and ground (these terminals are sometimes also called bus-bars). Note the copper bus bars normally have a plastic shield, and normally there is a cover that shields all the wiring with holes for access to the breakers only.

- Image by RF Lighting

Since China is not the UK, there may be entirely different exemplar Chinese installations that bear little relation to this. The question shows an installation where every breaker and switch has two poles. This means there is no need for a neutral terminal connector strip. However the neutral wires linking adjacent "earth-leakage breakers" form an improvised bus.


How should I paint cedar and pressure-treated pine? I recently built a fence from white cedar (pickets) and pressure-treated pine (posts and rails).  I have been told that I need to wait before painting or staining the fence in order to give the cedar oil and treatment a chance to dry out, but how long should I wait?  (People have told me everything from a few weeks up to a year.)

Is it best to stain or paint?  If I paint, should I use a primer first, or can I go ahead with the first coat of paint?  Should the pressure-treated pine be oiled or treated in some way before staining or painting?

I don't know about the cedar, but I built a screened porch a few years ago using standard PT lumber for posts and railings and painted it with a coat of primer and a coat of exterior latex pretty much as soon as it no longer appeared damp.  Of course the 6X6 posts had been up and drying for a while at that point, probably 6 months or so.  The railings were installed last and were probably only up for 2 or 3 weeks when they were painted.  When we moved from that house earlier this year there were no problems with the paint, and that was after about 2 years.

Interestingly, the only paint-related issue we had was some peeling on the existing deck railings, about 4 years old and never painted at that point, that I painted at the same time to match the new railings around the porch.  I have no idea what caused it, but I can say that I didn't prepare this older wood at all and it probably could have used at least a good pressure washing prior to painting.


How do I install a fire extinguisher on the side of a cabinet? I want to hang my fire extinguisher on the cabinet next to my sink. Below are pictures of the fire extinguisher bracket and the location where I want to put it. Should I use a bolt with a nut - or some sort of screw?

Probably too heavy for wood screws into chipboard cabinets.
If the screws don't work then a couple of bolts with penny washers.

The extinguisher looks a bit battered, you should check the trigger mechanism looks ok. BUT don't try and squirt it a little bit - the cooling gas can make ice form in the valve and stop it turning off


Is my Optoma HD20 projector repairable? I've just come home from a trip and found that my Optoma HD20 appears to be broken.
When I turned it on, I don't get the usual Optoma logo, but instead unmoving static broken by a black bar.

Prepared to replace - it's served me well since 2012 - but interested in what might have broken, and whether it can be repaired?

I had the 'vertical lines' issue a couple of years ago, which went away when I pushed on top of the bulb, I don't know if that's relevant?

Thanks!

I fixed it! I tore it down to below the main board and gave the Dmd/main board socket a good clean with some Servisol and reseated (if someone else comes across this, here's a good video guide - https://youtu.be/8iLR2viox8U) and it's back to its usual self. And I only damaged one ribbon connector holder and left one spare spacer on reassembly. £500 saved for now.


Ground neutral bond screw on a PON main panel I'm installing a Plug-On-Neutral (PON) main panel. There is a screw with a label indicating that if I need to bond the ground to neutral, tighten to 40lbs.
Now I know main panels generally have the ground and neutral bonded, and it appears that they all are, but I am assuming something is not.  Is it the PON neutral bars specifically that are not currently bonded?  Is there any reason, for a main panel install, that I would not want to tighten this screw?
As a side note to someone with a higher reputation.  It seems like a "Plug-On-Neutral" tag is warranted.

On a main panel, you always bond the neutral and ground. Just because it's a PON panel doesn't change that. The reason they don't have it "factory bonded" is because sometimes they get used as a sub-panel. This is becoming the case more often.  If the panel is covered by a separate disconnect, which is becoming required, then the main panel gets treated like a sub-panel.


Deta In-line Smart Switch Just checking that I got this correct. I’m in Australia.

Regarding the DETA Smart Inline switch, in Australia, this above pictured wiring is correct, if not a bit messy, cleaned up the connections and it works perfectly.


How should I wire up a 3 prong dryer outlet to 120V? I recently received a 220V Level 2 Electric Vehicle car charger as a gift, and it comes with an old 3 prong 220V dryer outlet (NEMA 10-30). I'm currently renting, so I cannot run 220V lines where I'd like to, however the car charger unit says that it can run off of 120-220V.

So, I'd like to wire up a NEMA 10-30R such that I can plug it into a regular house outlet at 120V which would allow me to plug in the car charger. Yes, I realize it will charge slower on 120V than 220V, but I'd like to use it now since I'll be renting for 2 more years or so.

My first thought was to simply connect 120V hot to one of the hot prongs on the NEMA 10-30R, then connect neutral to the other NEMA 10-30R hot, and finally bridge that neutral connection to the normal 10-30R neutral connector.

Am I even remotely onto something here? Someone on Amazon.com's reviews for the car charger said that they did it, however no detail was provided, and Amazon doesn't carry this charger anymore, so I can't go back and ask.

Thanks!

DO NOT wire a 10-30R receptacle to 120V, and a "standard" 120V 15 or 20A receptacle CANNOT be put on a 30A circuit. If this unit is capable of being run on 120V then there will be instructions on how to convert/wire it. There will be a way to replace the plug on the unit with a standard 15 or 20A 120V plug. You may also need to re-wire it internally.

Can you post the name and model of the charger? More info may be available online.


Philco 90 - What do the four dials do? I'm posting this here hoping that other DIY'ers might be able to help - not sure if Home Improvement is the right place, but this seems the closest on Stack Exchange.

I'm constructing an antique radio out of scraps I can find on the Internet. I'm not sure what to make the dials do in the Philco 90.

Top dial - radio channel tuning

Right dial - volume

Middle dial - tone(?)

Left dial - not sure at all.. AM/FM? FM didn't come about until mid-1930s. Anachronism?

Looking at these operating instructions for a Philco 90, the top knob is indeed the station selection knob, the bottom left is tone, bottom right is volume, and the center is the on/off switch.


Leaking 70 Year Old Drain Cap The sanitary drain in my house, going to the city through the concrete basement floor has started to leak. I realized the leaking is around the access cap. The issue is this specific access cap seems to be un-openable. Almost like it is leaded or just very rusted in place. A few years back a plumber actually tried with a 3ft wrench and gave up. (There is a 2nd access port across the basement he was able to easily open and use.)
Ideally I think the fix would be to crack it open and just tighten it more... But that seems to not be easy, or I am concerned cranking on 70 year old cast iron pipe with >3ft wrench seems like it is asking for trouble... Also the fact that there seems to be water leaking from it even though it is above floor level seems odd. The image does not look like much, but there was a 2ft diameter puddle near it this morning I mopped up. It also bubbles around the opening when you run hot water...

Cast pipe and fittings do rust. And when it rusts on a threaded fitting that s not opened for a long while it is basically frozen.
Tapping GENTLY around and on the plug while wrenching it open may work.
Sometimes wrenching it tight and than loose free's the plug.
Heating the hub (outside section where the plug screws into) may help. Don't strike the cast when heating it.
If you find a rubber (hub-less) connector that fits over the plug you can drill, saw, cut the plug out install the new connector and cap.


In layman's terms, what is reverse osmosis filtration? The water filter installed in the kitchen advertises to work by the method of "reverse osmosis".

Can someone explain this concept without using technical terms or marketing mumbo jumbo?

A RO filter filters water by pushing water it through a semi-permeable membrane (think of it as a piece of plastic that can let water (but not much else) slowly ooze through).

Normally, if you separate dirty water and clean water with such a membrane, natural forces will cause the clean water to slowly move over to the dirty side. This  process is called Osmosis. (this is an oversimplification, not all impurities cause osmotic pressure).

In a Reverse Osmosis filter, a pump is used to pressurize the water on the dirty side, which forces the water to go the opposite direction...from the dirty side to the clean side.  i.e. it's Reversing the Osmosis. This clean water is then collected and that's what you drink.

Eventually the water on the dirty side becomes so full of impurities that it's hard to push any more water through the membrane, so that water is drained away and replaced with fresh water. This is why RO filters use so much water -- they waste 4 to 20 gallons of water for each gallon of purified water they produce.

Most RO filters also have a conventional pre-filter (or multiple filters) to remove a lot of the contaminants before they reach the RO membrane so the RO membrane is only removing the dissolved impurities that are hard to remove with a filter.


Can metal mesh furnace filters be replaced by paper filters? We have a furnace that has wire mesh air filters, will it function/be safe to replace those filters with paper filters?

If the filter you posted is a 1" wide filter then yes, you may be able to replace that filter with a strong paper filter . Make sure that the paper filter is not pulled into or too close to the metal of the electronic air cleaner cells when the blower fan is running.  If that filter that you show is less than 1" wide then no, you will have too keep the metal filter since a narrower filter will not have the strength to resist being flexed when the blower fan is running. If you have the desire to install a paper type filter upstream of an electronic air filter then you should call an HVAC company or a duct fabricator an have them install a filter rack in the duct work.
Wire mesh filters are among the least efficient filters on the market. If you are looking for a filter system that stops and collects the smallest dust and debris particles, are advertised to collect mold and bacteria, and works great for people with breathing problems like asthma, consider a correctly sized electronic air cleaner. I installed one in my home and one for my sister who suffered immensely from asthma and this gave her relief and provided her with a safe place to go when pollen counts were very high and her asthma was at it's worst. No other filter type could provide her with the same relief.


What should I do about ceiling tiles that potentially contain asbestos? A family member is considering purchasing a house, built in the Midwestern United States in 1958. In the basement, there are nine inch ceiling tiles on the ceiling. The home inspection mentioned that it cannot confirm that these tiles are not asbestos.

I've received four pieces of advice:

"Just remove it yourself."
"Hang drywall underneath the tiles and seal it up."
"Professional removal is the only way to go."
"Take a sample and send it in to a laboratory."

I suspect the tiles do have some asbestos content. Some of the advice sounds reasonable enough (especially 2, 3, and 4)... looking for guidance.

What's the best approach in this situation?

EDIT: Thanks all for the helpful advice. We had it tested, and it turns out not to be asbestos.

As a certified home inspector I will give you some more specific advice from a Buyer's point of view. If the inspector suspected asbestos, then this warning should be taken seriously. At this point in the house buying negotiations, it would be wise to insist the "Seller" have the material sampled by a licensed tech and tested by a certified lab with a copy of the results given to you before proceeding to a closing. If the tests do come back positive for asbestos, get a quote from a licensed asbestos remediator to remove it, and a quote to replace the ceiling with some safe material such as drywall. I would recommend asking that the total amount of both of these projects  be adjusted from the selling price.

Under no circumstances would I advise one of my customers to proceed further into the purchase until this issue is resolved. If positive for asbestos, this could be an expensive fix and definitely not a DIY project under any circumstances.


How do I seal a leak from my overhead tank filled with water without draining the tank? I need help! How do I seal a leak from my overhead tank filled with water with out throwing away or draining the tank? My tank is made from steel.

There is underwater epoxy adhesive available for emergency boat repair. You can use the reinforced PVC material used for inflatable boats as a patch material. The catch is the patch must be applied to the inside of the tank so water pressure holds it in place. Applying to the outside will not work because water will push through an outlet path before the adhesive cures.

How long can you hold your breath? If this is for human drinking water, you should disinfect the water after someone has been swimming in it, on top of sanitizing the person before entry.


How do I assess what to replace during repairs after a severe roof leak? Evening!

Long story short. Bad roof leak. Leaked from the roof to the exterior wall.

I do not know the extent of the damage (yet) but obviously I am not too worried since I plan on, once the roof is repaired (just need to survive a few more days) to knock it all down.

The leak is in the ceiling, where it hits a wall. This wall is between the bedroom corner and the closet interior wall. The water is dripping into the room from the ceiling and within the door frame itself currently.

Come repair time, I am immediately going to tear down the ceiling and the wall (needs to be replaced anyways). When this time comes, how should I best judge what needs to be gutted and what can be saved? I am willing to entirely re-frame the wall and drywall, etc. from scratch if need be. I am assuming once tearing down the drywall I can scrub and bleach-water the wood and let air dry for a day to reduce the risk of any mildrew growth?

I know decking in the roof needs replacing as I've already noticed white growth on the underside of the board in the attic, so I am assuming it will be no different come tear-down inside the house.

If not dried out building materials are an excellent food source for mold. I would not wait but remove the sheetrock and wet insulation now, a dehumidifier is a good idea but fans circulating air may be enough. I don't use bleach because it stinks for a long time. I use a 3% hydrogen peroxide and water mix, it doesn't stink and is just as effective at killing mold. Depending on the length of time it has been leaking it may be possible to save all the wood even the wood that has surface mold now by spraying with the hydrogen peroxide mixture.

Most people don't know this but all wood contains mold spores at plywood plants the veneer is stacked after being pealed and within days the entire stacks are covered in mold. These are killed when the sheets get dried and the go through a second heating process when the sheets are glued together in Hot press. Dimensional lumber is sprayed with a fungicide as it is finished or it will turn before getting to the store and no one wants black lumber.

So get the walls open and kill the mold assess the wood condition if the wood is solid just surface mold spray it. One place you may have to replace floor decking is if underlayment. Has swollen and started to break down, this would need to be replaced after the leak is repaired and the frame work is dry re insulate and put up new sheetrock. One thing I have suggested to my customers is with the walls open it might be a great time to add outlets if any might be wanted. Much cheaper to do it with open walls.


How does old wood furnace work? My mother in law has an old wood furnace in her workshop. It obviously is different than the typical wood stove you see. Does anyone have one of these? Or can anyone explain the theory behind its operation?  The top part is what has me slightly confused.  It seems like the smoke would come out the front of it as well as the back.
Also, are they efficient? Burn good?

I think that might be an old coal burner with a dome heat exchanger on top (also known as a radiator).

I have never seen or used one of these in person, but there is some information about this stove type sparsely spread around the internet.  I understand they are roughly 1940s vintage.

Consider this photo of a competing Wards model:

Ash tray is the bottom door.  Coal is added through the middle door and air inlet is controlled at the middle door and/or bottom door.   The top end is a heat exchanger that circulates flue gas to the center dome, then to the front part of the doughnut, around the sides, to the back, past a manual balancing damper at the flue connection and then up the chimney.  The manual balancing damper at the flue would be needed to manage airflow in concert with the intake.  I believe the front door on the dome is there for cleaning and remains closed during normal operation.

This stove is not likely to be efficient by today's standards because it is not equipped with a secondary burn chamber.


Why have separate Long and Short Flush buttons on a toilet if they both do the same thing? In my house, I have two buttons that I can use to flush my toilet. These buttons are labeled "Short Flush" and "Long Flush".

When pressing either of these and instantly letting go, the flush time is the same for either button. Even if I hold the button down until the sistern has completely emptied, the time it takes to re-fill it is the same no matter which button I press. Is there a logical reason for this? I can't figure out why separate buttons exist that do the same things - unless they actually both hit the same flush or similar (I'm not too confident in how these systems work)!

Those should have different effects. I suspect it's not working right. The expected result is that the short flush should cycle the water in the bowl, but not completely empty the tank. The long flush should empty the tank. If you have a manual or can find one, you might be able to adjust things.


What should I use to finish my plywood table top if I intend to leave the end-grain visible for a modern look? The plywood that I'm using is 33mm baltic birch.

The plies (layers) in plywood are run in alternating directions, so approximately half of the layers visible on any edge will be end grain and half will be the long grain.  End grain usually absorbs more finish which makes it look darker.  If you want to minimize the difference between the plies you could seal the edges of the plywood with shellac before you apply a top finish coat over the whole piece.  Alternately, you could let the difference in the darkness of the plies be a 'design feature'.

Other than the alternating plies / darkness issue, the rest of the finishing depends more on how you want the table to look and how it is intended to be used.


How should grounding be handled for multiple RV pad feeds? Trailer pads were wired at my deer camp over 15 years ago.  The main power pole has meter with 200 amp disconnect.  From the meter a 3 wire service was run overhead to each pad.  At the first breaker box it is grounded with ground rod.  All the other breaker boxes just have the 3 wire service to them.  All breaker boxes past the first one only have 1 ground neutral bar in them.  The ground and neutral wires are all bonded to this single bar. I need add a new breaker box so I can add an RV 50 amp 4 wire plug in.

Should I separate the ground neutral wires in the new box and do I need to put in a ground rod?

NEC 551.76.C (RV and RV parks) Grounded conductor not to be used as equipment ground.
To me that says you need to isolate the ground and neutral and will need a rod at your site.


How do I know if/when tuckpointing is necessary, especially if I finish the basement? 1900-ish brick-over-fieldstone foundation seems perfectly happy right now,  but  [digression about fieldstone aside]... What's best practice? What do I look for to tell when maint is required?

(Standard grumble about houses not coming with inspection/maintenance manuals...)

How do I know if/when tuckpointing is necessary

You need to tuckpoint when the existing mortar is failing. That could be that it's water damaged, cracked, or just getting weak. To see if it's weak, take your key and drag it along a joint...if it's easily flaking off and scratched...or worse, crumbling, then it's time to chisel out the damaged mortar and tuckpoint.

  especially if I finish the basement?

Well, that's the catch. You can't tell if you need to tuckpoint your joints unless you can see the joints. So you can't exactly just finish the exterior wall and assume you're good to go. New joints should last a long time, but they will eventually fail due to the inevitable moisture movement that happens in a fieldstone wall.

As such, you probably don't want to finish the exterior walls. I'd argue you shouldn't finish a fieldstone basement at all, but I've seen it done where they build a floating wall 2' or so inside the exterior wall. This gives you a walkway around the perimeter to keep an eye on things.


In a bathroom, do baseboards need to be caulked to prevent water seepage? Adding baseboards to my bathroom. Do I need to caulk them, especially where it meets the flooring? And if so, do I need to leave a small gap to allow the caulk something to grip onto?

Caulk it.  I wouldn't leave a gap.  I'd tape the floor and apply caulk.  People clog toilets and flood bathroom floors.  I use PVC baseboards in bathroom since they are water resistant.  MDF is horrible for water but if you caulk it and have it well painted it is possible it holds up to a few water incidents.


Plugs won't stay in wall receptacle We bought a new house 25 years ago. The wall plug receptacles never from day one would hold a plug. Are they defective or are there springs missing that would keep them in place? Can they be adjusted or do I need to replace them all? All my receptacles have the third prong opening for ground.

Definitely replace as many as you can. Residential grade receptacles from that era are/were total junk.

If you can, I would definitely get "spec-grade" receptacles. These are commercial duty devices that are MUCH better than resi grade stuff.

Also, I agree, you will most likely have to install TR, or tamper-resistant, receptacles, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

For a 25 year old home most areas requiring GFI protection will already have it, but you will have to add them in some areas like protecting all kitchen counter receptacles. They don't all need to be GFI devices, just GFI protected.

Please ask if you are not sure of the requirements.


any sort of inflatable cork to plug pipe when shutoff valve is being repaired I need to fix some leaky return shutoff valves on a hydronic heating system. Is there such a thing as an inflatable device that can be used to plug the pipe to prevent the system from draining while the washer is being replaced?

return valve closeup

If you can stop the flow of water in the system you can freeze the water in the pipe, then fix whatever you have to. This works on steel and copper pipe. I have frozen pipes up to 2 inches. A pipe freezing kit is great but you can also use dry ice. Find a place that sells dry ice and buy the crushed type.  Make sure you use heavy gloves to protect your hands. Get a face towel or equivalent and use it to hold the dry ice as you wrap it around the pipe. Use a lot- 2to3 inches of ice. Then duct tape the cloth to keep it in place. Wrap this whole thing with paper towels or newspaper  for insulation and wait for the pipe to frost up just past the dry ice wrap. Test for water stoppage downstream. When frozen you can complete your repairs. When done remove everything, allow to thaw and you are done. And by the way where is the washer in a hydronic heating valve? all the ones I have seen have brass to brass seats.


California building code design requirements for bathrooms My grandparents have a two bedroom, two bathroom house in El Dorado County that was built in ~1974. One day I noticed something peculiar: while the two bathrooms were connected by a sliding door, you had to go through a bedroom to get to a bathroom.

Years later (around 2010) I was telling a friend about the aforementioned bedroom bathroom linkage and they said that's not allowed in today's building code so you could not get a permit to build a new house with that type of design. The person who told me this was not a contractor or anything related (and neither am I) so I never knew if that was/is actually true.

I just spent some time searching for this information out of curiosity and while it may exist on a page somewhere, I couldn't figure what to tell google to get me there.

I'm interested if anyone knows the correct answer here but I'm also wondering why such a requirement/restriction was added to the building code. And does the same rule(s) apply for a remodel, ie. could you change whatever design you currently have to one where you could only go through a bedroom to get to a bathroom? Not that you'd necessarily want to do that, but since we're on the topic... (~:

No, that is totally untrue. There are plenty of rules for bathrooms, but what you are describing would make all "master bathrooms" that are only accessible from the master bedroom illegal, and that is definitely NOT the case. And it is perfectly legal to have two "master bedrooms" in a house, in fact it is becoming a desirable feature on smaller houses because of the proliferation of shared housing.

Now, if you don't have a bathroom accessible from the general living area it means all of your guests must go through a bedroom to use the bathroom, something that I personally would not want. But that is not codified anywhere.


temporarily seal leaky pipe under sink? Going to the hardware store right now to fix this leak (see crack in pvc in the photos). My main question is: what's the best product to get to temporarily fix this so we can use the sink until the plumber comes tomorrow?

Second question: Is this completely manageable to fix myself? Would I have to cut the copper or something?

Nice Pics.  For a good temp fix on this drain line, I'd recommend "Seals All". This avail at any hardware store.  As far as a permanent fix, you may not have to deal with the copper, but you will have to cut the PVC in an area where you can fit a coupling and replace the parts to the copper.  Thread on  the new adapter to the copper and use a PVC coupling to reconnect to the rest of the drain.  This will mean some cutting, primer and PVC cement.


What is this picture of an insulation blower showing? This seems to be showing a guy aiming a cellulose insulation blower at an open wall, and somehow the insulation is sticking to the wall in perfect strips. What is really happening?  This is from the Home Depot web site.

Google 'wet spray cellulose insulation'. You'll see videos etc where they spray messy then scrape flat. The kind folks at HD obviously had helpers scraping (and cleaning up the guy doing the application...)


Gap in sealant round edge of bath, mould underneath, what to replace with For the past couple of months I noticed a gap developing between the sealant (caulk) round the edge of the bath-shower (behind the taps) and the tiles. I'd been meaning to do something about it for a while. Finally got round to taking a look and spent a pleasant couple of hours cutting/digging out the old sealant, behind the taps was a nightmare.

Having removed all the current sealant, When facing the taps the bath seems to slope downwards slightly from left to right. The gap between the tiles and the bath rim on the left is 3-4mm increasing to 8-9mm on the right hand side.
There's a small bit of tile grout filling in the gap on the left but nothing on the right, though I think the bead of grout may have been rotten with mould and it came loose when I pulled the previous sealant out.
I don't think the mould has made it to the plasterboard wall behind the tiles/bath. It seems there's another layer of transparent mastic/sealant covering the plasterboard wall, on which this mould has grown.

So as I see it, I need to:
1) Kill the mould. Do I just need to bleach/disinfect the area?
Should I let the gap dry out for a few days before or after killing the mould?
2) Fill in the wider gap on the right of the bath... do I need to put some new grout in there underneath the row of tiles, then new mastic/sealant on top?
Or do I just fill the whole lot up with new mastic/sealant?

I'm just aware that I could end up sealing mould in there with sealant or creating an airpocket in which more mould could eventually develop. I realise though that if I do a good job with the sealant, then hopefully there should be no gaps for water to be able to get down.

The new mastic/sealant I've got is bathroom anti-mould stuff designed for showers/baths. Not the internal frame stuff I've seen for door frams etc.

It's a new build property (3 years old) and we previously had significant mould problems in this area due to damp caused by the bath waste pipe not being correctly tightened to the plug hole, so water was running under the floorboards/carpet and being absorbed in places by plasterboard reaching the concrete floor underneath. It was fixed by the developer under their guarantee but it seems they mainly just sanded the mould in the walls down and painted over it.
No sign of that problem returning but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't properly fix any mouldy plasterboard behind the tiles round the bath.

If there is moisture still there, then mold and mildew will return. If the problem was not fixed, then it will return. Bathrooms are particularly bad in this respect, since moisture is a natural consequence of using water. I would expect to need to redo things like caulking every few years to fix this. It will not last forever.

Scrape/pull off the old silicon.
Apply a solution of bleach to kill the mold. Be careful when you apply it, as bleach can damage the clothes you are wearing. Keep the area ventilated well.
Let it dry. If you are in a hurry, a fan blowing on the area will help. A hair dryer can also speed that process considerably.
Apply new caulk in a smooth bead. I use my finger to spread it along the joint. Definitely use a high quality silicon caulk with a mold/mildew inhibitor. These are caulks that are designated for use in bathrooms.
Allow it to fully dry before you get it wet again. Give it a day or so. It will skin over in an hour or so, but make sure it has properly cured before use of the shower.

Expect to redo this process in some number of years. The exact time it will last depends on how well the area is ventilated.

Of course, there may be mold in the wall itself. This is difficult to deal with unless you tear the wall down to replace it completely, and even then water tends to attract the stuff. Mold spores are everywhere.


Baseboard register/vent sizing We recently purchased an older home (1943) I need to replace the old baseboard register. They had a 24inch baseboard register and upon taking it off and measuring the vent opening is only 15inches. Do i need to replace with a 15inch baseboard register or is replacing with a 24in fine? The only problem with buying a 15 inch is I will have spots with no trim and won't be able to match the existing trim.

Putting an oversized register on the vent was probably done for aesthetic purposes.  It should have no impact on the heating system.  If the register were to reduce flow it would be a concern but going from smaller opening to larger register won't do a thing to heat distribution.


Will petroleum jelly applied to the rubber on the outdoor power outlet help prolong the rubber life? After just a few years say 8 to 10 the rubber has been 'eaten up' by micro-organisms. Will petroleum jelly prevent that meaning prolong the life of the rubber?

Vaseline, also known as petroleum jelly is a petroleum product. Unless you can be comfortable that the rubber seal will not react to petroleum based products, consider to use a silicone based product. I've used a GE product known as dielectric grease on outdoor rubber items, specifically in the cable industry. Even with extreme southern USA sunshine, ocean salt air and plenty of microbes, the rubber lasts for years. I'd think that even a silicone plumbers grease would work if re-applied as needed.


Air purfier to save on air conditionig? We have to renovate an apartment on a low floor in a busy area and an expert advised us to install an air purifier system.

He said that these tools are beyond the relief they are entitled to air conditioning systems and the costs would be similar. According to him the air purifying systems tends to lower the temperature of 3/4 degrees also removing moisture.

Given that at present we have no air conditioning system but we thought of making the preparation, do you think a system of this type could help to save on air conditioning?

The engine of the system will be located outside the apartment on the balcony, and inside there will be the tubes and a mouth in each room. By now we have no decive on the model of the system, it was just a proposal

No. You're being sold a big scam. Where is the heat going? If it's a machine that generates electricity inside and has no connection to the outside, it's going to increase the amount of heat in the building. If it's an HRV or ERV system that exchanges and filters outside air, that's a different kettle of fish, but those systems are also not going to cool the house at all.

If you want it cooler in your apartment, consider actual cooling systems, better shading, radiant barriers, or more insulation.


Why am I getting arcing on my neutral bus in a sub-panel? I installed a sub panel from a main and am getting arcing on the sub panel neutral bar and neutral circuit wires are becoming discolored in sub panel. I checked for grounding of sub panel neutral bar and there is none. I removed all sub panel circuit wires and still had arcing. I Double checked wiring from main all was good. Voltage check on sub panel bus is fine. What could cause this arcing of neutral bar?

Loose lug nuts can lose you a race.  Loose neutral lugs can lose you your house

The arcing and failing branch circuit neutral connections in the subpanel are likely doing so because they're loose (i.e. insufficiently torqued).  Retightening them isn't enough though -- you will need to get a torque screwdriver in, turn the subpanel off, undo all the neutral screws, cut the burnt ends off the wires and restrip them, then reinstall and torque the neutral lugs to specification with the torque screwdriver.


I want to change my current 15 amp split outlet to a 20 amp Can I use a pigtail on the red and black ( at both ends) to do this? I have a 14/3 15 amp split plug that I want to change to a 20 amp GFI. Can I use a pigtail on the red and black to do this.

No you cannot do this.  The reason it's a 15A circuit is that it's wired with 14 ga. wire.  For a 20A circuit it generally takes 12 ga. wire.  So just changing out the plug does nothing but create a dangerous situation.

If you need a 20A GFCI-protected circuit the best and correct approach is to pull a new 12 ga. wire from a new GFCI breaker in the panel.


How to drill Stainless Steel? I'm doing a Half-pipe / skate ramp. I have to drill holes in a stainless tube but I wasn't able to with HSS Drill tips last night (I've followed youtube video tutorials). The stainless tube is this one.

Today I'm thinking about picking new drill tips, but not sure if this will work ?

Can someone experienced give me some advice? I'm using a driller and I also have a screw driver.

The steps: Lubricate, do it slowly, etc.

For drilling stainless steel (which is quite hard, thanks to the chromium), your best bet are cobalt-steel drill bits (here's an example). Cobalt steel drill bits are significantly harder than regular HSS drill bits and will cut the stainless steel much better, allowing easier drilling. They are characterized by a dark golden color (as opposed to lighter golden color of titanium-oxide coated bits, like the ones you've linked) and are more expensive than regular HSS bits.

Regarding technique, the trick for drilling hard metals is to drill with a slow speed and high pressure on the drill. The goal is to get the drill to "bite" the metal, cutting of shavings. A drill press will be very useful here (if you can get access to one). High speed drilling will often just overheat the drill bit and the metal, without actually doing anything. Cooling and lubricating are also important, but for 1.5mm wall thickness I think it's not that critical. Just make sure to cool the bit between holes.

In addition, the required hole size matters - for small holes (up to 3-4 mm) you'd need to be careful lest you break the drill bit (which is quite easy to do). For larger holes, it would be best to use progressively larger drill bits. Don't use drill bits that are too close in diameter, as this may cause them to screw into the metal instead of drilling it (for example, for an 8 mm hole, don't use 7mm and then 8mm. Use 5 and then 8, or 3, 6 and 8 or the like).

Use a center punch to get a starting point for the drill bit, to prevent wandering.

Finally, make sure you disable the percussion function of your drill when drilling. Percussion is used for masonry work, and will only damage the drill bit and work when drilling metal.


Can I mix 12 gauge and 14 gauge wire in the same 15 amp circuit? I have 12/3 wire from a switch to 3 light fixtures; can I feed the switch with 14/2 wire from a 15 amp breaker?

Yes.  There is no problem using 12 AWG wire on a circuit protected by a 15 ampere circuit breaker. If the lights; or anything else on the circuit, tries to draw more than the #14 wire can handle, the breaker will trip.


What specs to look for in solar panels to know it can power a product? I wish to run a pond pump (such as this here) off of solar electricity, because the electricity in my area is very expensive, but clouds are rare. For this example, it is listed as running on 199 Watts and no other details are given about its electricity in the manual. I don't have a good understanding of electricity. What specifications do I need to search for when attaching a solar panel to this? Does it just need to have >= 199 Watts listed? Is volts or some other detail important? If the sun goes behind a cloud, and power is reduced, can that break the products that are plugged into it?

You need a different pump, and you need help speccing it.
You lack enough knowledge about electricity to be able to design a system, spec a pump, and certainly to build it in a way that would work.  You'll either need to skill up, or get help.
Right off the bat, the pump you picked uses 120V AC power - the zappy kind that can kill you, and that you buy from the power company.
If the goal is to go solar, you probably want another kind of power, called low voltage DC power, commonly 12 or 24 volts, and that is the kind that is used in cars.

You would need to identify and purchase a pump which happily ran on that voltage and type of power.
Usable solar panels already provide that type of power, so that part is largely done.
It won't be hard to add a charge controller and battery if you wanted to bridge across cloudy moments.


How should I connect to an existing threaded ABS sink trap fitting? My wife got rid of the old sink and trap that was attached. Didn’t honk much of it, but as a novice, when I got under to attach a j trap, realized I had no idea how to connect to the pipe from the wall due to the connection.  Are there connectors that connect male/male?  Is that even what I need?

It looks pretty standard.  You'll need (obviously) the right set of pipes to construct a J trap that reaches from your wall pipes to the bottom of the sink. A kit might be available in your hardware store.  Measure the pipe diameter (likely 1.25 inches in the US ) to be sure.


Fixing paint situation after using untinted base paint I stupidly bought a 5-gallon bucket of untinted "deep" interior base paint thinking that I could paint walls white with it. Only after putting about two gallons on the walls and letting it dry did I realize that although the paint is white when wet, it is almost translucent when it dries, and I should have had the base tinted before applying. The old paint color bleeds through, even after multiple coats.

So I've learned my lesson about untinted bases. My question is whether I can now just paint over the walls with a properly tinted paint. Is there any reason why not?

Secondarily, is there anything I can do to salvage the ~3 gallons of untinted base that I have? It was expensive, high-quality paint and I'd hate to waste it. The paint store said they can't tint partially full buckets. Can I tint it in any other way? I'm not particular about the color as long as it is whitish.

Yeah, I'm afraid you blew it. Right idea, wrong base.

Paint is made in several levels of base.   A white base which has lots and lots of white tint, and is intended to have small amounts of color added, to ultimately create an off-white.   A medium base has less white tint and is intended to make more colorific colors like pastels (most architectural coatings are pastels or off-whites).  And a deep base has no white tint at all, and is intended to be entirely colored by the squirts of color from the tinting machine.  This is to allow deep and high-impact colors such as

src

What's more, deep bases are expected to use a lot of squirts of pigment from the carousel.  Those pigments aren't cheap, so they up the price on the assumption they'll be giving you a lot of pigment.  Also, they leave extra room in the can for all that pigment, so to add insult to injury, you get less paint.

So what you have there is effectively varnish.

How do you fix it?  Well, you may notice that the pigment carousel at the hardware store doesn't have any white pigment.  The white pigment comes in the white or medium base cans.  It is not possible for the paint shop to turn a deep base into white.

You might try buying some titanium dioxide pigment and seeing if you can pigment-load the base.  It's not terribly expensive; it's worth some experimentation.  Since you are only using one pigment, there's a fair chance the colors will match even with different ratios of base to pigment.

Your other option is to buy a gallon or quart of the same stuff, and measure exactly how much paint is actually in the can.  Then meter out your 5-gal., putting exactly that much paint into new cans.  They should be able to tint that, but it'll have to be a bold color.

... And in the future, even out your surfaces with primer.  It's designed to make unequal surfaces equal... and it's cheaper.  Use primer to prevent bleed-through, not paint.


Is primer required for fresh knockdown texture? I have freshly sprayed knockdown textured ceilings. I can not figure out if priming is necessary before coating it with flat white ceiling paint. Some people say it is okay to just paint it, some say it needs to be primed. Could someone clarify it for me?

You should prime it first. Primer is essential to get good adhesion and coverage.

If you're really trying to avoid applying two coats, the next best thing would be a paint + primer combo.


How should I connect my dishwasher if the wires are yellow and blue? I am installing a dishwasher, the household connection has a yellow and blue wire, while the dishwasher has a black and white. Which one should i connect to the white and black?

Where are you located and how old is the house?

In the U.S. there are some standards for household wire color coding: http://www.angieslist.com/articles/what-do-electrical-wire-color-codes-mean.htm

If you own a multimeter, you can measure the voltage on the yellow and blue wires. Determine what the voltage is and if it's correct for the dishwasher. You will also be able to tell which wire is hot and which is neutral.

The black on the dishwasher is your hot wire, and the white is the neutral.

If you are not able to, or not comfortable testing the wires, please hire a professional to do it for you. Household electrical can be dangerous and must be done correctly.


how can I Soundproof a room without wall modifications My My room is right next to the staircase and basically I have two neighbours that does a lot a noise, the ones right next to me and under me, the noise doesn't go through the floor but by the staircase/hallway and then straight through the walls see diagram :

I saw a few things like using rockwool etc but they all require construction and I rent this flat so I can't do any hard work on it. Is there anything I can do to soundproof these walls that doesn't costs a ton and that can be placed and then removed when I leave ?

I don't mind if it's ugly I'd rather sleep in an ugly room than stay awake all night in a pretty one

Update: with all the concerns you can also use what is called Mass Loaded Vinyl which is normally used in a non abrasive method which is good for places such as rentals, flats, homes etc.

  Mass Loaded Vinyl is used to reduce airborne sound transmission
  through walls, floors and ceilings. They are typically comprised of  a
  limp-mass material sound barrier made of high-temperature fused vinyl
  and no lead fillers.  With a typical weight of 1 lb. per square foot,
  these barriers are as heavy as lead, but only 1/8" thick. This
  improves the sound transmission loss (STC) of a construction assembly
  without losing valuable space. It may be used in new and retrofit
  soundproofing construction. The standard offering is a non-reinforced
  barrier for use in typical construction. Other configurations include
  lag and wrap materials for pipes and ducting, a transparent version to
  allow line of site or light, a surface mount option and a reinforced
  version that may be suspended. These materials are often combined with
  other materials in soundproofing applications to help provide a
  complete sound blocking solution.

You can check it out here. I am in no way affiliated with acoustical solutions.

https://acousticalsolutions.com/product-category/sound-barriers/mass-loaded-vinyl/

You can use soundproofing foam, this is how we soundproof recording studios or if you want something cheaper, you can use egg crate flats. Each will require at least some glue.

foam

egg crate flats


Does code require the gas line to be replaced when replacing a furnace? I replaced my 45 year old (still working) original furnace with an American Standard furnace about 5 1/2 years ago. Now I have a gas leak; the Nicor technician sealed a connection in the gas pipe connected to the furnace. He noticed the original gas line was being used & was crooked & could not thread properly, causing the gas leak.

Should old gas lines be replaced w/new installation? Is that "code"?

Not necessarily.  Usually in these situations the existing infrastructure must be brought up to current code.   A licensed installer would not install the furnace without insuring that the supply and the exhaust were up to current standards.


GE gas dryer noise - is this from motor? Hi I'm trying to fix my 13 year old dryer. It's started to have squeaking noise but I was able to fix that by replacing the front and rear bearing. Now it's starting to have this noise and I think this is possibly from the motor based on some search on the Internet. But the motor has no problem starting the spin at all, it starts as soon as I hit the switch. Can anyone confirm this is noise from the motor? The video has the recorded noise https://youtu.be/AzQQwjan0LQ Thanks much!

No Ted, I believe it is the dryers blower that's creating the sound. The blower pushes the hot air into the dryer. I may be hearing things but to me it sounded as if an article of clothing may be stuck inside the blower and is causing the "fluttering" noise you hear.  Since you are familiar with fixing the dryer bearings, unplug the power cord and then open the dryer case to get to the blower in the back. Look for any obstructions (lint, socks..).


What do you call a very flexible rod? At work, the guy next to me goes to sites and does cable installs. He is having an issue with one site where there is a 90 degree bend and a traditional rod is not flexible enough.

He has been trying to source a tool for a while that he has used on a previous job that he thinks is called a "jimmy", which is very flexible and runs from a pump, but, after ringing around a few suppliers, we are unable to source the correct tool.

I was wondering if anyone knows what this is called or can anyone recommend any other tool for the job?

Your friend is looking for Fish Tape, like this

or like this.


Can I connect two wires to a single screw terminal in my HVAC system? I am installing a new honeywell WiFi thermostat but the old battery operated thermostat had batteries and no "C" wire. I look at both the thermostat and the air handler and found an extra un-used blue wire but no "C" terminal at the air handler control panel. From reading other post and looking at my wiring diagram I guess my "C" would be the "B" on the terminal block but there is already a white wire on it. Can I hook up 2 wires on this "B" terminal? If not where do I hook up the blue wire coming from the "C" on the thermostat?

The schematic image you've attached is difficult to see, so I can't say for sure. Based on the wiring, I would say that the B terminal would work as C.

Since I'm not there and can't test things, I have to make some assumptions.  Based on the wiring, it looks like the one cable goes to the thermostat and another goes to the outdoor air conditioning unit. Since the red wire from the A/C cable is grouped in on the Y terminal, and the white wire from the A/C cable is on the B terminal. One can reason that the B terminal should be connected to one side of the transformer coil, while R is connected to the other.

You can test this theory by setting a multimeter (or voltmeter) to AC volts, and testing between the R and B terminals. You should read ~24 volts.

You can either connect both the white wire that's already on the B terminal, and the new C wire to the screw terminal. Or you can connect the white wire and your new wire together with a spare bit of wire, using a twist-on wire connector. Then connect the other end of the spare bit of wire under the B terminal screw.


Trenching and running power to detached garage about 135 feet away Location: Wisconsin

I am having the electric company transition my wiring from overhead to underground, upgrade my service (it might only be 60amp right now) to 200amp, having another company replace my panel with a new one (200amp), and installing a pedestal to make it solar ready if I ever choose to go that route.

The pricing on that portion of it seemed pretty fair but they also estimated the power to the detached garage and it's way too high in my opinion. Much higher than I would have imagined. They were estimating $25 per foot for (hand?)trenching and running wire (total of $3375) and then a few hundred more for some basic light switch installs, etc. This seemed rather expensive to me.

The house is roughly 135 feet away from the garage. I will only add a couple outlets (or an outlet strip), light switch, and some lighting. I expect this to basically be a 20amp circuit.

According to this voltage calculator, it would recommend this for copper:

  1 conductors per phase utilizing a #6 Copper conductor will limit the voltage drop to 1.99% or less when supplying 20.0 amps for 135 feet on a 120 volt system.

and this for aluminum

  1 conductors per phase utilizing a #4 Aluminum conductor will limit the voltage drop to 2.06% or less when supplying 20.0 amps for 135 feet on a 120 volt system.

I'm assuming those are both THHN, whatever that means. I'm not sure I am looking at the proper wires from HomeDepot but I assume the difference will be negligible and it would cost me a few hundred dollars for the wire itself. Then to rent a trencher it would only cost about $100. Then to do the wiring it would mostly just cost me time.

Is this something I could do myself? Am I missing some aspect of this that would make it harder than it really is? What wiring should I be looking at? Does it make sense to use conduit here or can I get away with in-ground wiring?

You need THWN

Since underground conduit is assumed to be full of water, you need wet-location wire, such as THWN.  Fortunately, garden-variety building wire you get for conduit jobs is dual-rated THHN/THWN 99.9% of the time, so finding THWN is just as easy as finding THHN.

Also, use a bare copper ground wire -- you'll need to use 6AWG for this if you use the 6AWG copper or 4AWG aluminum hot wires because of 250.122(B) which requires the ground to be upsized when upsizing wires to control for voltage drop, but you'll still be able to save on conduit fill area that way.  The phase and neutral wires can be copper or aluminum as they're running from breaker lug to breaker lug most likely anyway, and breaker lugs have no trouble with aluminum wire provided they're torqued correctly.

Put in the fattest conduit you can get

This is a job for the fattest schedule 80 PVC you can lay your hands on -- it'll make future upgrades easier, and also make your pulling job easier especially since you have 135' and two 90deg sweeps to contend with.  Also, make sure to get Schedule 80 -- it's more resistant to accidents than Schedule 40 is, which is important for the terminations.

You'll need a disconnect at the garage (and perhaps a ground rod too)

You'll need some sort of disconnecting means at the garage.  A spa disconnect that's been retrofitted for straight-up 120V use works, or you can even use a 20A light switch, but the best plan is to put a decent sized main breaker subpanel in a NEMA 3R enclosure in there (a 20 slot, 100 or 125A unit with a backfed 20A main breaker would be my bare minimum), making sure the bonding screw gets pulled (unless you go with Harper's transformer plan) and the neutral and ground feeder wires are landed to the correct busses in the subpanel.  This does mean you'll need to run some more of that bare 6AWG copper from the subpanel grounding bus to a driven ground rod as the exception to 250.32(A) no longer applies, but that's cheap (and good) insurance even on an underground run (I'd consider it mandatory for an overhead run).

Last but not least: TORQUE MATTERS.

One thing you'll want to make sure of with this job is that your connections are torqued to manufacturer specifications.  "Gudntite" can easily be too tight, leading to connection failures down the road with setscrew lugs, especially with aluminum wire as it's softer and easier to damage than the stiffer copper stuff.  Also, this is a requirement as of the 2017 NEC, see 110.14(D) for details.

In practice, this means you'll need an inch-pound torque screwdriver for torquing down the connections properly -- make sure it can go down to 10 in-lbs for receptacles and switches, and up to 50 in-lbs for torquing down the breaker and lug setscrews.  Better that than the electrical version of being Greg Biffle trying to lose lugnuts mid-race, don't you think?


Replacing socket, only one hot wire, two neutrals from different places I am replacing a socket because a prong got stuck in it and it was painted over.

When I removed it, I was surprised at what I saw.

The top socket had the red and white wires coming from the left connected to it as you would expect.

However, the bottom socket only was connected to the white neutral from the right.

Am I correct for thinking this is odd? Or is this standard practice?

How do I most safely deal with this situation?

Thanks to Harper's comment on my question, and his comment on a deleted answer, I came up with a solution.

Both to play it safe (i don't know why, but I don't like the idea of using a socket as a wire nut) and because I did not have enough length left on the original hotwire, I went with the following:

I tied the two original neutrals as well as a new neutral together with a wire nut. The new neutral goes to the top neutral side of the socket.

I tied a new hot wire to the original with a wire nut, running the new hotwire to the bottom hot side of the socket.

No tabs broken on the socket.

This seems to work fine.


Is it OK to turn off power to a fuel furnace? Is it OK to turn off the power to a fuel furnace to replace the thermostat? Will the furnace start back up once power is restored? This is on a new furnace with an old thermostat and fuse panel.

Yes, it is fine to turn off the power, and you should. The wires going to the thermostat are low-voltage (typically 24V AC), but connecting the wrong ones can still potentially damage the control circuitry.

Most furnaces made in the last 10-20 years use electronic ignition, so there is no pilot light to worry about (if that's what you are worried about). Even with a pilot light, I don't believe it would be an issue, but at worst case you'd have to re-light the pilot.


Three 15 A receptacles on a 20 A breaker I need to wire three (3) 15 A receptacles. I also have some spare yellow 20 A Romex laying around.
Is there any issue with wiring those up? I got a dedicated 20 A breaker to daisy chain the three.

Yes, that’s fine. The NEC specifically allows multiple 15A receptacles on a 20A branch circuit. You must use 12Ga or larger (if in copper) for all wiring - any 14 and you must use a 15A breaker.
This is an exception to the general rules. You can’t put a single 15A receptacle on a 20A circuit and you can’t do things like putting multiple 20A receptacles on a 30A circuit.


How to remove dryer from top of stacked washer/dryer in small closet? I have a washer and dryer stacked on top of each other in a fairly tight closet,  see picture below.  Due to a couple electrical boxes on one side of the closet, I am unable to slide the units to the side to access the back of the closet.  By climbing on top of the stack I can see that the water hoses are too short to slide the whole unit out of the door, as suggested in this question:
How to move stacked washer/dryer from closet

There does appear to be enough dryer vent and electrical cord to move just the dryer all the way out of the door.

I have verified that the dryer will come free of the washer by removing a couple screws on the front of the unit.

I'm not strong enough nor large enough to move the 127 lbs of dryer by myself, and due to the space restrictions of the closet I can't see how to get another person in the space to help me with the lift.  Additionally, the width of dryer is 27" while the width of the door at the smallest point is 29.5" which means it would be impossible to carry the unit out the door and have your arms wrapped around the side of the unit.

What is the easiest method of removing the dryer from the top of the washer for servicing?  What tools or devices are recommended to help safety remove the dryer?

Looks to me like there is enough room in there to tilt the whole set over.  Which is likely how the installers did it.  Place some thick blankets/moving pads on your floor.  Make sure you put all the screws back so it is secured and tilt the whole unit over out and out the doorway.  You should then be able to maneuver it enough to get all the attachment screws out and separate the two then til the units back upright.  I strongly recommend getting a second set of hands to do this though.


Furnace Inducer Whirrs on and off before igniting, works when I tap circuit board My furnace gets the signal from the thermostat, then about half of the time, the inducer motor whirrs on and off over and over. Sometimes it runs continuously without ever lighting.

When I open it up, hold down the cover button and tap the circuit board the light on the board comes back on and the furnace works normally.

I replaced the circuit board last year but the problem persists. I'm assuming there's a bad connection somewhere - where should I look?

Tracking down an intermittent problem like this requires being careful and methodical.

First, take Ed Beal's suggestion pull the switch out so the furnace runs without the cover. Then, start tracking results. Are you sure that tapping the circuit board fixes it? How about wiggling the wires, one by one? Or, can you cause the problem to occur (not go away) by wiggling something?

Eventually you'll narrow it down to the flaky component, but it may take a while. Good luck.


Can 2 light bulbs of 120V in series be used on 230V AC? I'm considering to buy full spectrum incandescent bulbs in the US, to be used here in Europe. Here these types of bulbs are rare, since it's mostly LED these days.

First I thought I needed to step down the voltage, for instance with a travel converter for the US market. But someone made a side remark to switch it in series.

I know a 120V bulb on 230V mains would instantly burn out. But from high school experiments I vaguely remember the series layout might actually work: put 2 bulbs in series and the 230V would be half: 115V. But what about the current?

Questions:

Would 2 bulbs rated 120V/150W in series on 230V mains work?
Would they glow (almost) equally bright as 2 bulbs rated 230V/150W in a parallel layout?
Would it work with a dimmer?

It is possible, as long as they use the same power (or resistance).

However, it comes at a risk. If one of the bulbs uses less power (for whatever reason, maybe damaged/end of light ... see Ferrybig's remark below for a good reason), the other uses more, and will break (faster), so it's not a perfect solution.

Because of P = V * I <=> 150 = 110 * I, I = 1.36 A for two bulbs, which is 0.68 A per bulb.

For the 220V way: P = V * I <=> 150 = 220 * I, I = 0.68 A per bulb.


Leaking wall-mounted toilet (Duravit) I have a Duravit Model-No. 253509 wall-mounted toilet that is leaking in a minor way around the wall. Please see below for some photos and details.

Please let me know if you have ideas on the source of the issue and potential solutions. Could this be from the in-wall tank, or does it have something to do with the toilet-wall mount?

enter image description here

You’re going to need to pull the bowl off the carrier/wall.  Based on the fact the leak appears to be towards the top of the bowl, I’d check the filler tube/inlet.  Make sure it’s cut to the correct length and make sure the gasket is greased so it goes in straight and smooth.  I seriously doubt it’s the carrier.


Why does my shed door expand/shrink? I built a shed door last summer and have had a few problems with it since.

Using pressure treated outdoor timber I made a fairly simple shed door. I wood glued the long planks together and then used four straight braces across the back that I glued and screwed into the long front planks. I then painted the door with standard shed type paint (Ronseal)

All seemed fine at first until winter hit where the front planks in the middle started to come away from the braces, but also to push out at the top so it was deformed and the door would no longer close properly. It made quite a gap between the second and third long planks when it was perfectly flat together before. I would say it moves anywhere from 1/2 an inch to 2 inches (1 to 5 cm)!

This year it started to go back to normal and the gap disappeared, but as it's got cold again recently it's re-appeared again.

Is there anything I can do to fix the problem? Or should I start again with a new door?
What can I do in the future to avoid this issue?

Welcome to the joys of working with a natural product!

Before I address your construction techniques, I've got to say that is a quite handsome looking door you've made. Well done!

Wood moves. It expands and contracts as temperature and humidity change. It's a "feature" of wood that you cannot and will not be able to change. It's so critical, common and expected that you must plan for it when you're working with wood. As a matter of fact, if you have a dining room table with a solid wood top (not a particle board/press board/chip board IKEA style table top), you can take a look at the underside to see that your table top is not firmly attached to the legs or skirt boards. It's attached loosely so that the top can move with the wood expansion without destroying the table. Usually, a metal clip (though there may be a wooden clip) is slipped into a slot in the skirt board, then screwed firmly into the top. This holds the top firmly down, but allows the clip to slide in the slot. You'll note that there is no glue in sight when it comes to attaching the top to the skirt boards! Now, consider that the kitchen table is inside the house where the temperature and humidity are reasonably stable year round, as opposed to your poor shed door that's exposed to the elements and the full extremes of temperature and humidity swings that your neighborhood experiences. You're going to have to do something similar for your shed door.

You said you built your door in the summer. What's happening is that as the temperature gets colder and the humidity drops during the winder, the wood is shrinking. Since you've very firmly glued those horizontal braces across the back and the strap hinges across the front, the wood has no freedom to move as it shrinks, so the individual pieces start twisting and bowing. It's their only option, and it means your door won't fit anymore. The good news, as you noticed, is that when the temperature and humidity return to near build conditions, the wood returns to its original size and the door fits again.

Wood moves across it's width significantly more than along its length. That is, for your door, it wants to get wider, not taller. Since the horizontal pieces across the back are holding the vertical boards tightly together, there's no way for the wood to adjust itself, so it's warping on you.

The horizontal bracing pieces across the back will want to grow taller (in this orientation), not longer. Since they're glued to the vertical boards that aren't moving in that direction, they'll causing warping of the whole door as they expand.

Fortunately, the fix MIGHT BE fairly simple and doesn't involve any additional purchases (like fancy clips):

Take the door off the hinges
Remove the horizontal pieces from the back (I'd suggest doing them 1 at a time).

This involves not just undoing the screws, but prying them off of the glue.
You may end up destroying your horizontal pieces, and may remove chunks from the vertical pieces.
When you're done with this process, you'll have full confidence in the strength of wood glue. If you did a good job of gluing (and it sounds like you did), it's gonna be tough!!

Modify the holes that the screw goes through the horizontal piece from a hole to a slot.

It doesn't have to be a very big slot, maybe 1/4" (4-5mm).
You can do this by putting a bit in your drill; putting the bit through the hole; then, while the drill is running, rocking the drill side-to-side in the hole to elongate it into a bit of an oval. The bit used should provide clearance for the attaching screws. That is, it should be just larger than the diameter of the threads. It is the screw head that should hold the bracing on the back, not the threads.
Note that you want the slots to be horizontal when the horizontal bracing goes back on. That means the the slots should run along the length of the back bracing, not across its width.
This isn't rocket surgery, so don't worry if your slots aren't exactly 1/4" and if they don't match each other in size exactly, or if they're not exactly along the long dimension of the horizontal brace.

Reattach the horizontal board to the verticals. You'll want it to be snug enough not to wobble, but not so tight that you're pulling the screw head down into the wood. You may consider putting a washer under the screw head if they were previously countersunk or if your widening also made the slots a bit taller.

Once you've finished this process for all your horizontal boards, rehang the door. It should still feel nice and solid - you did get the screws tight, after all. However, as the wood shrinks come winter, the screws, solidly anchored in the vertical boards that make up the door, will have room to move in the slots in the horizontal backer pieces, thus allowing the wood room to move without forcing things to warp.

An additional consideration

You may will want to put a diagonal on the back of the door, instead of just the horizontal boards. If there is a single screw running through each of those horizontal boards, over time the handle side will want to sag and the boards will be allowed to pivot around that single screw. Since you glued the horizontal bracing on, you probably won't experience sag, but you'll have the warp you already experienced. When you properly rebuild the door without glue, it'll sag. If you attach a board on a diagonal, it will prevent this sagging. In order to avoid rebuilding the entire door (if possible), you could add diagonals in the top and bottom thirds. Just be sure to create slots for the screws going through the new diagonals, not holes, or you'll just shift the problem.

Unfortunately, the fix MIGHT end up destroying the wood (to the point where you'd not be happy reusing it) as you try to break up the glue joints. Glue between the vertical pieces of the front is excellent - it's exactly what you want. The glue holding the horizontal boards cross-grain on the back is probably causing 90% of your problem. If you determine that the wood is no longer suitable to purpose, you're going to have to start from scratch. If that happens, my suggestions are:

Build the main door door slab exactly as you did before - edge glue the vertical boards together.
Install one horizontal board across the back at the top with screws only (no glue), and make expansion slots through this board as described above.

Note that this does not need to be at the very top of the door. You can move it down some for nice visual balance of the brace on the back and the strap hinge on the front.

Install one horizontal board across the back at the bottom, the same as above.

Note that this does not need to be at the very bottom of the door. You can move it up some for nice visual balance of the brace on the back and the strap hinge on the front.

Install one diagonal board between your two horizontals. Again, no glue, and slotted holes (the holes should be slotted horizontally when the diagonal is installed).
Reinstall the top strap hinge into the top horizontal back brace.
Relocate the lower strap hinge to the bottom of the door so it goes into the bottom horizontal back brace.

If you build in the summer, the wood should be at its maximum width. If the door fits, it will still fit in the winter. It's possible that the slab will shrink enough to allow the bracing on the back to show and may allow water/wind around the door and into the shed. If it's important that the shed remain dry inside, install weather stripping to protect it.

If you build in the winter, the wood will be near its minimum width. If the door just fits now, it will not fit when the wood expands in the summer. Make the door a bit smaller to allow for this expansion. There are a variety of references available online that will offer ranges of expansion for different types of wood (it's a natural product - each tree may expand a different amount). Use these tables to estimate the expansion you should expect and adjust your sizing accordingly.

A thought on those hinges:

They look really nice and I like them - a lot! However, since they're metal, and the metal won't move as much as the wood will, they're going to have the same binding effect on the expansion of the door that the glued on horizontal boards did. Metal will heat and expand during the day and shrink back down at night, so it will move some, but it is very unlikely that it will move as much as the seasonal changes you're seeing in the wood.

You may want to consider using a slightly smaller bolt when attaching the hinges than was originally called for. This will give the bolt room to move in the metal hole as the wood shrinks/expands during the year and you'd end up with the same effect as your slotted holes in the backside bracing.

Optionally, if you can securely clamp the hinge without damaging it, you might drill out the holes to make them slightly larger, then use the original bolts. This would be the way to go if you're able to reuse the door panel after disassembly of the bracing on the back. Smaller bolts won't hold in the old holes from the larger ones. It would also save on the purchase of new bolts, even if you do have to rebuild the entire thing.

A thought on Pressure Treated lumber

PT lumber is always a good choice for outdoor wood work. Bear in mind, though, that when you buy it, it's going to be pretty wet. Sometimes so wet that it will leave some dampness on your hands as you're working with it. Wet wood is big wood and it will shrink over time. If at all possible, buy your PT lumber ahead of time and let it dry out for a couple of months prior to starting construction. That will help reduce the amount of shrinking you'll get in your project.

I realize that this isn't always possible nor practical, but it's something to consider when you're building something somewhat size critical like a door.

One more time:

NEVER glue boards cross-grain. It will prevent the wood from moving and will cause warping.

Well, almost never. One board, glued cross-grain to another board is generally OK up to a certain width. Two 2x4s are going to be OK, two 2x6s are probably good. Beyond that you're going to start asking for trouble. Check those resources for expansion for the species you're working with.


Which side of an over-tightened brass NPT joint needs to be replaced? I have a brass nipple screwed into a brass elbow and the joint is leaking. After half a dozen tries at re-wrapping with teflon tape, I decided to see if I could just tighten the problem away. ~150 foot pounds of torque later, the leak had slowed but not stopped and I am out of leverage. I assume that I have damaged one or both of the components at this point. Is there a way to tell which, before I replace both?

Try this; take the fitting back apart. Put 2-3 wraps of teflon tape (no more than 3). then coat the male threads with RTV silicone caulking. snug as normal and let set overnight. I would normally not use the teflon tape but the brass has been stretched and enlarged by the over tightening. When I as still working I would put whole jobs together using only RTV silicone and no pipe dope or teflon tape.


Flies in the house every spring Is it possible that the flies are entering the house through the cold air returns and/or the heating/air conditioning vents??   We have a crawlspace for the basement and have determined that's where Chipmunks live.  If the flies can enter through our vents, I plan to screen the backsides of those vents. I have found no other source of possible entry into our house.

We bought a house on a golf course in Colorado. After we moved in we found out we had plenty of flies, EVERY single day. The house is big but new (2003). WE asked pest control, they couldn't figure it out. Everyone around here was saying it's a problem with big homes!!
In the meantime, my husband wanted to organize the garage so he hired a handyman to hang ladders and stuff on the wall of the garage. The handyman started drilling holes in the wall under a window but he couldn't find the studs. He pulled the wall and found that under that window (there is a porch above that window) all the wood was rotten but not wet. It turned out that there had been a leak on that porch and previous owners had replaced the porch, however, there were no signs of the water getting inside the walls, hence the rotten wood! So, we had the contractors replace the entire wall. Since then we have had no flies.
 Flies were getting in through that rotten wall. If my husband hadn't decided to rearrange the garage, we would have never gotten rid of those flies.
I am not sure if this will help anyone but it sure is a strange way of finding out how flies get into a house.


How to fireproof steel beam in existing (45 year old) house My living room ceilings were a mess, so I ordered new 2.4m x 1.2m panels and tore it the old stuff down a few hours ahead of delivery. What fun!
Not fun was finding that the steel beam in the ceiling/floor space has no fire proofing. I'm in the UK and there's regulations about this - steel beams must survive 30 mins of fire. Your insurance is invalidated without that. Who knows when this misdeed was committed, but I have to remedy it.
Pics:

There is loads of advice online about new builds and new home-improvement work that put in new beams. Nothing that I can find from UK-GOV about old/existing houses.  If there had been something there before, even it was shitty by today's standard, I would have been able to leave it in.
The beam is not exposed. If it was I could have used intumescent paint. I think I could do if it wasn't exposed, but it would still need 5cm expansion space before the regular plasterboard (drywall or sheetrock depending on your local language) layer, but it only a 15mm gap
Here's a guy who knows what he's doing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGhHn6ULAJM (fast forward to 7m 30s) - putting on double-thickness of regular plasterboard. Is that to regulation? People ask him questions in the youtube comments but he does not answer them. I could do this, but it is very intricate.
There's also "Glasroc F MULTIBOARD" that's for fire proofing - this can be single layer, I think. Videos of people cutting that make it look consumer safe.  Three sides of this, then the regular plasterboard below that. Or Just the bottom in Glasroc - a whole 1.2m wide - instead of the regular plasterboard for that section of the ceiling?
More videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOhtCJzmMPM - a man using "GirdaGrips" (exposed beam)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X9abfmZd-g - a lady strapping a plank to the underside of the beam. Her's is an exposed beam, but I could do the same for the underside of mine given the room between it and the level of the ceiling plasterboard

After I'm done do I need an official inspection?  Do I record my own video of my work for any purpose including if we were to sell the house?

Adjacent houses had one of the nastier asbestos boards in the groove seen between the joists and under the metal. Then the regular plasterboard layer. Fireboard is what we put up in the same position, then plasterboard. "Grandfathered in" being the position re regulations.
Legally, we need fireproofing to regulations for steel beams as:

in the case of a small fire, the dwelling should no collapse beyond what would be expected. This is to protect people (say firemen/women) who may be there at the time, or in the aftermath. The fire protection for beams allow them to survive longer without collapsing and perhaps benefit from a water via a fire hose (say) 30 mins after the fire started.

Your insurance claim could be invalidated if there was no fire protection for beams, or the fire protection was inadequate given regulations.  This reinforces the home owners willingness to attend to #1 above.


Isolator switch for electric generator to change from bonded to floating neutral I have an electric Power generator and have a manual transfer switch to use a Power generator when the utility power is out. So the electric power generator is used as is with bonded neutral when used stand alone, but must be set to floating neutral when connected to the transfer switch, per the instructions from the manufacturer. I originally installed a switch to the screw on the case, but it is rated to 250V 20 Amps, but my generator has a max of 240V 50 Amps 9KW.
It is difficult to find a small enough switch for 240V 50 amps AC that can fit inside the generator housing. I was thinking if I can use an isolation switch like those used for car batteries that are rated at 500 amps, but at 12 DC Volts.
The bonding cable is the top right white cable screwed on the casing.

Battery isolation switch

The transfer switch has the neutrals connected along with ground to the home.

The root problem is you are modifying an appliance that is UL-listed, thus, voiding the UL listing.  And further, you create a situation that Code really does not like, where a procedure is essential to safety.  Code wants interlocks to be mechanical.
Assuming this thing has an internal GFCI to keep you honest, the problem is on the other side: when you've disconnected it from the house and are now using it portable, and you forget to restore the N-G connection.   Again the internal GFCI will protect you here, if it exists and works - but not every outlet has GFCI.  In fact the company has a page on how to disconnect the N-G bond for powering a refrigerator (which often trip GFCIs).
I am a huge fan of "permanent wiring done temporarily", so I would just bolt on a small box and put the appropriate wrenches in that box, and simply follow the factory procedure for removing/reapplying the N-G bond.
If you had to use a switch, I agree, a 12V switch is probably insufficient. Your best bet that's readily available is 30A snap switches intended for water heaters etc.  If it's 2-pole, parallel it. (still a codevio, but more suitable for the service).


Clunking sound when ground water heat pump stops running This clunking sound is one loud sound followed by a few smaller clunks.  It seems to be coming from the water supply pvc pipe that supplies water to the heat pump in the basement.  The sound starts near the heat pump and runs back towards the bladder tank 25 feet away where the water supply enters the basement. A 1/2 hp submersible pump supplies the water from a depth of about 40 feet.  I have secured the supply pipe to the floor joists, but the noises persists.  This system is almost 20 years old. It has only been making loud noises the last couple weeks.

Could this be caused by air trapped in the pipe?  If so, what is the remedy? Thanks

Could be a loose mounting bolt on the compressor, or the other common noise a heatpump makes that concerns people is the reversing valve shifting. This changes the direction of high pressure refrigerant, and low pressure refrigerant. Causing line sets to hammer, if not properly secured. If sound is loud check the supports on the line sets (copper lines from outside to inside assuming it is a split system.)


Need help reinforcing a pergola We built a pergola last fall and are noticing some wiggle in the structure.

The columns are bolted into deepened edges of a concrete slab, But we did not want traditional brackets at the column to roof connection, so unfortunately the structure is not designed well for shear.

The structure is 8' to bottom of roof on the low side of the 1:12 roof. I wonder if we can add tension rods as an x at top of the columns. The bottom of the x would be at 6'8". Or maybe we could add trellis on two sides of the structure?

Any other ideas?

I'd add a knee brace that matches your post size. Install (2) Simpson Strong Tie KBS1Z at the base of each brace and provide a single thru bolt at the top of the brace, centered at the mid depth of the beam. The thru bolt should be similar to those used at the top of the posts, just make sure you penetrate all 3 members and it's at least 1/4" in diameter. Make sure the brace is angled somewhere between 30 and 60 degrees and you're in the clear.

 http://embed.widencdn.net/pdf/plus/ssttoolbox/qyjicced3n/C-C-2019-p296.pdf


Voltage in incomplete circuit This might be better asked over on electrical engineering, but it concerns household voltage and I know we have a some smart electricians on this site, so maybe one of you might be able to shed some light.

One of my sump pumps and my A/C condenser fan both broke this evening. It seemed an odd coincidence and we'd had a few mild surges from a thunderstorm passing through, so I wanted to check the voltage at an outlet to see what was coming through from the grid.

I picked a random outlet in the kitchen and stuck the probes in, getting a rather boring 123v between the poles. So I guess the motor issues really were just coincidental. However, I noticed as I was removing the probes that I still get a reading with only one connected. If I leave the neutral connected and hold the other probe in the air, I get a reading of ~2v. If I do the same with only the hot terminal connected, the reading is almost 20v.

Can my outlets really just dump that much voltage into (literally) thin air, or is something else going on here? Is the air highly charged from the storm (wouldn't we feel it?) What could cause these readings?

Thermostat is reporting 68% relative humidity if that makes any difference.

Volt meters are rated in mega ohms per volt. Most meters today are at least 1M ohm with many being 10M this so the meter won't load the circuit and provide an inaccurate reading. Since the impedance of the meter is so high it can detect voltage with almost no potential or what we call phantom voltage. There are low Z or low impedance meters out there that put enough of a load that phantom voltages won't be read, but in electronics trouble shooting low Z meters affect the circuit that's why most meters are high impedance.


Washer trips breaker at spin? My GE washing machine has been working for 6 months and is now tripping switch at agitate and spin cycles.  It will not spin or agitate and mainly trips with lid closed?  IDEAS?

While I can't be 100% sure -- it sounds like the motor is pulling excessive start current and causing the breaker to trip.

Try spinning the drum by hand with the washing machine not running/empty -- if it spins freely (your washer is belt drive) then I'd start by replacing the motor/inverter assembly.

If the drum doesn't spin freely then you have a drive system problem somewhere.


Did the cove molding that I'm removing support the drywall panels behind it? just looking for a little reassurance really - decorating the hallway in a house we have recently moved in to, The plaster coving has been done very poorly - very uneven, very visible joins etc. I was in 2 minds whether to remove and replace but knew if I didn't it would annoy me. The coving is plaster, I will replace with the polystyrene coving. As i started removing the coving there is quite a large gap between the sheet plaster on the wall and the sheet plaster on the ceiling - like an inch or so. I kind of expected the two to meet. There's no danger that the coving was helping support the roof sheets and by removing the coving I risk the roof sheets dropping?

No, the decorative cove molding is not supporting your drywall sheets. They'll be securely fastened with nails or screws.


Is there ever a reason for reversing hot and neutral on a receptacle? I moved into a new home and several receptacles have the hot and neutral reversed.  I confirmed this with a basic receptacle tester.  I opened one up and found the white wire on the brass terminal, and the black wire on the silver terminal.

Is there any scenario where this would have been done on purpose?  Perhaps as a workaround for some other issue?  If not, then I would assume I could safely correct it myself.

There is no reason why they should be reversed.  Fix the receptacles and double check all the electrical in your house.  It looks like you had someone living there that was comfortable making electrical changes that didn't know anything about electrical.


How do I cap off a pipe below by hot water heater's cutoff valve? I live in Texas and am dealing with a destroyed external tankless hot water heater. When I restore water to my house via the street valve I have water gushing out of the pipe below my hot water heater as it appears to have multiple cracks. I would like to at least use water to the rest of my house while I wait who knows how long for a plumber. What would be the easiest way to cap off this blue pipe or the pipe coming out of my house?

Absent the presence of any valves...go to hardware store plumbing dept. And get a 3/4" sharkbite or tectite end stop. You just shove this on to the end of the (cut or removed)  blue pex pipe. Get a 1/2" one in case I'm wrong judging size from the pic...be sure to buy the same size removal tool as well. It is cheap.
I keep these in my emergency preparedness kit...
If you post a pic of the top of this valve, we can help with temporary plumbing. Good luck with your recovery!