Unable to drill into window lintel - what have I got wrong? I'm new to DIY so forgive my lack of knowledge! Just bought a house and have ordered blinds to fit inside the window recesses. Fitting them involves drilling into the top of the window recess  to mount two brackets.

I have a percussion drill (this one) and since it didn't come with masonry bits, I purchased a Bosch drill bit set (this one). Using the 6mm masonry bit from this set (it has the distinctive "hammer-head" look), I attempted to drill a 5cm hole straight up into the lintel and after a few millimeters of soft plaster, I hit either concrete or stone and have been unable to drill any further than 1cm in with around 10 minutes of drilling slowly. Having read around, if the hole takes more than 30 seconds to drill then something's not right.

As far as I know, I'm using the correct drill bit (which hasn't worn although got hot) albeit from a relatively cheap set and I do have the drill set to percussion mode and rotating the bit clockwise. The drill claims to be able to drill holes up to 13mm wide in concrete and so the only things I can think of are that the drill or bit aren't up to the task (though the bit is still intact) or whatever I'm drilling through isn't concrete. I'm 100% certain that the lintel above the window is not wood, as inspecting the hole reveals a hard grey material like stone or concrete.

I guess my question is: is my equipment not up to the task, whether this is because the equipment is cheap or because the equipment I have can't be used to drill into stone?

For information, the house is a former council house built in the 1960's.

Thanks in advance!

Plate steel has been used to support lintels when the span is over some distance.  That detail is obsolete now un the US but I'm not sure when they stopped doing it.  Now-days its plenty of re-bar and in lintels it is often caged.   Rebar should not be closer that two inches (5cm) to the edge of the concrete.  Maybe there is an engineered steel bracket embedded in the lintel.  Either way, you are likely running into steel.

They sell rebar eater bits, assuming that is what you hit,  they can cut through steel but if you hit the bar dead on then even a rebar eater is going to have some work do grind through it.  Only use them on rotary, percussion destroys the carbide teeth on them.  Maybe you can move your hole a little?  Maybe use a smaller inexpensive steel twist drill you don't mind throwing away in the same hole and observe chips that come out, looks like steel?


How many subpanel breakers can a single piece of main breaker/bus support? This is my main panel cabinet.

My original plan was to put the subpanel in front of main panel inside the cabinet by just letting it stand naturally (because it would be distracting or not good to the look to connect it to the wall outside the cabinet). For those who have tried this. What problems have you encountered? This is why I need to limit the Siemens sub load center to 12 space 18" height so I can still access the main panel.

Rest is original message:

This is my main panel with 16 2-pole breakers US style. All use GE (General Electric) plug-in breakers.

The breaker on top is a 125A 2-pole. Are all 125A breakers really that big?

I'm replacing six of the original GE 2-pole breakers with six Siemens GFCI 2-pole breakers. Since I can't directly plug the 6 pcs due to bus nub mismatch. I need to use a subpanel. Now my question:

My 6 pcs of Siemens 2-pole GFCI breakers are rated at 60A 2 pcs, 30A, 4 pcs.

Can I connect them or the 6 branch subpanel to just one of the main breaker output say rated at 70A or even 100A? In a panel, How many ampere can a breaker bus support provided the whole panel is rated at 100A.. is a single breaker bus also 100A? If not, what is the rule of the connections generally?

I can't replace the entire panel because it's difficult to get it out of the concrete wall and put another one fit right for it.

What's the usual way to add subpanel? What did you do?

In the US, part of the panels ratings are the maximum current for a single bus stab.  Many panels say on the label not to exceed a certain current level on a single bus stab.  Most residential panels are double row so a single bus stab feeds two breakers, one on the left, one on the right.  The sum current these breakers supply can't exceed the bus stab rating.

There are other ways to feed a subpanel.  If your panel has or can be fitted for feed through lugs, you can feed the subpanel from those lugs.

The NEC has feeder tap rules that allow you to tap the feeders for a subpanel without overcurrent protection - normally a big no-no - within certain limits.  The feeder tap rules outline these limits - distance limits, running in conduit, etc.

Another option may be to change out the panel "guts" with a retrofit interior kit.  With these kits you remove and replace the bus, lugs, etc. If Siemens makes a retrofit kit with a bus compatible with your breakers, you could replace the guts and use your Siemens breakers.  However you'd have to replace all the breakers in the panel with Siemens breakers as well.


What type of backer board do I need to use to attach a stone veneer around a fireplace? I want to put up a stone veneer surround, around a gas fireplace we're going to install.  I've seen everything from using 1/2" plywood and a metal lath, to putting the tiles directly on drywall.  I have everything apart so I want to do this the best way.

The tiles/stones I will be using are quite heavy as they are real stone and not "manufactured stone".

Items in play:
 - Weight - heavier tiles
 - heat - over and around a fireplace
 - Indoor

Drywall is out of the question due to weight, plywood might not give you the proper adhesion.

I would start with cement board, then attach the metal lath to that.  After the metal lath is secure, you'll have to apply a scratch coat of a sand and cement mix before applying the stone.

Here is a good guide for applying stone veneer.


afci protection for kitchen hood fan I'm wiring a new house and have installed a dedicated 15 amp circuit to the hood fan located over the range in the kitchen. Does this circuit need to be on a afci breaker?

Yes, this needs to be on an AFCI

All 15A and 20A, 120V kitchen outlets (not just receptacles, but lighting and fixed appliances too) have been required to be AFCI protected since the 2014 NEC.  (See 210.12(A) for the details -- it covers just about any sort of space you'll find within a dwelling unit proper.)


Any reason not to use Tyvek to cover exposed insulation? I have exposed insulation in my garage and the water heater room that is fiberglass and I don't want my kids touching the stuff and playing with it.  I am planning on covering it with Tyvek.  Is there any reason not to do this?

I am not planning on drywalling this since there is wiring behind that I might need access to and the alternative is to rip out the fiberglass and
replace it with something that is safer.

Dupont does not recommend Tyvek for interior walls. That said, I've seen DIY sites recommending it over studs to protect insulation as you suggest.

What might be the concerns that Dupont has for interior use? Offhand, I can think of two:

A vapor barrier can cause condensation in walls. However, Tyvek is not a vapor barrier
Fire safety might be a concern.Tyvek is NFPA 285 compliant, but that rating is for exterior walls. Tyvek® FireCurb® is fire-retardant, but still is recommended only for external walls.

Apologies, then... this is really not an answer: Tyvek is being used inside, yet the manufacturer states it should not be.


Dryer Outlet in the kitchen? Just started to renovate my mother's kitchen and already got some of the appliances to install but I realized there's a 3-prong dryer outlet instead of a stove outlet when I removed the counter top stove. Should I call an electrician to get it replaced or is there an adapter I could use for it?

No.  You can not 'adapt' a dryer outlet to a stove.

Dryer outlets are typically 30A, and stoves 40 or 50.  You would need not only to change the outlet, but all wiring between it and the breaker panel, and the breaker itself.


Salty water occasionally when showering I've noticed that about once every 2 weeks, I'll get a sudden rush of salt water. It tastes salty and smells metallic. It goes away after a couple minutes.

Usually when showering but I'm sure that is just because of the large amount of water being used. It has happened just through the sink as well.

I've checked the water softener tank for salt bridges, and didn't find any.

Is this just a normal occurrence with a water softener, or should I get it looked at?

Forgot to update. The water conditioning company said it's not because of the regeneration time.

They said that it's a fairly common issue where drain and/or control valves are dirty and either need to be cleaned or replaced. In my case they replaced both types of valves.

They also advised me to run cold water (not hot) until the saltiness passed. That way the salty water wouldn't get in the hot water tank.


What do I do with these extra multiway wires in my light fixture? I have been modifying some fluorescent light fixtures for led lamps. Ballast bypass lamps. Have done several so far and all good so far.

I have a fixture that is a 4 lamp, 2 ballast. It is on a 3-way circuit with multiple light fixtures. There is a single 3-wire cable coming into fixture. Red wire and black are alternately hot when switch is switched. My question is how do I wire this up correctly. This scenario is kinda throwing me off. Probably making it more difficult than it is.

TLDR: Find the ballast.  Cut its #18 white and black power lead halfway down its length, and fit a ballast disconnect there. (don't bother connecting the ballast side). Connect your LEDs on the ballast side of that.

Since the fixure did not tap into those wires before, you leave them the heck alone.

The irrational need to play with wire groups that are not involved, is the undoing of many lamp projects.  We had one case in an old apartment building where instead of the two wires needed, the asker had dug out a full ten wires from the ceiling, unhooked them all (knocking out the neighbor's power), shot a photo, and asked "how do I hook these back up?"  You don't.  That information was stored in "how they were hooked up before", which the person destroyed.  Now, an electrician has to tone out all those wires and try to figure out what was originally intended. Cost the asker over $300.

The old ballast has a white and black wire.  The ballast black goes to certain wire(s) in the ceiling. That is where your supply black (hot) goes to.  It doesn't matter what colors they are.  If the wire(s) are white, they must be re-marked with black tape as they are actually hot.

The ballast white goes to certain other wires in the ceiling, probably white.  That is where your supply white goes to.   You must keep them all together. They're not spares, they're working for a living!

Really, you should be installing Wago style or Ideal ballast disconnect plugs to the aforementioned wires.  (Not least, it allows you to turn the power back on the moment the disconnect is installed, instead of having to do the whole job in the dark.) However, installing the ballast disconnects will also help you keep the wires straight.


Water Release Valve that doesn't look like a Pressure Release Valve This "valve" started spewing water this AM and the only way to stop it was to turn off the main water and then turn it back on.   Any idea what this is and what would've happened if we weren't home?  Would it have reset on it's own?

That looks EXACTLY like a pressure (only) release valve (as opposed to a pressure/temperature release valve.) I have one that looks like it on the inlet of my water system, though I do have an extender pipe to take the water nearer the floor attached to it.

As far as I recall (I tested when I installed it, but that's a few years ago now), mine resets on its own when the pressure is reduced below its threshold (it's just a spring seal) so I would guess that whatever  caused the part of the system that is being protected by this valve to be over-pressure was stuck there until you turned off the main valve. Identifying what that was and fixing it so it does not stick open would be my best guess on not having this happen again, but it might not be easy unless you have a pretty good idea of what it was (you suspect the irrigation system, presumably for some reason.)


How do I attach a flat/gable verandah to an existing house? I would to build a verandah similar to

(source: hicraft.com.au)
.

It will be attached to the fascia at the back of my house. I'm building it using timber frame and zinc aluminium roof sheets. I initially wanted to do a flat verandah but I really like the look of a gable in the middle, similar to the picture. There are two things I'm concerned about though:

Since I'm using a timber frame, how would I cover the triangle opening on the gable closest to the house? Would I need to use some form of roof sheet as well, and cap it all around the perimeter of the triangular shape? I'm just really concerned that it will leak underneath into the door area.
Would I need a box gutter in between the verandah and the existing house? Or would I just need to lay the roofing sheets below the roof tiles of the existing house, so that any rain runoff will fall on the verandah roof and into its eave guttering.

I'd build out from your existing roof, in line with the peak on the new verandah. (Call this a dormer.) Fill in the gable end of the new dormer on the existing roof (just as in the picture you provided), and you won't have problems with leakage in the door area. (Nor would you need a gutter.) The only faintly tricky part of this is that you'd need to tie the new roof into your existing tiles, but that's what roofers do all the time.
If this isn't clear, ping back and I'll post a picture.

Edit one: a picture, so we're on the same page... (and some massaging of the text above in hopes of clarity).

- red is your existing roof
- green is the wall of the existing house
- blue is the top of the dormer that would be added onto your roof
- yellow is the gable end of the new dormer
- the wireframe is the rest of your new verandah

So, filling in the yellow bit is very straightforward, because you've got structure behind in the new blue dormer (that I've suggested you build). Because you have that new dormer, no rain will end up near your door. (You will need to do a little bit of work making sure there's enough slope to drain water off the flatter bits of the verandah, though.)

Clear as mud? If not, ping back.


I have phantom electricity I have three outlets in a room that are not on the same circuit as the rest of the outlets in two rooms. I have most of the circuits in the house mapped and identified on two breaker panels. The circuits for that most of that floor (the second story) are on the sub-panel.

But - two of the three outlets I'm having trouble with that are on the same wall are on a breaker on the main panel, and I was able to find the circuit and shut them off. However, the third outlet is a real problem. I used a circuit finder, that led to the wrong breaker. I tried flipping breakers with a radio on and it turned off for one of the breakers on the main and one on the sub-panels independently. But even when the outlet didn't "work" (the radio turned off), the wires still showed live.

In a fit of desperation, I put on a glove and cut the wire with a wire stripper. Little puff of smoke, some lights turned off, and one of the breakers flipped. But the wires are still live! Why? What can I do? The wire goes into a wall and I can't follow it to the breaker. Help!

Certainly sounds like you have a wire/outlet that is connected to two different circuits, given your symptoms.

First - when dealing with something whacky like this, just shut off the main breaker if you need to, say, cut it. If it's still hot with the main off, you have some really interesting wiring going on. And if, for some reason that should never really occur, you have a need to cut romex live, use insulated handle wirecutters and only cut one side at a time, then cut the ground wire last from the neutral side, rather than shorting out the wires in the cable with the cutters. That was not a very good or safe approach to the problem (you could have just left the thing alone until it was sorted out - cutting it does not seem to have helped in any way, and I don't see any way it WOULD help.)

Second, see what happens if you turn off BOTH the "breaker on the main" and the "breaker on the subpanel" that you identified as being associated with it. NOW is it dead?

Then, go looking for where someone connected the two circuits together. Or, call an electrician to have a look - the life you save may be your own.


For painting these walls, should I just paint over it the new color? The wall color and texture look faded and old, but i dont see  many cracks in the walls. I think its probably oil-based paint and concrete walls not drywalls. I at first wanted to strip it all off and start from scratch but was told by others that these walls had many coats of even older paint under it and that means its strong and I should just paint over it. There are parts of the walls that need to be done over again though because there are big holes in the walls.

I also dont know if i should continue by using oil-based paint or something else.

Stripping or sanding existing paint off of a wall isn't done unless the paint is really bubbling or chipping off.

For painting walls, the best way to go is to clean the walls, put on a coat of primer, and then finish with 1-2 coats of a latex paint.

Primer will cover an oil or latex paint and give the new paint a uniform layer to adhere to.  This is good because you say that the wall might need patching.  The patched area and the original walls will take paint differently and could end up with a different sheen if you do not prime first.

Now, this could be somewhat region specific, but I don't think so.  Interior walls are normally painted with a latex based paint.  High traffic areas will use a glossier paint to make it easier to clean (bathrooms, kitchens), and bedrooms normally use a flat, non-gloss finish.  Oil-based paint is still used in limited application for trim, but really most of that is also latex.


What can I use to lubricate screws? I am re assembling a swing set made of pretty hard wood. My electric drill won't drive the screws in all the way and I have to try to use plain screwdriver.  I don't want to strip the heads though. Is there a good lubricant to use?  Is spit the best?

A good lube is beeswax. It lubes the screw, but does not retain moisture. I have also been known to use a stick type of teflon, used for lubing drawer guides. Or a chunk of paraffin is fine too.

You don't want to add water, so spit is a poor idea. Why encourage the screw to rust???? This is the same reason why soap works poorly. Soap is hydrophilic. Soap actually draws moisture to the screw, causing it to rust away prematurely, so a BAAAADDDDDD idea.

Drilling a pilot hole is often a help, but don't make the hole too fat, or the threads won't bite. I'll often go considerably smaller than the root diameter of the screw. Just a small pilot hole is often adequate in wood, unless one is working in a very hard wood.

Finally, if a screwdriver fails, I often resort to a brace, a hand held drill from the antique bins. Just check a hex bit into the drill and off you go. Even better, I keep my brace fitted with a quick connect for 1/4 inch hex bits always at hand.

I keep one of these tools always on the wall of my shop. It will drive a screw quickly into wood, with enough force to twist the head off most screws if I overdo it. But you also have perfect control over the torque. And the nice thing is, the battery never dies, it needs no extension cord.


Should Young Families Always Favor an Egghshell Finish? When choosing paint, should young families always favor an eggshell finish because it's easiest to clean?

Also, are bathrooms and kitchens exceptions to this rule because water vapor can cling to the walls?

I would say that it depends on the type/brand of paint you are using. We have used eggshell finish paints from Benjamin Moore and Behr and it used to be true that eggshell was the easiest to clean. However, newer paint such Benjamin Moore's Aura is very easy to clean, especially their Bath & Spa paint. It's a kitchen & bath paint, but it has a matte finish to it. It looks great and is easy to clean, yet more durable than the older kitchen & bath semi-glossy paints.


How do I remove baseboard that has been tiled over? The previous owner installed tile without re-installing the original baseboard.  We are trying to remove the baseboard in preparation for installing laminate flooring.  Afterwards our plan is to install new baseboard above the laminate flooring.

We started in a closet but we are finding it hard to remove the baseboard since some of the nails holding the baseboard are right at the level of the tile. So far I have a chisel to break the grout right by the baseboard, a utility knife to cut the paint at top of the baseboard and a small pry bar to pull at the baseboard.

Ripping up the tile is of course one way to make the baseboard removal easier; we're just nervous about getting in over our heads.

What method, technique, and/or tools should we be putting to use here?

The easiest way to remove things is usually in the inverse order they were put in.

If you intend to put down new flooring, you must remove the tile anyway, so remove the tile first. I'll admit that the scariest thing to do might be the tear out. It forces you to accept that you are doing this thing, especially if you have never done something of this magnitude. It will make a mess of things for a wee bit.

I would suggest removing tile with a hammer and wide cold chisel. Break up at least a few tiles by hand. If you have a compressor available, a great tool here would be a flat air powered chisel. This tool would rapidly allow you to peel up the old tile. A bit noisy, but fast. If not, then the hammer and hand held chisel (don't use a wood chisel unless you have borrowed the wood chisel from someone you don't like) will do. Once a few tiles are up, you may find that a large ice scraper, used for breaking the ice from your sidewalk, will be useful to peel up the rest of the tile.

Once the tile has been removed, then remove the baseboard for later replacement.

Demolition can be the most fun part of a project. Try to keep the dust out of the remainder of the house, and use a dust mask.


Is a chipped off drywall harmful I'm replacing baseboards in a room with drywall, and found that in a few places the drywall under the baseboards has chipped off and exposed.

Now I'm wondering, if it is harmful for health and I'll need to replace the whole drywall sheet? Otherwise I could just mud the exposed spots, sand it, mud again until it is covered. Would this make sense? Thanks.

Drywall regularly cracks / chips where nails and screws are, I don't know of any health hazards and filling voids with "mud" or joint compound is a normal process for sheetrock repair. I have been doing this for 40+ years. The only problems I have heard of were some had caustic ingredients that etched copper pipe the suppliers were from China after Hurricane Katrina? But other than that I know of no problems, yes you should use a dust mask when cutting and sanding but other than this if there was a problem you would be seeing tv advertisements constantly like the ones now showing up for roundup weed killer and asbestos although both are devastating very rare and in the US and sheetrock has been the prominent wall covering for 6 + decades.


What is causing clicking sound after light switches off? After switching off my kitchen lights, there is a somewhat loud "click" almost exactly 7 minutes later. Infinitely reproducible, with no other discernible symptoms, and it seems to be otherwise harmless. The house is new construction, only about a year old, and the sound has been happening from the start. I originally thought it might have been coming from one of the GFCI outlets, but the outlet works fine and after listening to it a hundred times I now think the sound is actually in the wall somewhat above the outlet.

I have found a few posts online (e.g. from a DIY forum) but the advice seems to always be, "replace the receptacle" or "don't worry about it." I am not worried about the sound, and honestly don't really even care to stop it, I just want to know (because of naturally scientific curiosity) what causes it.

Answering this myself since I have an answer and this has gotten quite a few views.

The answer is that the sound was thermal, but not anything dangerous. After much experimentation, I discovered that one of the cans warps ever so slightly when it gets hot and after a period of about 7 minutes this cools enough to "pop" back down as it contracts. It also doesn't happen until it hits a heat threshold that occurs after about 10 minutes. Less than 10 minutes of on time yields no pop.


YORK AC unit rusted support arm I have an old YORK ac unit still running R22 and have recently cleaned the entire unit inside and out. As I took apart the unit, one of the 4 corner supporting outside vents was rusted completely and basically fell off when I was sweeping around the unit....bottom of unit is all rusted and replacement with a new corner piece probably wouldn't work.... what are some diy ideas to remedy?
I have the unit back together and all seems good with only 3 sides supporting the fan and top piece. Has anyone dealt with this before?
TIA

I'm thinking you'd be alright the way it is. An easy fix would be to go to your home store and find the rack where they have pieces of steel in various lengths and pick up a piece 1/8" by 1" by 36" or whatever size is appropriate for your unit. Attach it underneath that top corner lip and wedge it into the concrete by the bottom lip. The bottom lip looks pretty corroded so no sense in trying to attach it there but a tight fit against the concrete should hold it firm. Spray it with some Rust-oleum that's a close match and you're good to go.


Converting a Chandalier Hard wire to an outlet we just moved in to a new apt in New Jersey and the previous tenant had this really nice string light fixture with colorful lampshades etc (pictured below). Unfortunately, he took them with him when he left. My girlfriend and I want to DIY a light fixture that is essentially string lights wrapped and hanging from a wood beam that will be hung from the ceiling. However, the issue is all the lights she bought are traditional plugs that you would plug into a wall outlet.
I keep getting so many different answers on the right way/wrong way and complexity of turning the hardwired into an outlet so we can run an extension cord from the ceiling down to a surge protector which will be hidden on the beam and used to plug in the 4-5 string lights she has
here is what the outlet looks like. I'm wondering how complicated this is, what I would need to do it and if its something better left to an electrician.
thanky you so much in advancethis is what the fixture currently looks like[

Judging by the photos and your explanation, it shouldn't be a complicated job but there are a few things to take into consideration:

Local code compliance in New Jersey and your county/city - something I'm not familiar with.

How well you can make wire connections yourself. I've seen many DIYers and "electricians" wire connections and they were varying levels of "lucky nothing happened yet" to "lucky only this part burned when you called me".

If you're confident in your wire connections lasting for 50 years+, its basically installing an outlet with a plate that fits that 4-O box (my trade slang for what I assume is in the picture). It should be properly grounded to be up to national code, so you'll need to know how to check for that. The pipe may already be the ground for it.
I'd hire an electrician for something like this because you get their expert knowledge/skills and its probably a couple hours at the most. Could be less than an hour if you have all the infrastructure in place minus the outlet/plate. To save a few bucks, you could always install the fixture yourself since you just need to plug it in.
If you do do this, here are some options/ideas:
You could use plates like these (for example):

https://images.homedepot-static.com/productImages/e888bbe3-2fa2-40e3-8112-08feb4fa3864/svn/brown-leviton-electrical-outlets-receptacles-5059-64_1000.jpg
You need to identify which wire is the switch leg and connect that to the hot screw. The neutral would go on the neutral screw. If you have a solid ground path through the pipe, you could use the ground screw in the threaded hole in the box. Otherwise, you would need to run a ground wire back to the closest ground source to make it properly grounded.


What goes on threads first: tape or dope? Should the dope be applied directly to the male threads or should the tape go on first?

If you're using both, the tape would go on first. Which is immediately evident, if you've ever tried to apply them the other way round.  There's open debate over whether or not there are any advantages to using both products together, or if each product by itself is adequate.
Pipe dope
Pipe dope; also known as pipe joint compound, is used to seal and lubricate the threads of a threaded pipe joint.  It's available for both water and gas lines. It's applied by simply brushing it on the male threads of the pipe joint, before the joint is fit together. Pipe dope never hardens, and will not crumble and fall out of the joint.

Teflon Tape Dope
Teflon Tape dope; also known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) Tape, or thread seal tape, is also used to seal and lubricate the threads of a threaded pipe joint.  It's available in high-density and low-density flavors, for water and gas pipe.  PTFE tape is applied by wrapping it in a clockwise direction, around the male threads of the threaded joint. PTFE tape is available in color coded versions (pink for water, yellow for gas), as well as the common white variety.


T&P valve draining - expansion tank issues? I am having issues with my Water Heater. It's a slantfin tankless boiler (TR-30 PT). It's running on a 4 zone setup. I typically only use one of the zones though. We've been in the home for a year and a half. Towards the end of this winter I started finding a few gallons of water draining from the T&P valve every few days.

I tested the expansion tank and found it to be leaking water from gauge, leading me to believe the diaphram has ruptured and we needed a new one. I bought the same model replacement. An Amtrol #60 and gauges to test our home water pressure and PSI on tank. I attached the water meter to our outside hose line and read about 56 PSI. I then took the precharged (to 12 PSI) new tank and charged it further up to about 55 PSI before installing it. I then removed the old expansion tank to find it almost completely filled with water. Replaced it with the new tank. Turned water line back on and power to water heater. Gave it a day or so.

Now I'm still seeing water, perhaps more. So, even though the exp tank was shot, what else could be causing this?   Autofill valve?  I don't think the T&P valve is bad as it is draining water once the meter reaches the max level on the valve which is 30 PSI.  The slantfin temp range was set at 160 - 180. I lowered this to 140-160 and still same issue.

I then turned on the water from my faucet for a while, and the pressure on slantfin was hovering between 2 and 10. Got the temp on slantfin below 140, down to 120ish. It didn't seem to instantly turn back on, but then turned on the first floor of our home (ZONE 1 of 4), slantfin initiated and watched the gauge on the unit. As it heated the water from 120 to 140 (where min is set) it gradually increased pressure until right about hitting 140 the pressure then hit 30 PSI and T&P valve started draining.

Should I not have charged the new tank? I was under the understanding this needed to be same if not a few PSI below water pressure. Does this change if on a multi-zone house. If using a tankless system?

Should my T&P valve be rated to take on more pressure than 30 PSI?

Should the precharge be the same as the water supply line even if the tank will be placed after a "water pressure regulator valve" set between 12-25 PSI?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. I'm stumped...

The tank should be charged to the pressure at the attachment point.  If the tank is attached to a point in the system where the pressure is supposed to be 25 psi, the tank should be pre-charged to 25 psi.  If the tank is attached to a point in the system where the pressure is supposed to be 55 psi, the tank should be charged to 55 psi.

When the water pressure raises above the air pressure in the expansion tank, the water will begin to fill the tank and compress the air further.  As the water pressure decreases, the air pressure in the tank forces the water out of the tank. If the tank is charged too high, water will not be able to compress the air and fill the tank.

Note: Measuring the pressure in the tank while it's connected to a pressurized water system, will show the pressure in the water system not the pre-charged air pressure of the tank. To measure the air pressure of the expansion tank, you must isolate it from the system.


How does the float on the toilet chain affect the amount of tank water used per flush? I have a toilet flapper with an adjustable float on the chain. As I move the float down the chain, more water is released from the tank per flush. Why is this? How does the mechanism work?

Pushing the float down the chain makes the distance between the float and the flapper less, therefore the same is true of the distance between the water level and the flapper.  That means more water is released before the flapper is lowered into its sealing position.


How can I achieve the correct garden tap orientation when threading it in? I'm installing an external tap using a wall plate like this one:

And a tap like this one:

This might be a stupid question, but if I screw the tap into the wall plate it will end up at a certain angle. I can install the wall plate with that angle and the tap will end up with the correct orientation (i.e. pointing down). But what if I want to put another tap in later that has its thread cut slightly differently? How do I prevent it ending up upside-down or whatever? Are all the threads cut exactly the same in these taps?

This seems like a stupid design.

The threads are not all exactly the same. Using some Teflon tape on the threads will allow for some adjustment without leaking. Pipe threads are tapered and will seal prior to not being able to turn further. I put a few wraps on the pipe and when it starts to get stiff to turn I will leave the faucet in the proper position. (With most fittings I could go at least 1 more full turn or sometimes even 2 so it will end up in the correct position without leaking.


GE Air Conditioner cycles are too short We just bought a GE window air conditioner.  After installation, we turned it on and found that the compressor runs for 8-10 seconds, then shuts off for 1 minute (fan continues to run).  The instruction manual says this on/off cycle is normal.  But after several hours, the room has not cooled at all from the initial 82 degrees.  It seems that a machine that blows warm air 88-90% of the time will never get our room cooled down.  Is there a way to change this programing, so that our room can get initially cooled off?

A typical air conditioner will cycle the compressor on/off based on the thermostat setting. Typically that means:

Run for a long time initially to get the room down to the set temperature - that can sometimes take hours
Cycle on/off with on times anywhere from (rough guess) 15 minutes to 1 hour. Longer on times, after initially reaching the set temperature, would indicate either a real hot spell or an undersized unit.

Short times - e.g., < 1 minute - are an indication of something very wrong. Every on/off cycle is wear & tear on motors and other components. Ever see the lights dim for a few seconds when your A/C starts? That's because the power draw to start the compressor can be significant. If you have a "start" every minute or so, that will lead to premature failure. If you have a "stop" every minute or so with the system restarting again - as you have described - then it sounds like something is overheating which shuts down the compressor, then it cools and restarts again very quickly. Not normal - and not good for the unit or for keeping you cool.

Since you just bought it, I suggest a call to GE to find out what might be the cause and to ask for a warranty repair if needed. If this were an old unit then I'd recommend checking filters and other types of problems.


Is there a hinge which will move both connected doors when just a single door is moved? I'm about to finish setting up a new IKEA kitchen, and I'm now trying to fit a non-IKEA integrated dishwasher into it. As many apparently before me have discovered, this is not "plug and play" (unless you've got one of a few special models that fit IKEA kitchens). The wooden IKEA kitchen door fronts are simply too high to be fitted on my dishwasher.

If you look at the drawing below, the front (A + B) will go too far down towards the floor and consequently hit the dishwasher when opening it.

So, I've been thinking. I could split the front into two sections, so that I have a section A and section B. Section A would be attached to the dishwasher, and section B would be "hanging" / attached to section A via some sort of hinge connecting the bottom of section A to the top of section B. That's the easy part.

Now, when opening the dishwasher I would like section B to move towards section A in an outward direction (see section position 2 in the drawing).

Does such a hinge (or similar mechanism) exists? One that, when section A moves, section B will move as well in an outward direction?

It doesn't have to be a hinge though. It could be a mechanism where the default position of B was - say - 45 degrees outwards towards section A.
The more section A would go towards an upright position, the more it would pull section B "back" towards an upright position as well.

I'm open to all ideas. The only limitations are :

Section B must be attached to section A because the bottom of section A is 15mm lower towards the floor when opened than when closed. I don't want to fit section B with such a large gap below section A. I can eliminate this gap if i attach section B to section A.
I'd rather not have section B just "hanging" in a normal hinge under section A, as section B then would become a 90 degrees tilted saloon door going back and forth with the slightest touch.

Some variant of "geared continuous hinges" or "geared door hinges" can be adopted to do this.  Examples:


Seeking LED advice for toddler "busy board" I know this is a little bit outside of the realm of "home improvement" but I thought this site was the best fit since it is full of handy people.

I am building a busy board for my nearly 2-year-old son. If you don't know what that is, it's basically a wooden board with switches, locks, noisy things and colorful things that I can sit my boy in front of to entertain him.

I wanted to take the opportunity to engage his mind too - so one of my ideas is to create a light/color area on the board.

Now, I have a VERY basic understanding of electronics, but not really enough experience with LEDs to know which direction to go. If presented the hardware, I could understand it and wire it, but I am not sure how to engineer this and am wondering if anyone has any experience doing something like this (maybe with interior mood lighting)?

My broad-stroke thoughts are to have a number of switches (or a multi-position switch) that controls a series of LEDs that are a variety of colors like this:

SWITCH 1        SWITCH 2       SWITCH3
  Red             Blue         Yellow

When he hits switch 1, he sees red. When he hits switch 1 and 2, he sees purple - or maybe he sees red and blue with a little purple in the middle (I'm not looking for perfection). I'm also open to the thought of using a multi-color LED or something to that affect.

My Concerns are:

Power: I am looking for something battery-operated since he is still too
young to be messing with electrical cords.
Brightness: I am looking for something that isn't too bright. I know LEDs can be quite powerful if you look right at them. I was thinking of
incorporating a piece of frosted plastic into some type of enclosure
to diffuse the light.

If this isn't the right corner of Stack Exchange, please feel free to point me in the right direction. The Electrical Engineering area seemed a bit out of my league.

For light, you want to use red, green, and blue, due to colour magic. You can buy LED packages that contain these in one piece of plastic. Something like this.

Setting brightness is just picking the right resistor value. More resistance means less current flows, so less light. You could also use a potentiometer (in series with a resistor too) to allow variable amounts of each colour.

For power, I'd probably use 3xAA batteries in series.


Faucet runs slowly on hot, fine on cold I have a single handle Pfister faucet. It flows fine on cold but only about half on hot. What is wrong?

Video of issue

1 - Check that your valve under the sink is open, someone may have knocked it mostly shut.

2 - Or, it could be that debris finally got washed up into the hot water valve or sink supply hose under the sink or in the faucet. You'd turn off the valve under the sink & disconnect the hose from the faucet, but not from the pipe & hold the hose in a bucket while you turn the valve back on & hopefully see the debris shoot into the bucket.

3 - If the flow is reduced in the existing hose. Then, you'll need to shut off the Main water supply valve to remove the sink pipe's valve & hose. To then, put on a garden hose or bigger long hose to fit over or around the pipe & clamp it down with a hose clamp or band clamp. Put the other end of the hose in the shower or tub, weight it down with something heavy & go turn on the Main valve to flush the pipe clear & hopefully find the debris in the shower or tub.

4 - Or, which is very common, that the hot water has deteriorated the hot side of the faucet's internal cartridge or seals & springs. Call a Plumber to rebuild it or take it all apart (with pictures all along the way) & match up what you need to a rebuild kit at the store, if you don't know what model it is.


Why does flushing one toilet cause another to back up? I have a problem with our toilets. when 1 flushed the first toilet, the "things' will came out the second toilet, which is the other side of the first toilet. This makes me have to flush both toilets to make it go away.

May I know why this happens?

Yes I recommend a good sewer line cleaning, from a good rooter.


remove/replace door hinge on wood door frame Can the screws be removed from the hinge and wood frame, the frame painted and the hinge reattached with the same screws and holes?

Yes the screws can be taken out and reused as long as you are careful and the holes and the heads of the screws are still in good shape.

If the holes are a little to large, the screws do not tighten down well,  you can jam a wooden toothpick or two into the holes and break them off flush, then install the screws for a tighter fit.


rigid black 4" pipe underground about 15" impact resistant? I have a rigid underground drain pipe buried about 18" .  Top of pipe may be only 14" under the dirt.  A heavy bucket truck drove over it in winter (Wisconsin weather for January) to trim trees.  Truck has 4 rear wheels and two front.  If one side of the double rear wheel show signs of 2.5" dip in the lawn after the thaw is it likely the pipe cracked?

I'm in Minnesota (similar climate). It's been a fairly mild winter so far, but we did have one deep cold spell. All told, It was probably enough to freeze your soil sufficiently to bear that weight. The groove in your lawn is partly due to the low-density grass and topsoil, but it's hard to say without photos.

That said, if your soil is very dry or sandy, it may have shifted enough to crack the pipe. At a temperature of 10 or 20 degrees F it won't be very flexible.

One way to find out....


My Lennox gas furnace runs for 1 to 2 hours, then shuts down My furnace will run for an hour or two, cycling 3 times each hour, then shuts down. I have to turn the temperature setting to "off" and then back up to 70°F, and it comes back on. I've replaced the thermostat and air filter, cleaned the flame sensor, cleaned the burners, checked all sensors with a meter (all have continuity). It's a Lennox G20Q3E-75-6, fairly old, not sure when it was installed.

Any ideas?

Some of the electronic ignition modules used in older Lennox furnaces fail by becoming weak or intermittent and after several failed retries on a single start cycle the furnace remains in a no-heat condition until the call for heat is removed and reconnected.

If the failure only occurs during a normal start cycle, and once lit the flame does not go out before the room reaches the thermostat set point, then next time a failure occurs test for 24vac across the power supply leads on the electronic ignition module.  If it has power but there is no spark then you probably need a new module.

EDIT:

One word of caution.  It would be best to witness the ignition unit failing before ordering a replacement.  Rarely a gas valve can intermittently stick closed and cause similar symptoms.


240 volt outlet powered by two insulated wires and one bare ground wire I have a 240v radial arm saw powered by a 240v outlet installed by a licensed electrician. This outlet is powered by 2 20 amp breakers ganged at the panel. The wire to the 240v outlet only has 3 wires. 2 are insulated (white and grey) and the third is a bare ground wire. There are 120v between each insulated wire and the bare ground wire. Can I add a 120v outlet by splicing it to
one of the insulated wires and the bare ground wire or is this unsafe because I actually need an insulated neutral wire plus the bare copper ground wire?

Welcome to the community.

No. you need another insulated neutral wire. You should not use a ground wire as neutral, and you should not use bare wire as a current carrying conductor.


Wiring Ecobee thermostat to Vulkan gas furnace with no C terminal I am trying to wire up an Ecobee thermostat to an old (1997) Gas central heating system but I got up into the roof then realised I have no terminal labelled C.
Now, I don't super know what I am doing, but based on the diagram taken from the heater I should in theory be able to tap into the wire on the right side (to the left of the earths) that is labelled 24VAC?

This line:

is the equivalent of the "C" terminal.  Get it from here:


Can I connect two load lines to a GFCI receptacle? I just bought a leviton GFCI and the instructions say if there are two load lines in the box, do not connect the GFCI in that box.
I can't understand why this is a problem, especially since the device has holes for two sets of wires (plus screw terminals) on the load side. Is this an issue of  GFCI volume vs box size?

This a kitchen outlet; my alternative would be to cut into the supply line & put the GFCI there, but this would be in the basement and inconvenient.

You can connect two loads to in the same box. I don't see any valid safety or utility issue here.

I suspect that Leviton advises against it because of ground potential differences in the multiple load lines. I would speculate that if the potential difference is significant enough it could cause a trip of the GFCI if it is grounded to the same box as the loads.

It's not uncommon for a weekend-warrior to ground load lines from the GFCI separately and cause a trip. This may erroneously lead the user to think there is a problem with the GCFI receptacle when, in fact, this is precisely the intended behavior.


What Type of Mortar do I need for a Glass Block Shower? I have a glass block shower that was not installed properly. I need to know the proper way to regrout. The mortar is disintegrating. I was told I need a water-resistant mortar and to add an agent to make sure it’s waterproof. Does anyone know the proper way?

Any fortified thin set will work. I have used colored grout with add mix several times for glass block shower walls. Once the mortar is cured I then seal it the same as any tile job. There are pre mixed glass block mixes it is usually white.


Need advice on connecting 100 amp sub-panel to 200 amp main panel I currently have a 200 amp main panel that is full.  I'm planning on installing some equipment for a water well pump, water softner, etc. and it seems to make sense at this point to install a sub-panel for that equipment.

I've never had a problem doing minor electrical work around the house in the past. However, this job is bigger than I've ever done so I wanted to get some advice.

Some details:

Both panels are in the basement.  The wire will need to run both through the floor joists in some locations and then along a joist in another location.
I have an electric water heater.  Since the sub-panel will be installed in the same room as the water heater, I plan on removing the 2-pole 30 amp breaker for the water heater and using that slot for the breaker that will feed the sub-panel.
I'll need 70-80 feet of wire to run from the main panel to the new sub-panel.
Picture of current main panel attached.
Sub-panel breakers:

water heater: 2-pole 30 amp
jet pump: 20 amp
well pump: 2-pole 30 amp
cistern relay circuit: 15 amp
water treatment equipment: 20 amp

I can provide more details if needed, just not sure what someone would need to know.

Questions:

Does the sub-panel seem over loaded?  If so, I could keep the water-heater in the main panel and free up space in the panel another way.
I know I need four-strand wire to run to the sub-panel (2 hot, neutral, ground) but copper or aluminum and what gauge?
When I run the wire along the floor joist, does it need to be secured to the joist or can it just hang there and rest on the drop ceiling?  Seems like it should be secured to the joist with wire hanger or something.
What are the things about this project that I don't know that I don't know.  :)  These are the scary things IMO...i.e. the questions I don't know enough to ask.

Thanks in advance.  I'm happy to provide more details if you need them.

Edit #1:

Another question has come up: should I put a 100 amp breaker in the sub-panel to act as the "main" for the sub-panel?  Or is the 100 amp breaker in the main panel sufficient?

Does the sub-panel seem over loaded? If so, I could keep the water-heater in the main panel and free up space in the panel another way.

Seems reasonable to me. Most of the equipment won't draw anywhere near the overcurrent rating, at least not during normal operation. Motor loads will draw a higher current on start, but you shouldn't have a problem.

  I know I need four-strand wire to run to the sub-panel (2 hot, neutral, ground) but copper or aluminum and what gauge?

You can use either copper or aluminum, though I recommend copper for DIYers. Copper is quite a bit more expensive, but it's easier to work with (in my opinion). If you feel confident working with aluminum conductors, you can save some money using it.

I've covered the topic of feeder sizing here, so I won't go into detail. If you're using copper, you'll want to use 3 AWG conductors. If you choose to use aluminum, you'll need 1 AWG conductors.

If you want to run a single cable, instead of individual conductors in conduit. You can buy what's called 3-3-3-5 SER cable (1-1-1-3 for aluminum), which will contain three 3 AWG conductors (hot,hot,neutral) and a 5 AWG grounding conductor.

  When I run the wire along the floor joist, does it need to be secured to the joist or can it just hang there and rest on the drop ceiling? Seems like it should be secured to the joist with wire hanger or something.

You'll have to attach the cable to the joists, using 1 - 1 1/4" staples or other approved means. Check the packaging, to make sure they are rated for the size cable you're using.

  What are the things about this project that I don't know that I don't know. :) These are the scary things IMO...i.e. the questions I don't know enough to ask.

The cable you'll be working with is thick and heavy, and it's not going to be fun pulling it. You'll probably want a couple helpers, to help you wrangle it.

Make sure all your connections are tightened to the manufacturer's specified torque.

If you choose aluminum conductors, make doubly sure you tighten the connections. And don't forget the anti-oxidant.

Come back a day or two after the panel has been put into service, and tighten any connections that need it.

Don't forget to remove the bonding jumper between the grounded and grounding bus bars.

You'll need clamps big enough for the cable, to secure it to the panels.

  should I put a 100 amp breaker in the sub-panel to act as the "main" for the sub-panel? Or is the 100 amp breaker in the main panel sufficient?

You can usually pick up a main breaker panel, for about the same price as a main lug only (MLO) panel. In my opinion, unless the secondary panel is next to; or within sight of, the main panel. You're better served to install a main breaker panel.  It simply offers better protection during maintenance, or other work within the panel.

For example. If you turn off the feeder breaker in the main panel, and start working in the secondary panel. Somebody could easily come along, and flip on the feeder breaker. Since you can't keep an eye on the breaker, you can never be sure the panel will be dead. (unless of course you're using a lockout like you should).

If the secondary panel is in a separate building or structure, then you either need a main breaker, a main disconnect, or the ability to disconnect all ungrounded conductors within 6 or less hand moves.


Do I drain my washing machine pump for long term winter storage? I'm putting my washing machine into storage for 10+ months in a garage that is not insulated and will experience sub-freezing temperatures for multiple months.
The question is: should I drain the pump of all the water or not?
I think I do because I don't want the water freezing.
However, I wasn't sure if I needed to intentionally leave some water in to keep parts moist /lubricated. (I think that's the case with some dishwasher seals if I recall).

IF you can drain it of all water, that would be good. Since this is often difficult, or requires major disassembly to achieve with any confidence, non-toxic RV antifreeze is another option to prevent damage.


Question about wire inside of tubing I'm been looking for 45 minutes and everywhere I look there's answering going every which way but up, so I'm wondering if I want to run 12/2 wire above ground inside of conduit or pvc pipe, from the main breaker panel under the house to the small building, the building leaks in a few spots also once the conduit would stop from entering the 2nd small building ... I'm lost on which wire to choose to use in 1 in conduit, this would be 12/2 gauge wire, ? Nm-b, uf, uf-b, thhn, thwn... can someone shed some light on this subject for me please

Also if nm-b wire is used in pvc and it got wet somehow wouldn't the breaker trip or the gfci before any fire or spark

Underground conduit will fill with water. Fact of life.  That's why you use wet rated wire in conduit.

You can direct bury cable or wire made for direct burial such as UF.  It is made to be in contact with water.

If you use conduit you use wet rated wires like THWN.  You can use wet-rated multiconductor cable if you really want to, but you will need bigger conduit and the pulls will be much harder.

Using NM outdoors is out of the question.


Can I use #14 wire on a 20A circuit for a compressor outlet? Installing a single receptacle, non gfi, on a 20 amp breaker to be used only for a specific piece of equipment (compressor). Compressor specs say, “power consumption will average between 9-11 amps of power and spike near 16 amps”. Can I get away with 14 gage wire? This is for a home food Freeze dryer

20A breaker, 12Ga wire. Nothing special about it. The breaker protects the wire, the NEC specifically limits 10, 12 and 14 Ga wire to 30, 20 and 15 Amps respectively.
"Get away with" means you know it's wrong, so, go with what you know, and don't try to "get away with" something wrong, especially something so trivially inexpensive to do right.


Is there a building material that can be cut and glued, can be used outside, and provides good insulation? I'm trying to make a pet house but I'd rather deal with something warmer than wood. Bonus points if it's light and easy to cut.

See this question for project details.

I've built some dog houses using SIPs (structural insulated panels). They usually have about 6 inches of foam on the bottom and 2 inches sides and top. All of the materials are salvaged (except the electric floor warmer). I like to keep the bottom off the ground so that snow melt can't get things wet.

SIPs are a sandwich of plywood-foam-plywood (or OSB). Making custom SIPs for a dog house takes some basic carpentry skills, and a of couple week-ends.

One of the most common mistakes, in my opinion, is making the shelter to large for the animal. Another is inadequate insulation and/or water proofing, especially the roof and floor.

Good small dog or cat shelters can be made from old insulated Coleman type picnic coolers. Line the interior with carpet and cut an entrance hole in one end. Even the very best pet shelters need to be monitored for temp and moisture. I am glad to share detailed thoughts with anyone interested in the topic of pet shelters.


Double Switch but only Two Wires I'm trying to switch from a single switch to a double switch so I can turn on my fan and light separately.  I've got one hot switch and one other black wire.

The white lines are tied together so I'm assuming they're neutral and don't need to be looped into the switch.. but any combo I try of changing around those two black wires still turns on both the fan and the light at the same time.

All help appreciated]1

If you have only one switched hot wire, you cannot control the light and fan separately just by getting a double switch. You would need two switched hots.

If this wiring is in conduit, you would need to pull one more wire from the switch box to the ceiling box. If this is NM, you would need to pull a new cable with another conductor a 12 or 14/3 + gnd (black, red, white, gnd).

One conductor (say the white, with a black mark or tape to indicate hot) would carry the always hot from the ceiling box to the two switches, one (say black) would take a switched hot to the fan and another (the red) would take the other switched hot to the light.

Another solution to controlling the fan and light independently is to get a wireless controller which uses a single hot input (can use a switched hot and just leave the switch on) but has separate outputs for the fan and light.

With only one switched hot you must use the pull chains. Leave the fan pull chain off and the light on and the wall switch controls the light. If you want the fan in addition to the light, use the fan pull chain. If you want the fan only, turn off the light with its pull chain.


How should I install hardwood flooring around spindles? I have oak steps that we installed up to a living room that is carpeted.  How do I install hardwood floors and deal with the spindles on the floor?  My husband made adjustments when he did the stairs (because of the angle, etc) but we are unsure how to tackle the hardwood install on the rest of the spindles across the floor when we remove the carpet..

I have a similar situation and I know that you are saying the spindles are attached to the floor. I would get some hardwood and cut out like the tooth pattern around the spindles - this will give you a clean edge to line up on.  Remember to make a template of the exact space, then cut out on your wood and slip in. Allow the complete depth of the spindle on the one piece of wood - then you just have to put a straight strip up against it.   In my case, to take down 60 some spindles is not an option. I will be using 6 to 8 foot length to cut these out in.  I am using heavy brown paper as my template or light cardboard (Bristol).


Is there a pulley configuration that can both reduce distance and weight? I'm trying to find some kind of clever workaround to engineer a solution to the fact that a typical pulley can't reduce both distance and weight.
I am designing a counterweight system for a hangar door (folds straight up to open, unlike typical residential garage doors). It needs to have a pulley system with counterweights that exactly equal the weight of the door so it can be opened to any height and stay there. Due to constraints in my wall between the studs, the counterweights (buckets full of sand or water) only have half the vertical distance as the door, and I don't have enough physical space to put twice the weight of the door.
I'm trying to come up with a configuration that will allow me to overcome one or the other of my two problems: e.g., either find some way to get more distance out of the distance I have available or get more weight into the space than I have available. I don't mean in a breaks-the-laws-of-physics sort of way. I'm looking for some clever engineering solution.

For the sake of thinking about this, imagine the door weighs 100lbs and each bucket of water weighs 10lbs. The door must raise 10' but there is only room for the bucket to go 5'. There is enough room in the wall for 10 buckets but since they have to stack, every bucket you add reduces the distance available to travel: 10 buckets wouldn't have room to move at all.
Edit: for those who think I'm just trying to cheat on homework, here's a photo of me actually building this (prototype):

There are lots of ways to do this, but first and foremost, you should understand that counterweights on garage doors have gone out of fashion for safety as well as size/complexity reasons. Springs have almost entirely replaced them.
The classical approach to keeping the counterweights in stud bays is to divide and conquer. The counterweights do not need to be located in the space-restricted area right by the door - you can run cables all the way to back wall of the garage, or all along the side wall(s) and get multiple stud bays involved by using multiple cables to multiple counterweights.
When choosing components, especially cable, cable clamps and pulleys, consider what happens when a cable breaks, or becomes unclamped. This is not the place to choose the cheapest thing you can get. i.e. concrete-filled paint cans are perhaps a dubious choice for the counterweight itself, unless you embed a suitable anchor in the concrete - a paint can handle is not what you want to entrust with holding up a moving counterweight for some number of years.


How can I wire the Humistat and Humidifier so that Humudifier runs only during heat cycle? I have Honeywell Humidifier HE225A, Honeywell Thermostat TH6110D and Honeywell Humidistat H8908B all installed already. Now my Humidifier runs 24/7 wasting water because it is connected with the furnace blower fan cycle which is on 24/7. How can I wire it so that it only runs during the heat cycle.

There should be a terminal on the board of the furnace supplying either 24v or 120v. Usually marked hum. That's where you pick up power for the humidifier.

For like 20 years I've been wiring the humidifier from W to C without a single issue. On a call for heat W is energized if the humidistat is calling the humidifier energizes and compleats to common.


Hang a floating mantel We recently replaced an existing fireplace mantel and my wife would like me to re-purpose the old mantle as a high mounted shelf in our soon to be occupied nursery.

The original install was a 1x1 tonailed into the drywall and occasionally a stud.  Very flimsy.

The mantel is 5' long and is a frame with a hollow space that appears to accommodate a 2x3 ( 2" high, 3" deep).  In order to use that I would have to drill through the long side of the 2x3 and run lag bolts into the studs.  This would seem to create a pretty long lever that could snap a bolt.  I'll only be able to attach to 3 studs.

Is this a standard method of hanging mantels?

Would I be better off just attaching a 2x2 to the studs, then cut and mount some 1x2 angle pieces to the 2x2?  That would seem to spread the load out more evenly and not put as much cantilever force on the bolts

If you use long enough lags to get a good bite into the stud, your first proposed method should be fine. If the "lever" action is high enough to snap a lag bolt, then it will be strong enough to snap the 2x3 as well.

From a strength perspective, it doesn't matter how long the lag bolt is - the torque and shear at the junction of the wall/bracket interface is all that matters. It doesn't matter if the lag bolt sticks out 3" from the wall, or if just the bracket sticks out 3" from the wall. You get the same torque applied from the same downward force if you assume the lag/bracket/mantel assembly is one rigid body. And if it's not, then something internal in the shelf has already failed, and you don't need to worry about the torque loading on the lag at the wall.

If you wanted to use shorter lags for some reason, you could always countersink them by drilling into the 2x3 with a bit larger than the lag head.


ring main/RCD max amps - confused (UK) I've split my question up into two parts:

Part 1

After investigating my consumer unit (after I first started to wonder about things in part 2 below) I'm confused regarding the AMPS my RCDs are rated to take.

My home (which is a new build from 2010) has the consumer unit split in two, with two RCD units (I think they are) splitting up the trip switches. The split is as follows

Left most trip switches

6A trip - Down stairs lights

20A trip - Kitchen Grid switches for fridge, washing machine, dish washer

32A trip - Ring main wall sockets

32A trip - cooker

90A total - These are connected to an 80A  RCD

Right most trip switches

6A trip - Up stairs lights

6A trip - Smoke Alarms (up/down stairs)

16A trip - Central Heating

32A trip - Ring main wall sockets

40A trip - Electric Shower

100A total - These are connected to an 80A  RCD

Lastly

100A - Main Switch/Trip for consumer unit

As you can see the RCDs are rated at 80A but the combined amps of the trips going into them both, exceed the rated amperage and not only that the combined amps of all trips/RCDs far exceed that of the main consumer unit trip. What am I missing here, im sure it's right, I just don't understand it.

As I understand things, we're always told to not exceed 13A on a wall socket if we use a strip plug. Hence I'm guessing all plugs connected to either ring main shouldn't exceed 32Amps. Is this correct? It just seems low to me. Run the Kettle-13A, Microwave-13A and TV-10A and I'm above 32A there...I don't get it.

If I apply the same logic to the consumer unit, why is there potential for all trip switches combined to exceed the RCDs they are connected to and further to this the main consumer unit switch? I must be missing something fundamental here and would greatly appreciate some clarity on the matter.

Part 2

I'm sure an explanation of the above will also explain my confusion here to. Basically I confused regarding the max AMPs a UK ring main will accept (given a strip plug shouldn't exceed 13A) and was seeking some advice and information to clear up the confusion.

I'm setting up a new marine aquarium which has a lot of equipment. There are at least 15 plugs going to be used. At minimum thats a potential 45A right there if all plugs were 3A (which they are not, some are 5 &13). If the potential amps is above 32 does this mean I can't connect them to my ring main via multiple strip sockets plugged into several wall sockets. If so then how do I get around this? Install a new Trip switch in the Consumer Unit and run a cable specifically for this project?

People regularly do what I'm doing, use multiple strip sockets plug everything in, everything works and they don't worry. But I'm baffled by it as I'm not sure thats the safest thing to be doing plus have spare Amps for all the other normal house hold electricals. I'm so confused with AMPS because of what people say in overloading those strip sockets, surely the same logic applies to the trip switches themselves?

Thanks.

Breakers and fuses are sized to limit the fault current that can flow. Each is sized to limit the current to that which the cable connected to it can safely carry. For example a 32A ring main circuit will protect a 2x 2.5mm2 cable ring circuit. Another example will be the 6A lighting circuits. These could be a single 1mm2 cable (though 1.5mm2 seems to be more commonly used).

You aren't expected to be running everything at capacity at the same time. Just because a circuit can supply a given amount of current doesn't mean that it will be doing. As long as the current draw at any point doesn't exceed the capacity of the fuse or breaker protecting it, it won't trip.

You mention 3A and 5A "plugs". This is the current above which the fuse in the plug should blow (at some point - fuses have different "trip times" for different overcurrent ratings). The appliance supplied by these won't normally draw the current marked on the fuse. For example if you had a 1W appliance, it would be likely to have a 3A fuse (the smallest common fuse for a UK 3 pin plug), but would only actually draw around 0.004A. You could technically therefore connect around 3000 of these 1W appliances through one 13A fused plug without a problem (practically however, you might find it more of a challenge...).

The important number to be considering is the total power draw (wattage) of the appliances in use at any one time, not the total of the fuse ratings.

In relation to you aquarium, as long as you don't overload the ring main, you'll not have a problem. If you total up the wattage of all your equipment, you can run approximately 3000W through one 3 pin plug. (Note though that it's common for double sockets to be rated for less than 26A, but it's not often marked on them). Your 32A ring main is therefore capable of supplying a bit over 7000W.

In the worst case, you could always have an electrician install a dedicated circuit to supply the aquarium equipment.


How to run water through winter with bedrock? Ultimately, we want to have year-round water in a building roughly 300 feet (90m) from our well/house. Where we live the average winter temperature is ~14 farenheit (-10 celsius), and bottoms out around -40 on the coldest of cold days. The frost line for our general area is somewhere around 5 - 6 feet (1.5m). The issue is that we have 0 - 24 inches of soil, and then bedrock.

So - how to do we get water to not freeze in the winter when we're faced with low temperatures and bedrock preventing us from running it underground? I've looked at products like heat tape and Heat-Line. Both seem expensive and not-ideal, but I'm pretty stuck for options.

We have water in our house that comes from the well, how does that not freeze? I have no experience with plumbing whatsoever. Any ideas?

I would strongly suggest an "in the pipe" electric heating solution. Not to run all the time, but to be there if you need it, since this can be imperfect, to say the least, and it's a lot easier to plan ahead (and just be able to flip a switch until the water runs again) than to fix it when it's already frozen. I would not recommend this "instead" of the insulation technique below, but in addition to, as a backup. It just needs to run long enough to permit some water to flow, then you can shut it off and run water until the pipe is fully cleared of ice.

The non-electric approach (other than blowing a channel into the bedrock) is to excavate a WIDE trench to the bedrock, and place rigid foam insulation over the pipe. If it's down 2 feet and insulated sideways 4 feet, it's morally equivalent to being down 6 feet. That means an 8 foot wide trench and insulation, to get 4 feet to either side. You could also mound additional soil on top of the pipe run.

Running a "controlled leak" through the winter is an additional technique - typical well-water is 50F/10C, so running a little water all the time helps to keep the pipe from freezing.

You might also look up the well driller or plumber who ran the water from your well to the house and ask them what they did, if it's working.


What type of wood treatment does my garden office / summer house need? The exterior wood on the top of my garden office / summer house is looking a bit tired / worn out - see picture below. What kind of treatment should I use to restore/protect the wood? See the lower parts for how it should look.

Generally you want to treat exterior wood like this with a water-proofing treatment at least once a year. It helps to provide UV resistance and keep water out.
Water is your big enemy here. It looks like the wood was installed with some lacquer for waterproofing (hard to tell from the photo), but it's worn away. You've got a couple of options
Paint it
Paint will waterproof and make it look nice and uniform again. It sounds like you want the wood look, but as far as options go, this one is the easiest and had the fewest questions on maintenance. I mention it for completeness.
Stain and waterproof
I'm assuming you just want to work on the greyed spots. This is trickier because matching stain is difficult. Just like painting, your best bet is to stain the whole thing. The next best option is to find a stain that's close enough. Because you have a natural break in the soffit and wall, a close enough color might do the trick, and people will assume the wall just looks different due to lighting.
Then you'll want to waterproof it. This isn't a "one-and-done" either. Your wood will grey over time. The more often you waterproof it, the longer it will stay the same color. Waterproofing also helps prevent the boards from warping and splitting over time (water is your enemy there).


Do I need to caulk where my vinyl siding meets the edge of my windows? To help prevent leaks, I was advised by a contractor that I need to caulk where my vinyl siding meets the edges of my windows.  Some research of my own reveals quite a bit of debate over this, a few saying that the caulking will wear out fast because of the expansion/contraction of the siding.  Others say that, if the vinyl is installed properly, caulking is a superfluous measure of protection.  I am wondering what SE has to say on the matter.

Agreed with the research you found. Most vinyl siding, if installed correctly, will not require caulk at the sides of the windows and doors. Often there is actually a separate vinyl piece installed first at the side of the window that the ends of the siding tuck into. You are supposed to leave a gap at the end of the siding pieces to permit expansion and contraction. This same siding movement is the reason that the siding comes with slotted nail holes.

(from the familyhandyman.com web site)


GFCI conversion trouble: receptacle not screwing into outlet support plate I'm trying to convert old "razor only" receptacles to GFCI protected ones in bathrooms. Since the old outlets are large 2-gang 4" boxes, I had to get GFCI conversion kits (manufacturer's specs) with a 2-gang, 1 centered receptacle support plate and wall plate:

The problem: the holes where the new GFCI receptacle should screw in (the small circles in the support plate at the right in the image above) are untapped.

It is extremely difficult to screw in the receptacle's screws into those holes.
The hole size seems about right, matching the shaft diameter of the screw without the threads. A 7/64" drill bit slides smoothly in the hole.

The receptacle's screws are tapered at the tips and they can get the threading started, but it gets stuck quickly. I tried using the old receptacle's screws to continue the threading and it is so difficult that the screw head broke. I also found another switch with what appear to be self-tapping screws of the same thickness and threading, and they can't even get started.

I unfortunately don't have taps. I also thought of drilling the holes a bit larger, but the next drill bit size seems to be 1/8" which looks too big.

Am I missing something? I would think this must be a standardized part that is meant for simple installation without so much difficulty or additional steps such as thread tapping. For example, this how-to guide.

You may just need a better support plate, like this one from Home Depot:

"Mounting holes are pre-tapped to accept devices faster"


Do I need to add studs to install a floating vanity in this layout? The vanity will have one sink unlike in the picture, one piece, 48" wide.
The vanity position is exact, the distance between studs measurements are exact for the right side but aproximative for the left side where as you can see in the picture the studs are not plumb
Rendering

Rel life picture

The cabinet is this one
https://www.bathdepot.ca/48in-walnut-wall-mount-vanity-set-with-porcelain-top-essence-collection-vw4818-23wal-127.html

I followed your link to the vendor site, and located a link to a PDF containing installation instructions. It was under Product Page > [Features & Specs] > Technical Specs.
The installation instructions appear to show the cabinet mounting using a "French Cleat" system, with 4 screws through the supporting cleat, and 2 screws through the cabinet after hanging it from the cleat.
In the instructions, the mounting was to plastic hangers, commonly referred to as "drywall anchors". However, the drawings were stylized, so this is not definite.
Since you have studs available, I would suggest that you visit your local home center (or "home centre", eh?) and pick up some hex-headed lag bolts, along with a similar number of matching washers. You can mark the position of your studs during the renovation process (or go back later with a stud finder), then drill larger holes in the mounting cleat to sink the lags into your studs.
Beware, though: my experience with big-box store lags is that many of them are made of "Chinesium." You want to go one or two sizes up from what you think will work. If you're thinking 1/4" (6mm), then go 3/8" instead (9mm).
Also beware: if you and your significant other are likely to "get frisky" on this surface, make sure you look at how it's engineered. I suspect it's probably just melamine (particle-board, MDF), which would contra-indicate friskiness unless you're both "heroin chic".


How do I know if a house built in 1940 in Ontario, Canada has lead pipes? The current owner does not know but does this province have any laws regarding health issues from drinking water from old pipe systems or that they should be replaced? In the old days pipes were lead correct?

Edit: Temporarily, does a Brita filter remove lead?

Step one - look. Lead is unlikely inside the house, but you might see a lead pipe coming in from the street, if there is one. Copper pipes soldered with tin/lead solder are pretty common. But so are threaded galvanized iron pipes.

Step two - ask the water supplier, if it's on a municipal system.

Step three - have the water tested - it won't tell you if the pipes or solder have lead, but it will tell you if you need to worry about it. Most municipal systems that have lead distribution pipes in service take care to adjust the water chemistry so the lead stays in the pipes, not in the water.

If it's on a well, the odds of lead pipes go way down, IME. But the odds of water chemistry that might release lead go up quite a bit, depending on the water source.


How does water travel through a modern column radiator I.e is there a single route going up and down each column, or does it travel along the top/bottom left to right. My radiator has twenty set of three columns, would be good to see the inside of such a radiator.

Hot water radiators which are connected together on both the top and bottom have no baffles or plugs. Inside the radiator is one open cave from end to end. The recommended way to pipe a cast iron radiator is hot in at the top and return (cold ), out the bottom. As the water cools in the radiator the water gets more dense and heavier causing the flow to be towards the bottom of the radiator. If you are interested in radiator construction you could buy or find an old radiator and take it apart.


Should I use steel or wood studs for basement exterior walls? Related: When should you use metal studs?

I'm planning on finishing my basement.  (assuming all water issues are resolved)
I'll be putting up a water barrier (tar paper) on all exterior walls, Framing a stud wall, insulating, installing a vapour barrier, and dry-walling over top.

There will also be a fire-wall built around the furnace (obviously I'll use steel here).

For the exterior walls, should I use steel or wood studs?

If you can't answer, at least give me points to consider.

UPDATE  I plan to start this project in February.  I've just had entrenching and exterior waterproofing done on the foundation.  Parge, Aquablock, Delta board and new weepers put in.  Does this affect the vapour barrier situation?  (obviously this is cold-side waterproofing.)

Much later update:
Went with steel studs and spray foam.  The contractor sistered some of the studs with 2x4's to provide mount points for shelves and a wall mount TV should we decide to go that path.  Here's some in progress photos.  For some final photos, check: http://diy.blogoverflow.com/2012/09/installing-laminateengineered-wood-floating-floors/

I did a lot of research when finishing our basement. I eventually went with a wall model recommended by building sciences corporation that, from outside in, is:

existing exterior wall (concrete, concrete block, etc)
foam board insulation (XPS or EPS, I went with EPS)
stud wall
sheet rock (I went with a paperless product called Densarmor

This is  a system that Fine Homebuilding magazine also recommends and is considered valid by the US Department of Energy. I know this because our local building codes were still using the antiquated 'fiberglass + plastic' model and I had to do a ton of research to educate the local code enforcers before they'd approve this.

I went with metal studs for the following reasons:

they're all perfectly straight
I can carry 20 of them at a time (makes it REALLY easy to haul into a basement)
easy to build in-place (no need to frame then tilt-up walls)
cut with tin-snips in a matter of seconds
mold can't grow on it
can be installed without screws (can be crimped in place)
at the time, were the same cost
wiring channels are built-in
you can use thinner studs (it's impossible to find straight 2x2's in wood around here)

There are a few cons, though:

you can't easily nail into them for attaching baseboard
you still need to frame out your doors with wood for the added strength
you can't mount cabinets to the wall with metal studs

As for baseboard, I decided to use the new synthetic foam pre-finished trim. It looks pretty good, is super light, easy to work with and...it's not wood. So I thought it was another great product for a basement. Because it's so light, it was really easy to toe-nail it in to the sheetrock with an pneumatic trimmer.

As for mounting cabinets and such, on the walls where I knew I wanted to do this, I added 2x2's inside the metal studs for support.

The only corrosion issue that I'd be worried about is rust, and that should only be an issue if you still have a moisture issue in your basement. It'd also take a really long time for a stud to rust through and be any sort of problem.

Some tips:

be sure to separate the floor plate from the concrete. I used 1/4 XPS for that and then power-actuated hammered them into the concrete. This thermal break will prevent moisture coming in through the concrete to condense on the metal
don't screw them in. I did and while it's not that big of a deal, they make crimpers just for this purpose. Invest in the crimpers as it'll make things go really fast.
be sure to buy plastic grommets for the electrical channels. You don't want your electrical cables rubbing up against the bare steel edges.
wear really good gloves

As for your plan:

  barrier (tar paper) on all exterior walls, Framing a stud wall, insulating, installing a vapour barrier, and dry-walling over top

...I STRONGLY recommend against that.

for starters, your plan involves two vapor barriers...that is a really bad idea. That will only trap moisture inside the walls. The modern recommendation (at least in colder climates) is to not use any vapor barrier in an old basement. Instead, use foam board for the insulation. Foam board is permeable, and the idea is that if water ever got on one side or the other, it could eventually dry to the other.

The other issue is that you want the insulation on the OUTSIDE of the stud wall. The foundation wall will be the coldest surface and is where moisture would condense. You want all of your framing on the inside of the conditioned space.

The proper way to put a water barrier in a basement is on the OUTSIDE of the foundation. Ideally, you'd have a water barrier and insulation on the outside of the concrete. But that's obviously really hard to retrofit.


Older light fixture with 3 bulbs - each bulb has 1 white and 1 black wire from it I have an older light fixture with 3 bulbs - each bulb has 1 white and 1 black wire from it, and it also has the standard grounding wire.  The fixture box in the ceiling has 1 white and 1 black (and the grounding wire).  Do I bundle the 3 black and 3 white from the fixture and then connect to the corresponding color on the ceiling box?

In a word: Yes.
In a bunch of words: Yes, this is called connecting in parallel.
All household lighting loads and most appliance loads operate at the same voltage. So each lamp, fan, toaster, phone charger, etc. needs to be connected between one of the hot legs and the neutral bar in the service panel.
In the case of your lamp, each bulb needs its own separate connection to a hot (120v) supply and a neutral.
The circuit connection considerations of household wiring are very simple, and can be explained in a page of text. Two or three pages with the diagrams. The bulk of an electrician's work, and the content of the NEC, are concerned with safety.
Speaking of safety, you should use two wire nuts for your job. Different manufacturers use different color codes for the sizes, so you need to look at the chart on the packaging to determine the size to use to join one supply conductor to three flexible cords. There is a lot of leeway here. If you can get the nut onto the wires, then it's big enough, and if you can't pull any wire out of the nutted connection, then it's not too big.
(Personally I prefer the one-word answer but American schools have trained me to keep writing until the proctor says stop.)


2 switches & 2 lights I have 2 rooms, each has a switch and a light connected to it, how can I control the two lights using these 2 switches so that when one light is ON the other one is OFF, ie: at any moment only one light ON and the other is OFF. Thanks.

This answer is in two parts. Read both parts before proceeding.

Part one:

Here is one way to wire two switches to do what you describe:

The switch on the left is a "three-way" and the switch on the right is a "four-way". As usual, I have omitted the fault ground wires to make the diagram clearer.

This can also be done with four conductors between the switch boxes instead of five, if you confine all the wires in a conduit or single cable. Just combine the two neutral wires into one.

I have diagrammed the method that uses one 12/3 and one 12/2 because where I live, in the U.S.A., you can buy non-metallic sheathed 12/3wG and 12/2wG cable in any building supply store, while 12/4wG is relatively hard to find.

EDIT: I have updated the diagram with the color tapes suggested in Harper's answer.

Part two:

Are you sure you want to do this? Unless you live in an abandoned missile silo, it doesn't make much sense to wire your home so that you can never turn off the lights. Are you going to have one light burning even in the daytime? Does no one sleep in your house?

Many people ask this question but no one has ever reported implementing it and being satisfied with the result.


How can I repair a towel rack that was ripped out of the wall? The towel rod has been ripped out of the wall.  It looks like it was attached to the wall by two dry wall anchors which were not attached to the stud.  Basically a very junky installation in my opinion.

I would appreciate any advice on how I can go about fixing this.  I don't think that I can attach the anchors to any studs since the other side of the rod is already in a fixed location (and I would prefer to not move the rod).  Since the wall is covered in wallpaper, I would prefer to not move the rod.

Since you already have a wall paper finish on the wall and you are hesitant to move the towel bar to another location this does put a damper on the types of solutions that could be used to fix this problem. By the way; Don't feel too bad about the failure. It is very common to find towel bars attached just into the drywall. :-(

The normal "robust" way to fix this would be to make a hole in the drywall near where the mount ripped out of the wall. Such hole would be about 2" (5omm) high by 4" (100mm) wide. A piece of wood with string around its middle would be placed down into the slot and then raised back up inside the wall using the string to pull it back up so that it was centered over the opening. A 3.5" (85mm) wide by 8-12" (200-300mm) long board would be used for this. Holding the board in place with the string, you would install drywall screws through the exiting wall board and into the wood to hold it in place. Patch up would consist of cutting a small piece of new drywall to fill in the slot hole and screwing it in place. Drywall taping, mud and sanding would be done to finish the wall back to a nice finish so that it could be re-painted. With this scheme the towel bar support can now be re-installed using longer screws to reach into the wood support that was added. The wood support spreads the stress of the towel bar across a much greater area of the wall preventing future tear out.

Now that you have a picture of what could be done let me suggest an alternate approach that will provide a strong support and permanent fix. For this you would remove both towel bar brackets and install a primed and pre-painted horizontal board across the wall in line where the towel bar mounted. You would secure this in place using screws into the nearby studs. If the towel bar was mounted in a narrower wall segment it is best, from a looks standpoint, to extend the board across the width of the wall. After the board is mounted in place the screw holes would be filled with spackle, sanded and touch up painted. The towel bar is then mounted onto this painted board.

With this latter approach it may be desirable to size up the room and if there are other towel bars present you may want to install these board strips in a uniform manner for those as well to maintain a style in the room.

If you saved some of the original wall paper it is also possible to glue wall paper onto these strips after they have been primed. Done carefully the wall paper pattern can be matched to the wall and make the towel bar mounting boards hardly noticeable.


Central heating header tank over flow Googling this issue I'm finding lots of conflicting answers and many horror stories about significant parts of the system needing replacement, so I'm trying here for, hopefully, a more considered response.

At the weekend I replaced a couple of sticky TRVs. To do this I drained the central heating system the same way I have done a dozen times in the past (to replace rads, replace TRVs, replace valves, fit filters etc).

I refilled the system as normal and bled the rads a couple of times starting with the lowest rads and working my way upstairs to the highest rad (a heated towel rail).

All seemed normal except that there seemed to be more air in the system than usual.

Over the last two nights I have bled the radiators again and found a lot of air in a couple of them again. Other than that the heating seems to be working as before.

However, when the heating switches off at the end of its time cycle (and possibly when the room stat kicks in - though I haven't confirmed this) water pours out of the header tank overflow pipe for a few minutes then stops.

This seems to happen every time the heating switches off.

System details:

Worcester Bosch 24 CBi (I think that's the correct model) boiler
Osso unvented water tank
Grundfos pump
TF1 magnetic particle filter
Radiator circuit is fed from one small tank in the loft
Cold water into hot water tank is fed from mains feed (via PRV) - not a big tank in the loft space.

The boiler is over ten years old BUT had the burner, heat exchanger, fan etc (everything except the case and control board, basically) replaced two year sago.

The Grundfos was replaced at the beginning of this year. (It was replaced needlessly by incompetent heating engineers who claimed the previous pump was not powerful enough as they had added an extra rad to the system. They were ignorant of the fact that two larger rads had been removed from the happily working system AND the fact that the 'fault' was that rads were not heating up because they had left the lockshields closed!!!)

Other than the pump change and new rad at the start of the year, nothing has changed.

The system has worked perfectly since then (after I discovered the closed lockshields and the two cross threaded TRVs left by the supposedly certified heating engineers).

When I changed the TRVs at the weekend, the system drained down as normal and re-filled as normal.

This overflowing from the header whenever the heating switches off is the only problem. Everything else is working fine.

What I have read and considered:

Boiler over-heating. Seems unlikely as the water temp at the taps is not abnormally hot - it does not seem hotter than normal.
Ball valve in header tank stuck. Seems unlikely as the overflow stops itself after a few minutes - and there is no sound of water pumping into the header tank when the overflow happens (I need to confirm this again, but when the overflow first happened I was in the room where the header tank is above and usually hear that filling).
Tank stat faulty. I know a tank stat is supposed to be fitted, but I don't think one is. Heating engineers have asked where the tank stat is before and not found one. Again this is something I need to check, but is there any way to further diagnose this as being the problem? Should I be checking the temperature of the water in the header tank / that is overflowing?

I've tried to supply as much background info as possible, but I understand that I need to investigate further. If you have any pointers as to what I should check, please let me know.

Let me say first that I have never worked with this type of boiler, but the question you ask is similar to a few problems I have had with boiler systems here in the USA. I do not know if this is the same as your installation but I will tell you what I think may be the problem.

Someone specifies a larger pump than necessary or a larger replacement pump for an existing installation. The system is filled with water, vented, and put into operation. When the pump starts, the water pressure on the inlet side of the pump falls and the PRV (heating system pressure regulating valve) which is installed on the piping near the inlet side of the pump senses the drop in pressure and adds water to the system to correct for the reduced pressure.

When the boiler and the pump shut down, that extra head the larger pump exerted on the supply piping is the felt on the whole system. When this happens, the relief valve (which you call the overflow tank pipe) opens to get rid of the excess water that was introduced when the pump started. That extra water raises the whole system pressure above the set point of the "relief valve" when the system shuts down.

I do not know if this is what is causing your problem but it sounds similar. You may need to go back to the old pump size to correct the problem. Changing the pump just because a radiator was added or changed is a foolish mistake done by the uneducated in their trade.


How can I break up a small boulder without power tools? I have a boulder/rock that is about 2 feet long and 1.5 feet in diameter. It is too heavy to lift and I would like to break it into smaller pieces. Without power tools, are there any good methods besides going at it with a sledgehammer?

You can go at it with a sledgehammer (or a smaller hand sledge) and a star drill, and then drive wedges into the holes (or if you are patient, fill the holes with water and let them freeze in the winter.) There are special wedges designed for use in round holes for splitting rock (feathers and wedges seems to find them). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_and_feather

Remember to use ear and eye protection.

Another approach from our practical forebears if you just need it out of the way would be to dig a hole 2-1/2 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet deep next to it, then roll it in and bury it.

You could also build a bonfire on or around it, but that has some potential to become more exciting than planned for if the stone has trapped water in it.


How do I stop the dripping noise from my gutters? It has just recently started raining where I live, and I am new to this house. When the rain ceases and the water is dripping from the gutters through the drain, I can hear the dripping from inside the house. It is REALLY loud and is driving me crazy. The gutter drains are right outside my bedroom and the living room, so getting away from these areas is not an option.

Is there a way to get rid of (or greatly reduce) the dripping noise?

I'm surprised the dripping is that loud but there is a simple solution. Drop a some rope, such as heavy sash cord, down the drainpipe and attach top end in such a way that at least a couple of inches of the rope is sitting inside the gutter itself. The way this works is that the water will tend to run along the rope, which should ensure the water runs along the wall of the drainpipe instead of falling through the air.