Ontario kitchen reno: does a gas range require a 240V 50A receptacle? I've been getting conflicting opinions from  electricians on this issue...  I'm doing a kitchen reno.  I have removed the existing electric wall oven and gas cooktop.  A new Gas Range (all gas, not dual-fuel) will be installed near where the old gas cooktop was, using the existing gas line.  The question is: Does Code require a 240V 50A range receptacle installed behind the gas range? It appears that for new construction the answer is yes for sure.  But some electricians believe that a renovated kitchen does not require this.  Also, I believe that an exception applies if the kitchen is in a multi-family dwelling.  (We have a tenant in our legal basement apartment.) Has anyone had experience with this?

UPDATE: @doozit commented below that this document was just a proposal, which wasn't accepted. (It isn't described as such on the ESA webpage)

A quick google search found what looks like the answer in the Ontario amendments to the Canadian electrical code on the Electrical Safety Authority's page

This reference might be enough for you and your electricians to break the tie:

  31.Delete CE Code Rule 26-744(4) and replace with the following:

  (4) A receptacle of CSA Configuration 14-50R, as shown in Diagram 1, shall be
  installed at a suitable location in every single dwelling and in every dwelling unit of an apartment or similar multi-dwelling building for supplying electric energy to an electric range.

  32.Add Rules 26-744(10), (11), (12) and (13) as follows:

  ...

  (13) Notwithstanding Subrule (4), the range receptacle need not be installed in

  (a) dwelling units where a built-in gas-fired or electric cook top or a built-in gas-fired or electric oven is installed;

  (b) other than single dwellings where provision has been made for a gas range; or

  (c) dwelling units where power from a supply authority is not available and the capacity of local generation is less than 6 kW.

So it looks like you don't need the receptacle as long as a cooktop or oven is installed.


CFL bulb burnout damaging fitting? I have two light fittings in my kitchen. Both have CFL bulbs which, as far as I can remember, were installed around the same time 10 years ago.

I was in the other room and heard this fizzling noise.  Went into the kitchen and saw that one of the bulbs had gone out.  Tried to put in a new bulb and it doesn't work.

I have read about how CFL bulbs act at the end of their life but can't find anything about them damaging light fittings.

Is this just a simple case of buying a new light fitting and swapping like for like or is this potentially something more serious that I need an electrician for?  (I would prefer to fix it myself as getting an electrician five days before Xmas is not going to be easy!)

Many times I have found the center conductor in the light socket has flattened out, lifting that tab away from the base with the power off will usually solve the problem. I have found some “electronic” lamps (not incandescent) do not have threads that are as long or a shoulder stops the lamp from being screwed in far enough. Lifting the tab will fix this also in many cases. Give lifting the tab a try.


Trying to fix leaky faucet but can’t find set screw This hole is in the back and impossible to see what’s inside???

You will need an Allen Wrench to loosen the set screw. They are sold in sets of right angled wrenches and several varying sizes. There are metric and SAE sized also.
Faucet set screws are usually SAE and sized towards the smaller end of the wrench sizes.


How to build a screen canvas? In my new apartment I have a lot of space and therefore I want to use a projector to watch TV and movies. Unfortunately, professional screen canvas are very expensive. So I plan to build one by myself.

The silver screen should have 3.20 meter width and 1.80 height. How can I do that? What material should I use to build the screen? How expensive will it be?

If your heart is not set on a silver screen, I had good results using blackout cloth - this is white, rubber-impregnated cloth that is used for curtains.  I got a swath that was 48 inches wide - 1.21 meters, so a bit smaller than what you're looking for, but the largest they had available at the fabric shop.  By using a single swath, I avoided seams in the screen.  I made a 2.35:1 screen, so the final result was about 117cm x 275cm, which is really the largest screen my room could have handled.

I built a wood frame, stretched the fabric over it, and stapled it in place.  Four years later, it still looks great, and the total cost was under $100.


What should I do with insulation in basement ceiling? I am fixing up my basement, and to make it seem bigger- we decided to remove the drop ceiling and are going to have the exposed ceiling and duct work sprayed black.

There is some insulation around the outside walls between the top of the wood paneling and the ceiling...what should I do with this? None of the insulation is in bad condition, but I don't really love the look of it and would prefer it be removed, but I also don't want this to cause any issues with the heating in the house. The basement itself is heated.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated!

Do not remove the insulation. You will degrade the overall effectiveness of the R-value (insulation rating) of the walls.

Continue the finish materials (it looks like wallboard) up into the cavities between the floor joists. You will need to install vertical nailing strips on the sides of the joists, and on on the underside of the subfloor would also be a good idea.

You can then tape the horizontal butt seam, sand and paint.


Turned off breaker, power consumption almost cut in half. No idea what it's for My house was remodeled in 2010 and I mention this only because I have two breakers labeled "Dishwasher" and I assume there must have been some rewiring done. Flip one and nothing happens, flip the other and the dishwasher turns off.

The trouble is when you flip off the first breaker that does "nothing", my power consumption drops from 1.7kW to .9kW. I can't for the life of me find anything not working that was working prior to flipping the breaker.

Could anybody provide some insight what could be happening?

For posterity (and future searches), I'll try to combine the suggestions from comments and briefly summarize the outcome. Any edits are welcome, especially if you feel I've misconstrued ideas. This is tagged as a community wiki.

The first suggestion was to leave the breaker off until the issue was better understood, as this could have been a dangerous and well hidden electrical fault.
Being winter, pipe or roof heating was suspected. (We later learned
that the OP is in a mild climate, with overnight temperatures a bit
below freezing at this time of year.)
Suggestion to 'leave it off' and start hunting for things that don't
work. (Particular reminder to check fridges/freezers after turning
off circuit breakers. Nobody likes a freezer full of spoiled food.)
Suggestion about heat pump/AC unit. (Not applicable in this case.)
Suggestion about booster heater for dishwasher, sump pump, or sewage
pump. (Not applicable in this case.)
Suggestion about someone illegally tapping power to a nearby house.
(Not applicable in this case.)
Suggestion about on-demand hot water. (Not applicable in this case.)
Suggestion to use a signal tracer (such as a Fluke Networks Pro 3000)
to follow the circuit.

Resolution (somewhat): it turned out to be an in-floor heating unit in a bathroom. There are still unexplained variations in power consumption (suggestion to get a clamp meter); perhaps the OP will be able to provide more information if anything comes up.


Connecting to small clock battery terminals I want to connect wire leads to small battery terminals. This is a battery terminal for a 1.5V AG13 battery in a small clock. My question is how to connect leads to it in an easy and non-destructive way. I’m considering soldering as well as some sort of clip. Any ideas?

I would go to the store and purchase a wood dowel that is the same diameter as the AG13 battery. Then you can craft up a small pellet that has some small holes drilled at appropriate places and angles to insert small wires from your wire harness. The best termination of the wires would be to acquire some copper tape that has conductive adhesive and apply a couple of small pieces to the dowel side and face to mate with the contacts in the clock.

Do note that the wood dowel piece does not need to be as thin as the AG13 battery. It could be longer and even protrude some out from the back of the clock.

If you do not feel so much up to the task of DIY craftsmanship then I would suggest that you can just solder your wires directly to the contacts. This type of clock module is not so precious that you need to find a non-destructive manner to connect the wires.


Problem deciding where to use ceiling colour and wall colour We have heating ducts that are covered in drywall making the ceiling lower in 2 parts of the downstairs bedroom. The highest part of the ceiling is 8 ft. Do I paint the underside of the ducts white to match the ceiling or do I totally paint them out in wall colour?Any help appreciated!

I had this exact situation in house #1 and ended up putting wall paint on both the side and underneath the ducts.

I first put ceiling paint on the underside, but it looked very strange from certain angles -- like lying on the bed -- where you could see all four surfaces in alternating colors.  Then I painted one small section of the duct all ceiling, and another section all wall paint, and decided the wall paint looked better overall.


Repair of antique standing lamp light fitting (UK) I have broken this light fitting off an antique wooden lamp stand. It's a bayonet fitting, which screws onto a brass screw thread. Is this a standard fitting? Does anyone know where I could get one in the UK? Thanks.

The last time I was in Broken & Quick they still had those light fittings - as I nearly got two to make a couple of desklamps.


How many soffit vents do I need? Quick question regarding venting of my attic.  I have two gable vents and a ridge vent, but home inspection recommends soffit vents be installed. I've calculated how many soffit vents needed, without gable vents.  However, I wanted to know if having gable vents will affect the number of soffit vents needed?  Thanks for your help!

Your attic ventilation should be a loop from bottom to top, so that convection and draft work with the system. Soffit venting should typically be at least a third of the total area, which is why you often see alternating perforated panels in aluminum soffits. In short overhang scenarios I've used full venting.

Image source

You should consider closing your gable vents, assuming you have adequate ridge vents. The gable vents short-circuit the loop and can result in dead zones.

Basically it's like this: The airflow and natural thermal lifting in your attic result in outflow at the ridge. That creates lower pressure in the attic, which must be accommodated. You want it accommodated by the soffit vents, not the gable vents, so that you have a continuous flow across the entire attic area.


high water pressure in bathtub but not from the shower head! why do I have high water pressure in the bathtub but not from the shower head? already changed plumbing and changed the shower head

Take a gallon bucket and measure how long it takes to fill the bucket from the tub faucet, the shower head, and the shower pipe without the head on it.  If the time to fill is relatively close between filling with the tub faucet and the headless shower, then it is probably the shower head.  The shower head you buy must not allow more than 2.5 gallons per minute in the US, many are below 2.0 GPM.  There are ways around it, such as modifying your shower head or putting in more than one shower head.


How do I fix this light fixture now unstuck from the ceiling? Right now it's hanging by electrical cords, believe there was some adhesive that came undone. I am not an electrician so don't want to mess with it.
What is that adhesive called?

1 - TURN OFF THE ELECTRICAL SUPPLY, preferably from the breaker, not just the switch.
Those two screws you see protruding from the box are there to hold up the light fixture. Extend these screws to their full length so that they are in the electrical box, but are as long as they can get.
Remove the glass and possibly the lightbulbs from the fixture.  You should see two slotted keyhole spaces that should line up with the screws.  Push the screws through the insulation and into the big parts of the holes. Rotate the fixture so the screws end up in the slots.
Tighten up the screws, but do not over-tighten.  Just tight enough to snug up the fixture to the ceiling.
Reinstall a light bulb, turn on the breaker and test the switch.  If it doesn't work, then remove and check to make sure the wires are all attached correctly. They might have jiggled loose during this process.
Reinstall the glass.
There is no adhesive. Don't use any adhesive.


How to deal with this water damage I finally determined the source of the leak (How to start investigating the source of this leak in the bathroom), but now I am stuck with dealing with the water damage.

It turns out that the water was leaking from the left hand side of the tank, running down the back of the toilet to the baseboard, and then finding its way to the right where it was wicked up by the particleboard of the cabinet.

I removed the shoe molding from around the cabinet and found mold and water damage:

Do I need to replace the cabinet, or is there a less drastic solution?

Do I need to remove the shoe molding and baseboard to check for damage to the drywall behind the toilet?  The drywall sounds dry when I tap it, and the baseboard and shoe molding feel dry, but there are a lot of stains on the shoe molding and on the grout by the shoe molding.

Chances are, now that the leak has been repaired, the moisture will dry up and you won't have further problems. You may have some subfloor to replace when/if you ever replace the finished floor, but it's probably not an urgent matter.

Since you have an overhanging faceframe you can add a veneer to the side panel of your cabinet without showing an edge at the front. I'd visit your local home improvement store and see what they stock in the way of paneling or pre-finished plywood. You could also buy raw birch plywood and finish it to match.

You'd then carefully cut a panel to fit the shape of your cabinet and use panel adhesive or contact cement to adhere it to the side of the cabinet. Sand or scrape any bumps from the existing surface first.


Is copper clad aluminum wiring safe to use? During remodeling I have found some copper clad aluminum wire. If I recall correctly is all 12 gauge used for outlets. It is clearly labelled as CU clad aluminum on the jacket of the insulation.

I think this wire dates from the 70s or maybe 1980s. As far as I know there are no problems with these existing circuits.

Is this type of wire considered safe to use? And/or are there any code compliance issues?

I understand that pure aluminum wire had many issues but have the impression that the copper cladding was meant to improve on that or avoid the problems. But it also seems like CU-clad AL is no longer sold / in use (true?) which seems like a concern.

The CU-clad AL wire I have handled is noticeably softer than normal copper wire, and I think the issues with pure AL were due to mechanical connections failing. So this is another concern.

While I have the opportunity to potentially replace this wire I'd like to do so if it is prudent (or necessary).

Copper clad aluminum doesn't have the safety issues that aluminum wiring has for household branch circuits.  The cladding was applied with a special manufacturing process and it's held up over time.

The NEC tables for aluminum wire sizing are also for copper clad aluminum, so larger gauge wire is required for a given ampacity than would be with copper.  So although you don't have to do anything special with it, but keep in mind that you can't for example put a 20A breaker on a circuit with 12 AWG copper clad aluminum - you're limited to 15A.

I don't know if copper clad aluminum is available for power any more, I have not seen it.  It's likely that it came and went due to economics.  For a time copper was so much more expensive than aluminum it was worth making.  Now, the savings using aluminum are not enough to offset the manufacturing cost.

There was some low grade network cable on the market recently that was copper clad aluminum.  It had a high failure rate, but it's not clear that the cladding was properly applied, etc.  It was sold with a counterfeit UL mark, clearly a fly by night product.

The only reason I could see to replace it now is the possibility it may make a future buyer nervous should some future inspector note on their report that aluminum wiring was found in the house.


Water going out badly from sinks and shower - how to locate the issue? I've recently purchased a house and face a number of new challenges now. One of them is that water from the sinks goes out badly, and sometimes not at all (i.e. most goes out, but a few cm remain, for hours). Now one of the showers has started to show the same symptom.

The issue might have gotten worse (or I suffer from selective perception) after we removed the basement kitchen, which left one water outlet open (strong sewage smell, now the outlet is covered).

I've thrown the usual drain cleaner chemicals in there, to little effect, making me believe the problem isn't some hair in the outlet, but somewhere else. As I have no clue about plumbing at all, I don't even know where to start searching for the problem.

Two things that might help: One of the affected sinks has a plastic pipe under it, when I press it air bubbles come up and water goes out, so it seems air and not water is blocking the passage?
Second, we are living in the house with 2 people. The previous owners were a full family (6 people living constantly, I think), so most likely there's now a lot less water going through the system. One shower and one bathtub we don't use at all.

Happy for any answers that can tell me how to troubleshoot the issue and finding out what the problem is.

I would get a small bucket, put it under the trap for the slow sink. remove the trap, check flush, and clean out the trap. After you reinstall this trap see if the problem is corrected. If cleaning out the trap doesn't fix the drain check the piping between the trap and the vertical larger stack. If the drain problem is not fixed either buy or rent a snake to snake the drain or call a plumber for help. Where I live plumbers will come out for around $100.00. (money well spent)


Skinny strip at end of room Laying vinyl plank flooring, and have ended up with the skinny strip problem at the end of the room. Don't want to tear the whole thing up and start again (economically impractical, apart from anything).

Before anyone gets on me, I WAS aware of this possible problem and I did measure before I began, but I am filling an awkward open plan area involving three spaces, and it was continuity that got me in the end. There was no straightforward way not to end up with a skinny strip somewhere. Anyway, I would like to know my options at this point. A super wide skirting shoe is surely going to look weird. Will such a thin strip lie properly if it is secured under quarter round? Will it also need to be glued down? (the rest of the floor is floating). Are there other options? Many thanks.

Assuming that this is a locking tongue-and-groove product... Rip the strip and install it as normal. There's no reason at all not to, and it happens on almost every flooring install in one place or another. Your shoe will help secure it and it won't look like some sort of hack.


How to Clean old bricks? I've got a pile of old bricks taken from when my chimney was deconstructed as it was an earthquake risk.

They look like this

I'd like to reuse them since they're fire bricks I assume, so I might be able to experiment with building a rocket stove.

So what's the best way of cleaning off all the mortar? Use a chisel? Or borrow a multitool with a diamond cutting head to remove the mortar?

I use an air chisel to clean bricks when saving for projects. There are usually 2 kinds of bricks in chimneys an inner layer that is fire brick, this brick can be hard to save as it is porous and not as strong as structural brick they hold the fire clay better but also are easy to crack. The structural bricks are heavier and stronger usually just a few taps at a sharp angle with an air chisel pops the mortar off, the same could be done by hand with a chisel and hammer.


How can I extend an old ceiling box to fit a SmartHome relay? I have an old ceiling fixture box, the kind with the stud/hickey in the center that looks like this:

I want to add a fixture to this box (currently it's unused.) I also want to use a SmartHome Insteon relay to control the fixture:

Unfortunately, the relay is too big to fit in the box due to the stud and a large amount of ancient wiring crowding it.

I would like to figure out how to extend this box in a way that is aesthetically pleasing so I can use the relay. I am aware of box extenders like this:

but that would not look great since the extender will be visible between the ceiling and the fixture.

Replacing the box is not an option since it's embedded in a concrete ceiling.

Add hickeys until you can hang a box like this from it. Grind off the tabs if you don't like them, paint it to match the ceiling. You will probably need a bushing to make the connection from the last hickey to the new box.

Having pulled the wires through the hickeys, install the relay. Add a cross bar to hang more hickeys, from which you hang the light. Without a 'gap' in the hickeys, you've nowhere to put the relay.

Take the relay with you to the store, find a box and add a hickey; check if it will still fit a cross bar with another hickey sticking into it, with the relay inside, and still have room for wires coming from both hickeys.

I would endeavor to use that company's switches instead of the relay you can't fit, however I am not familiar with them or if they would fit your setup.

The relay doesn't need to be in that box; it just needs the wires... somehow.


What should I look for when diagnosing electrical circuit gremlins where load is much less than capacity? We have an electrical circuit with these loads (all on different outlets): 15W aquarium pump, 250W LCD television, 35W cable box, 13W GoogleTV box, and a 100W ceiling fan (plus an integrated 50W halogen bulb). I believe this is a standard 20A circuit. this is in Minnesota in North America, and at 110 VAC, we should easily be able to run up to 1600 watts (calculating for an inductive load, which is not the case).

All of these things have been running at the same time without any problems, for over 4 years - new construction.

However, for the past couple of weeks, the television's screen flickers off and on whenever I blip the ceiling fan's rotary dial - turn the fan's dial on and then off, and the screen goes dark for a second or two.

It doesn't appear to be a problem with the television itself (at least, none that the internet can help identify). All of these loads (but for the fan) are active for several hours a day.

I've tried disconnecting each of these devices in attempts to figure out what's causing this behavior. The only thing that seems to set this off is the 13W GoogleTV box. when this box is unplugged, the television won't flicker when the dial is blipped.

This doesn't make any sense at all. We should easily be able to run a peak load of 1600W, and with everything plugged in, we have somewhere in the region of 500W.

Is there anything else I should look for, or is it time to throw in the towel and call in an electrician? I can take care of reasonably DIY-able circuitry, wiring changes, etc.

Replace Capacitors in LCD TV Power Supply

I would suspect that the problem is within the LCD TV. The power supplies inside LCD TVs and LCD monitors use cheap electrolytic capacitors that go bad and cause problems with the device. Your symptoms are representative of the TV power supply just starting to go bad. Small amounts of transient noise on the AC power line caused by switching other loads on and off, particularly the fan speed controller, gets into the TV power supply and causes a disturbance such that the various DC voltages inside are momentarily going unstable. When the TV was new the capacitors in the TV power supply were able to filter out the noise and power line disturbance but as they start to go bad the TV acts up.

It is highly likely that you will continue to see degradation in the performance of the TV over time. A common set of symptoms to look for include:

The TV may become difficult to turn on wherein you have to press its ON button multiple times to get it to stay on.
In the failure progression you may observe a point where when you go to turn on the TV it will blip on for 1 - 2 seconds and then go back off.
Eventually it may get to the point that the TV will just simply fail to turn on at all.

I have personally experienced this problem with two of my own LCD monitors and got them back to perfect working order by replacing the power supply capacitors. In this case the monitors were about 3 years old. At my place of work I have been reclaiming failed monitors, ranging in age from 2 to 6 years, that were set for scrapping simply by replacing their power supply capacitors. So far I've reclaimed over a dozen monitors that are now keeping their owners happy as 2nd or 3rd monitors off their company issued laptops. Most recently a colleague came to me with his LCD TV with the problem that it was failing to turn on. I replaced all the electrolytic capacitors on his LCD TV power supply board and he reported over the Christmas break that his TV is now working perfectly.


Making a timber frame cupboard door using an MDF insert to hold its shape I have been working on a design for some cupboard doors. The requirements are:
 - Simple to build so that an low-skilled wood-worker (myself) can put it together.
 - Be strong enough that the door does not "sag" over time.

My frame is basically a rectangle of 80mm x 20mm oak.
In-side the frame I will have an MDF board (with oak laminate) that is either 4mm or 6mm (I have not yet decided) that will be attached within a 4/6mm groved channel inside the frame.

I have made an attempt at a diagram below for the MDF board grove that I will cut into the oak frame, it shows how the MDF will slot inside.

   | |     <-- 4/6mm MDF board sitting within the groved channel
   | |
+--+ +---+
|  |_|   |
|        | <-- Oak 20mm frame cross-section view
|        |

The frame is constructed with dowelled and glued joints (three large dowels per join to stop twisting). And the MDF board will slot snug into the groves and will be glued.

The idea is that the MDF will keep the doors in shape.

Do people have suggestions / or confirm this is a good/poor design? / alternatives? (please not hammer and mortice joins... too difficult for me!)

Although MDF is more stable than solid wood, I won't claim that it will not swell enough with enough humidity to break the joints at the corners as solid wood will if there is no room for expansion, did that my self with a single panel in a 24" cabinet door 20 years ago never again...
The strength of the door needs to be in the joinery, not the panel. There really needs to be room for movement, maybe not as much as a wood panel, but something.
Dowels will suffice for the joinery, keep it to 2 per corner.
If you are going to cut the groove (dado) with a router or table saw, I presume you will stop the dado from the ends so it is not visible. It need not be exact where, as long as it is behind the joint and long enough to not foul the panel.

Take this a step farther and run the dados all the way through and a little deeper to 1/2 inch, and you have the basis for a simple joint that will be strong enough to hold without dowels. The trick is to use a smaller bit or blade than the panel get it roughly centered on the set up and run the stock (wood) the turn it the other way and pass it through again. With a little patience the dado will finish exactly in the center, and the proper width for the panel.

With that done, you can use the same bit to cut the ends of the stock for the top and bottom pieces (rails) they need to be 1 inch longer than the dimension between the horizontal pieces (stiles) so when the ends are reduced to fit in the dados it will give your finish size you need.

If the notion I pass by intrigues you, the next step is actually pretty simple too, but it depends in what tool you are using to machine your wood.

Edit 1/28/13

If you wish to use dowels, and don't mind seeing the holes at the outside corners of your doors, I would suggest this. Lay your corner out on a flat surface just as you would like it after it is assembled. Clamp it in place so it is square and near the edge of your support table, and drill in from the edge into the wood through one piece and into the other, gauging your depth to allow the dowel to be centered in both pieces. Use fluted dowels, the fluting allows excess glue to escape from the drilled hole. then plug the holes on the outside corners with an oak plug to blend in. You will need bar clamps for this, though a jig can be made to do the same with blocks screwed to a flat surface and a wedge of wood to draw it all tight. lay plastic under your joints or better yet, tape at the joint locations to keep the glue that will ooze out from gluing your frame to the workbench. Bar clamps will allow you to maneuver the frame after assembly to clean the glue on all sides, just be sure when you are done tidying up the frame is absolutely flat (no twist) and square, while the glue is drying. If it is a little out of square, a bar clamp diagonally across corner to corner will pull it back the little it may need. Have all this ready before you start, even make a dry run without dowels if possible, you will not want to try to find stuff while the glue is making its first "grab", it all needs to be at hand.

I say without dowels because if they get inserted without glue, they will still be more than very contrary to remove. Since the holes are all the way through, use metal drill bits that are smaller than your holes to line everything up temporarily.

I have used the turret style doweling jigs before, definitely not accurate. You can spend a lot of money on other doweling jigs, but the same money can be used on a matched router bit set too, the trick is, you need a router table and the router should have a 1/2" collet to hold up under the strain of cutting these joints.  Back at the doweling. The clamping of the material will insure you can control how the drill is going, a piece of tape, making a "flag" on the drill bit can act as a depth gauge. All this will make certain the faces will match on assembly and the holes are in plane with each other on each part. This alone is most critical. The slightest misalignment in the way the holes line up to each other will create a twist in the door frame and the door will not meet the cabinet box (carcass) on all corners, one corner on the door will set away from the carcass. In a matched set of doors, this can really look bad....


Why were all three of my toilet bowls empty upon returning home? Away for a week, came home to find all 3 toilet bowls dry - 2 on upper floor and 1 on lower.  Each flushed and filled fine, except with a kind of clunk sound with each flush.  No sign of leak anywhere in 10 year old house.  We heading away again; feeling a little nervous.  Any suggestions?
Connected to community sewer, no dog left home alone for a week yikes!  Very hot & dry in Kelowna , maybe Jack is correct.  Will try the plastic wrap nex week.  Thanks all

This happened to me a few times when I'd be gone and the house would be vacant for a week. The water just evaporated. The tanks were full but the bowls in both bathrooms were dry. I solved the problem by covering the bowls with Glad Wrap. Worked like a charm. Just make sure to remember to remove it when you get back... Good luck.


Can you tell if a breaker can be double tapped by looking at the terminal? This is meant to be a general question - I'm not asking about any specific breaker. More of a practical methodology question.

Some breakers are clearly labelled as to whether or not they accept a double tap (two wires under one screw / clamp).

But if there are no markings or they are illegible, which seems to be common with older breakers I have seen, is it likely to be acceptable to assume a double tap is or is not okay based on the shape of the terminal clamp?

In this example there are clearly two 'slots' where the wires are meant to go:

Would seeing such a clamp (or similar) guarantee that this is OK to do?

In my opinion the particular breaker terminal you are showing, is legal for connection of two conductors. The only residential breaker that I know of that has this feature is a Square D Type QO. Maybe a Cutler Hammer Type CH, I think?

Regardless, it doesn't matter what my opinion is unless it is the AHJ agrees. I have had this discussion with local Inspectors many times and I can say that I have won about 50% of the time and lost 50% of the time.

In conclusion, check with your local authorities because what he allows and doesn't allow is really all that matters.


GFCI outlet on 2-wire ungrounded question I have some 2-wire ungrounded outlets in a room that I want to put a bunch of electronics and computer. I know I can replace this with a GFCI outlet and label with "No equipment ground". What happens to the ground prong with all the stuff that I'm going to plug in aka. all the shields on the equipment, is all of that going to be floating or does that internally (to the GFCI) connect to the neutral wire?
Is this a perfectly acceptable solution in this case or are there some dangers / disadvantages that I should be aware of?
Many thanks for any help!

(NB: I'm not an electrician, just a homeowner who has done some electrical work)
Related: Does a non grounded GFCI meet code?
It is 'perfectly acceptable' in that it is compliant with code (as long as it is properly labeled, as you state). A GFCI if wired correctly should trip if there is a difference between the current coming in and the current going out (between the hot and the neutral, basically).
However, you are right as well that there are dangers/disadvantages to not having a ground wire. The point of ground wires (and requiring them in new construction) is because it is safer both for you and for the equipment you have plugged in.
Without a ground, a lightning strike or other power surge can seriously damage you (if you are touching a plug or outlet when it occurs) or your equipment plugged into any ungrounded receptacle. Ground wires act as an 'escape route' for extra current to travel safely back to the actual ground underneath your home.
Millions of people lived for decades in non-grounded homes and never had issues. But many people have experienced shock or equipment failure due to said lack of ground. It's up to you if the threat of power surge / lightning strike ruining your equipment is an 'acceptable risk' or not.


How can I remove craft acrylic paint that has been mixed with silicone oil from multiple surfaces? I was making a layered cup of various acrylic paint mixed with floetral and silicone oil to do a acrylic pour/ flip cup painting. The cup slipped out of my hand and hit the edge of the bathtub, splashing onto the tile the bathrug, the toilet lid, the grout , The fixtures, the wall,and thoroughly saturating the bathtub, basically everything in the bathroom got some spatter on it. I rent my apartment so I need to clean it up ASAP and I can’t risk damage to any of the property for obvious reasons. I’m worried that using too harsh of a chemical will mess up the fiberglass bathtub or strip the paint off of the wall that was already there not just the paint that I splashed on there by accident. I tried to wipe up as much as possible but that seemed to make it worse and I didn’t want to permanently embed the paint into any porous surfaces by rubbing it in.

If the spill has already dried it would be easiest to use a putty knife and scrap off as much as possible (for all surfaces). There will probably be some residual paint left, but by removing some through scraping it will be easier to clean with a fluid.
Once the scraping is done use a cleaning fluid such as lacquer thinner on the porcelain and tile surfaces. They won't be affected by the solvent. Use a bristle brush or terri-cloth to rub the spot away.
To clean the fiberglass surface try this product:
Finally for the painted wall surface it may be simpler to touch-up paint the the spilled spots after lightly sanding them. If not you'll have to use a solvent such as the lacquer or Goo-Gone. This will dull the paint surface so unless it won't be noticeable you may end up painting anyway.


Can I use a twisted-pair cable for ADSL and phone? I want to connect my home phone line network to my ISP box and my ISP box directly to the France Telecom line using twisted pair cable.

Initially, room 1 was connected directly to the FT line, so I disconnected it in the FT box, connected the two wires coming from the room and the two wires from the FT line to the twisted pair cable. At the other end, I connected two phones socket, where I plugged the ISP box.

Now it looks like this:

The problem is that since I did that, my noise margin dropped from 7,2dB to 5dB, CRC errors started to appear, and the download bandwidth dropped from 7,8Mbps to 5,8Mbps. If I disconnect the phone from the ISP box, it's back to normal. Also, using a phone filter on the phone socket connected to the ISP box improves the bandwidth up to 6,8Mbps.

I think there's some interferences between the phone and the ADSL line. How do I solve that?

I'm using cat6a FTP cable, do I need to connect the shielding to the ground?

Do the two wires from the phone line have to be connected on the same pair or separate pairs? Is their a norm on connecting those? (like ADSL on blue/whiteblue wires and phone on green/whitegreen wires for example)

Would I need to have two separate cables for the ADSL and phone?

After some testing I finally found the answer myself.

I connected the cable's shielding to ground and I connected the wires this way:

(phone cable) - (cat6 cable)
  White ADSL  - Blue
   Gray ADSL  - WhiteBlue
  White Phone - Orange
   Gray Phone - WhiteOrange

(colors are for french phone cables, they are different in other countries)

I soldered they directly. Maybe it would be better to use a RJ45 connector.

Now my modem is synchronized at 8,5 Mb/s. Still some CRC errors, but it's not a big problem since I can get something like 7,1Mb/s when downloading.


Rapid loud tapping in wall adjacent to radiator- when tenant above adjusts Hello and thank you for your reply.

I have a very loud and at times rapid tapping noise in the wall.  The apt building is 2 stories high, I am located on the bottom floor (end of the plumbing line).  1 year ago the tenant (manager) moved above me - started adjusting radiator 4-5 times a day with a heavy tool often leading to some clanging.  These are not large cast iron radiators they are built into the wall (tube-and-fin convector radiators ?)

Check out the sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEGlqRcmPTI&feature=youtu.be - this is low sounding tapping and not as rapid as it gets...  having issues posting new videos will update when I figure out Mac.

We have the same room layout, same radiator locations … 2 radiators located on the same wall, one in BR, one in DR .  Hot water heating.  I do not know if this is water-circulating-heating - I did not know what advertising/search tags to use -  radiator tapping was not available.  Main boiler in basement - plumber said it is hot water heating - no steam in pipes.

The tapping noise is located on the adjacent wall to the radiator.  Tapping varies in location of wall, mid-wall or close to the ceiling and in decibel.  When the manager adjusts radiators and I get tapping or no tapping.  I have recorded the times of adjustment - that within 5 minutes of adjustment the tapping will either stop or start.   Recently the plumber has had to fix a radiator leak in the managers apt.  I went 18 hours without tapping – weather was freezing, she was not here to adjust the radiator.  I do not have a decibel tester or a smart phone to record how loud it is but recorded it by video recorder.

Is the mid-wall tap or ceiling tap caused by different radiators?

If you turn the radiator part way do can you create tapping? I was told that partial radiator adjustment can lead to tapping and leakage.

Does turning on the radiator heat create the tapping?

Or, turning off the radiator heat create the tapping?  The wall gets very hot making me think that it builds up in the wall.

Is there another fix besides opening up the wall?

The building owner does not want to fix expanding pipes which seems to be the issue – open up the wall.  I have lived here for 24 years and this is a new issue since the manager moved in 1yr ago.  The manager has flat out denied turning the radiator on and off and owner will not investigate.    If the tapping can be caused by partial opening and closing of radiator it is an easy fix.

I have logged the time, dates, circumstances of tapping start and stop over the last 2 weeks.  There is a lot of window opening and closing along with the adjustment I have no idea if she turns the heat on or off to get the tapping.

thank you.

It sounds like you have hot water (hydronic) baseboard radiators, something like this:

Tapping noises in these systems typically happen due to thermal expansion. The copper pipes expand as they heat up. If this expansion causes them to rub against floor/wall penetrations, or on parts within the baseboard radiator itself, you can hear a tapping or knocking noise.

Your video sounds similar to what I'd hear in a previous apartment that had noisy baseboard heat. Luckily, I've installed hydronic baseboard in my current home, and I'm happy to report that it can be completely silent if installed properly. You can also fix a noisy installation, but it will likely require access along the entire route to find and eliminate friction points.

If the noise only appeared recently, it's possible that (1) part of the system that was previously unused is getting used more and (2) changes to the system created a new friction point. Since you said there have been adjustments by a new tenant, it's quite possible both of these apply. For example, the system may have had an air pocket that prevented water flow in a part of the system. Bleeding that air would have started heat flowing and causing more thermal expansion. In addition, getting access to the right valves in order to bleed the radiator could have jostled the fin tube from its supports and created some new friction points.

How to fix it: check along the entire loop and eliminate friction points. The most likely friction points and solutions are:

Fin tube supports. The core of the radiator is a copper tube covered in square aluminum fins. The fins are supported from below, usually by a plastic glide -- part #7 in the example below (source: Haydon Corp.), also visible in the first photo as a piece of gray plastic on the bottom of the fins. If the fin tube has slipped off of one of these glides, it may be resting against one of the metal brackets, which could function like a drum during thermal expansion. To fix, remove the front cover of the baseboard and verify that a glide is in place between each vertical support bracket and the finned tube. The front cover is typically snapped onto vertical brackets at the top and bottom and can be removed by hand with gentle prying. (Note: be careful when handling baseboard radiators - they're full of sharp sheet metal! Gloves are recommended.)

Wall or floor penetrations. The radiator will  be supplied by pipes that usually need to go through walls or floors to reach your boiler and continue to service other parts of the building. When a pipe passes through a wall or floor it should be centered within a hole that provides around 1/4" of space around the pipe, so the pipe does not rub against the opening during thermal movement. If you see a pipe resting on an edge of an opening, you can (a) expand the opening or (b) add something soft to cushion the motion and eliminate the noise. Because expanding an opening is often difficult, a good choice for passing is a small section of pipe insulation, stuffed into the penetration around the pipe.
Very long runs. If you have a straight run of, say, 50 feet of finned tubing (perhaps going through some walls, but still pretty straight), the expansion may be significant enough that the plastic glides may not be reliable. In these cases, it's best to add a special expansion coupling to break up the long run. This is the most complex of these typical fixes, because the system will have to be drained, pipes cut, and a new fitting installed (typically soldered).

Most likely, your fix doesn't require opening up walls - just a thorough inspection and a few adjustments, and maybe a few inches of pipe insulation strategically placed. A plumber with experience in hydronic heating system should be able to help with this if needed. Good luck!


Options for tile under the sliding door casing I am laying tile in my living room. I have a sliding door to the balcony which have a door casing made of two stacking 2x4s. Previously it was wrapped by carpet as a stair. As shown in picture the people who did the carpet used a piece of drywall to match the thickness of surrounding walls and then just stapled the carpet to it. The drywall degraded due to moisture and the condensation water dropped from the sliding doors.

What are my options to deal with this step? I could attach 1/2 MDF to both top and side then paint them, then attach baseboard to transition to the tiles, but I worry about the moisture.

Don't do it with MDF. MDF is way too soft material, and once water gets to it, it will be ruined very quickly.  This is a place that sees lots of dirt and foot traffic. You need a hard and strong material, and durable and washable finish here.

Buy two pieces of hardwood (maple, oak, etc.).
Cut them to size: top piece should have a slight overhang, and front piece should be 1/8" (3mm) less than the height needed.
"Ease" the front edge of the top piece (make it more round): a hand plane would do, or just a piece of sandpaper.
Nail them to 2x4, the front piece should have a small gap at the bottom (it will be covered by tiles, but will allow the wood to move seasonally).
Fill the nail holes, sand and finish them to match your door frame: oil-based glossy paint will be most durable solution.


Do I need to winterize 40' underground hose? I want to bury a 40 foot garden hose from my outdoor tap to a hose reel.

The tap itself will be winterized. And the hose reel will be stored in-house for the winter.

But do I need to winterize that 40 foot piece of hose that's gonna stay underground? Both ends of it would be open. Wouldn't the expanding water just come out the end?

If not, how should I do it?

Winter in Canada

Blow it out with air.

Over simplified example: the ends may freeze first, then when more freezes in the middle it has nowhere to go.

There is a gadget for this if you want to use a compressor.   Essentially an adapter "air compressor male to hose fitting".

These adapters are available in several configurations notabley male and female hose bib such as:

Or, if unavailable, make one with 2 or 3 parts from the big box store.


Problem hanging ceiling lamp with cord set (from Ikea) Trying to hang a ceiling lamp and I can't figure it out.

It's the type where you hook the connector to the ceiling, then push the "cup" (which conceals all the wiring) up to the ceiling.

But there doesn't seem to be a way of fixing the cup to the ceiling, it always dangles by about a centimetre or two. The instructions (pictures only) seem to suggest that you simply have to push it up and I suppose the tension in the cord maybe holds it in place, but it always slides down a little bit.

A suggestion I received from their [Ikea's] telephone help line was that maybe amount of cord coiled up inside the cup was too much and was pushing it out (and I should shorten the cord), but I've even tried pulling it all out so there is virtually no wire left inside, with the same results.

I've tried to diagram my problem below... The blue cup should be against the ceiling, but I can't see any way of holding it in place except the grip the cup has on the cord but that doesn't seem to be strong enough.

Update

I happened to be in Ikea again a few weeks ago, and noted that not even they can hang the things properly!

I have a similar Ikea fixture, but it came with a metal sleeve that tightens with a screw--this part sits below the cap, but this light has a rod (rigid, not the cord itself) for this sleeve to work on.

Did you buy it new? If for some reason you didn't have the instructions and therefore couldn't verify if a piece was missing, you can find those here: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/customer_service/assembly_instructions.html I know you can order replacement parts from Ikea, at least if what you need hasn't been discontinued.

Assuming you have the instructions and all the pieces, I think your best bet would be finding a rubber O-ring (or several) which match the cord diameter, and sliding those up to keep the cap up....or using a twist-tie painted to match the cord. Once you have the cap up reasonably flush with the ceiling, you could use clear silicone caulk around the rim of the cup, which can easily be peeled away later if you're renting.

Finally, is the hook all the way in? Perhaps screwing it up further into the ceiling would make the cap go higher.

Best of luck!


How can I determine existing well PSI / GPM for dedicated irrigation well I've purchased a home that has an existing irrigation system installed that is hooked up to a well that is exclusively supplying the irrigation system. I live in FL in a very flat area, so we have minimal elevation between the water supply and the pump, and the yard is flat so no elevation changes throughout the entire system relative to the location of the pump.

The pump supplies the system directly and is connected to a pump start relay switch, for context.

That said, I need to redesign the layout of the system, move some heads, potentially create new zones, etc., because the way it's set up now is not optimal and doesn't work with landscaping changes I will be making.

What I need to figure out is what GPM and PSI I'm getting at the supply, but I want to avoid disconnecting the well from the system to figure that out if possible. Does anyone have an idea? Can I just shut off all the heads on one zone, and then add a pressure gauge in place of one of the heads (I would use the zone that is furthest from the supply and test at the very end of that line) and then build my system around that PSI, or is that making it too simple? Anywhere else in the system should be higher PSI than at that point which is furthest away, right?

Then, can I use that PSI to determine GPM, or do I need additional information?

Any ideas?

Try this:

Install a pressure gauge, either temporarily on a tap that the pump runs, or by tapping a a pipe for the right thread and screwing it it.  (Usually 1/4" or 3/8" NTP thread.  Should work with shedule 40 pipe.
If you can run the pump without a zone running do so, and record the pressure.  DO NOT DO THIS IF IT IS A positive displacement (piston or  diaphragm) Centrifugal and jet pumps will tolerate this, but it's a waste of energy.
Turn on your smallest zone.  Record the pressure.
Manually turn on another zone.  REcord the new pressure.
Turn both off, and turn on your largest zone.  Record.

If your system is capable of running multiple zones at once this tells you that you have pump capacity to spare and you won't have to worry much.

If the pump is a surface mounted pump, read the model and serial number data off and do an internet search.  If it's a submersible pump this information is usually with the starter box which may be in the house, or on a pole nearby.

Individual sprinklers may have either a number or a capacity on them.  Some sprinker system can accept multiple nozzles that are colour coded.  Look up the manufacture and colour coding.  If you have a combo that translates to 40 gallon per hour and there are 15 of them, then that zone is using 40 * 15 = 600 gallon/hour or 10 gallons per minute.

Worst case:  Usually there is a valve box with all the valves in it.  If they were considerate, they left a stubbed off pipe just for this use with a threaded plug or cap.  Otherwise you may have to install one.

You would also want some sort of fitting and a short length of large diameter hose (1.5" flat lay hose is cheap, and is sold by the foot at farm stores.)

Hook it up and see how long it takes to fill up a known volume.  Garbage can works for this.


Should I drain my winterized pool after a large rainstorm? I just installed a safety/mesh winter cover and closed my pool.  Over the past month we've had a few big rain storms so the water level is already at the skimmer.  Winter hasn't even arrived yet and I'm worried that it will overflow.

Should take the corner off and drain the water again?

Yes, you will need to drain, perhaps multiple times depending on the amount of rain/snow you get.  I bought a Wayne PC4 pump to remove excess water (Caveat: I made a mistake and used it with my saltwater pool, so it's rusting).

Your mesh cover manual will provide guidance on the height of your cover relative to the water level.  If you drain too much, the mesh cover can tear under heavy snow.  I have a Meyco and it says about 18".  But in my case, I keep the pool at about 13" below the level of the mesh covers, which gives me 5" of clearance on my skimmers.


Wiring a combination switch/GFCI outlet with lightswitch downstream I need some help wiring a combination switch/GFCI outlet in the following situation.  The second diagram is from the instructions and seems to match my situation, however they have an outlet downstream rather than a lightswitch (is this irrelevant?) and there are 2 black cables coming from downstream which seems to be a mistake that I need clarified.

The existing wiring is a big mess:

Looking into the back of the box:

An illustration of the current wiring:

Based on the diagram so far, here's how the GFCI switch/outlet combo should be wired:

Black from breaker to LINE HOT on GFCI/switch
White from breaker to LINE WHITE on GFCI/switch
White from switch-cable and white from light nutted together and pigtailed to LOAD WHITE on GFCI/switch
Black from switch-cable and one black from GFCI/switch nutted together and pigtailed to LOAD HOT on GFCI/switch
Other black from GFCI/switch nutted to black from light

(If your GFCI has the two-wire, clamp-plate terminals as in the diagram depicted, you can save a couple nuts and the pigtail wires by terminating both wires to the clamp plate instead -- they are designed to terminate two wires, one in each hole.)


Simple light switch wiring isn’t working I have power coming into box from black and white wires.  When wiring black to light switch and white to white leading to fixture, the breaker goes every time.  When wiring the two whites together with power on, there are sparks. What am I doing wrong?

First working with power on is wrong, I am an electrician and rarely do this , if I do I usually wear hot gloves and other safety equipment. If the hot is coming in to the switch box the whites should be tied together then the black hot to the switch and the black to the lamp on the other side of the switch. With the white wire sparking and either the black disconnected or switch turned off you may be working on a switch loop, look in the box at the light and send us a clear photo of those wires if more than 1 set going to the light, especially if you see a black wire connected to a white in the box and we can provide better help. I would also change the lamp, I have had incandescent lamps internally short and trip a 20 amp breaker when turned on, but if you have a hot white wire it may be a switch loop so we need to figure that out.


What tool is a solid metal cube with dimples or half spheres on every side? My neighbor found this metal tool in a box from his father’s workshop.

It's a cube with all sorts and sizes of circles and half spheres on every edge.

What is it?

Die for creating sheetmetal hemispheres. There should be a set of punches with round ball ends somewhere in that mix, unless someone misused them for something else or lost them.

Doming Block and Punch Set is one term for the tool set. The die is also called a dapping block. You can find them at jewelry tool suppliers.


Can I paint frosted glass panels? I have a folding bathroom door with two ugly frosted glass panels.  My other half would prefer them opaque.

I wondering what quick wins I can do here.  Will some sort of glass paint work?

Removing paint from glass is pretty much always easy. It's hard to scrape it off if the surface is rough and frosted but then again, glass won't be adversely affected by paint removers. If you were to go with film, most of the adhesives that hold them on are pretty serious - always test first.

For this, I would use lots of thin layers of spray paint. This would make the surface appear smoother since I'm sure there's some texture with the frosting, and the spray paint will stick to the low spots and even up. Make sure to mask it off well!


Does anyone find any problems with this method of running speaker wire under the carpet? I am putting new carpet down and want to run my rear 5.1 speaker wire under the carpet.  I know that I will want to replace it once a year (I am weird like that), so I thought I'd get a few of these:

Corduct 15 ft Cord Protector

The idea is that I could keep the wire as short as possible.  It should be easy to replace the wire, too.  My idea is to take some very long string, tie something metalic to it that will fit through the channel in the cord protector, then take a magnet to the metal object and drag the string through to the other side.  I would then tie my speaker wire to the end of the string and pull it through.

Does this sound like a workable approach?  The above-linked cord protector looks reasonably thin, so I don't think it'd be too noticeable if stepped on through the new thick padding and thick carpet I will soon be getting.

Even with just 18awg speaker wire (no conduit) run underneath the thickest carpet, it will be noticeable when you step on almost right away, and within a few weeks you'll clearly see the outline of exactly where the cord runs. It's much better to run the wires through walls, ceiling, or under the floor, or an easy way, is behind the baseboard (you need to take the baseboard off anyways to put down carpet).

Also I don't really get why you'd replace the wire once a year. Do it right the first time, and put wire in that will last for a few years. However, if it's due to some audiophile sound quality thing where you theorize that you can hear a 0.000000000000001% drop in quality because the wire is "old", I'm going to drive down there and smack you (see my recent response to a speaker wire question here).


How do I keep my carpet edges from curling upwards? A brand new rug that was put in under the coffee table has one corner that seems to keep lifting up and people keep stumbling on it.

How do I fix this?

They make a product called Rug-Gripper that is specifically designed to hold a throw rug down.


How to find the source of a wasp infestation? I have found a wasp 5 times in my small one bedroom apartment this week and I have not opened any windows and the door to my apartment is located inside. How do I determine where these wasps are coming from?

It's hard to give accurate advice without more information about the building.  They've got to get in from the outside, but they can get into your room though an attic, crawlspace, etc.  Go outside and look for openings.  A common place is where the electrical service enters the house through an attic.  If you go out in the middle of the day, you should be able to see them flying around.

The house I grew up in had a HUGE bee infestation in the attic.  They got in through soffit vents. Every once and a while a couple of bees would come into my room through openings around the A/C register.  No one figured out that they were coming in from the attic until honey started dripping through the drywall ceiling (my mom had first blamed me for spilling something sticky on the carpet). They had to go in and out to feed, and we did notice them outside, but we did not think they had actually nested in our house.  They were much more evident outside than inside.

So, with this experience, I say take the time to observe them from the outside to determine where they are coming into the building structure, then search for nests.


Wiring a switch timer I’ve bought this timer: http://www.pdlglobal.com/data/product_documents/784_installation_guide_document.pdf

The wiring diagram is in that PDF.

I need help understanding how to wire this up. I’m replacing an existing switch, so there are two phase wires (red), two neutral wires (black) and two ground wires (green/yellow) in the wall. I know which phase wire is live.

I tried wiring it up with the live going to 2, phase output going to 1 and each neutral going to 3 and 4 but that caused the fuse to trip which means it was a short circuit.

I then tested with a non-mains power circuit and found 3 and 4 are the “switch” so I connected the live to 3 and the other phase to 4 and that’s working as a switch but the timer isn’t counting (the neutrals are looped with a cable joiner but not connected to the timer). I now realise this is happening because the timer needs a neutral to complete its own circuit to run the counter.

Advice on this would be really appreciated!

Just follow the instructions

As per the wiring diagram in the instructions:

The always-hot goes to a cable joiner, then is pigtailed from there to terminals 2 and 3
The neutral has a pigtail running from the cable joiner to terminal 1
And the switched-hot goes to terminal 4


How to re-purpose an exhaust fan using a 10x3.25 duct? I'm currently remodeling my kitchen.  Instead of a cooktop hood, I plan to re-use the existing ceiling exhaust fan.  It looks to be about a 8" diameter fan that is inside a 10x3.25 duct that exhausts outside.  The fan motor is shot, I will need to replace it.

The issue I have though is when I removed the bulkhead (see post here), it was revealed that I had a leak from that exhaust duct.  From the outside I can see that the exhaust flap is stuck partially open, and from the inside I can see the duct has some openings where moisture can run down onto the 2x10 my floor joists rest on.

My intention is to replace the fan and replace the exhaust flap, however, I cannot find a new exhaust flap that is intended for 10x3.25 duct to exhaust outside.  I'm thinking that's an usual setup.  But given that I now have this opening in my masonry outside, I need to fill it, and I'd like to use it. Where should I look for a replacement/what are my alternatives?

A secondary question - I assume there is no chance I can find a replacement motor for what is probably a 1940's exhaust fan.  Is there a common/standard size that maybe I could only swap the motor?  Or is my only solution to cut out the drywall and the duct and install a new exhaust fan box?

Thanks

10 x 3 1/4 seems to be a standard size. Any big box store should have them.


White mold (?) in wooden bench's crevices: how to test and clean I have a wooden bench that by design has crevices and recently I have noticed white mold-like things in these crevices:

How do I tell if this is mold or not? In any case, how I properly care for these wood furniture pieces?

I think that dark strip is a metal spacer.  I think the white stuff is white rust

https://www.sharrettsplating.com/blog/corrosion-resistance-of-zinc-plating/

White rust is zinc oxide forming on galvanized iron.
Test the strip with a magnet.  If I am right it is magnetic.   If that is the case there is no way that is mold.  The white stuff can be removed by scrubbing.  Wikipedia recommends oil to prevent white rust. I suspect that furniture polish could probably do double duty and protect the metal from oxidation as well.


How wide can a sliding door be open, before it becomes a security risk? I have a sliding door in my bedroom that I would like to put a deadbolt in and have it left open at night to let a breeze in, but I don't want anyone to be able to get in while I'm asleep.

Is there a recommend maximum distance? I know for railings in pool fences and on decks its 4inches or 100mm to stop children getting through, is it the same for security?

If its open its going to be easier to break in whether its 1cm or 4inches.

A security gate always did wonders for us in South Africa, pretty sure in many other countries too.

TIP: When you install the security gate, make sure that it cannot be screwed out from its sockets, form the OUTSIDE. Or tampered with in any other way from the outside.


reuse hot tub wiring for an EVSE? I need to install a 240V 40A circuit into my garage.  The end goal is to plug in a level 2 EVSE. (maybe it can be a 50A circuit? not sure).

I have an existing 50A GFCI breaker hooked up to 6 gauge 3 wire aluminum (labeled as 6 AL on the romex).  The aluminum romex extends from the breaker through my basement outside underneath the deck. There is no conduit, just the romex stapled underneath the deck.  The original intent of this circuit was to power a hottub (that no longer exists). The date on the romex is 1994.

My idea is to res-use as much of this setup as possible but extend it into my attached garage.  The circuit would need to be extended from the deck to my garage and then through the siding above the foundation.

1) Can you run romex outside your house and then back in?  I would think you would want conduit on the outside.  I am not sure this setup is code at this point.
2) Should I be worried about aluminum wiring and the heat stress issues?

This is fine for 40A, as long as your EV charger does not require a neutral connection

A 6AWG aluminum wire is rated for 40A on 60°C terminations and 50A on 75°C (really 60°C/75°C) terminations.  Your SE style U cable supplies two of these conductors, one for each hot, plus an uninsulated concentric sheath under the jacket that is in all likelihood the equipment grounding conductor (as your average hot tub has no use for a neutral), as permitted by NEC 338.10(B)(2):

  (2) Use of Uninsulated Conductor. Type SE service-entrance
  cable shall be permitted for use where the insulated conductors
  are used for circuit wiring and the uninsulated conductor is
  used only for equipment grounding purposes.

Given that SE cable is fine for indoor and outdoor usage as per NEC 338.10(B)(4):

  (4) Installation Methods for Branch Circuits and Feeders.

  (a) Interior Installations. In addition to the provisions of
  this article, Type SE service-entrance cable used for interior
  wiring shall comply with the installation requirements of Part II
  of Article 334, excluding 334.80.

  For Type SE cable with ungrounded conductor sizes 10 AWG
  and smaller, where installed in thermal insulation, the ampacity
  shall be in accordance with 60°C (140°F) conductor temperature rating. The maximum conductor temperature rating shall
  be permitted to be used for ampacity adjustment and correction purposes, if the final derated ampacity does not exceed
  that for a 60°C (140°F) rated conductor.

  Informational Note No. 1: See 310.15(A)(3) for temperature
  limitation of conductors.

  Informational Note No. 2: For the installation of main power
  feeder conductors in dwelling units refer to 310.15(B)(7).

  (b) Exterior Installations. In addition to the provisions of
  this article, service-entrance cable used for feeders or branch
  circuits, where installed as exterior wiring, shall be installed in
  accordance with Part I of Article 225. The cable shall be
  supported in accordance with 334.30. Type USE cable installed
  as underground feeder and branch circuit cable shall comply
  with Part II of Article 340.

, your plan to reuse this for a 32A continuous/40A maximum EVSE seems sound provided the EVSE does not require a neutral (which this cable does not provide), and there is nothing in Code I can find that prohibits an outside branch circuit or feeder from re-entering the structure it originates in.  Of course, you will need to use a 40A breaker for this (unless your EVSE has 75°C rated terminations, which will let you keep the existing 50A breaker and run the cable at 50A instead of 40A).


Dealing with a broken toilet flange on PVC pipe So I'm about to tile my bathroom floor but the toilet flange broke and can't get it out I tried with a chisel and hammer but I think I got the pipe to so how can I fix this situation I got here

Assuming the pipe below the concrete is OK, you can buy a replacement flange that is designed to sit inside the pipe and grip the pipe in such as way as to secure the toilet

If the pipe below the concrete is damaged, you'll need to excavate the concrete and replace the entire damaged section. The good news there is you can install a new flange directly connected to the pipe then.


Accidentally splashed surgical alcohol on a plaster wall So I was using surgical alcohol in my bathroom when I splashed some of it on the wall. Now I have a pale blue alcohol stain on it. The wall is a plaster wall covered with white paint.
Any ideas on how to remove that stain?

Alcohol acts like a paint remover. So rather than thinking of this as a stain on the surface that can be washed away you have to realize that the paint finish has been partially degraded.
This means you will have to repaint a small area of the wall. Often you will find that touching up does not blend very well so you may need to repaint the affected wall from corner to corner to get a good result


Wire size for 100 amp subpanel in detached garage 215' away What size of wire do I need to run from 200 amp meter panel to 100 amp sub panel in detached garage 215' away?

1 AWG uncoated copper, or 2/0 aluminum. Unless you're not concerned with power quality, then you could do 3 AWG copper or 1 AWG aluminum.


How to handle branch circuits cleanly when there are lots of branches I'm planning the circuits for a house right now.  I've only done this a couple of times and would like to improve.  All of the lighting will be LED recessed lighting so I would like to use one 10A branch circuit per floor.  Based on this, there will probably be 5 or 6 home runs for each circuit.  What is the cleanest way to handle this?

I was debating getting a triple gang box for each circuit, mounting them in the basement near the breaker panel and using them to break out each circuit.  Is there a more clean way of doing this?  Something that the inspector won't roll his eyes at?

First, I gather that gang boxes are what you know, but don't use them.  For a nice pile of cubic inches, you can get either 4-11/16" square deep boxes (42 or more cubic inches) or 6" square deep boxes (quite a bit more).

For big boxes like this, go to a proper electrical supply house.  Big-box stores actually don't specialize in big boxes, surprisingly; they charge twice normal price when they have them at all.

Hide the hubs behind lights and switches

Other than that, your idea of doing "hub and spokes" is perfectly fine.  However, you don't need to bring it all the way down to the basement with a bunch of home runs, you can have 1 or 2 hubs per floor, and conceal the boxes as follows:

First, you can get a blank cover plate, and put the box anywhere, although buyers might be annoyed at the electrical cover existing for no reason.
Second, you can site it where light switches need to go, and use a 2-gang mud ring, to bring out the usual gang-box form factor you are familiar with.  From the outside it will appear to be simple light switches; but behind the switches, it's a major wiring hub in a very big box.
Third, you can site it where a surface mount light might go, and get a mud ring giving a 4" ”octagon box" style fitting, i.e. the standard junction box for lighting. Same deal: it looks like a simple light box, but it's actually covering up a large box that is a major splice point.

10A buys you nothing

You think "oh hey, I can use #16 and buy a big panel with my cost savings".  Nope. Any wire smaller than 14 AWG is disallowed for mains wiring.  It's a lost cause anyway; economies of scale make #14 Romex or THHN so insanely cheap compared to #16 with comparable jacketing that might be legal for in-wall use.  You can't just throw some random SJOOW extension cord wire in a wall.  You have to follow the rules of one of the Article 300 wiring methods.

You should have a big, big panel, though.

This is the #1 thing we want to communicate to people selecting a service panel.  Don't be that oh, so clever guy who says "I need 26 circuits so a 30 space panel will do". (Or worse, a 16 space/32 circuit panel will do; ”circuits" in the double-stuff sense of the word are useless these days).  Get PLENTY of extra spaces.  Don't even consider less than a 40 space panel for a whole house.  42 is the max before cost climbs dramatically, so if you are at 38 already, don't give up, go with a dual 30. Placing one subpanel cleverly may save you a lot of wire.


Can SDS drill bits be used with keyed single sleeve drills? Can SDS drill bits be used with keyed single sleeve drills? If yes, are there any precautions I have to take for ensuring the best result?

Your results will vary by the chuck configuration of your drill. You might get lucky; you might not.

If you chuck the bit in and it's wobbly, try shifting it a tiny amount -- it may work better. Be prepared to tighten the chuck frequently.

If you're drilling a lot of masonry, you might find an upgrade to a real rotary hammer drill (such as a Bosch bulldog) would improve your life a lot.


Strength of a 2 x 6 when 5.5" long hole is drilled through middle of the 1.5" face? I haven't been able to find any information about the strength of a 2 x 6 acting as a joist or rafter when there are holes drilled through it in the middle of the 1.5" dimension, straight through the 5.5" to the other 1.5" face.  Most information is about the strength when holes are drilled through the 1.5" dimension...this question is about holes drilled through the 5.5" dimension.
Specifically, I am drilling 5/16" holes every 24" of a 10 foot 2 x 6, and I am curious how this affects the bending strength.

The purpose of your construction aside, I'd like to address the strength question.
One way to figure it out is by way of an experiment. Load bearing capacity of a joist or beam is based on material strength, direction of fibres and load, point or distributed loads, fatigue and dynamic & static loads etc..
Putting all this together, a L/360 deflection limit emerges in building construction, which states that lumber of length L can be loaded up to the point it deflects no more than L/360. (Caveat emptor: there are variants to this and lots of discussions as to its merits and applicability).
In your case, where published data is lacking, you could perform a simple test: compare two pieces of 2x6, drill your holes and insert screws into one, and apply a defined load on both. Then determine at which load difference both deflect equally.
That relative load difference for a given deflection around the L/360 value is roughly equal to the relative difference in load bearing capacity.
For a 10 foot piece, the maximum deflection from L/360 is 1/3in. You could simply apply a load until the pristine 2x6 deflects perhaps 1/4 or 1/3in, and determine what (lesser) load is required to deflect the perforated 2x6 by the same amount. If the difference is within say 10% you have little to worry about.
Note that bores with screws inserted will have a different effect from empty bores: the screws restore some of the lost strength in the upper compressed portion of the lumber.
To apply the load you can rest the ends of the 2x6 on stools or chairs, sit on the centre (with a friend), and hang a bucket off the centre which you fill with water, steel weights, rocks etc.. for fine tuning. It may take 300 to 400lbs to reach 1/4in deflection (It's a guess, I haven't tried it). Longer lumber will get you there with less weight but also provide the relative difference you seek. Make sure you prevent the lumber from tipping.


How do I diagnose voltage fluctuations that affect my receiver? I recently moved into a town house and have noticed that my home theater, in particular the receiver seems to freak out and show only snow when I turn on and off fans and other electrical appliances. The snow lasts until I switch the input source on the receiver or power it off and on. This is despite having the receiver on a power conditioner.

Equipment:

Receiver - Denon AVR-1909
TV - Samsung HL61A750
Power Conditioner - APC AV H10
Cable Box
Xbox 360

Connections:

Receiver -> TV - HDMI
Cable Box -> Receiver - Component
Xbox360 -> Receiver - HDMI

Do these fluctuations damage the receiver at all?

Is this a wiring issue in the house?

Also how could I track down the problem?

How do you know that it's voltage fluctuations causing the problems and not RFI?  Consider adding RF chokes to your setup to minimize that possiblity.


Required permit/expansion tank/inspection My county requires a permit to replace an electric water heater. They also require installation of an expansion tank. I looked up the purpose of an expansion tank and learned municiple sourced water can vary in pressure at end points, possibly exploding the water heater.  But I have a well. Can someone explain why well owners are required to spend this extra 1K+ please? Also, where can I access data on exploding water heaters and
losss of life?

Here's the deal.
When you heat water, it expands.  If it can't expand freely, it increases pressure.
When you're on city water, that's no big deal.  The extra volume can just push back out the water main to the street - maybe an inch or two of water movement, not a big deal.  So there is no increase in pressure.
Imagine if we stuck a check valve on the inlet, so water CAN'T flow backwards to the street. Some cities actually want this.   Now what?  Now, water can't expand freely.  All the valves are closed, and the check valve prevents backflow into the city system.  Since water can't expand freely, it increases pressure.
Well systems effectively have a check valve at the bottom of the pump. That's to keep the column of water in the well pipe from falling back down!
So with all valves closed and the check valve on the supply, the system is "solid" with water - a state called "hydraulic lock".
Water does not compress.  So, if volume increases, pressure must also increase, to infinity if needed, until something gives or breaks.  That is why a water heater on a well is a big deal. If normal pressure is 34 PSI, this can drive pressure up to 200 PSI or more until the weakest valve or pipe joint fails.
These high pressure instances can also be simply from slamming a valve shut fast.  Water has momentum and when it's flowing toward the valve and you shut it, it "piles up" at the valve causing a pressure spike.  This is also what causes pipe knock or rattle.
The solution is to have an air volume in the system. Air does compress.  So if volume increases (a little), the air compresses (a little) and pressure increases some tiny amount (like 34 PSI to 34.1 PSI).
The expansion tank is simply an engineered vessel with an air space and water space.  And a rubber seal between them, to stop the air from effervescing into the water and being lost.
We're talking a $40 item easily added.  It only needs one pipe connection.


New Circuit for 1.5HP Pool Motor I'm having a new above ground pool installed, and the package I purchased comes with a 1.5 HP pump.  When I was originally talking to them, they said most people just run an extension cord from their garage or outdoor outlet.  Because I want this to look a little cleaner, I was going to trench this, and bring a new receptacle to the pump.  I have a 14/2 wire from my panel to my garage that I brought in when I did a reno long ago, but haven't hooked up yet.  My original plan was to hook up that wire, and extend it out to the pump, and use a GFI receptacle.

Here's my problem.  The pump instructions say it should be hooked up to a 20A breaker, which I obviously can't do with what I currently have.

If "everyone" is just using an extension cord off an existing receptacle, and I am really going to have an issue with my setup, where essentially that pump (and salt generator) are going to be on a dedicated 15A circuit?  It's only a 15 foot round pool, so I don't expect that the pump will be running for very long during the day.  Or if I use 12/2 from the 14/2 connection point, is there something I can do at that junction?

Thoughts?

Thank you for your help.

Edit - I've added a picture of the label off of the pump, as well as a picture of the wire

Edit #2 - In case anyone is wondering or curious, I've installed the pump, and the electrician measured the draw.  The 1.5HP pump is drawing 17 Amps on initial start up for about 2 seconds (literally), and then drops to 12 Amps and hums away.
Thank you to everyone for your help.

Right off the bat, finish with your original intent, and hook the cable up to a GFCI receptacle that is inside the garage.  Now come off the receptacle's LOAD terminals to your underground line to the pool area.

What you don't want to do is bring unprotected 120VAC out to a pool area and then fit a GFCI recep there. Because then, the wiring does not have GFCI protection, and the wiring can electrify the ground.  Especially if NM cable is used, which is not made for outdoor use.

Anyway, continue off the GFCI's load terminals via UF-B cable buried with 12" of cover because it's GFCI protected... or run a conduit type of your choice from that indoor recep outside, then switch to 1/2" Rigid conduit for the underground run to the pool, this can be buried at 6" of cover (but it's expensive).  Use THHN individual wires inside the Rigid conduit, do not put UF-B cable in conduit (won't fit anyway).

Use 12 AWG wire or cable.

As far as extending off the 15A circuit, yeah, you kind of painted yourself into a corner on that.  I'd go ahead and replace that #14 run with #12 (or just run it alongside) and call it a life-lesson learned.

Violating the installation instructions is a bad idea.  If anyone gets hurt at your pool (and electrical drownings are absolutely horrible, gut-wrenching, life-changing things), they will go over your setup with a fine-tooth comb.  Any violations, you'll have a problem.


How can I attach a keyboard tray to a desk that is 1/2" thick? I went for the cheaper desk option, and the desk works great and is sturdy (has solid support). Want to add a keyboard tray to it but the screws on it are about 3/4" long. So now I've got a problem (I know, that's what I get for getting the cheap desk).

I'm trying to think of ways to attach this keyboard tray to the desk. I could add a small block of wood underneath and secure it on the top of the desk, and then attach the keyboard to that. Just don't have enough experience with this stuff.

What are some ways I can attach the keyboard to a desk that is too thin?

Edit: I'm new to Home Improvement, have been on Stack Overflow for awhile now.

If the desk is particle board (that grainy stuff that is made from sawdust and glue), then I'd avoid trying to screw anything directly into it.

Instead, I would get a piece of 3/8" plywood, and glue it to the bottom of the desk using some construction adhesive (sold in various forms at all the big box stores; PL9000 or No More Nails are some products that would work). You could do some small-ish strips near the areas where the tray will actually attach, but keep in mind that the bigger surface area means more adhesion and spreading of the load. Not seeing what you have, my gut would be something like an 8"x5" piece on each edge of the tray would work. If you don't care you could just do the whole bottom of the desk (on the upside this will also make the desk a bit stronger). Keep it back an inch or two from the edge so you can't really see it.

Screw the plywood to the desk using some 3/4" #8 or #10 wood screws, and if you have them, use some clamps to hold it. You might need to pre-drill (especially for #10) depending on the density of the desk -- if it's too dense, the screw could cause it to crack apart around where you put it in (clamp it first, before predrilling, to make sure everything stays lined up). Be sure the screws are not too long to go through the top, and be careful not to overtighten and strip them out. The screws are just going to hold temporarily while the glue dries, though there's not really any point in taking them out afterwards.

Once dried, you can then use some 3/4" screws (probably even the ones that came with it) to attach the tray. The screws will mostly be holding onto the plywood.

If the desk is a fairly dense solid wood, you might be able to get away screwing directly into it. Use a shorter, thicker screw (bigger threads = more hold) like a 1/2" #10. It'll probably be necessary to also use a washer to prevent it from going too deep, and you'll definitely want to pre-drill a small hole for each screw.

Alternatively, you can add the plywood as described above, though you might be able to get away with 1/4" thickness.


Installing double-pole line-voltage thermostat I'm trying to replace a mechanical double pole thermostat with a programmable electronic one.

Existing setup:
The old thermostat model is 859M and it's wiring is pictured below. There's 2 pairs of cables coming out of the wall, two of them with 3 wires each (red, black, white) and another pair with 2 wires each (black and white). All white wires are screwed together, two black wires pictured at the top are hot (I'm assuming these come from the breaker panel). Thermostat has a true Off setting. When it is On (on the lowest temp) there's power on one of the black wires coming out of it, which seems to supply power to a fan in the room (since there's also power on the fan at that point). When thermostat is dialed further above room temperature there's also power on the other black wire coming out of it, and at that point pump is working in the basement supplying hot water to the tubes going through the fan in the room.

New thermostat:
The new one is Aube TH115 and is pictured further below.
Wiring manual suggests using 4 separate wires to connect it, however one of the connecting options I tried failed to turn the heater and fan on, even though the thermostat was powered.
I wonder what is the correct wiring in my case and specifically whether L1 and L2 wires need to be connected to the same incoming hot wire.

Take your thermostat back and get a refund

Your existing setup relied on the way double pole 240V thermostats work -- one leg is an ON/OFF (disconnect) function, while the other leg is thermostatically controlled.  This is fine for running electric resistance heaters, and also in the case of a mechanical thermostat abusable for what the original installer did to control the fans ON/OFF and pump thermostatically.

However, an electronic thermostat like yours needs power for its own functions.  While I'm not clear on how you wired it to get it to turn on at all, it certainly won't work correctly with both of its incoming hots on the same leg, in any case.

How to do things the right way

To actually control your system with a programmable thermostat, you'll need four things (and possibly a fifth if the installer was a cheapskate):

A double relay module that mounts to a 1/2" KO and can handle the fan + pump loads (a RIBT242B with a 4" box cover works)
A 24VAC/40VA Class 2 transformer that mounts to a 1/2" KO (such as the Functional Devices TR40VA040)
A 24VAC (low voltage) programmable thermostat (use your favorite -- you have your pick here)
Some 18/2 CL2 thermostat wire
Optionally, a 4" square metal box that can be mounted as the old box was (if the old box was plastic, it likely lacks conduit KOs) and matching cover
And basic electrical supplies (electrical tape, wirenuts) as well as the ability to hole and patch the wall

Installation is as follows:

Turn power off at the panel
Remove and replace the box with the 4" square metal box if the existing box does not have 1/2" conduit knockouts
Install the transformer and relay to the box -- the relay's uncovered side needs to face the front and poke through the wall surface, and you'll need some access to the wall cavity to get at the transformer terminals and thread cable about.
Put a hole in where you want the thermostat to go.  Run two pieces of thermostat cable -- one to the transformer terminals, and the other to the relay.  Mark the one that goes to the relay with a tape flag.
Take the cable that goes to the transformer terminals and connect it to the transformer terminals: red to one (this'll be your R wire) and white to the other (this'll be your C wire).  Take a third length of cable and connect it to the transformer terminals the same way, then run it to the relay.
Mark the cable that came from the thermostat location to the relay with a tape flag, then stick both cables through one of the holes in the relay box.  The red and white wires on the flagged cable go to the relay 1 and 2 coil screw terminals, respectively (red in this cable is W, and white is G).  The white wire from the unflagged cable goes to the relay coil common screw terminal, while the red in the unflagged cable is capped with a wirenut.
Wire up the thermostat as follows:

Red from the unflagged cable goes to R or Rh
White from the unflagged cable goes to C
Red from the flagged cable goes to W
White from the flagged cable goes to G

Wire up the wires in the junction box as follows:

The two "always hot" blacks from the wall are wired to each other, to the white wire from the transformer, and to the yellow and purple wires from the relay
The orange and red wires from the transformer and the blue and grey wires from the relay are individually capped off
The white neutral wires from the wall are all wired to each other, and to the black common wire from the transformer
The red wires from the wall that control the fans are wired to the orange wire from the relay
The black wires from the wall that control the pump are wired to the brown wire from the relay
All grounds (bare or green wires) are connected to each other, and to a grounding pigtail to the box if the box is metal

Put covers on the box and the relay
Turn the power back on at the panel.
Patch up any holes in the wall that aren't covered by something or the other.
Program your new thermostat and enjoy!


My door was locked but the handle came off, uses non-traditional unlock Sorry i'm in a bit of a pickle here.

So this particular lock style uses plastic with metal on the inside. As far as I could see there was no traditional latch mechanism to trigger to open the latch on the door handle. After removing the plastic to get access to the metal, I found that there was no pulling it at all. The plastic and the metal are conjoined with a small metal rod right about where the plastic meets the wood. You'll see it about halfway in and out assuming the picture worked.

I have no way in or out and since this is a rental property would like to avoid action-movie style kicking the door down guns blazing. The other side of the handle with the lock is inside of the bathroom.

I can't find a single guide on the internet regarding this specific door handle so I'm out of ideas. Thanks for any suggestion

Using a pair of needle nose pliers, grab the upper metal part where the plastic is broken away enough to grab both sides and pull it.

If needed, jiggle the door in and out as you pull to help release tension on the latch bolt, so it will pull easier. It may not need it, but if the bolt is engaged in the strike hard, you may need to...


The side wire screws on my power terminal won't tighten? I'm trying to add a second plug off of this one. I've done this dozens of times (yes, it's got plenty of space on the circuit). I prefer the side screw method. I loosened the screws, which were tightened down all the way, and they refuse to catch and go back in.

This is a brand new plug with the test/reset switch. What on earth am I doing wrong? Have I broken the connectors forever? Even the ground is failing to tighten. I wasn't particularly rough or anything, though they were pretty tight before I opened them up. Thanks in advance.

(yes, I realize the input wires are using the port metbod. It's a pain to pull them out, so I'm planning on leaving them.)

There is a small plate or clamp that presses the conductor between itself and a contact plate. Make sure you conductor is not behind this plate instead of between the two clamp points. Also you may have backed this plate off of the screw and now it is floating and won't tighten up.

Hope this helps.


Modine gas furnace thermostat wiring I have just installed a used Modine PAH300 gas furnace in a commercial building. This is a three phase furnace, spark flame start, and has a control box that provides sequencing and spark. I am using a digital thermostat and connected the red and white wire to it. I 'think' the red wire gets 24 volt power from somewhere on the transformer. My main question is, where will the white wire get connected to? To be more clear, what device, switch or control does the white wire go to? I have read that in a pilot lit furnace, the white wire goes directly to the gas valve, but where will it go on this furnace? Thanks to all in advance.

I figured out how this works, and thought I would add the info here for someone else. You don't control the heater directly with the thermostat, you have to add a 3 pole contactor to it, that has a 24 VAC coil, and switch the contactor coil with the thermostat. Basically you are cutting the mains power on and off to control it. I bought a 16 amp 4 pole Allen Bradley electro mechanical contactor with a 24 VAC coil. Possibly this is how all 3 phase powered furnaces run, I don't know.


Summertime hot water in the cold lines I have an oil fired boiler (baseboard) that also heats my hot water.  The hot water has a line from the cold supply to feed the system then it circulates through the boiler and into a tank for storage.

I've noticed in the summertime, I get a lot of hot water in the cold lines.  When I run the cold tap and it comes out hot, it goes back to cold in 30 seconds or so.

What I'm suspecting is that the pressure on the supply line is dropping here and there throughout the day; lots of irrigation around here and backflow prevention on the supply line.  When the supply pressure drops, the hot water backs into the cold system through the line that feeds new water into the hot system.  When I open the cold valve, it flushes that hot water through the lines and pressure is restored.

This is just my theory right now, maybe there's something more sinister going on; but I've noticed as the summer wears down this problem goes away - in the winter this never happens.

The line that adds cold water into the hot water system is just a straight pipe off of the supply; could I remediate this problem with a check valve on that line?

I've been close to just adding a check valve blindly to see if it does the trick, but then stopped.  I think my hesitation is that if this is actually a problem with the pressure in the hot system (not lack of pressure in the cold system) a check valve would bottle that pressure up and could cause bigger problems.

Anyone here dealt with a similar situation?  Is my hypothesis even possible?  Can summertime irrigation cause enough pressure drop for hot-water to back into the cold line?

Thanks,

Matty

It is totally possible for thermal expansion to back some hot water into your regular cold water supply. A check valve will prevent this but you are correct in that this could cause an unwanted (potentially damaging) increase in pressure on the hot water side of the system.

You should look into installing a thermal expansion tank if this is enough of a problem for you as to consider installation of a check valve. It is a fairly simple and inexpensive solution; do an internet search and you will find a lot of information. Check with your local permitting authority to see if this is a DIY install, or call a licensed plumber.


I ran a screw through a wire at home, should I worry? I was trying to fix a nail on my wall and it seems that I may have ran the nail into a wire. Pulling the nail back causes the lights in my room to go dark. I pushed it back in and my room seems fine, and, I plan on getting it fixed soon.
However, should I take any precautions before the time it actually gets fixed?  The nail I was using was about 5-7 cm.

Shut the circuit off. Leave off til fixed.
You took a chunk out of the wire, if not severed the whole wire.  That means it's thinner, or out of contact entirely.
If it's thinner, that means current is squeezing through a narrow part.  This will make the wire hot there.  It could get hot enough to ignite a fire on the wrong side of the walls.
Of if the wire is cut entirely, or passing through the nail, it is bound to start arcing.  Arcing makes a tremendous amount of heat - it will heat up much, much faster than a nicked wire, and could start a fire going in less than a minute.
Drywall is a fire-stop.  That means, fires which start in between the walls are hard to detect. They can become "fully engaged" (turned into a pretty big fire) before you even detect it.
And then what?  It's almost impossible to fight a fire on the wrong side of the drywall, unless you are a pro fireman who hatchets drywall every day.   By the time they arrive, the fire will be so engaged that they'll have to wreck the place to save the structure at all.
Whose fault is this?
Depends on the length of the nail.  If it's 1-1/2" or less, not your fault.  The builder is required to either keep all wires more than that far back from the wall surface, or, put metal guard plates in front of the wires.
Your job is simply don't use overlong fasteners, and if you hit a hard metal thing, stop.