Can I install a switch between two GFCI outlets so that only one can be used at a time? I have a GFCI receptacle installed on the side of my house in a weatherproof box. It is on a dedicated circuit. I need another receptacle on the other side of the wall in the car port so my wife can charge her Prius. I don't want to run another circuit but I also don't want both receptacles on the same circuit because at some point they will both get used and trip the breaker (or become a fire hazard). So I'd like to install the new one and add a three-way switch on the hot side to switch between the hot feeds on the receptacles. Then only one can be in use at a time. See illustration below. The top is two receptacles in parallel and the bottom is two receptacles switched. The switch and 1st receptacle would be in a double gang weatherproof in the carport and the 2nd would be outside on the side of the house.

Does anyone see a problem with doing this? Is there anything in the code which prohibits it? Any advice is appreciated.

This way of doing it is a little risky, because some GFCIs don't like to have their power interrupted on a regular basis.

A GFCI+receptacle combo device creates a zone of protection in its own sockets and anything downline that is attached to the LOAD terminals.  Hot and neutral must feed symmetrically from LOAD.  Ground bypasses the GFCI entirely (and that's important for it to work).

I'm not fond of your arrangement because aside from severing power to GFCIs, it violates a few of my "rules":

Don't put two GFCI devices on the same circuit
Don't put a GFCI device outdoors

So I would recommend installing one GFCI device that is upstream of the switch.  Then use the output of the GFCI, via the 3-way, to feed two plain receptacles.

I would also use a 20A-grade 3-way.  This won't cost $2.

Here I use brown/gray for hot/neutral in the protected zone, then I switch back to Romex colors just because I didn't want to redraw all that.


Is there a superior leveling system to avoid lippage in tile flooring? My question is, is there a superior tile leveling system for large format (13x20) floor tile to avoid any lippage?  There are several styles on the market; spacer clips and wedges' spacers and pommels, spacers and caps, spacer clips and rings, spacer straps and caps, and spacer plates and spindles.  Most systems except the pommels and rings require some type of hand tool that utilizes mechanical advantage to tune the system.  Some have a simple one step process for removal post installation.  Most have a reusable component.  Which one does the best job for the least effort and upfront cost?

This info is not necessarily specific to my question, but I am going to be laying a new tile floor in our home entry way, an alcove, and a small half bath.  All surfaces total ~150 sq. ft.  I will be laying the tile with an 1/8" grout line on a diagonal running bond.  I will also back butter the tile.  The sub-floor is a concrete slab and I will be floating a self leveling compound.  I am a DIY'er with no tile experience.

One of the newest and most comprehensive tile leveling systems on the market that I deal with is the Spin Doctor Tile Leveling System by RTC.  It is tool-less, can be used as spacers in addition to leveling, and is relatively easy to use.  RTC has a video on youtube video showing how to use it: https://youtu.be/NwP1OW1-7L0


Best Conditions for Sealing Asphalt Driveway What are the best conditions for sealing an asphalt driveway? What time of year, and under what kind of weather would be best?

Pick a sunny day, with ABSOLUTELY no chance of rain that day. If it rains within a few hours of the sealing job, you won't be happy. 24 hours will be plenty of time for it to dry though.

The perfect day would be sunny, but not incredibly hot, as sealing a driveway would be miserable work on a blistering hot day. Remember, you will be standing on black pavement in the sun.

Start work in the morning, to give it time to dry in the sun. Keep anything off it for a day.


Add T fitting to pipe I was going to remove my toilet angular shut off valve to add a 1/2 inch PVC T fitting. When removing it I noticed that it is a what I believe a compression fitting.

What would you recommend I do to be able to attach a 1/2 fitting; one for a PVC pipe and the other for the toilet shut off valve.

The pipe extends about an inch from the wall and the nut freely spins and cannot remove it.

You need to get a compression to pipe thread adapter, then you can use whatever threaded fittings you want.
For 1/2" copper, the outside diameter is 5/8". You would need a 5/8" compression x 1/2" male or female pipe:


Can I serve mwbc 110v from 220v circuit? If I have a 240v 20a circuit serving a single 240v 20a receptacle (12/3) can I leave the 240v receptacle in service then branch two 120v 20a circuits from it?

Perhaps. Firstly, without a time machine you have a 240V 20A receptacle and want to add 120V 20A receptacles.

You may need to replace the breaker with a dual-pole GFCI breaker as it's quite likely that the 120V circuits will need GFCI protection depending where they are and what version of code is adopted in your area at the time you do the work.

Other than that, yes, this is fine.


Figure out if I have gas or electric heating I have a year 2000 house in Bay Area California. The Honeywell RTH2520 thermostat that came with the house doesn't work anymore because the metal things on the side of the AA batteries became aqua colored and corroded. So I'm replacing it with a Honeywell RTHL2310B. This new thermostat asks me to flip a switch to gas or electric. I looked at the back of the old one and it doesn't have a switch at all. I don't know which type of heating/cooling I have in my house. How to I figure out?

The old existing wiring:

Left: New. Right: old.

Actually, the old thermostat DOES have a "gas/electric heat" jumper.   It's labeled "JP2" and the "HG" setting is for gas.  The "HE" setting is for electric.   It appears to be the exact same thing, just poorly labeled.

Look closely (don't touch) and its setting should be apparent.

A Google search revealed the manual in PDF  as the #1 result and section 2.4 discusses the JP2 jumper.

P.S. Another way to find out if you have electric heat is go to your electric service panel and look at the labels on the breakers.  For electric heat, it would be one of the large (double-wide) breakers.  Turn the breaker off and see if your heat still works.  The thermostat should continue to work, because it is fed from a 120V circuit (which uses a single-wide breaker).

If the breakers are not labeled, you know electric heat must be a double-breaker.  You can find it by trial and error.  Generally it won't do any harm to turn a double-breaker off.  They control a single device: air conditioner, water heater, and the like.  That device will stop working and that is all. I would label what you can.

(now in older homes or ones with well-wired outbuildings, sometimes a double breaker actually feeds a sub-panel, which has many other things running off it.  I don't see that as likely in a new-build California home.)


What could be causing my dishwasher not to drain? The dishwasher stopped draining a few days ago. I reached in to unclog it, but couldn't find a clog. Then I poured some draino in and that didn't do any good either.

I'm thinking maybe the pump or solenoid that controls draining the water is out or jammed? It looks like the drain tube goes up to the sink, so I suppose it uses a pump to drain the water? Any ideas on how to fix this?

Some pictures:

I removed the drain cover and used the tube in the picture to siphon all of the water out. The dishwasher is a "Frigidaire Gallery"

After ensuring that the drain is clear, the next thing to check is the drain hose that connects your dishwasher to your drain under your sink.  Make sure that hose is not clogged or pinched.


How can I reduce the sound of water moving through a pipe? Introduction

I am re-purposing a room from a kitchen to bedroom. The room has a concrete-block built wall through which cast iron water pipes pass.

Here is the approximate schematic

neighbor | p | my room

|  | is a single concrete block, and the p is the pipe located inside it.

Whenever the neighbor uses the kitchen pipe, there is a hissing noise in the pipes. Closing the pipe produces a distinct "thud" sound.

I was considering:

demolishing a part of the wall (one side of a single block) to allow better inspection
acoustically insulating the pipe with some wrapping material
green gluing the entire wall

The problem with step 3 is that I don't have much space for the additional layer on top of green glue because I have windows to go up to the wall, leaving very little space on the window frame. 2 cm would perhaps be possible.

Even if the window would not present a problem, I would also not like to lose too much space of the room.

============ <- wall with pipes
w <- window
w
w

The wall concrete blocks are covered with 10-sand:4-lime:1-cement mixture (type K mortar equivalent), looking something like this:

I might be able to get additional space for green glue by ripping that layer off.

I have a good neighbor and it might be cheaper to arrange changing the pipes. However, demolishing his kitchen tiles to get to the installations is most likely out of the question.

Question

How can I acoustically insulate the cast iron pipe with some kind of wrapping material?
How can I acoustically insulate the room wall through which the pipes pass efficiently with just an inch or inch and a half to spare?

Acoustic paint - http://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/coat-of-silence/coat-of-silence.html

You will lose very little room and it doesn't take much time.  Read reviews and instructions to make sure which type is best for your walls.

There is also acoustical sheetrock quietrock?  You could strip the wall with 2x4s and put sheetrock over.


How to make a small piece of wood smaller with limited tools I have a piece of pine that's 1/2" x 3/4". I want 1/2" x 1/2" and I can't seem to find that at the big box stores. For tools I have a jigsaw, circular saw but that's it. I don't really have money to invest in a bandsaw. What else can I use to make this smaller? Hand planer? I'm using this for an extension jamb on a window

Your circular saw will do the job, but you should make a jig to guide the saw instead of trying to follow a pencil line. You will need a couple of pieces of straight lumber a little longer than the cut you want to make. Many books and articles say to use scrap wood but I sometimes use good lumber destined for use later.

The technique is to cobble together an assembly with an inside corner that the saw's foot plate can be pressed against, with the piece to be cut positioned in the path of the blade. Sometimes you can clamp the assembly together but I find that the clamps get in the way so I usually use small nails.

The shape of the jig will depend on what material you have on hand to make it. Here is a suggestion:

Please forgive the crude cross section but it should convey the main idea.


How should I air-seal this gap by the floor along an exterior wall? There's a gap between some of my floorboards and the baseboard:

The gap isn't just cosmetic. I used a wooden skewer to probe the hole and was able to insert it around 6 inches in:

This is an exterior wall, so I believe that means this gap is open to the stud cavity of our exterior walls. This is a 125-year-old balloon-framed house, so even though we have blown-in cellulose insulation in the walls I'd like to better seal it to reduce air leakage.

This need is compounded because I'm planning to install baseboard hot water radiators along this wall. That will require me to remove the wooden baseboard, which will presumably make the gap even bigger. I'd like to install something to seal it better before I attach the baseboard radiators.

Expanding foam would do a fantastic job especially if you are already removing the baseboard anyway it should be no problem to fit the straw back there.


Are AC-DC 5V power supply modules legal in USA if mounted inside an outlet box? I'm wall mounting a tablet and need to supply 5V.  I've seen posts on how this can be achieved but my question is specifically about these types of power supply modules:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=AC-DC+Power+Supply+Module+AC+1A+5W+220V+to+DC+3V+5V+9V+12V+15V+24V&_sacat=0

Is it legal in the USA to add an inline power supply like this behind a light switch or outlet in an outlet box?

EDIT:
So from all the great discussion here the best solution is to use a recessed electrical box plus an outlet with USB

No, because of the source.

Generally anything you find on eBay or Amazon Marketplace is from the endless junkstream from Alibaba.  These things are firestarters.

There are two things you need.

Must have a UL listing (or other recognized testing lab; not CE)

Equipment used in mains wiring must meet basic quality standards.  That is called out on literally the first page of the National Electrical Code, in section 110.2.

In practical terms, that means approved by Underwriter's Laboratories, or a list of other "Nationally Recognized Testing Labs" seen to be of equal reliability: this list is maintained by OSHA.  These include CSA, ETL, Intertek, BSI, TUV and a few others.

Notably, the list does NOT include CE, CCC, FCC or ROHS; none of these things are testing labs. These marks are typically used when the Chinese maker can't qualify for an NRTL. They certainly try to make people think CE is a meaningful mark; it's not, except for one context for items shipped from the manufacturer within Europe.  Outside that, the mark is certainly fraudulent.

All this is because the device is interacting with mains voltage, and so has the possibility of starting a fire.

Must use according to instructions and labeling

This is in the NEC in the next section, at 110.3(b).  The reason is that the testing labs (UL etc.) only test the item for certain uses - those discussed in the instructions and labeling. Using it "off-label" means the item has not been tested for that use.

A related issue is "electronic components" vs "equipment/devices". Equipment makers have the option of using electronic components that have already been UL-certified, which speeds up certification of the equipment.  UL calls this component certification "RU" - we call this "Really Useless" (thanks ThreePhaseEel) because the component is simply not rated for direct use in building wiring.   And obviously, the labeling and instructions say nothing about using that way.

So your idea of using a module is fine; however you must use a module that is UL-listed for that purpose.


What to do with an old sump well? I've recently found what appears to be an old sump well on my property. It's been buried by dirt and debris, but once that was cleared I now have a 22.5" diameter hole in the concrete that appears to be ~30" deep — which is why I'm assuming it's a sump well. We definitely get a lot of water on this side in the rainy seasons, but since owning the home we've found another approach to solving for excess water on this side.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with the hole? It's an odd size, so getting a cover is proving near impossible. Should I just fill it with concrete and move along?

If you are sure you will not need the sump fill and pack it with dirt until ~4” from the top then a few bags of sackcrete can be mixed up and poured so the floor is usable. Finishing a small area like his would not be hard and that would cover the hole.


Changing hot water supply and keeping cold water supply Repiping my master bathroom shower and sink.  We have a new instant hot water heater on an addition to our house 10' away.  The shower and sink now run off the water heater in garage, 100' away.
I tee'd into hot water supply line in the addition (instant hot water tank) and I am connecting the sink and shower in master bath to this new hot water line and capping the old hot water supply line from the garage (just for the master bath) which is at the end of the run.
My question is can I use the cold water supply line from the house (original cold water supply) or do I need to run the cold water from the addition also.  Both cold water supplies originate after the regulator coming into the main house.

Your cold water line connection if up to code is not an issue as to where it comes from. What I mean by 'if up to code' is that it was originally installed up to code.

The short answer is you need not do any other work regarding that cold line unless you really are pitching an itch to do it.

The only thing that I see (really a non-issue) will be that for any future issue a person will need to know the hot water comes from the additions tankless hot water heater for your sink and your shower. Again not really an issue - just a be aware that this is the case.


How to clean this oil spill stain from driveway if council cant help? I am not sure whether this is Engine Oil, Diesel or Transmission Fluid because I was not here when this happened. What i certainly know is that it was a Diesel tractor that caused it.

Council won't help with the clean up and that stain just won't go away with Water. What can I do to clean it myself?

Its an Asphalt Road

You could investigate trying to spread a layer of the dry clay type cat litter over the spot and grinding it down into the surface with your foot. If there is any residual petro/oil material there that has not reacted with the asphalt road surface the clay material should absorb it and help to clean the surface. It may be necessary to leave the clay material there for a day or so. If you see some improvement after sweeping/vacuuming up the first application you may want to try a second or third iteration of the treatment.

A final stage of cleanup with water can be aided by using a soap such as laundry detergent and a scrub brush. The soap will emulsify the oils and allow some of it to be washed away with the water.

In the case where the spill has actually had a reaction with the asphalt it may be very difficult if next to impossible to remove the spot.


Which breaker should trip with a ground fault with a subpanel? I am installing a subpanel in an outbuilding and understand that I need to use a four wire feed and keep the ground separate from the neutral at the subpanel. I know that is code, but I like to understand how things work. I am trying to conceptualize how a ground fault on a circuit in the outbuilding would trip a breaker and which would trip. There are four breakers involved. The main, the breaker supplying the subpanel, the "main" at the subpanel and the final circuit breaker. If a ground fault occurred, which one would trip? It would seem the final would need to, in order to isolate the problem. Does the surge caused by the fault travel all the way back to the main through the ground wire then back to the final breaker?

Looking at a diagram, is often a good way to understand a problem. Below is a simple diagram that shows the fault current path.

You can see that the fault current will flow through all the breakers, and return to the source (the transformer) along the grounding conductor.
You might be inclined to think that the fault current will be extremely high (tens of thousands of amperes). However, due to the fact that wires have resistance, the current might be surprisingly low.
Without knowing the exact length and size of each wire, it's not possible to approximate the resistance.  If you did have that information, you could calculate the resistance.  With that, the voltage, and Ohm's law, you could calculate the fault current.
For this example, we'll assume the fault current is less than 100 amperes.
Because the current is not above the instantaneous trip level of any of the breakers, the short-circuit protection of the breakers will not trip.  However, circuit breakers also have thermal protection, which opens the circuit based on overheating  caused by current flow (overcurrent).
Each breaker will trip according to it's trip curve, based on multiples of current over the rated current of the breaker.  Basically, as the fault current flows, the thermal protection device in each breaker begins to heat up (along with all the wiring in the circuit).  Obviously the larger breakers (100 & 200 in the diagram) can handle more heat (current), so they're going to be able to handle the less than 100 ampere fault current.
Since the fault current is higher than the rated current of the smaller breaker (20 in the diagram), the thermal protection device will begin to overheat.  With such a high current flowing through it, the device will likely open within a few seconds.  However, if the current was lower, it could take much longer to trip (even minutes).
If we take another example, where we've figured the fault current at 150 amperes. Even though the current is now higher than the rated current on three of the four breakers, the smaller breaker is likely still going to trip first.  This is because the time before the thermal protection of a breaker trips, is based on the the amount of fault current above the rated current.
The fault current is only 1.5 times higher than the larger breaker, but 7.5 times higher than the smaller breaker.  Because of this, the smaller breaker will trip sooner.  Thermal protection is designed this way, so that loads can draw over the rated current, but only for a limited amount of time. This allows things like motors to start, without tripping the breaker.
In most real world applications, the smaller breaker will trip first.  If the resistance of the fault circuit was low, it's possible for the fault current to be above the instantaneous trip level of all the breakers.  In that case, the first breaker (main) will likely trip first.
If any of the breakers are GFCI breakers, and the fault is to ground, the GFCI breaker will trip first.

More realistic example
This example will use the diagram above, but will attempt to estimate a more realistic fault current.  We'll say that there's 100' of 3/0 CU. wire from the pole to the main service panel lugs.  3/0 CU. is 0.0000766 ohms/ft., so that's 0.00766 ohms.
0.0000766 * 100' = 0.0076 ohms
Next there's 50' of 3 AWG CU. from the main panel feeder breaker, to the second panel main lugs. #3 CU. is 0.000245 ohms/ft., so that's 0.01225 ohms.
0.000245 * 50' = 0.01225 ohms
Next there's 25' of 12 AWG CU. from the second panel breaker, out to the fault.  #12 CU. is 0.00193 ohms/ft., for a total of 0.04825 ohms.
0.00193 * 25 = 0.4825 ohms
Now that we've reached the fault, the current has to follow back along the grounding conductor. The grounding conductor is made up of 25' of 12 AWG CU., 50' of 8 AWG CU., and 100' of 3/0 CU. back to the pole.
0.00193 * 25' = 0.04825 ohms
0.000764 * 50' = 0.0382 ohms
0.0000766 * 100' = 0.00766 ohms
Totaling up all the resistances, we end up with 0.16227 ohms.
0.00766 + 0.01225 + 0.04825 + 0.04825 + 0.0382 + 0.00766 = 0.16227
Using Ohm's Law, the fault current can easily be calculated using the formula current = voltage / resistance (I=E/R).
120 volts / 0.16227 ohms = 739.5 amperes
739.5 amperes of fault current.
That's 3.695 times the 200 ampere breaker, which according to a random trip curve I looked up, should trip the breaker between 8-25 seconds. It's 7.395 times the 100 ampere breakers, which would trip between 2-7 seconds.  It's about 37 times the 20 ampere breaker, which is likely beyond the instantaneous trip current level.
In this example, the 20 ampere breaker will trip first (unless any of the other breakers are GFCI breakers).


Will 1x4 or 1x6 boards span 3 feet between beams for a walking bridge? I have a foot bridge I wish to plank with 1x4 or 1x6 material. The bridge is 3' wide.  The planks will be simply supported at each end by 4" beams. Will a 1x4 or a 1x6 3' long support a 200 pound load?

The boards will flex something awful, which makes for an unpleasant walking experience. Tying them together with an unsupported stringer in the middle will make things quite a bit less wobbly. If the bridge is short then an X-shaped brace between the beams will give you much better support with the same look.

I personally would opt for the 1x4 if all other things were equal. Three feet is a really wide span for rotten or insect-damaged boards. Falling through a floor all the way to your hip is hilarious for everyone who sees it, but not an experience I'd be keen to repeat. With a 4" board any way you stand you're spanning two of them.


Why won't my ice maker shut off? My ice maker won't shut off and leaks all over the freezer.  This is seriously maddening since I then have to unplug my refrigerator every week for a 24 hour period to defrost the ice on the bottom of my freezer.  I then chip at it until I can pull out the sheet of ice and start over for another week.

Any suggestions besides getting a new refrigerator?

The leakage all over the freezer sounds like a bad solenoid valve on the water line. At least on my freezer it's located near where the water comes in, and is not too difficult to replace. There's probably a 'how to' page somewhere on the internet for your particular model.


How can I adapt a wall outlet to suface mount conduit? I have a single gang in wall outlet in my basement. I would like to adapt it into surface mount EMT conduit to get an outlet at a different location. Ideally I would be able to keep a plug at the current location, but its not critical.

Once site I found online said to remove the old in-wall box, patch the drywall, and install a new surface mount box.

Is there a simpler way, possibly by installing a face plate or new box on top of the existing box?

There are collar boxes available that have conduit KO's (knockouts). Just install one on top of the existing device box and run your conduit.

This one is even better as it has more volume:

Brand: Steel City, Part number:531511234UB

Here is a raised device cover to be used with the 4x4 box shown. They can be had in any number of different configurations.


Why are the lights in my 60 year old house flickering? My lights will flicker throughout the house when I have a lot on.  Also, the ceiling fan will go (beep, beep BEEP beep) then reverse all by itself when the bathroom light is turned on down the hall.

This happens intermittently, day or evening, and especially if there has been rain.  We live near the coast.

Our house is old..1846 old. We had this issue in our home as well. All breakers were good, nothing was shorting out, tripping breakers, etc.
First thing I did was call the power company. Turns out the service line connecting to our house was loose. They tightened it up free of charge and the problem stopped.
This can happen over time, after a storm with lots of wind, from a branch falling and catching it some, etc.
I'd have the power company check the service line and if it's all fine and good, then I'd call and electrician.


Dishwasher doesn't fully drain I have an odd setup - two dishwashers were in our home when we purchased it a year ago.  Since we have two, we don't run them as often as one might and I noticed that the second one has an accumulation of water and "funk" on the bottom.  From what I can see, the water is pumped all the way out but then comes back into the bottom of the dishwasher after the draining is complete.

I'm guessing that this is due to the plumbing - as you can see in the photos, one dishwasher drains just under the sink and the other (the one with the problem) drains to a second pipe with a second trap (in the back, on the left).  I tried propping up the trap to create a better flow but that didn't solve it.  The drain line does come over from the disposal fairly high up behind the sink.

Adding to the complexity, we'd like to install a disposal if we can fit one - not sure if that impacts things much but thought I'd mention it.

You've got way too much drain hose down there. The drains come in high as they should but all the wrap-a-rounds hamper the draining and the waste just siphons back into the washer. Once the drains start heading down after their high entry, they should connect to the main drain. Rotate those taps for a more direct connection.
You would be able to get a disposal in there but you'll have to start from scratch with all the drain plumbing. Plan it out.


Using one dimmer to control 2 sets of lights with each an On/Off Switch I want to install some LED lights in my RV. I have 2 sets of 4 LEDs, connected on my 12V circuit. One set is for the front (kitchen area), one set in the back (living area). When all the lights are opens (both switches), I want them to be controlled by one dimmer to have the same intensity through the whole RV. I also want to be able to shut off one of the area independently.

Is that possible? Would the dimmer be wired up front, and from it connect both switches that runs to each set of LEDs in series?

Thank you for your help!

John

Yeah that's fine, have a master dimmer then 2 switches deciding which LEDs are on.

However the LEDs and the dimming method must be compatible. Generally with 12V you use PWM dimming.  Make sure you select LED lights which are friendly to PWM dimming, i.e. Have a simple resistor regulator instead of a switching power supply.  If the bulb says "works on 12-24V" it's a switching power supply type, which will treat attempted dimming as dirty power, and attempt to compensate for it.

IKEA comes to mind as a source for architectural grade LED fixtures made for PWM dimming.


How to address loud cold air return The cold air return on my forced air furnace is too loud. While it is is tolerable, there is a noticeable sound of rushing air when the furnace is running (not a whistling sound, just a blowing sound).

I have a KeepRite G9MVE (80,000BTU 1600CFM).

I have read a couple of other posts an online resources, which generally seem to suggest:

liners or baffles
less restrictive grill
larger duct size

For #2, I have removed the return air grill, but no change.

For #3, I removed the blower door and ran the furnace again. The return air was not noticeably quieter.

Using some of the calculations in the third link above, I think the 24"x6"=144sq.in trunk is probably too small (something like 900fpm flow), but then why would it not be significantly better with the blower door off? Doesn't this effectively bypass the return air duct?

Is there something I am missing here? How can I improve this issue?

My ducting looks something like this:

Here is the cold air return intake (A in diagram - 12"x30"=360sq.in)
The intake runs between two pairs of floor joists, and the gap closest to the furnace, left side in photo, is noticeably louder than the other side.

Here are the suspended trunks - return is on right, about 16' long (B in diagram - 24"x6"=144sq.in)

Here is the furnace connection (filter 16"x25"=400sq.in)

I'd have to say get an HVAC guy or firm. My first thought is that they could relocate this one under the stairs & have it suck through the side wall of the stair's stud bay. My 2nd thought is to add the stair stud wall as a 2nd smaller return, but then also move & shrink the floor one away from the stairs if there's another 4 or 6' away it could be.

The idea is that there should be a large sound reduction by getting that return out of the direct line of the HVAC fan's draw. You'd be getting rid of the direct sound path of the fan motor & fan, but also adding distance between you & the fan noise & splitting the suction whoosh in half. Definitely, see what they say. I don't see any of the other options doing anything, just like what you've tried & determined already.


How do I create a 3" deep hole, 3/8" diameter, in granite? Does anybody have recommendations for the best method of creating a 3/8" diameter hole, 3" deep, in granite?

Will this work?   It says it's 4 inches overall length.

https://www.amazon.com/Concrete-Beginners-Drilling-Shipping-Guarantee/dp/B01CUDK6LW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497140514&sr=8-1&keywords=Drillglaas


Would an Elmer's wood filler color match a Minwax wood finish color? I recently stained some red oak using Minwax Wood Finish in Golden Oak colour.  I need a hardening wood filler to close up the seams.  Would Elmer's Wood Filler in Golden Oak complement this?  Or, should I pick a different colour?

Generally, you match the filler to the raw wood color as best you can. Then you stain and finish. But the results are definitely variable. If you are obsessive about making it match, I'd suggest a series of tests on similar wood with various combinations of filler, stain, and process.


Leave the water heater on? When I lived in France and the US, we can an electric boiler for hot water. It was "always on", probably with a thermostat.

Now I live in an area where most people have a power switch that they turn on 30 minutes before taking a shower, and shut down after their shower, to save energy.

At first I thought that was a good idea. But it got me thinking: does it really matter?

I have no test to backup the theory but, heating the entire water tank once a day, how does it compare to KEEPING it hot with a thermostat??

You will always (always!) save energy by turning the heater off when you don't need hot water.

How much energy you save depends on the efficiency of the water heater but you will always save energy - it doesn't matter what size your tank is or how well is is insulated.

The ultimate reason for this is "the rate of heat loss of a body is proportional to the temperature difference between the body and its surroundings."  (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer#Convection-cooling)


Shower plumbing in exterior wall I plan on doing a full gut/rebuild on our bathroom this spring, and one of the things I plan on is his/hers shower heads. Problem is, one of these will need to be on the exterior wall of the house to accomplish this. Since I'm ripping the entire bathroom out, I planned on insulating all of the walls with kraft-face insulation for noise reduction, then putting the plumbing on top of it. Floor to ceiling tile will be installed on all the walls. The shower will be a tub with tile surround, not fiberglass.

Would insulation be sufficient to keep the pipes located on the exterior wall from freezing in winter? I'm located in the Midwest, Saint Louis specifically.

Lee I am pretty close to your area.  Normally we would leave exterior wall in tact.  Then we would running a series of 1xs and attach them perpendicular to the framing.  Plumbing would would run inside of the 1xs.  You might need to notch the framing but by 1/4" at most usually which is fine.


What other materials besides grout and caulk may have been used in my shower? I have a tiled standing shower in my bathroom and the grout is starting to crack in some areas, so I would like to repair it. The grout between the tiles is sanded grout, but the material in the joints (connecting the tiles to the floor) feels more flexible than the grout. It also has a bit of a sheen to it.

There is silicone caulking along the connection between the tiles and the door which feels more rubbery than the unidentified material. Is there anything else besides grout and caulk that might have been used in the shower?
In case it helps, the house is in the US and was built within the past ten years.

My guess is that you have some sanded, color-matched caulk there. It may be latex or urethane-based.


How to test ground/neutral without outlets? I use this simple plug device to detect any ground/neutral problems in outlets and if they're properly installed.

What can I use on open wires in an electrical receptacle to emulate the same test?

You can use the tester below.  If you touch one probe to the hot and the other to neutral or ground and the bulb should light.

If hot-to-ground lights but not hot-to-neutral the neutral is open. Vice versa for open ground. If you get nothing lighting either both neutral and ground are open or there's no power.

If hot-to-neutral and neutral-to-ground light, hot and neutral are reversed.

If neutral-to-ground and ground-to-hot light, but hot-to-neutral doesn't light, hot and ground are reversed.

http://byramlabs.com/store/images/hi-res/SPE-et-201a.gif

It's a little complicated. Since there's no outlet hooked up you should probably just test to make sure the black-to-white and black-to-green light the light, if not there's a problem further down the line.

I mostly use this kind of tester to see which wires are hot in old work with cloth covered wires that you can't tell which color is which anymore.

It's also a handy tool to have to test all the wires in a box to make sure there's no power in any of them before you start touching them with your hands.


Adding an outlet in kickspace of kitchen cabinet kickspace, meet code? Some time ago I added an outlet in the bottom/side of a kitchen cabinet. I took out the drawer, cut an access panel in bottom of cabinet and ran the wire up from the basement, through the floor. Used a plastic box and set it in the side of the cabinet about 4” up from the floor. Receptacle is under a shelf at end of cabinet (this was to have an outlet to plug in pet’s water dish that has a tiny pump in it.)

Is there anything about this that is not up to code? Does the rule about attaching the wire to a stud or something within 12” of a box apply here?

Is there any problem with the wire running through the floor like this? (tile over plywood). (Should I run it through conduit or some kind of shielding?)

Was it okay to put an outlet in this space in bottom of cabinet?

Since it is not actually serving the countertop and appears to be a reasonable distance from a sink, apparently this does not need to be GFCI protected.

However, GFCI protection may still be a good idea, either at the receptacle (which I can see it is not), at the breaker or somewhere in between. While it is unlikely that you'll be reaching down to plug/unplug appliances while your hands are wet (which can easily happen at the real countertop receptacles), kitchens get wet, especially on the floor (at least in my house) so I think it would be a good idea.


Cleaning water staining on brick work I have a problem with water run off causing some dark staining on light coloured brick. The water is dripping down from the canopy and running along the brickwork all the way down to the ground.

I plan to fix the root cause of this with a bit of guttering. What I'm not so sure on is if there is a way of cleaning the staining off the brickwork? Since the brickwork is a light colour, is there anything extra I should be wary of when attempting cleaning?

First of all you want to start slow on this with a little spot cleaning to learn what works in your particular situation. I've used power washers with detergents or bleach with success in these situations but you do have to be careful.

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Often when you clean brick or any surface you can end up with uneven coloration unless you do the entire wall. What I would suggest is start small with a light bleach solution (1 cup to 1 gallon water) and a brush (not wire) and try it on a small area that's not conspicuous.

Getting it to match the surrounding brick is the tricky part. You want elbow grease but not too much - and feather out the edges to blend it. Let it dry to see if it did the job. If the bleach solution doesn't work you might have to go to a commercial product. Prosoco is one but there are others. If you can get the coloration close but still not what you want you might be able to even it out further with power washing. But once again for best results you may need to power wash the entire wall.

Also if you do power wash you'll need to be careful around windows and cover and protect lights and that external speaker you have. Your brick looks in good condition but avoid any areas with the power wash where the mortar is loose or has gaps - maybe around windows. Good luck!


Ice Maker makes consistent clicking sound and doesn't make any ice I have a GE french door refrigerator with freezer on the bottom. I have seen it make 2 batches of ice. I have seen it only when I left the fridge door open for awhile when I was trying to figure out what was going on with the ice maker and when I tried defrosting the fridge (from the link below). Which leads me to believe that the arm is trying to push the ice out but it cant until maybe the ice melts a little bit. Does this make since? Ive never fixed an ice maker and I'm not sure how to fix it. The ice maker is a closed box and Im not familiar with how to diagnose the problem.

I read this and tried defrosting my fridge but that did not work.
Why does my ice maker make a knocking sound and not produce ice?

This is what is making the clicking sound. I tried using a blow dryer to this device specifically and still does not work. Although it did make 1 batch of cubes...
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EA6wxVHmL.jpg

I pulled the ice maker out and pulled the top off of it. I then plugged it back in to the refrigerator without the top and watched the arm struggle with pushing the ice out. Given that I read that ice makers are not serviceable I purchased one of amazon for $95. I now have ice again!


plastic sheeting under monolithic concrete slab I'm trying to figure out how to put the vapor / moisture barrier under a monolithic concrete slab. Do I just put the plastic down and drape it over the form, and then cut to ground level when done (like the red line in the picture)? Will it stay attached to the concrete?

Or do I just put the plastic across the bottom and leave the perimeter exposed?

I included a picture to try and explain my question. Hope it's clear.

Thanks!

Whatever's convenient, really. Tack it to wooden forms with staples and trim it below the form top edge. Drape it and trim it as you fill the forms. Or do as you suggest, though that might make finishing the concrete more challenging.


Where to locate moisture barrier in engineered hardwood floor sandwich placed over insulation board? I'm planning to install an engineered hardwood floor on a concrete slab that is very very cold. The climate is northern New Mexico. The slab perimeter is not insulated, and doing so is cost-prohibitive at this time as it requires removing more concrete that abuts it, some of which is structural. The slab's thermal mass is not contributing much if anything to moderating internal temperature conditions due to the house's siting being unable to take advantage of much direct solar irradiance. All it's doing is making the house cold.

So I'm thinking of applying polyiso foam insulation board over the top of the slab but below the new floor, basically cutting off the thermal mass of the slab from the interior climate. If I were to do this, where should the moisture barrier go? Between the bare slab and the insulation board? Between the insulation board and the wood floor, perhaps with a moisture-barrier-type underlayment? Would I even need a moisture barrier at all with this setup?

I am curious what you consider to be "very very cold". Here in Maine, 45 to 50 degrees at slab level 4 feet below grade is common. So interested in what temps you may have and the average relative humidity in that space.
With those questions asked; the straight answer to your question is yes, you should use a vapor barrier when installing any wood type floor over concrete. Both methods you mentioned would work. A one inch foam insulation, closed cell, waterproof, under the subfloor would be fine. If you use the tongue and grove style and fit it carefully, additional vapor barrier should not be needed. You can add a sheet of 6 mil plastic under the insulation for good measure if you feel the humidity is high in your area and are concerned with condensation. Another option is a paint on barrier such as Hydra-loc or any low pressure concrete coating used for interior waterproofing. Again, use this under your foamboard insulation. The one step method is the interlocking subfloor systems with a built in moisture barrier. this works well but is very pricey.


How do I Test a Dishwasher Pump Motor My Whirlpool WDT720PADM dishwasher stopped functioning properly last night. It will run through a full cycle, filling, draining, heating, soap door opens and steam vent opens at the end. While running, the main pump never sprays water or makes noise. I hear a relay click when it should come on, but it does not. It does not hum, just does nothing. I ran the diagnostic check on the machine and no new fault codes have been recorded. The dishwasher's processor thinks all is good. I also left the breaker off all night thinking perhaps something would reset by the morning. No good.

So, I opened the cover and tested the main motor's fuse through some pins on the board, it had proper continuity and negligible resistance. I tested resistance through the main motor through the two large blue wires running to it and it registered between 11 and 12 Ohms. I also found no continuity from either motor lead to ground. Finally I gave the motor 120 volts AC through the two large blue leads, flipped to try both polarities and got no movement or noise.

I am not able to test directly against the motor so there could be other smaller wires going into it that I do not know about that could have an impact. I also tested resistance on an old, known working, dishwasher pump motor and got around 11 Ohms, so I figure that number was reliable. I was almost ready to call it a day and order a new motor assembly, but ran one other test with the dishwasher running and at a cycle where the motor should have been running. There was no voltage across the two blue wires that run to the motor and I expected there to be. Now I am confused.

Are there better ways of isolating the problem without taking the pump out of the machine? That is the next step I think, but I would like to avoid it if possible.

In the image below, two green lines point at the two blue wires I have been testing the motor with. One looks red; it is blue with a red stripe. Other is blue with a white stripe. They are next to the hot and neutral lines from the wall.

Test the main pump motor using the proper wires. The largest wires, other than the AC from the house circuit, feed the heating element. Those would be the two large blue ones indicated in the question's image. Heating devices generally draw the highest current. The main pump motors leads come off the board to the right of the AC in lines. They are a dull blue color and easily visible in the questions image. There should be continuity through the wires with very little resistance. There should be no continuity through either wire and ground. This setup is very likely the exact same for many different Whirlpool dishwashers.


What is a multiwire branch circuit? What is a multiwire branch circuit? (also known as "multiwire circuit", "multiwire branch circuit", "split phase shared neutral", "two circuits fed from one 12-3 or 14-3 NM-B cable", "shared neutral circuit",  etc)
This question comes up from time to time on this site, and I couldn't locate a canonical answer about what a multiwire branch circuit is.
They seem to be relatively uncommon in residential wiring, so many homeowners may not know how to recognize or handle them, especially when taking on "simple" DIY projects like adding a GFCI or AFCI outlet or breaker.
This boils down to multiple sub-questions, but I think they are related enough to answer here:

What is a Multiwire Branch Circuit?
How do I know I have one?
What do I need to do differently when working with one?

A few related questions that give various pieces of the answer are:

How can I add a GFCI breaker on two circuits with a shared neutral without rewiring?
How do I install a GFCI receptacle with two hot wires and common neutral?
Connecting 2 GFCI Breakers to 2 Hot Leads and 1 Common

The National Electrical Code defines a Multi-wire branch circuit as follows.

Branch Circuit, Multiwire. A branch circuit that consists of two or more ungrounded conductors that have a voltage between them, and a grounded conductor that has equal voltage between it and each ungrounded conductor of the circuit and that is connected to the neutral or grounded conductor of the system

Background
In the US, residential dwellings are often supplied using a 120/240V single split-phase system.  This system consists of two ungrounded (hot) conductors, and a grounded (neutral) conductor (which is a center tap on the transformer).
Multi-wire branch circuits
A Multi-wire branch circuit takes advantage of this, by extending both ungrounded conductors and sharing a single grounded (neutral) conductor. So instead of having two circuits requiring four conductors, you can have two circuits with only three conductors.
How to recognize them
Multi-wire branch circuits will typically be supplied by two adjacent breakers in a panel, and will often be fed using 3-wire plus ground cable.
If the circuit was installed properly, the breakers handles should be tied together or a double pole breaker will be used.
What to worry about

If you're working on the circuit, you'll want to make sure both breakers are off.
You should never disconnect the grounded (neutral) conductor, while the breakers are on.
You'll have to take care installing GFCI devices, as it can be a bit tricky.
You'll have to make sure the ungrounded conductors come from separate legs of the service.


How to run cable from attic to breaker panel in a finished room I want to install a new circuit breaker and run 10/3 NM cable from attic and into the breaker panel. The panel is in a finished bedroom.  How would I fish the cable to the panel considering potential insulation and running into other wires? Ideally, I don't want to remove the drywall above the panel.

If the wall is an external wall this is really tough.
 I have used fish rods (thin fiberglass rods pushed through the panel.
  One advantage today that make it possible are clamps like raco insiders these Romex clamps can be put in after the wire is pulled from the inside of the box.
(Many home owners just left the cable in the opening without a clamp). In 2 cases I have been called to repair when the hot shorted out on the sharp edge of the panel that is not a lot but one required a new panel and a lot of wiring to repair burnt wires, the other just re-pulling the burnt wire.

I have found putting a pull string on the leading edge of the fish rod and going up until I find the hole in the top plate works best.
 Remove the string pull the rod out through the bottom , tie the string to the Romex and pull the cable down to the panel.
2 people make this much easier For me I would almost rather repair a small section of drywall and have to paint than fight getting a fish rod through the panel and then the top plate by myself.  the “insiders”  plastic clamp makes this possible but still a chore. I usually put a hard plastic shield over the lugs if the panel is a main lug style and am very cautious when trying to find the hole above not to come in contact with any hot wires. hope this helps.


Can I swap out this 20A breaker for a 15A breaker? I'm wiring my shed.  There is a sub panel out back with a 20A breaker that supplies power to my pool light.  I tapped that line to run the power to my shed because it's already ran about 3/4 of the distance.  I used 12 gauge wire from the junction box near the pool to the shed, but 14 gauge wire in the shed.  I didn't realize it was a 20A breaker until about half the wiring in the shed was done.

Rather than redo what I've already done in the shed, I thought about just swapping out the 20A breaker for a 15A breaker.  The load will be:

The pool light (2.5 amps)
Five lights on the shed (3 outside, 2 inside)
Four outlets

The alternative would be to rewire the shed and keep the 20A breaker, but I don't want to do that since I really don't need 20A of power out there.

That's fine.  The breaker protects the wire, and it's always allowed to use larger wire than you need, so bumping the breaker down to 15A is legal.  Based on your anticipated load, it sounds like you won't have a problem with the breaker tripping.

The one issue you may have is if you intend to run a space heater on one of the shed outlets sometimes -- they usually use a whole 15A circuit by themselves, so that wouldn't be compatible with also having the lights on the circuit.  However, that would just trip the breaker and wouldn't present a safety issue.

Note that since you have pool lights on this circuit, it'll need to be GFCI protected.  If your current 20A breaker is a GFCI breaker, replace it with a 15A GFCI breaker.  If it's a normal breaker currently, you probably have a GFCI somewhere downstream (though check this, and rectify if not), so replacing with another regular breaker is probably okay, but doubling up on the GFCI is allowed, so you're welcome to use a 15A GFCI breaker in either case.


Ice Dispenser auger won't stop dumping ice into chute I have a 9 yr old Kenmore side by side fridge (Model #25355699407).  The external ice/water dispenser panel leaked for years, eventually bubbling out the exterior paint, and rusting the door.  I removed the ice/water dispenser panel to refinish the door, which involved disconnecting the ribbon cable which connects the Dispenser power board to the Dispenser Control board.  Now, when I re-connect those with the ribbon cable and plug in the fridge, the ice dispenser auger immediately starts dumping ice into the external chute and won't stop.

I've tried/tested:

Replacing the ribbon cable - same result
Testing/replacing the micro-switches - same result

My next steps are to replace the Dispenser Power Board or Dispenser Control Board, but as these two parts run around $150 EACH, I'd like to know if anyone has any advice, specifically regarding:

How to figure out which of the two boards may have failed
If I start with one board, and choose the wrong one, am I at risk of damaging the other?
Is there any other part, inside the ice maker itself, which may have failed? I'm a little unclear about how the dispenser controls "talk" to the auger.

At this point, it is actually just about as expensive to buy a whole new door as to replace both circuit boards, which leaves me pretty frustrated.

Additional curious note:
The last time I put everything back together and connected the ribbon cable, with the refrigerator still unplugged (and had been for at least 15 minutes), I saw a flash behind the Dispenser Power Board.

Short Answer:  Replaced both boards, and this fixed it.

Despite lots of excellent help from others on this forum, concluded that I couldn't adequately test the boards without risking damage to a new board by connecting it to one of my current (status unknown) boards.  Very appreciative of the caution regarding these parts' sensitivity to static discharge, as even the chat help person from the parts website didn't know about this (but the parts packaging confirmed that you need to wear a wrist strap grounding device and handle carefully to avoid damaging the new parts).


How can I raise the output temperature of my air conditioner for better comfort? I think they put too much refrigerant because it's too cold at night; it is not comfortable. It's freezing cold even at 75 degrees.

What can I do? This is a newly installed ac and furnace.

There isn't too much refrigerant in the unit. It doesn't work that way. Check your thermostat setting and verify its accuracy with another cheap thermometer. Readjust the directional settings of your AC registers so they're not blowing directly on you. Restrict their flow by closing them a bit, they are fully adjustable. Be thankful it's cold; most people complain their AC doesn't get cold enough.


Splitting bath wiring circuit I am looking to run a new 15amp circuit to my bathroom and want to split it in attic so one sub-circuit goes to exhaust fan and another to lamp.  First, does this circuit look correct?

One logistical problem is that in both circuits, there is a LOAD wire traveling from the switch to the equipment (fan or lamp).  How would you run this single cable?  It seems wasteful to run the 12/2 romex and then cap off ground and neutral cables in it at both ends.

Essentially, is there a smarter way of doing this?

Note: The fan switch I am using requires 4 leads (ground, neutral, hot and load).

I am very confused by your diagram. Here is how I would do it. FYI, grounds ignored but implied and always connected to each other and (as appropriate) to switches, devices, metal boxes, etc.

Combined Fan/Light - i.e., two devices in one box

Panel to switch box in the bathroom: 12/2 - Black (hot)/White (neutral)
Switch box:

Attach two black pigtails to the black wire with a wire nut. One goes to each switch.
Switch box to fan/light: 12/3 - Black (switched hot 1), Red (switched hot 2), White (neutral)
Attach all white/neutral wires together with a wire nut - incoming from panel, outgoing to fan/light, fan switch.
Attach black switched hot to one switch. Attach red switched hot to the other switch.

Fan/light box:

Attach fan hot to one switched hot (black or red). Attach light hot the other switched hot (black or red).
Depending on the fan/light design, it may have one neutral wire or it may have two neutrals. However many there are, attach them to the white wire.

Separate Fan/Light - i.e., two devices in separate boxes

Panel to switch box in the bathroom: 12/2 - Black (hot)/White (neutral)
Switch box:

Attach two black pigtails to the black wire with a wire nut. One goes to each switch.
Switch box to fan: 12/2 - Black (switched hot), White (neutral)
Switch box to light: 12/2 - Black (switched hot), White (neutral)
Attach all white/neutral wires together with a wire nut - incoming from panel, outgoing to fan, outgoing to light, fan switch.
Attach each switched hot to one switch.

Fan box:

Attach fan hot to one switched hot and attach neutral to neutral of same cable.

Light box:

Attach light hot to one switched hot and attach neutral to neutral of same cable.


outdoor wiring question hope someone can educate me on a few things. i would like to add an outlet to the far end of my pergola. i already have electrical on the pergola. i plan on using 3 single 12g wires. in emt conduit with exterior gang box. when i go to lowes i see the southwire rolls of wire. the label has thhn,thwn and one more item(i forgot what it was) my question is. since the label has thhn and thwn, does that mean it is rated for outdoors? or will thhn be good enough since its in conduit.  thanks in advance for any help.

Conduit which is located outdoors is considered a wet location (even inside the conduit), so you would need THWN.


How can I make a lightweight structure (sukkah) stronger and more windproof? I have almost no DIY experience (unless you count computers). I bought this https://www.sukkahdepot.com/product/classic-sukkah-6x8-with-schach/. You can get a better sense of its construction from https://www.sukkahdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/EZ_instruction.pdf, but basically, it has a simple metal frame made from interlocking pieces, and canvas walls.
I assembled it last week. Last night it was somewhat windy and in the middle of the night I found it a bit down the block, on its side and flat as a pancake. The metal rods were still interlocked, so the metal "rings" on the vertical rods that the "pegs" on the horizontal insert into (sorry I don't know the correct terminology) were damaged. They will replace the damaged parts but my question is for the future. So:
What are the best options to "anchor" it in place"? There are some railings on the house I could tie it to, or I could possibly get sandbags or bricks and somehow tie it to them, or perhaps I need to drive tent pegs into the ground. I need some guidance here. If I tie it to the railings can the sukkah act as a sail and pull hard enough on the railing to damage it? If I use sandbags or bricks how much weight do I need? If I use tent pegs what size etc.? Any other ideas?
How can I reinforce the shape, so it doesn't get flattened again? I'm not sure if I'm describing what happened well enough. Basically this rectangular cube was on its side, and then the width X length rectangle is "sheared" (in the shape transform sense), like if you applied pressure to one of the top corners at a downward angle, bringing it to the ground.
Thanks!

You have two separate issues. #1 is keeping the wind from taking it... because if the wind lifts it off the ground, it will get wrecked. This type of structure is not made to survive being a tumbleweed.
So tying it down is non-negotiable. I'm partial to spiral (corkscrew) ground anchors, because they let you use all the ground above them as your virtual sandbag.  You want to fantastically over-do this job.  Very consistently, people underestimate the wind and their tent stakes pull out. Nobody ever said "Wow, these tent stakes are stronger than we needed" :)
Part of staking is guying - that is, come from the top of the structure diagonally (looking from the side, not the top) to a tie point on the ground. There can be up to 8 guys of this sort.  One might be tempted to have four guys diagonally (looking from the top also. That would create interesting forces in the walls. Guying, on the sides you are able to guy, helps the structure resist tramming (shearing/parallelograming).
What will also help that is internal bracing, or better, rigid sides.  Bracing can be done by making an "X" with tent ropes which you then cinch up taut.  However, bracing will increase the compressive load on all elements of the structure.  So this might just mean the wind bends the structure all up.
So the better plan is to rigidize the structure sides with something like plywood. Assuming that's ... kosher?

Given the canvas exterior I would probably add a face on the inside of two opposite (non-door) walls... full width and height and notched to clear structural members where needed and let the velcro be used.   Tie that to the existing structure however as suitable, drill and screw, or use conduit clamps.
Then I'd measure the distance between the two faces on the inside, and make a third face that will go full width - no need to tie this one to the structure because it'll tie to the other two walls with angle straps.
At that point you have 3 sides that are very rigid and will strongly resist tramming horizontally. And better, it will not be transferring high forces onto the metal structure the way cross-bracing ropes would.
It would be nice to have a fourth side to resist twisting... but I gather you need a doorway.

The last issue you'll have with tramming is "from the sky looking down".  For that you need cross bracing in the horizontal plane.  Doing a good job of staking the structure will probably take care of that. But you could also do an "X" under the floor, or better, as the floor!  Again, tied to the 3 walls with angle straps.  That structure isn't going anywhere!


Is it safe to charge a DeWALT 18v battery if the charger emits a whining noise I have 1 DeWALT 18 volt NiCd batteries. One charges without incident. If I attempt to charge the other, a whining noise is emitted from the battery or charger. Is it safe to attempt to charge this battery?

It's possible that the battery's days are numbered, but I doubt that the whine you're hearing comes from the battery itself.  That noise is called "coil whine" and comes from the windings of the transformer(s) inside the charger.

An electrical engineer (which I am NOT) could probably explain why you get the noise with one battery and not the other; I can only speculate that the charger is having to crank up the voltage a bit to force a charge into that one.  If that's the case, it could mean that the battery is on its way out, but in any case I wouldn't worry that it's going to blow up.


Why doesn't the light in my ceiling fan work after changing a light bulb? I had to change a light bulb in my ceiling fan. When I was screwing it in, it popped and the light bulb blew. Now the remote won't turn off the light, but it's still able to control the fan blades

What can it be and how can I fix it?

It is a bit dependant on the exact internals what is the exact cause, but the most likely one is that the system to switch the light on and off uses an electronic element called a Triac. If it can also be dimmed this is very probable even.

It is potentially possible to burn out a Triac by suddenly switching on a load that's a bit over its limit. If the original engineer had foreseen this he may have made a nice circuit that turns on the Triac when the AC voltage curve is at zero, to make sure it doesn't get overloaded. By turning in the lamp you can have accidentally connected it exactly at the highest point in the AC voltage curve, or near it, causing the maximum current to flow very suddenly through a cold lamp. (Cold lamps very shortly require more current to start glowing if it's a filament or even an affordable energy saver lamp).

If this happened the Triac can stay in conduction mode "for ever", requiring repairs by someone who knows what he's doing.

But to be 100% sure some close-and-personal research would be required.


Thermostat location in 3 story building Where would you place the thermostat in a single zone, 3 story building. Tt's a multi-family residential, 3 units, one unit per floor. The boiler is a high-efficiency condensing boiler in the basement, with hot-water cast-iron rads in all units. I know the ideal is to have multi-zones, one per unit, but that isn't currently a possibility. So is it better to put the thermostat in the first floor,  since heat rises, or in the top floor, since the top floor is farther away from the boiler?

This is a common problem in NYC.  There's no perfect solution.
What I've done is put in an electronic thermostat with remote sensors on each floor.
Then, using the data I've collected, I tell the thermostat which devices to obey at each time interval.
In general, each floor is a degree or two off from the other ones, but the top floor can be much hotter/colder than the other ones, and, of course, you get tenants who leave windows open in winter...


Best tool to cut out back of kitchen sink cabinet? There are 100% mice under my kitchen sink. I need to rip out the cabinet part to see whether and how I can patch it up to keep them out. I'm digging in from outside beyond the foundation, too, but that is another story. What tool do I need to cut the back of the undercabinet under my sink? I don't want to remove plumbing or countertop or even sidewalls and doors, but the floor of the cabinet may have to go if they are under it. I feel like a circular saw would be too unwieldy and large, and I want something the size of a sander. Thank you. Tool illiterate.

Oscillating Saw or also called multitool is the best for tight places where you really want to control the action. There are many brands out there. The inventer was Fein tools. They are a cool tool for many other purposes.Good luck


Does arcing with fluorescent lights indicate an open neutral? i recently did some work on my house and had to disconnect the ground wire  from the water pipe before the water meter. I saw some arcing. I understand that it might be a open neutral.

I have three panel boxes one in my house and one in each one of my garages. I turned all breakers off and started to narrow it down. The fluorescent  lights in my garage were one that  made it spark. If I unplug the lights from the receptacle's the spark stops. I looked at all the grounds in the lights and there all appear good.

Also my boiler was a problem. I looked at the neutral in the box and they all seem tight.

This is a double problem.  It is a ground fault of the lights, which should normally be handled efficiently by the wired grounding system (and not the water pipe).  Unfortunately it is not, which reveals faulty wiring.

Normally, all current is supposed to return on the neutral wire, with wired grounding only as a safety shield.  The wired grounding is meant as a "catcher" to assure that any ground-fault current returns on the ground wires and does not resort to using water pipes etc.  Those should never come into play, not even in fault conditions.  The water pipe bonding (grounding electrode) exists to ground lightning and ESD, both natural electricity sources.

You can "kill the symptom" by fixing the ground-fault on the fluorescent lights.  But I wouldn't do that just yet.  I would use it as the "canary in the coal mine" to chase this problem.

The real problem

Your ground wiring (or maybe neutral) is very broken.  First, check your neutrals for continuity.  I expect they are intact, as the water pipe/earth path is probably not capable of flowing enough current to power 8 fluorescent lights.  If you disconnect the water pipe strap, do the fluorescents in the garage go out?  If  you run a power tool also, do the fluorescents desperately flicker and the power tool stumble??  If those things work OK, that means the neutral system is probably intact.

Now onto the ground.  I expect ground defects, and realize this is not the end of the world -- you can retrofit ground.

First, I'd give a careful once-over to the main panel, just to make sure everything is in order.  Obviously your ground-bus to grounding-electrode strap is in good order, because removing it makes sparks, and that also proves the bond between your ground bus and your neutral bus.   In this main panel, you may see neutrals and grounds all jumbled together.  This is sloppy, but legal in the main panel only because there only, neutral and ground are bonded together.  That will not be the case in subpanels.

The subpanels

The grounding here will be the crux of the matter. Correct is that the subpanel is fed from the main panel by 4 wires -- a ground, plus neutral, plus 2 hots - so 4 wires in total, with ground and neutral separate.  (occasionally you'll see only one hot; so one less wire).  The neutral and ground feeder go to separate neutral and ground bars, and those are isolated - they are not bonded, and any bonding straps or green screws are removed.  Each circuit has its neutral and ground going to separate bars.   That is correct.

However it's quite likely you will find 3 wires - 2 hots and a neutral.  One approach is to "bootleg ground", i.e. attach all the grounds to the neutral bar (like is done in a main panel). However, that would cause any fault current to return via neutral, which would not cause your symptom.

The other "3-wire" scenario is where the person means well, but doesn't understand the importance.  In this case, they correctly keep separate ground and neutral bars, and do not bootleg/bond ground to neutral (ok so far). But they fail to run a ground wire back to the main panel: they simply drive a ground rod into the dirt and attach the ground bus to that.  They expect dirt to carry back any fault currents to the main panel, via the main house's electrode.  That doesn't work.  Dirt is a very poor conductor, and will actually hide a dead-short bolted fault by not allowing enough current to flow for the breaker to trip.

I think that's the scenario you are going to find; either that or they did something much more awful, like abuse a water pipe as the subpanel ground rather than running a wire.  You don't want to flow current on pipes, unless you're really into galvanic corrosion and replacing pipes a lot.

The solution in any of these "3-wire" scenarios is to run a separate ground wire, and recent Code changes allow you to run just a ground wire.  The ground rod doesn't hurt, it's just no replacement for a ground wire.  The rod and wire do different jobs, and one can't do the other's.

Fixing the ground faults

Every device is supposed to take power from "hot" and return it all to "neutral". When devices have insulation problems internally, they may start leaking power to other places they should not.  This would "electrify their metal chassis" and hurt people or start fires, if it was not for grounding.  This is why grounding exists.

I disagree with my colleague regarding the source of ground faults in fluorescents and other HID lighting.  Fluorescent lighting is commonly used in basement, garage and other utility space, all of which are protected by GFCI in a modern home.  It would be anathema for a modern electronic ballast to have any ground leakage, even 1ma, because with 10 fixtures, that would be 10ma, which exceeds the trip threshold of a GFCI.  I argue electronic ballasts are the solution, not the problem.  However, cruddy old magnetic ballasts (the heavy kind full of transformer windings and drippy tar - don't try to salvage one unless you really like tar) - those are highly prone to ground faults, in my experience.

You can switch to direct-wire LED "tubes" if you like, however I am not impressed with the build quality of the cheaper ones.  I am very impressed, however, with the quality and price of modern fluorescent ballasts and the latest tubes from mainline manufacturers.  As such, I am sticking to real fluorescent for now.  Get any respectable brand of electronic ballast that matches your light's wiring, then get nice 90 CRI tubes that match your ballast.  You will not believe how nice things look in that light.


Connection issue for dual LED utility light I have a 3700 Lumen 4000K Dual 4ft LED Utility Light mounted on upper side of a wall. It has a 5ft wire attached to it. The outlet is around 10 ft away, so I used an extension cord to complete the setup. But now I found out that this is not the right way to do it. I don't use this light often so for now I have just removed it. But I want to fix the setup.

Can I use a power strip instead of extension wire? Will that be ok? I can mount the power strip on the wall where the wire for the light reaches.
2nd options is to re-wire from the light itself. Remove the original wire and add a complete new 10 ft wire. The issue is that in the light the wires are soldered to the circuit and I am not sure what is the wire gauge. It looks like 18 but how can I be sure? Where can I get the replacement wire with a plug attached?
Are there any other options to fix this situation? I am just an amateur trying to fix this. Can't run additional lines or install new outlets in wall like I read in some other posts. :)

Power strip vs extension cord make no difference.  They are the same thing.  Generally you are not allowed to use flexible cords as a substitute for the fixed wiring of a structure.

However, NEC 400.7 specifically allows the use of flexible cords for luminaires.  The minimum permissible wire gauge in such a lamp cord would be 16 AWG.

I don't know if this exception extends to extension cords.  I suspect it does not.

There is no problem using a longer cord.  There's no maximum cord length in the NEC.  However you must install it properly with good strain reliefs.  If you don't know where to find a longer cord, go to Target in the extension cord section and do not leave the section until inspiration strikes!

Check the writing on the cordage to determine its size and type, and make sure this is a type legal for use as cordage.  Most likely it will be.

I would not recommend soldering it to a board.  If there is a metal-enclosed place on the lamp which is suitable, I would leave several inches of the old cord, and use wire-nuts to splice the old cable to the new.  Mind polarization: the edge of the cord will have ribs or a stripe, which goes to the wider blade on the cord, aka neutral.  Polarize the new cord the same way.  This splice must happen inside a metal-enclosed part of the lamp, and it cannot interfere with the strain relief protecting the cord from damage.  Without a ground wire, it's especially important you don't cut open a wire or short it to chassis.


What is this four-outlet ungrounded receptacle called? I found this receptacle installed and connected in an old work box with a regular receptacle plate in a U.S. house built in the early 1950s.  It accepts up to four ungrounded, unpolarized plugs!

Does anyone know what these were called, and when and why they went out of production?

Ed didn't really seem to answer your question, other than the 'why' so I did some digging and found this a page that references the polarized version of the socket (see #5).

According to the page it is called:

  4-plug socket

And

  dates back to mid 1950s

Because the version in your picture probably when out of production just before the one linked (polarized one) came into production we can assume this is the end date of your particular yoke.

However, as Ed said, the last of the "4-plug socket" style yokes likely went out of production when the 3 prong grounding requirements came in.

As a side note: I've had experience trying to plug things into the Monolite Quintet socket, and found that even though it was designed for polarized plugs, one generally cannot plug two polarized plugs in next together at such a close proximity due to the fairly common skirt on the polarized plug.  The "4-plug socket" seems to have similar spacing.


How can I temporarily repair a lengthwise crack in an ABS drain pipe? I have a 3" diameter by 4 ft long, vertical ABS sewer drain pipe (unpressurized), in my wall that has a crack running lengthwise for around two feet and slowly getting longer.  I've called a plumber to replace it, but he won't be able to do so for 2 weeks.
Since this pipe drains the kitchen sink and the dishwasher, in the meantime it's dripping a lot.  I'd like to put a temporary fix in place to reduce the dripping until the plumber comes.
The two main things I can see to use are silicone wrap tape (around the pipe), or epoxy putty (in the crack).  Which would you use, and why?  Or would you use something else entirely?
Photo of the dripping section of black ABS pipe below.  I believe that a much larger section of pipe will need replacement to make it leak-free, which is why I'm having a professional do the permanent fix.  Yes, the pipe there does look like an amateur install; I suspect it was.

Tape it.
You are not proposing this kludge as a permanent fix. That's good.
The wrap-tape products are good for an emergency bodge, and that's what you are proposing, on a temporary basis. The problem with them is when they manage to stop the leak and then folks decide not to call the plumber (or do the plumbing themselves, whichever) after all.
I would also add a few stainless-steel band clamps, since the pipe is splitting, and that's a bit much to ask tape to hold. Put them over the tape.


What's the name of type of AC Circuit where you can remove an element? There are different type of circuits, such as parallel and series.

I'm wondering the name / type of the [AC] circuit where there are n number of circuit elements and even if one element is removed (with n-1) remaining, the current still flows?

Eg,

I have 4 light sockets wired together and it is connected to the mains via single plug.

What type of circuit is necessary so that things work not just when 4 lamps are attached but 3, 2, or even 1 is fine?

A parallel circuit is what you're referring to. In a series circuit, if one connection is broken, the entire circuit is broken.


How can I find the first receptacle in a circuit? I know how to wire a GFCI receptacle and all the things to go with it in doing so. But what I do not know is the following.

I understand the GFCI receptacle should be first in line to protect the load side going to other standard receptacles, but lets say you have 5 receptacles on a line in a room that has 2 on 1 wall a 1 on each other wall. How or what is the best way to find the first receptacle in line, so the others can be protected. Am I over thinking this? Is there a simple answer? Or do I have to take each outlet off, unwire each to find the firstvin line from the breaker?

Had a couple receptacles go bad, and have decided to replace all of them (30 total in my house and garage). Also want to install GFCIs in the circuits, just want to make sure I get them in line correctly.

There is no magic method. You disconnect an outlet and see which ones are still live, if any. You don't have to disconnect any that went dead when you did one of the others. When they are all dead, you have the most upstream outlet on this circuit in this room. If the circuit feeds multiple rooms, the problem becomes larger, but not different.

Be aware of - keep an eye out for outlets with different circuits top and bottom (generally switched one half for room lamps) they can be tricky to figure out if you don't look for them.

Another approach (NOT my favorite) would be to use GFCI breakers instead. Automatically most upstream, but also more expensive and needs to be for your particular breaker panel, rather than the generic GFCI you can put first in line and replace with another generic GFCI when it fails (they do fail.)


How thick should a french cleat be? I want to use a french cleat to hang some basic open cabinets in my garage. I've seen recommendations anywhere from 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick, but nobody seems to be talking about weight.

Is there a guideline for how thick the french cleat should be based on weight requirements?

I don't believe the thickness of the cleat is as critical as the type of wall anchor being used.  The cleat holds the cabinet in place, but it's the anchors which are really bearing the weight.  I would make my decision based on the type of wall material holding the cabinet and use an anchor rated for the expected weight of the cabinet for that particular wall material.  If you have a regular drywall and wooden stud construction, I would probably use the screws used to hang kitchen cabinets as they are designed to carry a pretty heavy load.  You could have a 1.5 inch cleat with an inadequate anchor and the cabinets will pull it right out of the wall.


Caulking/Sealant for Conduit Pipe on Roof? I had a contractor come by my house recently to do AC maintenance for the unit located on my roof. While up there, he mentioned that the conduit pipes that carry the electrical wires were not rated for exterior use and could create problems at the joints. A solution he proposed was to take some silicone caulking and just cover the joints to help prevent water from getting into the pipe.

Does it matter what type of caulking I get, should I just look for a product that is 100% silicon and call it a day, or is there another type of sealant that I should look for?

I would prefer not to have to replace the conduit piping since there is a lot up there (there are 5 other units in my building) and prefer a DIY solution that will help mitigate any problems until ALL of the conduit on the roof can be replaced.

Here are pictures of the joints I am talking about: http://imgur.com/a/xYhhR

From the Steel Tube Institute (an institute comprised of various steel conduit manufacturers):

  Question: Can EMT be used on roof-tops?

  Answer: There is no prohibition in the NEC. In some installations,
  there may be a concern about physical damage or corrosion protection.
  This is often a judgment call by the authority having jurisdiction.
  The NEC does not allow EMT to be used where, “during installation or
  afterward, it will be subject to severe physical damage.” The NEC also
  requires the EMT to be “securely fastened in place” and provides
  requirements for supports. The AHJ may determine more supports are
  necessary. If the AHJ approves the installation with EMT,
  consideration should be given to compliance with NEC 110.12, 300.6,
  300.7(A) & (B), 358.10 and 358.30.

So, if your conduit was installed with fittings designed for a "wet location" (it looks like those are, but confirm) and it is properly supported, and provisions for expansion were provided (if required), then you should be OK. Most importantly, if the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) approved the installation, then you are fine.

In the end, it would not hurt to apply silicone. Use 100% silicone and clean the area(s) first so it sticks.


Is my range hood re-circulation or extraction? Above our cooker/range/hobs there is a range hood.
How can I tell whether it is extraction (I.E. it takes the air outside)
Or
re-circulation (I.E. It cleans it but sends it back into the kitchen)?
The wall you can see behind the hood is an interior wall, if relevant.

If it's a recirculator there will be vents on the front of the unit, and when it is running you will feel air coming out of those.
If it's an extractor there will be a pipe between 3 and 6 inches in diameter (wide) coming out of it.   Typically you will see this in the cabinet above the extractor, if you have a cabinet there but sometimes it can go to the side or can be hidden behind a decorative cover.   The pipe will go through an outside wall where you will see a small grate or hood.  If it's not too high you will feel and maybe hear air coming out of that when the extractor is on.  There may be similar grates or hoods on the outside wall for your clothes dryer, bathroom fans, and water heater you need to be sure which one you're looking at.   Note, if the extractor is against an outside wall there may be no pipe inside, so the only clues would be the outside vent and the absence of a vent on the front of the unit blowing air when it's on.


What's a clean and code-compliant way to terminate Cat6 cables at a wall, where a rack mount patch panel will be in front of it? This is new construction for a home, and I'm installing about 65 Cat 6e home runs from various points in the house to a location on the wall where a freestanding floor rack will go at the time of occupancy. The floor rack will have a patch panel, network switch(es), the router and a home server.

Since this is new construction, the work will need to pass the electrical inspection and final inspection before the equipment rack can be installed since the rack is considered "occupancy".

I'm aware that there are 12 port plats for 2 gang mud rings that can be used with QuickPort connectors, but I would probably need about 6 of these installed in the wall to accommodate all of the cables.

The other concern is that because these riser cables are fragile (they are meant for use in the wall) I would rather not have them just come out of the wall and connect at the rack's patch panel, since they would then be exposed to possible damage. It might also not be permitted by code to have a hole in the wall with a bunch of cables hanging out, even if they are low voltage.

So the question is, what is an appropriate device/box/etc to terminate the cat6 cables where they come through the drywall, that can accommodate a large number of cables, and make it easy to connect them to the rack mounted patch bay, without the risk of damage to exposed cables, or violating any codes?

Riser cables are not "fragile", for one thing. 65 of them in a bundle are not even remotely fragile, as a unit, unless "hack with an axe" is your fragility standard. Rack patch panels (punchdown style) are specifically intended to terminate riser (or plenum) type solid cables without the need to put a plug onto the cable (where repeated use might flex the wires too much and break them; though this is unlikely to be an issue in the average house.)

Low voltage cables can have all sorts of things that look like "violations" if you were to do that with power wiring, and are not in low voltage.

You can simply have a low voltage cable passthough, (a pretty hole in the wall) leave the cables hanging until the rack shows up, and terminate them into a rackmount patch panel designed for the purpose. This passes code & inspections for commercial occupancies, which are generally somewhat harsher than residential.

You could also run them into a "between the studs" "structured wiring" box that had patch panel ports on the door, which seems to be the way you are thinking, but I'm not finding that as a common option so I think you'd be modifying the door for that purpose yourself. Most "media wiring boxes" appear to be oriented towards hiding it all - I suppose you could use one of those and have the door open all the time once the rack is in place.

You will probably have to get 72 ports worth of patch to (efficiently) terminate 65 cables, as 12 & 24 are the usual units for patchbays.

Resist the urge to cut everything as short as possible - well-designed cable installations will have a deliberate loop hung on the wall (or sometimes in the wall) to allow for "moves, adds and changes."


How do I seal a cracked pipe using epoxy putty? So, I have a broken pipe exactly on the L join on the wall. It's a huge crack but no big gap, just a curved crack along the pipe.

At first I thought of replacing the pipe, but it means that I have to take out the tiles and probably destroying the wall which must cost me a lot.

I've covered the crack using Marine/Plastic Epoxy Putty and it works kind of well, except that the wall part is still blasting out water everywhere when I turn the water supply back on. I tried reapplying more epoxy on the leaking area, but it doesn't seem to stick on the ceramic tiles.

So, what are my options now?

That stuff is worthless for any water line that is pressurized.  IF the crack does not extend into the tile and wall, one way to patch it would have been a glue-over clamshell repair kit like this:

However, you should try to figure out why the pipe is split. This is unlikely, because you generally only see it in slab floors, but if the wall is concrete and was poured around the pipe, that split could easily be from stress if the pipe wasn't wrapped with foam or rubber.


How do I seal the sink basin opening? I purchased a new bathroom sink and faucet and set everything up according to instructions. The faucet instructions told me to use silicone for the drain lip (the border thing around the stopper in the bottom of the inside of the sink, flange?).
Anyways, underneath where the pipe comes out is a rubber gasket and I've used the plastic screw on the drain pipe to seal the gasket against the underside of the sink, but when I put a little bit of water in it, some water leaks out from between the gasket and the sink. I've tried tightening it as much as I can and it still leaks.
Should I be putting silicone or plumbers putty between the gasket and the sink?  If possible, I'd like to avoid taking the drain lip off because I've already sealed it there. What should I do?
Here is a picture of the underside of the sink:

UPDATE: It turns out (haha) that the problem was that the rubber "washer" was actually threaded itself. I'm not sure if they are always like this, but I didn't realize that it was threaded when I was assembling everything. So I assume that what was happening originally is that when I didn't have the rubber washer close enough to the basin when I started tightening the nut (blue) that it was moving the the threads out of alignment or something and not making a good seal. Once I turned the washer a few turns upwards, then tightened the blue nut, it made a proper seal. All without using a bunch of puttey or silicone.
UPDATE2: So it has been 10 months and it hasn't leaked. Problem solved.
UPDATE3: It's been 8 years and it hasn't leaked.

It should not be necessary to try to goop some type of sealer around the lower neck of the sink drain. Such solution may work but it is not the desirable approach when you consider that someday this assembly will need to come apart for repairs.

In looking at the assembly that you have I wonder if one or more things are at play here.

1) If the drain pipe tail was not centered in the neck of the sink drain and then had lateral force on it due to the down stream goose neck trap it could be forcing the gasket open on one side. Check that there is no undue large amount of sideways pressure on the lower part of this pipe assembly.

2) It looks like the gasket directly contacts with the face of the capture nut around the drain pipe. It is possible that by tightening the capture nut that it is putting a twisting force on the gasket that may cause it to "fold away" from the sealing edge of the sink neck.

3) It is possible that there could be a small crack or pitted area on the sink neck that keeps the rubber gasket from engaging 100% with the sink neck.

4) Sometimes the "rubber" used in this type gasket is made of a plastic material that is anything but rubber. Check at the local hardware store to see if they have another gasket that is more pliable. In some cases a silicon material may be better.


Old home 100 amp main panel upgrade I have a home built in the 50's with a 100 amp main panel.  I will be building a workshop in the back that will need at least a 60 amp sub panel but I was thinking of just going to a 100 amp subpanel.  Now the question is, Can I install a new 200 amp main with upgraded service entry from the power company next to my 100 amp main?  Had an electrican come buy to quote me on just upgrading original 100 amp to 200 amp but he does not want to mess with the old wiring and certain other items that are not up to code today.  So to summarize all this up, I would have a whole new 200 amp panel with new service entry, meter, weather head etc. Feeding my 100 amp panel for the house and 100 amp panel for the shop.

Count the amps on the breaker handles in your existing panel.   If you're extra skilled, figure out which pole they are on also.  You'll find you have well in excess of 100A of breakers on each pole, and well over 200A of breaker handles.  Already.
This kind of oversubscription is allowed because not everything will be going full-blast at once.
As such you can have the existing 100A panel plus another 100A panel at the house, plus a 100A panel in the shop.
You can have a new 200A main panel in the house that feeds the existing 100A panel as a subpanel, and a 100A panel in the garage also.
The way you avoid overloading that is called a "Load Calculation" which takes into account general house loads on average (3 VA/watts per square foot of house), certain circuits (e.g. 1500W per kitchen general recep circuit), and certain large appliances (either their actual nameplate or a stock formula e.g. for ranges).  A garage subpanel doesn't go into the load calculation by its breaker trip, but rather, by which tool(s) you're likely to use simultaneously with the other loads.   If your house is legal for a 100A load calculation right now, adding a "60A" panel in the garage isn't going to make you over-top a 200A service.
While you're doing the upgrades, consider a "Meter-Main" which is a combination meter and main breaker.  That will be Code when NEC 2020 is adopted in your state.  However it also provides ease of maintenance later.
They also make "Farm panels" which combine a meter-main with a miniature 8-space panel, to allow you to tap the 200A service to feed various subpanels and very large loads, while still sending the full 200A onward to a 200A subpanel. . So for instance the farm panel might have a 100A breaker to feed an existing panel, another 100A breaker to feed a shop, and the straight-thru feed goes to feed a 200A subpanel for large or future loads.
Again, the amp rating of the subpanels is irrelevant, what matters is whether the service size is sufficient for the loads to be served based on the Load Calculation.


It it safe to have a 15 amp GFCI outlet on a 50 amp GFCI breaker? My friend just got rid of her hot tub. The person that took it put an outlet where the tub was. He put in a 15 amp GFCI at the outlet but left the 50 amp GFCI breaker in the panel box.

Is this sufficient or trouble waiting to happen?

This is trouble, but easily solved.  Simply swap out the 50 ampere GFCI breaker, for a 15 ampere GFCI breaker.

You'll possibly have to use pigtails to connect to the breaker, as it may not accept the size wire used for the existing circuit.

As "subpanels" seem to be quite popular around here, I'm surprised it hasn't been suggested yet.  You could always install a second panel where the tub used to be, then install a 15 or 20 ampere breaker to feed the receptacle.


What are these connectors on UK plug socket internal wiring? My friend is renovating an old house in the UK.  I was interested to notice that all of the (removed) mains sockets had these plastic terminals on the ends of the wiring coming out of the wall.  I've never seen these before - I would have expected bare wires, to attach to screw terminals on the socket fixtures.

I understand that the wiring is pre-2004 standard, with red live and black neutral.

What are these plastic connectors for?  Are they intended to plug in to some particular design of socket fixture?  To fit to a normal screw terminal socket, would these just be removed?

These are a type of splice that in your case was a safe way to terminate the wire in the bottom photo. In my area they are referred by there brand name Wago. I only use these types of splices or connectors in fluorescent fixtures but they are or can be used as they are a listed connector. Some contractors use them because they are quick to install and take up very little room in the box. I have had to replace many outlets and switches that have this same kind of connection called back stabs so I usually cut them off. If your wire is on the short side they can be crushed to release & save the wire.