Computer Monitor vibrates rapidly, electrical equipment stabilizer I bought a Computer Dell Monitor E2020. The monitor seems to shake a lot, a simple tap, or small shake will cause it vibrates greatly. It vibrates more side to side like a pendulum when typing. I know its not the desk, since we got multiple new ones and, and tested other monitors. How can we resolve this issue? Are there any weights/material we can paste to electrical equipment to make it more stable? Holding it down, seems to alleviate the issue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=089hYDWwjlA
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-20-monitor-e2020h/apd/210-aunb/monitors-monitor-accessories

It really depends on what exactly is vibrating.
If the base is not manufactured precisely and isn't sitting flat on the desk, you could get some rubber mat of some sort to pad where it sits. Of course, most monitor stands are designed with rubber feet to serve this exact purpose, so if you think it's the base rattling against the desk, check to make sure no foot has fallen off.
From your description, it sounds though like you are actually seeing physical movement of the monitor from vibrations. This can also be caused by a poorly-manufactured base, or the monitor support itself might be poorly made, such that it's not rigid enough, or has too much play in its mechanism. A good monitor stand is made from thick enough material, and if its height can be adjusted, the adjusting mechanism is designed so that the parts remain in contact at all times throughout the range of adjustment.

Are there any weights/material we can paste to electrical equipment to make it more stable?

There is a small chance that it's just an unlucky combination of the monitor's weight and position, and the monitor's own degree of rigidity and height. You could try using some mass loaded vinyl (typically sold for sound damping purposes), to change the weight of the monitor so that it doesn't resonate so easily with whatever vibration is causing the problem.
All that said, I wouldn't put too much effort into the issue. There are plenty of monitors with stands on the market that don't wiggle around at the slightest provocation. The most reliable solution is to just return these monitors and purchase ones that are better built.
If you really can't stand to give up the monitor, due to technical specs or whatever, that particular monitor (like most these days) has a VESA-compatible mounting interface, so you can just purchase a different monitor stand or mount, one that works better than the one that came with the monitor.


Do I need to do anything other than wire grommets to protect electrical wiring in a 2 1/2 inch steel stud? I'm used to making sure electrical wire is setback 1 1/4 inch from the face of a wood stud, but what are the requirements (US NEC) for 2 1/2 inch steel studs? They appear to come punched out for wires or plumbing, but wouldn't provide enough setback to protect the wiring. The steel stud is designed for a screw to go through it. Are there thicker steel protection plates designed for steels studs, or would that even be necessary?

The NEC language for metal studs is different, it doesn't actually say 1.25", but enforced much the same.

300.4(B) Nonmetallic-Sheathed   Cables  and Electrical  Nonmetallic Tubing  Through Metal   Framing
Members.
(1)  Nonmetallic-Sheathed    Cable. In both    exposed and concealed   locations   where  nonmetallic-sheathed cables  pass    through either  factory-
or    field-punched,  cut,    or
drilled   slots   or  holes   in  metal   members,    the cable   shall   be  protected   by  listed  bushings
or    listed  grommets    covering    all metal   edges   that    are securely    fastened    in  the opening
prior to  installation    of  the cable.
(2) Nonmetallic-Sheathed    Cable   and Electrical  Nonmetallic Tubing.
Where nails   or screws   are likely  to  penetrate   nonmetallic-sheathed    cable   or  electrical  nonmetallic tubing, a   steel   sleeve, steel   plate,  or  steel   clip    not less    than    1.6 mm  (1∕16   in.)
in thickness  shall   be  used    to  protect the cable   or  tubing. Exception:
A listed  and marked  steel   plate   less    than    1.6 mm  (1∕16   in.)    thick   that    provides    equal
or    better  protection  against nail    or  screw   penetration shall   be  permitted.

Sometimes you can drill an extra 1/4" hole to use a zip-tie to pull the cable against one edge to require just one plate or zip-tie toward concrete wall if stud if stud is just furring.
The wording of the previous paragraph that covers wood leaves no wiggle room to not use nail plates on edges not likely to get nailed or screwed to like double walls or furring.


Install outlet above fire place in 70's era stone wall I'd like to install an outlet above my wood burning fireplace so that I can mount a tv.  Problem is the entire wall is a 70's era stone wall.  I thought I had a slick solution.  There is a smaller rock (circled in red) that I could remove and put an outlet in its place.  From what I could tell looking up the vent above the fireplace (circled in blue) there seems to be a 2x4 wall and insulation between the chimney and rock wall.  So I figured as long as I have the romex between the insulation and rock wall it should be fine.
Problem is I finally chiseled out the rock and was not prepared for what I found.  It was rock, like 3 inches of mortar, wire mesh, then drywall which was all expected.  Directly behind the drywall is a metal plate or something.  I dont know how thick it is.  It doesn't seem like it is the chimney.  My question is is it ok to drill through it to run the electrical?  What is it for?  I suspect it might be some kind of radiant barrier, but like I said it seems like there is insulation between the rock wall and the chimney so it seems odd a radiant barrier would be between insulation and drywall.  If I do drill through it and dont like what I find is there a way to patch that hole?

To me that looks like the exterior wall.
Notice the expanded metal and the stucco pressed through.
I don’t think that I would be drilling through that. Have someone go outside and you tap on the wall I bet they can find the spot proving it is the exterior. That is some what unusual but I would at least check that before going further.


How to convert 2 3-way switches to one single pole switch with dimmer? In the past I've purchased Kasa's smart switches (HS200). I have two wired right now, and working properly. These were single pole switched that replaced single pole switches. So, pretty straight forward.

I now have a new Kasa single pole smart switch (HS220) with a dimmer. I want to install it in my bedroom, but not sure how to wire it.

The current setup:

4 PHILIPS flood bulbs 39w/120v controlled by 2 switches
2 PHILIPS flood bulbs 39w/120v controlled by another 2 switches

Plus I have a ceiling fan on it's own switch, which I don't think it will matter.

I would like to end up with only 1 switch that controls all 6 bulbs instead of 4 switches controlling separate sets of bulbs.

So what will the wiring look like?

I also read that I need to make sure that the new Kasa Switch with Dimmer can handle all bulbs. The Kasa switch is rated 300W for incandescent light bulbs. How can I calculate the necessary wattage? Is it as simple as 6 (bulbs) * 39w?

UPDATE:

So after much reading... here's what i've done so far:

On one wall:

I removed both switches (won't need them at all).
For each switch I connected the hot wire to one of the traveler wires and capped the second traveler wire. I also bought ground wire clips to clip it to the metal box.

I turned the power back on and the remainder 2 switches on the other wall were still functioning properly.

Now I need to convert those 2 remainder switches in to one single pole switch. From what I've read I only need to use one hot wire, but need to pigtail the traveler. I am not 100% sure though. So I took a picture hoping someone can help me out.

On each side there are: 1 hot (black with white tag), 2 travelers (one black one red), set of neutral (white with nut), 1 ground

After much reading, and much trial and error... mostly error. I ended up using this service -> justanswer.com

They connected me to a electrician. I sent him a couple of picture and in return he gave me the following pictures with instructions. I am in no way trying to promote this service, but the instructions provided solved my issue.


Can someone explain this old switch wiring? I wanted to replace a light switch in my 70s built house with a motion sensor. The motion sensor has 4 wires: two black one green and a ground. When I unhooked the old switch I found it was connected to two wires. The top was straight forwarded but the bottom is a continuous wire looped around the screw.

I tried to connect a black to the cut wire and everything else to the continuous wire.
The lights came on when I flipped the breaker but the switch didn’t work, ie. Wouldn’t turn off.

I figured I should understand what’s happening before any more experimentation.
The local hardware guys were stumped. They just said the older house around here have some very janky electric!

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks all for the info.

Yes it appears the the continuous wire connects all three switches.
Photos below.

Unfortunately the instructions are pretty useless, it just says connect the two blacks to two blacks from the wall, and the green and ground to ground wire from the wall.
Also photo'd below.

It's a Lutron and does appear to be a UL device, at least it has the logo on the box.

@phil-g thanks much. I dont know anything about electric.
Would you say to connect the blacks to the two grey wires (the cut and continuous) and try to attach the green and ground to say, the metal box? Or is there an identifiable ground wire?

Thanks again!

The looped through wire will be the live feed, and it continues on to power another circuit, probably the other switch.

Motion sensors usually require power of their own to function, and in newer installations there'd be a neutral available to provide that circuit - as there appears to be in your box. Check the instructions that came with the sensor as to the wiring but this looks like most of the dimmers and sensors, the green wire provides the circuit by connecting to the ground along with the bare wire. Not exactly per code, but that's how they've been sold for years.


Desuperheater vs Heat Pump Water Heater I'm having a geothermal heating system installed in my home, and the contractor recommended heating my water using a buffer tank and desuperheater, which is a device that cools the refrigerant lines of the heat pump (when the heat pump is in heating mode) and uses the heat it captures for heating the drinking water in the buffer tank.

However, when the heat pump is in heating mode, the exiting refrigerant line is actually colder, not hotter, than when it enters. As a result, you cannot heat water during the winter.

I recently became aware of water-sourced heat pump water heaters, which basically act just like the heat pump for the home, except their only job is to heat a water tank. This seems to make a lot of sense for a house, however, because you could use the same geothermal water loop in the summer or winter to heat water; I would lose the "free" water during the summer and would have to pay for running the heat pump, but during the winter the price of hot water would remain the same low amount, instead of rising due to the need for full-time use of an electric or gas hot water heater.

Am I missing something important, or is there some reason why the internet and contractors seem to only suggest the desuperheater approach?

I've been looking into a heat pump replacement.
You said "However, when the heat pump is in heating mode, the exiting refrigerant line is actually colder, not hotter, than when it enters. As a result, you cannot heat water during the winter."

That will depend on the location of the internal connections.  The HP models I have seen with a desuperheater ( hot water generator ) place the HWG after the compressor before the reversing valve.  That means the pump always runs forward, the HWG always has hot refrigerant to use and it works in summer and in winter.  The reversing valve does just that - in summer it sends the leftover heat to the outside and extracts heat (cools) the inside.  In winter it sends the heat to the inside and extracts heat from the outside.


Two bulb fixture with 2 ballasts I have two T12 Rapid Start ballasts for a two light fixture. I need to change out one ballast because of one ballast was bad. I bought a 1 or 2 bulb ballast and have wired up the bulb different ways but cannot get the second bulb to come on entirely. I have capped off my yellow wires and have used the blue and red wires to wire up the tombstones on my bulb. The bulb lights (barely) and flickers. Any advice on how to get this wired up correctly? The old ballast that was used before is no longer made. So, I crossed it to one that Grainger had said that I could use. Hmmm.

I'm a bit alarmed when I hear you say "capped off my yellow wires".  A few ballasts do give that instruction, but not for 2-bulb use.  I fear you might be matching up wire colors and not following the schematic on the ballast.   Thing is, if the old ballast was instant-start, that will totally backfire. As you can see in these typical schematics, red and blue do quite different things on the two types of ballast.  (ignore the LED one).

These schematics are not universal, only common.  Yours is on the label on the ballast.

When converting instant-start to rapid-start, the other issue is shorting .  The instant-starts only connect 1 wire to each end of the bulb, but it goes to both pins.  This is almost always accomplished with a shorting lampholder (tombstone), which accepts one wire and connects it to both pins.

A shorting lampholder will have 2 holes for wires, but that's for daisy-chaining (as in the red wire above), not for 2 separate wires.  A non-shorting lampholder intended for rapid-start ballasts will have 4 wire holes, 2 for each pin.  The extras are for daisy-chaining, as in the yellow below.

Unless there's a visible wire to remove, there is no way to turn a shorting lampholder into a non-shorting one. You just need to buy replacements.  They are fairly standardized, and I buy mine online for about 60 cents a tombstone.  I buy only non-shorting types, it's easy enough to convert one into shorting with a wire.


Water in window well flooding basement The windows in my basement are close to 12 inches tall, not going below ground level. There is a shallow window well made from old 2x4s framing a depression adjacent to the window. We have been getting heavy rain and I noticed that this window well is pooling with water. I am also experiencing regular flooding in the basement close to the same window well which seems it must be connected.

Do I need the window well if the window does not go below ground level? How do I avoid the water pooling in the window well?

I saw a video on YouTube where they put a drain in the bottom of the window well which drained into the sump pump. This is not an option as the sump pump and window well are on opposite sides of the house.

Your window well should already have a drain that ties into the drain tiles around your foundation. This is likely already tied into your sump. Often over time the drains get clogged up and filled with debris.

The solution is to dig out the window well and unclog the drain. You should have about a foot of crushed gravel that stops 6" below the window level so that water does not pool on the surface.

It's also possible the drain has collapsed or been clogged with roots. You would need to first find the drain (dig it out) and then do a video inspection of it to confirm or deny this.


GCFI Outlet Trips with no load or downstream connections I have an outdoor outlet that stopped working (had a light on that showed it was tripped and wouldn't reset).

I bought a new one to replace it and hooked it up, but the new one also trips just after it is reset.

There's nothing plugged in and nothing downstream, so I'm not sure how this is possible.  The hot (black) is receiving power and it clicks in on reset.

Can something upstream cause the outlet to trip?

Update: Here's the problem:

It's dead, Jim

You have kept the tape on the LOAD terminals and nothing is plugged into it. That's a good a test as you can do.

Really the only thing left to do is test whether the power is good.  I would swap in a plain receptacle and plug in an appliance and see if the appliance works.  That will be a more definitive test than you can get from that probe.


Is there an electrical problem if my voltage/metal detector alerts for the whole wall? I'm about to drill some 5mm diameter x 35mm deep holes to support a new curtain rail and when I used a voltage/metal detector to check for cables etc. it gives an alert for the entire surface of the wall. Is this possible and does it mean there may be a problem with the electrics in the flat?

Possible things I have thought of are:

The detector isn't calibrated correctly. I have calibrated according to the instructions
The wall paint is conductive.

What should I do?

If you're using a metal detector maybe your wall is plaster on wire lath, there's such a thing as electric heat elements embedded in walls or maybe steel studding. You need to know what your wall construction is, and do you mean 3.5mm holes for screws?


Grounding my 4 gang metal electrical box I have a 4 gang metal electrical box with a receptacle, a fan switch, a light switch and a timer for a towel warmer.

The honeywell timer does not require to be grounded.

For the receptacle i would loop the ground wire from the "cable from source" around the screw in the box and then connect it to the receptacle.

All other grounds would go to individual screws on the box. (no screw would have more than one ground wire bound to it)

There is not much space in the box and would like to forego using a wire nut(s) if possible.

note: There are 8 screws in total in the 4 gang box.

Can i wire all the grounds to the screws as in the picture below? Would that be code in Canada?

Thanks.

I am not sure but I believe that would be CEC compliant.

Another way to go, a lot of people use crimp sleeves in crowded switch boxes to save a little space.

For this box you might do it like this:

Wrap the receptacle cable's ground wire around a screw
Fold all the ground wires to a point in the opposite corner
Twist all the ground wires together and secure with a crimp ring
Terminate ground wires on switches / receptacle grounds

The picture below is not quite what you're doing since it's a plastic box, but it gives the general idea.  It's from this article at Fine Homebuilding.

Although this might be more ground wire in the box, it will probably fold up better - sometimes ironically with wires too short, it's actually harder to get things folded up nice and compact.


Will this light fixture wiring pass inspection? I helped my grandpa install a light fixture in his kitchen(he's in the process of remodeling) and noticed the wiring was a little weird.  The wiring is going from the fixture to the switch which I thought, and a google search confirmed, is supposed to go like this:

However, this is how the existing fixture was wired and how my grandpa insists I wire the new fixture:

The wiring diagram at the top of this page belongs to do-it-yourself-help.com. The original can be found here: https://www.do-it-yourself-help.com/wiring_switches.html

I'm not good with diagrams, but whats happening is the hot is coming from the breaker box(the neutral too, but it's ignored) going into the fan, and then out of the fan to the switch.  The switch is then sent to neutral on the breaker box.

He's going to be due for an inspection once all the wiring is done and I'm concerned about this.  The guy who did his wiring said he did all rooms like this.  This area is under NEC 2005

What is being created is a "switched neutral," which is not proper and not allowed according to the NEC. It's possible, but highly unusual, to run the hot through the switch instead of the neutral and create a switched hot with a separate neutral path back to the breaker. That would be better than a switched hot, but may still be disallowed by NEC and I would never encourage anyone to wire a fixture that way either. The wiring shown in your first diagram, or wiring that runs the line to the switch first and switches the hot there, are the proper methods to wire a switched light.


What type of bracket to use between furnace and evaporator coil unit? I have a horizontal Goodman furnace and evaporator coil installed, and I want to know what kind of bracket I can use to connect the two.  The installer did a bad job and used tape and mastic to connect the units instead of connecting them with brackets as stated in the installation manual (even states that tape and mastic is improper installation).  There is a half inch gap on one side between the units.  I need to find brackets to attach the two units together.  The install was 8 years ago with my builder, and the brackets are long gone.  The installer only has a 2 year warranty.  Goodman won't sell me brackets unless I'm licensed.  No one seems to sell them online either.
Can I just use galvanized metal straps from the big box store to screw the furnace and evaporator coil together?  This is the evaporator coil https://www.alpinehomeair.com/viewproduct.cfm?productid=453057306. It also includes the manual for the install and a picture of the brackets is in the "View All Photos."

it is normal to have a flex fitting between the furnace and ductwork.
I say normal because that’s how I was taught and what I usually see.
This really reduces ductwork noise.
I use a vinyl coated fabric reenforced material clamped to the duct create a flex bulge and clamp to the furnace.
I would use caution creating a solid connection to the furnace if you have metal trunks think of a base drum that’s what the ductwork may sound like especially on startup and stop as the fan motor spins up and down there is usually a speed where it is out of balance and the noise can be irritating.
You can use metal straps to connect them but I would recommend a flexable one. (Not tape) use caution where you use screws make sure you won’t go through and hit wires, refrigerant lines, exhaust. You get the idea use caution if you strap.


How to install timer on 3-gang switch I am a newbie to tackling electrical projects and need some help.  Thanks in advance!

I am trying to install a Defiant digital timer for my garage flood light.  The garage light switch is just inside my front door.  It is a controlled by the leftmost switch in a 3-gang switch.

Is my proposed plan for wiring the timer okay?  Here it is:

Tie the ground from the new timer into the red wire nut that holds the existing set of bare copper wires.
Tie the white neutral from the timer into the red wire nut that holds the existing set of white neutral wires.
Tie the blue load wire from the new timer into the red wire nut that goes to the garage light.
Tie the black line wire from the new timer into the red wire nut that goes to the circuit breaker.
Tie the existing black load wire for switch 2 into the red wire nut that holds the existing goes to the circuit breaker.  Formerly, it was connected to switch 1.

Please note that I could not do line hops with my diagram tool.  All wires are connected end-to-end at lines, switches, wire-nuts or to the load.

Alright, a note on your diagrams -- line and load are purely electrical designations that have no relevance to the mechanical placement of cables in the box.  That said, your box is wired as follows:

"Line 3" is likely the actual circuit coming into the box
"Load" is carrying unswitched power out on both wires (black and red) for some odd reason
"Line 1" goes off to the garage flood light
"Line 2" goes off to the porch light
"Line 4" goes off to the foyer light

Given this, we can determine that your existing plan for installing the timer is incorrect -- the timer's blue load wire needs to go to the black wire coming out of Line 1, while the timer's black line wire needs to go to the junction that feeds all the switches.


How to determine if my heating & cooling system is adequate for my home? Is there some kind of calculation I can follow to determine if the heating and cooling system in my home is rated (adequate) for the size of the house?

I assume there is some way to say something like “for X square feet per floor you need Y kind of system” for heating and cooling.

I recently bought a house (basement + 2 floors - ~1020 square feet per floor excluding garage) and I have the following system:

Rheem heat-pump (Model - RPLB-030JAZ) which is rated as 30,000 BTU/HR (8.79 kW)
Amana 15 kW Electric Furnace (Model – MBR1600AA-1AA)

So, trying to determine if this system is sufficient (or not)…

Thanks,

There are a couple of ways.

Are you comfortable when it's really hot or cold outside? If so, then it's sufficient.
Do a Manual J heat load calculation. You can do a crude approximation of this yourself using http://www.loadcalc.net/
Use "rules of thumb." These rules depend heavily on your area and become less accurate the better or worse your house's thermal envelope is.

You have a roughly 3,000 square foot house, assuming the basement isn't insulated/sealed off from the first floor. And you have a 30,000 BTU heat pump. That means the primary HVAC system can provide 10 BTUs per square foot. If you house is average to below-average construction in terms of insulation and air-tightness, this would most likely be insufficient in Minnesota, Maine, or Montana. But it would be probably be fine in California, Florida, or Georgia. In the middle third of the country, it might be okay, might not be. Might depend on how cold it got.

The fact that you have a (relatively) low BTU central ducted heat pump coupled with an electric furnace tells me that you live in a cold climate, and that the people who installed this system suspected that the heat pump would occasionally not keep up during cold snaps, and added the electric furnace for back-up. It woulda been a heck of a lot cheaper to simply calculate the load correctly and install a right-sized heat pump in the first place...

Another thing to consider is that a lot of older heat pumps don't work very well below certain temperatures. So if it gets to be -10 outside, the heat pump might be incapable of producing any heat. Newer better Japanese heat pumps can manage this without electric, gas, or wood backup heat, but most older American ones can't. So if it gets really cold, you might be forced to rely on the electric furnace, which will cost you big bucks to run.

I would highly suggest you improve your house's insulation and air sealing. After all of that, you might discover that your heat pump works just fine to heat and cool the house.


Deck Gate design for offset posts I’m trying to build a deck gate at top of stairs.  Problem is I have to offset 6x6 posts.
What should I do, Should I just add another 6x6 post in the nearest post to make it even?

I believe that you are over thinking the need to have the gate be somehow "even". You should just hinge the gate at the post that is on the side nearest the street. Then just simply arrange the gate to swing up against the deck side of the closer post. The diagram below shows how it is done. The typical hinge usage for this type of application is also shown.

As you can see from the above diagram the gate ends up being "even" (parallel) with the deck boards.


Why won't a LED bulb work in a standard light fixture? I have a wall fixture in my Brooklyn apartment's bathroom that is my only source of light. A sticker on the fixture says that it is Max 75W. The other day, the 14W / 60W equivalent CFL that was in it since I moved in burned out and I had to replace it. Since it is my only source of light in the room and it is 2015, I bought a 13W / 75W equivalent LED bulb to go in it, the highest I could find at the local hardware store. No problem, right? A 13W bulb is way lower than 75W.**

The strangest thing is, when I screwed in the new bulb, the light refused to work. When I screwed in a larger CFL, say a 20W / 75W equivalent, it also refused to work. Only when I screwed in another 14W / 60W equivalent CFL did it finally work. All brand new bulbs that work in other sockets around the apartment.

Does anyone know what might be behind this? Should I get an electrician in to check this out, or are some light fixtures just not compatible with LEDs?

** Ref: Can I put a 75 watt equivalent led bulb in a fixture that says 60 watts max?

I found the answer! @diceless set me on the right track in looking at where the foot of the bulb is connecting to the fixture.

Since it was an older fixture (installed in the 80's, I think), the hot contact (Number 1 in this diagram ) was bent down, and it was connecting with the smaller bulb but not the bigger LED bulb.

With the circuit turned off at the breaker I reached in with a wooden tongue depressor and bent it upwards slightly. Then, I made sure to screw the LED bulb in tightly. Flicking the switch it was bright as day!


How to connect 2 lamps to one switch wirelessly I have 2 floor lamps in my living room. Lamp 1 is on a switched outlet. Lamp 2 is across the room. I would like to be able to switch on both lamps at the same time without having to rewire outlets (expensive) or stretch an extension cord (dangerous). So an inline device that would sense power on Lamp1 and switch on Lamp 2.

You must do your shopping for smart home devices.  Specific product recommendations are off-topic on this Stack Exchange (although I did give a specific example in a comment).

What you’re looking for tho is a wall switch that acts as a controller for one lamp, and a plug in module for lamp 2.   You don’t need to sense voltage at all, you just need a smart switch that will turn on another device as well as itself.  In some cases you may or may not need a particular systems hub.  I would also watch out for systems where internet connection is required for the setup to operate correctly.


How do I determine which is my common C wire? I am trying to install a Nest Thermostat and I need some help locating which of the wires would be the common "C" wire. I have traced all the wires going from the thermostat, condensate removal pump, ac compressor, and furnace. Below are some pictures of what I am seeing and working with. I was able to also make a wiring diagram that I know is correct to how my furnace is currently hooked up, but I just can't seem to see which one would be the "C" wire. The only wire coming out from the control board from "C" goes to the compressor. So unless I am wrong, if I follow the path of the electricity, would my potential common wire be the Y?
My thought process.

"C" travels to the compressor on the red wire
Returns from the compressor to "Y1"
Travels to the Condensate Removal Pump from "Y1" on the white wire
Returns from Condensate Removal Pump on the red wire to the Wire Nut connection
Travels from Wire Nut connection on the yellow wire to "Y" on the thermostat.

Doesn't that technically make my Y the 24v common?
I tried testing the thermostat with a voltmeter for 24v by connecting to the red and testing all the wires one by one but they all gave about 26 volts.
What am I doing wrong? I appreciate any help I can get.

Your C wire is indeed the one that's labeled C
While your setup with the condensate pump is a bit more complicated than most, it doesn't change the fundamental way things work.  Your thermostat still puts 24V on Y to call for cooling, which gets passed on by the condensate pump to the Y1 terminal on your control board.  Your AC compressor is connected to that Y1 terminal, so it sees that signal and starts the compressor; we then know that the other wire coming from the AC is a C wire, and lo and behold, it lands on the terminal labeled "C" on the control board.
As to getting a spare wire, you could use an "add-a-wire" gadget of some sort, convert your furnace to single stage operation, or simply run a fatter thermostat cable, the choice is yours.


Does my hot water tank have a bad element? I have an electric hot water tank.  Recently I've been noticing that the supply of hot water has gone down drastically.  It will only be really hot for a couple minutes, warm for another 10 minutes, then cold.  I thought I'd check the temperature settings and when I opened the panels on the tank, I noticed that the inside of the upper panel is nice and clean, but the lower panel is very dirty with some kind of residue or corrosion.  The insulation looks like it's been scorched, and the thermostat and element access are covered with a kind of blackish residue.  This leads me to think that maybe the lower element has failed.

This the upper thermostat and the inside of the panel (fairly clean):

This is the lower thermostat & panel (burned insulation and residue):

The element is probably fried; it can be checked with an ohm meter with power off.
Depending on the wattage of the element it should be ~12-50 ohms as a ball park
A dead short or very high reading is bad.


Ceiling fan wiring help I am removing an old ceiling fan and installing a new ceiling fan. It’s my fault, I didn’t pay close enough attention when I was taking the old one off, but I ended up with two white neutral wires. I have the two black wires one of which is always hot and then the two white neutral wires. My understanding is that one of those is not actually neutral. The black tape on the second wire is mine, it was not there, it’s merely to show me that that wire is bundled with the “hot” black wire. How should this wire into the fan?

I'm going to assume the extra cable, black and white, goes to a switch. If you're sure the white wire that you just put the black tape on is in the same cable as the always hot black wire, then that white wire is your neutral and will hook to the white wire of you fan. Remove the black tape from that wire right now and wrap it on the other white wire that goes to the switch. Connect the white wire that you just put the tape on to the always hot black wire. Now take the remaining black wire from the switch  and hook it to the black wire from the ceiling fan. Connect the ground wire from the fan to the bare copper wire from the cables.


Water under tile shower floor The calking around the shower (where the floor meets the wall) was loose and water has been leaking through it.  In removing the old calking I discovered that there is a build up on water visable.   In fact it's level with the tile.  Is there anyway to remove the water without tearing up the floor, which I can't afford?

Vacuum it out, preferably with a Wet-Dry or Shop Vacuum that has a thin nozzle attachment applied parallel with the seam or a floor sealing Water Pickup attachment applied perpendicular to the seam. To assist this operation you can tape the seam so the vacuum's seal is concentrated. A bag-less vacuum can work just as well, but be careful not to fill it more than 1/3rd & damage the vacuum or electrocute yourself.

If those don't get most of it or neither are available to you then a thin towel or cloth, like bed sheets or clothing can be stuffed into the seam with a putty or butter knife to soak up & wring out until dry or mostly dry. Avoid paper towels as they can easily rip & are a pain to straighten back out repeatedly.

Then, let it air dry. If you need to use the shower then just duct tape the seam to keep water out for one. But for another, to see if the water is coming from somewhere else & the seam is filling up again. If it's unchanged then keep taping & un-taping until it's bone dry.

Finally, actually fill-fill the seam with caulk & force the caulk in with your finger. Don't bother trying to get it perfect the first time, instead come back in a couple of hours & do a second application of caulk to get the caulk flush to both the floor & wall. Then, don't use the shower for at least 6-hours. If you can't wait that long or longer then tape OVER, as in bridge, but don't tape ON the caulk.


Condensation at roof, down outside of furnace/water heater vent. What is happening? I am getting condensation dripping down the outside face of my furnace vent at the roof. I think I know why this is happening I'm just curious how to remedy it.
There is a cast iron exhaust pipe that travels from my basement to above the roof. What you are seeing in picture 1 below is the aluminum sleeve and cap I installed when replacing my roof. The sleeve slides over top of the cast iron pipe, and the cap sits on top of the sleeve. Where the cast iron pipe stops at about the ridge of the roof, the sleeve extends a foot or two above the ridge. What I think is happening is when the steam in the exhaust goes out the top of the cast iron, it still has to travel a few feet to get outside of the sleeve and it is condensating between the top of the cast iron and the top of the sleeve onto the inside face of the sleeve. It is then dripping down to the roof plane, hitting the outside face of the cast iron, and dripping down the face into my house.
Is this what is happening? If so, what is the best remedy?
I considered cutting down the sleeve to be flush with the top of the cast iron.
Thank you in advance for your help.

What is happening, you have diagnosed correctly, in my opinion.

How to fix it, not so well.

The standard projection for chimneys from roofs is "2 feet above any part of the roof within 10 feet", or in this case, 2 feet above the ridge. You need to extend the "actual chimney" to meet this (IMHO) not cut down the sleeve to meet the "too short chimney." The chimney should extend higher than the "sleeve" and have a rain collar to divert any water coming down the chimney outside the sleeve.


How to know if there is damp or mold behind wall? I previously had housing use a product to seal over a damp wall.  How do I know the wall is ok on the inside?

It may also be the case that the damp has dried on the inside so in this case, again, how can I test of the inside of the wall is ok?

Thanks.

The only 'test' the inside of the wall is to actual visually inspect it and to acquire access to do that would require 'damaging' the wall. The wall can be repaired but I'm assuming that you don't want to do that due to your lease and the cost.

There is a way that might be allowed under your lease and is relatively inexpensive and easy to repair. This is the use of an inspection camera which is a device that uses a skinny tube with a camera on the end, much like the doctor uses to look down a patients throat or for a colonoscopy. They can be rented for the day. To use, a small hole is drilled through the wall covering, and that hole might be smaller than the maximum allowed by your lease for general use like hanging pictures and shelves. Even if not, it is small enough that it could be repaired fairly easy though due to the many different types of wall coverings I consider that a different question and answer


Why does only the hot water have low Water Pressure from my 2 handle kitchen faucet? My kitchen faucet is a two handle style with a single delivery spout.  The water pressure for the cold water and for ALL the other water sources in the home work fine.  The water pressure for the hot water in the kitchen has steadily been getting slower and slower. Today it is a VERY small stream.

Your kitchen hot water faucet probably requires replacement (or possibly repair). From your description it sounds like the hot water side has clogged up to the point that it is restricting the water flow. Most likely cause is heavy calcium deposit inside the faucet and/or the hot water piping leading to the kitchen sink.


Are old spade bits worth sharpening? I recently found an incomplete set of dull, rusty spade bits that belonged to my father.  They are likely 40-45 years old.  Are they worth trying to clean up and sharpen or should I just throw them out?  I don't have a grinder so I imagine it would cost more to have them sharpened than to replace them.

I have had mine for quite some time and have sharpened them many times with a hand file.

Just be careful how much you remove on each side and keep the angles consistent for proper cutting. The thin metal of the bits would heat up too much under machine grinding or the angles would not be easy to reproduce, IMO.


How do I remove a small amount of water based concrete sealer from a painted floor? I was using a water based concrete sealer on my painted concrete floors. I did something wrong, and one tiny section didn't dry clear.

My question is, what can I use to remove a small portion without removing the underlying latex paint, so I can give it another shot? I'm assuming since it's water based it wouldn't be too challenging to use some kind of solvent, but I don't want to make things worse.

This is a film sealer, as opposed to a penetrating sealer (bare concrete, grout).  I know of no solvent/stripper that will remove an acrylic finish that won't remove (or damage) a latex undercoat.

I would try a reverse progression of grits, until you get to the paint.  You may need to wait weeks for a hard enough/dry enough sealer surface.  Start at 600 over a sanding block.  Only go rougher if you make no progress (320, 220, 120).  Only sand enough to get TO the paint, then recoat with the sealer.  If you have access to a sprayer, it will make blending the areas easier (to hide lap marks)


How do I install a WiFi thermostat with a Well-McLain steam boiler? I have a Weil-Mclain 150000 BTU steam boiler, and have only 2 wires connected to my thermostat, but would like to add a new Honeywell WiFi thermostat. I have no C wire, no A/C, or any other type of heating system in my home besides a water boiler.

Is it possible to install this thermostat and how?

Yes - but you will need to run a new thermostat wire.  With your setup, the thermostat wire you run will need three conductors.  However, consider installing one with five conductors or more for a few extra dollars - helping to future-proof your wiring.

Old 'two-wire' thermostats worked like a switch.  The house got cold, the thermostat made a connection, 24VAC was sent to the boiler until the warm house broke the connection.

Your new thermostat needs constant 24VAC (that's where the C wire comes in) as supplied by your transformer, and uses the third wire to communicate with the boiler heating relay. Thermostat uses the 24VAC to operate, and when there is a call for heat, it sends a 24VAC signal to the boiler.


Curtains for a non-air-conditioned apartment in the tropics We live in Mumbai - West coast of India, tropics. Summers are from March to July with temperatures reaching early 40 degree Celsius and a lot of humidity. It rains from July to September with temperatures in mid to late 30 degree Celsius. Octobers are hot like summers. November to March the temperatures dip to late 20 degree Celsius.

We live on the sixth floor of an apartment building in an non-air-conditioned house. Ceiling fans provide ventilation. We do not want to have air-conditioning as we believe it's harmful for the environment.

Our bedroom and living room have a 10ft X 4ft East facing window each. Two other rooms have same sized windows facing North and 5ft X 4ft windows facing East.

In the summers, things heat up quite a lot. What type of curtains should we use to make the house as comfortable as possible? Will it help if we plant vines in pots and let them crawl up the window grills? Also, should we use the same curtains during winters?

I grew up in the 1940s and 1950s in hot, humid south Louisiana and hot, less humid Dallas, Texas. We had no a/c in Louisiana and starting in about 1954 in Dallas we had window units in some rooms, but not in the bedroom I shared with my brother. In 1960 we moved to a new house in Dallas, Texas with central a/c. The improvement in comfort was astounding.

After leaving home I sometimes lived in downscale student digs without a/c and it was sub-optimal, but obviously tolerable. One place was cooled with an "evaporative cooler" or water fan. Mumbai is presumably too humid for those to be effective. For two years in my mid twenties I lived comfortably without a/c in Fiji near Suva, but Fiji's summer high temperatures are low compared to Dallas or Mumbai.

If you can afford it, I do not think you should deny yourself a/c in Mumbai on the grounds of damage to the environment.

But as far as other interventions on your existing house, outside louvers over the windows would be better than curtains inside. Louvers would reduce solar gain while still allowing airflow into the room. The sun will heat the louvers but much of the heat will stay outside.


Is there a way to make reasonably accurate visual measurements? I'm planning to put up some holiday lights around the eaves of my home. The house is basically Tudoresque with multiple pitches. In order to make the measurements I would like to avoid climbing on a ladder with a tape measure.

Is there a way to make reasonably accurate visual measurements while standing on the ground? Or perhaps a method for measuring using photos?

Reasonably accurate would mean that a small overestimation would be ok, but an underestimation not so much.

For a quick and dirty estimate, I'd try the following:

Take a camera and tripod as far away from the front of the house as
you can get.
Level the tripod and camera.
Take a picture of the full face of the house, zoomed in as much as possible.
Verify your scale:

Measure a few points on the house (windows are good, you can measure the picture and the inside of the window) on either side and different floors.
Make sure the scale of the picture at those points is consistent.
Note: they're not all going to be the same. Use the least favorable
scale for your estimates.

Assuming the scale is reasonably consistent, measure things on the
picture and multiply by the scale.
Add 10% (standard practice).

This works because you specifically wanted to overestimate rather than underestimate.  It will be more accurate the further you can get from the house for the picture.  I would never recommend this for construction work; but it should be good for holiday lights.


Where can I find plans for building a chicken coop? I was hoping to build a chicken coupe for 3-4 chickens.  Does anyone know where I can find some plans (preferably free) for building a decent chicken coop?  It doesn't have to be the Taj Mahal, but I don't want it to be an eyesore either.

Some key features I'd like are a hatch that makes it easy to get eggs and a tray that makes it easy to clean out manure.

Back Yard Chickens has lots of different designs, with instructions on how to build them.

While you're there, you can even get some recipes for cooking your chickens (if you ever get tired of taking care of them, or get really hard up for cash).


Sticky black liquid coming from Furnace / AC Unit I have this sticky black liquid slowly leaking from my gas furnace / ac unit. I called an HVAC repairman and he wasn’t sure what it was. He said he thinks it’s an old drip pan made of tar (not sure that makes sense.) He said he cleaned it up a bit and to call if it started leaking again.

It’s one week later and it’s started again. I’m not sure what it is or if it’s a fire risk. He said the AC unit sits above the furnace and that it’s coming from the AC. It’s winter here so the AC unit is never running, just the furnace below it.  I included a picture, does anyone have any idea what this is and what’s causing it?

Has the combustion been checked on this furnace recently and is the heat exchanger in good shape. Are there any odors in the house, people getting headaches, nausea, etc. If he said that it looks like it is coming from an old drip pan made of tar get someone else to check your system. You may need to gain access to the duct work to find the source of the black sticky stuff.


How do I change an external door to a window? I'm looking to change a Door to a window due to kitchen redesign. Can anyone give me any idea on what I will need. The door is a back door and is old and rotten its around 3 ft wide. Its a old concrete house ex pit house.

I'm thinking of bricking it up with a bit of a caverty.

You will need to remove any rotting wood, find any water intrusion areas then you can use 2X4's or whatever you need to fill in above the floor up to the bottom of the window. Check on the rough opening size needed for the new window and frame accordingly. The interior is easily covered with drywall or whatever. The exterior is a little more tricky. You might want to match the existing siding material if that's what you have.


Attach projector screen to a ceiling... but the width does not match the studs. Ideas? The roll-out screen has holes at the ends of the metal casing, but these don't match the distance between the studs. The screen is ~80" wide.

Also, I am looking for a portable solution where I can easily detach the rolled-up screen when not in use.

I am thinking of mounting screws with hooks (or eyes) in the studs, and

option one:

possibly using equal-length metal wire to connect the screw holes on the screen to the eyes on the screws (via carabiners or something like that)

option two:

buy a 2x2 and cut to the width of the screen,
mount the screen to the bottom of the 2x2 and
add screws with hooks to its top, matching in position the screws in the ceiling studs.

Other ideas? Possible issues with what I have planned?

Most screens have both screw-mounts and hang-mounts (loops) built in - the loops often fold if not in use. If your screen does not have the loops then you could add your stick/board to it to get some. Or it may have largish-holes that a chain screw-joint link could be placed through on the end-caps.

Use the hang-mounts and chains and screw-joint links as seen on trailer safety chains (or carabiners if you'll be moving it frequently, I guess, and it's not a public-ish location.) It's actually more stable if the hooks on the wall are wider than the hooks on the screen, so the chains angle in. Use chain, not wire. I speak from experience on that point - also use chain and links a good deal stronger than the weight of the screen would seem to require.


How to drain a baseboard radiator system for a repair? How to refill the system? I have a leak in the second zone in my baseboard radiator system.  When installing some drywall in the room the previous owners nicked the copper pipe with a drywall screw, and it appears to have rusted through the pipe.  I know I need to replace that section of pipe, but I can't solder the new piece in until the pipe is empty of water.

How can I get all the water out of the system, and when refilling, how do I fill the system back up and get any air out?

Why do you need to solder in the new pipe?

There are pushfit and compression fittings designed for fix leaks.

Assuming the leak is very small you could also use leak stop patty that you just form round the pipe

(Once you move away from solder, you may not need to drain the system if the leak is small enough.)


Do water lines to a house get clogged? I just bought a house that was abandoned for about a year and I can't get water into the house. The house is on city water. When we bought it, the water was turned off at the street and the shutoff valve under the house was open. When we open the city's 1/4-turn valve, no water gets to the house.
Water goes to the city's valve, then into a meter, then into 1" black plastic pipe that runs for about 200' into the crawl space of the house. To clear all obstructions, I cut off the shutoff valve (it was very old & rusty and in need of replacement anyway) so now that 1" pipe is open under the house. A city water guy removed the meter and verified water comes through the valve (lots of it). He exchanged the meter and we still have no water. I called the previous owner (who inherited the property after a death) who said there is no other shutoff valve apart from the one under the house. He said he just turned the water off at the street.
When the city's valve is left open for hours, the meter doesn't register any water going through and no wet spots appear on the ground - it doesn't seem like the pipe is broken.
The only thing I can figure is that the water line is clogged, but I can't figure how that could have happened. How common/likely is it to have a clogged water line to a house (not just within a house)? I can call a plumber, but would like to exhaust all opportunities to fix this myself first. Any suggestions?

I would look for an additional shutoff valve as the pipe comes in the house possibly a pressure regulator or both , water supply pipes made of plastic don’t plug up like old galvanized pipe did so a 2nd shutoff usually in the garage or close to the water heater is probably turned off.


Starter for fluorescent light fell in water I was fiddling around with the starter switch for the fluorescent light and it fell into water.

Will it still work after it dries? What kind of damage can there be?

As long as the water is clean it will work. The main risk is that some amount of water will remain.

One solution is to fill a bucket with alcohol then dunk it in the bucket. The evaporation of the alcohol will take all the water with it and make it nice and dry. You can also sit it in the bright sun for a few days.


Why is my light switch leaking electricity? I have a home built in 1950 and a laundry room added sometime in the unknown future.  There is a light switch that seems to be emitting electricity according to my Fluke voltage tester. I noticed it while replacing the switch.  When I move the tester anywhere within an inch of the box, even without touching anything, it detects voltage. The two gang box is metal and the wiring looks like it's been there at least a decade.  It does not appear to be grounded.

I have never been shocked by the light switch but am concerned.  Why is it doing this?  Is it unsafe?  How do you fix it?

This is a non-contact voltage tester. It's not telling you there there is current passing through the wires, just that AC voltage exists. Since you switch the hot connection within a light switch, there will always be voltage present around a switch (unless you have tripped the breaker). It's the wiring after the switch where you shouldn't see voltage with a non-contact tester. If you do, then someone may have miswired the switch and switched the neutrals.


Is there a way to reduce the moisture content in wood in a short period of time? I've purchased some timber from a local builders merchant in which I'm going to built a desk with. I've already done this once, and experienced wood shrinkage due to the moisture content being too high during construction.

I am aware I need to alter my construction methods to allow the wood to expand and contract.

However, is there a way to reduce the moisture content in the wood in a short period of time. I'm thinking to improve the situation, instead of dry it out completely. I'm aware drying it quickly may lead to splitting.

If I had unlimited time I'd chop the wood down to the rough size and store it for a year or so... but that's not feasible with my timeframes.

Space heater, fans, blow dryers, sun, sit it on a roof on hot days (no rain)...  Basically how you would dry anything but this is too big to go in a dryer.


Remove spray paint from floor tile? I have a spot of black spray paint on my floor (not sure how it got there). The tile is an outdoor-rated porcelain. I've used soap and water with a rough sponge and a course brush but haven't even faded the paint off at all.  Would paint thinner be safe on the tile?   There's also a small spot on the grout as well.

Acetone or Nail paint remover or Paint thinner. Done  This will do no harm to the tile


Is a 35mm steel square tube frame strong enough to support 100kg without flexing? I've not been able to find an electric sit/stand desk that is a size I want so I've designed my own. I'm confident in the electronics side of things but I'm not certain of the strength of the materials. The actuators I'm using have a stroke of 450mm and can push/pull 1500N so they're definitely strong enough but the desktop is 3.2m long with a simple rectangle steel frame made of 35mm square tube with a 2mm thickness. I will have a lot of gear on the desk so I want to be able to puch up to 100kg excluding the desk itself so I have to consider the weight of the materials used. Will this frame be strong enough to handle 50kg-ish in the very center without flexing?

Images of my design can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/TJZlLRk

My structural tables don’t go “down” that low, but assuming A36 grade steel, (which is the most common in the U.S.), a 2 1/2” tube with a 1/4” wall thickness will support about 1,000 lbs. on a 10 foot span. Therefore, I’d assume two 35 mm tubes with 2 mm thick walls will “support” 100 kg without failing. However, I see several issues, 1) it will have significant deflection (flex, as you call it), 2) the legs are too small to keep the top from rotating, 3) 50 kg in the center of the top will depend more on the top than the frame, and 4) the joints act as “pin” connections without diagonal braces, so they’ll easily rotate.

BTW, are you sure the floor can support that much weight?


Oven Timer not Beeping I have a Whirlpool GR448LXPQ Electric Oven/Stove.

When the timer is set, it counts down to 0, then shows end, but it doesn't beep.  The beeper, however, does work when pressing the buttons.  I was wondering whether there is something I can do to fix it?

Thanks!

The beeper may simply have been turned off. Try pressing and holding COOK TIME for 5 seconds to turn tones on, and Snd ON will appear on the display. (This is from the Owner Manual.)


Why did my dishwasher have a spark at the door hinge? This morning when my wife opened the dishwasher there was a pop and she thought she saw a flash near the bracket arm that swings the door down. I also smelt some slight burning.
What bothers me is the RCD did not trip and the fuse box in the plug is OK and the dishwasher was still powered. If this had been an electrical fault it should have blown something.
Is there normally electrics in the side panels of dishwashers?
How can I be sure if the dishwasher is safe?

Are there buttons in the door panel? If so, then there are connections ie wires going through to the panel.
It may be that ine wire is broken and re-made contact with itself causing the spark that was seen. If so, this would not be detected as a fault because there was no fault.
If the broken wire touched the frame to cause a spark then that would and should have triggered a fault.
If the wires are starting to degrade / break then while it may work now it will only get worse. Start saving for a repair bill or replacement.


Curious bathroom sink trap This is under a bathroom sink in the house we recently purchased.  It was likely done to limit the vertical space taken up by the P trap.

Is it likely to cause a problem, and/or is it a code violation (US, Oregon)?

I believe Oregon uses the UPC as the basis for their state/local code. Under the UPC S traps are illegal, and that's what you have there. S traps are illegal because they can cause the trap seal (the water that prevents the sewer gasses from entering your house) to siphon out.


Wood beams for pallet rack wire decking What size, type, and grade of lumber would I need to use as joists to support wire decking used for pallet racks over an 11-foot overhead span?

42D" x 46W" wire decks supporting up to 2,500 lbs. are commonly available
online.
This is industrial-strength wire decking but my intended use would be general purpose overhead garage storage so I'm not looking for 5,000 lbs. per span.  1,000 lbs. would be nice, if possible.

According to one manufacturer, their wire decks can be supported by a 1.5 inch wide beam, so 2x lumber would be a fit.  My plan would be to use 2 46" wide decks over each 11' span, so each set of decking would be supported by 2 joists 42 inches apart connected to wood beams (ledger boards) anchored to the cement block side walls.

The garage is 11' wide, so shorter or longer spans are out.  Steel pallet beams are out as an 11' span is not a standard size (not to mention mounting considerations).

I'm turning to this forum in desperation.  After hours of searching online it seems that I am the only person in the world to come up with this idea.  The only links returned by search engines only seem to be ones that want to sell you something.

I see a number of span/sag calculators online but none seem to fit these parameters.

I might be getting the hang of this. It apears that the design of the racking transfers the load direcly onto the beams.

According to the SFPA tables, a #1 2x6 over a 12 ft. span could support a total load of 41 lbs./lineal foot with L/240 sag.  Interpolate for an 11 foot span and you wind up with ~50 lbs./lineal ft.

Double that because the weight would be distributed between two joists and you wind up with ~100 lbs./ft., suggesting that a 1,000 lb. load is practical.  Would probably have to derate for commodity lumber grade.

Probably still qualifies as an experiment though.

I think I see what you want to do.  You want to run two joists 11' across your garage 42" apart, and use 42" x 46" pallet rack for the floor rather than the usual plywood, and you're trying to determine what size joist to use.

The usual span tables are not quite right to answer this question.  The span tables that are published are based on the length of the span, the size of the joist, the type of wood, the live and dead
(uniform) loads on the floor, the acceptable deflection, and the spacing between joists.

Right off the bat, the span tables won't list spans for 42" spacing.  They make tables for the commonly used values, 12", 16", and 24" on-centers spacing, but not for arbitrary values like 42".

You could take this to an engineer, they can do the calculations that are used to generate the span tables, so they can handle the oddball 42" spacing.

The span tables are also built around uniform live and dead loads per square foot, so that will work a little different.

You might be tempted to guess that since you're less-than-doubling the 24" spacing to 42", maybe if you doubled up the joists, you'd be OK.  So if the span tables say you're good at 24" spacing with 2x10 joists, maybe you'd be OK with doubled 2x10's at double that spacing.  It's a reasonable guess but it would be an experiment.

Of course you could just use three joists - the outer two spaced 42" and the third halfway between them - then you are at 21" OC and if you use the 24" span tables you should be OK.  The pallet rack wire grid would still fit over the joists.

It's still a bit of an experiment, I don't know if there's anything problematic about wire grid on wood joist supports that are not immediately apparent - it's not an accepted construction method and it's not anything the manufacturer intended.

I don't like the idea that the wire grids are not attached to the joists, but I couldn't point to a specific hazard where they would lift up either.

edit:  this very interesting link was posted in the comments

Wood Beam Calculator

That calculator does allow you to enter 42" spacing.  The only part that seemed a little wonky is the Grade selection, it was only with the Grade "misc" selected that doubled 2x10's came up as an acceptable beam:

Keep in mind that if you just use plywood and standard joist spacing, you can turn this experiment into a nice boring, safe, standard, business as usual construction project.  You'll save money, gain some peace of mind, and when it comes time to sell the house, you won't have to have a long discussion with the home inspector and prospective buyer.


How can I remove the stench from a p-trap? In my shower room, there's a hole that's always filled with disgusting, slimy water.

What I've tried

I've sponged it out a few times to clean, but that didn't really help.
I've poured bleach-containing laundry detergent in.  Didn't help.
I've poured vinegar in.  Didn't help.

My questions

Is it safe to put a chlorine pill in there? I've already done this.  The smell hasn't improved.  I'm worried about the fumes.
Should I put a cap over it?  Or is there another way to make it smell better?
I've heard there's a connected vent outside that may be clogged.  How do I find this?  What does it look like (add a photo if possible)?

Safety point: Never mix chlorine and other chemicals unless they're intended to be mixed with it. If you want to try a chlorine pill -- or chlorine laundry bleach, which is essentially the same thing -- run lots of clear water through it first to rinse it out, and do the same after bleaching.

Yes, a clogged vent may force sewer gasses to escape by bubbling through the trap. Typically, drain vents look like a pipe sticking straight up out of the roof for a foot or more.


Wiring for 120 now with 240 option later? I want to wire a dedicated plugin to the front of my garage for a new EV, which at the moment needs to be 120.  But later, I may upgrade to a 240 based charger.

Is there a suggested way I could wire this up to give myself flexibility in the future to convert to 240 without running new wire?  Like run 3 (hot -hot - ground) and just use one hot for now, and the second later for 220?

Run all four wires

Run a /3 cable (hot, hot, neutral, ground) to the receptacle location.  For 110, you cap off a hot, and use the other hot, the neutral, and the ground for the receptacle.  For 220, you can cap off the neutral and have 2 hots and a ground for a NEMA 6.  If you want 110 & 220 together at some point, you can then land all four wires on a NEMA 14.

I'd run this circuit using 6/3 by the way -- that allows you to have anything up to a NEMA 14-50 there with an appropriate breaker to match.


Why aren't my motion detector lights working? I have 4 motion sensing lights on 4 corners of my home and only one works and the other three do not light-up when I walk by... what might be the problem?

Here is an attached picture to show the model I'm using. Its for outdoor use.

I have also tried changing the bulbs but that does not help me either.

Many models seem to be sensitive to power surges. A lighting storm or frequent episodes of lights flickering have destroyed several of my sensors over the years. Some models have a switch on the detector head. The switch may allow you to test the unit by placing it in test mode. If that option is not available you will have to disassemble the fixture and use a noncontact voltage tester to verify power is present at the fixture.


Surplus part came with my dishwasher I bought a Bosch SMS50E98EU dishwasher, but after installing it, there is still a part left. It is quite flexible, 3cm wide and 60cm long (just like the dishwasher).
Where does it go?

The manuals can be downloaded by entering your product number at this link.

This part attaches to the bottom-front of the dishwasher when you install it as a built-in (see page 2, step 1-6). You remove the excess from this part by cutting it along one of the groves (see page 2, step 5). This then becomes a toe kick that should somewhat resemble the location of the toe kick along the rest of the built-in cabinets in the kitchen.


Current leaking through receptacle I’m renting an older house that has wiring with no ground. I have a paper shredder and a fan plugged into the same receptacle and when the shredder is running the fan runs. The fan is not turned on.

I would be guessing that you have non polarized receptacles and the return is creating this issue. Flip the plug for the fan over just the fan and see if that fixes the issue.


Should a copper central-heating water pipe be mortar-ed in when passing through an internal wall? I've been trying to track down some very annoying 'ticking' sounds that happen within seconds of the central heating coming on.  I know that it likely to do with copper central heating pipes under the floorboards being incorrectly held in place (e.g. too tight against a joist).

I have, I think, narrowed it down to where a single pipe passes under an internal wall.  Taking floorboards up either side of the wall has allowed me to hear the ticking each side as if coming from the other side of the wall.

I noticed that the hot water pipe (15mm) is held firmly by mortar between the bricks of the internal wall.  Is that standard practice or is it bad?  Could it really be causing the ticking sound?  (If so, how come copper hot water pipes can be laid under concrete and not tick?)

I have all the floorboards up at the moment so I really need a quick sanity check from someone knowledgeable!

That could definitely be causing a ticking sound if the pipe is moving it will clink against the mortar and possibly loud enough to hear.

There is nothing wrong with having mortar around it other than a PITA if you need to replace it.  What you need to do is make sure that the pipe is secure as possible (tie-downs, clamps, whatever) on each side.  You could also try wrapping the pipe in cloth to reduce sound or if you have a gap to hit it with spray foam.


Cutting extruded aluminium with a circular saw What kind of circular saw blade is best for safely cutting aluminium?
I have some long sections of aluminium, actually hip beams from a dismantled conservatory, that are roughly T-shaped and 40 x 70 mm in section. As they are very rigid I plan to cut these to a standard length to use them to support shelves in my garage workshop.
I don't have a chop saw, mitre saw or band saw, but I do have cordless Dewalt DCS391N circular saw (takes 165mm diameter blades). I'm thinking I could cut them relatively safely with this if I clamped the pieces in a cross-cut jig, and if I had the right blade.
From what I've read, I think I should use a blade with a low tooth count, a low kerf width and a low or even negative rake angle. But how low is low? And what kind of problems will I get if the blade is too thin?
My local retailer stocks these two 165mm Dewalt tungsten carbide-tipped blades and claims they will both cut aluminium, but which is better and why?

36 teeth, 1.5mm kerf, +3 degree rake
18 teeth, 2.4mm kerf, +10 degree rake

UPDATE: this is the kind of jig I intend to use to keep the work secure and the circular saw aligned, but my jig is wider to make it easier to clamp the work on both sides of the cut. (Source)

For blade selection the higher tooth count makes for smaller chips which is a good thing as each chip cut is an impulse against the work and the tool, and smaller impulses are better.
Circular saw blades tend to grab in aluminium I wouldn't risk it hand-held:
when using a drop saw a slow feed rate is essential else you stall the blade or distort the work. A hand-held circular saw is likely to be uncontrollable.
If you're persistent a hacksaw will work.


Holes in offset sistered joists To be able to handle live loads, we recently reinforced the 2x6 joists in our attic by sistering them with 2x8s. To achieve level, the 2x8s are not flush with the 2x6s on the bottom; they range anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inch higher.

The question is then how to apply the guidelines for drilling electrical holes.  When they say to stay "2 inches away from the top and bottom" does that apply to both boards individually or just 2 inches away from the bottom of the 2x6 and 2 inches away from the top of the 2x8?

Update

Here's a cross-sectional view of the worst case scenario:

Holes are for wiring only; so 3/4" - 1" in size is all that's needed.

So the question is: How far down from the top of the 2x8 should I drill a 1" hole?

If I drill the hole so it starts at 4 1/4" down, this leaves 2" of 2x8 below the hole, but only 1" above the hole on the 2x6.

The rules for notching and boring joists allow you to

bore holes of diameter up to 1/3 the height of the joist, a minimum of 2" from the top or bottom of the joist
make notches in the outer thirds of the joist, width of notch up to 1/3 height of joist, height of notch up to 1/6 height of joist

The question and comments seem to say there is as little as 4" of overlap between the sistered joists, making it impossible to make bored holes that are 2" away from the top and bottom edges of both joists.

However if a bored hole is less than the 1/6 max height for a notch, it stands to reason  the bored hole can be in that 2" zone;  certainly a bored hole removes less wood than a notch.

Note that the height of a 2x6 is 5-1/2" and a 7/8" bored hole is less than 1/6th the height of a 2x6.

Therefore, as long as you

make holes no larger than 7/8"  (5/8" or 3/4" should be adequate)
keep them close to the walls / beams, in the outer thirds of the joists

you satisfy the rules and run your wires without significantly weakening the joists.  I'd aim for the approximate center of the overlap if possible, that should be the strongest spot to drill through.


Repair shower drain leak My shower drain started leaking the other day and did some water damage to a freshly painted ceiling . Given it’s the holiday season and I can’t find a plumber I thought I’d take a shot at the repair myself. I’m not sure what it’s called (flange?), but I’ve been able to confirm the leak is coming from the o-ring under the shower strainer. Water is escaping into the edges and leaking onto the ceiling below it. I confirmed this by pouring water directly down the drain and it did not leak, but pouring water in the shower pan immediately resulted in leakage. My best inexperienced guess is either the caulking or rubber washer has worn away and needs to be replaced. Is it possible to fix this without cutting a hole in my ceiling?

Possible? Yes. Easy? Maybe not.

If you look inside of the flange, there is what appears to be a raised ridge with some breaks in it, dividing it into 4 equal sections. That is a way to latch onto that flange with a special tool to hold and unscrew it from the other half of it that is below your shower pan. A good plumbing store or hardware store should have a selection of different versions of tub / shower drain removal tools, yours will likely look something like this:

Or this:

Before you go to look for one though, find a piece of cardboard and cut it to fit across two of the gaps so that you know the width of the wrench spacing.

Then once you have the wrench, getting the part to unscrew is not going to be easy, because it appears as though someone used a hard putty under the flange (which is likely why it is leaking); it was supposed to be a softer type of "plumber's putty" that never really sets up hard, for this exact reason. If you have an Exacto-Knife, run the blade around the edge of that flange seal area to try to loosen it up a little. If it seems soft, that's good. If it's hard and crusty, you may have a big problem.

Here's what the entire assembly looks like to give you an idea of what you will be trying to do.


How to fill a gap behind plastic baseboard I’ve added a waterproof plastic baseboard. Cut the angle at the door join at 45 deg which shows a predominant gap. I could just caulk it, but it would look terrible. What would be a good filler that wont crack and can be sanded and painted?

You should really do a mitered return on that edge and terminate it into the wall.  It will require a 45 cut in the opposite direction and a small piece, also cut at a 45 to fill the gap to the wall.

Here is an example


How to bury electrical wiring I know I can run indoor wire underground as long as it is protected in something, but can I use a water hose to run it through instead of conduit or PVC?

You can't actually use indoor wire underground. The wire or cable will get wet,  will degrade, leak, and do really strange things like electrify the ground.  There is nothing you can do to keep conduit dry. It will get wet.

In legit conduit, normally you use individual wires (THHN). Almost all THHN is dual-rated THWN-2 for outdoor use!  Same wire - that was easy!  I work in THHN/THWN-2 and I love it.

Note the two layers of insulation.

Some homeowners are super obsessed about using cable instead of wires.  That's silly in (legit) conduit!  However it can be direct buried.  Indoor cable (NM) is indoor-only and gets wrecked fast in the outdoors, in that case you'd need outdoor-rated cable such as UF.

Bad NM:
........
Good UF:

Barely seen: paper packing in the NM cable.

If you ever plan to sell the property, you need to do this right.  Part of the home sale process is inspections. Any not-to-code work must be ripped out and replaced (pulling permits for both the demo and the replacement, so they'll know). Once you are caught, secretly removing the work won't be an option anymore.

You can't use any random pipe-like thing to run electrical cables.  Well, you can, but it doesn't count as conduit.  So the only thing you can run through water hose is UF or other outdoor rated direct burial cable, and the installation will be treated as direct burial.

Also when you bury it, the garden hose will collapse, so you won't be able to pull that wire out and change it, if that's what you were thinking.

Random cheap PVC also doesn't work as conduit - only the gray electrical rated stuff qualifies as conduit.  Using white plumbing PVC is just a bad idea, it'll get hung up on every joint and won't make the bends.

You can also use metal conduit, it's not expensive if you shop around and buy it somewhere other than the big-box store.

There are depth requirements for how deep you bury it.

For expensive RIGID conduit it's 6".
For a single circuit GFCI protected, it's 12" direct burial or conduit.
For other legit conduit, 18".
For other direct burial (or fake conduit), 24".

In all cases that's the amount of earth above the top. Don't trench a 6" trench and put 3" RIGID into it leaving only 3" of dirt above it.


How to build a fireplace using an existing chimney? I am moving into a house that has an existing working chimney and holes cut into the walls in the living room and kitchen for the pipe for a wood stove.  I know the chimney is good because I just bought it and the previous owner used a wood stove last winter.  How could I put a fireplace in rather than a wood stove.  I have a wood stove, but would like to have a fireplace in the living room.  Can I build a fireplace there?

I would STRONGLY suggest finding a "fireplace format stove" you are kinda happy with and stopping right there. Retrofitting a masonry fireplace is a huge undertaking that generally has to start from below the basement floor.

I guess a prefabricated metal fireplace in a framed drywall box could possibly scratch the fireplace itch a bit more. Most of those are not compatible with having a second entry to the same flue, so if both the living room and kitchen enter the same flue, you'll have to address that.


air vent on downstairs bathroom but not upstairs Is it true that downstairs bathroom "need ventilation" more than upstairs, to avoid mold growth?  I know at my house the downstairs bathroom has a vent fan but the upstairs does not.  I'm wondering if there's a reason for this, and also wondering if I need to add some ventilation to my downstairs bathrooms but not upstairs ones at a 4plex (these bathrooms do have windows).
Thank you.

By Code any bathroom without a window needs a vent.  I would add a vent to every full bathroom though.  You dont want to open window in negative degree weather.


How to insulate a wood garden shed to house a small 7’x7’ heated above ground therapy pool We are having a wood shed 12’x14’ built to house a small (7’x7’) above ground heated therapy pool so we can use it year round. The shed/building is being built on a gravel pad with no wooden floor due to weight of the water and to avoid damage if a leak should happen.
We have a window on each end of the 12’ dimension that can be opened, two windows along one of the 14’ walls, and several windows along the same 14’ wall, up high. They can be opened as well. The pool will be heated to about 85-90 degrees. We want to heat the inside of the building with a sealed electric oil heater.
We are concerned about humidity and want to know the best way to insulate the building and not trap moisture in the walls to cause mold.what would be some products we could choose from.
Is there anything that should be applied to the walls before insulating and what do we need on the room side of the insulation. We are not looking for a fancy finish. We just need functionality with a reasonable budget consideration.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Rethink the number of windows. Any window is going to be a condensation nightmare fall, winter and spring with an 85-90 °F pool in the building. If it's a window that came with a "garden shed" it will probably be atrocious in thermal performance, as garden sheds are not typically heated and good windows are expensive, but even a good "high performance" window is a spot of terrible insulation in a well insulated wall, and that means that it will be cold, and with an open warm pool in the building it will drip most of the year.
Given small pool and high temperature differential, I'd rob some interior space to make a very thick wall (another set of studs, offset from the studs of the wall) with lots of insulation, and a roof structure that allows having a lot of insulation and a vented, cold roof on top of that.
This basically means building a room inside the cabin so you have adequate space for a lot of insulation material, since working with the (presumably 3-1/2" thick) spaces provided between studs will be woefully inadequate. Using a well-detailed (all holes get fixed, try not to make too many) vapor barrier on the inside keeps the insulation dry. Cellulose tends to tbe the best cost ratio when you provide the space, rockwool is another good option.
The other approach to this would be to use sheet foam products, filling the wall cavities with insulation, and installing vents in the roof cavities before sheeting them over (leaving them empty for ventilation) with rigid foam on the interior, sealing the joints for vapor-tightness and then finishing with a fire-protective layer such as drywall (foil faced foam MAY qualify in some areas. Exposed foam is a deathtrap in a fire due to the fumes it releases.)


How to install a flush mount LED light over an old square recessed box? My question is similar to an old question posted by someone else 3 yrs ago but hasn't been active for 2 yrs (see link). My house was built in the 1963, so I have two old 9 sq inch ceiling lights with a recessed box measuring 8 sq in, inside is a 6 sq in housing. I would like to install an LED Flushmount light (see links to options considering) over it using a light bulb socket pigtail, but I can't find a mounting plate or crossbar large enough to cover the hole. Any ideas would help.
Thank you!

Old Question posted by Chester

Commercial Electric LED Flat panel option

Altair LED Flushmount option

I have installed a couple of those flat panel LED’s. I would go with that one.

The one I installed had some slots in the panel for screws, you would mark those locations on the ceiling and then drill and install anchors so that you could screw the panel to the ceiling into those anchors.

This one does appear to have a mounting plate  that attaches to the box but because the plate  is so big you could just  drill holes in the plate  that would line up with the ceiling joist  but it’s not a heavy light  so some good quality anchors would be sufficient if you can’t lineup with a joist .


What to insulate first? Attic, walls, kneewalls? I know a number of people in a similar situation that want to add insulation to older, poorly insulated homes. Homes are similar. Poorly insulated attics (6" of fiberglass batts), no insulation in exterior walls. The attic square footage is relatively small compared to the roof area because of high pitched roofs and kneewalls.

Doing this as a DIY project that would be completed in stages maybe one weekend every couple of months or so.

What order would you tackle each project the following insulation/air sealing projects to get the most cost savings early?

A) Add R-30 unfaced fiberglass batts over existing attic insulation. Attic floor sq footage is I'd say roughly 75% or less of the 2nd floor sq footage due to kneewalls on most of the exterior walls on the 2nd floor.

B) Get access to back of kneewalls on 2nd floor and add insulation to back of interior wall and over interior ceiling. Studs are only 2x4 but since there's plenty of space may use R19 or greater kraft faced insulation for walls, R30 for over ceiling. About 60% or so of the 2nd floor exterior walls are kneewalls with conditioned living space underneath.

C) Add fiberglass batt insulation and those foam insulation vent boards to allow airflow to the sloped ceiling space over the kneewall. This would be done at the same time as either A or B.

D) Blow in fiberglass insulation to exterior 2x4 framed walls from interior that are not knee walls. All the exterior walls on the 1st floor and about 40% of the 2nd floor exterior walls.

Insulating is actually typically the last step in a major whole-house energy efficiency retrofit. If you insulate before you've air-sealed, the air will simply bypass the insulation. If you air-seal without fixing any water leaks or flashing errors, you've created a mold problem. If you air-seal without adding mechanical or passive ventilation, indoor pollutants will rise and combustion appliances may backdraft, potentially poisoning the occupants. And so on.

Step 1: remove or vent indoor combustion appliances that are not sealed and vented. Give a gas range an exhausting range hood and replace sub-90% efficiency water heaters and furnaces that are within the house with sealed combustion versions that pull their combustion air from outside.

Step 2: Fix any roof leaks, window flashing errors, or any other water entry points into the building envelope.

Step 3: Make sure the bath fan works and run it constantly.

Step 4: air-seal as well as you can.

Step 5: insulate.

Step 6: test the air quality for CO2 and the combustion appliances for backdrafting and see if a better ventilation system is needed.

To finally answer your question, once you get to insulating, your biggest bang-for-buck is anywhere you can add insulation where there is none, which would be the walls in this case. If you're not planning to remove the drywall or siding, find a crew to blow dense-packed cellulose into the wall cavities. Make sure it's dense-pack and that they have a track record of success. Don't do blown fiberglass and don't do anything that;s not dense-packed, as it'll settle. If you are planning to remove the drywall, then put mineral wool batts in the walls yourself. If you are planning to remove the siding, then dense-pack the cavities and add 2 inches or more of rigid foam or mineral wool over the sheathing, and use this opportunity to replace the windows or fix any overt flashing errors. If the wall has no water-resistive barrier or if it is deteriorated, replace it with a new layer (tar paper, Tyvek, etc) on the same plane as the windows and integrated with their flanges/flashing.

Attic insulation is often very cost-effective too but it can be substantially more complicated. The attic floor must be airtight. And where you insulate depends on what's in the attic and what it will be used for, if anything. An attic that has mechanical equipment in it, that will be finished, or will be used for storage needs to have spray foam at the roofline or rigid foam under the roofing. And if there's any knob-and-tube wiring where insulation should go, that needs to be replaced first. Otherwise, the attic can have a few feet of loose-blown cellulose or fiberglass piled up on the floor and that'll work very well. This approach is DIY-friendly, too. You need to pay close attention to any chimneys or flues, too. Insulated that isn't specially rated (usually some type of mineral wool) can't be installed touching it, and an air gap may be mandatory. Depends on the chimney or flue.


Hanging posters from wall I have some posters of movies and other stuff which I like to have around. I recently shifted cities and rented a place for myself to stay. I can't stick the posters to the walls with cellotape as it might peel off the paint if removed. Also, the landlord won't allow it. Is there anything I can do to hang the posters with threads or ropes or certain frames which can be used?

I live in India, so please suggest methods that use materials available in India.

I was thinking of using 2 binder clips to hold the poster and tie the clips with thread which will pass over a nail in the wall.

Any other inexpensive suggestions?

Yes, binder clips are a great solution. You can put a tiny tack or pin to hang each clip on directly, without using string. If this is "real" paper artwork (like a drawing, print or silkscreen), put a small piece of archival paper, or any good-quality paper, between the clip and the artwork to protect the art from rust or the clip if the air is damp. The front wire of the binder clip can be compressed and it will pop off easily, making a nice clean look. Good luck!


Framing a 10x12 wood floor, using 2x6 PT lumber I am building a foundation for a 10x12 metal/vinyl coated shed. The foundation is ready with four 12" diameter concrete pillars and another three pillars down the center.  I used concrete strong tie anchors in the wet concrete that accept a 4x4.  I am using (3) 4x4's that I will place over and anchor to the concrete pillars.  The pillars are elevated at least 12" on the high side and 4" on the low side for no ground contact and good drainage underneath. I plan on just placing the assembled 2x6 frame on top and nailing it to the 4x4's.

I was looking for some pointers on the following:

How to make sure it's square?
How to make sure the joists are level with the header boards
Should I go 16 on center or 12 and what size nails or screws?
Do I use joist hangers and hurricane ties (between joist & 4x4's)?
Do I need to use blocking for better support?

Measure the 2 diagonal distances to the corners. If the measurements are not the same, the floor is not square.
Not sure what you are levelling to. A level, framing square, and careful measuring solves most layout problems.
16" spacing is fine as long as your sheathing is rated for 16" spans. Sounds like they are spanning about 6 feet? 16d common nails (3-1/2") are usually used for framing. I'm concerned with spanning 10 feet with 4x4s supporting 3 feet of contributing floor load. Plus wall dead weight and maybe supporting the roof? I'm pretty sure if you checked a load table, this is inadequate.
Hangers are not needed since the joists sit on top of the 4x4s. Tie downs from joist to 4x4 is a really good idea. 32 inch spacing along each 4x4 should do it.
Block between joists at all supports. This is a typical code requirement.


Help installing a ceiling pendant light fixture I recently bought a pendant-type fixture that contains three, silver (or aluminum?) stranded wires encased by a decorative braided cord. Two of the wires are sheathed in clear plastic and the third is not. How do I install this fixture when there is no indication of white, black or ground? The wires all seem to be the same.

Was this a used fixture, because it doesn't sound like it would meet UL approval for new fixtures if there is no way to identify which wire should be connected to hot or to neutral.  Is there any ribbing or texture on one wire?  If so, that is likely the neutral.

I'm assuming your fixture just uses standard light bulbs.  From an electrical viewpoint of a standard incandescent bulb, it doesn't matter which way the current flows -- but it might matter for led or cfl bulbs (cfl = compact fluorescent).  However, from a SAFETY perspective, the polarity does matter (polarity is which contact on the light bulb socket is hot and which is neutral).  The uninsulated wire is the ground, which is always connected to the ground (bare wire) in the box.

I strongly recommend you identify which of the insulated wires (plastic covered) should be connected to the hot, and which to the neutral.  An easy way to do this is to take your volt/ohmmeter, touch one lead to one of the insulated wires and the other lead to the light bulb socket.  If you get zero resistance (the same as touching the two leads together) on the collar (side) of the socket, then that wire is the neutral (white).  If you get zero resistance when touching the button (bottom of the socket), then that is the hot.  Wrap a bit of black electrical tape around the hot wire.

Now you can install your fixture correctly, connecting the wires using the coding that you identified: white-white, black-black, bare wire-bare wire.  Use wire nuts to connect the wires.  The packaging on the wire nuts tell you what quantities of what size wires they are approved for use with.

Strip and straighten 1/2" to 5/8" of each wire to be joined.
Hold the wires together, straight and parallel.
Put a wire nut over the wires, covering all the stripped wire, and twist clockwise. Turn until the wires outside the connector start to twist.
Test the connection by holding the wire nut with one hand and tug on each of the wires with the other hand.  The wires should be firmly connected and not slip out of the wire nut.

Forgot to add: it's unlikely this is aluminum wiring.  Could it be stranded wire that is soldered on the end?  If it is aluminum wire, then you need to use fasteners approved for use with aluminum.


Can I put a receptacle in a closet? I want to install a receptacle in a closet or two, but I've heard that receptacles are not allowed to be located in closets. I cannot find a concrete reference for that claim, though - it always seems to be an old wive's tale or an electrician-friend-of-a-friend. Is there such a restriction in the NEC, and if so, does it depend on the size of the closet?

This question asks about junction boxes, which are similar, but could potentially be handled separately. A comment in that question indicates there is no restriction, but it would be good to have a definitive answer (especially as relevant for more recent versions of the NEC).

Yes you can.  I have three instances in my house:  all were signed off by a competent electrical inspector.   (I am in the Portland, Oregon area.)

There is one in a bathroom closet, and one each in two medicine cabinets.  Handy for recharging a cordless vacuum, electric toothbrushes, and an electric shaver.