What is this mysterious pipe in my back yard? There's a plastic pipe with a vent cover in my back yard that runs to a green cap in the middle of the yard.  What is this for?  I don't have a septic tank.

Update: this picture shows the entire length of the pipe that I'm aware of.  The green cap from my second picture wasn't visible from this angle so I marked it with the piece of cardboard.

Update 2:

Based on everybody's comments, I felt comfortable digging it up.  Here's the entire thing:

Thanks for all the help everyone!  Your comments/answers let me dig up this unused nuisance I've had to mow and trim around for far too long.

This could be part of a larger yard drainage system. It could let water from the screened end of the pipe drain out into some buried drain field. It could also drain onto a deep buried french drain construction consisting of a sizeable hole that was filled with crushed rock or similar.

The fact that the part of the pipe that has the screen is working its way out of the ground seems to imply that there is stress on the pipe from the end that is still buried. This could be due to settling at the buried end or the pipe was originally installed and buried by forcing it into the trench and then not covering it with enough soil. I bring this up because there is evidence that the filter screen end was buried at one time:


What's a good entry-level text/video on residential plumbing? Anything for the near-absolute beginner? I've removed the 180-degree angle dirt trap under my sink and cleaned a pipe with a motorized snake, but that's about it. Any book recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Any YouTube videos or usernames would be awesome too.

Home Depot and Lowe's both sell pretty well illustrated, basic books on Plumbing.  I have one, "Plumbing 1-2-3" which is from one of those two (can't remember off hand which but I think it's HD) which covers all the basics, has clear pictures, easy to follow directions, and makes you think, 'Oh heck yeah that's obvious...'

As for videos - there's always the DIY network Plumbing section.


For new construction, which flooring is greener: laminate or engineered? For new construction, which flooring is greener, an engineered hardwood or a laminate.

Engineered Hardwood
Core: Hardwood, Plywood, or High Density Fiberboard (HDF)
Top Layer: Hardwood veneer
Pros:

Made from real wood, so it's biodegradable.
Limited manufacturing.

Cons:

Made from real wood, so trees must be cut down (and usually the really good trees that take a long time to regrow, because they tend to be more attractive on the inside so people like the look better).

Laminate
Core: High Density Fiberboard (HDF)
Top Layer: Photographic applique with clear protective coating.
Pros:

Made mostly of manufactured products, so less trees have to be cut down.

Cons:

Made mostly of manufactured products, so requires more manufacturing (which could lead to more pollution).
Made mostly of manufactured products, so may not be as safe to discard.

Laminate flooring is considered to be more "green", since it doesn't require loads of trees to be cut down. However, it also requires more manufacturing, and may include chemicals that could impede biodegradation. Without knowing the "greenness" of the manufacturing facilities, it's impossible to determine a clear winner. Unless you're only concerned with trees being cut down, in which case laminate wins.


What are the pros/cons of Ondura for roofing? I came across Ondura in Lowes this morning and had never heard of it.  It looks pretty slick.  Does anyone have experience with it to share?  I found no matches when searching here and was sort of surprised, as it seems very DIY for re-roofing.

As a shingle replacement, the main attraction seems to be the distinctive appearance of the product.

Since they define lifetime as "as long as you own the structure", the warranty could be less than the standard 20 year of shingles ... something to think about.

Most of the other benefits that I've read about are marketing... if this product is being compared to a metal roof, it certainly has some more interesting points.

Some of the stuff they try to sell it on, isn't really that relevant... such as:

Can be applied over a shingle roof ... so can new shingles.
Only to 2 layers though ... if you have 3 layers up there already then the benefit of not stripping the roof disappears.
Generally less expensive than high grade shingles ... fair enough, if you're considering high grade in the first place.
Easy to install ... so are shingles really ... the hardest part of roofing is generally getting on, and staying on the roof.

I think for the residential market, especially if you will have to strip the roof anyway, that the real selling point has to be the appearance the product will give your roof... if you love the installed look (and I agree, it can look very sharp) then it's probably not a bad idea.


Toilet cistern besides the toilet I am wondering if it is possible to install a built in cistern next to the toilet. Please see the image attached - the idea is to have a cistern in the short dividing wall next to the toilet bowl. Cistern would be installed in the right angle to the toilet. I am not worried about the gravity drop, as the wall could be slightly taller than what is on the image attached.

You can certainly do it with a separate tank toilet and some inventive plumbing, but the flush performance is going to be worse than a close-coupled toilet, especially modern low flush capacity toilets that have a large flush valve that discharges the water very quickly.


Which way should an internal star lock washer go? I want to attach a rear basket to my bicycle and I don't know a thing about nuts/bolts. I got a plastic bag full of nuts, bolts, washers, and what I believe (according to what I could find on the internet) are internal star lock washers.

Is the configuration on the attached photo correct? First the smooth washer, then the jagged star lock washer, then the covered nut?  And, the internal star lock washers are smooth on one side and jagged on the other. Which side should face up towards the bolt head?

The jagged side should be to the bolt nut, not the washer. You're trying to prevent the bolt nut from turning, thus unscrewing. The jagged side will, to a small degree, bite into the metal of the bolt to increase the holding power. (The majority of the holding power is from just the compression of the lock washer.) Turned the other way will work, just not quite as well. (you don't really care about the washer turning.)

Edit: correct my stupid mistake!


How do I switch this old NZ 3 gang light switch to a modern smart switch? I am trying to switch over an existing NZ three gang over to a smart switch. In the old wire colour code, my understanding is that red is live, black is neutral, and green is ground.
I have already moved the black wire from the leftmost "1" slot to the neutral slot in the new switch.

Arg.  We must get this question a couple times a month.  The short answer is you may not be able to.  In addition your picture is obscuring some of the wires so nobody can answer it anyway.  Plus there is one other possible issue I'll discuss at the end.
Here's the long answer:
These switches are typically wired as follows:  the switches control 3 individual lights.  The incoming neutral runs to each bulb and not to the switch.  The incoming hot runs to the switch and 3 hots run from it to the individual bulbs.
In SOME setups they do indeed bring the neutral into the switch box.  BUT IN NO CASE DOES THE NEUTRAL CONNECT TO THE SWITCH.  The black wire there is covered in a red piece of plastic - tape or whatever - indicating that it probably is feeding one of the bulbs - it's a switched hot.  Particularly since you pulled it out of the switch.
Now, there IS a sort of corn-pone scheme sometimes used here where they bridge over one of the lamps with a capacitor.  This allows enough leakage current to power the smart switch without having to have the neutral in the box.  The switch supplier should be able to explain how this works and where to insert the cap if they support something like this.  This sort of nonsense isn't used in the States but apparently in 220v regions there's a high enough voltage differential to make it work I guess.
Lastly the other problem is where exactly did you get this switch?  Unlicensed electrical gear from China has flooded the "smart switch" market as there's apparently a ton of people outside the US that are desperate to install smart switches.  If that thing came off Ebay or Amazon it is sure to be either a counterfeit or just a plain old unlicensed here-today gone-tomorrow company that has illegally used the RCM trademark on it.
In the United States electrical gear like switches mostly comes from electrical supply houses or independent brick and mortar hardware stores or the 2 major big box building supply stores.  (big orange and big blue)  All of these jealously guard their electrical supply chains.  You can walk into any of these and buy Zwave or Zigbee smart switches over the counter.
The counterfeiters and garbage-grade stuff comes from Amazon and Ebay but since the real stuff is available via the brick and mortar stores, most people are content to buy the Leviton smart switches over the counter in the US.  But it sure seems like the rest of the world has a big problem with it.  I don't know enough about NZ to know what goes on there and if what you have in your hand is safe or not but my gut feeling is that the switch you got there can't be powered by the capacitor trick.  You need to go back to the supplier and see what they say.


What type of lattice should I use for a privacy screen? I'm building a privacy screen for a terrace. I'm using 3/4 mahogany for the frame. I've made grooves (dado cuts?) in which I am going  to place the lattice. The depth of the grooves is about a half an inch. The question-- what lattice to use? It was suggested that I use cedar lattice. Does that sound like a good choice? Also, are there standard openings for this lattice? I recall seeing openings of around 2.5" x 2.5". Is that the standard?

I'm making several panels. Each are 16" thick. I would like the lattice to be sturdy. I'm going to use some screws to screw the lattice into the frame.

So my basic question I guess-- Is what type of lattice would you recommend? I've also seen spruce-- not sure how this stacks up against cedar.

I would recommend you build it yourself.  None of the building supply versions that I've seen can stand up too much more than 3 years of weathering.  They use cheap fasteners that rust and stain the second year.

Self construction will allow custom size openings.  Weaving is another possibility.

Teak, ipe, redwood and cedar, in that order, would be my top choices for natural or stained.

Stainless fasteners are a must.

Lattice construction atricle

Google image search for lattice


How can I determine why my lights flicker when the A/C is running? My lights considerably flicker whenever a large load comes on in the house and it has been this way since we renovated five years ago. I am attempting to troubleshoot this now and have already probably waited longer than I should have. I did some reading and ultimately removed the cover of the main panel and tested across the two hot wires at the main panel. All circuits were active. The reading I received was 245 +/- 2V, meaning average of 245V but fluctuated between 243V and 247V. I then had my wife turn our whole-house air conditioning unit on and voltage dropped to 237 +/- 1V while AC was running. Is this a normal voltage drop when a large appliance is turned on or is this indicative of an issue?

What, if any work was done to the electrical system when you renovated and the problem started? In addition, what, if any work was done on the house in the immediate vicinity of the electrical service entrance?

Do you happen to own a non-contact thermometer (or know someone you could borrow one from?)

If this is a bad connection (and that's my guess), it will be heating itself (more or less depending on how much current loads in the house are drawing) - ie, if your microwave draws 10 amps, it's heating itself with 20 watts (10A X 2V) when you run that - if your AC draws 30 amps it will be heating with roughly 270 Watts (30A x 9V)

Lacking a non-contact themometer you can sometimes find these by touching the grounded exterior of electrical enclosures and feeling for heat. Having one means you can also look at specific parts inside the panel (but the problem may not be there - it may be in the meter box, which you generally can't open yourself anyway.)

Ideally you'd start at some point when nothing much has been using electricity in the house, or you've actually shut off the main for several hours, go around and feel/measure temperatures, then turn on the power and turn on as many loads as possible and feel/look for an area that is getting much warmer than the rest of the wiring/enclosures.

Since you are evidently comfortable in the open service panel, you can also check for voltage differences between the incoming wire and the terminal it connects to, and/or see if the voltage you measure is very different (under load) if measured from terminal to terminal or from incoming wire to incoming wire. That checks that end of the meter-to-service cables - the other end you generally need an electrician or the power company to check.

It is important to find and solve this issue before it gets worse; you're in the early stages of "how electrical fires get started" IMHO.


How to fix a leaky toilet flapper valve over brass outpipe I have a 1950's toilet that leaks into the bowl through the flapper.  It differs from modern toilets (this question) in that the outlet pipe is made of brass.  I am not inclined to replace the toilet because it is pink in an entirely pink bathroom.  (I am inclined to replace the whole bathroom, but not yet.)  I have replaced the flapper rubber.

We noticed that the brass out pipe is not completely flat, and has undulations that cannot be smoothed out with sandpaper because they are too wide.  I figure that the whole pipe end needs to be brought back to true, but the only thing I could think of was to use a detail sander on it for a few minutes.  This seems to have mostly got rid of the undulations, but I cannot be certain (suggestions?).  The flow has now reduced from about 1 litre/minute to less than 0.2 litres/min, but this will still cost me about $45/quarter in water charges so I would like to go further.  Is there a better way to bring the pipe back to a true flat surface?  How can I determine when it is flat?

From what you have said, it sounds like a better way to go might be to replace that top edge of the brass outlet pipe. They sell kits in the store to replace the flapper valve and the seat (which is what you are struggling with). Have you looked into one of those? Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Lavelle-2003BP-Flush-Valve-Repair/dp/B001ARJR8S

Trying to sand the existing seat down, in place, until you get a good seal sounds like a lot of work with little chance of success. With a kit like this, you seal a new plastic seat down on top of the old one with a silicone sealant, then the flapper seals against the new seat. If one of those seat replacement kits will adapt to your toilet, that is your best bet, in my opinion.
Hope this helps.


Heater 240 wiring question I am looking to hook up my electric heater. I have a line that was used for an electric dryer and not being used.  Can I divert the wires to the heater? I would like to hook it up with 2 hot wires with the jumpers like in the pic, and not 4 wires..the box has older fuses. What size fuse would I need?

That upside-down diagram seems to indicate you need a 60A circuit to run this heater, but a typical electric clothes dryer (in the US) only has a 30A circuit.  I say circuit because you can't just change the fuse/breaker without increasing the size of the wires.

You will have to look closer at the specifications for this heater to determine the electrical requirements and then make sure that the wire size and breaker are correct for it.


Furnace Fuse Blows Immediately This afternoon, our Ruud furnace suddenly stopped working. After poking around a bit, I realized that the 3A fuse on the control board had blown. I ran to the hardware store and replaced it, but no luck... still not working.

I looked around a bit online and found a lot of references to the thermostat wiring as a possible culprit, and a few minutes with the multimeter later thought I'd found a couple wires that might've been shorting together. Luckily enough, the installer has used a cable with a few extra, unused wires, so I tried connecting the thermostat with those instead. NOPE.

At this point, I've followed some other advice I found and disconnected ALL the wires from the thermostat and condenser from the furnace control board, but the 3A fuse STILL blows the moment I press the blower door switch. I'm pretty much at a loss now... Any ideas?

I'm not certain of the specific model, but it's a Ruud furnace/AC... this is the manual I have for it (ours is an upflow model).

http://site.mypointnow.com/documents/65-110102.pdf

If you have disconnected all external wires to the control board with only internal wires to the unit connected and the fuse still burns, that very likely indicates a failure of the board.  With the fuse burning quickly, that often means a component in the power supply side of the board has catastrophically failed.  To verify this, you could disconnect all wires to the board except for the power connection and the door switch and test to see if the fuse still burns in that condition (make certain you are using a correctly sized replacement fuse, obviously).

Replacing a board is typically not difficult if you can find a compatible replacement.  Unfortunately, the wholesale price for these is often $200+ or higher.


Eyebolt where nut is another eyebolt? Is there such a thing as an eyebolt where the nut is another eyebolt?

It would be used for a 2" tube with a hole drilled across it, something like this:

Yes, there are available parts like you ask about. Here is a picture of one type:

If you do a Google search with "eye nut" you can find more pictures, descriptions and sources of supply.

You may want to consider using two of these and then run a threaded rod through the tubing. In addition to the above type eyes (fixing or rigging hooks) you would use two nuts on each side of the threaded rod. One from each side to secure the threaded rod to the metal tubing and the second one threaded on before the eye nut. The second nut would be double nutted with the eye nut (i.e. tightened against the eye nut to secure the position of the eye in the proper orientation with respect to the eye on the other end of the tubing.

You could simplify the above suggestion by cutting the threaded rod just the right length and using just the eye nuts to secure the rod to the tube. In this case you would want to use a thread locker (such as LocTite) to lock the threads when the two eyes are in the desired orientation with each other.


How to avoid mold in shower caulk? For the third time, I plan to remove this strip of caulk in my bathtub/shower a bit beyond the discoloration (mold?) and recaulk it.  I would like to get it right this time.

I plan to remove the caulk where it is discolored (mold?), clean it, let it dry for 24 hrs, and recaulk using Loctite Polyseamseal Tub & Tile, then let it sit 24hrs before use.

What else should I do to ensure this discoloration (mold?) under/in the caulk doesn't return?  I thought I did it right last time, but obviously I didn't.

Also, is this the right sealant for this job?

Isherwood's right & make sure you're actually getting the blowing air from the bath fan on the outside of the house. Also, after showers or baths get into the practice of letting the fan run for another 15 or 30-minutes.

You just want to fill, actually fill, that crack below the tile is all. Squirt caulk INTO the gap & then force more caulk into the crack with your finger or a putty knife & repeat until it's full. Your closed palm should be facing the wall & not down toward the tub.

There's no need nor benefit in trying to make a ramp for the water. Water sitting on the caulk rather than beside it is mold's friend. Your caulk should look largely like your grout lines, it should be thin, tight & flush with the tile face.


Feed back problem on FM Radio after new 100 amp box installed I installed a 100 amp box from my exsting 200 amp box. I seem to be getting feed back from my FM radio when I plug in a battery charger and turn it on. Other items don't seem to effect the radio. Did I do something wrong with my installation? I have put in a ground fault outlet as my first in line and I have installed switched overhead LED lights. There is only one 20amp circuit at this time. The two boxes are in the same building, about 50ft apart in an addition. When I use the charger in the original part of the building, I don't have any feedback or buzzing. When I turn on the new lights there is no problem with the radio. I only have one circuit with one outlet (GFI) and then to a switch that turns on my overhead LED lights. I have plugged in other lights in the outlet an no interference.

Many small power supplies emit high frequency signals into the air or power line. Also LED bulbs have those issues. Sometimes turning the plug, helps - e.g. in case of schuko or Euro plugs. This can't be done with outlet systems  where the hot line has to be at a  fixed position.

Sometimes it helps to rotate the receiver by 90 degree. What nearly always helps is to enlarge the distance resp. to connect the loader and receiver to different circuits far from each other.
Also different positioning or grounding of the antenna might help.

The grounding wiring of the complete house/Appartment should be done in star form. Earthing/Ground Loops could easily catch any signals which then enter the ground of the receiver electronic.


What is this bug poop or dirt that keeps reappearing every few months by a wood beam? I vacuum this up every few months and it keeps reappearing.
What type of bug is living in this wood and should I be worried?

This dirt seems like the bug's poop or something

Looks like dry wood termite droppings (frass) or pellets to me.

Google termite droppings and you’ll see many pictures.


Water heater anode rod replacement, teflon tape or no? For replacing an anode rod in a residential water heater, there seems to be some conflicting opinions regarding using teflon tape to prevent leaks. The rod manufacturer's instructions say to use it. Some people say to not use it as it prevents making a good electrical contact between the metals. Others say use it, the teflon tape will be cut by the bolt threads thus you will get an electrical contact.

What should I do? For the people not using teflon tape, how are you preventing water leaks?

I just replaced my anode.  I wrapped three layers of teflon tape and torqued it to 66ft-lb which seemed adequately tight.  Online torque tables specified max 78ft-lb for 3/4 NPT.  Resistance between anode hex head and outlet was 0.6ohm.  This is essentially zero resistance. The lead to lead resistance alone is 0.2ohm.


Building home on slab foundation on lot above natural spring We are towards the end of costruction on a new home in rural northeast georgia on a flat lot(slight slope towards the street) and as the electric company started digging to place the final wires they hit a natural spring.

The only additional drainage on the lot is a medium drainage pipe on the left side of the lot that connects directly to city drain on the street.

When it has not rained in a day the lot is dry overall up top but there is water present in most holes that are deeper than a foot.

My question is, could this still be a safe lot for the house with a water spring underneath the slab foundation?

Before the home was built, there should have been site and soil surveys done.  The builder use the results of this surveys, to determine how to properly construct the foundation for the building. Assuming these surveys were done, and the engineer designed an appropriate foundation. There should be no danger to the structure.

However, if the water was not taken into consideration, then it could pose a risk to the home.

You should verify that all the proper planning was done, and that the water was considered in the building planning.


What is my wall made of and how can I cut it without chipping? While mounting a monitor on my wall I decided to add an outlet as well. While cutting through the wall (it is an exterior wall) I noticed the wall was thicker than just drywall. The main problem I had was the paint later that kept chipping as I tried to cut a hole (with a jab saw) for the old work box, and now I have small repairs to make.

Can anyone tell me

What these layers are, I know one is drywall, oddly enough its the inner layer, but I dont know the other 2.
How can I repair the chipping that took place? Is it just spackle like normal drywall?
Most important, is there anything I can do to keep the chipping from happening in the future?

What these layers are, I know one is drywall, oddly enough its the
  inner layer, but I dont know the other 2.

You have plasterboard, followed by plaster "brown coat", followed by finish plaster "skim coat/color coat"

  How can I repair the chipping that took place? Is it just spackle like
  normal drywall?

Traditional spackle would work

  is there anything I can do to keep the chipping from happening in the
  future?

Score the paint film with a knife where you intend to cut, then cut on the inside of that score line. Use a saw with a finer tooth count. The normal coarse-toothed drywall jab saws are for work on unfinished drywall, where mudding, taping, and finish work hides the rough edges. Painted wall surfaces will be prone to flaking and chipping out with a saw like that. Next time use one of these:


Trial and error to choose glue for plastic handle on refrigerator? I have a Frigidaire French-door refrigerator with a broken handle.  I've identified the part, and it's $47 to replace (plus tax and shipping).  Being cheap, I'd like to try to repair rather than replace it. It's a clean break at both ends, with decent surface area and a snug friction fit when inserted in place - a good candidate for glue.

I found these relevant and useful answers:
 - Identifying Type Plastic
 - best glue for ABS kitchen appliance

Since identifying plastics is tricky and requires a flame test, my question is: Can I try different glues in sequence (until I get a good bond) without messing up my material?

I propose to try Isocyanate (superglue) first and if I don't get a good bond go on to ABS primer, and/or PVC primer. Suggestions welcomed!

A "decent surface area" would lead me to drill and pin it using some metal dowels as well as using glue.

That should help spread the stress caused by using it and make the repair last longer.


What is the name of a "headless" bolt Wasn't sure whether to post this on ELU or here, but thought I would have better luck here.  Anyway Merriam Webster defines a Stud Bolt as

  a bolt with threads on both ends designed to be screwed permanently
  into a fixed part at one end and to receive a nut on the other.

Is the first part of the definition - screwed permanently into a fixed part -   always true for a stud bolt?  If so, what do you call the threaded rod that fully penetrates two parts and is attached with a nut on both ends like you would see for piping flanges?

According to Hardhat Engineer, the correct term to use is stud bolt.  While a stud bolt frequently (most often?) is used where one end is screwed permanently into a fixed part, like the dictionary says (think of the stud bolts for a cylinder head), it can also apparently refer to a bolt with a nut on each end as shown below

I agree that this looks like threaded rod, but I do not think that threaded rod is necessarily designed for the stress encountered in a bolting application.


Best way to join two vertical aluminium poles I currently have an aluminium (aluminum?) pole that's about 1"1/8 across, and it's embedded into concrete. I need this pole taller, and can acquire exactly the same spec pipe in any length to do this.

The pipe doesn't need to be directly end-to-end (there's nothing flowing through), but it should keep its position very well. There will be a slight load (~1kg) on this additional section, but not much. I cannot weld this pipe, but I can drill it or otherwise modify it.

What's my best option here? I've had three so far, and I'm not sure any are what I'm after.

Drill and attach side 'plates' with bolts through.
Find a pipe as near to the internal diameter as possible, and drill through the outer and inner pipes with bolts.
Stagger the pipes, drilling and applying bolts the whole width.

Here are some quick visualisations of these:

Are there options I'm missing to do this, perhaps?

For reference, the pipe is similar to this:

This gets close to opinion, but I'd lean toward the internal sleeve. It can be extra long without being unsightly, which will give a bit more strength.

The external plates would probably be fine.

Unless you could overlap option 3 quite a bit (>12" is what my intuition specifies), it doesn't strike me as being as strong.


Does my wood stove pipe have to be chrome to be safe to use? I'm currently renting a house that has a wood stove, and figured that as it's used as a rental property, the stove would be safe to use. However a friend of mine today was telling me that if the chimney is not chrome plated both inside and out that it could be uninsulated and be unsafe to use. The stack outside is chrome plated, the inside looks to just be cast iron, as the attached picture shows.

Can anyone advise if he's right, or if I can safely start firing up the stove ASAP.

Your friend is absolutely wrong. Color doesn't make any difference, and the outside is not chrome, it is stainless steel insulated pipe. Insulated pipe is not required from the stove to the ceiling where it adapts to insulated pipe


1.5 inch male thread drain coming out of the wall. How do I connect a plastic p trap on it? I have the following pipe coming out of the wall. It seems to me that I would need a p trap that screws onto the existing thread but all drain plumbing I have seen so far (e.g.,  https://www.lowes.com/pd/Keeney-1-1-2-in-Plastic-P-Trap/1076241) appears to have the plastic connecting downward (it has its own thread and you use the top part to secure it to the drain). Am I missing something?

You need to find the rest of that trap or purchase a new one. If you can not find a trap that matches yours you will need to cut the old stuff off and start with a new trap kit. I have found even 30+ year old plumbing matches up to brand new pieces. Take this photo to a plumbing store or big box and they can set you up for 3-15$. The house ghee price if you have to cut and replace the lower for the bend with a nut.


What is too high of a pressure for irrigation systems I purchased a home four years ago where the owner installed an irrigation system. I noticed the valves were leaking then and replaced four of eight.  I figured they were old, and wear and tear took it's toll.  Now four years later I replaced the same four again for leaking and found out the owner never put in a pressure regulator. The readings at the street is 90psi, do I need an irrigation pressure regulator? The old valves were 3/4in RainBirds.  They were replaced with 3/4in Orbits.

Update:  Sounds like your irritation is fed from the main spigot that is before the house pressure reducer valve, in which case 90psi is normal but may be too much for some irrigation systems.  Depends on how the system was designed and how the pressure is diversified.  You could easily put on a pressure reducer and see if that helps while still maintaining good overall pressure.


Is there any reason why I should have a contractor get a permit himself instead of getting it on my own? We're getting ready to have our breaker box upgraded and the electrician gave us two quotes: One price if we get the permit ourselves... and another price if he needs to get the permit.

The second price is definitely more than the cost of the permit (not sure why).  Is there any reason why I would want to pay more for the electrician to get the permit himself?

It is just filing paperwork and maybe drawing up schematics.  In my town they like the home owners getting the permits.  For a panel replacement there isn't much to draw.  You probably have to label what you have and what you are putting in.  Just go down to city hall, tell them what you are doing, and they will tell you what they want from you.  Get the permit, save money, and make sure your electrician signs off on it at the end.

Also if you do the permit yourself you will be sure that the electrician is truly doing what you are paying him to do.  He could submit one with 80% of the work detailed and the inspector will not be looking for the other 20%.

And side note:  It is often easier in smaller towns to bundle permits.  Always ask yourself, "Do I have any other work I need to get done?"

And money saving note:  Permits are often based on the cost of the work done.  If the electrician charges you a lot to get the permit then the permit costs more.


Is it a bad idea to install a book shelf system on drywall? I've got a shelf system that I would like to install on a wall in my living room that's made out of drywall, and was wondering whether the wall would be able to hold the shelves and contents. The shelves themselves come to around 33kg.
Would the drywall be able to hold up the shelves and contents by itself? Or if not, would it work if one of the shelf rails was attached to a wooden stud? And would it matter if it was a side bracket or would it need to be the central bracket or multiple brackets?
This is the shelf set that I've got:

When attaching anything other than lightweight items to the wall, you want to ensure that you have attached it to the underlying wall studs.
In the case of shelves, except for perhaps very light ornamental shelves, you want to attach the tracks (i.e. the vertical black pieces in your photo) to the studs with screws that are long enough to penetrate the wood enough and strong enough to hold the intended weight.
From looking at the photo it does appear that the 3 tracks are spaced at about the typical width for wall stud spacing.
The best way to find studs is with a commercially made stud finder tool.  These are relatively inexpensive today.  You will also want to ensure that you don't hit and hidden plumbing or electrical wires in the wall, so take a survey of the things on the other side, above and below the wall to try to avoid any damage.


How can I unclog a passive bathroom air vent? I live in a prewar apartment building. At the top of the shower, on the wall where the water comes in, is a passive vent. There is no powered fan that is installed and no nearby electrical wiring to facilitate it.

When I open a window in my apartment, air clearly flows nicely through the vent - a piece of toilet paper can remain suspended to the vent grating.

However, with the window closed, no air flow occurs.

How can I fix this? My assumption is that air flow through the vent is possible but is occurring through a very narrow opening. When a window is open, air can flow one way through the vent and be replaced by air coming from the window. When the window is closed, the air vent is too clogged and thus too narrow to permit two way air flow and so no air flow occurs.

The vent doesn't need to be unclogged. You stated that paper is held to the register. That scenario shows that air flows through the vent unrestricted. The probable reason it might appear to be blocked (when the window is closed) is you reside in a well sealed building that has few drafts. With out going into detail about air flow; the reason you detect air movement when the window is opened is due to air flow from outside having a unrestricted passage through your vent. When the window is closed the air currents have to detour around the building walls.


Will I need to re-sand wood that has raised grain due to moisture? I am refinishing a cabinet with a barn wood plank top. After sanding it down to 220 grit I applied a coat of linseed oil. Unfortunately while at work today it rained, and while it wasn't directly exposed it got wet enough to raise the grains.

Will I need to re-sand after it dries?

Sanding oily wood will quickly ruin your sand paper. However, whether it should be resanded depends on how much you care about the finish.
As a matter of practice, when I make "fine" wooden pieces, I purposely wet the wood after my first 220 sanding; after allowing it to dry, I sand off the fibers (or grain as you mentioned). And I sometimes repeat the wet, dry, and sand routine if I really need get rid of those fibers. I do this so that few fibers appear if the wood accidentally gets wet, or especially if I am planning to use a water based polyurethane to seal it.


How do I make a new toilet tank on an old bowl flush properly? Problem / symptoms: I've bought a new water tank (nothing fancy inside, just what I'd describe as "the usual, run-off-the-mill mechanism"*), but it doesn't flush properly, as it doesn't release enough water and it only ends up mixing the water in the toilet, endlessly diluting it (thus my humorous remark in the title - it's what I now call "my homeopathic toilet tank"). I've tried playing with the lever and float ball position, but that's obviously not it. The tank is not blocked, as it's brand new, and the water level when full is sufficient. If I hold the overflow tube up, it actually flushes nicely.

My question: I'd like to know which part of it needs adjustment in position (is there anything I could do to make the flush valve stay more open) to make it release water more rapidly and actually flush? The neck (overflow pipe) seems to rotate on its axis, but the valve stays more or less in the same position and rotating it a few turns in any direction didn't change anything. Should I try rotating the overflow pipe more, or all I'll achieve is merely unscrew it off its place?

* Cross section of the mechanism functionally equal to the toilet tank I bought.

Previous research: I've checked through already existing questions and answers, and all seem to be focused on either old tanks having use & wear related problems (for example: Toilet not always flushing fully, what could be wrong?), they "magically fixed themselves", or they have the exact opposite symptoms. Anyway, no answer there was really helpful, so I'm posting a new question.

Try holding the lever until the toilet flushes completely. If this doesn't work, then you need to adjust your lever to flapper connection so that pressing the lever pulls the flapper up further, allowing greater water flow.

If holding the lever down for awhile until the toilet flushes completely works then it is likely to do with a mismatch between your flush mechanism and your toilet's water requirements. Recent toilet designs in the US must comply with government standards for water use, and are now low flow.  The new toilets are designed to work well with less water, typically 1.6 gallons per flush or less.  This is under half the water old toilets required.  If the toilet is older than 1994, then it likely is a style that requires 3.5 gallons per flush.

If you've replaced the top tank, or the flushing mechanism without replacing the old toilet bowl, you've run into the same problem many people have run into since the changes have been made.  Your old bowl will not flush properly with the low amount of water your new flushing mechanism provides.

However, manufacturers have designed flushing mechanisms to allow the user to provide a greater flush volume if desired.  You simply hold down the flush lever continuously until the toilet is completely flushed, using up the entire tank of water.

It's not as convenient as pressing and releasing immediately, but it should get the job done.

Another option is to purchase a 3.5 gallon per flush mechanism and replace yours with the larger volume flush mechanism.

Alternately, you can replace the toilet bowl with one designed to work with a low flush volume.

If you want to modify your existing flush mechanism to provide adequate water volume permanently, you can examine the mechanism and you should be able to modify it so it empties the entire tank into the bowl with a single press and release.  In most mechanisms the low flow is accomplished with a small hole in the flapper.  When the flapper is raised by the lever, there is an air bubble trapped in it that keeps it up until the water level drops low enough.  In low flow mechanisms there is also a small hole that releases the air in this bubble, so the flap drops before the water reaches the bottom of the tank.  Block this hole, and the flap will stay up until the tank is emptied.

The combined overflow tube and flapper system you have should have a similar small hole that allows the flapper to drop before the tank is emptied, although it might not be as obvious as it is on a typical flapper.

Another method that is used is a separate float on the chain or flapper assembly that is higher up, which allows the flapper to close before the tank is fully empty.  These can be adjusted downward to allow the tank to empty more fully, but they may not be able to be adjusted down far enough to fully empty the tank.

If you examine the mechanism while it's flushing, you might be able to determine what is allowing your flapper to close before the tank is fully empty.

Note that if you do make such a change to your system, you should not be in violation of federal standards, but local regulations may prohibit such modifications.

However, in all cases, holding the lever until the toilet flushes completely should work, unless the mechanism isn't adjusted properly in the first place.


Strange voltages from wires behind outlet, and smell from behind outlet For the last month or so I've been getting a strange smell in my house that we bought 6 months ago. The smell is not obvious, but smells a little burnt to me, but my wife thinks it smells like a stink bug.

Today I found that the smell appears to be coming from an electrical outlet. So, I disconnected the outlet. The outlet that I disconnected doesn't smell anymore, but the smell still persists from the box that the outlet was in.

I measured the voltage using my volt meter of these wires, and got very strange readings. Note there are 2 white wires, a black wire, and a bare wire. (picture attached)

White1-White2: 118VAC

White1-bare: 118VAC

White1-black: 72VAC

White2-black: 14VAC

White2-bare: 0VAC

Black-bare: 14VAC

So that is very wierd. I would guess the 14VAC is just some stray capacitance. But why is there a 72VAC? the White1-White2 having a difference is also very strange, I wonder if whoever installed it a long time ago got the wrong colored wires.

The 2 whitewires were definitely wired to the same side of the outlet before. So, they must have been linked together before. So I touched the 2 white wires together, expecting the circuit breaker to trip if there is a short. But the circuit breaker didn't trip.

So, give these 3 pieces of information, any theories on what is going on?

Burnt/stink bug like smell from box behind outlet
Strange and unexpected voltage readings
Touching the 2 white wires together that
measured 118VAC between them did not trip the circuit breaker

Some more info:

There are 3 big sheathed "bundles" coming into this box. The black wire comes from the bundle in the top right. The 2 white wires each come out of a separate bundle (top left and bottom left).

Also, there is only one black wire, but 2 white wires. Previously, one of the attachment points on the outlet that should have been another black wire was left unattached to anything.

Couple things you failed to mention.  First, this outlet is controlled by a switch. Second, other outlets died when you removed this receptacle.  Those are both important clues.

First, let's fix the color coding. Grab some colored electrical tape.

The loose black wire, is a switched-hot coming back from the switch.  Conventional color code is red; mark it red.

The bundle of 3 wires in the back, 2 black 1 white, are all always-hot. Conventional color for that is black; so mark that white wire.

In a switch loop, you're supposed to use the white wire for always-hot, so it's more obvious to someone measuring that this is a hot. You're also supposed to mark it with black tape (no one ever does).

The remaining white wires are actually neutral. Mandatory color code for those is native white; you can't re-mark colored wires to be neutral.

White2 goes to supply, and it's where neutral is sourced. White1 goes onward to other outlets, however those outlets are now broken because you severed their neutral.  Doing so makes the neutral hot, and thus, dangerous; which is why we put insulation on neutral wires.

To make this make more sense, splice and pigtail

You notice you had 2 white wires going to the receptacle. You also notice that the little "tab" between the two screws is connected.  That means the 2 wires connected to each other as well as to the receptacle.  To make the downline circuit work without the receptacle, get a 6" white wire and a wire nut, and pigtail it with the 2 wires. Now the outlet will only have 1 white wire, and it will be obvious the whites are connected.

Why is a neutral wire hot?

Because neutral doesn't come from magic, it comes from being connected back to the panel.  White1 is the downline circuit trying to return neutral back to the panel.  Since it can't, "hot" voltage is just backing up, unable to go anywhere. When you put a voltmeter between white1 and white2, you are seeing the voltage trying to return.

Shorting white1 and white2 simply restores that function, so now the downline circuit works again, and those appliances come back to life.

You should not be shorting things that were not shorted before: what is wrong with your brain?  If the switch had been on, then shorting white2 and black (now red) would have given you a blinding arc flash, possibly a burn, and possibly more wire failures at the switch or anywhere upline.  This stuff can get out of hand real quick. If you want to "short things", short them through an incandescent lamp.

That smell

Probably was electrical. My first suspect would be that wire-nut in the back of the box.  I'd give it a pull-test (hold nut; yank each wire 1 at a time) and then tighten it up good-n-plenty.  Then, I'd examine the wires and the old socket for any scorch or burn marks.  If you cut the wires out of the backstabs instead of twisting them out, that was a mistake, for this very reason (also because wire length is precious).   You'll have to dissect the old outlet to see.

To pull wires out of backstabs, pull steadily while twisting slightly. It may help to jab the release. Backstabs can't be used twice, but that's irrelevant if you follow most of our advice and avoid using them altogether.


Where Should the Sub Panel Go? What Size Wire? Been lurking for awhile getting ready to install a 60 amp sub-panel for my back yard.

I have everything I need figured out except for three important items as I get conflicting stories depending on who I ask or what I look up:

Where should I place the sub-panel?  As close to the main box as possible or at the end of the garage where the hole will be drilled for the outside runs?  Does one method have more advantage than the other?
What size wire should I run from the main to the sub?  Some say 6 is fine since it's under 50 ft, others are telling me for 60 amps you have to use 4.
What size wire is adequate coming from the sub-panel breakers to the individual circuits?  I was going to use 10 AWG, but was told that was over kill and I should use 12.

The images below show what the runs will look like and also the breakers I am planning on putting in the sub-panel.

There may be a few location changes if I can't access the area under my deck like I think I can, and yes I will be burying the wire running to the batting cage and pool equipment.

I will be hiring an electrician for some of the work, but the more I can save doing myself the better.  I am handy and have messed with power before, just not this much at once.  Normally it's just running inside stuff.

Put the subpanel closest to where the branch circuits exit

I would put the subpanel as close to where the branch circuits exit the house as possible.  This prevents routing and spacing/derating issues with a "bundle" or "trunk" of branch circuit wires from biting you in the butt when you go to hook the branch circuits up to the subpanel.

I'd use 4AWG aluminum for the feeder between the two panels

The folks who say 6AWG is sufficient for 50A are correct, as 6AWG copper wire can handle 55A when limited to a 75°C maximum temperature, which is the general limit for wires connected solely to distribution equipment.  However, at 60A, you are at the threshold where aluminum wires become a cost-effective choice.  As a result, I would use 4AWG aluminum THWN or XHHW-2 in the conduit for the hots and neutral, along with an 8AWG bare copper ground wire.

Your choice of conduit is fine

While 2" conduit may sound like overkill, it's a good choice here as oversizing the conduit both makes the pull easier and provides plenty of space for future expansion.  One could use EMT instead of PVC if they wished to not have a ground wire in the conduit, but that's up to you, really.  One note with PVC, though, is if this garage is not a conditioned space, then you'll need to use expansion joints in the run to keep it from doing the worm on you!

Either way, you will want to provide ample pull points to avoid needing to ask your electrician to swoop in with his truck full of pulling tools and bail you out.  While the inside bends from wall to ceiling will need to be made using prefabricated sweeps, any 90° bends in the ceiling-supported run should be made using LL or LR conduit bodies instead.

Given your outside wiring scheme, I would go "trunk and branches" here

Given the diagram you gave for your outside wiring scheme, I would run conduit (1" Schedule 80 PVC will do for this) for the main outdoor runs.  In particular, the run from the panel to the first receptacle and from that receptacle to the deck/firepit lights should be done this way, with the pool wiring run as a separate conduit homerun from the panel to provide room for future upgrades to the pool setup.

In the homerun from the panel to the first receptacle box, then, we have:

a 14AWG THWN hot/neutral for the batting cage lights
a 12AWG THWN hot/neutral for the receptacles
a 14AWG THWN multiwire (hot/hot/neutral) branch circuit for the remaining lights
and a 12AWG bare or green THWN ground wire

This conduit gets stubbed up to the first receptacle box, a 2-gang FSS box that has an extra 1/2" nominal (7/8" actual) knockout field-made in its bottom (with a step drill or hole saw) in addition to having 1" hubs molded into the box.  The 1/2" knockout gets used for a 1/2" PVC conduit sleeve (with appropriate fitting) that protects a 14/2 UF cable going down into the ground for the batting cage lights, while the other 1" hub is used for the conduit onward to the deck/fire pit lights.  In this conduit, we have the 12AWG for the receptacle branch circuit, the 14AWG multiwire branch circuit for the deck and fire pit lights, and a 12AWG ground wire.

When we reach the deck/fire pit light switch location, we stub up into a 2 gang FSCC box with 1" factory hubs.  This box houses the light switches, or if you prefer, just splices with the light switches in a 2 gang FSC box mounted further up on the structure.  From the light switch box, we then head up to the light fixtures in more conduit; if you need to, you can split neutral in half at the switch box and have two neutrals in the conduit from the switch box to the lights, even.

The other stub-down, then, can either be a 1/2" conduit to the ground with a reducer at the box if you are running a 12/2 UF to the other receptacle location, or 12AWG THHN in conduit (either 1/2" or 1", your pick) for the entire run to the other receptacle if you prefer.

TORQUE ALL LUGS TO SPEC

One other note is that when you are installing panels these days, 2017 NEC 110.14(D) requires that you use a torque tool (torque wrench or screwdriver, reading in inch-pounds in practice) to tighten all lugs on devices labeled with torque specifications to that labeled torque.  Even if your jurisdiction has not adopted the 2017 NEC yet, it's a good idea to do this anyway, lest your electrical system loses you the race.


Can anyone identify this valve I have several old sinks in a house I'm working on and I think I probably need to replace or at least rebuild a few of these valves. But I'm not sure of the make much less the model.
Can anyone ID these?
Edit: this is the US. Probably installed in the late 70s

For anyone who stumbles on this, I went to two plumbing parts houses in town, the first one with the fancy showroom had no idea what it was and spent a couple minutes flipping through a catalog before giving up, the second old warehouse one the guy took a quick look and said "it's a chicago faucets quaturn" but they don't carry that line. So he printed out the part sheet for me and I found them on Amazon for $28 a pair. Thanks for all your comments and help!
The gasket kits to rebuild this cartridge cost more than the new cartridge, but I'm going to get a kit or two anyway since I've been burned with "new" cartridges that are all plastic when the old ones were all brass.


Electric Dryer with possible wrong Cord I moved my electric dryer to another room, and in doing so I realized it needed a longer cord for it. Searching the internet I found that the plug on my dryer is a three pronged / type plug with the third straight down. I noticed these are for Ranges that push 50 amps and my dryer is 30 amp. Since I run this through a fuse box with thirty amp fuses is it safe to use a range cord on the dryer?

No, it's not particularly safe. But it's not about the 50A/30A plug/receptacle, it's about the 3-Prong 240VAC plug/receptacle. Those have been known to be a poor design choice for 40-odd years and have been outlawed (other than "grandfathered" installations which are allowed to remain until remodeling or the like forces change) for more than 20 years in code.
Why are they bad? This plug configuration (the NEMA 10-50 for 50A ranges, or 10-30 for 30A dryers) has no grounding terminal, and neutral ends up connected to the case of the appliance. The modern replacement (NEMA 14-50 and NEMA 14-30) has 4 terminals, with both a grounding terminal and a neutral terminal as well as the two hot terminals. For the 10-30, one problem can lead to an energized case (the outside of the dryer goes to 120VAC) while the 14-30 requires TWO problems at the same time to reach that point.
There are other 3-prong 240VAC plug/receptacles that are hot, hot, ground, and those are OK, but ranges and dryers in the US have typically used some 120VAC components, so those plugs won't work for them.
If your dryer outlet box has 4 wires, you would simply replace the incorrect 10-50R with a 14-30R and then replace the cord on your dryer with a 14-30P cord, following your dryer's instructions to remove the jumper that bonds the case to neutral with a NEMA 10 cord. If your dryer outlet box only has 3 wires (and is not wired via conduit that would provide a ground path) you have to choose whether to continue living dangerously with a NEMA 10 outlet (if you are merely moving the dryer, not remodeling) or to retrofit a ground wire to that box and install a 14-30R.


Best practices for disposing of waste that is diluted in water? (paint, finishes/membranes, cement, dust/particles from wet saw, etc) Usually I let waste dry up in the case of cement/paint, then throw away.

But often times waste is diluted in water. Should I bag these up and then throw away?

I do not want to put it down the sink, or bury it in dirt, or make a mess in a trash bin.

What's the best thing to do here?

Drying paint out is smart.

Most cities have a hazardous household waste disposal service at the municipal landfill, likely as part of a strategy to encourage citizens not to simply pitch mineral spirits or motor oil or oil-soaked rags or consumer herbicides, pesticides, etc.

Have you checked there?


Can a gas fireplace insert heat an entire house? I have a single-story 1400 sq/ft house (4 bedroom).  Here's a VERY rough sketch of the layout:

The house has blown-in insulation on the exterior walls but no insulation on the interior walls. Windows are single-pane aluminum (we're getting ready to systematically replace these this year).

At the current time, we don't have any heating (the fireplace that's there is a standard masonry fireplace but we haven't used it (there's a gas line hookup nearby but it's not connected).

At this point, we're considering a couple options:

1) Get a gas-powered fireplace insert

2) Get central heating.

The fireplace salesman naturally said that his solution is the best (citing something about fireplace inserts offering better energy/heat transference efficiency than central heating).

I like the idea of a thermostat-controlled fireplace insert but I'm skeptical that something like this could heat an entire house.

So my questions are:

1) Is it remotely possible for a fireplace insert to heat an entire house? Especially considering the rough dimensions of my house?

2) Are Fireplaces truly more heat/energy efficient?

There is no way that a simple fireplace insert can heat a house the same way that a central air system that pipes the heated air into each room.

It is possible to have a fireplace built that has a heat exchanger built into it that feeds into an air circulation system such that the warmed air is moved around to other parts of the house. However I doubt that your existing fireplace has this heat exchanger system built into it...then yet the ducting to an air curculation system into the rest of the house.

I'm glad to see that you seem to have it in mind that the advice that you get from the fireplace salesman will always be biased toward what he is trying to sell you!!


Any issue with splicing a 220 line? I have an existing 220 line (10-2 wire), that is an outlet for a dust collector.
I need to move the dust collector about 5 more feet down the wall. So the outlet needs to move 5 feet too.
Any problem with taking the plug out of the metal box, using it as a junction box instead, and splicing in another 5 feet of #10 wire to a new outlet down the wall?
I know this is fine with 110 but I don't do much with 220 ever, so just making sure.

No problem, that is how you would do it. The only thing you cannot do is to make a splice in a wall and cover it without access to it.
#8 wire sliced onto #10 though might be a problem, not at the splice end, but is your receptacle rated to terminate #8 wire? Why are you increasing the wire size?


Wall oven and stovetop on same circuit? We are pulling an old Jenn-Air range and replacing with a separate Jenn-Air stovetop and oven.  Due to the downdraft they cannot be placed on top of one and other but will be in adjacent cabinets.  The current electrical setup for the range is a double 50 Amp breaker with an 8 gauge wire that supplies the unit.  Since this is in an island set into a concrete slab there is no way to run new electrical lines.  The new oven is 3.6KW and the stove is 7.0KW.  The minimum circuit and wire sizes are 20 Amp/12 AWG and 40 Amp/8 AWG according to the installation manuals.  Can we run a 12 gauge wire off the existing 8 gauge wire to serve the oven and keep them on the same circuit?  I will have an electrician make the connections, but for planning purposes I need to know whether this electrical setup will be OK.

Blame whoever buried that cable in the slab for your predicament

Since some nitwit thought burying a /2 SE cable in a slab was the best thing since sliced bread, your project is now in a predicament due to the lack of separate neutral and ground wires in the cable.  This missing wire problem forbids you from fitting a subpanel here (as you'd need a separate ground for that), and it also forbids you from running further cables from here due to issues with the NEC 250.148 requirements for terminating EGCs conflicting with the Exception to NEC 250.140 that permits continued use of existing 3-wire range circuits.

This leaves you with only two ways out: the destructive way and the not-so-residential way.  The destructive way would be to dig the culprit cable out of the slab and replace it with something less awkward, such as a 1" ENT (smurf tube) that can then have individual THHN wires run down it.  This provides plenty of expansion space, and uses methods and materials that most residential electricians are familiar with, but it sounds like the level of physical demolition and remodeling (busting and re-doing floor tile and concrete slab, ripping out and replacing island parts, and opening up wall cavities to route the ENT out of the slab and back to the panel) this requires makes it a non-option in your case.  (It'd also take quite a bit of money as a result of all that time and work.)

It's transformer time!

However, there is a savior for your situation, riding in from the bowels of high-rises and the floors of factories.  While not normally done, nothing in the NEC prohibits the use of dry-type distribution transformers in residential work, and   they have certain properties that make their use advantageous and cost-effective in some circumstances.  In particular, since a distribution transformer's primary and secondary are coupled only by their mutual magnetic field, it provides electrical isolation.  As a result of this isolation property, the neutral and bonding systems effectively "start over" on the secondary side of a transformer, yielding something called a separately derived system in the NEC.

What this means for you in practical terms is that your 3-wire cable can feed a suitable distribution transformer, and then that transformer can feed the cooktop and oven in turn via a (small) breaker panel, thus providing a fully Code-compliant, 4-wire feed to the new appliances without the need for extensive demolition and remodeling work.  However, there are some caveats to this approach, so read on before you make your final decision here.

First off, transformers are not like most other pieces of hardware in a house in that they are dense compared to a typical appliance.  A transformer of the correct size and type for your application, namely a 10kVA, single phase, 480/240V primary, 240/120V secondary, enclosed, dry-type transformer as a 7.5kVA unit is just a scotch too small for a range circuit, will fit into a space 2' high, by 15" wide at most, by 12" deep, yet weighs over 150 pounds!  This, along with the fact that transformers are healthy space-warmers that need cooling air in order to have a long and productive life, means that you can't simply hang one on the back of an average kitchen cabinet.

Furthermore, we'll need to fit a small breaker panel into the island as well in order for this approach to work.  This provides a home for the new neutral-ground bond required by the transformer's presence, as well as protection for the wires on the secondary side of the transformer.  Fortunately, we don't need much here; a "spa panel" sized breaker box flush-mounted into the access hatchway to the transformer compartment will suffice.  Note that this access hatchway will need to be louvered or grilled in order to provide cooling airflow for the transformer, and will also need to be proud of the cabinet front to keep the countertop lip from infringing on the 110.26(A) clear working space for the spa box.  The transformer itself does not need to have a full clear working space provided for it, though, as NEC 450.13(B) permits an installation into a hollow space such as the interior of a cabinet.

Finally, the transformer itself is something that you or your electrician will need to source through a local electrical supply house (or used, via say Craigslist in your area); common pricing as of the time of this writing is somewhere in the $500-$600 range.  They are too heavy to be shipped as parcels (and require freight shipping service as a result), and also are simply not carried by big-box stores as they are rarely used in residential construction.  As a corollary to this, that last fact also means that you will also need to make sure your electrician of choice is familiar with transformer connections, as many residential electricians never encounter them in the course of their work.

Implementing this, industrial style

The way this works out is that you'll have to build a sturdy structure inside the cabinet bay where the old range outlet was to mount the transformer on as it has to be mounted upright in order for the cooling to work out correctly; this structure will need to be anchor-bolted directly to the slab instead of being attached to cabinet components, as well, due to the aforementioned weight issue.  From that existing box location, the installer can run a 3/4" LFMC whip with 2 6AWG stranded THHN hots and an 8AWG stranded bare copper ground in it to the transformer; this connects to the primary side of the transformer, which is strapped for 240VAC use with the hots connected to H1/H3 and H2/H4 at the the transformer and ground connected to the transformer's grounding lug.  Note that this may require replacing the existing junction box with a larger box: a 4-11/16" square box provides enough room here to connect to the existing cable.  Also, the split bolt that was used for the original neutral/ground connection needs to be removed and replaced with a compression connection as this equipment grounding conductor is doing double duty as a grounding electrode conductor as per the Exception to 250.121.

The transformer's secondary then is wired to the back of the spa-box-sized loadcenter using individual wires in a raceway; a 3/4" LFMC whip with 3 6AWG stranded THHN wires for the hots (aka X1 and X4) + neutral (X2/X3 taken together) and an 8 AWG stranded bare copper ground will do the job nicely here, although at the transformer the secondary ground wire needs to be connected to the primary ground wire with a compression tap connector in order for the grounding electrode path to meet the splicing requirements in NEC 250.64(C) point 1.  Into the breaker box goes a 2-pole, 50A breaker of the correct type for the new panel, with 6AWG pigtails from the breaker hots to an 8/2 NM cable to the cooktop and a 12/3 NM cable to the oven.  Note that while a separate ground bar is a good idea here, this panel must have its bonding screw or strap fitted as if it were a main panel; this establishes the new neutral-ground bonding point required by the transformer's presence.

Last but not least, the existing 50A range circuit breaker in the main panel will need a lockoff device fitted to it to meet the requirements of 450.14 for a lockable disconnecting means for the transformer.  For your main panel, this means that your installer will have to buy either a GE THP100 (for full sized breakers), or a GE TQPPL (for half-width/double-stuff/thin breakers) and fit it to the range breaker in the main panel.


Fixing leaky shallow-pitch patio roof? I have a covered patio area attached to my house, it is approximately 28ft long x 14 feet wide, and slopes in the short direction. This roof meets the house about 2ft below the eaves of the main house roof, and is 3-tab asphalt shingles over plywood (assuming 1/2"). The roof framing is 2x6, 16" OC. Due to a lack of general maintenance, plus the age of this roofing, there are numerous leaks all over. The pitch of the roof is pretty shallow, it only drops about 2 to 2.5ft over 14ft slope.

As a patio, this doesn't really matter, but I'd like to use the area as a workshop and don't want anything to get leaked on. Because it's difficult to figure out where the leaks are, and I don't want to find more leaks "the hard way", I'm looking for a repair solution that I can apply to the entire roof surface that will last for 2 to 4 years until I can replace the workshop with a larger / separate structure.

I'm not a roofer by any means, but I'm a competent DIYer so I'd entertain anything that doesn't require me to buy a bunch of additional tools.

Your roof is much to shallow (about 2/12) for asphalt shingles which need about a 4/12 pitch.  You need to tear those off and replace with with a membrane or "torch down" roof surface, or possible standing seam steel.

If it's been leaking for any length of time, expect to replace decking, and possibly rafters as well due to rot.


How can I paint aged wood trim that has been varnished? We have a 68 bungalow that have varnished baseboards and trim  not a really nice looking trim and no fancy profile  Believe it is only fir wood.  Would like to paint but not sure if paint will adhere to it.  What steps must I take.  Wood will split if removed from wall  Will eventually replace but for now just want to freshen up

You should give it a sanding with fine sandpaper, to de-gloss it. Then wipe it down with mineral spirits, or better yet a liquid cleaner/de-glosser like this:

You might be able to get away with just the liquid prep if the varnish is not high gloss. Then paint with high quality paint and brushes. No primer necessary.


How can I treat these green spots on my hot tub? I have a hot tub that is built into my pool. The hot tub overflows into the pool for a sort of waterfall trickle effect. I've noticed recently these green spots starting to form :

What are they and how can I treat them? Are they an indication of something wrong with the water quality? I check it about every 3 weeks, and add chemicals as needed (usually requires PH down)

The green stuff appears to be algae. It is most likely growing there because that area gets wet occasionally with the treated pool water but then is left exposed to the air without the water present.

The way to control that on most hot tubs attached to a pool would be to normally set the water diverter valves at the pool pump to circulate the pool water through the hot tub and then to the pool. Pools that I've had experience with will still permit some of the daily pool pump circulation to go to jets in the pool proper. If you keep the chemical balance in the pool correct the flow of treated water should control algae growth. (BTW I think only testing and adjusting your pool chemical state every three weeks is far too long of interval. This should be done every week so you can stay on top of things when climate conditions change).

With persistent growth like showing in your picture you may be faced with having to do a direct cleaning of that area after applying some algaecide. The chemicals may require selection as some types are designed for specific colors of algae (yellow, black, green, brown etc).


How should I improve the drywall under my staircase before taping? My half bath rough in is under the staircase. The original builders put an angled side of the ceiling. I tried hanging a piece of drywall but I'm not super happy with the result. The right side sticks out too much.

Would a prefill layer of (hot?) mud run on each edge fix this? Would normal taping fix this? Or should I take it down and start over? If I need to take it down, would hanging a plywood backer first help?

Prefill will take care of it. Prefill only enough to effectively get tape up there, then begin buildup. Feel free to go a little heavy, sand, go a little heavy, sand, etc.

Just remember though, hot mud only dries quickly on the surface, just enough to lightly sand and recoat. It's still wet underneath, so don't go too thick per coat, and make sure you give it a couple days dry time before priming and painting.


How to balance thermostat settings between zones to maximize efficiency? I recently purchased a house so this is my first winter in it.  The house was built in 1939 so most of the house is on a single heating zone using hot water radiated heat.  The radiators are cast iron and recessed into the walls.  However, there is an addition to the house circa early 2000's that uses baseboard hot water radiators.  The addition also seems to be less heat efficient, probably because it has more windows, and has drywall instead of plaster.  The addition is on a separate heat zone from the rest of the house.  They are controlled by two different thermostats.

I'm trying to figure out how to set the thermostats to maximize heat efficiency.  So far I've been assuming that the baseboards are less efficient than the cast iron radiators, and so I've been setting the thermostat for the addition far lower (about 5 degrees) less than the main thermostat.  This basically means that the baseboards in the addition never switch on, and the addition remains cooler than the rest of the house (which is okay - it is a kitchen / dining room which we are okay with being cooler).  The addition just gets heated via heat transfer from the other rooms.

Is this the best approach?  Should I set the addition thermostat to the same temperature?  What other considerations are there in order to balance my zones correctly to maximize energy efficiency?

I think you are saying that you have two zones on one boiler, each fed by its own pump and thermostat (i.e. the radiators have been converted to hot water).  My answer is based on this assumption.

Since they're both on the same boiler, the water is heated with equal fuel efficiency.

The two loops probably are different in how efficiently they transfer that heat to the room.  Low efficiency in transferring heat to the room will decrease the heating capacity of your boiler, which is a problem if you can't get the house warm enough on a cold night.  But as long as you're keeping up with heat demand, efficiency in transferring heat doesn't make a difference with fuel usage.  (You can tell how efficient they are in transferring heat to the room by feeling the temperature at the end of the loop -- if it's pretty cold, the heat was transferred to the room very well)

So, the answer is that you should set the thermostats to the lowest temperature where you're comfortable.  Your addition from 2000 likely has a lot more insulation than the original 1939 house (in 2000 the building code required a lot of insulation, 1939 not so much), so if you want to pick the more efficient one to heat, heat the addition not the main house.  It will be more efficient because you'll lose less heat because of the greater insulation.


How to Cover Giant Sewer Vent Does anyone have a creative/safe way to hide this hideous sewer vent and manhole?

Thanks in advance!

That concrete riser really should be buried, ideally. So give the idea of dumping a lot of dirt there some serious thought.

Disguising the pipe (and the riser if you don't bury it) has many possible methods, starting at the low end with painting it, since sewer-pipe green stands out quite a bit. As is, you might make the pair resemble a broken-off stump with a branch sticking up using brown/gray/black paints.

Presumably you don't want tree roots right there, but some artificial foliage might help, or some annual vines trained on strings. Going more involved, you put a (removable) windmill or lighthouse (or other decorative motif structure) over them.


How can I rebuild/repair/replace this garden faucet I recently bought a house that was built in 1978, and it has a couple of garden faucets. These are not frost-free faucets, and that's not a huge concern for me because the house is located just south of Houston, TX.

What does concern me is that the one faucet needs some attention. The problems are:

The valve seat is leaking, causing the faucet to drip
The packing nut is leaking, causing the valve shaft to drip when the water is on

I've considered just replacing the faucet, which would be relatively easy, but after cutting a rag loose that was tied on with a shoelace, I found that the galvanized pipe feeding the faucet is pretty rusty.

I'm concerned that if I were to try to remove the faucet, the pipe would break or it may not come loose at all. I'm not too excited about attempting to replace the pipe, because it's also mortared into the brick, and I don't know how difficult it will be to get to the 90° elbow inside the wall either.

Should I decide to replace it, and assuming I'd need to replace the mortared pipe, how should I go about it?

Alternatively, should I decide to repair it, where can I get the parts I need to rebuild this faucet? The local Home Depot was of no use, and my Google searches don't seem to be specific enough.

Check at a hardware store. They often sell a bag of faucet washers of a mix of sizes that can be used to repair your faucet. You pick out the one from the kit that suits your faucet.

Sometimes the hardware store will have a whole section of individual faucet repair parts. Take the faucet washer and stem seal with you to match them up with new parts.

On the other hand the garden faucets probably are available in only so many styles. You could take a picture of your existing leaky faucet and take it along with you to the hardware store or other big box type store and purchase a new one of the same or very similar style. Then take it apart to redeploy the rubber parts from it for use in your old faucet.

Added Information:

I have actually repaired a faucet that was an outdoor spigot type in a unique way. It's valve stem piece was very corroded and logically led to the conclusion to replace the whole faucet. Unfortunately I found that the faucet was soldered onto a pipe inside the wall behind a stucco exterior and no direct access from the inside of the wall either. I took a sharp focused picture of the faucet and traveled off to the big box store and happened to find a full new faucet that was identical in every way to the old faucet. I was able to re-use the stem, top portion of the faucet body and the packing nut from the new faucet on the old lower portion faucet body and restore to like new performance without having to break any stucco or tear down a blind inside wall.


What is the best way to check the wires in your house? Wires wear down eventually. This presumably can pose a fire hazard. But there are so many wires in a house and many of them are not easily accessible.

In order to maintain as safe a house as possible,

How can I check all the wires in my house?
How often should this be done?

Modern copper wire does not wear down nor erode. At least not for a millennia of time. If your house wire and electric system was installed by a state licensed contractor than you don't need to worry. If you're not sure who installed the electric system and feel that there may be a potential problem, than you would be wise to call a local electrician and have him or her check and repair any issues. If you want edit your question with more detail and specifics (flickering lights, breakers shutting off regularly, breaker panel under- rated, etc.?) you may get a better answer.


Do I use the Siemens Type Q Breaker in ITE Blueline Loadcenter panel? I'm looking for compatible breakers for my old ITE Blueline Loadcenter main panel.  I believe ITE was bought by Siemens.  Would the Siemens 100A 2 Pole 120/240V Type Q Breaker (https://www.homedepot.ca/product/siemens-100a-2-pole-120-240v-type-q-breaker/1000436969) be compatible for supplying 100A sub-panel?
Update:
I noticed one newer Siemens breaker in the panel! It's labelled type BL.  Can I assume all type BL breakers will be compatible with my ITE Blueline Loadcenter panel?
Update:
Photos added.
Photos:

You are looking for a Siemens BL2 (not to be confused with a Siemens BL)
ITE Blue Line loadcenters appear to use a special style of "thin" breaker instead of the more "typical" QP (EQ-P) breaker.  Unfortunately, the ITE Blue Line (not to be confused with the other type BL breaker, which is the bolt-down version of the QP and thus no use to you), only is available in 1 pole up to 50A and 2 pole up to 40A, as per the current Siemens Canada catalog.  So, you'll either need to run a smaller feeder to your subpanel, or have your main panel replaced outright.


Rainbird valve going on randomly I have an underground sprinkler system. A few days ago a valve got stuck "on" with a loudly buzzing solenoid. I replaced the entire valve with a new one and wired it in, tested, and all was well:

Today the zone whose valve I replaced randomly turned on even though the program is not set for this time. Turning the system from AUTO (schedule) to OFF successfully closed the valve (and stopped the sprinklers), then setting it back to AUTO kept the valve off... for now.

Typically when a valve is stuck on there's either debris in the line or the solenoid went bad. I ensured both are solved with my replacement valve. So, given that the new valve is still exhibiting quirky behaviour, what could possibly be going on? It must be receiving power to be on at this point so could the controller be going bad? I've had the controller since we moved in 3+ years ago and it has worked perfectly.

Today the valve went back on at 12:55pm local time. Also, while it was on, it did show valve 2 active on the display and the 25 minute countdown timer that I normally use for it, so this is 100% the controller.

I could not find any program setting or schedule that had only valve 2 going on at 12:55pm (which also is impossible according to the scheduler of the controller which works only in 15 minute intervals), so I assumed it was some kind of weird or bad programming state, especially since I finished replacing and rewiring the valve around 12:55pm on Sunday (though this may be a coincidence).

Earlier today I did a factory reset and re-programmed my nightly schedule from scratch. We'll see tomorrow whether or not that worked for sure. ;)

EDIT: it worked! Controller was in a weird state, a factory reset fixed it.


Is there a way to even out the paint without painting whole wall Just painted second coat and noticed botches that weren't there after the first coat.

What's the best way to smooth it out without painting the whole wall?

Sand it a bit and paint over it. Feather out the edges. Should work just fine.


Removing Sile Stone Countertop I am in the process of having some counters replaced.  Any suggestions on how to remove the Sile Stone without damaging the cabinet?  Trying to determine if the extra cost of demolition is worth it.

Score the caulk underneath the cabinet that runs along the cabinet frame. If sections of the countertop have been joined with silicone, make note of their position. Use caution lifting the countertop at these sections.
Pry the countertop loose with the pry bar and hammer. If you run into caulk or epoxy seam that's difficult to break loose, don't use excess force. Instead, use a utility knife to score the caulk or seam until you can safely use the pry bar. Continue prying the front of the countertop loose along its length.
Lift the front of the countertop as you side a furring strip between the countertop and cabinet, as close to the back as you can go. Lower the countertop onto the furring strip.
Push the front of the countertop down, breaking the caulk seal at the back of the countertop. If necessary, go under the cabinet and pry between the wall and the back of the countertop while a helper pushes down on the front. Gently lift the countertop off the cabinet and set it aside.


double wired circuits and grounds and neutrals sharing the same bus bar. Is it OK? double wired circuits and grounds and neutrals sharing the same bus bar, is it OK to wire like this? Sorry I am not a professional in this field.
2 red and 2 black coming from main panel.

No on several counts.

This looks like a subpanel.  Neutral bars and ground bars must be rigidly separated in subpanels. Period. If there is groundless feeder coming to it, you still need to separate neutrals and grounds for that happy day when you retrofit ground, which is legal anytime. (well, since 2014 for almost all circuits).

Note how the main lugs are double-tapped.  You cannot do that unless the lugs or the equipment they come with says in the labeling or instructions that you can do that.  Because the UL listing depends on following the instructions.

To fix that, see if the lugs are replaceable.  If they are, see if they can be changed to duplex lugs (lugs with 2 voids).   If they can't, then get a 3-hole Polaris connector and a short pigtail for each hot.

Often the small holes in the neutral or ground bar can accept up to a #6, and often those bars have some holes intended for larger wires.  Using those is fine.

Another way to avoid double-tapping on that panel is to move one pair of wires over to a circuit breaker of appropriate size. That's  a $10 solution.  This can double as a subpanel breaker (if needed) or outbuilding shutoff switch (if needed).  For what it's worth, they do make double-stuff breakers in CH.

Speaking of that, you cannot double-tap the neutral bar (2 neutrals on one lug) again unless the labeling or instructions say you can.

Ditto ditto grounds, though I have heard of panels saying you can up to triple-tap a ground lug.


Hot water last long time everywhere but in my shower? Hot water last long time everywhere but in my shower?

Hot water only lasts about 10 minutes in shower but lasts forever in kitchen and bathroom sinks!

How can I fix this?

Unless something is badly broken in your setup, the most effective fixes are (1) installing a flow restrictor, (2) increasing your water tank size, and (3) raising your water heater temperature.

You're probably just using up all the hot water in the tank. You can confirm this if you have a 5 gallon bucket (you can get one for a few bucks in my neighborhood big box store). Stick it under your shower head and see how long it takes to fill halfway. A modern shower head will take about a minute to fill 2.5 gallons, which if it's 80% hot water and 20% cold, means you're using 2 GPM hot water. If you have a smaller 40 gal tank, you have 20 minutes of shower. But if you had an older shower head (probably your case), it could have easily have twice the flow, meaning you have 10 minutes.

You can lengthen your shower using any of the suggested techniques, the easiest and most effective being replacing your shower head. In many places, your utility will give you a water-efficient shower head for free.

My bathroom sink is 1.2 GPM, and most are similar, which would give you 40 min hot water in the same setup.


Elcb keeps tripping even with all MCBs turned off So my elcb (earth leakage circuit breaker) is mysteriously turning itself off even when i have all MCBs (miniature circuit breaker) turned off. Has anyone had this kind of experience? What could be the potential problem?

Sorry i couldnt provide answers to the above comments (not enough points!), but finally got the issue fixed. Posting here in case anyone needs to know.

So two things i found out from my friend who is an electrical maintenance man at factory near my house:
1) if the earth leakage is from a live wire, then the earth leakage circuit breaker will trip immediately upon reset - u can easily find the culprit by turning on your mcb one by one
2) if the earth leakage is from a neutral wire, then things can get messy, the breaker will not trip immediately, and turning on the MCBs one by one will not have any effect. In fact turn off all MCBs and the ELCB will still trip.

The second one was the issue i had. An electrician came by and looked at all our neutrals and got it fixed in half a day's time


Should I bind the edge of an unbound remnant rug? If so, how do I do so? I was looking at possible area rugs for my apartment and found that the cheapest one was something called an "unbound remnant." However, a little googling revealed that unbound remnants shed their edges like crazy! I don't want that to happen, but I don't know if I can afford to bind it.

Should I bind the edge of an unbound remnant? If so, could I do so myself? What is the process for binding a carpet remnant, and what would I need if I did it myself?

You absolutely should (must) bind the edges.

Many consumer rugs are cut to length from a roll stock and bound for sale. Binding the edge is how it transforms from a textile on a roll into a rug.

You could do it yourself if you had the requisite equipment and sewing skills but I can't imagine it would be tremendously expensive to have done.

You can find a video of a product that can be used to bind your own edges, as well as basic instructions on how to use it right here.

A summary of the video is below:

  Tools you'll need

  Hot glue gun
  Scissors
  Straight edge

  Procedure

  Start by trimming the rug to provide a clean smooth edge.  You can do this using a straight edge and a pair of scissors.

  Next you'll want to trim the binding, so you start with a clean straight end.

  Pull back the backing paper, and apply the binding starting at the middle of one edge.

  When you get to the corner, use the edge of the rug as a guide to make a cut through the flat part of the binding. Then bend the binding around the corner, and continue around the rug.

  Once you've reached the place you started, use the beginning end as a guide to cut the binding to the proper length. Trim any excess strings, then attach the ends using hot glue.

  Run a 1/8" bead of hot glue, between the edge of the rug and the piping. Do this in small sections, so you can hold the two together until the glue sets. Continue all the way around the rug.

Alternatively, any rug shop or commercial carpet establishment should be able to do it for you...


Can you tell me where the some of the plumbing runs would be going to? just moved into my first new house in 17 years! My old house was a new build and very simple. This new to me house is about the same and had quite alot of basement work done at some point. That's where things start to confuse me. As you can see in the pics below, I have a plumbing quandry.

So here's what I know. The large shutoff in the middle of these runs appears to be the main shutoff. There is no longer a shutoff right out of the concrete and you can see where they removed it.

The bottom run is a 1/2 inch pipe and supplies the spigots BEFORE the softener. The softner then comes into play. The confusing thing is that there's a T there which would seem to be sending un-treated water SOMEWHERE, but I don't know how to tell where!

enter preformatted text here

I disagree that you see the main cutoff anywhere here. Keep looking - all those pipes originate from some other inlet to the house.

My guess about the red-handle valve is it's there to allow water flow when the softener tank is "offline". That valve should be closed under normal operation.

I see two "T" joints after the green valve. One has the blue-handle valve on it.  So, to trace a bit, do this:
1) turn the red handle off.
2) Do whatever is needed so water can't pass thru the softener assembly.
3) turn the blue handle off.

Now any outlet/tap/ fixture which still gets water flow probably comes from the T-line on the left.  Once you've identified those, open the blue-handle valve and see what additional items have water flow.   Everything that doesn't have flow at this point probably goes thru the softener leg.


Do new integrated kitchen faucets come with threads for adapters? I use a Python No Spill Clean and Fill Aquarium Maintenance System with my current kitchen faucet to change out my fish tank water.

I'm thinking about getting a new faucet and kitchen sink, but the faucets I'm looking at doesn't look like there are any threads to attach the adapter to.

Here are a couple samples from amazon of the faucets that I'm looking at:

VCCUCINE  Single Lever Pull Out Sprayer
Delta 9178-AR-DST Leland Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet with Magnetic Docking

I've tried looking at the delta site and various terms such as garden hose adapter, but nothing useful came up.

The second Delta faucet that you linked is not going to be at all compatible with your fish tank cleaning system. The first VCCUCINE unit may be usable if the aerator on the non-spray spout is removable. It looks like from the view below that it may be removable as per the small flats on two sides:

...but it would not be fun to have to remove that part every time you wanted to use the fish tank cleaning adapter.

Also be aware that there a plethora of sizes of threads used for faucet aerators. Some are internal (F type) threads and others are external (M type) threads. Then throw in inch and metric sizes and realize that there will be a good chance that your existing faucet adapter may not work with a new faucet even if it does have a conveniently removable aerator.


drain pipe for washer over flowing! Help! I bought a used washer machine and every time it goes in spin cycle it over flows out of the drain pipe in the wall. Before this I had a new front loader and it never did this. I also just moved into a different house and turned on the washer last night and it did the same thing. The drain hose was large so I bought a new low pressure hose this morning. It still over flowed. What I did notice is you can hear the drain pipe filling up before it overflows. So I stopped the washer to let the water in the drain pipe drain. Turned washer on again and it started to overflow again. Third time I started the washer it drained without over flowing. I know it can't be a clog because never had a problem with the old washer at the old house and it's doing it at the new house. So it has to be the washer. What do I do??

If you've never used a washer successfully at your new house, then you haven't yet ruled out the possibility of a clog or blockage in the standpipe or anywhere else in the waste plumbing system.

Regardless, it sounds like the washer you have now empties a larger and/or faster volume of water into the standpipe, which is undersized for the new load. It's possible that your former washer used less water or emptied more slowly masking the problem of an undersized standpipe.

A more water-wise washer will alleviate this issue, but the real solution is to allow the water to drain more freely, either by unblocking a blockage in the pipes or replacing the standpipe with a larger-diameter one (usually 2" or larger nowadays).

Alternatively, you can rig up a graywater system by attaching the washer hose to a garden hose directed to something outside that you want to get more water. An overview of this sort of system can be found at http://oasisdesign.net/greywater/laundry/


Smartify 50s low-voltage lighting system I bought a house with a low-voltage lighting system, where the switches have low-voltage wires that power relays that actually power the full-voltage lights. I want to find out if I can take advantage of all the low-voltage wiring to install a system that can integrate with home-automation systems. The relays are all centrally located, so I am hoping that a centrally located computer could do the work of the old relays.

I am assuming that I would have to replace all the switches and relays with something more compatible with computer I/O voltages or something like that, but I am not very proficient with electronics, which is why I am asking here.

A description of the system can be found here: https://www.kyleswitchplates.com/sierra-electric-low-voltage-lighting-info/

Any ideas?

I would use the system as it is and add a low voltage relay that the computer controls to fire the existing relay. With this method the existing switches would still be functional as an overide, one example might be similar to an arduino relay board using the arduino micro controller my grand son and I built a 12 channel Christmas light controller, in your case you use the relay to bypass the switch and pull in the larger relay using the existing low voltage control.


How would I disable my range oven's timer? I have an old Magic Chef range oven that looks like this:

When the range oven is plugged in, the timer starts at 1:59. The timer beeps when that length of time has elapsed. I fiddled with the timer buttons and tried every possible configuration, but the only way to stop the timer is to 1) reset the timer to 1:59, or 2) unplug the range oven.

Is there any way to disable the timer permanently? Perhaps by taking it apart, or some other workaround?

A label on the oven door indicates a number of 8114p351-60, if that helps.

I have an almost-as-old-as-yours Magic Chef oven, and the igniter and the oven light should work fine with the clock disconnected. Here's how to do it.

unscrew the back panel to get to the clock.
There will be two wires connecting to the clock: a white wire and a black wire that's daisy-chained to the light switch on the left side of the top panel.
disconnect both wires by wiggling their wire clamps and pulling until they come off.
cover the bare metal ends of both securely and thoroughly with electrical tape. This is very important!  If those wires contact any nearby metal you'll short the circuit at best, and at worst cause a fire-- unintended sparks around gas ranges are a shortcut to a very bad day.
I'd suggest taping the now-fully-insulated wires to the back of the clock panel so they won't be dangling in the back of the range where it might be hot enough to damage the insulation on the wires.


Is it OK to nail 1/2" plywood straight to the pocket-door box? The guy I hired to frame for a new pocket-door, mounted the pocket-door box on the top (to a second-story joist) and on the bottom (toe-nailed to the floor). When I asked him to install some studs on both sides of the door, he said I don't need them because I can nail my wall material (1/2" plywood) right into the horizontal planks of the pocket-door box. I have a feeling that would be wrong, or at least not up to Code. What do you think? Any advice is very much appreciated. I am new to this, just learning the terms. But it really didn't seem safe..

The 'boxes' made for pocket doors are designed to act as the framing for your wall material (typically sheetrock). You topically can't frame out the pocket door pocket with full studs as that'd make the wall too thick.