Can you leave cold water running (inlet) through gas water heater - with the heating element actuall OFF? I think this is a stupid question.  It makes sense to me, that you could run cold water from the main line into the tank, without actually having the water heater on (gas) - or actively heating water.  So basically just cold water throughout the house.

But am I out to lunch here?  Is there something I am missing?  Can this be destructive in the short term? I'm planning to replace the system, so I'm bracing myself for cold water for a week.

Thanks for any help!

No problem, the water will just pass through if you turn off the gas supply.


Can I vent portable air conditioner into the garage? I have a bonus space that is attached to the garage that we use as a home gym.  I want to be able to run a portable air condition when working out.  It will only run 2-3 hours a day and probably only 4-5 days a week.  Can I vent it through the drywall into the garage? It would be easier to do that versus drilling through the stucco to the outside.

The problem with venting the AC into the garage is that you are then venting the garage into your workout room.  I'd worry about CO poisoning.  Garages are typically air sealed from the rest of the house to prevent and CO from moving from the garage into the house.
I can't imagine a damper that I would trust enough to vent the AC into the garage and take the risk.  You could mitigate a bit by install a CO detector in your workout room but I'd still go with the drill to outside through stucco.
Drilling through stucco isn't such a huge deal.
The other thing to consider is that by venting the house into the garage which is presumably sealed from the house, you can depressurize your house (depending on your make up air vents).  A depressurized house can result in back drafting from combustion appliances.  In new construction there is typically a sheet metal expert who runs that calculations and ensures there is enough make up air available.  This factor would be similar whether you vent into the garage or outside though.
While you aren't using the garage for your car you may be storing things in the garage that off gas - paints, gas, etc.  If you depressurize the house and pressurize the garage there will be a propensity for the garage to want to leak into the house.


Restoring plastic chairs Before I take them to the dump, is there anything I can do to restore them? Are there any chemicals to clean them? I was going to repaint them using spray paint but it was taking too long and almost a full can of paint and the chair (not pictured) still looks like it will need a second hand.

Usually those chairs take obvious UV damage from the sun.  This can weaken them.  (it does the same to child car seats, one legitimate reason to throw old ones out).  If that's not a problem, the chairs are probably saveable...

...but you need to learn to paint.  One rattle-can should do all 3 chairs.  You went through a whole can because you're misusing it as a magical fixer, cleaner and surface preparer... And that does not work.

I would start by working each chair over with sandpaper, maybe 120 grit, to smooth off any oxidation and give a texture primer can bite into.

Then, well gosh, what do you have around and how much do you want to spend?  Myself I do enough woodworking to have West System epoxy on hand, it's not a paint but it's perfect for stabilizing a stressed surface like this. I would use either that or a 2-part epoxy primer (or garage floor paint) and paint that on thin, with a throwaway chip brush. It would probably be about $5 worth of West System to do those.  I like epoxy because I know it'll help stabilize and strenghen the chair.   If I didn't have that, then maybe an oil based primer like Rustoleum white. I don't think a latex primer would stick, and rattle-can paint won't stick to it.

Then after the epoxy cures good and plenty (do not stack them for a few days!), I would sand a second time probably with a Scotchbrite pad, just to give the surface some texture paint can bite into.  The surface should now be very uniform and hard and take paint well.

Then rattle-can it.


wiring a ceiling fan with 2 wires and a ceiling having 3 I have a fan with a black wire and white wire. from the ceiling I have 3 wires black red and white. How do I wire it ? It does go to a switch.

Not sure how to do this

The ceiling wiring of red, black, white, and gnd allows separate control of a ceiling fan and a light with ordinary wall switches. One wall switch controls the black (switched hot) and a separate wall switch controls the red (switched hot). The W is a neutral for both and is not switched. If your fan wiring has only a black, a white, and a ground, then cap off (electrical tape or a wire nut) one of the two switched hots (usu you'd cap the red) and connect the black house wire to the black wire of the fan, and the white house wire to the white of the fan.

The wiring of most fans is a black for the fan, a different color, blue, for the light, and white is a neutral common to both the fan and the light. There should also be either a ground wire or a ground contact screw which is to be connected to the gnd of the house wiring.

It is conceivable that in some newer fans the wiring allows separate control of a fan and a light using only one switched hot wire. And, of course, if the fan had a built in remote receiver (which I have yet to see) the fan and light could be controlled separately with only one hot, and no wall switch. I installed some of the new Hunter fans with remote receiver not built in, and those had black and blue (IIRC) wires for the fan and the light, respectively. A single hot (which could be switched or not) goes to the receiver. Buttons on the remote transmitter switch the fan and light separately.

Decades ago I installed some old Hunter fans without wall switches and we use the pull chains. I recently installed some new type Hunter fans without wall switches but with remotes. I think that the wall switches are useful and I wish I had them, but it is extra work to put in wall switches.


One of four outside light fixtures (all controlled by same switch) isn't working and it's not the (3) bulbs We have four outside light fixtures in the front of the house, all controlled by a single indoor switch. One of them has stopped working (so it can't be a circuit breaker issue).
It's not the bulbs, since they work in the other fixtures and the bulbs from the other fixtures do not work in the faulty fixture.
Does that mean the only thing it could be is the wiring for the faulty fixture?  There's no way all three sockets in the fixture went bad at the same time.

Check the voltage at the fixture that isn't working, it could be a bad connection there. If there is no voltage in that box, go to the next fixture box, which is working, and test for loose connections there that would affect the feed to the fixture not working. If there is voltage there and all connections are good, look for a break in the wiring between that fixture box and the fixture box not working.


Should I think about insulating a cheap conservatory? if so how do I do it? I made an offer on a house today that had a cheap upvc conservitory on the back on the house.

The conservatory had a cheap plastic sloping roof on that leaked a little, the walls are very thin, and only the south facing wall had any windows. (As you would expect it was pretty darn cold in there)

Can people think of some ways I can improve this room so that it's insulated well? I'd like to spend no more than £1k but I have no idea how realistic this is. I'd like to use the room assuming I buy the property as a tv room.

I'm pretty certain I'd need to replace the roof with something else. Any advice on this or the walls will be very much appreciated and help me decide whether I want to go ahead with the purchase.

For the solid walls you could use insulated plasterboard (example only). This would reduce the dimensions of the room slightly and require new skirting boards and finishing around windows and doors.

I think other thickness of insulation are available.

You're already thinking of replacing the roof, so look into double glazed panels if you can get them to fit.

Secondary double glazing over the windows might be a sensible option too.


Is USE-2 or RHW-2 individual wire fit for direct burial or open-joist use? I see companies selling USE-2/RHH/RHW-2 individual wires.  Many claim they are fit for direct burial or fixation to joists.  They are individual wires, and lack an outer jacket like SE-R or MH feeder has.

Can that be right?

If all that's true, it would seem like a nice solution to applications where conduit is desired for part of a run but individual wires for the rest.

Is the jacket extra tough to be able to endure direct exposure to soil/sand/crushing force?  How does it cope with the "all related wires must be in the same cable or conduit" rule of thumb?

If not, then what is the advantage of this cable over, say, XHHW-2 or THWN-2? Why would my distributor go to the expense of stocking both?

USE-2/RHH-2/RHW-2 can be direct buried, but otherwise requires a raceway

The rules for USE-2 wire and cable can be found in NEC 338.12(B):

  (B) Underground Service-Entrance Cable. Underground
  service-entrance cable (USE) shall not be used under the
  following conditions or in the following locations:

  (1) For interior wiring

  (2) For aboveground installations except where USE cable
  emerges from the ground and is terminated in an enclosure at an outdoor location and the cable is protected in
  accordance with 300.5(D)

  (3) As aerial cable unless it is a multiconductor cable identified for use aboveground and installed as messenger-
  supported wiring in accordance with 225.10 and Part II of
  Article 396

This, practically, limits single-rated USE-2 wires and cables to direct burial applications, or use as a multiplex cable-in-conduit outdoors.  (You can't use it indoors or for general aboveground work, even when in a raceway!)

However, when the wire has a RHH-2/RHW-2 rating as well, that changes the picture.  Now, the wire is rated for use in raceway, as the table 310.104(A) entry for this type of conductor specifies a flame-retardant insulating material.  However, it still cannot be used strapped to joists bared, as this violates NEC 300.3(A):

  (A) Single Conductors. Single conductors specified in Table
  310.104(A) shall only be installed where part of a recognized
  wiring method of Chapter 3.

  Exception: Individual conductors shall be permitted where installed as
  separate overhead conductors in accordance with 225.6.

and NEC 398.10 only permits the use of open wiring on insulators in industrial and agricultural occupancies:

  398.10 Uses Permitted. Open wiring on insulators shall be
  permitted only for industrial or agricultural establishments on
  systems of 1000 volts, nominal, or less, as follows:

  (1) Indoors or outdoors

  (2) In wet or dry locations

  (3) Where subject to corrosive vapors

  (4) For services

while NEC 394.10 only permits limited use of knob-and-tube to extend wiring in existing buildings, and 394.12 point 5 also prohibits the use of K&T within insulation:

  (5) Hollow spaces of walls, ceilings, and attics where such
  spaces are insulated by loose, rolled, or foamed-in-place
  insulating material that envelops the conductors

Even though you can use it in conduit, you probably shouldn't

Even though tri-rated USE-2/RHH-2/RHW-2 can be legally used in conduit jobs, it's probably a bad idea to use it.  Why? It has a thicker insulation than THHN or XHHW-2, which uses up more precious conduit fill area than necessary and makes the wire stiffer and harder to pull as well.  It's also slightly more expensive than XHHW-2, making it a rather pointless choice to make.


Connecting well to home using water hose I had a new well pump installed they used 1 inch tubing and connected it to my 3/4 water lines....it has popped all my joints and flooded my back yard.  Had to shut power off to the pump and stop all water. How can I lay a new water line above ground connecting my well pump to my house?

As Jim Stewart said in the comments, this likely has nothing to do with the pipe size.   Reducing water line size is a common practice.  The pressure is the problem - the pump is generating more than the system can handle and causing damage.

You asked "how can I lay a new water line" and specified above ground.  Usually this is a bad idea because above ground water lines are subject to conditions harmful to them like cold weather (freezing lines will eventually rupture), and general exposure to the elements and things like lawn mowers, trimmers, etc.

You should plan to bury the water line the same way the old one was - although in your case you probably should be contacting the installer (and possibly a lawyer) to repair the damage and pay for the water damage in the house.


Hooking a wifi thermostat to a 2 wire boiler I'm in the process of figuring out how to swap my existing thermostat for a new WiFi thermostat.  Naturally it's connected to my home's boiler by 2 really old cloth wrapped wires.  Examening the wires, it does look like I it should be feasible to run a new wire which also hooks into the C screw on my boilers transformer, but I'm the sort who likes to act cautiously on this sort of thing of course, so I was hoping someone could give me a quick yes/no on my reasoning, as well as see if there's anything I missed.

Anyways, on the technical side, the furnace I'm hooking the thermostat too is a Weil-McLain boiler (Link https://www.weil-mclain.com/products/eg-gas-boiler), and the transformer in it I'm looking to tie into is this one here: (http://www.supplyhouse.com/Weil-Mclain-510-312-166-Transformer-120-24V).  There's curently a wire running off the C connection on the transformer, it looks like to the water fill unit, does that raise any concerns?
Anyways, thanks for any advice.

How old is the home? It is not impossible that the cloth wiring could be asbestos based, so work safely.

As long as the wires are NOT 120V wires, you should be fine. Some newer thermostats (like the Nest Version 3) do not require the C.

You can run a new wire, if you do so, and it is as easy as you imply, you could always replace the old wire.


What is the easiest method to clean a bathroom floor that doesn't have a drain? I recently moved to a new apartment and the bathroom does not have a floor drain. In my previous apartments, I used to pour/spray water on the bathroom floor while scrubbing with a brush and detergent, rinse it, then wait while the water drains off and dries. But I can't do that without a drain because the water puddles and seeps out under the door. Also, I am too lazy to use a mop and a bucket to clean the corners under the sink and behind the toilet.

Is there a fast and easy way to clean the bathroom without drowning the floor? Alternatively, is there a way to manage the water on the floor after cleaning the way I used to? Any suggestions for equipment/products that can be purchased online or at a convenient store that would make the process easier?

Since there is no drain and you want to take the lazy way out, I'd suggest using a steam mop similar to the one pictured bellow. We picked up one of these a couple of weeks ago and are blown away by how well it cleans.

You just need to add water to the reservoir and then set the desired temperature, wait 30 seconds and you're set; barely any scrubbing required. Let the heat from the steam do the work.

As for water that you need to soak up after a bath or shower, a good old fashioned bath mat will do just fine.

Google Images of a steam mop

http://tsq.sewing.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Bissell-Select-Steam-Mop-94E9T-Head-Height.jpg


can I install cement backer board over plank subfloor I have old plank subfloor installed at a 45 degree angle to the floor joists.
How should I install cbu(cement backer board) on top of this for a tile installation?
The entire area is approximately four feet by four feet.
the joist are 2 inches by 9 inches by 11 feet

My experience is no, too much bounce. Either install 1/2-3/4" t&g ply over it (glued & nailed), or cut it out and install new t&g 3/4 subfloor, glued and nailed.

Also consider your floor joist width and span. In this question, that's undetermined.

In either case, then you can install 1/2" cement board.


How do I remove paint from pipes? I have exposed piping throughout my condo that is used for the sprinkler system. It has been painted white. I would like to remove the paint and leave the pipes in their natural color.

The building is 100 years old but was converted to condos in 2007. By the way the sprinkler pipes are coordinated with the unit's walls (which were put up during the conversion), it's a safe bet that they were installed and painted at the time of the conversion and that lead paint was not used.

What is the best way to do this?

I am considering a heat gun as it is the least messy, least toxic option. However, from what I've seen, this method requires a putty knife to scrape up the paint after it has been heated. I don't imagine that would work well with a round pipe.

Would a heat gun still work or am I better off getting a paint remover?

If the paint is in good condition, with no chips, peeling unsightly blemishes I would repaint. It would be a lot of work to get the pipes really clean. Any exposed thread at the fittings will be tough to strip You will need to scuff the old finish to promote adhesion. Pick a metal color. Rustoleum  has colors like Bare cast iron, nickel, brass etc. You could accent the fittings with a contrasting color. Just be careful when working around the sprinkler heads.


Sudden leak from toilet after years of no problems Large stains suddenly appeared on wall and ceiling below second story bath which is unused. No previous problems in 20 year old house, with upper bath being unused for approx last 7-8 years. Wife flushed toilet yesterday, as she does periodically, and says she thinks she did not see any water in bottom of bowl before flush filled bowl. Stains appeared less than 24 hours later.  Prior flushes (weeks or more ago) had no problems. Questions: can wax ring "dry out" and suddenly leak when new water hits it; can PVC pipe joints suddenly develop leaks after long disuse; will a leaking wax ring allow water to leak below the floor or out onto the floor??  Other thoughts on cause of leak stains?
Thanks, Ken

Yes, wax rings can "dry out" when it breaks down causing shrinkage, hardening, and cracking.  In your case, an old(er), rarely used toilet with a dried out wax ring might have broken when someone sat on the toilet.

Leakage would also be noted around the base of the toilet though, if it's not a lot of water, may be hidden by the toilet base.  If one puts his nose to the toilet base and smells sewer gas...yep...broken ring.

Note: One should periodically run water in all bathroom fixtures to ensure water in P-traps doesn't evaporate.

Removing a toilet is not difficult.  Buy a new wax ring and replace the one you have.  If water stains continue, move on to some other possibility.

No.  There's no characteristic of PVC drain pipe that would lead to leaking after extended disuse.  But you state water is run periodically; therefore, there's no real disuse...just not frequent use.


Estimating frost heave displacement? I'm planning a storage shed underneath a deck. I'll assume that the deck is anchored below the frost line and won't move when the ground freezes.

I'd like to build the shed on just a floating gravel pad, which I assume will rise a bit when the ground freezes.

Is it possible to estimate how much overhead clearance is necessary to account for the heave displacement, such that my shed doesn't end up bursting through the floor of the deck?

Luckily I'm in a pretty temperate area and the soil frost depth in my area is only 12 inches, so I expect I won't have too much displacement to worry about (thinking about something like 6" of overhead clearance at highest point), but just wanted to see if anyone had a knowledgeable answer.

Think outside the box.

If you are trying to minimize the distance to the deck to have max headroom, then attach the shed roof to the deck, so that water coming through the deck runs off.

Now build your shed but stop the walls a foot from the suspended roof.

From the roof hang 18" walls that have 1" clearance from the sides of the shed.  Stuff with  insulation.  Now if the shed moves up and down, the walls frm the floor telescope with the walls from the ceiling.


Would hardwood or carpet be better for a humid place? We live in northern New Jersey (read: can get really humid).

We have wall-to- wall carpet in our bedroom. The humidity caused it to rise like a can of surströmming (rotten herring). I have three questions:

1) would you recommend wall-to-wall carpet again?

2) which hardwood (or maybe engineered wood) is better against humidity? Or is it more a matter of how the wood is installed, floating vs. glued, or perhaps a combo of the two?

3) can creaky floors be avoided? The realtor said it is because of humidity? True?

Additional info: The bedroom currently has a wood subfloor. The rest of the flooring has a plywood subfloor over concrete. I do want to replace the existing floor.

Carpet will be cheaper to have installed, but the life time is much shorter than hardwood.

Look into strand bamboo. I believe it is much harder than any other hardwood and not as susceptible to humidity. I used it in my house on the most of the main level (about 1,500 square feet) and have been very happy with it.

Because it so hard, it is more difficult to install, so you may pay a little more for installation.

I don't know if you can ever avoid all creaks, but most can be avoided by putting down rosin paper first and nailing into the floor joists as much as possible.

UPDATE 1

I'm talking specifically about strand bamboo. Regular bamboo is much softer and scratches a lot easier.


Blower motor wires crossed I bought a direct replacement blower for my furnace but when it arrived I noticed two wires were crossed. the original motor has a red, white, and black wire in the connector. The new one has a fourth (blue) wire and it is in the slot where the black wire is on the old motor. Would it be safe to assume that this blue wire can be removed and the black wire moved into the same spot without causing problems? The old motor had a green wire connected from motor chassis to fan housing.

I managed to find a photo of the old motor and found an image of the replacement online. Hope this helps, thanks for all the help.

Yes you are correct. That will increase your fan speed a little in cooling or fan only mode.
The white wire is the common the colored wires are the speed taps. Black is high, red is low and blue is medium. Cap one of the colored wires and use the other two. Usually the black is for cooling and the red is for heating but having the 3 wires gives you options for the fan speed. If you are unsure if there is enough air to cool the furnace properly use the highest speed. The brown wires are for the capacitor which must be replaced at the same time with the matching micro farad rating as the motor.


What tool works with this star-shaped screw with a post in the middle? What tool do I need to unscrew the fasteners shown on the metal lock on this sliding window?

Those are tamper proof torx screws.  You will need the appropriate bit.  These are usually sold as kits of security bits.


How do I fix this hole in 1960's stucco exterior wall? I have recently bought a new home and there is this 150mm diameter hole left in the exterior wall.  Looks like this is where the rangehood was once vented.   Talk about poor workmanship.

How do you recommend I go about fillng it?

It looks like a few pieces of wire are at the edge of the hole, straighten these out so they poke towards the center of the opening. Add a few screws to the sub siding, the screws don't need to go through the wood but are for the patch to hold on to. The hole only looks to be about 2" if this is the case a few screws and some of the wires should be enough to hold the plug in place , if the hole is larger you may want to add some expanded metal mesh or wire in the hole. I like expanded mesh but it is harder to work with. Tuck the edges of the wire/mesh in at the edges of the hole using the screws to hold off or away from the wood about 1/2 the depth. Sometimes I will chip the edge closest to the wood to provide a lip and access more wire this helps the plug to hold in place and provides a fresh edge. Mix your patch up and pack into the hole making sure to work the mud into and through the mesh/wire pressing out all air bubbles. Matching is the toughest part, it looks like a heavy spatter was used you may be able to use some of the patch and add a little extra water and a small putty knife load the knife and flick it at the patch, if you like the way it looks let it dry and paint if it needs more repeat the flicking , if you don't like the way it looks wipe it off and try again.


What can replace this PVC toilet flange in iron pipe? The old PVC flange appeared to be sealed to the iron pipe by a rubber coating, which is not something I've encountered (in my limited research).

Will a simple push-tight toilet flange like this be good enough without additional welding? Its product page mention that it can be used inside cast iron pipes.

See how the broken remnant of your old flange is marked "For Cast Iron"? The product you linked to in your question specifically says it's for PVC.

You should use a heavy duty product made for use with cast iron, and screw it securely to the floor with stainless steel screws after you set it. Something like this:


My Hydro Air Heat started spraying hot water from some kind of vent or valve or nipple My system looks exactly like this.  I believe it's called Hydro Air Heat.  See that thing with the green rectangle around it.  It started spraying hot water from that nipple on top (indicated by the green arrow).

First of all what is that thing called and what is it's function?  Does anyone know that make and model (in case I need to replace it)?

I turned off the heat, closed an intake valve and it eventually stopped spraying hot water.  Then I tightened that nipple all the way down and turned everything back on.  It's no longer leaking and I believe I have heat.  However I don't know if that thing is supposed to be tightened all the way like I have it.  Have I locked air in in some way I shouldn't have?  Have I ruined some kind of pressure controlling apparatus?  Or was I supposed to tighten that nipple all the way for normal operation?

It's a Bell & Gossett Air Separator.  If you run your system with the nipple closed then it does not do its job and air bubbles are trapped making your system less efficient and shorter lifespan.  But tightening down the nipple does not render the system unusable or in danger of immediate break-down.

It's a Bell & Gossett Model 11211x.  The reason for the 'x' at the end it that it seems like it has been discontinued from the Bell & Gossett website here.  At the site you see a picture of it in a group of other items, but if you click the picture you see the other items but not this one.

One suppler seems to still have some in stock here.  And maybe this one as well.  They seem to think it is SKU 112113 or 112112, but others seem to have a slightly different picture of the 112113 SKU.


Why is a smoke alarm chirping at specific times of the day? I have a smoke alarm (Kiddie) that is beeping regularly (every 30 seconds or so), what I would typically associate with a low battery. The strange thing is that the beeping is only happening between 5 and 8 in the morning, and I'd like to understand why.
It starts beeping when there's nobody downstairs, and it's in a back room with no close heat sources - the boiler and water cylinder are in a different room. The only thing I can think of that has changed is that this time of year the sun streams through my utility room and into the back room where this smoke alarm is located. It's on the ceiling so it gets no direct sunlight of course, but the light shines on the floor directly below it.
I've replaced the battery, so I'm not looking for advice on how to fix it, I'm curious as to what the mechanism is that's causing it.

I have noticed this same phenomenon before, and the only explanation I can think of is that early morning hours are typically the coldest hours of the day in a house.
Smoke alarms operate with a battery (sometimes only battery, sometimes the battery acts as a backup for a hardwired power source). The battery voltage is monitored, and when the voltage drops below a threshold (indicating the battery is nearly dead), the alarm starts the low battery chirp to make you put a new battery in. Battery voltage is affected by temperature, so when the temperature drops a bit, and the battery is right at the threshold between OK and low, this temperature drop might cause the voltage to drop enough to trigger the chirp. Once the battery warms up a bit, the chirp might stop.
After a few days or weeks of this, you will probably eventually get a constant chirp, and then the chirp will stop because the battery is dead (at least if the battery is the only power source).


Replacing a split tread on an old staircase We have an old staircase (1900s) and after removing the carpet, before we get the new one fitted, we noticed that one of the corner steps has a lengthways split right down the middle:

How easy would it be replace the step? Or alternatively would it be possible to toughen it up? One person suggested to use a thin piece of hardboard on top of it to spread the load.

I have booked out a joiner for tomorrow morning but now wondering whether I should just leave the step alone. I haven't used the joiner before so don't want him to just crash & burn to make some money so would really appreciate some advice. When I walk on the step it gives less than 1cm. There is no access to the stairs underneath.

If the tread is loose enough to close the gap by tapping it with a hammer you may be able to glue it .If it is loose take two 3/4x3/4 inch boards that are as long as the crack.Drill four holes thru both boards big enough for a 10-24 screw.With some dry wall screws attach the boards to the tread on both sides of the crack.Apply some gorilla glue to the gap. Using the 10-24 screws draw the gap closed, allow the glue to dry, remove the 3/4" boards.Sand any glue squeezed out.


In what circumstances would an AC produce no condensate but still cool the air? In what circumstances would an AC produce no condensate but still cool the air?

Condensate is a byproduct of air conditioning, which is created when moisture in the air condenses on the cold evaporator coils. There are two situations where an air conditioner would not generate condensate.

If there's no moisture in the air, then there's nothing to condense out of the air.

If the coils are not cold enough (below the dew point), the moisture will not condense out of the air.

Also note, that if the coils are too cold. The condensate will freeze, so it will not drain out until the coil defrosts.

Another note. If the drain does not have a trap,  it's possible that condensate will not drain until the fan shuts off.


Replacing dining room Light switch : 4 wires, what is the pink for? I wanted yesterday to replace my dining room light switch. However, when I looked at it I found 4 wires :
- Black (Hot)
- White (Neutral)
- Copper (Ground)
- PINK ???????

The light switch I had bought at Home Depot only could accomodate the Black, White and Ground wire ? Do I need to buy a special light switch ?
Should I cap the pink wire as my dining room lamp is not a ceiling fan any more ?

Thanks

Sounds like this is a three-way switch, or at least wired for a three-way at some point in time.

You will need a different switch, specifically a three-way switch, and it should be wired in the same way as the existing switch.

You should locate the other switch that controls that fixture to confirm its existence.  If it doesn't exist, then the pink wire was probably used as power to the fan, but in that case I would expect this would be in a double-gang box.


Two ground wires from fixture in instructions but only one unattached I am currently installing an Artika 4-Pendant light fixture - Milton 4 but am running into issues while wiring it. In the instructions it indicates that "Connect the ground wire (G) to the two ground wires (G) on the fixture" but when looking at the fixture only one ground wire is disconnected at one end and the other ground wire is visible but already connected to the wires and fixture itself.
The only way I could see connecting the second wire is by kinking it into a U shape and placing that into the wire nut with the other ground wires but the diagram only has 2 wires coming from the fixture and if I kink it then I would have three wires from the fixture (I also feel like this would probably damage the wire anyways). This is my first time doing any wiring and even after doing research I couldn't find a scenario like this.
From the manual

The fixture itself

This is OK, as the greens on the pendant lights are connected via 1 bare copper to the fixture.
Normally, this would require both of the coppers to come from the same connection point if the shades are metal.
if the shades are non metallic, it would not need the lower ground, but the metal canopy that they hang from needs to be grounded.
Since the mfg. has already bonded the 3 shades, all you need to do is connect your ground to the unused ground and everything will be grounded.
I have found the same instructions with different fixtures because they may be being manufactured in a non English speaking place or what ever your language is I know this site is world wide but colors based on normal North America power.


What should I do with a powered switch that seemingly does nothing? In my house, I fortunately have a well-labeled circuit breaker. There are a few rooms that could be better named, but it's fine.
As such, it's very easy to identify almost every switch and what it does and what breaker switch it's attached to.
Except for one light switch at the entry way of my house.
I turned it on and stuck a voltage tester next to it. I went through every single breaker switch, even the ones for other floors, and the voltage tester continued beeping. I skipped the doubles (washer, dryer, and HVAC), because I assume a light switch wouldn't be connected with a major appliance.
I've also tried plugging a light into various outlets and turning the wall switch off and on, but I don't see any change in the light.
The voltage tester only stopped beeping once I turned off power to the entire house. So as far as I can tell, this switch seems to do nothing.

Is there another method I can use to trace what this switch connects to?
What should I do with this switch?

Update: I have finally figured out where this mystery switch goes to: an outside outlet. I never even noticed it until y'all pointed it out so thank you! I still don't know which breaker it goes to, which is annoying but I've got at least half the mystery solved
Update 2: I have found it! Once I realized it went outside and was GFCI, I guessed that the cable was connected to the Basement GFCI circuit and that did it. Personally I would have labeled it "basement + outside gfci" or wired it to the first floor outlets or put it on a separate breaker but it's fine. I'm not bitter at all

Divide and conquer.
You turned off the main breaker and the switch went dead. So you know it is going through that panel.

Leave the main breaker on and turn off everything else.

If it is still on at this point, then you have something really strange going on - time for a professional. But assuming that does turn power to the switch off:

Turn on the breakers one at a time until the switch comes back on.

This will take a while, so you can also try:

Turn HALF the breakers on and see if the switch comes back on.

If it does, then turn half off and see if it is on or off. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you have 32 breakers, the first test gets you to 16, the second to 8, the third to 4, the fourth to 2, and on the fifth test you have your answer.
As far as what the switch does, is there any chance you have some outside lights that don't work properly? Also look for any receptacles or covered junction boxes (which might previously have had a light on the switch) outside.
Update: Now that you have determined the switch controls a receptacle, there is an easy way to find the breaker if you don't have a helper (i.e., if you have to run between breaker panel and switch/receptacle to test):

Plug a radio into the switched receptacle.
Turn on the radio loud enough to hear it from the breaker panel. Might be best to do this during the daytime :-)
Turn off breakers one at a time until the music stops.

For anyone wondering why "turn off one at a time until the music stops" instead of "turn on one at a time until the music starts", this gets to the "old vs. new equipment" issue. An older radio has a simple power switch. Turn it on and unplug it and plug it back in and it is guaranteed to be "on". Many newer radios (like TVs, computers, etc.) have a power switch that does not really turn everything off. A small circuit stays on to power a clock, status lights, etc. For normal usage that's just fine. But the default behavior (sometimes configurable, sometimes not) for these devices is typically "on external power restore go to 'off' state", which wouldn't be very helpful here.


Wobble in the Desk I am building I have started to build a farmhouse table and now facing an issue in the build. The Storage Area i have built is rocking and i believe one of the legs as shown in the attached picture is a slight 1 - 2 mm above the ground and guess this is causing the wobble.

Any Suggestions on how do i rectify this and improve the build as I am new woodworker and this is my first project.

Note : I have glued the Aprons that connect my two legs and i found the wobble only after that and i am using pocket holes for jointery.

Please find the plan and my build images as shown in the picture below.
1. Plan of My Desk
2. Image of the Leg which is slightly higher from the ground
3. Straight View of the storage area
4. Top View of the storage area
 ]3

enter image description here

enter image description here

How do I rectify this? This is my first project.

That's an easy, inexpensive and useful first project.

Even if the work is square and accurately cut, it's easy to be off by a couple millimeters. And even if you're not, it's easy for the floor to be off a couple millimeters; tile is not perfect.

Your best bet is to do a web search for furniture leveling screws.  You screw them into the feet, and by adjusting the depth of each one individually you can dial it right in to not just remove the wobble, but also get the work surface exactly level in both directions. They'll be fifty cents or a dollar each, or thereabouts.


Does my mechanical room need ventilation to the exterior? Sorry for the confusing post. I don’t have a manual as the prior owner didn’t have it. If I understand correctly, a boiler room in a residential home requires a vent for fresh air. This boiler room previously had 2 vents on the interior wall. As these two vents were opened and leading to the home, you can hear the boiler and water tank noises loudly if in the basement. As part of the remodeling, these two vents were removed and we are considering placing a vent right above the pipe in the photo I have shown. I’m asking if there is a safety concern with having a vent leading to outside.

Air is a thing.  (This took humanity millenia to figure this out; we figured out industrial use of fire soon after, and then, aviation!) You can even put air in a bag, that's what a bag of air is!

Fire involves fuel (you bring) and air (that is just around).  Your furnace and water heater burn a fuel, and get air from somewhere.  Where they get it is very important!    Some furnaces use "direct vent", meaning they bring in fresh air from outside, just for their own use, using a double exhaust pipe.  Those you don't need to worry about.   However most simply grab air that is in the room, and that's a problem.

For every bagful of air that the furnace or water heater send up the stack, a replacement bagful of air has to come into the house somehow.   Back in the day, houses were very leaky, and that wasn't a problem, but modern houses can be tight enough to make that a problem.

Regardless, one problem is the replacement air leaking into the house is cold and dry (or hot and wet), causing drafts and forcing the heater and humidifier (or A/C) to work all that much harder.

Ventilating the equipment room would be a step in the right direction, becuase it would provide combustion air for them without pulling drafts in the rest of the house. You may also want to insulate this room from the house -- but not too much.... on a very cold day, that could be a lot of cold air.  You have to make sure the water pipes don't freeze!

In an ideal world, you have direct venting, where the outside draw air goes directly (and only) to the burners.


What could cause a melting/overheating light switch? One of my light switches has started over heating/melting all of a sudden. This is definitely a new development because this has not happened in the year that we have lived here. I have 9 6W LED bulbs connected to a Lutron Caseta light switch that's rated for 500W. I replaced the melted switch with a new one this morning and replaced all the bulbs with brand new ones too, but it seems to be getting quite hot again. More so than getting hot, it smells like burning plastic.

It seems isolated to one light switch. It seems to be overheating after being on for several hours. Should I get a switch that's rated for a higher wattage? Why would that be an issue all of a sudden? Could there be a voltage change? Could some wires behind the walls have gotten loose?

There are 2 other switches in the junction box that seem fine.

Edit: added photo

It sound like you have a partial ground from a pinched or nicked wire. This would draw a large amount of current but not enough to trip the breaker.

If the switch is overheating I would suspect the partial ground is in the load side of the circuit after the switch.

Check the circuit with an ammeter to determine the current draw. If you don't have one remove all your lamps from he light fixtures and see if it still gets hot. You could also series a lampholder with an incandescent bulb to the switch with all othe lamps removed. If the lamp lights up you have current flowing to a partial ground.

Good luck!


Direction of flow in radiator I am about to install a new radiator in my apartment; we removed the old one without noting the direction of water flow. So I now have two pipes sticking out of the floor and I don't know which is which. The pipes are now capped.

The new radiator is marked for the direction of flow; through the valve and in at the top of the radiator. Will it make much difference if the new radiator is connected backwards, water going in at the bottom and the valve after the radiator? And if it is important, how do I establish the direction without flooding my apartment?

Two thoughts.

If you remember which side the valve was on. That is most likely your input. It could have been installed backwards however.
Crank up the heat and give feel test it. One of the pipes should be stone cold.


Drain pipe P trap leaking under sink I removed the P trap and pipe from the old kitchen and tried to reuse it for the new kitchen remodeling:

However, it's leaking water at the connection from the white pipe to the metal P trap:

I even used a new washer. What I realized is that I can only push the white pipe into the P trap for like 1/2 in. But when I tighten the nut, the plastic pipe is stil quite loose. If I pull it out by hand, I still can separate it.

My questions are:

Is this installation done correctly? Anything missing?
Did I use the wrong washer or wrong pipe? This is just 1/2" right?
Maybe the whole thing is bad. Should I replace the entire P trap and pipe set for the new remodel?

I played around with the same setup at Home Depot and it's very tight when I tighten the nuts. I mean I could not just yank out the pipe easily.

Your P trap is put together backward! The bent piece (called the "outlet") is supposed to come off of the SHORT side of the trap. If you look, the side where your outlet is connected now in that picture has a long wider section at the top. THAT is where your tailpiece (the straight part coming down from the sink) is supposed to go, it's wider so that the tailpiece fits down in there before you then clamp around it with the tapered washer.


Window casing and conversion from inch thick drywall to half inch I'm renovating the bathroom. I used to have 1" thick drywall and I'm lowering it to 1/2" thick drywall (so the window sticks out of the wall 1" now).

What are my options for trimming the window? Inch thick trim seems really thick. Is that normal?

Here are pictures of my attempted explanation...

Your options are:

Use a second layer of 1/2" drywall to bring the wall flush to the
window;
Trim the window casing down by 1/2"; or
Use inch thick
trim on the window casing.

Personally I recommend #2 and would use what's called a Japanese saw:

or a multi-tool with a wood blade

to trim the casing down to be flush with the wall.


Downspouts smaller than 2x3? I have an old metal overhang from when my home was built back in the 60's. It has in integrated gutter and currently no downspouts to direct the water. I went to Lowes and purchased the smaller downspouts they had (2x3) and they seem to be too big.

My question is do they make gutters that are smaller than 2x3? Or am i missing something here? Thank you

The smaller hole won’t be a problem on some homes this is done to reduce leaves from getting into the downspouts, I thought the undersized holes were strange on my last home that I had copper gutter installed and they used small holes and said this was to prevent leaves from getting in as easily and plugging the down spouts and lines to the holding cistern’s we used for watering.


Drain and disposal outlet same height? So my disposal went bad and I replaced it. When doing so discovered that the drain pipe was pretty clogged and Im guessing that was related to the drain and disposal outlet being the same. Whats odd is while it was draining fine, with the new one installed it does not drain at all unless you run the disposal. So the answer seems pretty obvious but I just want to confirm my options. I would need to either need to open the wall and make the Y lower or get a sink that is not as deep? The discharge tube it almost horizontal which even though its not ideal thats how the old one was. Would it help at all if it went straight down and than lower the trap or is that just going to create more room for standing water.

I'm going to start with the obvious here: water drains downhill.  If the water goes back up, it's not really downhill.  A deeper depression doesn't mean that the water will flow out the "other side" any faster, it just leads to a deeper pond.

So a taller trap isn't going to help you here.  The only thing you can do is to make the wall side trap lower than the disposal outlet.

You pointed out your two possibilities: make the disposal higher (by using a shallower sink or taller counter), or by lowering the pipe going into the wall.  I would think that changing the pipe in the wall would be more work than the other two options, but it's entirely up to you (and maybe your spouse) as to what you end up doing.

It's possible that the semi-clogged pipe was using suction to drain, which you no longer have, due to more room in the clear pipe no longer allowing the suction to work.  It's also possible that the drain for the previous disposal was closer to the bottom of the sink, allowing the water to flow normally.  In fact, that's the more probable reason, now that I think about it.


Why are light switch designs different between Europe and the US? Every single home I've visited in the US has one of these two light switch designs:

In contrast, homes in Europes usually have their light switches designed like this:

Is there a practical reason for this difference? Could I use a European light switch in the US (or vice-versa)?

Yes, because it also allows this:

Note the two sockets, which we have found to be indispensable. That's one standard yoke, and all junction boxes therefore are designed to accommodate that one yoke. Here's what it looks like naked.

That, by the way, is a 20 amp variant of that same plug, note backward compatibility.  Many circuits are actually 20A wired (for which we use stout #12, 3.3 mm2) and either socket is permitted on them, all 15A sockets are internally built for 20A.  Appliances which require 20A keying are scarce as hen's teeth, though.

Also, multi-“gang" boxes are built with a standard spacing.  Why?  Because cover plates are generic and interchangeable: there are a limited number of opening shapes, and you've just seen them all.   The small square and dual ovals are traditional, and Leviton invented the big rectangle "Decora" so they could accommodate just about anything.  Up to about 3-gang, you can get almost any combo, but then you reach a point of diminishing returns.  So if your combination is too eclectic, you just switch to all-Decora type, and do this.

by the way, if you need to plug in a Euro appliance, and it won't be spun to death by our 60Hz power, we have ways to do that in our plug/socket regimes, using NEMA 6, the 240V versions of the above sockets, good for up to 4800 watts.  Surely you don't think we'd allow a ”power gap”?

Anyway, you want to plug in a Euro style switch.  There's one gotcha.

  110.2 Approval. The conductors and equipment required or permitted by this Code shall be acceptable only if approved.

"Approved" means by your local permit/inspection office. They do not run a competent testing lab, so they delegate to agencies like Underwriter's Laboratories (UL). These marks used to be very nationally provincial.  But thanks to trade deals like NAFTA, GATT, G7 and all that jazz, countries whose standards are comparable recognize each others' approvals.

So you would need to bring over approved (surely anything sold at Wickes would be approved) junction boxes and switches from Europe.  Most likely our Romex cable would be a viable substitute for twin-and-earth, though our fat wires might have a problem fitting your terminals, especially our gratuitous use of #12 on what would be a 13A circuit in the UK.


installing a 360 rotating wood panel from the ceiling I want to install something similar to this image - I need to know what the hardware used is to support the wood hanging from the ceiling and in place on the floor still allowing for 360 rotation

The 50's called, they want their decor back....sorry, I couldn't help myself.
Google:   Adjustable Threaded Pole Leveling Foot


Whirlpool top load washer noisy during agitation I have a whirlpool top load washer that makes a noise similar to a fast sawing sound. It still agitates fine and all other functions are normal. Its' just noisy during agitation. I have just replaced the entire agitation tower and related parts but still get the sound.

It was a washer I bought from a rental center. it was missing three springs I found out which caused the bearings and the transmission to go out. In the end we ended up getting a new washer. It was cheaper than repairing the old one.


How do you build a bookcase around an outside or convex corner? How do you build a bookcase around an outside or convex corner?

There are many ways to work out how to handle the outside corner for a built-in bookcase. One concept that I have used follows this plan:

The spacing of the knickknack shelves does not necessarily need to follow that of the book shelves.

This picture will help you visualize how it can end up looking.


Is radiant heat in a concrete floor unpleasant in a super-insulated house? While reading about superinsulation, I came across the idea that a radiant concrete floor is a poor choice if you have really good insulation. The reasoning goes like this:

In a regular house you heat through walls, ceiling, windows, etc., so the floor is kept warm enough to keep bringing in more heat. This is one of the selling points of radiant floors: that warm floors feel good.

In a super-insulated house, if the thermostat is set for a comfortable air temperature, the radiant floor will rarely turn on, so the floor will always be cool. Walking barefoot on a cool concrete floor is unpleasant. On the other hand, if you turn up the thermostat to warm up the floor, then the air temperature will be too high.

Is this correct?

(I suspect this means that if you're going to super-insulate, especially in a mild climate, you should choose a floor material with low thermal mass and low heat conductivity, like wood or carpet.)

I suspect that if it is cold enough to require any heat, even if the furnace only runs a few times a day, that the slab would stay comfortable.   If your climate is such that you will go extended times without the furnace, you may be correct that it will feel cool.

Also, if you have south-facing windows, you may be able to get some passive solar gain using the slab.   We have an upstairs bathroom with a dark stone floor that gets afternoon sun (from a window that goes down to floor level) in the winter and the floor can be noticeably warm for a while after sunset.


How can I convert an exterior light junction box to an exterior duplex outlet? I have two dedicated circuits that were supposed to be set up with exterior outlets, high up on the wall to run Christmas lights.  What I got was two circuits terminated with wire nuts in junction boxes with plastic covers.

If I try to install exterior outlets they of course would NOT hang in the traditional vertical position.

Is there any way to convert these boxes short of cutting them out of the stucco and installing the correct boxes?

Do you have room to install a "raised switch box cover"?  I put that in quotes since I don't know what it is called but I found a picture of what I meant (and that is what they call it).  I think it would let you use two receptacles but it would stick out a little further and you may have to find a waterproof version if this is for outside.


How should I support a large gate in a vinyl fence? I'm adding a new gate in my vinyl fence; a full width (6') gate.

I'm concerned about support. The fence posts are decently moored, but there is still some wiggle.

Would it be better to dig out and add additional concrete around the outside of the posts and keep the posts hollow?

Or would it be better to add a 4"x 4" wood post insert and moor it with some interior concrete to moor it?

Or is there another approach?

There is always the option to attach a "Wheel" or Roller to the bottom of the gate. The is entirely dependent upon the ground conditions you have. I did this for a vehicle gate at my place. 6' wooden fence, with a 10' wide gate, also wood. Attached a large roller wheel to the gate, and it worked perfectly for years.


Is it possible to a drill hole in the bottom of a terracotta gardening pot? I would like to make some drainage holes in the bottom of some terracotta pots I have. I am tempted to use a drill but am not sure whether this will work and how  should go about it. Has anyone ever done this?

In addition to using a tile bit, I would recommend using a hand drill instead of a power one. I use mine for drilling thin panels or other delicate material.


Are 20V batteries of Parkside Performance series and Parkside X20V Team series compatible? Parkside Performance series is a newer series with better motor and longer-lasting battery than with Parkside X20V Team series. I am trying to find out whether the older batteries of the old generation Parkside tools work with the new generation Performance series.

I could see that Parkside Performance series has 4 pins while the Parkside X20V Team series has 3 pins in the charger so they may not be compatible in the charging. The picture is from the video here but no mention about the backward compability.

Are the Parkside 20V batteries in Parside Performance series and Parkside X20V Team series compatible?

No, they are not. Locking mechanism has a different shape.


How can I replace a riveted doorknob faceplate? I've got a doorknob in need of replacement. However, the old doorknob's faceplate is riveted to a larger plate (see picture). Is the larger plate a standard part that I can buy somewhere, or is it a custom job? (Does the larger plate have a name?) I can probably drill out the rivets, but I figure that's plan B.

Go with plan B. The larger strike looks like either of two things, a reinforcement for a damaged mount for the strike bolt. The door slab looks ever so slightly thicker at the strike location, like the screws somehow split the door at the strike. Or the door originally had a mortise lock set and this part serves as an adapter so to get a standard knob to work in the large cut out for a mortise lock.

I really think it is the former, not the latter. Either way you need to at least reuse it, or replace it if you can find one at the big box stores. I have seen them before. It should be where all the replacement parts for old style doors are located, I do not know what it is called.  You can remove it temporarily if it helps you drill out the pop rivets. Also, it may help the store guy see what you need if you want a new one anyway just to freshen up the look to go with the new knob.
 You can drill out the pop rivets which MAY be 3/16" but drill first with a 1/8" bit, and if it doesn't fall apart, then use the 3/16". After that you can purchase a standard bore latch set and new pop rivets and get it all back together again.

For what its worth, you could do away with reassembling it with pop rivets and go with 8 gauge flathead machine screws in a bright brass finish to match everything, and use "stop nuts" to hold it together. Get a couple of screws to replace the drywall screws to balance it all out.

If you feel adventurous and you have worked with chisels before and you are adept at it, you could add a "Dutchman" of substantial depth to do away with the secondary metal plate, and get it closer to the way it is meant to be


How to connect single-phase appliance to 240v feed? I had a licensed electrician install this circuit with NEMA 14-30 receptacle before I knew which specific appliance would be used on the circuit.  I now have the appliance with a 14-30 plug, but it warns:

  This  is  a  single-phase  device.  Do  not  connect  all  three
  phases of a 3-phase feed !!!    You may use any two phases of a three-
  phase wye-transformer feed.  The center-point of the three phases
  (usually  used as Neutral) must be grounded somewhere in the system. A
  Neutral  connection is not required by the LCS.  Only Line 1, Line 2,
  and Ground  are required.

Is this panel and receptacle properly wired for this single-phase appliance?

If you're not using the neutral, you should have a NEMA 6-30 receptacle instead of a NEMA 14-30.

Other than that, it looks like you're all set. The black wire is one line (L1), the red wire is another line (L2), and green is ground.  You should have 240 volts between L1 and L2, since you have a 120/240V single split-phase system.

You don't have to worry about the three phase warnings, since you don't have a three phase system.


Do I need both AFCI breaker and receptacle for run over 70 feet? I am installing 120v wiring for a dorm-type setting, and some of the rooms are over 70 feet from the breaker panel. The NEC says that the home run may not exceed 50 feet for 14 AWG and 70 feet for 12 AWG conductors. If it does the first receptacle in the branch circuit has to be an AFCI receptacle.

So, in the case where the 1st receptacle is more than 70 feet from the panel do I need both (an AFCI breaker and an ACFI Receptacle)?

I could be wrong here, but the way the code is written, the circuit length should only matter if...

The AFCI protection is provided by a receptacle type device installed at the first outlet.
A supplemental arc protection circuit breaker is installed at the origin of the circuit, and a receptacle type AFCI device is installed at the first outlet.

210.12(A)(1) allows the circuit to be protected by a "combination-type arc-fault circuit interrupter", without any mention of the length of the circuit. So I would expect as long as you're installing a combination-type AFCI, and not a "supplemental arc protection circuit breaker". Then there should be no problem. But I've been known to misinterpret code from time to time.

National Electrical Code 2017
Chapter 2 Wiring and Protection
Article 210 Branch Circuits
210.12 Arc-fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection.
(A) Dwelling Units. All 120-volt, single-phase, 15- and 20-ampere branch circuits supplying outlets or devices installed in dwelling unit kitchens, family rooms, dining rooms, living rooms, parlors, libraries, dens, bedrooms, sunrooms, recreation rooms, closets, hallways, laundry areas, or similar rooms or areas shall be protected by any of the means described in 210.12(A)(1) through (6):
(1) A listed combination-type arc-fault circuit interrupter, installed to provide protection of the entire branch circuit.
...
(3) A listed supplemental arc protection circuit breaker installed at the origin of the branch circuit in combination with a listed outlet branch-circuit type arc-fault circuit interrupter installed at the first outlet box on the branch circuit where all of the following conditions are met:
...
b. The maximum length of the branch-circuit wiring from the branch-circuit overcurrent device to the first outlet shall not exceed 15.2 m (50 ft) for 14 AWG conductors or 21.3 m (70 ft) for 12 AWG conductors.
...


Does a 125 AMP panel require a heavier supply cable than a 100 AMP panel? I took a look at some of the other threads, but none seemed to give me a clear answer:

My house currently has a mess of a load center setup that I need to correct. There are two Square-D 22? space panels wired to each other, with one being a subpanel with a 60 AMP link from the primary one (there is a 60 AMP breaker in each panel that are linked together with some super-thick aluminum braided wire). The primary panel has a 100 AMP main breaker, connected to the meter outside.

Aside from this thing being a monstrosity, the "subpanel" has corrosion in spots on some of the breaker contact points, reducing voltage to 108 or so on some circuits (diagnosing why some things worked and others didn't when plugged into certain outlets was a multi-day adventure.) The thing that just pushed me into action is that the screw-downs for the feed from the meter on the 100 AMP breaker are corroded, and one is actually loose and occasionally arcs.

I don't have a lot of vertical space to go with a 200 AMP panel with a lot of spaces. I can get the same footprint Square-D panel with either a 100 AMP or 125 AMP main breaker. I can also reduce the number of breaker spaces I need by consolidating circuits (LOTS of the interior outlets are direct runs to the panel, there's no reason the LR, for example, can't all be on one breaker instead of 3), and by using a few tandem breakers.

My questions:

Does going from a 100 AMP to a 125 AMP panel require any change in the gauge of the wire coming from the meter?
Is there any limit to the number of tandem switches that can be used in one of these panels (e.g., Square-D  HOM2448M125PC)?

Thank you!

John

This one popped up for some reason, so I'll edit in some new thoughts.

Corroded or arcing power feeds are "burn your house down" serious business. Fix immediately! Aluminum feeder wire is fine stuff, but you do need to use the anti-ox goop, and torque it correctly.  Many electricians in the 80s and 90s did not get the memo.  Nip it in the bud fast.

Likewise corrosion (read: arcing) on breaker contact points is absolutely unacceptable. Catch it early and you may be able to save the breaker space, otherwise that's a dead space in your panel.  The #1 cause is using the wrong brand of breaker.  Brand X breaker won't engage Brand Y buses with the correct contact shape or clamping force, causing the arcing.

If the panel is a goner, swap it. Let me come back to that.

The cable between main and sub doesn't need 2 breakers.  It needs a breaker upstream (in the main panel) to protect the cable. A 60A breaker is correct to protect #6Cu or #4Al.  At the subpanel, the cable/wire can land on main lugs (provided the subpanel is rated for 60A+) or on the subpanel's main breaker (of any rating - a smaller main protects the panel, a larger main is just a shutoff switch, which you do not need since it's in the same building.) So if the subpanel has main lugs, use them instead of backfeeding a breaker.

One more thing.  If the main panel is breakered at 100A, and the cable supports 100A, and the subpanel supports 100A, then the main main breaker protects them all. You don't need any breakers for the sub. You can use thru-lugs or snap-in lugs in the main panel.

With that in mind, back to replacing the panel(s). Talk to the power company and see if your service drop/meter can support 125A.  Even if not, you can order a 125A main panel and swap the main breaker to 100A.

See if you can upgrade the main-sub cable to 125A.  If so, order a main panel with thru lugs, which will save 2 breaker spaces, and a 125A sub. Voila, no breakers needed, space maximized!

You can also look at the CH or QO panels, which use 3/4" high breakers, so more spaces in the same panel footprint.  GFCI and AFCI breakers are available for them.

What doesn't work is "double-stuff" breakers (including GE's 1/2" Q-line breakers). Those are useless as almost all new work today requires GFCI, AFCI or both - and you cannot obtain those in double-stuff.  So a "24/48" panel is actually 24, period.

Original:

Wire gauge is decided by what NEC requires (and those are in stair-steps) and what your electrical distributor has in stock.

So with numbers as close as 100A vs 125A, you might get lucky: imagine the original installer found #2 wire was good for 95A, #1 for 110A and #0 aka 1/0 was good for 125A.  He can't use #2, the distributor does not stock #1, so he uses 1/0. You get a happy surprise when you aim to upgrade.  Hey, it could happen - check.  If not, you need to pull bigger wire.

Check the markings on the aluminum conductors to make sure they are stranded and the modern AA-8000 series alloy, which are legal and safe. (NEC 310.106b). The problem alloys from the 1950s are now outlawed, and your distributor won't even sell them.

Your reduced voltage to 108 is more likely to be a problem with your neutral.  Poor connections can't drop 12 volts without destroying themselves from heat (volts x amps = watts of heat), more likely your other leg went to 132 volts because of a lost neutral.  This is an extremely dangerous condition that needs to be taken out of service immediately because the imbalance can be much worse than 12V, and that will destroy appliances and start fires.  If you know where the problem is, but can't de-energize your house now, a short-term work-around is disable one "hot" - doesn't matter which one.  Look at how the hot busbars are arranged inside the panel, pick one leg, and remove every breaker which uses that leg.  Rearrange as necessary to keep the lights on.  At that point, if the neutral fails, the circuits will shut off instead of giving dangerous voltages.

Look for other options (i.e. other brands or suppliers) that will give you more spaces in the panel. You don't want to be forced into using duplex breakers, because - especially when you remodel - you'll be forced to follow current code, and will need more kitchen breakers and GFCI and AFCI breakers in many slots.  Those are a lot more expensive as duplex.  You can completely fill the panel with double-stuff breakers (in fact, doing so is the basis of their "48 circuit" marketing claim).

Don't buy this at the big-box home improvement stores, go to a real electrical distributor such as Greybar - they tend to be locally owned. They will have better options (eg more breaker spaces in smaller boxes, Homelites are huge), better quality and sometimes better prices.  For instance, Homelite is Square D's bottom-tier brand. There's better out there, and it's worth an extra $100 to not have problems like the ones you are having.


Washer/dryer in the garage Florida home: I'm wanting to relocate my washer and dryer to the garage. It is a gas dryer.

Question: Do I need to elevate both units off the garage floor? ( It is post 2003.)

I don’t know Florida but in Oregon you would , I believe if your water heater Is elevated your dryer would be covered by the same requirements because of possible flammable fumes from the garage, when the gas burner starts up. I recently raised my washer and dryer (both front loaders) 13-14” off the ground because of washer issues and my wife loves the height.
I would raise it even if not code after doing it.


How can I safely remove a large fallen tree? I have a large tree that has fallen on my property, and it is currently supported on opposite ends, like this:

The bulk of the tree that was beyond the fence, off to the right, was already removed by the county. IOW, you can see 99% of what remains in this picture.

For reference, the fence on the right is six feet high and the root structure on the left is about twelve feet high.

I'd like to use my chainsaw to remove this behemoth from my yard. Anyone have any tips do this safely and efficiently?

I would get some heavy duty pipe jacks to support the trunk, placing them on a square piece of 1" plywood to distribute the weight. Prop the tree with 4x4 lumber to prevent rolling; one end in a hole in the turf, the other end nailed to the tree. Once stabilized, cut all extraneous non-supporting branches, limbs and roots including the portion that hangs over the fence.

Then use a trolley jack to lower the (cut off) tree top to the ground and re-stabilize with 4x4s; carefully chop up the bugger.

It may end up being easier to chop up if you don't let it rest on the ground but instead, land it on some wood cribbing.


What is the best strategy for this layout if I want/need to remove copper plumbing and move to PEX? (two bathrooms connected by the same supply pipes) This is a basement bathroom completely gutted out
In the picture below
1 -the pipes are coming from the adjacent room (kitchen) Main valve is there as well
2 shower end -from there it splits horizontally toward 5 (sink) and 6 (toilet)
3 upstairs sink
4 bath tub shower upstairs
you can also see where the upstairs toilet drain is joining the vertical purple drain
Everything is copper and I am not sure if it needs to be replaces and if I can do it myself
I have never done plumbing but I am handy

Here are some reasons why I would replace this

I want to move the drain and the vent (vertical purple and grey pipes) near the wall
as you can see in the pictures below there is some corrosion going on (nothing leaked and I would have not known about this if I did not open the ceiling)
the 1/2" supply pipes are in bad shape in certain areas but not sure how bad they are
if I leave the supply pipes longer they will complete the corrosion and they will leak causing more problems

My question is this: how do I move from copper to pex in this situation ? After I finish the basement I will do the reno for the upstairs bathroom and I need to understand how I can do the basement bathroom and finish it and them move to upstairs.
A plan I am thinking of would be to make a copper to pex transition at ❶ and then find a way to leave pex ends accessible for when I open the floor upstairs What do the plumbers do in such situations when you can't shut down all the bathrooms in the house for an extended period ? (the upstream bathroom will also be opened and gutted out )

Bottom side of the vent and drain that I want to move near wall

That kind of corrosion is usually attributed to the failure to remove excess soldering flux, and it does not indicate the pipes are corroding through. Wiping all those areas with a wet rough rag would probably remove the deposits. Then examine the joints for pitting and for pinhole leaks. At this point replacing all this plumbing would be premature.
Copper water piping can corrode through. We had multiple pinhole leaks in the 6 ft vertical run carrying hot water from the tank down to the slab. But your pipes do not appear to be corroding through. The corrosion is probably superficial and stopped when all the excess flux was consumed. The excess flux should have been wiped off by the plumber who sweated the joints,  but often this is not done.


Water Hammer on sink hot tap I have just installed a new washing machine which doesn't require a hot water feed as where the old one did so now that hot water feed is switched off.

Since then the tap on the main sink which is on the same piperun as the old feed has developed water hammer at low flows, is there any way to stop this?

You can add a water hammer arrestor on that line. They are not expensive approx  15$ . These devices have a spring loaded chamber that dampen the water hammer most plumbing and big box stores stock them.  This is the easiest diy method of fixing , if you have access to the pipes strapping them down can also solve the problem.


Can I steal a neutral from another fixture on the same circuit? I have a gang of 4 switch box, 3 switches are on the same circuit. There is no neutral or ground and it is knob and tube wiring, so I don't want to fix this (from what I've seen, the rubber/cloth housing looks good).
From what I understand, the reason for the neutral is to always have a closed circuit to power the smart switch.  So I was thinking that if I put a smart bulb in one of the circuits and have smart switches in the other two, I should be able to wire the neutral to the smart bulb circuit.
So, changing this:

To something like this:

I have a feeling that the smart bulb load might get in the way of the neutral though.  Perhaps I would have to remove the smart bulb out of the circuit and short that line, like so?

That wouldn't be optimal, but it is the least useful out of the bulbs as I have auxiliary lighting in that area.  I would of course, would have to put some sort of documentation in the boxes to remember what I had done.
Is it possible (not necessarily with my circuits, but with a similar idea)?
Edit
FYI, all circuits are using dimmable LED bulbs, so an overload is not a concern.  Ground would be floating, but that shouldn't be a concern as the switch plate would cover any exposed metal.
Edit 2
I am of course interested if what I am proposing is against code.

So, given the comments, although electrically this would work, it is unsafe and a code violation.  This is because the hot and neutral are to be in the same raceway to have the magnetic field of the hot wire cancel out the magnetic field of the return wire, and thus reduce any induction eddies in any nearby metal components.  Such eddies could cause heat buildup and be a potential fire hazard.
It has also been brought to my attention that the dimmer that I had bought has no electrical safety standard certification such as CE, CSA or UL (or anything else for that matter).  FCC is a radio emission standard, not a safety standard.


How can I fix a bathtub refinishing debacle? OK.  So I have an old cast iron white bathtub.  And it was in really bad shape.  Nicks, worn out, everything.

So I go to HD looking for the Rust-Oleum tub & tile refinishing kit.  Didn't have it, but they suggested the HOMAX variant.  So I got the Homax white brush on.  Basically it is liquid epoxy (not sure it is epoxy since there was no additive for chemical reaction).

Well first of all I bought white and it isn't white - I may be able to live with the almond color....   But the biggest problem is that it is a gloppy mess.  After the second coat it seemed to look ok.  But then an hour or two later I went in and looked and it is horrible.  It pooled up in some places.  Other place it didn't cover well...  On a scale of 1 to 10 you wouldn't give it a 1.

I read the reviews for Homax and this seems to be the norm.  Sucks.  Didn't know.  So what are my next steps?  The tub is a huge uneven mess.  And when I say uneven - you could probably notice from 50 feet.  I have basically remodeled my whole house and this is the first thing that I have messed up. I can't touch it for another 2 days and really need this bathroom working next week.

Acetone.  Acetone breaks it down into a consistency of Elmer's glue but very gooey.  Then I took a paint scraper razor blade and it peels similiar to latex paint but a little tougher. I'm not quit finished because I ran out of acetone.  Once off, I will have to see if I can get the tub to its original state. If not, I'll order Rustoleum online. I used it years ago, and it came out great! Homax should be called Homewreck.


How can I make use of this non-standard network cabinet in my garage? I have a network cabinet in my garage, but I've discovered that it seems to be a non-standard size, and I can't find anything to fit it.

It looks to have been installed by the previous owners for their telecom system (they had 4 phone lines throughout the house). I would like to convert it to a network/telecom panel, with leaving two of the existing wires on the telecom, and converting the rest to gigabit ether, and the two wires left on the telecom, I want to use as 100 mbit ether.

Here is an image of the patch panel with it's dimensions (all dimensions are rough):

As far as I can tell, the center pole is riveted in place and can't easily be removed. There is also, plenty of play in the ethernet cables, so I can move stuff up or down easily. The cabling is cat-5e.

I've searched monoprice and I can't find anything that will fit it, and google isn't being helpful either. Do they make stuff to fit this size and I just can't find this? Do I need to remove it and put in a larger sized cabinet? Or is it just useless?

Additional note: The current telecom splitter that is in there is made by Dynaflex Inc, who are no longer in business.

This is one of the residential structured media cabinets that you can get at any of the big box stores, made by Leviton and several others (your pic is too low resolution for me to read the name on the phone block, there may also be a name on the cabinet door).

You can buy additional blocks of all sorts of things to fit in these, such as network patches, switches, routers, etc.

It's probably much cheaper just to buy standard 19" stuff from Monoprice, and then regular 19" rackmount switches/routes from manufacturers that actually specialize in network gear (as opposed to light switches and plugs), but that's just my opinion. I used standard stuff at my house, it was fairly cheap and looks great -- I'll post a pic later.

It really just depends on how you want it to look when completed, how much work you want to do vs using what's there, and of course how much you want to spend.


Light fixture in basement with a light switch that has an outlet next to it ........light won't work now I recently replaced my light fixture in the basement.

The second time I flipped it on, it made a buzzing noise and went out.

When I do a wire test, the light outlet wires are getting no power. At the light box switch the outlet is getting power but the switch isn't.

The black wire from one set goes to the switch and the other wire hooked to it is another black bridging wire to the plug in the outlet.

and hooks he the side white and all which ones are hooked to the the back side of the plugin.

No ground on the switch but there's one on the plugin outlet. No ground on light fixture as well.

How do I fix this?

If you replaced a light fixture and when you turned it on it started to buzz then went out. Then let's go tho the obvious. You had a short in the wiring at the fixture. So first turn off the breaker to the fixture. Remove the fixture and look inside your box. I am guessing that you will find a wire burnt in half or at a splice or it may be wired incorrectly. If that fixture has a ballast or driver you can assume that the miss wiring has burnt it out and needs replacing.

You said you had a wire coming from the receptacle to the switch. You say the a conductor is coming from the receptacle and it didn't trip the breaker. I am assuming that would be your hot. Check the switch by using a continuity tester touch both posts of the switch and see if you can get it to ring when you turn the switch on.

You also run a ground to the switch and connect the fixture to the ground to eliminate a possible shock hazard.

Good luck and stay safe.


How to repair a closed-stringer staircase? I need to replace the treads on my closed-stringer staircase. They are 100-year-old softwood with unsightly, disintegrating rubber covers glued on. One stringer is against the outer wall of the house, the other faces inwards, but removing it and getting it back on is well beyond my abilities at this time. They appear to be dadoed into the stringer. Is there a way to remove the old treads without taking the stringer off first? I suppose I could saw it off at the groove but I don't think that would be stable.

Update: Pictures

The easiest way IMO, would be to cut the nosing off the treads flush with the risers then just install new risers in front of the old, flush with the top of the old tread and install new thread on top of the old.

Removing the old treads and replacing them is not a simple/easy task, it can be done though.


How to repair this couch? I bought this leather (leatherette?) couch 1.5 years ago but recently noticed that the surface was damaged.  Please see the photo below.  How should I repair it?  Since I bought an "extended warranty" plan, I can try to give the company a call.

There are vinyl patch kits available, most often sold for use repairing car seats. I've had mediocre success with them.

However, since you have that extended warranty, it's definitely worth checking if this is covered first; anything you do might be an excuse to void that warranty. I suspect thst this will be considered normal wear and not covered but ya never know until you ask.


How can I build a support onto a stud in order to support a handrail? I need to repair a stair handrail that has come out of my plaster wall.  One end of the rail was not connected to a stud, so has come lose.  It is a nice railing, so I would prefer not to buy a new one or cut it to fit. So what I am wondering is, can I cut a hole in the wall and put additional support in to support my already existing handrail?

You can install one or more handrail brackets under the railing and line them up directly with the studs. You should be able to find them at any hardware store:

Alternatively, yes, you can open the wall and install a nailer (2x4 installed horizontally between the studs), but this will require some plaster or drywall patching and painting. I would fix the nailer in place with screws to minimize the vibration that may cause more damage to the surrounding drywall. To avoid opening the wall up too much, I'm guessing you'll end up going in at an angle from the front and bottom of the nailer into the stud. It would be better to go in from the opposite side of the stud, but that would result in a lot more wall to repair (you want any joints to be on a stud).


How to mount hooks into concrete ceiling that must be able to support several times bodyweight? I am on the top floor of a loft apartment that used to be a factory.  I want to install several hooks or some other fixture into my concrete ceiling from which I can hang gymnastic rings, a punching bag and a swing/hammock. I am about 200lbs and if I were to use a safety factor of 5, each hook would possibly need to be able to support 1000lbs.  Given that there is inevitably a higher impulse everytime I get on/off the rings or punch the bag, would the 1000lbs be sufficient?  Which then leads to - how and where can I get hooks or some other type of fixture that would be able to take this load and how can I get them into my concrete ceiling?

I do not have experience with home improvement so I would appreciate as much details as possible.

Checking with my engineer-minded girlfriend, we've got too many questions to be able to answer this. The concrete, which is intended to support a dead load, may not be able to support the moment loads that you're planning to put on it. Without having a structural diagram for the entire building and detail on what the beams are intended to do (such as -- are they of a type that is webbing to support a lateral dead load only to hold the walls together? how much load is already on the beam and where? What kind of shape is the concrete in, and how well reinforced is it -- remember it's almost 100 years old!), no one but an engineer could really tell you. Concrete, even reinforced, is a very brittle substance.

You will need to be attached to a structural portion of the structure. In the following picture of an all-concrete warehouse type structure, note that the structure is the columns or piers (vertical elements) and beams (what rides on top of the columns and ties the columns to the walls). Note that in the picture's case, nothing is attached to the beams. That's probably because the beams are there solely to provide a framework for the roof. The things that are attached to the ceiling do not move and therefore are "dead" loads.

.

If you do not have access to one of the beams, you do not want to attempt this task... the concrete you will try to attach to will crack inwards when the moment load is applied to the points. If you have side access to one of the beams or columns, you can probably fasten a plate to side of the beam or column and use several bolts to attach the plate, and then use a metal pole to span between the plates. A metal bar or pipe of sufficient thickness will be elastic enough to absorb and flex with point moment-loads where a single or pair of anchors in concrete will crack.

Since it's an apartment and is not solely your structure, most of the solutions we could devise if the beam is sufficient to support the various types of loads would include drilling a permanent hole four inches into the beam and then affixing an expanding sleeve bolt with a backup of permanent masonry epoxy. Drilling with a hammer drill and then installing an expanding sleeve bolt carries a large risk of cracking the beam. Since you are living in a shared structure, this is probably not advisable. You will need to check with any homeowners association or deed covenants, which may restrict you legally from performing modifications to the building's structure in such a way that could be detrimental to your neighbors and cohabitants.

Here's an example of the anchor type I'd use to anchor into concrete:

They are made by ITW RedHead and are available at most home improvement stores.

Talking over possible solutions with my girlfriend, who is not a structural engineer and knows nothing of your structure, she suggested using a floor-mounted framework. Her crossfit gym has a gymnastics framework that bolted together into a secure structure that would be sound against several kN of force and would spread the load on the floor instead of trusting the overhead structure. They also would not involve a permanent modification to the structure. I'm not sure where you'd find something like that; I've seen the one at her gym and it looked custom made to me.


What type of wood filler should I use? I'm starting a project to build my own solid body guitar.

I received the body and its made from ash. It needs to be filled (the grain is very porous).

I hear that I need wood filler for this.

The plan is to stain the guitar with a walnut stain and then finish with an oil finish (no lacquering and I want the grain to show through).

So my questions are, does it matter what wood filler I get? and all wood filler can be stained, right?

I've heard that a darker wood filler will accentuate the grain and give a greater contrast between the areas of the grain. However, I also had some advice that I should fill the wood in a similar colour and stain over the top.

I'm quite confused and don't want to get it wrong. I would like the grain to show up as much as possible, but don't want to ruin the staining by putting the wrong filler on it.

Wood fillers for filling grain are very different from those used for structural repairs.  Grain fillers are diluted and rubbed into the wood grain.  See the attached listing from Constantines, one of the leading woodworking suppliers in the U.S.:

http://www.constantines.com/pastewoodfiller.aspx

They are also a source of components and books on building guitars.

I do not know of a non-U.S. source, but they may ship internationally and their info may help evaluate local resources you find.


How can I cover a wood stove pipe where it passes through the second floor? I live on 2nd floor of wood stove house. Exposed pipe runs through my room (I know it's not code...it's not my house).  It gets way too warm and there's a smell... Please tell me there is something I can wrap around the pipe to solve my problem.

Sounds like the flue pipe runs through your room. This pipe should definitely be insulated, not only for comfort, but for safety as well. Insulating the pipe keeps the heat in the pipe, preventing the buildup of creosote, which is a fire hazard.

You will need to wrap that pipe with high-temperature insulation made specifically for that purpose. Do not use anything not specifically rated and designed for insulating metal chimney liners. However, this may not be a DIY job. Combustion appliances and ventilation are serious business. You may want to hire a pro.


HVAC has filters on returns only New home purchase and was surprised that the heat pump air handler does not have a filter inserted.  The filters are on the returns only, but are very well fitted.  There are two returns.
Is this an acceptable approach?  If it is actually designed this way would inserting an air filter create too much resistance for the air handler?
The coils seemed squeaky clean to my eye.
Minor subplot - the location of the condensate line makes it awkward to change the filter.  You have to unscrew the condensate line to install it.  Is there a better way to run this line assuming that we should actually have a filter inserted?
Thanks

If the air is filtered at the intakes of the return ducts, where is it going to get dirty on the way to the air handler to need filtered again?
Maintain the ones you have, don't add more where you don't need them...


How to distribute power better across two breaker panels Symptom: Lights dim when appliances or laserjet printer kick in while HVAC and clothes dryer running.

I currently have a 400 Amp service split into 2 panels each with a 200A main breaker. I'm all electric, no gas. House built in '96, one floor. Main feed comes in garage.

On one panel, I have 350A combined breakers (15A is not used, attic fan removed) and the other side 245A combined breakers (60A not used, was added for a jacuzzi that previous owners never put in).

I already had an electrician come to the house to loosen and tighten all the connections on the panel.

My thought is, I don't have proper distribution of power across the panels. However, I'm not an electrician, so I don't know for sure. But by looking at both panels, it seems the one side may be demanding a lot and not very well balanced.

I then noticed the office which has the laserjet printer is tied to the lighting in the living room and hallway. So I can see how the printer could be dimming those lights. However, the kitchen appliances are on a separate breaker which also cause the lights to dim.

I plan on running a dedicated line for the printer and office computer on the panel that consumes less power hoping this would fix it. However, I want to hear some other thoughts and possible solutions to this.

You did the right thing first tightening the connections, next would be to use an AMP clamp meter to verify the loads connected to L1, L2 and make sure they are ballanced, if unballanced as stated above some breakers need to be moved untill they are ballanced. if they are ballanced it may be your main breaker has a weak hammer on 1 leg causing some internal arcing and the voltage drop. I had to replace a square D panel several years ago as I could not get a new main breaker from square D


Does a 240v subpanel need a neutral? Was curious as I've seen plenty of pages indicating that a 240v circuits don't require neutral... in my head that means a branch circuit but I don't know if that is accurate.

My specific case is that I have 100+ feet of 1/0 aluminum triplex and four 100A subpanels. I'm not sure if the length is enough for all four. All of their branch circuits will be 240V. Everything from the service panel to subpanel to branch circuits is in EMT.

I was going to wire it up with all 4 (L-L-G-N).... but as 240V does not need a neutral... can I turn my triplex into 2-conductors + 6 AWG copper ground?

Being able to cut up the 3rd conductor for run to the last panel would allow me all the length I need for sure.

Parts of the Philippines are wired like the USA. But they are trying to harmonize their power grid to the EU style, so people in those zones must wire like North American 240V-only - with 120V and neutral use forbidden.  At some point they will move a jumper on the supply transformer and be full EU.  If you are in the Philippines, your plan is fine.  Stop reading: this answer is over for you.   For everyone else in El NEC territory:

Neutral vs ground matters

Neutral is not ground.  It's never ground. It's not even a little ground.  Criss-crossing them or using one for the other seems harmless, but it actually creates a time bomb that means a simple loose wire somewhere could kill you.  They must be absolutely 100% separate at all times, anywhere but the main panel.

Here is the root problem with 240V-only panels.  Sooner or later, somebody will want to stick a 120V circuit in there.  Or a 120V/240V circuit (primarily 240V but uses 120V for controls, e.g. a dryer or range). They won't even think about what they're doing; this will seem very natural since you do exactly that in a main panel.  At this point, a simple wire problem will create a lethal situation, as above.

Because of this, inspectors generally want you to wire the neutral even if you're not using it, to protect you from that future mistake.

You might as well. You're wasting a wire if you don't.

You already have enough wires to deliver 2 hots + neutral + ground.  The trick is, EMT conduit is an acceptable ground path.   So the conduit itself delivers safety ground; your smaller wire delivers neutral; and the 2 larger wires deliver hots. Everybody's happy.

You will need to spend $7 on an accessory ground bar for ea--- wait a minute. Didn't you say the entire building is wired in EMT conduit? You're already finished with grounds. EMT is your ground.

Seriously. This is how commercial wiring is done.  I have four buildings with 7 panels with 6 services, all done in EMT or busway. None of the panels even have a ground bar.  They've been touched by a dozen electricians and many permit/inspection cycles, and nobody's batted an eye or said a word about it. About half of the work is old enough to predate mandatory grounding, and half is post-1980; there's no difference in wiring method. It's all Code legal today except for post-2011 AFCI/GFCI requirements and I refuse to put handle ties on certain breaker-switched, lighting-only MWBCs.

The only time you would ever put a ground wire in an EMT conduit is if you had an expectation that the conduit might take physical damage hard enough to part a coupler. But at that point, you really should be not using EMT there, either better protect the EMT or run Rigid.

Cable in conduit

Is legal, but you'll need a good supply of swear words to pull it.  It will be difficult to pull, and we like to warn DIYers both a) about the difficulty of pulling cable, and also the difficulty of any pull that is near the capacity of the conduit.  Generally, cable inside conduit should always be avoided; run THWN or XHHW single conductors to suit.   But since you already have this....

... Well, hold on. Does your USE cable have markings on each individual wire? Does it easily separate? If so, you can easily separate it, and get to play by the individual-wire rules.  Otherwise  you're stuck with what follows.

When you have a lumpy or non-round cable, you must treat that (for conduit fill calculations) as a round wire of the large dimension; i.e. what circle will this cable fit inside?  CME Wire says 1/0-1/0-2 URD is 1.14" in diameter. Okay.   With one wire, the conduit's inside diameter must be 138% of the cable diameter. (technically, that's 53% conduit fill, but what I just said is easier to compute). So for you, 1.57", but you just make it with 1.5" trade size conduit.

At 2 cables, you're only allowed 30% fill. So now the conduit must be 259% of the wide dimension to support 2 identical cables. (e.g. 3" conduit for dual 1/0-1/0-2 URD. Ouch).
At 3 cables, you're allowed 40% fill, so for three identical cables, 274% of the width of one cable. (still 3" EMT).
At 4 cables, conduit derate becomes a concern, but not for your oversize wire. Conduit ID must be 317% of cable width.  For you, 3.5" trade size EMT.
At 5 cables, conduit derate becomes so severe that it's not worth doing.

Adding an extra ground wire inside the conduit means that would be two "wires", forcing you to 2.5" conduit. Ridiculous.  So don't do that; secure the EMT firmly or run a ground wire outside it.


Hunter ceiling fan instal I am trying to install a hunter ceiling fan that is controlled by two three way switches. I have two red wires twisted together, two black twisted, and two single white wires and of coarse the grounds. This ceiling fan has a remote box. I have been unable to wire it in to get it working. Any help would be appreciated. And all I need the switched to do is turn the unit on and off.

Ok I am going to post something for a 3 way switch wiring - keep in mind if you have a pre-wired ceiling fan box the red wire for a ceiling fan is typically the light kit (attaching to the blue wire of the Light Kit) and the black wire is for the fan.
In the first diagram below the red wire is a traveler wire.

Take note the fan diagram below is showing a speed switch for the fan and a separate dimmer switch for the light.