Spikes in water pressure Just had a leak fixed on the main water pipe coming into my house.  The repair man suggested I get a pressure gauge with two needles so I can check current pressure along with previous pressures over a period of time.  I have never known what the maximum pressure, or spikes, was before.  I was really surprised to find that I was getting spikes not only during the day, but overnight as well, up to 110 psi.  I didn't think it was the pressure regulator because other than the spikes indicated by the red needle on the gauge, the water stayed between 40 and 55 psi.
     I started doing some tests with my water heater (which has no expansion tank). When I selected the VACATION or a little less than the WARM setting on the heater, there were no spikes over night or during the next day. When I turned it up to the HOT setting the day after, I watched the pressure gauge I have connected to the faucet on the main line to my house climb from 45 psi slowly up to 110 psi.  It would stay there until I opened a faucet inside my house, and I think I know the reason. In the lower settings the heater would not have to come on to heat the cooler water, but in the HOT setting the heater would come on and heat the water to a temperature (I don't know how high. I have to check) that would start the pressure expansion.
     To me this seems as though I need an expansion tank on the heater. I would appreciate your thoughts on this as well.
                                    Thanks a lot,
                                          Bob Williams

Yes you are dead on.  You need an expansion tank connected to the discharge side of the water heater. When water heats, it expands considerably.  When water goes from 212* to 213* it expands 1700-times its volume at room temperature. Also check you pop-off valve.  If it is over 7-years old, replace it.


How can I seal around a light fixture/light switch outlet? I Have a house built in 1972. I'm currently 80% finished in installing a ceiling fan into my master bedroom.

I had an energy audit about a month ago, which revealed that I had  "pretty good sealing" in my home, but found the classic attic/wall entry points, specifically, wall outlets and holes in the ceiling for light fixtures, were leaking air.

I've already bought and installed all of the foam outlet/switch sealers (like this), but I don't feel as though its sealing very well around the house. I'm also not sure what to do around the hole in the ceiling.

Googling reveals suggestions like this one, but doesnt specifically mention what can be done to seal a hole in the drywall around electrical fixtures (I'm concerned about fires) Any suggestions?

If the gap is small enough, you can just use some general purpose caulk.  For bigger gaps, patch it with some mud or spackle, then caulk to finish.  Since it's going to be hidden behind a light fixture, it doesn't even have to be that pretty!

(They do make a fire-retardant foam, but I look at the  warning labels and get nervous when they say "extremely flammable while curing.“)


Why is the neutral wire the same size as hot wire in a 3C cable? I thought that the wire size depends on the amperage that the current passes. However in a 3 conductor cable, the size of the neutral wire is the same as the hot wire; which puzzles me. If both hot wires carry 15A current, the neutral wire will carry 30A current.

When it is said that the current cancels each other out, it means that the neutral of a multi-wire branch circuit only carries the imbalance of the current between the two circuits of a properly wired MWBC.

So a load of 5A on one leg, and 15A on the other leg, will result in a load of 10A on the neutral.

For a typical MWBC it is extremely rare that both legs will be 100% balanced, so the neutral will almost certainly carry some current.
This is why a straight 240V circuit (which is a line-to-line circuit as opposed to a line-to-neutral) requires no neutral wire. It is a 100% balanced line-to-line circuit.

See?


How do you trigger the HVAC with wiring only? I have a HVAC that has the usually wiring C R G W Y
Pinouts

What wires do I need to connect to turn on Heating?

What wires do I need to connect to turn on the A/C?

Is there a risk of damaging any circuitry in doing this?

Is there a way of finding out what the HVAC current condition is, based only on the wiring voltages?(cooling and heating)

A thermostat basically just energizes the individual circuits (G (fan), W (heat), Y(cool) ) which in turn (via the furnace controller) powers a relay which provides line voltage to the actual units (like the fan or A/C.  In the case of heat, it instructs your furnace to open the valve supplying gas).

R (or Rh  and Rc) provides the 24VAC power.  To turn on the fan, you'd connect R and G.  To turn on the fan and AC, you'd connect R and Y (or R, G, and Y on systems where the thermostat controls the fan).  To turn on the fan and heat (as you asked), you'd connect R and W together (or R, G, and W if you have say an electric furnace where the thermostat controls the fan).

If you make a mistake you could potentially fry your furnace controller.

As for finding out what is running - yes there should be 24VAC on the circuit if they are turned on.  However note that this is just instructing the logic board in your furnace to turn on the other components; your furnaces controller might not always obey this. For example, some units will keep the fan running for a few minutes after the A/C or heat is turned off (sometimes this is implemented in the thermostat too).

One other thing I will add based on your comment is about the C line.  This is essentially the neutral back to the transformer (or furnace), so you can use it to power your device (most thermostats use this these days).  You should have 24VAC between R and C.

Never connect R and C, this will either blow the fuse on your board or fry the board all together.


how to blackout a large bedroom window on a budget? I am renting an apartment that comes with blinds - that I can not remove or replace - but they are not very effective at blocking the light in the morning.

I can not remove the existing blinds
I want to keep the room light during day so no sticker or dark foil
my budget is limited and I would like to avoid buying and installing heavy curtains.
How do I darken the room on a budget? Any DIY tips are welcome.

Someone suggested pinning fabric inside the blinds but I am not sure how effective that is? What kind of fabric should I buy to try this?
This is for a baby room, so he doesn't wake up with the sunrise :)

A sheet of cardboard cut to fit the window frame tightly.  With a small finger hole or notch cut out so you can pull it out easily.  Thick cardboard would be best so it doesnt bend.

Practically free, blocks all light, does no damage, and can easily be removed in the morning and put back in at night.


AC efficiency and direct sunshine We're about to get a split AC for the living room and kitchen. The apartment looks as follows:

The issue is the placement of the units. There are two viable options:

Place it in the kitchen (as shown in yellow).
Place it in the living room (as shown in orange).

Aesthetically, it would be better to place it in the kitchen as the outer unit would sit in the distant corner of the balcony. However, that corner gets a direct sunshine in the afternoon, whereas the other side is already quite in a shadow in the afternoon. (Note that the outer unit should sit on the balcony floor and not be suspended as there's thick thermal insulation which should be touched as little as possible.)

My question is: how much does the direct sunshine decrease the AC efficiency?

Solar gain in the cooling fins is negligible. Air temperatures in the sun and in the shade are not substantially different if there's any breeze at all, and as soon as the fan starts up the fins reach operating temperature regardless of initial temperature. Ongoing solar gain is minor compared to the overall heat transfer taking place through condensation of the refrigerant.

More important is access to a fresh air supply so recirculation is minimized, and you could always install a sun screen or small pergola if you think otherwise.

More reading


Solar panel to DC heating element to pre-heat water before on demand water heater I'm looking to possibly buy an Craigslist water heater($120), replace the heating element with a DC unit(12V), and power it with a 100 watt solar panel (12V).  On an 40 to 80 gallon insulated tank should I be able to get the water warmed enough in 4 hours of sunlight, during the day, store until nighttime, to cut the use of draw from an electric on demand system?  Thoughts?

Sadly not much. 100W would not effectively heat a 40 gallon water heater, let alone an 80 gallon. Also, remember that the panel likely won't really put off 100W unless your element has the exact right resistance for your specific panel.

You can do some simple calculations if you're curious how much heat that will produce...
If you use 100 Watts for 4 hours, that is 400 Wh (Watts * hours = Wh)
It takes approximately 2.4 Wh to heat 1 gallon of water 1 degree Fahrenheit.

So 400 Wh per day could heat 10 gallons of water 16.67 degrees. (The equation is [(Wh) ÷ 2.4 ÷ (#Gallons) = (change in degrees). So in other words, if your water comes into the tank at 70° (pretty warm) and you use 10 gallons per day, the theoretical temperature it could produce would be 86° (not very impressive is it?). This will somewhat reduce your draw on the on-demand but not by much.

So doing a little math the other way, if your water came into the tank at 50° and you wanted it to heat up to 120°, that is a 70° increase. If I used -say- 30 Gallons per day and I wanted to heat it up 70°...
The formula is (Wh)=(Change in Degrees)*(#Gallons)*2.4
So that would be [Wh = 70° * 30 Gal * 2.4] which comes to 5040 Wh. Spread that across 4 hours and you can see that you could do it with 1260 Watts.

I understand that your goal isn't to heat your water exclusively with the solar but the numbers show how to do the basic math. For example, if I really do use 30 Gallons per day and I heat it  70° above its original temperature, my total need would be around 5040 Wh so if I offset it by 400 Wh (100W for 4hrs) then I would be offsetting apporximately 5/63, (or 7.9%) of my usage

Please note that this doesn't account for a myriad of factors that could affect it, such as heat-loss, inefficiency, or the derating of your solar panel... These numbers should some idea but don't expect them to be exact. Please let me know if this was helpfull or if there is anything I could explane better by leaving me a comment.

Thank-you,
Maxfield Solar


How can I install a curtain rod on a drywall? Originally I though this would be an easy process, however where I used to live all the houses are pure concrete, therefore something like this used to be relatively simple. My question is how can I attach a rod to a drywall?. I realize this questions might sound really ignorant, but please bear with me, I've never done anything with a drywall, I am currently living in the U.S., and my house like pretty much every other house here has drywalls.

It seems to me that if I just do it in the Drywall it will surely fall down, as it is not strong enough, my intuition tells me that behind the drywall there has to be some wood frame where presumably people attach the rods?. I do not have blue prints for my house, what would be a good way to know where I should install this rod?.

As a note the previous owner had curtain rods installed, but he removed them. So it is clear to me that this is possible, I just have no idea how.

This is a 2000 house that I just bought if that is relevant. Wood frame, brick veneer on the outside and drywall on the inside.

Any help, or perhaps good tutorials on how to do this, or what I need to buy would be really appreciated.

Typically most wood framed houses will have wood framing running from floor to ceiling on either side of the window.  If you mount an inch and half away from the edge of the window opening you will most likely hit wood.

But the best way is to head to the store and buy a stud finder.  It's a small hand held device that will find the wood/metal framing under the drywall.  It's a handy item to keep around the house when ever you need to hang something that needs more support.


What are these things that look kind of like sprinklers in my ceiling? What are these things coming out of my ceiling? They look kind of like sprinklers but I'm told we don't have a fire suppression system of any sort.  Are they sprinklers?  Mostly placed in the corners of rooms.  Any ideas?

Shape, location, and wiring but not pipe strongly suggest that they are heat detectors - part of a fire alarm system (whether or not that's an active alarm system, you get to find out somehow.)
Modern ones tend to be "sleeker" and combined with smoke detectors, but this is a fairly common form for older ones.
They are useful for locations that have nuisance smoke but real fire potential, and also I'd guess were commonly available earlier than smoke detectors were.


Vapor Barrier Advice My carpenter installed a metal bulkhead to box in some plumbing. My question is, how can I effectively install a vapor barrier here? I was able to insulate behind the bulkhead, but now the top plate is inaccessible so I can't start my vapor barrier there.

Any advice? Should I wrap the barrier (poly) around the bulk head?

It's highly likely you don't need or want an actual vapor barrier here. These horrible things are still popular in the frigid north climes like Canada, but they truly aren't needed in a well-insulated wall like the one you have. Even up there, on average they cause more problems than they solve and substantially reduce a wall's ability to dry. They can also become mold machines if the space is ever air conditioned and you have stucco or stone wall cladding on the outside. Good choice using mineral wool.

Bottom line: skip the vapor barrier and don't worry about it. Just install your drywall.


How to effectively and efficiently remove varnish from wood I have been restoring an old staircase. I started sanding it with fine sandpaper and then tried rougher paper. It seems that the varnish layer on the wood is melting when sanding over it and sticking to the sandpaper, rendering it useless in a matter of seconds. It is hard to peel the varnish off the paper.

The staircase has a lot of perpendicular surfaces and corners; these are hard to reach and the edges of the sandpaper gets cluttered immediately.

The current result is a staircase where the varnish is sanded in the middle of the surfaces and around the edges there is still a lot of varnish left.

I have used cellulose thinner twice, but that was not effective at all. What did I do wrong here?

My question is: how can I remove the varnish from the wood easily, especially in the corners?

I've had great results using Citristrip, (see below). I've used it indoors many times and it leaves no fumes. I've used it to strip multiple layers of paint and varnish from furniture.

There are many products to choose from but I know this one works. It just goes on with a brush. Good luck, you took on a big job redoing a staircase.

This product looks similar due to the fact that it is for indoors and is a gel, which is what you need for a staircase. Verity it with the store personnel. It is sold in your neck of the woods.


AC Unit Blow Warm Air Indoor But Colder Air Outdoor I have two AC Units.  One for upstairs and one for downstairs.  The upstairs one works just fine but not the downstairs.  So, i did a test by turning both units on and went outside to compare the two units.  The upstairs one works fine and blows out warm/hot air, but the downstairs one seems to  blow out cold air compare to the working unit.  These two are not heat pumps.  They are both AC units.  Anyone know what is wrong with my downstairs unit?

BTW: I had the HVAC guy come out to check it 3 years back, and he added refrigerant into the system.  It worked for a week or two after he left, then it's back to warm air again.  Would this be a leak of some sort?

Because of the need to capture the refrigerant and licenses to get the refrigerant in most places, this typically isn't a DIY job. The fact that the outside unit is running and air is blowing inside suggests that it's not a problem with the thermostat. Check the breaker, air filters, and any other easy to access components for obvious problems. Beyond that, there are a lot of possible issues:

Compressor has failed
No refrigerant or not enough
Controller has failed or wiring has become disconnected
Inside coils have frozen over

Since the first two are the most likely and either will need a professional to repair, you may as well get one out to diagnose the problem for you.


Building a No-Weld Trailer Chassis I need a chassis for a box trailer. For now I'm focusing on the chassis itself, as once that's built I can use it to haul the rest of the things needed for the box. I'm no steel-worker though, and thanks to where I'm located getting a mobile welder out here won't be cheap. I've designed a simple ladder chassis in 50x50x3mm box section steel, and want to know the viability of simply bolting these parts together like so:

I am aware that my bolt-holes will need to be very accurate, and to prevent slippage I intend to use nylon-lined nuts, shake-proof washers, and locking fluid on bolt threads. Where the tongue meets the draw-bar two 5mm steel plates sandwich the join to prevent twisting.

The axle, 550kg suspension units, and hubs are being purchased as a single unit from a fabricator. Each part will be individually painted after machining, and the interiors treated with rust preventative. If you want to have a look at the model it's here.

I'm aware that welded joints are generally stronger.
My question is will this design be strong enough without welding?

In my analysis your design is not going to be adequate. Here are the main points:

Box steel with just 3mm thick walls can deform when squeezed under bolting pressure or when subjected to torsional pressure when bolted through the box.
Carriage bolts with the square tang under the head are meant to be used with wood. Unless you intend use dozens of hours filing round holes to square the carriage bolts are not suitable. If you used a hack to make the round hole big enough diameter to accommodate the square tang then you have lost the precise alignment that you mention in your question.
For a bolted construction I see a severe shortage of triangulation designed into structure to keep it square.
The cantilevered cross members should have some type of edge interconnection to define the outer perimeter of the frame. The need for this would become much more obvious as you address building the next levels of the box trailer.

With the time and materials that you would spend building this you would be better off just considering purchasing an electric arc welder and doing some practice welding on scraps of steel to brush up your technique to weld this frame construction yourself.


How feasible is is it to build a house structure from different sources of free timber? In my area in Europe there are regularly classified ads for free building materials, like old wood from roofs, which looks like this:

Would it be feasible to gather my wood from multiple such sources and build the basis of a home with it? End result should look something like this:

For reference, in Germany this type of wood would cost about 400 EUR/m³, so if this approach is doable, I should be able to save a ton of money, which is my goal here.

Believe it or not, wood framing is a minor cost for the construction of a home.

Yes, you “could” gather enough to frame a home and save money, but at what cost: 1) TIME: There is a huge amount of time to remove it from a site, remove nails, bolts, mastic, etc. so you can use it, 2) QUALITY: You’ll need to sort the material so you have adequate amount of good, straight, clean, sound material for structural use, (i.e.: headers, floor framing so no squeaky floors, etc.), 3) UNIFORMITY: Make sure the lumber is uniform in size so walls, roofs, etc. are straight.

Meanwhile, while you’re saving a nickel on the lumber, I presume you’re paying rent monthly that could go towards mortgage payments if the house was finished sooner.


How should I fix this hole at the top of my sink? See the image below. I imagine this is where a built-in soap dispenser or water filter would go. Until recently, the metal piece next to it covered the hole. But rust got the best of it. I just want to cover the hole again, ideally as flush to the surface of the sink as possible.

If you go to amazon.com and search for "sink hole cover", you will find something that's acceptable.


How should I prepare the shower walls for tiling to prevent mold and mildew? What is the proper way to prepare a bathroom wall before tiling for a shower area to prevent the growth of mold and mildew?

The main things you need to do are in other areas:

Make sure that the shower area is properly ventilated. Install a fan if necessary.
Make sure that as much of the water can drain away as possible.

You can seal the tiles after installation which will inhibit the growth of mold, but make sure that the grout is completely dry before application.

You can also use anti fungal cement and grout to inhibit the growth, but this would only have a minor effect.


Add 110 outlet to 220 electrical box I have this box on the side of my house that powers my hottub.

Is it possible (without violating typical code) to add a 15 amp 110 breaker in this box with intention of powering a small (1/3 HP) sump pump.

The sump pump is not critical to keeping my home dry.  I am just drying up a spot in my yard that is always a bit wet.

[EDIT] It is a 60amp breaker in the main panel feeding this box and there is a 60amp breaker in this box.  It services a hot tub.

It looks like there are 2 positions available to add new breakers. The panel will need to be opened to know for sure, also make sure to get the correct brand and type for that panel. I would make the first outlet a GFCI since it is outside and you would be good to go. The answer is yes it is possible within code.


can i paint my bathtub wall? One of our bath walls is green Sheetrock with a white semi gloss paint finish.
As you can see on the pictures attached, the paint has started to bubble and strip.

What can we do now?

shall/can we tile?
can we keep a painted wall (our aesthetic preference) but using another primer and an exterior type paint? in that case what shall we use?
are there any cement layers that could be added to the wall and that would allow us to have a white finish?

Wall behind tile and paint.

Found construction picture (shows what is behind the sheetrock).

We really cannot tell from photos if they used vapor barrier or not...

Any Sheetrock, including green moisture resistant, is not intended for use in showers or any environment with repeated direct water contact. You can paint it , but the results will be the same, FAILURE !  Do not attempt to put tile on Drywall either. There are some new high tech backings or you can use good old fashion concrete board or hardi-backer for tiles.  If you want a water proof glossy finish, you may have to consider a fiberglass surround kit, which can be installed over green sheetrock or preferably directly over studs with a vapor barrier.


How to pick the correct white? After repairing some damage to a wall, I need to re-paint the repaired area to match the rest of the wall.

I have been given the wrong colour by a shop assistant and it has made it worse (See photo). The paint he's given me is British Standard white, which looks like cream and not white at all.

The one I got is no good either (pure brilliant white, gloss high sheen), because it's too "shiny" and you can see it's a different colour if you don't look straight at the wall.

I was hoping 1) to get some advice on the "gloss" or "sheen" issue (I don't even know what that means), 2) again, how do people figure out which shade of white without having somebody physically there?

I was hoping 1) to get some advice on the "gloss" or "sheen" issue (I don't even know what that means),

As well as the colour, the appearance of a painted wall is affected by how smooth and reflective the paint surface is.

Paints come in matt, silk, gloss and other degrees of shinyness. You probably want a matt finish as that is what a high proportion of British homes use on their walls. Note that people usually use gloss finish on woodwork.

You should expect to find matt emulsion on your walls, gloss paint is usually oil-based and intended for woodwork, not for painting on plastered masonry walls.

  2) again, how do people figure out which shade of white without having somebody physically there?

By taking a sample to the store and asking them to match it. Stores often have a machine for mixing paints to an exact match. This can be needed because paint colours are fashion items and may become discontinued. Also, painted colours can change over time due to exposure to sunlight and other influences. Unfortunately, taking a chunk of your wall to a store is impractical. You may be able to scrape off a sample if the paint, or a layer underneath, hasn't fully adhered. A chip roughly one inch square will be enough.

or

By buying test pots until you find an acceptable match.


Wiring a remote control switch? I recently bought a Chinese remote control switch using radio frequency, it's great but has a problem (note I am a newbie), I have a light switch receiving a hot wire only and giving it to the light bulb, the remote control switch has a live and neutral wiring and whenever I try connecting only live wires the remote won't work, what makes it a problem is that I believe the neutral wires are joined inside the wall or hidden in some way.
So my question is Can I wire the remote control switch without the neutral wires, note that I tried joining the neutral wires together of course it did not work so the circuit is opened.

link to the remote control switch

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/R1B1-1-Way-Port-200V-240V-Light-Digital-Wireless-Wall-Remote-Control-Switch/32266711710.html

Thanks in advance.

Some electronic switches power themselves by running a trickle current through the light, but that doesn't work well with modern efficient bulbs.

Others, such as the one you got, require a neutral connection -- which is standard in new construction but isn't present in many older houses.

Sorry, but unless you run a neutral to that box you can't use this switch there.


Will this replacement induction cooktop fit in the cutout for the old cooktop? My induction cooktop died recently, and needs replacing. As it is under warrenty, and there are no replacements currently available, we have been offered store credit at the place we bought it from. While we're at it, we are looking to get a slightly different model.

The question is, will the newer model fit into the existing cutout of our granite benchtop, or will we need to stick with the same model we have now?

Original
According to the documentation the original requires a 495mm x 565mm cutout, and has an overall size of 520mm x 590mm.

Source

New
According to the documentation the new unit requires a 490mm x 560mm cutout, and has an overall size of 520mm x 590mm.

Source
Source (PDF)

Side by Side

                Old     New
Width           590     590
Depth           520     520
Cutout Width    565     560
Cutout Depth    495     490

Verdict
While the new model requires a bit smaller cutout, the overall size of the cooktops are the same. So other than possibly requiring a bit of shimming, the new model should fit without a problem.


Rotten Rain drain grate The steel grate on my garden rain drain is rotten. Can I just replace the grate or do I have to replace the channel as well. The grates and channels seem to be complete when bought. I would prefer to just replace the grates. I think the channel is concrete.

First, let me say I'm mystified as to why your question has been migrated to Home Improvement - your question is about a Landscaping product, so posting it on SE Garden and Landscaping was exactly the right thing to do. Unfortunately, it had been moved by the time I logged back on late tonight, so too late for me to give a no vote.

ACO themselves do supply replacement grids, as they're called, rather than grates (well, in the UK) but they need to know the size and whether your grid was an ACO in the first place. If not, they may not be prepared to supply, or may not have a product of the right size and shape. It may be that the drain and grid itself are no longer of a size that is produced, regardless of who the original supplier was - if you can establish which company made your grids (isn't that a name I can see embossed on one side of the grid?), then that's who to contact to see if replacements are available.


Room Full of Working 120V Electrical Outlets, Except One Doesn't I have a room with 5 duplex outlets (including 1 GFCI) and 2 single pole switches on a 20 amp circuit.

One outlet isn't working and measures 0V from hot-neutral, 1V from hot to ground and 1V from neutral to ground (and measures the same voltages when directly touching the wires, rather than just inserting into the receptacle).

The other 4 (including the GFCI) measure the expected ~120V from hot-neutral and ~0V from neutral-ground, but only ~11V from hot-ground (which I take to mean these are not grounded properly?).

Both single pole switches are working just fine, but I did not bother taking voltage readings (though I certainly can if this would help diagnoses).

I have no idea what steps to take in order to address the 0V from hot-neutral outlet -- does anyone have a suggestion?

First, the non-working outlet is likely connected to a wall switch or a junction box, which may have been disconnected or even removed and covered over. Trace the wiring, either with an AC circuit tracer or metal/stud finder to find the junction box.

Second, how are you measuring the voltage hot-ground? A high-impedance multimeter may be picking up AC capacitively coupled from a parallel line, and the ground could be floating. An outlet tester might be better. That said, if the ground is floating, perhaps due to poor connection (or no connection) in a junction box, that is a serious safety issue; trace it as above and fix it.


Trane heat only in fan mode I have a older Trane electric furnace, the heat only works when I have it in Fan on -heat, I get only a click when it is in auto-heat mode.

thanks!

When the thermostat calls for heat, it should energize the 'W' terminal in the stat. (As long as the 'R' terminal has full time 24-volts) That terminal in turn should have a white wire connected to it.  This wire should be connected to the heaters of the sequencers in the furnace.  This will start the heat.


Easy way to tell 12awg from 14awg metal clad? My house was built in 1940 and all original wiring is metal clad / BX cable.  With Romex, yellow vs white can tell me wire gauge.  Is there any similar tell for MC?  I suspect it's all 12 awg but I'd like to double check, only thing I know to do is use calipers to measure diameter of the conductor.
Thanks

Take a piece of #12 scrap wire and compare it to what you have. If the wire is the same it is 12, If the wire is larger usually #10 if smaller #14 other than an electric range # 14,12 & 10 will be everything except  the range it will be much larger. These are the sizes used in a 1940’s era homes for the most part.


How to fix a leak in an inaccessible bathtub fixture? Back to my previous homeowners doing weird things.

When we got the home inspection, one of the things the inspector noted that for the large jetted tub in the master bath, there was no access panel or other way to get at the workings of the tub if the motor happened to go out or similar.

Fast forward 7 years, and now the waterfall spigot has developed a leak as shown below:

Is there a way to fix this externally, or do I need to hire someone to come in and get access and fix it? (I could saw out a bunch of drywall, but my drywalling skills are mediocre at best).

The hot and cold control valves are generally serviceable from above. I would guess (can't say for sure because I don't recognize the brand and model) that you could pry up the circular cover on top of the knob(s) to access a screw that would allow knob removal.

From there, you should be able to disassemble the valve assembly by taking apart the packing assembly, unscrewing the stem, and replacing the worn out washer(s) that are causing the leak (make sure you shut off the water supply first).

This is by no means a sure thing, some roman tub (that term may help you with finding parts) faucets have other means of securing the knobs (like a set screw on the side), and some have proprietary valve designs that do not work like traditional faucet valves. There are myriad brands and styles both foreign and domestic. If you can get the knobs off, you could at least take them to a reputable plumbing supply shop to try to identify your unit and get more information to help you repair it..


Getting the most out of a low yield well I have a low yield well: it's only 27 feet deep which is a big part of the problem. Recently a neighbor had their well re-dug to 350 feet which I guess lowered the water table, because ever since we have been running out of water much faster than before. If someone takes a shower, a second shower runs out of water about halfway through and it takes hours to get a decent amount back.

I know the best way to resolve this is either to get a new well dug, or to get a storage tank with a secondary pump. A new well is not happening right now because of the cost. However we are in the middle of building a new bathroom, and the tub we purchased will require us to get either a second or a larger water heater since our current one is 40 gallons but the tub takes around 55. Would the water stored in a second 40 gallon water heater make it take longer to run out of water when taking showers, doing dishes, etc., or will I still need to install a storage tank?

Your recovery rate is the problem. A larger water heater will still need to be refilled as the water is removed so you will run out of pressure in about the same amount of time.

A water tank of several hundred gallons added to your system with a pump may help, but in the summer you may have a lower water table and not have water at all.

In some areas there are companies that rent tanks/pumps that your system can pump into. If you do go dry they can be filled by a water truck. Very expensive water to go that route but it may be an option until you can have a new well drilled.

Just a word of warning drilling deeper doesn’t always work; close to the coast you may hit salt water going deep, other areas can have arsenic / sulfur that makes the well unusable. Make sure to get a good driller that knows your specific area and you may want to talk to a certified water tester (the ones that check for flow and contamination) as they know the depths and problems in the area.


Do I have to prime over spackle? I'm painting my kitchen.

Some areas of the walls had to be repaired with spackle.

Do I need to do a prime coat before I paint? I'm painting the same color. Although I'm changing the finish from eggshell to semi-gloss. Paint is Benjamin Moore Atrium White-- if that means anything.

I'm thinking maybe because it's a kitchen and the repaired area is near sink-- that it might make sense to prime.

My dad and his dad were both professional union painters.  They taught me that for small spots of spackle on the wall, all you have to do is put a quick layer of regular paint over them with a brush while you're doing your cutting-in brushwork.  The spot over the spackle will be mostly dry when you go back over it with the roller later.  I know from personal experience that this works.  Also, there's no reason to prime if you're repainting a similar color.

I also know from personal experience that if you don't pre-paint your spackle as I described, you will be able to see it after the paint job is done.  The color may hide it just fine, but where the rest of your wall is covered with a slight texture from the roller, the spot that was spackled will be smooth.  It stands out like a sore thumb.  Hitting the spackled spot with your brush while cutting in and then rolling back over it later is all that is needed to fix that problem.


Have Shed/Man Cave & Need Unground Power Advice I have a shed which is a little less than 100 feet from my home breaker box. I currently am poor-manning it running a 100 foot extension cord out there. I have already purchased a branch electrical box and wired the shed. I am about to rent a trencher to trench for the electrical cable.

I would like to run 240v out there just in case I ever need it so I do not have to redo the job in the future. However, at this point I want 2x 20 amp circuits running out there for saws and things on one breaker & lights, tv, receiver etc on the other. I am going 20 amp vs 15 amp just to have some extra capability. If your opinion on this differs, I would like to know more.

So here is my main question. With a 3% voltage drop in mind, what wire do I need to run out there given the distance (100 ft) to obtain a max 20 amp 240v capability and/or 2x 20 amp 120v capability? Can I go with a smaller gauge electrical wire to achieve this or is 6/3 what I need to go with? I do realize that the most important part of the equation are the breakers installed on the home side. Those must be at or below whatever electrical cable I run out there. Would it be possible to run 1x 10AWG/3 UF-B electrical cable out there with 2x 20 amp breakers in the house?

The online electrical wire calculators are confusing me... I guess what I do not get on the 3 conductor cable is if the cable is capable of supporting 20 amp per hot wire or a total of 20 amp across all 3 conductors.

Is it reasonable to assume that a 100 foot 10AWG/3 Conductor wire is capable of carrying 2x 15 amp loads @ 120v or 1x 30 amp load @ 240v?

I do not plan on welding (due to wood shed/wood shed floor) or anything like that. I can also probably step down to two 120v 15 amp circuits as I can only operate a tool at once. i may want to install an a/c unit out there though at some point. probably 120v. the shed size is 12x20.

This install location is in east north Dallas. Lots of clay and rocks. If i can avoid digging an 18" ditch, I would definitely prefer it. I will not permit the install but do want to follow code and do so with the cheapest trenching method and electrical cable possible.

Sounds like cheap is a motivation, but there's a relationship between depth of dig and cost of materials.

At 24" of cover you can use plain cable such as UF.
At 18" of cover you can use cheapie PVC conduit or EMT.
At 6" of cover you can use Rigid metal conduit.

So as expensive as Rigid might be, it might be significantly cheaper than renting a trencher if you can hand-dig or hydro-dig with a hose to 6".

If you run conduit, you can use THWN-2 single wires instead of expensive, balky cable, and you can go cheap now and add more or larger wires later.   If you use metal conduit, you don't need a ground wire.

Also if you are cheap, the first thing to shortcut is the 3% voltage drop thing - that was always an old wives tale, is usually computed wrong anyway, and is simply not needed. Also, 100' distances are within 3% even at statutory max current!

For 20A, use 12 AWG UF or THWN in 1/2" conduit.
For 30A, 10 AWG " " " 1/2" conduit.
For 40A, 8 AWG " " " 3/4" conduit
For 60A, 6 AWG copper ... ... 3/4" conduit or 4 AWG Aluminum in 1" conduit.


Honeywell zone panel turning on cool of instead of heat The main HVAC unit in my house is set up on two zones, the main part of the house and the master bedroom, using the Honeywell HZ322 panel. It's a little over five years old. About a week ago the heat stopped working in the master bedroom but was still working fine in the main part of the house. Calling for heat from the bedroom would blow cold air but emergency heat was working. I've tried three different thermostats but the problem has been unchanged. The exact symptoms have been changing and at a couple points the heat started working again for a while. I went under the house and was able to operate everything normally from the controls on the zone panel but I discovered that when the thermostat calls for heat "cool" was lighting up and I could hear the compressor come on. At that point the thermostat was blinking heat on, then solid heat on, then auxiliary heat came on and then the system would turn off. Now, it goes through the same sequence on the thermostat but the system never turns on and the thermostat never turns off but continues to say heat on and auxiliary heat on. Has my board gone bad?

Thanks!

To figure out if your Honeywell control board is bad, I would swap the two zones' wiring and see if that makes the heat work in the master bedroom but becomes broken in the main part of the house. Make sure you disconnect the power before you work on anything.

Label and disconnect your zone 1 damper and zone 1 thermostat wires, and connect them to zone 2. At the same time label and disconnect your zone 2 damper and zone 2 thermostat wires, and connect them to zone 1. Taking a picture might help if you get confused later.

This board should be able to control 4 zones, so if zone 1 or 2 is broken you may still be able to switch it to zone 3 or 4 on the board and not need to replace the control board.

If swapping the zones doesn't do anything, I would check if the thermostat wiring is bad. Connect your master bedroom thermostat directly to the Honeywell control board and see if that fixes it. If the problem stays the same, then we at least know it's not your thermostat wires when we continue troubleshooting.

Honeywell HZ322 Zone Panel Professional Installation Guide


Minimum number of recessed lights for 29x13 room I know the "standard rules" say one light every 4 to 6 feet... But what would be the minimum I can get away with using canned lights for a room that is about 29x13. I previously went my way with recessed lights in our kitchen, installing just two lights for a 10x9 space, and after a year of using it to cook I am happy with the amount of light. So by my own rules 6 lights should be enough.

FYI, the ceiling will be a couple of inches over 8' and this is for a basement room with a 6 foot walkout door.

I have a basement room with almost the exact dimensions.  You walk in the basement from stairs and basement starts in almost a corner (3/4 basement) and then you walk almost the width of the house and it is about 14 feet wide.  I have 4 cans right when you get in the basement on one switch by basement door and then a square zone of 4 in the back of the room on a dual switch (dimmed and turned off and on from the first corner and then the complete other side of the room which is a small hallway) and then another zone of 4 in the front with the same dual switch set up.

Is 12 too many in the area.  Considering that I am using 65W bulbs... no.  With all 12 on at once the basement is well lit.  If I take one bulb out from any light, there is some dead space.  Also my basement has fully drywalled white ceilings and a bright light grey for the walls.  If I had any sort of texture or darker colors then less light.

Would I have gone less?  No way.  Honestly I don't want to have to buy lamps and stuff for your basement.  I also like to be able to see things.  When it is lit, it doesn't feel like a basement at all.  Everything has a dimmer and the 12 lights are split three ways so I don't ever feel like I have extra lights either.  I could have gone 16 easy too (2 more on the back two zones).  So my answer is 12-16.

Also you have to think how the room will be used.  I have 4 at entrance which is on the most, then 4 by TV which is on the least (or if it is on it is really dim), and 4 by sitting area which is used when people are reading or doing homework.

If you are doing this yourself both the cost and time are minimal to add extras.  An extra pot light is $20, 30 mins, plus a minor amount of time when drywalling.


Can I wire this three wire fixture to my two wire junction box? I have this three wire LED motion sensing outdoor fixture (labeled grnd, Neutral, Black)
And I’d like to wire it to my current junction box which has only two wires, red (!!!) and white.  Is this possible?  It’s replacing my old fixture which actually was a three wire incandescent, which just used two:

Is this doable?  The garage actually has three wire wiring, just this box doesn’t.  I could do the old college try (it’s cheap enough that if i fry it i won’t cry) but i want to do the right thing.
EDIT the junction box.  Notice there’s a bolt hole labeled GRD. I have no idea if it’s actually Ground

You could try it it will work or it won’t but it will not fry it.
I would pull a ground from one of the boxes that has it.
Pulling in a separate ground has been code compliant for a while now.
The ground has to come from a circuit fed from the same panel or you could tie at your grounding electrode system if closer (not usually)
There are a few motion lights that require the ground if this is one of those it won’t work but it won’t fry it so try it and you might want to pull a ground even if it works just to be safe.
Updated for additional photos that were added.
The ground may be from the conduit ? (if metallic) in that case the screw that shows the ground symbol would be a proper ground.
The motion sensor output is red tie the red to the black of the new fixture and white to white.
the concern with the new fixture getting fried is even lower as the existing fixture is controlling the motion sensor, as long as the maximum wattage for the motion light is not exceeded it should not be a problem.
The only issue that may still come up is the new fixture may not work on the output of the motion sensor but again it won’t fry it as long as the maximum wattage is not exceeded.
Electronic lights like CFL & LED’s may not work if the motion sensor is a simple SCR or silicon controlled rectifier / electronic switch that only turns on 1/2 of the sine wave. TRIAC’s or relay driven controls will normally work as they pass the entire waveform when turned on.


Should I cover area where ceiling once was? I'm in the process of converting a 10'x11' bedroom into a master bathroom. I plan on removing the ceiling soon and it will be replaced when the drywallers come in a month or two.

My question is, should I use some sort of a tarp or something to cover the area that the ceiling was? If so, what should I use?  How should I fasten it?

Also, should I just allow the insulation to come down with the ceiling when I take it down?

The room that we'll be removing the ceiling from.
As you can see, all of the drywall has been removed as well as the carpet and pad so I'm not worried about the mess from the insulation.

What the ceiling texture looks like.
We hate this texture and we're going to have it scraped by the drywallers but we were told that it would probably be just as cheap for them to put up a new ceiling and texture it plus this would give us good access for running new wiring, plumbing etc... (notice that it's not popcorn texture, but something else)

Attic space above the room.
Previous owner did some shoddy wiring. Hopefully there's no asbestos in the insulation! Also, notice the old-school TV antenna?

There is no reason to be demoing this more than a day before it needs to be done.  Demoing the ceiling is a 1 hour job.  If they plan on running new electric and you will be demoing it is normal to cut out parts of the ceiling to make your runs - even big parts.  We would simply screw the drywall back in where we cut it out with 4-5 screws - doesn't need to be perfect.

Also you should cut out a 2'x2' hole, dump drywall and insulation in large trash bag.  Then get in attic and throw all of the insulation in the area in that hole - with a helper this is 20 mins.  This will give electrician room and view to do what they need to do.  Or you could just move insulation to other parts of attic.  But get it out of the way either way before starting to cut drywall as cleaning that up out of everywhere is a waste of time - and if your house is finished it gets everywhere.

So you can in effect have the bathroom cut into 4-5 small sections - effectively demoing it while leaving just the drywall up - just pop out the drywall over the screws using something flat and strong.  Yes it will have holes in it and not be optimal but you can still get it back up there.  You don't need to buy some special tarp for this.  Or you can just take it down an hour before they get there.

Notes:

There is nothing wrong with putting a TV antenna in attic like that.  If it works it works.  There is absolutely nothing ghetto about this.
From your picture there doesn't look to be any significant "shoddy wiring" going on.  If you are paying for "shoddy wiring" to be fixed I hope it is a real issue, not just electrician telling you it could be better.  But I have seen plenty of attics with "shoddy wiring", this looks pretty tame/clean.
There is no indication that the insulation in the picture contains asbestos.  It looks like your run of the mill fiberglass blown in insulation from the 60s/early 70s.
However while you are at it I would beef up your insulation.  Right now you probably are below minimum for your area.


Why does my toilet overflow during my washer's spin cycle? Whenever I use my washer, the toilet makes a gurgling noise and then over overflows. I have to turn the washer off until the water in the toilet recedes. I have noticed this during the spin cycle. It has been doing this for about a week or so.

What could be the problem?

There is a partial blockage in a pipe common to both the washer and toilet. With the blockage, the path of least resistance is out of the toilet, so that's where the water goes. This blockage needs to be cleared.

Often, gurgling is a sign of faulty drain venting. In your case, I hope it's just incidental to water working it's way back up to the toilet, and not an actual vent issue.


How can I replace 2-prong receptacles in a code compliant way? I have some 2-prong non-grounding type receptacles, and I'd like to replace them with 3-prong grounding type receptacles.  According to National Electrical Code, what are my options?

According to the National Electrical code, you have a few options. Depending on the situation, there are a few code sections to pay attention to.

National Electrical Code 2014
Article 406 - Receptacles, Cord Connectors, and Attachment Plugs (Caps)
406.4 General Installation Requirements.
(D) Replacements. Replacement of receptacles shall comply with 406.4(D)(1), (D)(2), and (D)(3) as applicable. Arc-fault circuit-interrupter and ground-fault circuit-interrupter type receptacles shall be installed in a readily accessible location.

Where a Grounding Means Exists
If there is a grounding conductor in the box, or the box itself is properly grounded. Then a 3-prong grounding type receptacle should be installed, and the receptacle should be grounded using approved means.

(1) Grounding-Type Receptacles. Where a grounding means exists in the receptacle enclosure or an equipment grounding conductor is installed in accordance with 250.130(C), grounding-type receptacles shall be used and shall be connected to the equipment grounding conductor in accordance with 406.4(C) or 250.130(C).

Where No Grounding Means Exists
If there is not a grounding conductor in the box, and the box itself is not grounded.  There are a few options.

(2) Non–Grounding-Type Receptacles. Where attachment to an equipment grounding conductor does not exist in the receptacle enclosure, the installation shall comply with (D)(2)(a), (D)(2)(b), or (D)(2)(c).

You can simply replace the 2-prong receptacle with another 2-prong receptacle.

(a) A non–grounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with another non–grounding-type receptacle( s).

You can replace the 2-prong receptacle with a ground-fault circuit interrupting device. Though the device must be labeled "No Equipment Ground", and a grounding conductor should not be connected to this or any downstream devices.

(b) A non–grounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with a ground-fault circuit interrupter-type of receptacle(s). These receptacles shall be marked “No Equipment Ground.” An equipment grounding conductor shall not be connected from the ground-fault circuit interrupter-type receptacle to any outlet supplied from the ground-fault circuit-interrupter receptacle.

You can install a ground-fault circuit interrupting device upstream, and install a 3-prong receptacle in this location. Though you'll have to label the receptacle "No Equipment Ground", and "GFCI Protected". No equipment grounding conductor should be connected to the receptacle.

(c) A non–grounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with a grounding-type receptacle(s) where supplied through a ground-fault circuit interrupter. Grounding-type receptacles supplied through the ground-fault circuit interrupter shall be marked “GFCI Protected” and “No Equipment Ground.” An equipment grounding conductor shall not be connected between the grounding-type receptacles.

Provide Other Protection Where Required
Where GFCI Protection is Required
If ground-fault circuit interruption is required, a ground-fault circuit interruption device should be installed. These devices do not require a grounding conductor, so can be installed in a circuit without a ground.

(3) Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters. Ground-fault circuit-interrupter protected receptacles shall be provided where replacements are made at receptacle outlets that are required to be so protected elsewhere in this Code.

Where AFCI Protection is Required
If arc-fault circuit interruption is required, an arc-fault circuit interruption device should be installed. These devices do not require a grounding conductor, so can be installed in a circuit without a ground.

(4) Arc-Fault Circuit-Interrupter Protection. Where a receptacle outlet is supplied by a branch circuit that requires arc-fault circuit interrupter protection as specified elsewhere in this Code, a replacement receptacle at this outlet shall be one of the following:
(1) A listed outlet branch circuit type arc-fault circuit-interrupter receptacle.
(2) A receptacle protected by a listed outlet branch circuit type arc-fault circuit interrupter type receptacle.
(3) A receptacle protected by a listed combination type arc-fault circuit interrupter type circuit breaker.

Where Tamper-Resistant Receptacles are Required
If tamper-resistant receptacles are required, a tamper-resistant device should be installed.

(5) Tamper-Resistant Receptacles. Listed tamper-resistant receptacles shall be provided where replacements are made at receptacle outlets that are required to be tamper-resistant elsewhere in this Code.

Where Weather-Resistant Receptacles are Required
If weather-resistant receptacles are required, a weather-resistant device should be installed.

(6) Weather-Resistant Receptacles. Weather-resistant receptacles shall be provided where replacements are made at receptacle outlets that are required to be so protected elsewhere in this Code.


Cost-effective root barrier for home sewer line We have 2 trees growing in the same area of our house front yard as the sewer line. As shown in the picture below, one tree is about 5ft away from the line, and the other, about 20ft away. I assume that the water supply line runs next to the sewer line as well. We're concerned about the tree roots getting into the water/sewer lines in the future. What's the most cost-effective preventive measure (aside from cutting the trees down) that will work? My research has led me to root barriers, but wondering if installing them on either sides of the lines is the best way in this case. If so, are there barriers made specifically for water/sewer lines?

The best way to prevent root problems is to replace old leaking cast or concrete pipe with plastic. Once glued there is no need to worry about plastic even when roots grow and buckle plastic (decades long process) plastic moves doesn’t usually break like concrete or cast that has many brittle joints that leak and draw the roots. If you have replaced a section and want to protect a fernco connector or “no hub” I have been told to pack the area with rock salt as the roots won’t like the high salt content, but the salt will dissolve and eventually leave a low point.
Supply lines are better sealed than old drain lines and over the years as a tree gets large enough it may affect the lines so the only fool proof method is to not put your tree close.


How to pour concrete over existing slab? How to pour concrete over existing concrete slab if existing wood framed wall structure is there? And where to place the new vapor barrier?(I have an existing garage that I would like to convert into an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). The slab is on the ground, so I would like to pour over new concrete to provide the appropriate height difference between ground and top of slab.)

To address the vapor barrier aspect:

With some materials you have to be careful about sandwiching them between two vapor barriers which can trap moisture - but concrete is not one of them. Adding a vapor barrier before new concrete is a good precaution if you're unsure if one exists already.

Closed-cell foam insulation can itself act as a vapor barrier (I recommend taping the seams and / or using spray foam to seal it all up).

So whether you use plastic sheeting (polyethylene I believe) or insulation, you can lay it on the existing concrete and then pour over that.


Is grounding the subpanel not required some times Is the sub panel properly grounded, only Load and Neutral wiring were located at the sub panel as shown below.  This Sub panel is at a single floor Condo, built 1970, Updated with Newer Electrical Appliances, all functional 3 prong receptacles.  Subject Condo in a multi Condo-building, maybe 30 Condos.
As a realtor in Southern California' s area, I see some inspectors' reports that reflect NO grounding bar at the sub panel, similar to the attached photos.  Similar conditions are found in condos type building, typically with several Condos, maybe 20-50 Condos at the building, typically built in the early 70' s and thru mid 80' s.
So I am trying to determine the following; Were this kind of wiring and / or sub panel installation commonly done back in the days, some 30-40 years ago, is it considered properly grounded done today?  Thank you!

That work is in metal conduit.

You don't have any ground wires because the grounding function is being handled by the metal conduit pipes.  All my buildings have the same setup.   Nary a ground wire in sight.

The dead giveaway of conduit is the non-"standard" wire colors; it isn't all black-white with the occasional red.   You will also note writing on the wires itself, not something you'll see with cable installations.

Metal conduit is typically seen in commercial installations.  Note that large condo and apartment complexes, particularly high-rises, tend to be done to that standard.


Boiler Resevoir Slow Leak I'm a new home owner. My house is heated with steam radiators attached to an oil fed boiler. The boiler is getting close to retirement. One concern I have is that I need to drain water from the reservoir every couple days. There's a glass tube on the front of the boiler with a sharpie mark made to indicate the level it should be at. It fills up slowly and I need to place a bucket under the drain and lift the lever to allow excess water out.

What happens if the reservoir fills up completely?

Eventually if water continues to fill the system, it will fill the pipes, and eventually come out the vents on the radiators.  I saw a house that got flooded when someone was adding water to the boiler manually, forgot to turn it off, and left - made a big mess.  Obviously that would take a long time with a slow leak.

I am not sure whether this also creates a safety issue.

There may be an automatic fill valve that isn't sealing off properly when the water reaches the full level that can be serviced or replaced.  I believe these can also be retrofit if there isn't one on your furnace.


Why is the defrost cycle of an HVAC so loud? During the colder months when defrost mode switches on it can run for roughly ten minutes to thaw out the unit.  I understand that.  My question is why is it so loud?  Why does it have to make such a loud noise to defrost the system?  Is it not possible to make a defrost cycle more silent?

The defrost cycle is basically just running the heat pump in cooling mode without the outdoor fan. It's not going to be any louder then when it's running in cooling, it's just that the compressor noise is  disguised by the outdoor fan. The same holds true when the heat pump is in heating mode. The same compressor runs and knows no difference between heating, cooling or defrost mode.


What is the proper, safe, and effective way to apply diatomaceous earth? We are looking at using diatomaceous earth against bed bugs.

However, we're having trouble finding any reliable information on how to use it properly.

Our questions are:

how should it be applied?
is it effective against bed bugs?  How long does it take to kill them?
where should it be put?  Everywhere, or only in specific locations?
how much should be applied?
how often does it have to be reapplied, and does it have to be vacuumed up?
after it's been applied, will a fan or wind disturb it and blow it into the air?
is it safe to apply it on the outside of a bed (i.e. the sides of the mattress or on the sheets) and leave it there while sleeping?
is it effective when wet?  when the air is humid?

We have used DE effectively to kill bedbugs, so I'll take a shot

  how should it be applied?

We applied it around the borders of all the floors, sprayed it into the walls everywhere we could (mainly into electrical boxes - remove the covers first), and into the underside of plush furniture.  In the basement we put it all over the ceiling and walls as well as squirting it into every gap we could find.

  is it effective against bed bugs? How long does it take to kill them?

Yes.  They will avoid it if possible, so its tough to say how long it takes to kill them, but when we applied it to a heavily infested house and the improvement was immediate.

  where should it be put? Everywhere, or only in specific locations?

Anywhere bedbugs can get.

  how much should be applied?

A dusting around the perimeter of each room, a generous squirt of dust into openings and several squirts into plush furniture is what we did.

  how often does it have to be reapplied, and does it have to be vacuumed up?

We only applied it once and that did the trick.  If you vacuum it up it can't help, so no don't vacuum it up.

  after it's been applied, will a fan or wind disturb it and blow it into the air?

Depends on the orientation and strength of the fan.  A ceiling fan? No.  A box fan pointing at a line of DE?  Probably.

  is it safe to apply it on a bed?

You should seal your mattresses up with bedbug preventing covers, and squirt the DE inside that.  DE is harmless to you, but you want to trap the bugs in the mattress.  Leave the mattresses sealed for at least 2 weeks or longer to ensure the bedbugs get exposed.  They can hide and live for a long time in a mattress but a solid month should deal with the birth cycle.

  is it effective when wet? when the air is humid?

No and not very.


Need a window exhaust fan with louvers that close automatically I currently put a box fan in a window as an exhaust fan when I need to ventilate a room in my house.  But when I turn the fan off, I need to remove the fan and close the window.  I'd like to have a system with louvers that automatically close when the fan shuts off so I don't need to worry about hot air or bugs coming in.  But I don't want a unit that requires any alterations to the window frame.  Is there such a thing?

Plenty of manufacturers make louvered fans that only require air flow (or the lack of) to operate the louvers. If you don't want to screw the flange to the window frame, you can attach a smaller one to a plywood insert, cut to fit snugly inside the frame.

source


Exposed rebar end in concrete - options I have a walkout staircase.  The top wall of the walkout had to be cut down to use as a tread.  Cutting down the top wall exposed 6 ends of #5 rebar.  What should I do?
The wall is 8" thick and 14 feet tall.

Seems like the biggest problem here is lack of a railing -- 14 feet is a long way to fall!
I'd do nothing to treat the cut. There will be water exposure from rain or irrigation but at least there's not likely to be any road salt that would accelerate corrosion. Further, if corrosion does get into the wall, the stakes are relatively low. This isn't a bridge that would collapse suddenly; instead there would be years of warning signs as bits of concrete would pop away from the rebar. The wall would be unlikely to fail without a giving lots of warning signs first.
Keep in mind that any coating you do put on this wall-turned-tread is going to take a lot of wear, especially on the nose/corner. Virtually any coating you apply is going to wear through there first. You might have to coat the concrete and then put some replaceable tread element on top -- but this will easily cause havoc by making this one riser too tall compared to the others in the staircase. (As you may know, US building codes require that "The greatest riser height within any flight of stairs shall not exceed the smallest by more than 3/8 inch.")
There do exist coatings you could put over the concrete and which would wear respectably well but those I'm thinking of aren't sold in home centers and are sold in 5 gallon or larger quantities. That's much, much more than you'd need for those couple square feet. The one I'm thinking of is Vulkem 350, which is a two-part polyurethane coating applied to a thickness about 1/8". It is tough stuff; I've seen it wear for a decade or more on a single-family residential deck application.
It could look pretty good if you used Vulkem or something like it not only for the cut concrete but for the wood treads too. It would make the treads all match, rather than having the top-of-wall stick out as being different. Sand, crushed walnut shell, or other material mixed into the top coat would give nice slip resistance when the treads are wet, too.


Would mylar provide adequate insulation for an infrared sauna located outdoors? I'm planning to purchase a portable indoor infrared sauna to be located outdoors under my deck.  Although ambient temperatures in the SF Bay Area are fairly mild, I am concerned that it might take quite awhile for the sauna  to reach an optimum temperature of 130 deg F while using it during the winter months without adding some type of insulation. I've considered wrapping the exterior walls of the sauna with mylar space blankets and the roof with styrofoam or fiberglass insulation.  Since the deck above the sauna is watertight, there is no concern of moisture coming in contact with the roof insulation. Would appreciate any feedback as to whether mylar would provide adequate insulation!

Mylar reflects infra-red radiation. Most of your heat loss will be through good old-fashioned conduction (and convection), against which the Mylar does almost nothing. No, it's not worth it.

Use a bit of foam or polyisocyanurate sheathing instead, if you like.


Electrical nightmare Last year our lights began surging and then my wife noticed the old fuse holder was broken and not making a good contact. We decided to upgrade the fuse panel and bring it closer to code. The first person hired was "doing it on the side" and got the panel installed but when the 4th breaker was turned on it created a helluva light show. Apparently 1 side was pushing 230 v while the other only 60 v. So now with only 2 rooms on 2 different breakers if we try to run any appliances at all the lights surge. I tried to simply test the voltage on the breaker and as soon as I put the black lead on the neutral bar every bulb on that circuit blew. As the owners we are allowed to do repairs as long as we hire someone to tie into power, or something like that. What I'm asking is why or how could a simple multi meter cause lights to blow by simply testing the breaker? Also, the breaker never did trip, just blew the lights. Thanks

Contact your power company Right Now and report an outage

It'll be fixed for free in 2 hours.

You actually have a power outage.   Your house is partially working because electricity is delivered in 3 wires.  When one wire fails, there's a 2/3 chance of having your 240V circuits go out along with half your 120V circuits (unless you turn on a 240V appliance, then weird things happen).

However there's a 1/3 chance of the 240V appliances continuing to work, but the two banks of 120V appliances drifting significantly off 120V.  One goes higher than 120V, and the other one goes lower by equal amount.  They still add up to 240V, but one appliance is getting 190V while the other one is getting 50V. And worse, it changes as you turn loads on and off.  This is called a lost neutral. The neutral's job is to clamp voltage at 120V.

This last mode is the most dangerous and the most difficult to detect. This is usually on the power company's end.  Given that you just replaced everything on this end, I'd say 99% in this case.  The power company fixes this for free.


AC Fan/blower not shutting My AC unit is working just fine and shuts down at/below set temperature.  However, the AC fan keeps running all the time even in auto mode.  The only way I can shut down the AC fan is to power-down my HVAC system, wait for some time and then power it back again.  What could be the problem?

Furnace Model: 58MVB100-F-10120
AC Model:   24ANA748A0030020 or 24ANA748A00300

I would appreciate any recommendations on what diagnostics I should perform in order to identify root-cause and fix it.

Check the relay for the blower in the air handler. It could be sticking due to pitted contacts from over currents from the motor not starting when the caps failed. Also, check the thermostat fan on/auto circuit. Good luck.


Can I add/install overhead kitchen cabinets without a wall? Setup

In my current kitchen, I have a semi-decent (yet always inadequate) amount of cabinet space. I would like to add some overhead cabinets over the peninsula. However, being a peninsula, there is no wall to which I could mount or anchor the cabinets.

Restrictions

To make matters more interesting, the ceiling is vaulted, from roughly 8 feet at the lowest point (exterior wall) to 13 feet at the end of the peninsula.

As a further restriction, attic access to most of that portion of the attic is impossible due to the shape of the roof over that section of ceiling.

Question

Do I have any (relatively simple) options as far as installation and mounting? I imagine I could create a wall on the back side of the peninsula, or find a way to mount/hang supports down from the roof joist. Could I mount them (using support beams) on top of the current cabinets? If so, I presume that could get in the way of replacing the countertops down the line (if not done correctly).

Adding a wall beside an island seems a major step backwards from current trends of open and airy interior architecture, which have been steadily embraced for decades.  The obvious solution would be to add a drop down wall, or even just suspend cabinets from the ceiling, like this:
.
(found here).

One idea to help integrate that into the kitchen would be to add beams over the rest of the room:

To do this right requires cutting some holes into the ceiling, tying bracing into the ceiling joists, and then repairing the ceiling.  This is a medium sized job for a competent contractor, costing anywhere from $500 to $3000 depending on the scale and specifics of your house.  As a do-it-yourself, it is perhaps $50 in materials plus the cabinets and 20 to 60 hours of effort, most of which is drywall work to match the rest of the ceiling.


How to remove the "new carpet smell" (VOCs) from new carpet? My wife is pregnant. We just had new carpet installed in the soon to be baby's room. We didn't realize until after it was installed that the "new carpet smell" is actually a bad thing. From what I've read online, new carpet gives off harmful fumes, which contain VOCs, for months.

What can I do to expedite the process of removing these harmful VOCs and air out the carpet?

I don't know how true it is but I've heard a few times that certain plants do a good job of removing VOCs from household air. You could try investigating this claim. Here's one page that mentions it.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/best-plants-for-indoor-air-quality

My wife has trouble with a variety of VOCs. It might not be an option for you to store the carpet partially outstretched in your garage until most of the odour departs.


Which nut/washer combination to join timber to timber (joist to rafter) I am fitting some new joists in my roof and will be bolting the new joists to the existing rafters. Both joists and rafters are 47mm thick.

After some advice from a friend (which may of course be incorrect!) I plan on using M12 x 110 hex bolts and timber connectors in-between:

My problem is I am unsure which combination of nut & washer to use. Some possibilities:

split ring washer with standard hex nut

flat washer with nyloc nut

Which is best?

The spikey washer needs to go between pieces of wood.   I doubt its usefulness, since the strength is either going to come from the bolt in shear, or friction between the wood surfaces, depending on how tightly it's bolted.  The teeth won't fix poor clamping.

A lockwasher needs a lot of compression to function properly, it's really intended for metal.  If backing off is a concern, use the nylok or a second "jam" nut.

You'll want large metal washers against the wood on both ends, otherwise the bolt heads will just sink into the wood when you try to torque it down.


Wiring outlets in the middle of circuit What is the best (or correct) way to wire outlets in the middle of a circuit?

1) Using the screws available in the outlet to "extend" the circuit wires to the next outlet.

2) Making a derivation from the wires to the outlet.

We also have here derivation connectors that look like those, but the take a lot of space in the recepctacle box:

The outlets we use here have this kind of connection screws

When wiring multiple outlets on one circuit, whether splicing or chaining is the better way depends on whether your devices are made to be chained.

If you are using North American type devices, your second illustration is the best way, even though it requires the two wire nuts (or other splice connectors) ("splice"="derivation"). It is not good to rely on the tab or other connections inside a N. A. device.

If you are using devices like the one in your fourth picture, then you do not normally use splices. For the middle outlets, you can use the two wire positions on each terminal to chain the outlets together, similar to your first picture.

I live in the U.S. but I have seen pictures of switches, outlets, and ceiling light rosettes from the U.K. and Australia that have multiple screw terminals electrically joined, and are made to be chained. Some outlets used in the U.S. look like they could be chained, but they're not really designed for it and often fail in ways that are difficult to diagnose.

Your first illustration is correct for the kind of outlet shown, which seems to be a GFCI protected outlet. These usually have two screws labeled "LINE" and two screws labeled "LOAD". These labels are not shown in the picture but I guess the top screws are the LINE and the bottom screws are the LOAD.


Turn 120 volts two plug outside into AC connection i have a question reguarding an AC hookup for my workshop. the workshop is on the other side of the house connected by the garage, and it gets to 95 deggrees. oof!  I am currently looking into purchasing a DIY MINI SPLIT 12000 BTU 120v (Link to product here) and i need to figure out how to properly wire the thing.
I'm pretty sure this outlet is on a circuit with other outlets in the workshop, so if that's a problem I need to know. My breaker appears to be full up so routing another wire may not be an option.
so my question is, is it possible to turn this outside outlet into the necessary wiring connections to hook up the aforementioned AC unit?

For the 12000 btu unit you linked to it is 120v.
Are there any other loads on this outlet or circuit?
A 12000 btu unit normally draws under 15 amps with an inverter.
The one main concern I know about on these units are using a sealant like nylog blue to make sure the fittings do not leak. We had a class over a year ago they mentioned servicing these units the number 1 problem was leaking fittings.
I have not used one but would use nylog blue . No interest in the company I use the product.
As far as tapping that receptacle if nothing else is on that line I would feed a disconnect from the receptacle and use it that way.
As with all splits make sure to hang the unit level or slightly lower on the drain side. Do not kink the drain and cut the line off just above the ground.


Metal box above water heater Morning ! Does anyone know what this is? It’s above the water heater in our garage  and I just noticed it has a black mark that looks like it was left by smoke. Thank you all!

That device shown in your picture is a small transformer mounted on an electrical box cover. Inside the electrical box the input side of the transformer is connected to the AC mains lines. The output side of the transformer provides a safe low voltage of 24VAC that connects to those small gauge wires that look to be brown and white/brown in color.

The most likely usage is that this 24VAC feeds power to a door bell setup. There are also other usages for a 24VAC transformer such as this. This could include a special thermostat setup, a security camera setup, a sprinkler control system or even a low voltage lighting application.


How can I replace a single pole light switch with Z-Wave light switch? I'm trying to replace a single-pole switch with a z-wave switch. I'm new to electrical stuff, I understand a little of the terminology just from reading the black & decker wiring book.

I turned of the circuit at the panel, verified with a voltage tester that it was dead, removed the wall plate and pulled the wires out of the box.

Pictures are here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanfarrar/sets/72157655557755759

There are 3x cables coming into the box: 1 on bottom and two on top. It looks like:

all three grounds are twisted together
all three neutrals are twisted together
two of the hot cables are twisted together and pigtailed to a switch terminal
the other hot cable goes to the other switch terminal

I'm not sure why there are three cables since this is just a single switch going to a single light. There is an outlet on the wall below, maybe that has something to do with it?

I'm trying to figure out exactly how I should connect this new switch up. Any advice (geared towards a complete novice) would be much appreciated, and definitely any basic/generic/practical/troubleshooting advice & suggestions would be a great help.

Edit:

Per bib's advice, I tested the individual lines ... and drew up how it is, and how I think the circuit should be rewired with the new switch:

I have some wall-nuts (push connectors), but no electrical wire ... I'm not sure what to get for wire ...

Edit 2:

Wiring it up, hopefully I'm not doing stupid things. First time I've done this, so I probably am.

Edit 3: Wheeeeeee, it works!

It sounds like the two black wire with the pigtail are the incoming hot and a branch hot to another location, such as the outlet. The other black attached to the switch is probably the switched hot that goes to the fixture being controlled.

You can verify this by turning the switch to off, making sure all the wires and terminals are clear and not touching anything else metal, and then turning on the breaker.  Using the non-contact tester, carefully check the wires. The paired blacks should read hot, but the switched black should not.

If this is what you have, wiring the new switch is pretty straightforward. Turn the breaker off again. Confirm no wires are now hot. The new switch is basically connected the same way as the old, but with a neutral wire and ground wire added.

The hot pigtail is connected to the line terminal.
The switched black wire is connected to the load terminal.
A pigtail (white) is added to the bundle of neutral wires and connected to the neutral terminal
A pigtail (bare) is added to the bundle of ground wires and connected to the ground terminal.

The traveler terminal is not used (and it looks like it is covered anyway).

Use wire nuts, and if you like, tape over them for extra safety. You also could put a wrap of tape around the z-switch covering the terminals. Carefully insert the wires back in the box. Screw the switch into the box. Turn the power back on.

While most dumb switches do not need a neutral connection, many smart switches, such as the z-switch, do. Now all switches have a separate ground connection, although many in the past did not.


Installing a transfer switch I too have a Generac 5500 Generator. It is safely positioned on the side of my home, a double - wide on block foundation , on a concrete pad. I have a super clean (even vacuumed) crawl space.

I want to install a Reliance csr302 manual transfer switch to run JUST my well pump in a power outage. The pump is a Pentek 1/2hp, single phase, 230VAC, 2wire with earth ground, running off my house panel with a 20 amp breaker since installation in 2017.

I have viewed and calculated the voltage drop using the Southwire site (handy) I've seen posted here & if I were to use a 12ga. 4 wire  run of about 20 feet to go under my house into the crawl space and back up to the breaker panel to make the connections I need to make there, I calculated a 3 volt drop.

My generator puts out a metered 236vac no load.

I ask this because most sites say install of the transfer switch should be 1.5' max from the panel. I have no room to do that, no basement, no attic , and the house main panel is an entry foyer on a shallow wall. I'm assuming that is NEC code the distance from the panel. My code books are all older, (1980's) so I don't know if that has changed since.

Currently I have run the pump in power out emergencies by wire nutting a feed from the generator on a 10 ga. extension cord with pigtails (Generac Supplied Cordset with the 120v multi-outlet head removed) to the pump pair I removed from my panel breaker. The isolation is there as I shut down my main at the panel AND outside below the meter, so there's no chance of feedback, but I want to install the transfer switch for safety & ease of switching over if I'm not home when the power fails.

So, can safely make that 20 foot "pick-up" wire run as I described above. I hope there's enough info here. Thanks Dan

Wow, the price of that transfer switch, and it doesn't even switch neutral.  That's typical Reliance, mid-tier yet high price because they know it's for a generator.

Oh, hold on.  You haven't solved the neutral problem.  You need to either switch neutral, isolate neutral and ground on the generator (you can't have two neutral-ground bonds in the system), or not connect it in the first place, which is an option because your pump is 240V only and doesn't need it.

I would go a different way and entirely moot the 1.5 foot issue, save a few bucks and give a lot more flexibility also.

Subpanel with two feeds

Take, say, a Siemens 12-space main-lug (a main-breaker panel will be an impediment) and their generator interlock/tiedown kit.

For a very compact panel, use a Square D "QO" small 4-8 space panel, and their QO2DTI interlock, like this. This will require two main breaker retaining kits to hold down the backfed breakers, since the QO2DTI doesn't provide that naturally. A little more expensive but the quality is tip-top.

The two breakers are interlocked.  One goes to the utility and can be any size (doesn't matter; circuit protection happens elsewhere). I recommend 60A because it's the same price as a 20A.  The other goes to the generator and is sized to protect the generator and wiring.

Now if you only power the well, you could just make sure to use a 20A on the generator side, and at the main panel... then you have 20A protection in both modes, so you don't need an additional breaker for the well. You can just take it right off the main lugs.  At this point we're $110 into this deal.  And it's top shelf stuff; Siemens not Reliance.

If you ever add more circuits and upsize your supply, you can put the well on a 20A breaker.

Because it's a subpanel, the issue of proximity to the main panel is moot.

In the existing main (utility) panel, the supply breaker is sized to protect the wire to the subpanel - you want #12 wire, so that means a 20A breaker (so you can just reuse the current well breaker).   I myself would run #10, #8 or #6 wire, with an eye toward future expansion, but keep the 20A breaker for now.

Voltage drop is not a factor

I'm not sure how you computed 3 volt drop for a 20' wire run.  That run is too short to have that much voltage drop; if you're using the minimum legal wire size, 3 volt drop should happen at about a 100' run. Don't worry about it.


Wiring a shed/workshop Hoping to wire up a shed/workshop with two 15 amp circuits coming from a 60 amp sub panel beside the main panel. Wondering what type of wire I can use in PVC conduit and if it should be GFCI protected. If yes is it better to have a breaker that has GFCI capabilities or just start each circuit in the shed with a GFCI outlet?

TLDR

Use THWN-2 #12 stranded wire.

Use six wires: black white red blue gray and green/bare.

Green/bare is ground for both circuits.

At the ends (once they are installed) wrap the black/white/red with electrical tape to group them.   Also wrap the blue/gray.

On the lighting circuit, gray is neutral and blue is hot. No need for GFCI here.

On the outlet circuit, white is neutral and black and red are both hots. Cap off red for now on both ends.  If you're not doing GFCI, get a 2-pole breaker (handles tied!) and punch the black down on one side and don't use the other yet. If you do GFCI, get a 1-pole for now because 2-poles are expensive. The red wire is there to make it legal, and gives you a spare circuit.

You can't run two of the same type of circuit to an outbuilding.

So you can't have two 15A 120V circuits to the shed.  Nor can you have a 15A/120V and a 30A/120V circuit (e.g. for a travel trailer) - the amps are different

However you can have two different types of circuits:

One 15A receptacle circuit and one 15A switched lighting circuit
One 15A receptacle circuit and a 240V utility circuit
A 240V compressor circuit and a 240V pump circuit because the pump is switched on/off by equipment in the house
One 15A receptacle circuit and a 120/240V multi-wire branch circuit providing two 20A subcircuits

For instance I would run a 20A multi-wire branch circuit providing two legs of 120V that you seek. That counts as one circuit for the above discussion.  However, this requires a circuit breaker that would most likely common-trip, so you'd lose the lights when the saw tripped the breaker. If that's what you want, then you may want to consider a MWBC for the power (strictly to avoid the same-circuit requirement) then a plain 120V circuit for lighting.

Another option in the LED age is to use 240V for lighting.

Wiring

Wiring wise, since you are in conduit, you run individual THHN type wires (actually THWN-2 but they'll be cross-labeled).  For instance in an MWBC, you'd run black-white-red, and for a 120V circuit you'd run blue/gray.  (gray is a neutral color).

1 ground large enough for the largest circuit; you can share grounds because you're only expecting to have a ground fault on one circuit at ta time.

Subpanel

If you foresee any need to expand beyond that, then you should install a subpanel in the shed.  I gather that you have a 60A subpanel next to your main becuase it is full. Also, 60A implies it is very small in terms of spaces, so it's a stop-gap, not a long-term solution.

We preach "you want lots of spaces" pretty loud around here, so if it were me, I'd replace the 60A with a much larger panel in terms of spaces. I'd aim for 45-ish spaces in a typical house.  So if  your panel is 24 space, 18-24 space is good; if 16, aim for a 30-space panel.  Then move the old 60A subpanel to the shed.


Where are the coils in this fridge? I just moved to a new rental apartment and the refrigerator is making a very loud clicking noise. As a quick remedy, I thought I can clean the coils but I couldn't find them. I checked the back and under, but no luck. Maybe the pictures can give you an idea. Any help is appreciated..

I don't think cleaning the coils is going to solve the clicking noise, that is probably a more involved repair.

Since the coils are not in the compressor compartment shown in your photos (which would have been my first guess), the coils may be literally on the bottom of the refrigerator, usually accessible from the front panel at the bottom of the fridge. You can use a coil brush (like GE's PM14X51 brush) or perhaps a vacuum cleaner crevice attachment to clean them.

If you can't gain access to the coils from the front, it's possible that you'll need to tip the refrigerator over slightly to access them, but I haven't yet run into a case where that is necessary.

I can't quite make out the compressor tubing in your pictures, but you can probably follow that tubing to see where the condenser coils might be located.

If you have access to the fan, try to brush loose dust off the fan blades as well.

Make sure the refrigerator is unplugged when you clean the coils just in case you come into contact with the fan or live wiring

It's also possible that the coils are at the top of the refrigerator, but I've only seen that on built-in models, and they typically have an obvious vent or access panel to let you gain access to them.


Should I use Gorilla Glue or Crazy Glue for broken off handle of a ceramic mug? I have a ceramic mug that a handle broke off of.

Between Gorilla Glue and Crazy glue, is there a difference and if so, which one is better?

My main criteria, in descending order of importance, are:

Non-toxicity long term. It's a mug people drink from.
Dishwasher safety long term (don't much care about microwave safety)
Physical durability of repair spot.
Requirement for extra-strong pressure during gluing (I don't have any fancy setup to squeeze the handle and cup together so it'd have to be my own two hands for a period between 1 and 5 minutes.
Requirement for perfect surface fit (there's a chance small flecks chipped off that are lost, so a small fraction of the broken off surface won't fit 100% perfectly together.

The one with the biggest advertising budget.

No seriously... 2-part epoxy.

Toxicity -- the inside of your food cans are lined with it,  this is why tomato paste doesn't rust the can.  It can add trace amounts of BPA but only if you botch the mixing heavily toward the B-part.

Dishwasher safety - make sure this epoxy is good up to 100C temperature.  It is impervious to water once cured.

Speed - epoxies come in every imaginable speed from 1 minute to 24 hour cure.

Durability - let's do the math,  epoxy + carbon fiber = Boeing Dreamliner.

Surface fit - not super picky, as it is fairly thick... for better results modify it with a powdered adhesive filler like West System 404, which can gap narrow imperfections giving full strength. You're supposed to use West System fillers with West system epoxy, but I won't tell.  If you know a boatmaker, ask him for a teaspoon of the stuff.  Mix in til it's like maple syrup, not too much.

I gather you would favor an epoxy on the fast side of the range.  Have a razor knife handy to scrape off any excess, during that sweetspot when it is solid but still rubbery.  It won't be like that for long.


Whole House Humidifier on All-in-One Heat Pump and Freezing Temps How do I install a whole house humidifier on an all-in-one heat pump in an area where we have freezing temperatures during the time of year when you'd want to use a whole house humidifier.

An HVAC contractor pretty much told us it can't be done but it's hard for me to believe this problem is unique and unsolvable. I'd prefer not using some portable unit that sprays water mist into the air from a water reservoir that needs to be filled throughout the day.

You should be able to install a steam humidifier, and inject steam into the supply duct.  Though to install one, you'll have to have access to the main supply duct inside the home. You'll also as have to have a source of water and power.

Obviously these types of units are available from many manufacturers, and offer a variety of features and pricing. However, in general, this type of unit tends to be more expensive than other types of humidifiers.


Use small UPS to power steam boiler I have a steam boiler (natural gas fired) and I'm wondering if I can safely use a small UPS to backfeed power to the boiler, in case of a power outage.

I'm not sure how much total run time I'd get - we're talking a 1500VA UPS with conditioned (sine wave) power output. However, the boiler only has an automated damper, the control circuitry, and the pilot ignition system - no fans, no pumps, no power vents - so the draw should be very low and not even constant.

I'd like to find out/test, in any case, how much run time I'd get with this setup (for emergency purposes).

The boiler is fed from a non-dedicated 15A breaker in the main panel. The feed goes into a J-box containing a dual socket receptacle and a switch. I have confirmed the switch cuts power to the boiler, when thrown. Therefore, the switch acts as a kill switch to the boiler.

Therefore, I concluded that if I were to throw the kill switch, throw the breaker for good measure,  and then back-feed the UPS into the receptacle, the risk of back-feeding into the grid would be nearly zero. And it's temporary, no modification of existing wiring is required.

I know that folks can't really say this is safe, I know it's against code.

Are there any considerations that I haven't listed here?

When temporarily testing things...

Just take box covers off and wire-nut stuff.

My cheater is male on one end, bare wires on the other.  I just go into the box, wire-nut up the load under test, plug the cheater into the Kill-a-Watt or whatever, and do my testing. Easy peasy.

I test hardwired loads that way all the time, it's no big.

Don't bottom your UPS

Use the Kill-a-Watt.   Tempting though it may be, don't run a UPS down to dead, except to test the battery.  It has a lead-acid battery, every time you run them dead takes a big chunk out of their life. Lithiums don't have that problem.

I agree it's likely the furnace doesn't take much power.

You might also have the conversation with your furnace manufacturer as to whether it can be run on 12V or 24V battery power directly.   It's quite possible that most or all of it runs on 24VAC and doesn't care AC vs DC.