Any pitfalls to shutting off house water supply while working? I want to replace the faucet for my kitchen sink.  The shutoff valves for both hot and cold are stuck open.

I assume I should either try to unfreeze the valves or eventually replace them.

If I'm in a hurry to replace the faucet (it's leaking onto the countertop), is there any reason not to just turn off the house water supply while replacing the faucet?

In general, there's no problem using the main valve. However, if the sink valves are stuck, you might find that the main is also in poor repair.  If the main is old and rarely used, you might find that's it's stuck or will become stuck once closed.

If the main valve is a gate/globe valve, and it looks old and cruddy. You might want to consider replacing that valve as well.  I'd recommend replacing it with a ball valve.


How to repair warped sliding door frame? I've got a south-facing sliding door, the frame/track has warped stopping the screen from closing. I've seen replacement tracks, but the issue seems to be that the channel the track should ride in is too warped for a track to sit in cleanly. I was thinking about just trying to cut away some of the warped channel to get the track to lie down.

Anyone know of a way to repair this short of replacing the whole door frame? Any big drawbacks (other than appearance) to cutting away some of the warped portion just to get the track to lie down properly?

Overhead view:

Side View after cutting away part of warped piece, also bows upward:

To me, “a warped frame” means twisted. In order to “fix” a twisted frame, you’ll need to 1) remove the track (threshold), 2) clean the track and where it’s placed, 3) straighten the track, and 4) re-secure the track to its correct position.

Straightening the track could be the most difficult. I’d try heating the track so you can twist it back to it’s original shape. I think a tool like an electricians conduit bender will work. (We use it to heat and bend Trex Decking too.) It looks like this and you could put the “warped” end of the frame into it...

https://jet.com/product/Greenlee-PVC-HeaterBender/1519c3795e4b4943bccec436d81b0447?jcmp=pla:ggl:nj_roc_gen_appliances_a1:appliances_heating_cooling_air_quality_space_heaters_a1:na:PLA_1062463102_53743929562_pla-306111780120_m:na:na:na:2PLA15&pid=kenshoo_int&c=1062463102&is_retargeting=true&clickid=7f0505b1-7b91-4390-9fd6-468b0e8922f7&kclid=7f0505b1-7b91-4390-9fd6-468b0e8922f7&gclid=CjwKCAjw54fdBRBbEiwAW28S9sAKKhrHWzpb6aTbi4bOTQiwt6dy6WvLDGMN5IDvVVJWvS0hC-ItIhoCvVkQAvD_BwE

After it’s heated, you could remove any bumps or twists in the frame before you reinstall it. (You may need to drill a few extra holes so you can add a some screws to keep it aligned until it cools.)

To keep the threshold watertight, I’d install flashing under the threshold and set it in sealant.

BTW, don’t over heat the frame or it will flop around like a piece of spaghetti and you’ll never get it back to it’s original shape.


Ceramic Stain: Removal (from hot water tank) I was adjusting the hot water tank this afternoon and draining the tank just as part of maintenance since it hadn't been done in who knows how long.  The tank looks fairly new (no more than 5 years old) (I'm renting this house).

Plus, on a side note, our hot water upstairs has been VERY poor.

Overall, my hot water issues were fixed after adjusting the hot water thermostat, but while removing the water hose from the drain valve, some water spewed out of the house due to the pressure.  Not that much water hit the ceramic type, and I was able to wipe it up pretty fast.

My issue is this, after this happened, I noticed on one tile there is a fairly large stain.  The tile is a white beigeish color.  The stain is almost a grayish stain that you can really tell due to the tile color.

Does anyone know what this stain could be from (why did water stain my tile) and what is the best way to get rid of the stain, besides replacing the tile?

Sounds like a rust stain. I would go with a product like CLR.

But, before trying it, try it on a spare uninstalled tile to be sure it won't do more damage to the tile than the stain.

These products are very caustic, so don't underestimate them! Heed the instructions carefully regarding sitting time, use of personal safety equipment, and thoroughly rinsing the tile afterward.


Baseboard heater thermostat doesn't shut off the heat My living room is heated by two electric baseboard heaters controlled by a single thermostat.  Earlier this week, I noticed that the room was much warmer than it should be, and figured that the thermostat had gotten stuck again*.  After turning the dial failed to produce the "click" of the switch turning off, and dialing the temperature all the way down didn't cool the room, I assumed the thermostat had failed and replaced it.  However, the new thermostat shows what appears to be the same behavior: when the thermostat turns off, the heaters don't turn all the way off.

Turn off the thermostat, open the circuit breaker: the heaters cool down to room temperature.
Close the circuit breaker: the heaters stay at room temperature.
Set the thermostat to 70F: heaters warm to around 200-250F.
Room reaches 70F: thermostat turns off (I can hear the click), one of the heaters cools to around 110F while the other cools to around 160F.
Turn the dial all the way down to "off": heaters stay the same temperature.

Both the old thermostat and the new one are simple bimetallic-strip switches.  I tested the old one with a multimeter, and it switches between infinite resistance when off, and zero resistance when on.

Any idea what's going on, and how I could troubleshoot/fix it?

* The switch in the old thermostat occasionally got stuck, not turning off until much warmer than the setpoint.

First, are you really sure they are still powered?  Heaters have a fair amount of "thermal inertia" - they take awhile to warm up, and they also give off heat for some minutes after they're shut off.  Obviously, the sure way to tell is to pop the service covers off and test with preferably non-contact testers, ideally a clamp-on ammeter.  Although at some point you'll want to measure actual voltage.

One way to measure is your house's electric meter, as it has a spinning disc or similar digital readout that will show rate of power consumption.  A stopwatch and a bit of research will tell you exactly what your whole house is drawing.  To measure the heater, shut off all other large loads.

Here's a little secret about resistive heaters that I use intentionally sometimes. If you apply 120V to a 240V heater, you get 25% of the heat.  So, if you're still getting (roughly 1/4) of the heat an hour after you "shut the thermostat off", there's a good chance a heater is seeing 120V instead of 240V.  The very serious question is WHY?  Because whatever's doing that could burn down your house.


How do I qualify for the 75C table in the ampacity chart? Suppose we direct-buried some 8 AWG cable.  It's now under a parking lot, and retrenching it is out of the question.  Now, needs have changed and we need to get 50A out of the circuit, which is possible with 8 AWG in the 75C column.   The wire is good for it.

What else is needed to qualify to use the 75C column?

Does anything change if this is wired in the interior of a house?

UF can't beat the heat

Unfortunately for you, UF cable is like NM in that it can't be run at any higher temperatures than 60°C:

  340.80 Ampacity. The ampacity of Type UF cable shall be that
  of 60°C (140°F) conductors in accordance with 310.15.

Now, if this were a tri-rated (USE-2/RHH/RHW-2) multiplex cable, or a direct burial MC cable, it would be something of a different story, but that's beyond the scope of this answer.


Cracked Cleanout Cover - What to replace it with? The rusty cast iron drain cleanout in my basement is cracked and I can't seem to find a matching piece at Lowes/Home Depot. The cover is about 5" wide. What would be the best thing I can use to seal this off?

Get an Abs or PVC (better) Cap of a pipe bigger than your 5 inches to drill two holes through and use high-quality silicone to create a seal on the old metal. Clean the old metal surface with a wire brush (Dremel). Get new washers and nuts and you are in business.


Replacing linoleum flooring in old house with tile, do I need to remove the papery layer? I'm replacing the old linoleum in my kitchen with ceramic tile.  The linoleum all came up easily, except for the last layer which is a thin papery material that is glued to the wood subfloor.  I've seen some advice on how to remove it, but it's proving to be a real pain.  So given I'm just going to be putting in new floor anyway, will this thin layer be a problem or do I need to devote every weekend for the next three months to scraping this off piece by piece?  It's seriously that slow of a process (can't sand because of asbestos concerns).

In the image you can see some of the old linoleum under my fridge, a few of the intermediary layers, and then the black stuff in most of the picture is this papery material.

The substrate you currently have is probably (90%+) not good enough for a ceramic install.  I would think that you need to put at least 1/2" concrete board down and possibly plywood before that (depends on the room size and what is below this).
Thinset doesn't really bond much to wood.  If you have demo'ed 20-30 bathrooms where people tiled right to wood (why do we demo the floor?  because it failed) you will know that thinset comes right up in big chunks.  Super quick demo.  Even if there is a bond at first, by the time the wood changes 100 times based on the season, temps, humidity, weight, moisture... there will be no bond left.   A good thinset layer acts more like a floating floor.  Which to answer your question, the black backing doesn't matter much if at all.  You may need to back butter your tiles first (so there is better consistency) but you can install it on that - but you shouldn't because you shouldn't hardly ever be installing tile straight to wood.


Can I remove a padlock tab in my breaker panel to allow fitment of an interlock device? I have a Challenger service panel outside with a main qfp-150-2 pole breaker and it has 4 breaker bus bars below. Two slots will hold a double pole 30 AMP breaker to backfeed the panel from a generator.

I am using an interlock kit to prevent the main and Generator breaker from both being on at the same time. The problem I am having is that there is a tab to fasten a pad lock on the right hand side of the toggle on the main breaker that is in the way of the interlock.

Can this tab be remove (cut off) or is that a code violation of the NEC. I live in South Florida.

Technically, the National Electrical Code requires listed equipment to be used as it was manufactured without modification.

However, your inspector can approve a field modification if they deem it is necessary.


Installing toe kick on bathroom vanity Installed a bathroom vanity with one side up against the wall. Our baseboards are tapered from top to bottom. Do we install the toe kick up to the baseboard or do we install the toe kick to the wall and the baseboard installed to the toe kick?

Install the toe kick to the wall and the baseboard to the toe kick


Can I install a sub-panel with no ground to the main panel? I have an old 3-fuse subpanel (screw in fuses) that currently has two 15 amp fuses and one 20 amp fuse. I want to replace it with a new breaker panel. There is no ground, only hot and Neutral. I bought an Eaton 125 amp load center and I am planning on adding 2 new dedicated lines.

How do I make up for not having a ground wire and/or do I need the ground? Can I use the wiring currently supplying the fuse panel already there? My service is in an apartment and the panel is 4 buildings away so running a new line would be most difficult.

While the electrical code grandfathers existing installations based on the code at the time of installation, as soon as you start a new installation, you will be required to adhere to the current code.  With that in mind, regardless of the difficulty involved, you will be required to run a new line that meets all current requirements (wire type, size, burial depth, etc.) , including a dedicated ground.

If you are lucky, the existing cable is in a conduit, and assuming the new cable will fit (conduit size as required by code), you should be able to pull through a new cable with relative ease.

When in doubt, consulting a licensed electrician is always advisable.


How do I keep heavy rain from draining into my house? The west side of our house is 2 stories high. We have 3 window wells on that side of the house. When we get heavy rains from the west blowing against the house, lets say 3 inches in an hour.  The water can't run away quickly enough and it runs into the basement. My wife wants to put another gutter on that side just above the basement windows to move that rain away.  Any other ideas?

I had a similar problem and added a length of corrugated tubing to my existing downspouts.

What was happening is that the water came down the downspouts too close to the house. It did not have time to soak into the ground and pooled around the foundation. So using some black corrugated pipe and the right adapters got that water 5-10 feet from the house.

It is very low cost, just get some of the black pipe, the right adapters to attach to your downspouts, and sheet metal screws.


Mounting a TV above a fireplace with an unknown stone Just moving into a new place and I moved the TV in today. I took the old mount down and figured I would use it at the new place so I kept all of the screws. New house has a nice fireplace in the living room that I would love to place the TV over. I went to start trying to find a stud and found out the wall is solid stone. Previously I mounted only to drywall so I figured I might be in over my head. I figured I would mount the TV on another wall just to discover that all of the walls in the house are stone. Now I am really not sure what to do or even what to look up because I am not sure what kind of stone this is. Could anyone here help guide me in the right direction? How do I figure out what kind of stone the walls are? Also can I mount a TV to stone?

And before anyone says anything about how we should've been told before buying the house, it was inherited so a lot of the information discovered in the buying process was lost.

Mounting a TV above a fireplace is an overall bad thing to do.

Fireplaces get hot. Electronics do not like heat.
Above fireplace places TV at a less than optimum viewing angle. TVs are designed for best image looking mostly straight on at eye level whilst sitting on a typical couch.
Getting connection power cords and signal cables up around the side of the fireplace and to the area of the bracket is totally hampered by the firebox and chimney that is inside the wall. Normal in wall hiding of cables is not possible and leads to an ugly installation.


How best to terminate two high efficiency systems I have a high efficiency gas furnace and a high-efficiency gas water heater. How best should I terminate intake and exhaust.?  Are termination kits available that would accommodate all four pipes?   Is it possible to join the two exhaust together and two intake pipes Together prior to exiting the wall in two single pipes?

Are you sure you have a high-efficiency water heater? If you didn't pay about $1500 or more for the unit itself, you have a low-efficiency water heater, and the distinction is important because you can only use plastic pipe for the exhaust ducting with high-efficiency condensing gas-burning equipment. Anything less than 90% efficiency needs metal exhaust ducting. and special clearances to combustible materials (like plastic pipe) due to the high pipe wall temperature.

Your level of confusion as well as the dangerous nature of what you are asking about leads me to worry that there is a nonzero chance that you will blow yourself up or set fire to your house. If you insist on continuing the work, I would recommend that you read the gas plumbing and venting code in your municipality and follow the guidelines set forth there.

If you choose not to do this and continue with this as a DIY job, please understand the risks to life, limb, and financial livelihood posed by unsafe gas work.


Metal door/ wood screws The condo board just replaced my old wood door, with a sheet metal door. both having windows. I need to hang blinds and the kit does not have metal screws.  Will my blinds be secure enough if I drill wood screws into the metal door?

If necessary any screw will secure the brackets to the door (in most cases). The reason to use sheet metal fasteners is to penetrate the metal door skin. Once the tip of  the screw is past the metal surface it grabs and drills into the wooden frame work. The wooden skeleton of the door is the 4 outside edges and the 4 sides of the window. Your best bet for successfully attaching to the wood frame is to remember the frame extends about an inch wider than the windows perimeter. Keep your brackets (if possible) under an inch past the windows edge. It's the wood framing that is supporting the brackets. So if you drill an opening in the metal skin any screw will suffice.


Two switch boxes wiring My intent is to wire two switches in a space that's split in half by a wall; I'll use a 2gang box on one side of that wall for some lights in that section. Then I'll use a single gang box on the other side offset by ~3inches or so as to not butt up against the other box BUT there's wires running down the stud I was planning on using. Can I run the wires over the outside of the junction box and let them continue downward to their receptacle?

Doesn't seem right but not sure how else to work around this??

The only thing wrong with it is you are supposed to have staples within 6 inches of the wires coming out of the box. An inspector might catch it but I personally wouldn’t worry about it. You could put a flat 2X4 (14.5” long) between the boxes to nail the wires to if you wanted.


My light switch trips the breaker when its placed into the box I have a box that contains 3 light switches.  I replaced the old switches with new ones simply for cosmetic reasons.  The old panel worked perfectly fine.  When I install the new switches everything is fine.  However, when I compress them all into the box and make everything nice and tidy, it trips the breaker.  Is something rubbing in there?  Does the proximity have something to do with my problem?

Sounds like you have skinned a hot wire that is touching the metal box or one of the ground wires. With the power off pull the switches and look for a burned spot. If the wire is still ok not damaged from shorting it can be taped with a quality electrical tape. If the wire is damaged you will want to cut it and pigtail a new piece. This happens even to professionals.


Is this crack in block foundation/under pinning something to worry about A couple of the concrete block in my basement wall are cracked (diagonal crack on the bottom right of the photo in the "unfinished" blocks).

The house is a 1920s duplex in Washington DC. It originally, I think, had a two story sleeping porch which has since been fully enclosed. These cracks are under the former porch on the corner of the common wall and the outside. The outside wall has concrete steps so I cannot see if the crack goes all the way through. The grade is right about at the top of the extra row of blocks on the right.

This area we think was a former laundry room and may have been dug out and under pinned by the former owner. I can see two piers supporting the porch, and I am assuming there is a third pier somewhere near this wall.

Is this crack something to worry about or does it just need to be sealed? We are planning on turning the space into a mechanical room for a new HVAC system.

That looks like settlement cracks.
Whether you should worry about it depends on several things:

what is that supporting?
Is it still settling?

This is 100 yr old construction, so there will have been settlement.  The question is whether that settlement is done or you have a new problem.  Water can be a source of new settlement, and it can become a new problem on old construction.

The pictures look like there is a water problem in that area so even if it isn't causing settlement issues, it will create a mold problem.  Look for easy to spot, easy to fix water issues (gutters that need cleaning, gutters that have pulled away from the house, clogged downspouts, downspouts discharging near the house, poor grading around the foundation, etc.).

That corner is supporting something.  A typical first step is to stick an indicator on the crack.  You can get simple measuring tools like this that just lets you measure and record the size of the crack: https://www.amazon.com/CRACKMON-224R-Comparator-224R-01-Compliant/dp/B00K5HXJB0

A more reliable indicator is a simple gauge that is glued across the crack and shows the current alignment.  For example:  https://www.amazon.com/CRACKMON%C2%AE-4020A-Heavy-Duty-Building-Foundation/dp/B00QWFYA7G
You leave it in place and check it every few weeks.  If there is any additional movement, it is easy to see.  You could just watch it.  If there is no movement in say half a year, that indicates that it's old settlement and you don't need to worry about it.

Another possibility: if there are existing piers, this may be a problem that has already been fixed.

If you do see new movement, it would be important to take remedial steps.  I would have a foundation repair specialist evaluate it (often no charge for an initial look and recommendations on how to proceed).


tapering/mitering table legs on a table saw without someone helping I have just built my tool to taper/miter wood on my tablesaw - I am making a library table and need to taper the legs.  The tool works beautifully, BUT, when I get to almost the end, the piece I am tapering, lifts up and doesn't cut right.  What can I do to avoid this if I do NOT have someone on the other end to hold the wood flat???

It's hard to say knowing nothing about your current setup, but it's common to keep your workpiece longer than needed during difficult cuts like that, and then trim the piece to length, eliminating the imperfect segment.

Otherwise, the right set of push sticks should make the job safer and easier.


Outlet one hot wire, one not I have two black (hot) and two white (neutral) and a ground. One black is hot with breaker on and the other is not. What is the likely cause?

The very fact that you separated them for testing is why one is not hot.
Circuits (coming off a breaker) power more than one outlet.
Hot and neutral enter the box on one cable.  To get to the next outlet, they exit the box on another cable.  Each wire has a black and white, and in most cases black=hot.
If you disconnet the two wires from each other, one will be connected to the breaker.  The other will be disconnected from the breaker because you disconnected it.
It's common to use a receptacle itself as a splicing point.  The recep has 2 screws that are connected to each other *and to the socket slots).  The 2 screws can be used to splice 2 wires to each other (and the socket slots of course).
This doesn't always work, receptacles have "tabs".
If you don't like the idea of using a receptacle as a splice, then look up "pigtailing".


Replacing a electric receptacle in the middle of a series I have an electric receptacle that looks like this.

It's half-hot and in the middle of a series to one other socket.
UPDATE: The photo above is the one I had goofed up putting back together. Here's what it actually looks like (the red and black are on the same side as expected)

And this is of course a plain receptacle.

I haven't been able to figure out (even with similar results) if it's possible to replace the top one with a bottom one. Another problem is determining which wire in each pair is from upstream or downstream.
Am I supposed to pigtail the pairs, along with a third wire that goes to this outlet? Mentally that doesn't seem like the right thing, but I couldn't really tell you why.
What would be the "correct" replacement receptacle for this usage? I'm having a hard time picking the right search terms.

This example should trip the breaker the second it is turned on.
Someone screwed up and stabbed the reds on the wrong side. They probably broke the tab to get half the receptacle to work and not trip the breaker, or pulled the red feeder at the switch.
When the new receptacle is installed don’t use the backstabs--they are the leading cause of failure. Pigtail is the correct method, or use more expensive outlets which have a plate at the screw and allow 2 wires per screw.
The tab should be broken on the black/red or "hot" side. The tab should not be broken on the white side.
Normally the red is a switched hot and the black is a always hot. Since this was mis-wired it would never work with both receptacles.


Is it possible to use BC to ES adaptors in a custom light fixture? I'd like to make my own light fixture. I have a BC to ES adaptor lying about and was wondering whether I could directly wire them to use with my ES bulb? Would it possible to just wire up the two bottom screws?

There's really no reason that you couldn't. It won't be UL listed, of course, but folks have been cobbling their own lighting for decades. Use common sense with regard to connections, insulation, and wire sizing and protection and it should work fine.

One minor issue might be screw length, but you can almost certainly replace them with longer ones for a few nickels.


can I use aluminum stranded wire in terminal screw for installing outlet? Most home wiring is copper, and you're not supposed to connect it with aluminum wire using a wire nut (push-in connectors are fine.)  The reason being is the aluminum will apparently corrode.  Is it safe to connect aluminum wire directly to the terminal screw in an outlet, or do you need to use push-in connectors to connect to a copper wire and then connect that?

You're supposed to connect to aluminum wire using connections listed for use with aluminum wire.   There is nothing magical about one style of connector vs. another, you can't say "all X type are ok for aluminum", they have to be individually listed for aluminum.

You also cannot put aluminum wire on common receptacles, get your money back from whoever taught you that, it's dangerously wrong.

There are aluminum wire nuts, but they aren't reliable.  The gold standard for pigtailing or splicing aluminum and/or copper wires is **alumiconns*, a mini verson of a mains lug.  Like most lugs,  Alumiconns are made of aluminum.  Turns out aluminum lugs work fine with both wires, copper lugs don't.

Regardless, you don't need to pigtail.  You can directly attach aluminum wires to a receptacle with a CO-ALR rating for its connections, meaning it is compatible with both copper and aluminum. These cost a few dollars more, and have weird gray metal on their terminations.


Need a wiring diagram for 4 way switch with source in centre and light on end I currently have two lights in my porch at either end that are both controlled by  separate 3 way switch circuits.  At the middle door it a double box with the supply and two 3-way switches, from each switch is a 14-3 wire to another box on opposite ends of the porch with another 3-way switch.  From those switches is a 14-2 to each individual light.

How would I go about only having 3 switches and turning both lights on at the same time, or in other words i want to tie the two lights together and be able to turn them on/off from any one of 3 switches. I can easily go into the attic and add a wire between the two lights, adding a wire between boxes gets into drywall work.

Similar to the image but the light would have to be off either one of the 3-way switches in the diagram.

Making the connection in the attic saves you

Here's what you can do with existing cables in wall.

The black-red grouped pairs are messengers.  On 3-way switches, "C" marks the common.

Smart switches

That's the sure way to do this thing, but it's a little complicated.  In this case you re-task red as a signal line (as needed by the smart switches).


washing machine drain and kitchen sink drain My washing machine drain has clogged up. I was getting ready to wash my clothes when someone from upstairs ran kitchen sink it came through my washing machine drain and that water was pouring from my washing machine drain. Can you help?

If an upstairs drain is flowing out of your washing machine drain then the clog is downstream of the washing machine branch drain and it may not be your (or the washer's) fault.

You will need to run a cable (snake) down the pipe to clear it, starting with the drain you think is closest to the clog (might as well start at the washing machine drain, you at least know that it is closer to the clog than the upstairs kitchen drain).

There are a lot of troubleshooting questions and steps a plumber might ask/take, and experience and skill matter a lot for these jobs. I'm not saying you should not try, but calling a plumber is likely to be less frustrating and a lot quicker than doing it yourself if you have no experience with drain cables.

If you want to learn, there are many questions with good answers already on this site, and lots of guidance on your favorite internet video hosting site. My advice would be to purchase a high quality drum auger like this and try it yourself:


Can these scrapers be used to remove paint from millwork? I was looking for some feedback on Allway and Bahco contour scrapers I came across on Amazon.  I have some original millwork (100 yrs +) that I will first apply Peel Away 1 to it and then use one of these scrapers to clean out grooves etc.

I have used similar scrapers with good results.For really fine details you might also get a dental type pick. Care must be taken with soft woods as you can scrape away some of the contours. The mutiple heads may make it easier to follow peaks and valleys.


Is a gravity or spring damper sufficient for a make up air vent? I am planning on installing a make up air vent in my cold air return. I don't want to install an electric system that I have to wire to 3-4 different appliances. Is a gravity or spring loaded damper sufficient to use in this scenario? I'm assuming it would just open and bring in the make up air when something is turned on that would cause negative air pressure.

This is a good question and I would say it depends. I'm not saying it is impossible, but as you have pointed out these devices operate on static pressure. I am just wondering if it is commercially viable and if anyone makes one that would work in your scenario. It would have to open under very light pressure differences and I don't know of any manufacturer who has one for this purpose. I know this is the same principal as an economizer in a RTU, but they are mechanical.

May be someone more experienced in the mechanics of air flow knows about one.

Good luck.


How do I connect a 240 to 110V transformers that measures 55V AC on both the "hot" and "return" wires? For a European-style city power supply (240 V AC 50 Hz) attempting to accommodate appliances from another country (USA, 110 V AC 60 Hz), how should a "Nippon" ungrounded transformer be wired up?

The supply voltage for the neighborhood is 240 V AC. The ungrounded 1500 W Nippon transformer steps that down to 110V but leaves the frequency unchanged. Most 110V appliances (heaters, etc) plugged into the 110V side work fine. However, the voltage on each leg of the 110 side ("hot" and "return") are both 55V AC relative to Earth ground. And when I try to connect "active" power regulating loads to the 110V outlet, my the GFIC breaker on my 220V power source eventually trips, whether I've grounded the power supply and/or transformer case to earth ground or not. The troublesome appliance is a 110VAC to 12V DC power supply, battery charger and solar charger system. A lower power transformer from Australia (500 W) does not cause this problem.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong with the wiring of the new transformer?

The output appears to be ungrounded or center grounded.  It could be a transformer intended for outdoor tools in UK.  If there is also a safety ground 3 wire plug, it could be coupling some of the harmonic current from the switch mode active power supply (which should be flowing equally on hot and neutral) on the safety ground.  That would be unbalanced current and trip the GFCI.  The smaller transformer could be wired with normal grounding or it may have a plastic case.  Adding filtering to the mains input could fix the GFCI issue.


Is it safe to convert a shunted tombstone lamp socket to a non-shunted socket by cutting the shunt? I am looking into converting a T-8 fluorescent tube fixture to a direct-wire LED tube fixture. In addition to removing the actual ballast, I understand that the "tombstone" lamp sockets in an electrical ballast fluorescent fixture are shunted, but for a direct wire LED tube,
I should use non-shunted.

Based on the diagram in this vendor article:
https://blog.1000bulbs.com/home/shunted-vs-non-shunted-lampholders
it seems like it would be pretty easy to convert a shunted socket to a non-shunted socket with some wirecutters. Is this generally unsafe? And/or code-violating?

You can't hack a shunted lampholder to be a non-shunted unless it's designed to do that.  For one thing there is no place to attach the wires. Yes, there are two wire holes, but a non-shunted holder has four.

You have three options:

stay with instant-start fluorescent... I am because the CRI is better
change lampholders to non-shunted type
take care to select LED "tubes" which take power from opposite ends of the tube

You should certainly not be modifying the wiring before you have seen the wiring diagram which comes with your LED tubes.  You may find your tubes require a different wiring than what you did.


Can NCV tester show presence of Knob & Tube wiring? I live in a century house whose electrical was last worked on in the 1960s at the latest. Without opening a wall, I’d like to make some deductions about the odds of having in-service knob and tube wiring.

My multimeter has a NCV detection feature that alerts + / - 4 inches or so from lightswitches and receptacles, and also detects voltage in the wall along a logical line (e.g. up the stud bay from the lightswitch but not the next bay over).

Is it fair to say that if I follow the NCV detector beeps from a lightswitch or receptacle, and find two parallel tracks a foot or two apart, I probably have Knob & Tube?

Is the inverse true? If the NCV only alerts along one 6-8 inch wide line, is that a pretty reliable indicator that both conductors are closer together than K+T would be and so I likely have some later style sheathed wiring?

Yes your testing plan can work but you will need a load on the circuit to be sure. With no load on the circuit the NCV will only detect the hot, if the circuit is daisy chained as long as the last receptacle or outlet in the chain is loaded there should be the return voltage on the neutral and the tester should detect it. No load and only the hot will be detected so it would look like it was updated but may be K&T.
I have always liked using a plug in light but today’s LED’s may not have enough to be detected the field may be weak, a 60w lamp or a hair drier On low will work well .


Why are my joists smaller than standard size? I was preparing to replace a cantilevered rim joist on my house today. I bought a 2x10 treated board to replace it. I cut a piece to use as blocking and found that the board was much wider than the existing joists. I measured the board and it seemed to run wide, it was about 9-1/2". Then I measured my rim joist and another exposed joist in my basement and confirmed that the installed joists are only 9" wide.

I searched online and found that actual width of a 2x10 should be 9-1/4".

Why are the 2x10's on my house only 9"? Why are the green treat boards I bought 9-1/2"? My house was built in '88. Have the standards changed? Is there a tolerance to go along with the North American Standard lumber sizes? Did the contractor use factory seconds? I figure I'll have to rip half an inch off the new boards to match the old ones.

Here's the marking on the treated board

Yes, there are grading rules and tolerances for lumber, timbers, etc.

You are describing "dimensional lumber". Grading rules for that (especially where you live) is established by the American Softwood Lumber Association, PS-20. (Product Standard 20.)

If you look at Table 3, "Dimensional" you'll see for 2 x 10's, the minimum size is 9 1/2" for green and 9 1/4" for dry. (This can vary somewhat based on the species.) ...but the minimum size is 9 1/4".

Where I live, grading is primarily done by Western Wood Product Association. If you look on your joists, you'll see a black ink "Grade Stamp".  I suspect you'll find several numbers and letters in a small grouping (about 1"x2" area) with one of the icons of WWPA. Next to that round icon, you'll see the "moisture" grade. If it reads GRN, then it was milled (cut at the mill) when it was green and had more than 19% moisture content. If it reads DRY, then it was milled when it was less than 15% moisture content. (There is a seldom used mark of S-DRY, which stands for Surface Dry and had a moisture content between 15%-19%.) Actually, if the stamp is smeared and "out of focus" to the point you can't read it, then it was milled "green".

I explained all that to let you know that your lumber could have been milled "green", but dried out, which caused the lumber to shrink.

If you read the text, you'll see that there is a tolerance of 1/4" in the width and 1/16" in the thickness...the 2x direction.

Also, the lumber could have been mis-cut and was rejected, so you won't find any grade stamp on your joists. The contractor could have bought the joists at a discount and was never caught by the Building Inspector.

By the way, the grain of wood in your picture indicates a better than a normal piece of lumber. If all the joists are similar, then I'd feel comfortable that it's structurally sound and would equal other lumber that is 1/4" larger.


Test Connection for vintage lighting fitting Out apartment has one of those vintage light fittings, with the edison bulbs in. It also has 4M high ceilings. One of the bulbs has popped and repeatedly pops if i replace it. so i'd like to take the fitting down from the rose and check the connections both in the base and the bulb fitting.

The question is, can I use a wall socket and a kettle lead to create a supply, so that I can work on this and test the fittings out without it hanging from the ceiling? My thinking is, that a plug, with the appropriate fuse (3A) and a long lead, would mean that i could easily test the fitting, using the switch at the wall to make it safe whilst i checked all connections.

Basically, is the 240V in the Wall Socket, the same as the 240V in the lighting circuit?

As a temporary test setup it's fine. Assuming that you know what you are doing and you monitor the thing while it's in use.

However the switch at the wall will probably only switch the live wire while the neutral will remain connected. So it'll be safer to pull the plug out of the wall when you go to mess with the connections.


Controlling separate heat and AC units from a single thermostat I currently have central air in the attic and furnace in the basement for the heat (steam radiator heat).  I have both wires run to the same location but have two thermostats.  Can I wire them both to one thermostat?  I have a picture of the thermostat that is currently used for the AC only.  Any help or suggestions would be helpful.

Yes.

Remove the jumper between the R and Rc terminals.
Connect the R wire from the heating system to the R terminal.
Connect the R wire from the cooling system to the Rc terminal.

Then you should be able to follow the thermostats installation guide, to connect the rest of the wires for the heating and cooling systems.

Unfortunately, without seeing the wiring in the heating and cooling systems, it's impossible to tell you how to connect the rest of the wires.  Typically W is for heat call, Y is for cool call, and G is for fan. However, there's no standards or requirements that make this universal.

It appears that you're using a Honeywell Wire Saver device, which is why the cooling system uses the K terminal instead of Y.  I'd leave that wired the way it is, and simply add the heating call wire (from the heating system) to the W terminal.


How can I prevent water from running behind my gutters and under shingles near a wall? I've been troubleshooting some issues have been having with water getting into my basement.  Today I took a hose out to try and find out how water is getting behind my gutters and believe I found some potential culprits.

A) In the first 2 pictures you can see there is some space between the drip edge and gutter.  I think water is sneaking in there.  Are there any DIY options to fix this?  Could something like a gutter apron be slide under the shingles to help get it into gutters?

B) In the last 2 pictures you can see the siding and brick meet up with roof on this part of the house.  I think the water is getting between them, running down, and then pouring out under the gutters.  What options do I have to prevent water from getting in there?  Just getting flashing installed?  Is flashing a DIY project?  It seems like something that may need professional installation.

Thank you!

You will probably need professional assistance with this one.  Whether there is a drip edge or not, the shingles should overhang the edge of the roof by about an inch.  The bigger issue is that there is no brick flashing cut into the side of the brick where it meets the roof in the second two pictures.  Some shingles are going to have to come up to correct these problems.  A proper brick flashing should look something like this photo.


Cutting sole plates in place I'm framing some longer walls and in one post (I can't find it again) it mentioned it'd be a good idea to not cut the sole plate where doors will be until after the wall is raised.  Is that correct and if so, how would you cut the sole plate after the wall is raised?

There are several techniques. Some simply cut them with a reciprocating saw once the wall is up. This tends to scuff the subfloor in a superficial way. Some cut partway through (full depth with a circular saw from the narrow edge) before the wall is lifted, allowing quick finish cuts with a handsaw later. Some do cut them all out once the wall is built by lifting the plate onto a series of scrap blocks (2x4 on edge). Some do whatever makes sense for a particular scenario.

It's your call. There's no "right" answer. If you have enough help on hand there's no real benefit to waiting until the wall is up. The idea is mostly to maintain stability in a shorthanded situation.


Why is my chimney cleanout blocked off? This is a picture looking up my chimney cleanout. It sort of looks like it was filled with debris, but also sort of looks like it was intentionally blocked off. It is used to vent the gas furnace and hot water heater. Anyone have an idea if this is blockage that needs to be removed or does it serve a purpose?

Well I used a jack to punch through the mess and it turns out it was indeed just blockage. There was a bunch of crud randomly piled on top. I have no idea how it three stoogered into looking intentional.


Is galvanized pipe safe for use as a bathroom faucet? Since the Food and Drug Association (FDA) has approved the use of galvanized steel for food preparation and conveyance for all applications with the exception of foods that have a high acid content, such as tomatoes, oranges, limes, and other fruits. The acid content in these foods will attack the zinc coating and cause accelerated corrosion.
Is there any reason not to use galvanized pipe?
I am re-imaging an old antique buffet into a bathroom vanity. I am using a galvanized bucket for the sink and want to use silver pipe for the faucet, with old fashioned ceramic hot and cold knobs. This will be used daily for washing and teeth brushing. What I need know is will this be safe for human use? Copper will be used underneath the sink area, but I want silver/galvanized for the faucet.
Pic is what I would like to use, I just need to know if it's chemically safe. Thank You.

Since galvanized pipe was used for close to 100 years as water supply lines yes it is fine to use in your sink.
Galvanized fell out of favor in the 70’s because it is harder to install but I know a couple of contractors that still use it today for the main into the house because it is tough.
You do want to use dielectric unions for your connection from the galvanized to the copper if you don’t galvanic action will corrode the pipe at the junction very quickly in some cases less than a year in others 3+ it depends on the water.
For those that point to the pipe building up on the inside that takes decades in my experience.  And those that talk about lead in the pipe but use brass and stainless just don’t have a clue that unless the brass is rated for potable water it will contain more lead and even brass that is rated for potable water has lead , just an approved amount. Stainless now we deal with chromium, plastic do we even know some haven’t been in use for that long.
There was a time when lead was used for both pipe and solder those days ended back in the 70’s for solder and much earlier for pipe because lead leaks.
I don’t know of any method of transporting water that California prop 65 doesn't require a warning and I don’t even live there any more but everything has the risk warnings.
.


Can particleboard subfloor be used as a nail base for 3/4" solid wood strip flooring? Question: Has anybody out there laid solid oak strip floor over a 3/4" particle board subfloor and lived to tell about it?

Basis for question: I did a search on SE and all answers point to pulling it up, block the walls if needed block the edges where the new will tie in, etc. All of that is proper and good, if I was doing this in an empty house, or even my house while I was living in it.

This will be done in my aunt and uncles house, both are well in their 70's and I will not disrupt their lives that this would require. I called the flooring manufacturer customer service, and I was told the engineered flooring could be stapled down but the solid 3/4" could not. I guess wood movement or lack of it has something to do with it, but I could not quite put my finger on why one is good but not the other. So I asked the customer rep the same thing. The only response I got was, ask this of other installers out there that have done what you seek to do.

So here I am, I know it is frowned upon, but nobody has said in the forums it has failed, only that it is not good to do and the subfloor needs to be replaced. So as an extension of the question is, has anybody installed solid wood floor over a particle board subfloor and it failed, even in the slightest? I do understand that if the floor gets wet there will be problems. The house was built in the 60's and the floor is still solid everywhere I checked, there are vents in the floor I removed to inspect under the carpet the amount I could lift up the carpet to look under where I could.

I have seen it fail.  I have momentarily tried it.  And I will never waste my time again.

Fail

Went through a potential house 8-9 years ago.  Mid 60s house.  They just put down hardwood to sell it.  A floor that had just been laid a few weeks earlier had shifting in at least two areas.  I popped off a piece of trim in a closet.  Pointed flashlight down, stuck screwdriver in and broke off a piece of particle board.  I ended up talking them down 15K on the house because of the issue which I reminded them they would now have to disclose.

Two workers and myself had all of the wood popped up (1000 sq feet worth) in about 3-4 hours.  I was using a putty knife in some places.  The staples didn't hold - and they were long.  We took the particle board out and threw down plywood...  Probably the most tedious task was pulling the staples and numbering the planks.  We got 15K for 2 days of work.

I tried it....

A couple years previous to this I pulled up carpet out of a house (lush wool from the 70s that was past its time).  I had a few hundred feet of leftovers from a previous house so what the hell... In my third row I was push my first row over... I stopped and retreated.

Particle board was used a lot in my area in the 60-70s for carpet.  I can see it working for anything else.  Hell I am not even sure how it lasts 40 years in some houses.  When you pull it up you can see it swollen in some areas.  Even when screw down it pops right up.  Nothing sticks in it (don't get me started on glued down particle board which is a disaster to demo).

Take a couple planks.  Staple them down  and watch how fast they move.

I think you have some options... Go back to carpet.  Go to a floating floor and make sure you have a really good underlayment (semi-waterproof).  Or take out particle board and replace with plywood.  If you are by yourself on the job it could take a while but with a couple of helpers it could be a one day (long day) project.  OSB is a subfloor that I would really be wishy-washy on installing hardwoods (never in my house) but particle board is never a thought to me.


why do I have power to my 220 circuits and my 110 outlets but 110 outlet will not power anything? I have checked all that I know and simplified my testing down to a 20 amp breaker connected to a single 20 amp outlet. Both are new. I show 110 power but  still will not power anything. I then put breaker and outlet to another panel to verify they are both good and test fine. This is a new breaker box installed to power my greenhouse operations. I'm stumped as to how to proceed from here. Any direction would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance

Usually this is caused by a bad connection. With no current, you show full voltage (we've been on 120/240 for a few decades now, might want to update your 110/220 thinking) but when you actually try to power a load, the high resistance in the bad connection drops the voltage so the load gets very little voltage.
So, check the connections. If you can check voltage while under load (easiest might be a plug-through meter) you would see it drop when a load is connected past the bad connection, and not drop when it's measured before the bad connection.
If you self-installed and did not use a torque controlled driver, get a torque controlled driver and check the panel labeling for proper torques for each type/size of connection (with the power off, of course.)
If the breaker and outlet work fine in another panel, the bad connection would appear to be in the connections to this panel. If the 240V loads are working and the test 120V load is not, then that points to the neutral connection as being most suspect.


What would cause a bathroom light to turn off during operation? My kids bathroom light keeps turning itself off after about 5 minutes. Then after 10 minutes or so it will turn itself on again, and so forth. I am wondering if this is something relatively simple that I can fix?

An intermittent problem like this could be caused by a combination of a loose connection and the waste heat from the bulb.  As the bulb and light fixture heat up, they expand eventually causing the loose connection to be broken, turning off the light.  With the light off, they cool down and shrink, remaking the connection so the light turns on again.

This could be dangerous as you could get arcing across the connection at the points where the light turns on or off, which can cause electrical fires.

To find and fix the problem:

Try a different light bulb; this will tell you if the fault is with the bulb or the fixture.
Turn off power to the fixture at the service panel. Open up the fixture and check that all the connections inside it and in the ceiling box are secure.  Close up the fixture and reapply power.
If you're still seeing the problem, it's likely a fault in the light fixture itself.  I'd consider replacing it at this point (or there are repair kits, depending on your skill and comfort level with diagnosing the fault and doing the repair).


Is it OK to replace a 15A outlet with 20A outlet as long as it's already on a 20A breaker? My circuit panel has a 20 amp breaker on the circuit that leads to the garage (I know this only by the little 20 on the head of the breaker switch). The garage has one 15A outlet, a few lights, and two garage doors.
I want to plug in a treadmill into the garage. The treadmill has a NEMA 5-20P plug on it and has a label that says it draws 18 amps at 120 V.
Is it safe to replace the 15A outlet with a 20A (NEMA 5-20R) outlet and plug the treadmill into it?  I imagine running the treadmill at full velocity and opening a garage door might trip the breaker, but are there any other downsides?

Yes, you can do that but it would have to be a 20 Amp GFCI outlet.  It's always a good idea to check the wire size to make sure you have #12 AWG wire.


Wifi Thermostat wiring Replacing 2 Hunter thermostats with a Honeywell RTH9580 Wifi. Neither unit has a C wire - I'm comfortable with the upstairs high efficiency unit, but the downstairs older unit has thrown me for a loop.

The Hunter has cables connected to G-RH-Y-W, with proper color coding.  There was a spare wire - so no problem, go downstairs, connect to C, and I'd have my 5 wires, good to go.  But... when I got downstairs I found the "Y" connected to "C" on the unit, and the Y terminal had no wiring.  I bought the house this winter, so its never run the A/C.  I'm beginning to question what would happen if I flipped the switch to COOL!

There are secondary wires jumpered off that run to the compressors - but I'm not understanding how to fix the wiring.  Can I just move the wire connected to "C-Y" to "Y-Y" and use the spare wire to connect to "C-C"?  Or is there some reason a unit would be wired to "C" on the unit and "Y" on the thermostat??

The YELLOW or Y terminal at the furncae/ air handler is a dummy terminal for convenience, it is not required to be used,  you could send Yellow directly to the AC unit out doors.
Common will be used since the Common leg of power comes from the transformer which is in the furnace.   The Yellow going to common  likely  if you trace it back it in fact is Common leg of the 24 v power supply.


how to t-type splice power wires to add a new outlets? I need to install a new old work outlet box on my drywall.
I know the existing wires goes behind the drywall where I intend to install the socket box, however, there is no existing outlet, connection box, or lighting fixture I can use as the source in the reachable range.
I could cut the existing wires, and insert the socket box, which will add additional knots to the circuit. The only option seems to make t-type connections from the existing wires.
what is the best way to do it, or any suggestions?
thanks,
Heinz

The usual solution is not "t-type connections". You normally can't do that inside walls. Assuming you don't have ~ 2 feet of slack in the wires, the way to do this is with two boxes a few feet apart. The key is that each box has to have several inches of wire inside the box. Hopefully you can do this without making three holes, but conceptually:
Note: You should actually cut all the holes at one time, otherwise you may "lose" the cable when you cut it. Also, be really, really sure, that power is off before you cut the cable, or you may be in for a shocking experience.

Hole # 1

Cut the cable.

Hole # 2 - at least a foot to the left of hole # 1.

Route the left section of the cut wires into a new box.
Add a new 3-foot section of cable and connect that as well (pigtail or in on one side, out on the other).

Hole # 3 - at least a foot to the right of hole # 1.

Route the right section of the cut wires into a new box.
Connect the new 3-foot section of cable as well (pigtail or in on one side, out on the other).
If having 3 receptacle boxes is OK then you could put a receptacle into hole # 1 as well, with one new section of cable from # 2 to # 1 and one from # 1 to # 3. If you don't like patching drywall, that may be less work than patching hole # 1.


How do I know if my power drill needs to rotate clockwise or counter clockwise to drill forward? This maybe a dumb question but I simply want to make sure I got it right because the manual seems to be defective. I already got one of my drill bits ruined.

So, could anyone show me both pictures of a left-handed drill bit and a right-handed drill bit (because I'm not sure which I'm using) and what direction should they rotate for each to drill forward assuming that the user is facing the tip of the drill bit? (e.g. clockwise or counterclockwise when facing the tip of the drill bit).

When I say tip of the drill bit, I mean the end of the drill bit that makes contact to the surface to make holes.

Please forgive my English.

UPDATE:

Here's the picture of my power drill and the manual.

As you can see in the picture it is currently set to "R" which turns, as the manual says, the drill bit to the right or clockwise. I'm assuming the manual meant that from the perspective when the drill bit is facing you as shown in the image from the manual. It actually does that. So from my perspective behind the drill it's rotating counterclockwise. As written in the manual, you have to set it to "R" if you want to drill forward and "L" if you want to reverse drill.

Update:

And the video
http://vimeo.com/m/64855403

Think back to your high school physics class and use the Right Hand Rule.

Lay the drill bit across your palm, with the point towards your thumb.  If the fingers curl around the bit (or screw) in the direction of the threads, then it's a right handed bit.  That means you turn clockwise to drill (from the perspective of looking down on the work).

This rule is also extremely helpful when you are working upside down and backwards trying to tighten something.  Point your right thumb in the direction you want the screw or nut to travel, and turn the object in the direction your fingers curl to tighten.

When in action, Clockwise/Forward looks like this.


How to cap a 3/8” water feed What materials are required to cap off a 3/8” water feed at the valve?
I had a dishwasher.  Its feed line connected to the water service under my kitchen sink right at the hot water shut off valve.  I’ve removed that hose and would like to continue to use the kitchen sink.   What do I need in order to cap off opening?
I have a compression fitting cap that fits on the threads, but this, by itself, does not make a water tight seal.

I recently dealt with a similar problem -- I installed a water accessory and was faced with a 3/8" compression male outlet and nothing needing to be connected to it. A cap was easy to find at the plumbing supply but it didn't seal well. Wrapping the male thread with teflon tape plus pipe dope slowed the leak to a very slow drip, but the fact is the threads on a compression joint just aren't intended to form a seal.
In this case I got away with sealing it by placing a thick o-ring in the bottom of the cap. It sealed the cap to the male fitting nicely.
I was concerned the o-ring might wrinkle or buckle in some way during assembly, allowing the leak to continue. Had that happened I also considered carefully placing a brass or acetyl/delrin ferrule (without any tubing) into the male fitting, then place the o-ring around that, and finally install the cap. Maybe the ferrule would seal between the fitting and the cap, but if it didn't, it could provide some structure to help keep the o-ring in place.


Cut, splice, and branch a 3-3-3-5 SER cable to create a new subpanel? Thanks in advance for the help!
I am finishing my basement, and I would like to add a new and centrally located sub panel.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to the main box without ripping up my kitchen. On the bright side, there is an existing 3-3-3-5 SER line running through the ceiling joists near where I want to put the new panel. It comes from the main and feeds another 100A sub panel elsewhere in the house (I do have access to that existing sub panel). The total load for that existing sub panel and the new panel will be comfortably under 100A.
In order to feed my new sub panel, I can see three options:

T off the existing cable in the ceiling, and feed the existing and new panels in parallel
Cut the existing cable in the ceiling, splice a new section of 3-3-3-5 to the source side to feed new panel, and add a 100A breaker to that new panel along with another new section of new cable to splice into the sink side of the existing cable to feed the existing panel. There will be two splice connections in the ceiling in this case, but the panels will be in series (main panel->splice->new panel->splice->old sub panel)
Go to the existing sub panel, and run a new ~50ft 3-3-3-5 back along the same path that the current one is going to feed the new panel. No cuts or splices here which is great, but 50' of extra cable running through my joists which seems wasteful.

Questions:

What's the best solution?
Is it code compliant to Tee off the existing cable in the ceiling and feed two sub panels in parallel from one breaker in the main panel?
Are there T and/or splice connectors for 3ga cable that I can put into boxes in the ceiling?
Do I need access to those junction boxes later, or can I bury them underneath drywall after inspection?

Thanks!
--Carey

The problem with your no-splicing plans is the cost of copper
While avoiding splices, boxes, and access points sounds like a good idea, the problem with your plan is that copper 3/3/3/5 SER cable is quite expensive stuff at over $5/ft yet only a hair smaller at 0.91" diameter vs 1.08" diameter for 1/1/1/3 Al.  This means that you're looking at a few hundred dollars of SER cable alone for either your plan 3 or the plan 4 you mentioned in your comment, and makes the parts required for a splice rather cost-effective in comparison.  Going to 1/1/1/3 aluminum SER at about $1.60-$1.70/ft makes avoiding splicing a cost-effective option, though, and in that vein, I would favor plan 4 with cutting the existing feeder and rerouting it, then replacing the rest of the existing feeder run with a new run.  (Aluminum cable is also lighter than copper cables with the same ampacity, which factors into the ease of pulling significantly at the larger gauges that aluminum wire is typically used for.)
If you do go that route, you'll want to use a subfeed lug block in the new subpanel to feed the existing panel instead of a 100A breaker since the breaker would be fairly pointless anyway due to the inability to coordinate it with the existing feeder breaker. If you really want a disconnect for the original subpanel in the new subpanel, then you can use a 100A molded case switch of the appropriate type for the new subpanel.
If you are to splice....
If you do go with the splice-box plans, there are a few points you will need to keep in mind.  First off, the T-splice is a much better idea (less cable and fewer splices) than the "loop" splice, so we'd be going with your plan 1 in this case instead of your plan 2.  Furthermore, you will need to have the splice box be accessible now and forevermore; you can paint or otherwise finish the cover to match the surroundings, but actually burying a box is no good.  Finally, we'll have to account for the NEC 300.14 requirement of 6" minimum of free conductor for each cable entering the box; if you can't get that from slack in the existing run, you'll have to go up to a 12" long by 6" to 8" wide by 4" deep pull box and add an extra block and some 2AWG copper jumpers to connect the two, as well as a spare grounding lug such as a Brumall 6T attached to the box with a 10-32 self-tapping/self-drilling grounding screw such as the Garvin GSST.
Getting into the details of making the splice, we'll first need a big box, far larger than the junction boxes you're used to, due to NEC 314.28(A).  In particular, you'll need an absolute minimum of a 6" long by 8" wide by 3" or 4" deep, NEMA 1 (indoor) pull box with a flush-mount cover, grounding kit, and 8AWG grounding jumper in order to accommodate such a tap, using dual-rated (AlxCu) insulated mechanical splicing connectors (Polaris™ or equivalent).  However, it may be cheaper to use a larger box so that you can use a UL listed (UL1953/QPQS) power distribution block in accordance with NEMA 314.28(E) as Polaris-type connectors tend to be rather expensive compared to distribution blocks, and also lead to a somewhat messier install compared to the neatness a distribution block can provide in this application.
If you do decide to go the distribution block route, you'll need an 8" long by 8" wide by 4" deep NEMA 1 pull box with a flush cover, a dual-rated (AlxCu) 3-pole power distribution block such as the MPDB63193 to make the splices, a few appropriately sized sheet-metal screws to mount the PDB to the box, and some grounding parts. In your case, I would use an Ilsco NBAE-0307-1 mounted with a 1" 10-32 machine screw through the supplied grounding hole in the box to attach the ground wires to the box.  If the box lacks a grounding hole, you can use a 1" 10-32 thread-rolling screw (Taptite™ or equivalent) into an appropriate field-drilled pilot hole instead of the 10-32 machine screw.
Either way, you'll need appropriate bushings and SER clamps to get the cables into the box.  You may also need to make your own KOs in the sides of the pull box using a punch set in order to fit the SER clamps in the appropriate places so that you have sufficient slack in the existing wires to make your connections.  Some pull boxes ship without knockout rings pre-stamped in them to begin with, even!
Go big or go home!
If you don't already have the new panel installed, I would get the biggest panel I could in order to save you the hassle of having to upgrade it down the line.  In particular, a 24- or 30-space, 125A, main lug panel would not be at all out of place here.  If you feel like putting the money you're saving on wire to work, you can even use a 40-space or 42-space, 200A or 225A main lug panel for the new subpanel.  Either way, you'll need to fit the panel with separate grounding bars and pull the bonding screw from it, just like any other subpanel.
TORQUE ALL LUGS TO SPEC
Last but not least, you'll want to use an inch-pound torque wrench to torque all the various connection setscrews to their labeled torque specifications.  This is a new requirement in NEC 110.14(D) as of the 2017 NEC, and a good idea anyway in order to ensure that your connections will pass the test of time.


How should I connect this meter to my power inverter? Is there anyone here knows how to install this on an inverter? I haven't been able to locate an instruction manual.

Top Picture grabbed from the internet

.

Actual picture of unit I have

You need to follow the labeling and instructions which were part of the equipment's UL, TUV, ETF etc. listing... nope, could not keep a straight face.

Seriously, the labeling and instructions that is actually on your equipment.  If that's the lower picture, then the current transformer goes on 5 and 6, line to 1 and 2, and neutral to 3 and 4.

Do not daisy chain, that is don't bring "line in" into 1, and "line out" into 2, unless your diagram tells you to (such as in your first picture). In the lower pictured unit, you need to put pigtail wires on line 1 and 2, and use an appropriate 4-wire splicing device to join those pigtails to line in and line out (4 wires in total). Likewise lines 3 and 4.  Note the instruction may be different for line vs neutral.  That's for a reason.


How can I fill in an interior hole in a block wall? In an attempt to run Cat6 Ethernet cables to my living room, I cut a handy box sized hole in the the block, but was unable to run the cable down from the attic at the top of the wall (it was obstructed about 3 feet up or mid way on the wall). In the end we put the connections in the ceiling.  Now there is a 1.5x2.5 hole in the interior side of one concrete block.

My thought was to fill it using expanding foam and drywall mud.

What is the best way to fill it properly?

There are as many ways as opinions.
My suggestion would be to use mortar mix.  Several layers, letting it cure between them.  One to rough it in, and at least one more to assure coverage and finish.
I would not use foam and drywall compound.  They are different from the material in the wall.  Also drywall compound may not be ideal in places like a basement, which might be more moist than the rest of the building.


Replacing receptacles and found 14 AWG in a 20 amp circuit. Advice? Bought a house a few weeks ago and I’m in the process of replacing all my receptacles to tamper proof models. Generally all circuits in the house are 20 amps or more and replacing all the 15 amp receptacles with 20 amp receptacles have been going well.

Today I came across one receptacle in a 20 amp circuit with a hot 12 AWG wire coming in to the receptacle and 14 AWG wire going out to light fixtures/switches. No other outlet is in this circuit.

A few questions:

Do I need to replace the 20 amp breaker with a 15 amp one?
Does this outlet have to be a 15 amp outlet even though 12 AWG wire is coming in?
Why do you think 14 AWG wire was used for lighting if 12 AWG was going in? It’s fine to use 12 gauge wires for lighting / switches
right?

Thanks for the help everyone.

1) Your first question yes you should downgrade the circuit to 15Amps because the breaker protects the wires and if the breaker is rated for a higher current than the wires in the circuit can handle there is a fire risk.

2) If you were turn the one circuit into two circuits with a 20Amp circuit and a 15 Amp circuit with separate breakers then the outlet could be kept at 20Amps but otherwise no.

3) Maybe they ran out of the larger wire and that is just used what was around.


PLC-Lighting Control-Plug n Play Operation with Relay I am trying to build up a home automation system(retrofit) with existing conventional switches(230VAC).

But I am looking for automation system without replacing existing conventional switches along with controller digital output. In this case I need to control from both possible outputs. i.e either of command should turn ON/OFF the lights.

This is how fibaro zwave relays operate. FYI...

In simple terms, just connect this fibaro switch with existing switch then you can control the load from both existing switch and controller location.

Same way,please help me out to bring this to home automation PLC.

That wiring diagram looks fine.

The system was already designed with your requirements in mind. The relay controls the light but it also listens to the input from the old switch, which is on the bottom left in your diagram.

It appears the best place to put this module is in the ceiling rose, given that all the wires it needs are already there.


Replacing old toilet flange, pipe seems really messed up I've removed a toilet that was not attached very well, and found that the flange was partially detached from the pipe. In trying to replace it, I've found that the pipe seems really messed up. I'm trying to think of a way to get a good seal on this thing, but the strange shape and bumps make that seem difficult.
Has anyone seen something like this? Do I need to use a shallow flange with some sort of glue? Thank you so much, I really appreciate any help!

I would be looking at using a toilet flange replacement/ extender.
The problem may be you will have to remove the lead.
Most of the old timers that did use lead were not using it by the late 70’s but if they came into a problem they would still use lead as they were more comfortable with lead than plastic. Another thing there were not as many available repair options like “flex on”or “twister” that both flanges have extended tails to tie into old pipes.
You may be able to use a 3” to 4” repair where the 3” flange drops down and seals to the 4” pipe. This might be a way to get past the lead bulges.
Putting in a 3” won’t be a problem as many homes are completely plumbed in 3” and have a standard “closet” or toilet flange.
The high end extended flanges can run close to 50$ but many are available for 1/2 of that but I think an extended replacement would do the trick and get past the mess of the lead.
If you have access you might consider cutting the entire mess out and replumbing but the cases where I have seen lead used it was because there was no access and lead is not that hard to work with but is really a lost art if you consider plumbing drains an art form.


Anything forward-thinking things to do regarding solar panels when putting a new roof on? If you were putting a new roof on now on a shed or garage, and solar panels were a real possibility in the next two or three years (for lights and light-duty electric tools), what things, if any, would you would do, in anticipation, to make the future solar-installation easier?

I would be running the pipes to a suitable box ready. Just remember to blank them so insects don’t crawl in - slows the flow rate...
And fit, or mark the beams for fixings.


How can I remove this dried drain cleaner from a kitchen sideboard? I recently spent a week or so trying to unclog a seriously blocked kitchen sink drain. I tried various things, including One Shot Instant Drain Cleaner (a hardware-store 91% sulphuric acid drain cleaner).

My attempts all failed and eventually a plumber managed to solve the problem in about five minutes' flat with a glorified Henry Hoover...

Alas, I hadn't noticed at the time that I'd spilled a small amount of the cleaner on my sideboard. It's now dried into a thin layer of a cement-like material. Scraping it off with a screwdriver seems like it might eventually be successful, though after quite some time and I'm concerned about damaging the sideboard.

Is there a compound that I can use to just dissolve the dried drain cleaner, or at least convert it into some form that I can then clean up? Boiling water on its own doesn't seem to do anything at all.

Click for full size:

Put on good rubber gloves, preferably ones that are made for handling hazardous chemicals, and safety goggles.
Make a thick paste with a cup of baking soda and cold water and spread it over the area to neutralize the sulfuric acid.  Even though it has dried it is still active.  Let the paste sit for 10-15 minutes before touching it.  You may want to open a nearby window as this can release a fair amount of CO2.

Using a 2 inch or larger putty knife, carefully scrape away part of the baking soda to reveal the counter.  Next carefully scrape at the edges of the spill.  Keep doing this until all of the baking soda is gone.

I can't tell from the picture if your counter top is a type of laminate or granite.  If it is laminate you may find that the "cement-like material" is actually your counter top and the acid has melted it.  If it is granite you may need to have the counter professionally polished to get rid of the stain.

Best of luck


electricity is out in half the side of the house The garage power is out so I can't use my washer due to no power but the dryer comes on because different plug. The bathroom light and front room light won't work and outlets won't work in living room. It's wierd cause the three bedrooms work fine but it's more of the front house that doesn't work.
Smud came out and trimmed trees and repaired a line but said to fix the inside wiring ourselves. Landlord hasn't fixed for over five months after informing them of the issue.
When I flip the breaker on and off the washer comes on for second then stops.  But the lights don't come on or flicker.

sounds like one of the legs coming into the house isnt working correctly. if you look at the breakers, I'm willing to bet that all the ones that are not working are all on the same side of the panel. If its an older home there could be a fuse somewhere on that line that blew from the tree trimmers and having the line repaired. OR i would have the utility company come out again and look at it, make sure that both lines going into the house are working correctly, to at least eliminate any outside issues. If the utility company still says everything is working on their end, then I'd be looking inside the panel/s to see if there is a fuse.


Can I use 2"x6" as roof rafters for porch addition over concrete patio? If I tie into a 6/12 pitch roof with 2x6's. Will I be able to span a concrete slab of 11' 6"? I will be setting 4x4 post every 6' with 2 2x6's with 1/2" osb  sandwiched between them as the form to set on top of post. My plan is to add 2x6 supports on to the top plates of the existing house wall where the 2x6's intersect with the walls.

It looks like the answer is "probably not." If this calculator from the American Wood Council is to be believed (and if my assumptions about your materials and load are correct), the max span is about 10ft for a pine 2x6.

This table agrees that 10-12ft is the max span for typical grade lumber, at typical spacings, for a 5psf dead load.

While your particular circumstances might come up with slightly different numbers, I'm going to bet that you're in the vicinity of the max span for that material. How closely you want to shave that risk is up to you.


Problem: Knob & Tube + conduit together in ceiling junction box First post here! We bought this old (1925) house late last year and have been fixing things up. Went to swap out a ceiling fixture in our finished attic bedroom, flipped on the breaker, and despite even the wall switch being "off," my wife screamed that sparks were flying out of the J-box!

I'm not electrician (obviously) but I swear I just replicated how the previous fixture was wired. The box has two old knob & tube wires (one with a black sleeve, one with a tan sleeve), and what looks like conduit with the standard black, white, and green wires. I connected the k&t black/conduit black/fixture black together, the k&t tan/conduit white/fixture white together, and so on.

After realizing what happened, I checked the damage. The conduit black/hot wire apparently snapped in half inside the box. I'm not sure if I damaged it somehow when moving the wires back into the box before putting up the fixture, or if it's possible it snapped from the energy release?

What am I doing wrong? I've put in a call to an electrician to come help us out here, but I'm still curious in the meantime. Pic attached.

I see a few common problem areas.

Wire function

First, there are (were) 4 non-ground wires: black and white from each of conduit and K&T.    The lamp only takes 2 wires. The other 2 wires had been previously connected to each other, and you obviously disturbed that.  If there are 2 controlled fixtures on this switch I may be barking up the wrong tree here. But what usually blindsides novices is thinking wires are color coded for their convenience, and white-white, black-black and done.  Color coding is complete gibberish. (at least until you deal with it long enough to get the hustle and flow of it, and even then, inconsistencies abound).

In most junction boxes, you need information as to what each cable does.  This data is only stored in how the wires are interconnected.  There is no other repository of that knowledge.  The knowledge can be re-generated by a skilled person with test equipment, but the classic novice error is accidentally destroying that information by hastily dismantling stuff.

Nutting

The next thing I see is tape on wire nuts.  That is the hallmark of bad wire-nutting, which will certainly create sparks!  Novices put tape on wire-nuts to cover one of two blunders:

doing the nutting badly, and the wires fall out (or otherwise fail to pass a "pull test").  Iterate on technique. Make sure to crank it down hard enough. It should survive a vigorous pull test (hold the nut and pull each wire in turn).   It is not necessary to pre-twist the wires; the wire nut will do that all by itself very definitely, if you are using proper technique.
stripping the wires too long and leaving exposed wire end beyond the nut end.  If you have excess length, then snip 1/8" or 1/4" or whatever off the very end of the wire.  If not, then use electrical tape to insulate the problematic 1/8" or 1/4" or whatever.

The problem here, though...

I think you actually have two pieces of good news here.  Wires don't just snap off by themselves; this wire suffered extreme stress.  This solid wire failed right at the conduit fitting.  It was yanked, by someone dangling the fixture from the wire, and that nicked the insulation.

Good news #1 is it was the hot wire, which means we got to detect it (if it was neutral, we would've never known; and neutral might be nicked too).

Good news #2 is that the conduit is grounded because this wouldn't have happened otherwise. You will never need a ground wire in that pipe; the conduit is grounded and that means so is the metal box.

An electrician should make short work of this, and hopefully will use modern THHN which has a tough nylon outer jacket which probably would have prevented this, instead of the obsolete THW which does not.

It also looks to me like this Knob&Tube is perfectly fine.  The electrician may try to upsell you into a K&T-ectomy, replacing this K&T switch run or all the K&T in the house "for safety".  Believe me, he'll hit you with the full ooga-booga treatment, "very scary!"  Don't buy it for a minute. What will actually get you better safety is AFCI breakers ($40) on all circuits which have K&T.  AFCI trips on any sort of arcing, which is the failure we worry about with K&T.  But AFCI also trips on every other kind of arcing, so the win goes far beyond K&T.

You can kinda forgive the electrician for being all "replace all the K&T", because that was the only upgrade path until AFCIs came along.  Old habits die hard.

Also, you in particular are allowed to use $20 AFCI receptacles. They only protect the circuit downline (past) the receptacle, so they would have to be in the right place.  If AFCIs were mandatory, they would not be allowed.

So don't waste your money prophylactically changing out K&T wires.  Fit AFCIs instead and call it good.


Can an alcove tub be installed with most of it behind a wall? Please forgive the quick sketch for the concept, but I'm wondering if the following is prohibited by code, or failing at that, a bad idea in general. I have a small (6'8" x 9'3") bathroom that needs to be renovated. Since there is only one bathroom in the house I've been told that having at least one bathtub is mandatory for resale purposes, but I would like to have a walk-in shower that does not require stepping over a tub wall to enter. Can an alcove (or another option) tub be installed in such a way that most of the tub is behind a wall, or is this prohibited by code?

Alcove tubs are designed with flanges, or lips, on the 2 short ends plus one of the long ends.  The purpose of these flanges is to create an edge that the tile and backer board should cover, ensuring that water drips on the wall land on the tub.

Your design won't suit an alcove tub.

However, you can install a 'stand-alone' tub and use a tile gasket seal around the edges that are to be water tight.  The gasket is a clay like substance.  You put the gasket in place and mold it to fit, then drop the backerboard on top of it to create a water tight seal between wall and tub.  Once the backerboard is water proofed you are good to go.

That said - the layout will be very awkward for getting into and out of the tub with this design.  I'd encourage you to reconsider.


Economical jail for not allowing centipedes We are facing a problem with centipedes in our home.

I'm killing at least one centipede daily. I'm guessing that centipedes are coming through our bathroom Jalis.

Which (economical) Jali is recommended to prevent centipede to come through it?

I'm not sure exactly what to recommend in terms of a Jali other than to suggest that you find one that has fine screening. Centipedes can fit through very tiny spaces.
More importantly in ridding your home of centipedes is removing or at least reducing their food source which is spiders and insects. It also helps to reduce moisture as much as possible.
I don't know how you feel about insecticides but there are a number available that are effective against centipedes. I use a foundation spray (Home Defense by Ortho) each spring around the outside of my home that is very effective in repelling ants and spiders. It claims to also repel centipedes. You might want to try something like like that.


Why is an AFCI tripping when a particular light on a different circuit is turned on? I have 4 GE AFCIs in a GE subpanel in my basement.  Occasionally, when I turn on a bank of dimmable CFL lights via a CFL-rated dimmer switch, I get a trip in a particular AFCI breaker that's on the other phase.  This doesn't happen every time, and it seems to happen more when the dimmer isn't set to full brightness.  Resetting the breaker gets the power back on with no issues, but I'm tired of this.

I'm at a loss as to why a different circuit on a different phase is tripping, and even more confused why it happens only some of the time.  These are not MWBCs, but obviously share the neutral in the panel feeder.  Nothing else causes any other trips anywhere else in the house that aren't obvious, like 4 hair driers on a 15A circuit.

What's going on here?  How can I find the cause of this?

The dimmers are spewing radio-frequency hash into the power line, which confuses the AFCI into a false trip.  It makes sense that it's more reproducible on an intermediate dimmer setting, because that's when the dimmer chops the line voltage aggressively, not when it's fully on or fully off.

Bypass capacitors could help with this: 1 to 10 nF capacitors, X1/Y2 rated ceramic or film, minimum 250VAC working voltage rating. This diagrams shows three caps: between hot and neutral, hot and ground, and between neutral and ground.

The basic idea is that 60 Hz AC will not pass through these capacitors because the frequency is too low, but radio frequencies pass through easily. So the capacitors provide a short circuit shunt path for high frequencies, reducing how much of it spews back upstream from the dimmer.

This looks simple, and it is, but it has to be done properly. Capacitors have long, uninsulated terminals, creating opportunities for short circuits if you're not careful.

Instead of these ad-hoc capacitors, you can install an EMI filter upstream from the light dimmer. EMI filters have a more sophisticated circuit which includes inductors.

One more thing: the Lutron dimmer company sells a filtering component that they call a lamp debuzzing coil.


Over the range microwave venting I am installing my OTR microwave. The venting looks like it will definitely not align (thanks HVAC guy).
In any case, can I simply use flexible venting to connect the microwave flange to the roof venting?
Also, I need to extend the boot to allow for the damper to close (nobody does this on the YouTube videos). Do I need to create this, or can this be found in stores? I could not find anything like it a Home Depot the other day. I guess I could use a longer boot (say 4" instead of the "required" 3.25").

I would find a boot that covers the cabinet opening and install that, then see where you stand. A bit of flex duct may be a good solution (the semi-rigid kind, not the cheap foil junk), but a side-offset boot may line up perfectly. This one looks like what I have in mind, though the offset may be an illusion:

Image courtesy of Home Depot
Be aware that such a boot should slip over the flange on the microwave, eliminating contact between the exhaust and the wood of the cabinet.


Would it be OK to install a water pressure regulator where the supply line enters my home? Hi I have high water pressure 120 psi and no regulator vavle installed at my home.  My home is on a slab with a very small water meter box in the front yard.  The box is too small to accommodate the regulator underground on the downstream side of the meter.

Would it be OK to install the regulator inside my home where the supply line enters?  My line enters the garage and runs laterally through the walls throughout the house.  I want to cut an access panel in the drywall in the garage and install the regulator in the wall cavity between the 2x4 studs.  Any thoughts or ideas as greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

Presumably you are in a non-freezing climate. In freezing climates, it's very common to have a pressure regulator / pressure reducing valve inside the house, since it would freeze (or be in an inconveniently deep hole) outside the house.


How can I seal subfloor gaps before adding a substrate? I installed a new subfloor sheathing in my second floor half bath. The edges are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch from the wall. In a few spots, the wall edges are not totally smooth do to poor removal of previous rotted subfloor and uneven blocking (jagged edge that was not cut or sanded smooth). Basically there are potentially access points for liquid materials to enter the void (don't know the technical term here, aka "the subfloor abyss")

What can I do to seal off this gap so I can pour some self leveling compound? Mildew resistant caulking? Wood filler? Mesh tape + some kind of compound?
Backerboard or DITRA for a floor tile substrate?

Thanks!

If the 1/4" to 1/2" gaps will be covered with baseboard and shoe molding later, then strips of 3"-5" wide plywood, wrapped/covered in a plastic painter's drop cloth, wedged into the gap will create a fairly tight seal until the leveler dries.

Shims between the strips of plywood and the wall (with the wider part of the shim downward; narrow end up, so the top edge of the plywood can lean against the wall...if it wants) will help ensure the plywood is snug against the subfloor.

Even if a little the plastic somehow gets stuck within the dry leveler (which happens), a cutting blade can trim it.


Kohler set screw for shower handle Does anybody know how to put this (https://www.us.kohler.com/us//productDetail/screw/626005.htm?skuId=589148) set screw into a Stillness Kohler shower handle (https://www.us.kohler.com/us/stillness-rite-temp-valve-trim-with-lever-handle/productDetail/handle-trim/1270658.htm?skuId=1270570&brandId=empty&)?  I can't figure out the right hex key to make it work. It seems like a 2.5mm is too big, and a 2mm is too small. Do they make 2.25mm hex keys? Or is it perhaps a proprietary Kohler tool that I'm missing?


Should I put weather stripping on my unsealed windows and doors? I currently live in a rented apartment and the windows in my shower are not sealed, so it gets pretty cold there. The front door of the house also has a sealing problem.

The thing is, I'm not going to stay in this apartment more than a couple of months.

So, what are some good, cheap, fast solutions to seal my windows and front door as much as possible?

If your leaking problem is from loose fitting window sashes or a poor fitting door, the simplest and cheapest method would be to purchase some self-adhesive foam weather stripping. This rolled product can be easily installed at the bottom of a window or around the outside edge of the door frame. Select the smallest size that will help seal the gaps, then just peel and stick. Too large and you may have difficulty closing the door etc.

Another good window treatment is the clear plastic window film like the 3M Indoor Window Insulator that mounts to the frame of the window. Use a hair dryer to "stretch" the film, thus sealing any air leaking in around the sides or through poorly glazed panes.

All these products are cheap and available at any hardware store or box store like Lowe's or Home Depot.  Stay warm!


How do I determine the fill rating of a conduit? I Will be installing a subpanel in a detached garage. The subpanel will be 60 amp. The garage is about 30' from the main-panel in-house, and I will of course get an exact length before selecting the proper gauge wiring. I'll be using pvc underground for the wiring. There is already existing wiring going underground from the house to the garage, which will no longer be used.

I saw a youtube video that mentioned that different sized PVC conduit have different limits on the number of conductors that can be ran through them underground. Is this true, and if so where can I find documentation on this? Specifically, the number of conductors for each size conduit.

All conduit has a fill rating (which equates to 40 % of the free area full of wire, unless there are only 1 or two wires - in practice, less fill is better - the full-rated fill is VERY hard to pull into conduit. That is slightly different for different type conduits due to the different actual size of the hole in the different types of conduit. There are charts in the NEC, and there are also a LOT of on-line conduit fill calculators (and some charts.)


What is this tall light green grass growing with my bermuda? We know it's not crabgrass, but I'm not sure what else it could be. I just laid some scott's turf builder on the lawn, which caused it to grow quite a bit more than it normally does, so I'm wondering if this is a result of that somehow?

I'm in Dallas, TX (USA)


Remove dust from new garage We have a brand new garage and are about to put a painted floor down. It needs to be totally clear of dust. I am not sure whether to hire a dry industrial cleaner or a wet/dry one?

If it hasn't seen a lot of foot or car traffic yet, you can just sweep/vac to get it clean enough for the floor paint.  If it has any grime on it, then mopping and sucking up the water with a shop vac is the way to go.


How to determine if paint is sandable? I'm about to embark on some painting projects. I'll be painting (priming) bare wood (fir) jambs/doors, a vanity and some drywall. My understanding is most flat paints are sand-able, while glossy paints cannot be sanded (i.e. they snag and peel when sanded). BTW, I want to use latex, not oil base. I like to be able to sand in case I mess up or need to retouch something. How can I determine what paints can be sanded.  Can all primers be sanded. I was planning on using zinsser bullseye 123 (primer/sealer) for the door jambs and doors. I was also looking at a Glidden Gripper Aquacrylic, which is slightly more expensive.

Primers sand well.  Oil based (alkyd) paints sand beautifully to a powder. Latex paints do not sand well in my opinion; they gum up.  I have not had experience with sanding flat latex products.

There is a new product on the market that is a water-borne oil paint.  It cleans up with water but apparently levels nicely like 100% alkyd.  I don't know how it sands but it might be worth asking someone at a paint store.


Wiring the Auxiliary switch on a 3-way switch So, I am currently trying to wire a 3-way switch, but specifically the Jasco 45609 and its auxiliary switch counterpart the Jasco 45610.

The Jasco 45609 has 5 wire inputs:

Load
Line
Ground
Traveler
Neutral

The Jasco 45610 has 3 wire inputs:

Ground
Traveler
Neutral

So I've wired the primary switch (45609) with the proper wire inputs.

120V "hot" wire goes to line (black)
load goes to the light (black)
ground to exposed copper
traveler to a red wire
neutral to a white wire

And I've wired the auxiliary switch (45610) as so:

White to neutral
Red to traveler
Exposed copper to ground

So the diagram looks something on the lines of:

When I use the primary switch, the light turns on and off as expected. However, when I try using the aux switch, nothing happens. Am I wiring things correctly or is something clearly wrong on what I am doing?

I can mention that the wiring in the two boxes are a little strange. I am however bypassing the second box just to test out the auxiliary switch wiring by placing the two switches together and wiring them side by side. This means that my second electrical box is just bypassed where I put electrical nuts to tie the neutrals together and the load wires together so that the lamp turns on properly.

After receiving help, I realized that the switches were just faulty and my wiring is correct. I did also consult with an electrician who also told me that 1 in 4 of these switches can be dead on arrival. In my case, 3 of the 3 were dead.

For some more additional information on the dead switches:

Measuring with a multimeter of traveler wire to ground.

Pressing "off" on auxiliary brings 120V to 95V
Pressing "on" on auxiliary brings 120V to 105V

My guess here that the internal wiring of the primary switch was fried and could not interpret these signals, which was my issue.

I'd 100% recommend turning off the power as if you send a 120V through the traveler wire in any way to the primary or the auxiliary switches, you will absolutely fry these switches.

Buying another one of these pairs and wiring them up properly did the trick.


Baseboard heater and thermostat trouble! My baseboard heater in a bedroom quit working. I tried to replace it and the thermostat at the same time (both are 120v). Neither would work, so I tested my wires and this is what I got: ground to neutral- 121.7v, ground to hot- 121.7v, neutral to hot- .2

I'd be rather surprised if your electric baseboard is actually 120V - that's fairly uncommon. 240V is much more common, without a neutral in normal use (ground, L1 (black) L2 (white, which  should be taped/re-colored red, but often isn't) and 240V between L1 and L2.

Whether the heater is actually 120V or 240V, the circuit is clearly in error if there is only 0.2V between white and black.


Circuit breaker wired incorrectly I have 16 lights and receptacles that are 14 ga copper wiring except two split receptacles that are intermingled with 12 gauge wire that was placed on a 20 amp breaker? What is the best way to do this correctly?

Should I add a new 15 amp circuit breaker and conduit that should be added to correctly wired for the 16 outlet:lights and then change the two 12 intermingled (14 and 12 gauge wire receptacles;0) to 12 gauge and use the existing 20 amp breaker which feeds directly to that 20 amp breaker?

This is dangerous and could start a fire!
If I understand you correctly, you have a circuit which contains a mixture of #12 and #14 wire, that is protected with a 20 A breaker. If so, that breaker needs to be changed immediately to a 15 A breaker. #14 wire is only rated for a 15 A breaker, and having any #14 wire at any point in the circuit, no matter where and no matter how little wire there actually is, means the circuit must be protected by a 15 A breaker. You must use the smallest current rating of any of the wires / devices in the circuit to determine the proper breaker size.
The breaker should be turned off and the circuit not used until it is replaced.