What is the incremental benefit of AC canned outdoor coil cleaner? I understand that it is possible to simply clean the AC / Heatpump coils with a gentle water spray (cooling fins are delicate).  I found a can of Web coil cleaner and emptied it into 3 condensors.  I have a fleet of 13 more coils: a mixture of heat pumps and ACs.

What is the incremental benefit of using the canned coil cleaner over simply hosing down the coil?  I'd like to understand the answer to the question before I burn through 6 cans (~$50) of coil cleaner every year.

Any insight into the chemistry is appreciated. If you are a pro (service ACs for a living), please indicate this in your response: such experience  would carry more weight

I use concentrated liquid and will consider it the same as canned cleaner.

Condenser cleaner or coil cleaner is formulated to take grease and oil out on top of the dirt. I use Nu-Calgon , Nu-Brite this is a non acid cleaner that mixed with water cuts the grease and oil and actually removes dirt better because of its foaming action.

In my early days I used to use a surfactant this breaks the water surface tension and cleans the dust out better but you have to mix the surfactant and water (I use a 2 gallon pump sprayer)

Over the years I noticed that some brands coils really collected dust compared to other brands, it turns out it is oil left over from the manufacturing process. Cleaning with a non acid cleaner will provide superior results (even simple green is better than water) I found the Nu-Brite and it works better ,

I proved the cleaners worked better by flushing with simple green, rinsing well then spraying with Nu-Brite as the foam pushed out the remaining dust I was quite surprised how much was left. A quick rinse and for grins I repeated , the foam was coming out clean. This is why I switched to “canned cleaner”  I also noticed after treating with the Nu-brite the coils were not as dirty the next time. I know part of this was cutting the oil and believe simple green did that but it did not push all the debris and residue out like the foaming cleaner.

This provides several reasons that cleaner is better than water, cutting oils, breaking surface tension and a foaming action.


Proper wiring for dishwasher and GFCI Can I connect a dishwasher to a GFCI outlet that is part of a 20amp circuit that has a total of 2 GFCI outlets?

In almost every scenario the answer would be no. If the receptacles you are talking about are general use or serving the counter areas in the kitchen then the answer is definitely no.


Where should my humidistat on my whole house humidifier be located I have a Trion cm200 installed on my air handler up in the attic of my house.  Toward the end of 2018 I had an entire electric system installed in my house (duct work, air handler and outside condenser ) . Did away with the old oil burning radiator system.   I decided to have them install a humidifier while they were at it.   Keep in mind all this was done while house was under construction. I was not living there at the time.

The first time I used the humidifier, i set it to roughly 40% because the humidistat has a guide on the front that says what percentage to set the humidity in comparison to the outdoor temperature.  At the time was roughly 10-20° outside for a couple weeks.  The next day my hallway ceiling was leaking. The humidifier ran so much that the air handler actually took water in and was just dripping non stop.  I shut it off. cleaned it up then a couple weeks later I tried it again. Same thing happened.  I did not call the installers back because they were friends of mine and (“ I got what I paid for”). Also I don’t think the installer was that familiar with installing a humidifier.  However they did a great job with the rest of the system.  I shut the humidifier off for the rest of the season.

Summer passed. AC worked great.  This winter 2019-2020 is here and we been running the heat with no humidifier because I was nervous.  About 3 weeks ago I decided to give it a try. I turned it up slightly to 10% on the humidistat And the humidity in the house changed slightly from 25% to low 30% after a few days. So after that I cranked it up to about 15% on the humidistat and let it go from there. I would gradually check my Nest thermostats. (I have 2 zones. 1 on first floor other on second floor). The house was hovering anywhere from 37%-42%. So I figured it was working properly.  I noticed I been waking up the past few days with a very dry nose.  The thermostats are reading 25% again...

So here I am no seeking help. It seems like I read elsewhere that the return vent is a good location for the humidistat.  Mine is on the return but it’s after the humidifier in the flow of air. So it’s like this.  (Return air —> humidifier —> humidistat—> air handler—> vents)  I’m wondering if the humidistat is getting false readings because it may be after the humidifier but I don’t know if that’s why. Just a thought.   Also another question is. Can I bypass the humidistat and run the humidifier off my nest?  I do have spare wire running to the thermostat.  I will attach a photo bellow. The arrows indicate air flow

Thank you in advanced for info

Two points. First, be sure you are using a humidistat and not a dehumidistat. With a humidifier you need a control (humidistat) that shuts off the unit when the humidity gets too high. When you have a dehumidifier or HRV you need a control (dehumidistat) that shuts off the unit when the humidity gets too low. From your description your control just keeps the humidifier going and going, like a dehumidistat telling the humidifier to keep running. Second, the humidistat should be in a location that reflects the actual humidity of the dwelling space. An open wall near the return vent would work.


Will my DIY wood and PVC cat cage hold up? I'm a total amateur, looking for feedback on my plan for a DIY wood-and-PVC cat cage before I build it.
CONTEXT:
My cat injured his spine and needs cage rest.
However, he anxiously scratches the mesh sides of his current cage whenever I'm not around, hurting himself.
Therefore, I need to build him a cage/playpen:

Whose walls are only vertical bars. Because he will scratch any mesh or horizontal crossbars, hurting his spine.
Whose vertical bars are 1" apart so there's no risk of him getting his head stuck between them.
As low cost as possible.

MY IDEA:
Above is a crude sketch I made.
My idea is simple:

Build 4' square frames out of 2x4s (laid flat)
Drill 3/4" holes (using a spade bit) in both frames
Place 3/4" PVC pipe, 25 inches tall, in each of the holes
Attach the top frame (also with holes drilled to fit the other ends of the PVC pipes)
Once it's built, and sturdy enough, adding a ceiling is easy. (I'm not worried about this part of the project. As long as the frame is sturdy, there's any number of objects I can zip-tie to the top for a ceiling.)

MY CONCERNS:
Here's where I need feedback -- I'm a total amateur, and I'm afraid I'm missing something.
Some concerns off the top of my head:

Will this work?
Will the PVC support the weight of the top frame?
Will 3/4" PVC pipe fit into holes drilled with a 3/4" spade bit?
If I drill the holes halfway through the flat side of a 2x4, is that deep enough to secure the PVC pipes?

Thanks in advance.

I think this will be surprisingly much harder than it looks.
Making two four foot squares isn't too bad, you could make a half lap joint.

Drilling the holes isn't too bad, you could clamp or temporarily nail the top and bottom together and drill through both so the holes line up.  I think it's going to be almost 100 holes if you use 3/4" PVC.  You could go with 1/2" or 3/8", either would be more than strong enough, and would let more light through for your cat.  It would be more holes, but smaller holes.
Getting a friction fit between the pipe and the wood will be pretty hard, the differences between won't fit, friction fit, and loose fit are tiny.  It might be hard or impossible to find a wood boring bit the right size.
Without a friction fit, the whole thing gets a lot harder to do and at this point I'd scrap this design and go back to the drawing board.
Suggestion, design inspired by

maybe it would be easier to build this with the 2x4 top and bottom frames built with the 2x4 on edge, with simple butt joints at the corners, and vertical strips of wood spaced 1" apart.  Maybe something from the moulding aisle, like a 1/2" x 3/4" pine strip.  You could use a heavy duty stapler to drive little brad nails to hold the strips to the frames.  The strips don't need to be that strong, their strength will be in numbers.
Not saying this won't still be a lot of work and trouble and unlikely to come out right as planned on the first attempt - that's just par for the course.


Connect Bidet with 1/2 inch supply line to 3/8 toilet line Bought a bidet with 1/2 inch Supply line

I need to connect it with Toilet which has 3/8 inch line

I assume I need a Tee to connect it. But need help as it wouldn't be a regular 3/8 or 1/2 inch Tee. Probably need a 3/8 to 1/2 inch adapter.

Confused!! Need help.

You can use an ordinary 3/8 tee, with a 3/8 outlet on the side and then add a supply line that has 3/8 on that end and 1/2 on the end attached to the bidet.  Here's a link to one example:
Brasscraft 3/8 to 1/2 inch FIP faucet connector


How do I derate for 2 dryer circuits in one conduit? I understand the derating of (4-6 current carrying conductors)80%X 40A for the 90 deg wire I’m using for 2ea 240V 30A dryer circuits in one 3/4” EMT conduit.  My questions are:
Are my neutrals counted as current carrying? And is there anything else to consider for calculating or derating for my wire size or conduit fill? I plan to use 10awg THHN.

Your neutrals don't count
NEC 310.15(B)(5)(a) governs this situation:

(5) Neutral Conductor.
(a) A neutral conductor that carries only the unbalanced
current from other conductors of the same circuit shall not be
required to be counted when applying the provisions of
310.15(B)(3)(a).

You'll be fine with the 10AWG
This brings you down to 4 current carrying wires, so you will be using an 80% derate off the 90°C column in the ampacity table as you mention in your question.  10AWG copper can carry 40A at 90°C, and 80% of 40A is 32A, which is greater than the 30A you're asking it to carry (and the 30A maximum it's allowed to carry by 240.4(D) small conductor rules), so you'll be fine.
Conduit fill will be fine too
You are using 14mm2 per 10AWG wire, and 6 wires, so 84mm2 in total.  This is well below the 137mm2 usable fill in a 3/4" EMT, so you're fine on that front as well.
And continuous loads aren't a problem either.
220.54 allows one to use a 5kVA assumed load for dryers that do not have a larger nameplate load rating -- given that 24A at 240V is 5.76kVA, you should be fine on the continuous-load-derate front for most clothes dryers.


Crawl Space Wet Spot My house is 65 yrs. old.  It has a 4' high crawl space with a gravel floor.  There is sheathing on the walls.  Plastic sheeting was placed on the floor when we bought it 37 years ago and we have had no problems.
Several years ago, I noticed a damp corner on the floor where it looks like sand has risen to the top of the gravel and there are white marks on the sheathing which came off easily with a scrub brush.
There was a dehumidifier in place (with a bucket collector) which failed but we have not replaced yet but will do so once the problem is solved.
How can we tell where the water is coming from and what should we do to correct it?

Standing Water in a crawl space is never desirable. It causes so many problems:

Water attracts pests

Mold and fungus can grow fast.

Mold produces allergens and affect your respiratory system.

Hantavirus from pests. (HCF)

Microbial growth. This can lead to headaches, etc.

Actually I’ve done a few dozen projects on the Oregon coast and everything just doesn’t dry out and go away...even on the mid-coast area where it blows hard all the time. We’ll spend what it takes to get rid of standing water...drain it, pump it, do what you have to but don’t let it stand or you’ll have severe problems.
Here’s an article that helps explain:
https://www.nachi.org/crawlspace-hazards-inspection.htm
Google crawl space moisture and you’ll find many more articles too.
Note: These are just the health risks...not to mention construction problems.
To locate the problem, call an inspector. Water can be from a rising water table (seasonal) or from a roof drain directed towards the house.


Repair fridge door shelves Our fridge has two white plastic shelves on the door.  Both are cracked in the bottom - one just around the center, and one where almost the entire bottom has cracked along the front.  I'm not entirely sure what kind of plastic they are made of - I'm guessing polystyrene because they have PS stamped on the bottom, but that's just a guess.  They are off white plastic.

I've looked up replacements for them, but they are more than I'm willing to pay.

What's the best way to repair them?  I've seen plenty of questionable methods searching for solutions, but no good ones.  I'm not sure what kind of (easily available, something I can pick up at a big box store) adhesive I can use to glue them back together, that will hold under the weight of things we put in the shelves.

I'm guessing superglue and hot glue won't work at all.  I considered wrapping the whole thing in white duck tape...but the wife acceptance factor on that solution is quite low :)  Perhaps JBweld epoxy?

Plastic models are made out of polystyrene. The cement that is used to glue model parts together melts the parts and forms a weld. It is not an adhesive and actually works much like PVC cement. Applied properly what you wind up with is a solid weld rather than a glued joint. Use sparingly.


"Wet location" mains outlets Our electrician installed a "Wet location" NEMA 5-20R outlet under our sink recently and have been trying to figure out what makes it special? He states it isn't GFCI, which by my understanding would be required in such a location (or perhaps just unwise not to do so). What on earth makes a "wet location" outlet different from a standard NEMA 5-20R outlet?

Reading your question and the other comments, I'm just answering to try and sum things up.

First a Weather Resistant Receptacle. Provides compliance with 2011 NEC Article 406.9 that states that all receptacles installed in wet and damp locations must be weather resistant.  “WR” designations provide visual identification. Weather Resistant Receptacles offer protection from rain, snow, ice, moisture, and humidity when properly installed in an approved weather protective or while-in-use cover. Weather resistant receptacles are for use in any residential or commercial outdoor location. Designed with enhanced nylon and corrosion resistant metal components Weather resistant receptacles are extra durable.

I think the electrician was just trying to give you the best job he knew how, even though it isn't necessary. Either that or that's the only receptacle he had on hand. There is no problem with installing better than code minimum.

Hope this helps.


integrated LED light fixture Will a integrated dimmable light fixture work with a regular switch instead of an dimmable light switch? I installed one and it doesn't work.

Yes, if it works at all (properly wired, not defective) it should work with a plain switch.
I have a bunch of dimmable LEDs on plain switches - they start about 1/2 second faster; they are slightly brighter (most LED dimmers don't fully bypass and are less than 100% bright as a result); and one of the fixture types I have makes an annoying hum on an LED dimmer, but makes no noise on a switch.


Would a sheet of aluminum help with mounting a <20lb computer monitor to wall without studs? I want to mount a 27inch 12lb computer monitor to a wall where the position of the stud doesn't work.  I'm thinking of going with this mount and Toggler Snaptoggles.

I know the optimal thing to do would be to bridge the two studs and then mount to the bridge but I don't think the weight of my TVs presents a great enough risk of failure to justify tearing into the wall.  I guess I could just put the bridge on top of the drywall but then it will be visible on either the left or right side of monitor.  That being said I'd like to minimize the risk of failure as much as possible if I can without ripping into the wall.  One idea I had would be to put a sheet of aluminum the is wider and taller than the wall mount in between the wall and the wall mount.  I could then use an additional 4-6 bolts to spread out the load.  It would look something like this (ignore scale and where angles aren't 90 degrees)...

Would using the sheet of aluminum to spread out the weight significantly reduce the risk of failure or is this pointless?.  If it is pointless then is it really worth adding a bridge from stud to stud for such a relatively low amount of weight?

Aluminum wont help much, unless it is quite thick.  It will bend easily, without distributing the weight evenly over the extra anchors.

If you go with a non articulating mount, so the monitor is against the wall, you may be able to get away with strong drywall anchors.  With an articulating mount I wouldnt risk it.

I would get a small piece of cheap but decent looking wood to span the studs, and screw it on over the drywall with 2 screws in each stud.  Then paint it to match the wall.  Screw the mount into that.

A 27" monitor may not weigh all that much, but the movement and lever force from the arm mean whatever is holding it needs to support a lot more than 12lbs.  Personally, I wouldnt want to have it fall on my foot, and then have to buy a new monitor!


Identifying wood type of broken stair treads and installing new risers We have wooden basement stairs that are probably 20+ years old and several of the treads are starting to split down the middle (underneath) lengthwise.
I'm debating replacing the cracked ones or just replacing all of them, but I'm having a tough time figuring out what would the treads are made of:

In case I decide to replace the cracked ones, I'd like the replacements to be the same type of wood as the others, so it looks more or less consistent (I understand new boards will not be as faded as older ones, but they'll still be the same type of wood, have the same grains, patterns, etc.). Any ideas what wood those treads are made from?
In case I decide the to replace all of them, I'm interested in what type of wood (and dimension) is generally recommended for basement stairs. The existing treads measure 1 1/2" x 9 1/4" so I'm guessing they're all 2x10s.
If you notice in the photo there are also no risers and I'd like to add some. Any recommendation for type of wood (and dimension) that are recommended for risers?
Thanks in advance!

The wood looks like and probably is fir or pine. This is typical in many basements and transitional areas from house to garage for example where only a short stair is needed. It's hard to tell from the pic how long those stairs are.
In any event, if you decide to replace them there are code requirements that need to be met. Although they vary somewhat by jurisdiction below is a typical configuration that I believe will meet code in most areas - but you want to check locally before you build.
If you decide to repair the steps and want to add risers you do need to make sure that you don't compromise tread depth/run to less than that required.
Additionally, you will want to maintain 1" nosing on the stairs. You can use fir for the risers or 1/2" plywood is also suitable.


How can I install a fence on top of this wall? I'd like to install a fence (180cm x 90cm) above a small wall (shown in photos below). Initially I wanted to screw C-shaped metal clips like 20cm below the top edge of the wall then vertically along my house'wall (see last picture with squares). The purpose is to prevent neighbours to see, so the top edge of the fence doesn't need to be that high.

Downside: the right edge of the fence won't be maintained by anything and wind will likely make it move quite a lot.

But then, what to do in order to avoid this? Is there a better solution altogether?

A somewhat destructive and costly alternative:

Use concrete anchors to fasten 4x4s to the lower portion of the wall.  Cut the 4x4s so they are the same height as the wall to the right in the pictures.  Then you can lay a trellis, slats, or whatever across the 4x4s using screws, bolts, etc.  This will likely ruin your lovely greenery and cost more than your c-clip idea, but this might be sturdy enough.

Can't tell from the pics, but I'm assuming the ground that meets the fence is composed of those concrete blocks?  If there is dirt right up against the fence, drive the 4x4s in the ground for more support.

Alternatively, hammer off the sloped top of the wall so it is flat, and fix cinder blocks as high as you like.  This might actually preserve your vines.


My drill can't cut a circular hole in wood - do I need a more powerful drill? I have an electric cordless drill that my father handed down to me. Recently, I needed to drill a hole in a desk to allow for computer cables to pass through. I bought an appropriate drill bit, clamped it in, and got to drilling - to have the drill manage a few rotations before sticking and stuttering and being unable to go any further.

I'm admittedly a novice at this - so my first thought, 'surely I just need a more powerful drill', may not be entirely trustworthy. Can that be safely considered to be my next step? To buy (or more likely, rent) a stronger electric drill to cut this hole?

Cordless drill "handed down from your father" - odds are the battery is toast. They don't last forever. At some point a whole new cordless drill makes more sense than pricy batteries for an older drill. Not knowing what yours is or when it's from, I can't say for sure. My last one I replaced the original two batteries with two new batteries when they crapped out, and when those were toast it was clearly new drill time, given the price of things and the moving on of battery technology.

It would probably be fine (you didn't mention what size hole, or what type of bit) for the job if it was fully functional, but old cordless drills are often not fully functional with their original batteries.


Anode Rod replaced but short on hot water We just had our anode rod replaced on our 8 year old gas water heater. Water starts very hot but cools down quickly. Able to put hand under it after a couple minutes without being too hot when running bath. This is with tap turned to hottest.

What could the problem be?

Check the dip tube on the cold inlet.
The dip tube directs the incoming cold water down to the flame, if the dip tube is missing or fell off then the cold water coming in stays on top of the hot water and you're getting the cold water from the top and the hot water stays at the bottom and not coming up into the pipes.


Washing machine using cold water only The shut off valve/pipe for the hot water leaks and has to be replaced.  I disconnected at the valve the hot water hose for the washing machine because just using cold/cold still tried to access the hot water line causing it to still leak because of, I'm assuming, a vacuum situation.
The hose end is now in a bucket next to the machine because water still leaks from the end of the disconnected hose for some reason when I try to wash a cold/cold load.

Why is water coming from a disconnected hose?

I tried disconnecting it only from the back of the machine, but it just leaks on the floor from the connection port so a bucket is the only solution for now. BTW, the machine is over 30 years old and still working fine.

The hot and cold water enters what amounts to a mixing manifold inside the washing machine. When cold water flows into the manifold, the pressure inside the manifold is necessarily higher than ambient pressure. Since both the hot water electromagnetic valve as well as the feed hose are now open, they allow water to flow out of the manifold. You should remove the hose from the washing machine and plug the hose attachment nipple using a flat screw-on plug cap with a sealing washer inside. It's possibly cheaper than butchering a hose to fashion a plug.


Do mechanical drain traps exist for retrofit on inaccessible plumbing? I recently purchased a home that has a shower with no drain trap.  The home is built on a concrete slab.  I plan to gut and replace the shower (and break concrete/re-work plumbing) eventually.  However, I am curious if there is some sort of mechanical trap that could be used in the short-term?

I am thinking something that could just be temporarily placed inside the 2" drain pipe (like this for repairing toilet flanges).  I am just trying to prevent the nasty smell/gasses that are coming up it (although it is just tied into a grey water line, not sewer).  We are hoping to continue using the shower even in the short-term before we can get it fixed correctly with a P-Trap.

Sounds like what you want is a screw-down test plug:

Test Plug

These come in the major drain pipe sizes.  The rubber provides a good, temporary seal even if the surface is a bit irregular.  I'm used to seeing them with a metal top and bottom plate, but I guess they have moved on to plastic.


14/2 wire at ends of long run I was messing around in the attic  evaluating our wiring  and found that we have a couple of lighting circuits that, at their extreme ends, employ a bit of 14/2 wire, greater than 50 feet from the panel box.
In some cases it's the switch legs only, and in others  the final branch supplying a light AND its switch leg.  The majority of the circuit consists of 12/2 wire  and the breaker is 15A.  I don't think anything ends up much over 60 feet from the panel  unless you count both the hot send AND return from the switches. In which case there is at least one that ends up about 65 feet altogether from the panel.
I was thinking perhaps the fact that the majority of the circuit is 12/2 means the voltage drop will be negligible.  True?
Appreciate anyone providing a more educated opinion.

15A breaker, 14/2 is fine. Likely would be fine the whole way, but 12/2 is also fine, perhaps someone was overly concerned with voltage drop. Voltage drop is much less of an issue if you are using modern lightbulbs that draw much less power. If you love paying the power company to run your big-ol incandescent bulbs, voltage drop would be SLIGHTLY less with 12Ga than with 14Ga over that sort of distance.
So, if you had 1,440W of lights (12A, as much as you should have on a 15A lighting circuit since lights are a continuous load) all at the far end of one 65 foot cable, in the 14Ga case you have 115.9 Volts and in the 12Ga case you have 117.4 Volts, assuming you started with 120V at the breaker. A volt and a half difference - pretty much irrelevant.
In the actual case you probably have of smaller lighting loads supplied by different cables carrying less current, the differences would be even less.


How can a steep driveway be kept safe in snowy climates? I looked at a house today and one of its drawbacks was that it had a very long, steep driveway. In New England we get thick snow, sleet and ice and with a steep driveway I am concerned the car might have trouble getting up it, or might slide off it going down.

The driveway drops 50 feet over 300 feet which is a grade of over 9 degrees in some places.

Is there any way to make such a steep driveway safer?

Having lived a good portion of my life in an area where heavy snowfall is common I can say that the best way to deal with snow in any driveway is to keep it shoveled out down to the underlying surface. You should at all possibilities try to keep it shoveled, plowed or blown before any attempt to drive on it. In many cases driving on it compacts the snow down and begins to cause a build up of compacted snow ice that will tend to want to stay there for the rest of the winter. These comments can apply to any driveway but especially to one like you describe which is a serious grade.

In my last years of living in snow country I had a medium steep driveway that rose about 6 feet over a run of about 45 feet. I was working long days at my job and there were multiple drivers in the family that used the driveway multiple times before I could get it cleaned out each time it snowed. I can say that it was a mess of slippery iciness that was hard to drive in. Some years the icy build up was as much as 8 inches thick. The work around solution that I used was to spread liberal amounts of course sand over it to provide traction till the next snow.


What's a good way to sharpen a carpenter's pencil, without buying a special sharpener? I have a carpenter's pencil that's getting pretty blunt and I've realised I don't know how to sharpen it.

How can I sharpen it without buying a special dedicated tool for it?

Whatever you have handy. There are many tools that would work, besides a pencil sharpener dedicated to this.

A pocket or utility knife - cut away from you of course.
A sliding, compound miter saw (overkill, but it will work well enough.)
A belt sander
A band saw
A drum sander in your drill press (or an oscillating drum sander if you have one in the shop.)

The point is, a carpenter's pencil is mainly wood, and can be shaped by any tools you have in reach that can also shape wood.


How do I keep my pool water clean without nasty chemicals? Is there a chemical-free way to keep pool water safe and healthy, that is without chlorine or bromine?

How about using UV radiation to sterilize the water?

Still chlorinated, but if handling chemicals is the issue, how about a salt water pool?

The alternative I've seen pushed is copper-oxygen system.  I can't say how effective it is, but last I checked it is not approved by the EPA for sanitizing water.  I've also read that they take more attention and care.

Just based on experience having a pool in full sunlight - UV isn't going to do the job by itself.  I think the filters they sell are designed to reduce your chemical dependency, but not eliminate it.  Same with ozone generators.


Attaching outdoor Ethernet cable to stucco? I need to route the Gigabit Ethernet CAT6 cable on the outside wall. The cable is certified for outdoor use, but I'm puzzled how to attach it to stucco. Would I need to drill stucco with masonry bit and use something like that: https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Cable-Clips-Stucco-Surfaces/dp/B009XGON8W or there is a way to do it without drilling? Can it be glued to stucco?

The stucco clips linked in the question should be OK, as long as they are big enough that they don't damage the cable.

Flex Clips are popular with the cable companies

you drill and use a plastic anchor with these

It is going to sag a bit between anchors, but the closer you space them, the less it will sag.

Gluing it would be a mess - I would not recommend that.


How should the concrete anchoring some fenceposts relate to the driveway they're puncturing? I'm about to have some 8" cores drilled through a concrete driveway in order to run a fence across it. I'll use 4x4 posts, probably cedar, sunk several feet deep and anchored in concrete.

Should the concrete anchoring the posts be level with the driveway? Higher? Lower? Should I do anything special at the place the anchoring concrete meets the driveway concrete? Any other tips for this project from someone who's done it before?

Since there will be now way to insure the concrete will be the same color or will it be able to tie in the texture to make the new pour "go away", neatly slope the concrete up towards the post say about a 1/2" to create a break line where the new concrete meets the old. Try to keep the slope uniform from post to post just so it will look professional. The slope will help drainage, even though the concrete acts like a huge sponge, holding moisture to the post, but it is much better than soil.

New concrete can smear over the old making a mess, but after a few hours, you can carefully clean the old concrete with a DAMP stiff bristle brush, no flowing water, taking MUCH care to not let the brush touch the fresh concrete. You may even wait 6 hrs and still accomplish this task.


If I install a GFCI on the first outlet in a circuit will the other receptacles on that breaker circuit have GFI protection? I have three electrical outlets in my garage which appear to be connected to one circuit breaker.

I am assuming  the outlet closest  to to the panel is first in the three receptacle circuit.

How can I test this assumption?

If it is, will replacing that receptacle with a GFCI receptacle give protection to the other two receptacles in the line ?

Finding the first

There's really no substitute for opening boxes, unhooking wires and turning the circuit on and taking measurements.

You open up your believed-closest box, and remove the wires you think are downstream (away from the panel).  Tape off the loose wires so they can't short against anything, and plug a 3-light tester or nightlight.   Then go turn the circuit on, and see what lost power.   If all the other receptacles lost power, you're in the right box.  Otherwise try another box.

If the receptacle still has power, you've identified the supply wires.  Otherwise touch the loose wires with a non-contact voltage tester and see if you can find the lit-up hot, or just power down and try a different pair.

Usually there are only 2 pairs.   If there are more than 2, you may need to disassemble a pigtail. This is also a good time to do housekeeping like make sure your wires are on screws (not unreliable backstabs), upgrade to the $3.00 receptacles instead of the 50 cent builder grade cheapies, and upgrade to 20A (T shaped neutral) sockets if the circuit is indeed 20A and you expect to use those.

GFCI+receptacle devices are very confusing because they are doing two things. Let's break it up.

What is a GFCI?

A GFCI is a black-box which inputs hot(s) and neutral on its "line" side ... and then it outputs protected hot and neutral on its "load" side.

That's it.  To signify the protected side, I use brown and gray wire in conduit work, but you can do the same by tagging wires with brown and gray electrical tape.  It can be a circuit breaker, or a dedicated black box.  If that's hard to visualize, look at this.

This is a GFCI device in its purest form: a "deadface" GFCI. You can only hook this up just like the diagram: supply wires to LINE and downline load(s) to LOAD (otherwise what's the point?)

Since you have first location and supply wires identified, do exactly that. Pigtail the loads if necessary, though some GFCIs use screw-and-clamp to allow 2 wires on a screw.

Be prepared to install a box extension if the box is too small to fit the GFCI device and the wires.

How do you get sockets at the deadface location?  Well, heh heh, I don't seriously expect you to use a deadface when you could use a GFCI+receptacle... it's just better for illustration. But here's the gotcha:  Since the sockets are pre-wired to the LOAD side, it's possible to miswire a GFCI+receptacle, attaching power feed to the LOAD side - in which case the outlets will be energized but the GFCI will not protect.

How to test for GFCI functionality

Use a simple GFCI tester.  Most of them come as part of a 3-light tester, in which case get a simple one**.

You just push the button, and it induces a hot-ground fault which should trip a GFCI protective device.  If it isn't obvious, put a "GFCI Protected" sticker on the receptacle.

Now, this external tester will not work if the receptacle is not actually grounded.  (there is no way to induce a ground fault without a ground).  In that case, get a 3/2 prong "cheater" and extend the ground wire/tab with other wires, to reach a place with an actual ground. Plug the tester into that and it should work/trip.

Once it passes, also put a "No Equipment Ground" sticker there.

Now if this is a GFCI device and testing it also trips another one, then most likely it's fed off that other GFCI's LOAD outputs, which makes it redundant. Remove it and put it somewhere that matters.

** Especially avoid the ones that have digital logic to "help make the lights make more sense":  you are much better off with a simple one and interpreting the lights yourself than using the silly legends.  The words describing the light combinations, I call them the "magic 8-ball". But the lights are useful.


Size of Mantel Needed to Protect a TV I am remodeling my fireplace, installing a vented gas fireplace unit.
I will hang a TV above the fireplace and use a stone mantel to deflect the heat from the fireplace away from the TV.  The mantel will be mounted 8 inches below the TV.
How far out from the TV does the mantel need to extend to be effective in protecting the TV from heat?

Picture Source
Indeed a tv mounted over a fireplace is not ideal for viewing comfort.
There are minimum clearances that must be observed for safety reasons.
As you can see the further out a mantel protrudes the higher it has to be.
The question becomes “how far out from the wall will my tv protrude?
That will determine how far a mantel will need to protrude to deflect heat away from tv.
For reference the front of my 2016 era 65” inch Samsung on a full motion bracket sits off the wall about 9” when fully retracted.
If over a fire place I would want at least a 12” mantel to deflect the heat.
If you are determined to have a tv above a fire place you can see that the center of a large screen will be well above  the optimal height of approx 42” from floor.
However many TVs are set higher than optimal and if your room is large enough to allow seating far back from the fireplace the viewing comfort is not as adversely effected as in smaller rooms with high mounted tv.
Edit I just re read your question and see that your  mantel is stone so not a combustible material.
You could probably get away with a smaller clearance from top of fire box to bottom of mantel.


How much extra carpet do installers need? Replacing the carpet in our hallway.

I measured the majority of the hallway to be 162 sq. ft. And the remaining small patches of carpet to be 10 sq. ft. and 8 sq. ft.

180 Sq ft.  = 20 Sq. Yards.

Yet the estimate we got was for 30 Sq. Yards???

Can anyone explain why so much extra sq yardage is needed?

Am I missing something or am I getting hosed?

Carpet isn't paint.  You can't infinitely cut and splice carpet and put a bunch of seams in it, and expect to have a surface that will wear well.

So you can't understand the problem until you know the dimensions of each space and also the dimensions of the supplied carpet.

It's just like if you buy cloth to make a pair of pants, and your waist is 44 inches, so each panel of the pants need to be about 13" wide, except the cloth you like comes in 40 inch wide bolts. You will end up wasting almost half the cloth. That's just how cutting and fitting works.

The installers are probably planning to run the carpet linearly down the hall so there are no seams in the hall, then do the side rooms with remnants if they are not able to fit it direct.


Install a shower head from attic? I am entertaining the thought of installing one of the rain-type shower heads in a second floor bathroom.  I am trying to figure out if this is a good idea, due to the fact that the house is USDA Zone 5, with winters temps that can get below zero.  My thinking is that as long as I install the water line with a little bit of pitch, the water should drain out of the line through the shower head and not freeze in the pipe.

Is my thinking correct?

Are there any other "gotchas" I should be aware of?

Is it just a shower or is it a shower / tub?

The water drains back out of a shower / tub combo stand pipe. So it would not need to be pitched for drainage.

A shower-only stand pipe will hold the water all the way up to first 90° even if it is pitched. You could add a drain valve / foot washing valve down below but you will always have to remember to drain the stand pipe after each use.

An alternative is to install a rain head shower that is entirely contained within the shower.

On the down side, these normally need the hot and cold feeds to be roughed in exactly the right distance apart and then they are surface mounted. So you would need to tear off the front wall of the shower to re do the feed pipes.

On the plus side, you would not have to go up into the attic to work and will never have to worry about it freezing.

Good luck!


Toilet Fill Tube Connection On my toilets, both fill tubes are connected to the OUTSIDE of the overflow tubes, so the stream of water is going directly to the tank.
I went ahead and directed the stream to now go into the overflow tube.
Will this help the performance of the toilets now?

Yes. That's how it's supposed to be.
You have water coming out by the tube which has the on/off mechanism and a small flexible pipe that is expected to send water inside the overflow tube to refill the bowl. Without that, the bowl is not likely to refill much, actually.
I uploaded a video on YouTube to show it in action.


Add circuit off main disconnect or sub-panel required? I have an outside main disconnect of 200 amp and a inside main panel in the garage. The disconnect panel outside also has 8 or 10 breaker slots in it: four are occupied by double breakers for sub-panels, one has a breaker for an exterior pool sub-panel in it, and one is used for a second floor bonus room sub-panel that has been switched off and disconnected.

What I would like to do is add a NEMA 14-50 outlet outside for an EV charging station. The main panel in the garage (closest to the location) is full.

My thought was to add a 50 amp breaker to the main disconnect panel and wire the outlet directly in. My question is can this be done, or does the main disconnect panel have to feed sub-panels only?

The wire run would be in PVC up into the attic space and down in front of the garage. I could place a sub-panel if needed above the outlet location.

I have been reading through the 2014 edition of the NFPA 70 but have yet to find an answer regarding criteria on what can be wired directly into the main disconnect panel.

You may feed a 14-50 outlet directly from your main panel since there are unused breaker slots available.  Use the correct breaker of course, and correct conductor type/size for the load.  Do not forget voltage drop and temperature ratings when choosing cable.

You do not need to add another sub-panel for a single outlet.

Do not expect the code book to tell you what you can do.  It's there to tell you what you can't.


How can I resheathe behind brick fascia without removing the brick? The original builders of my house used a material called "Aluma Sheath", also known as Dennyboard, to sheathe my house. Dennyboard is a radiant coating on two sides of a 1/8 sheet of a fiberous material similar to what pegboards are made out of. It disintegrates when it gets wet and is very susceptible (and seemingly quite delicious) to insects, which eat out the core and leave nothing except the sheet of metal or mylar that's not thick enough to be used as tinfoil. It obviously was never providing any lateral rigidity, so in theory none should be required now although it is called for in code.

In the past thirty-two years, the Dennyboard has rotted as it was exposed to the elements. There was no tarpaper, housewrap, or other material between the Dennyboard and the brick. So I'm left with brick, which while a decent and fireproof rainscreen, is decidedly not waterproof, and there exists (many,many) ways for insects and moisture to directly access the insulation and sheetrock layers of the building envelope.

Is there a good and code-compliant way -- and barring that, just a good way -- to rectify this situation WITHOUT REMOVING THE BRICK OR INTERNAL STRUCTURE? My current concept is not code compliant as far as I'm aware. (It might be, but I don't have the experience to know.) I am planning to remove all of the sheetrock and insulation in the affected rooms, cut the brick ties (most of which are rusted anyway) after supporting the fascia from the exterior, slip housewrap between the studs and the fascia, and then slip a sheet of 4x8 1/2" (or less, I think I saw 1/4") of extruded foam sheathing between the studs and the housewrap. The entire thing will be re-anchored and affixed from the outside using CTP Grip Ties or a similar product. This should provide a watertight, sheathed, and even (insufficiently) thermally broken envelope without having to do any tearout work beyond the sheetrock.

Can anyone comment on the legality or feasibility of this idea? Tearing down the brick fascia is not possible; I'm very hesitant to alter the structure of the house in any way without getting a lot of (expensive) engineering advice first. Note: I have not begun tearout of the drywall yet and won't until this winter; the assumption that the brick ties are mostly rotted is because the fascia moves pretty freely and after doing a bunch of work to the roof and trim above this area I got a good look down inside between the fascia and the internal wall and saw the rotted dennyboard.

"Is there a good and code-compliant way -- and barring that, just a good way -- to rectify this situation WITHOUT REMOVING THE BRICK OR INTERNAL STRUCTURE?"

No.

  "I am planning to remove all of the sheetrock and insulation in the affected rooms, cut the brick ties (most of which are rusted anyway) after supporting the fascia from the exterior, slip housewrap between the studs and the fascia, and then slip a sheet of 4x8 1/2" (or less, I think I saw 1/4") of extruded foam sheathing between the studs and the housewrap. The entire thing will be re-anchored and affixed from the outside using CTP Grip Ties or a similar product. This should provide a watertight, sheathed, and even (insufficiently) thermally broken envelope without having to do any tearout work beyond the sheetrock."

Your plan sounds like it could work, (except for the challenge of slipping 4x8 sheets of anything between studs and your bricks).

As a suggestion, I would use diagonal metal strapping for lateral brace across the studs if you are not using structural sheathing (i.e. foam).

See this article (goto page 2) and below image from finehomebuilding.


How can you add a standard light fixture to a ceiling fan? How can I take a regular old ceiling mount light fixture - such as the one below - and add it to a ceiling fan?

Example light fixture:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0135HNWBI?pf_rd_p=d1f45e03-8b73-4c9a-9beb-4819111bef9a&pf_rd_r=7FY04S0478FXCJA1SEXA

I can see in the customer reviews that someone has mounted it to a ceiling fan, but sadly the person gave no information, only a picture:

Any idea how I'd do something that?

Do you think they took a ceiling fan that already had a light similarly sized to the light fixture and simply replaced the lamp shade?

Or is there some way (assuming I could modify/physically mount the light fixture to the bottom of the ceiling fan) that you can pass wires for lighting up through the center of the ceiling fan into the ceiling?

I also see that there are Ceiling Fan Fitters - but none look like they'd really accommodate a lamp shade like this one (for example, they have pull chains at the bottom that can't be removed)

Yes, the interesting bit you call a "lamp" is actually a lamp shade.   The guts with emitters and wires are pretty boring and look about the same.

Lamp shades are easily interchangeable on all sorts of lamps.  They simply own a fan that already has a light on it with the usual standard lampshade hub, and changed the shade.

However a shade on a fan had better be ready to deal with some serious vibration.  So that thing could have failed a week later and they just forgot to post that  fact on amazon.  People on social-media post their successes, not their failures.


What kind of j-trap will fit this pipe? The quarter bend is threaded and has, at the threaded end, an exterior diameter of approximately 2.5" while the pipe itself is more like 2.375" OD, so I believe this is 2" PVC.  It is cemented to the pipe coming from the wall.
I have been looking online and have not seen J-traps that are made to fit this pipe.  Do I need to do something custom here?  Is there a product that can help?
My best guess is to just cut the pipe closer to the wall, then install a reducer with a compression fitting, and then an off the shelf P-trap kit.

You can cut the existing elbow off, install a "slip joint trap adapter" on the outlet with ABS cement.
ABS vs PVC
This will allow you good sliding length adjustment to a normal p trap assembly.


How to add on to a concrete patio? I would like to add on to my existing concrete patio with more concrete. I will about double the size of the patio.

My question is, should I have the new patio free floating from the existing or should I attach it (as in drilling into it and have the rebar go into it)? Is there any proper way to do this?

One edge will be up against the existing patio, another against the brick of the house, and the other two will be open to the yard. Here is a shot that shows the corner between the existing patio and the house:

Great question. Adding this addition requires a really good, deep, compacted base. I would isolate it from the building by 1/2 inch, but if the base is good, rebar to the existing pad will help stop any displacement. You have to expect some settling, but the better the base, the smaller the amount. Web rebar won't help much, but 3/8 or 1/2 inch bar will hold the joint. The trick will be compact, wet, compact, wet. Make it rock hard. Good luck.


How to block a window with plywood for big wall to project a movie? I have a kids' playroom with a big wall and a center window. I want to use this wall as a home theater projector screen. I don't want to block the window permanently with a fixed screen, and my existing rolling screen is a smaller one.

So I am trying to block the window with temporary plywood from Lowe's and paint the plywood along with the wall with a white screen painting to play movies.
I want the plywood to be easily removable when I am not playing movies, as I don't want to miss the ventilation when kids are playing in that room.

What are some options for this? I mean, would buying an exact size of plywood and painting that with matching wall color be a good idea?

I have had great success using a 4x8 foot sheet of white foam board.

It is extremely light weight. I hung it from ceiling on strings attached to three binder clips or bull dog clips like show below.

When not in use find a place you can store it flat. If it gets broken it’s cheap to replace. If it falls on a child no one gets hurt. The white foam is a good surface for projecting onto.
The one pictured below had foil on the other side but the plastic with lettering peels right off leaving a bright white surface .


Bathroom sink won't drain I will be forever grateful if someone can help me out!

I installed a new bathroom faucet. Before I did this the sink never had an issue with draining. But I installed the new faucet and now my sink won't drain? I've attached a couple pics. The pipe going into the wall will not take in water? Does anyone know what I've done wrong or how to fix this?

Thank you

That doesn't make sense, but I guess it doesn't have to make sense to be a problem.  If you're sure that you didn't drop anything down the drain, I'd try a plunger.  The way to use it is not to ram it down hard, trying to power any obstruction through.  Rather make many small strokes up and down to break the obstruction up with oscillations.  If you think you did drop something in the drain take the trap apart and get it out.


Correct gauge of wire to power 2 ceiling lightnings I was attempting a simple home improvement project that has slowly become a bigger job than I expected.

So my aunt had a light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the corridor and wanted it replaced with a "chandelier". I thought I could hang the chandelier in the electrical box but it turned out to be a fake ceiling and long story short the beam where I ended up hanging the thing is not close to the electric box on the ceiling that powers the lamp.

Adding to this she asked me to put a second chandelier opposite of the first one.

My question is, can I use a short 1.5mm2 wire connected to the box, use a wago 3 holes connector and power the 2 chandeliers each 1,5m from the box is opposite directions with 10, 40 watt bulbs each?

Or would this be too much for the wires to handle? I cant really make the math and I don't feel secure in my calculations.

I don't exactly know what gauge of wire is beyond the electrical box. The breaker in the electrical box for the lights is 10 amps. I'm in Denmark, so if someone also knows where I can read the Danish code about such things it would be helpful.

As an additional question, the wires are both "separated" just the blue and brown and I was going to run them trough a plastic "rail" that is a full cover, can this be problematic? (I mean do to heat, do these even heat much?)

If the two chandeliers are too much, would one be ok?

Any help appreciated :)

1.5 wire needs to be protected by a 16 Amp (or weaker) breaker. You are fine on that front.

Your total wattage will be 10*40W*2 = 800W; on a 220V line this will mean 800W / 220V = 3.6 Amps. So overload is not an issue assuming there is nothing else on that breaker. (If there is then add the wattage to the 800W and divide again)

You should also extend the ground wire if there is one, this is a green/yellow wire and should be connected to the ground connection of the chandelier.


Water still circulating through toilet even after I shut off the water supply! Full youtube video is here.

Basically when I turn all the water off to my toilet, water is still leaking out of a yellow tub from inside the tank, and circulating through the toilet.

I need to fix this so that water is not leaking and so when I turn the water off, no more water gets circulated through the toilet. Any ideas as to what is going wrong and how I can fix this?

My guess is that the shutoff valve (the first thing you showed in the video, near the floor) is not 100% shutting off the water. Hard water can cause this as deposits inside the valve can prevent the gate from fully shutting.

You could either replace the valve stem (can be done without shutting off hour house supply) or replace the shutoff valve entirely. I generally prefer replacing the entire shutoff valve with ball valves rather than gate valves, because I find they last longer and are easier to operate.

Here's an example of the kind I like to use: Ball shutoff valve example


Combination switch wiring Trying to figure out how to correctly wire a combination switch in my basement hallway.

One of the two switches turns on the basement light, and works without any issue.

The other switch is supposed to be connected to a switched outlet. However, the outlet doesn't work correctly. When I plug in an outlet tester and turn the switch on, it says that I have an open neutral wire.

So, when I opened up the switch for a better look, I see that there's two cables coming into the box.

The two wires leading to the basement lights (neutral and hot) were connected to the switch.

The cable connected to the switched outlet had the hot wire connected to the switch, and the neutral wire screwed up with the ground wire at the back of the box.

My question is: what are my options here for getting the switched outlet into operation? Can I just attach the neutral wire to the combination switch? I'm assuming that's not a good idea, but not certain what else to do here.

Picture of the back of the receptacle box.

The white connected to the ground screw is suspect.

Normally the whites are pigtailed together and capped and the black goes through the switch. (And of course bare wires to the ground screw).

If you want to double check the connections from here you can do that with a multimeter. Plug in a resistive load (toaster, space heater, incandescent light bulb, iron,...) into the switched outlet and check whether the resistance between a black and white going the same direction has the same resistance as between the prongs on the plug.

The other set of wires will be coming from the breaker and should be live at mains voltage when you turn it back on.


Should I pour a footing and pier at the same time? I am pouring concrete for deck footings.  I need an 18in diameter footing to carry the weight, and I will also use a 8 in diameter pier to bring it to an inch above ground.  The footing must be 30 in below ground and 8 in thick.  I am going to use a soil form for the footing (the hole I dig) and a sono tube for the pier.

Should I pour the footing and the concrete in one pour?  I worry that the concrete in the sonotube will sink down and fill the 18 in hole while it sets, or is concrete thick enough to not worry about this?  Or should I pour the footing, and then once set pour the pier.  If I go this route I'll set one L shaped rebar in the footing to give support to the pier.  Will an overnight set be enough?

If it matters I'll be mixing the concrete myself in an electric mixer.

I am a site coordinator for a tower construction company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. I am currently working on a project where we pour pad and pier together (because it is fairly easy and is required by our engineering department). If you get your concrete appropriately thick (3 slump?), it should stack up into your Sonotube pier without blowing out.

You still want your rebar or reinforcement mesh to extend to within a few inches of the top and bottom. You should also vibrate and rod the concrete through the Sonotube and into the footing (but try not to rod all the way through to the ground).

If you strip the Sonotube when the concrete is still green (after a couple of hours), you can rub it to a nice finish with a block of wood, a stone float or even your hand. Rubbed concrete looks professional and is an easy application, if timed appropriately.


Kobalt Weed Eater unspools immediately on running As soon as I start running my Kobalt KST 120X-06 weed eater the line immediately unspools very quickly (like 5 inches a second). It is like the autofeed is always on. I have made sure I am spooling correctly:

http://pdf.lowes.com/operatingguides/841821017460_oper.pdf

I have also tried spooling it the opposite directly in case I am somehow confusing what clockwise means in this case.

What might be going on here?

More stuff:

Here is a picture of the auto feed mechanism, including spring (on the left side) which is in place properly as far as I can tell.  Even though the area around the spring looks like its full of debris in the picture it is actually just some surface dirtiness, it does not effect the spring at all.

Here is same but showing the mechanism depressed by my finger pushing the button.  The spring gives some resistance.

Your problem is most likely related to not getting the spring and spool stops inside the spool housing assembled correctly. A spring is normally used to keep the spool pushed up against a clutch or stop mechanism. An auto feed system disengages the spool from this clutch/stop as the spool is spinning allowing a length of the plastic line to unwind off the spool. In correct operation the spool would only rotate part of a turn and then engage the next stop or clutch position. In your instance the spring may be missing or it is being installed in a manner that pushes the spool permanently away from the clutch/stop mechanism.

From the operator instructions that you linked the line feed mechanism on this trimmer is automatic at the time the unit starts up. It indicates that the line is supposed to come out 1/4 inch at the time the spool starts up. The mechanism that limits the spool advance, which in this case could be some type of spiral engagement mechanism or centrifugal clutch, may be full of dirt or other debris that keeps it from locking the spool in position as the unit spins up.

So based upon that take a close look at how the spool mechanism is meant to work and then make sure to remove all dirt and debris - including something than may have wound up on the shaft inside the spool housing.


Where does the excess electricity from my solar panels go? When my excess electricity goes back into the grid, where does it go after it has passed through my meter?  Does it go to the next closest house needing power?

Pretend your panels are a water pump connected from a nearby pond (your roof) to a water tower (the grid).

The grid is a large reservoir that can simultaneously take and provide electricity.  This is because there are multiple sources and destinations for the electricity.

If no one else was using electricity when you were providing it, your meter would not register outgoing electricity (credit).


How do i hook up a new 5 wire cable to an existing 4 wire furnace I would like to replace the existing thermostat wires on my 2000's era janitorial furnace with the upgraded 5 wire setup that will allow fan control of my Honeywell wifi 9000 thermostat. I was going to just try and figure out how to jump the green G wire, but i would really prefer to just run a new wire.

What I would like to know is how do I wire the new wires to the old unit? As in who do each of the new wire's correspond with the existing 4 wires that connect to the circuit board on the existing furnace.

I do believe that the other "pink wire" that connects to the Y wire connects to the AC condenser... not 100% sure but I believe so.

Photo 1: Back of thermostat face plate and wires
Photo 2: Wires right before going into HVAC unit
Photo 3: Wires being connected to the HVAC unit

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The thin blue wire at the thermostat is connected to the Y terminal, which means it is used to call for cool (air conditioning).  You'll notice at the furnace, that the thin blue wire connects to the thin red wire. The thin red wire goes to the contactor coil in the A/C unit outside.

Once you have the new cable run, you'll connect the wires as described below.

At the furnace

Remove the old thermostat wires (leaving the wires for the A/C unit alone).
Connect the green wire from the new thermostat cable, to the thick green wire from the furnace.
Connect the red wire from the new thermostat cable, to the thick red wire from the furnace.
Connect the white wire from the new thermostat cable, to the thick white wire from the furnace.
Connect the yellow wire from the new thermostat cable, to the thin red wire from the A/C unit.
Connect the blue wire from the new thermostat cable, to the thick blue wire from the furnace and the thin white wire from the A/C unit.

At the thermostat

Connect the red wire to R
Connect the green wire to G
Connect the white wire to W
Connect the yellow wire to Y
Connect the blue wire to C


Is my plan for adding a sub-panel correct? We have a 100 amp main panel, range and dryer are gas. Neutral and ground wires on same bar. I put in a 60 amp breaker and ran 10/3 to shed in pvc pipe. Bought a 125 amp panel for shed/workshop with a separate ground bar. Red and black go to main breaker, neutral and ground go to separate bars with a ground wire. Does this sound good?

No a 60 amp breaker is way to big with 10/3 your max is 30 amp breaker with that wire size


Should I use plumbers putty to install a sink drain? I'm installing a Push Button (not pop-up) drain in my pedestal sink.  A rubber washer goes between the metal drain and the sink (another rubber washer goes under the sink).  Is it still appropriate to use plumbers putty in this situation?

Increasingly, I'm finding that plumber's putty is not recommended for sink drains, especially if it has its own rubber gasket. In places where the manufacturer does not supply a gasket (and the flange is not metal) they suggest silicone caulk.

Be sure to read the directions for your drain assembly!


Hanging a TV on the wall when it partially overlaps a window I have a new 55" TV that we currently have on a stand. I have two young children and I'd much rather have it mounted on the wall. This will add security to it and keep it a bit father away from greasy finger prints.

The main problem is that the TV overlaps a window by nearly 40%. I'm afraid that finding a wall mount will be next to impossible. It would need to be able to offset itself by a good deal. I have 2X wooden studs within the first 6 inches of the window well, so I'd be good on a secure place to mount into if I could find a mount with an arm.

Bonus points! My kitchen is to the right of this photo and I'd love it if I could rotate the TV 45 degrees or so and occassionally watch it while cooking. I know this is a tall order but I was hoping the DIY community might have some solutions. I'm fairly handy and I'm open to ideas and questions.

This particular model provides a reach for the mounted television of a maximum of 29", which is astonishing (opinion) and according to the ad copy, allows a 90° turn for up to a 55" television set. This would appear to meet and exceed your requirements of about 45°. It's pricey, but not compared to the prices of large televisions that get knocked about.

As Tyson suggests, a Google search for "long reach wide television arm mount" would give you a wide selection. The one pictured above can be found here.


Hole in granite countertop for kitchen faucet slightly small The hole for a faucet in my granite countertop is 1 1/4 inch.  This limits my selection for faucets.  I'm wondering if I can make the hole bigger without spending an arm and a leg.
I have lots of woodworking tools, and I could make a template with a hole the correct size, and use something like strong double-stick tape to hold it in place.  I'm imagining something functionally like a diamond router bit like you'd do edge routing.  But i don't know if anything like this exists, or whether it would even work.  I suppose I'd need to take off at least 1/8".

Two things:

Do not do this yourself.   The other answer is technically right but I would only do that if there was no hole.   Either call up the place you got the granite from or another installer (which may run you $30-75).   The issue is that once you start drilling and your bit catches the edge of the hole already there it will skip.   Once it skip you can get chips or cracking.   One of the harder tradesman things I can think of is making a hole slightly bigger.   If you are going to do it yourself then sand it out with a dremel (which might take a while, yet won't damage.

Make it 1.5" so that you future-proof this.   I don't understand unless if it was a bathroom vanity why it wouldn't be 1.5" but that has been the standard for 15+ years for all kitchen sinks.   I know guys that do 2".   I wouldn't go 2" as that will require a cap (for the capless faucets) but 1.5" is safe and will allow you to buy 98% of the faucets out there.

Note:   I really despise the "have someone else do it answers".   But there are three things here - first just to do it yourself it will quite possibly be more expensive.   Second you may never use this diamond bit again.   Third you are talking about messing something up that is 1/30th of the cost to drill the hole bigger.   The risk vs reward doing it yourself doesn't make sense.


What could be causing there to be no power at my ceiling fixture? I installed a replacement chandelier, heard a pop which tripped breaker, and reset the breaker, but the chandelier would not work. That breaker is shared by can lighting (which has its own dimmer switch) and the chandelier (which has its own dimmer switch also). The can lighting works but the chandelier does not work.

When I installed the new chandelier and was screwing it up in the wall, I must have crimped the main wiring coming down from the ceiling. I saw a small black mark on the protective sheath on the wiring. I pulled the wiring down from the ceiling and cut the wiring to where the black mark and corresponding crimp was. I reinstalled the chandelier but nothing worked. I tested the voltage with a voltage meter and did not read any voltage when the breaker was on and the dimmer switch was on. I reinstalled the old chandelier which works fine and also another light fixture but none of them would work when connected (breaker was on and dimmer switch was on).

Is the problem that the chandelier wire to the breaker is loose or the main wire coming down from the ceiling is faulty (even after I cut the wire above the crimp)? The dimmer switch tested ok after an ohms test.

The dimmer is blown, trying turning off the breaker and connecting the line and load for the chandelier(bypass the dimmer), and see what happens when you turn on the breaker. Most dimmer manufacturers recommend using a toggle switch to test new light fixtures, that way if there's a short you don't kill a good dimmer.


Spa tub frame too high So the framer built the oval spa tub frame about an 1 1/2" to perhaps 2" (don't recall exact right now) too high. I told the plumber just to raise the floor where the legs will sit with solid lumber (2x4, 2x6, perhaps from a rafter beam that's about 1 1/2" thick nailed with additional plywood to make up the remaining height if needed). The plumber insisted just spraying high density insulation foam on the floor and resting the legs on the foam once it hardens. I'm afraid that the insulation spray foam will crumble to particles over time and the spa will be left being supported from the lip/ledger. Any pointers?

Thanks in advance.

I would definitely NOT try to support the full weight of a tub with any kind of insulation.

I would not even use lumber since it can swell or warp.

I think I would find patio blocks or bricks the right thickness or pour concrete or mortar leg supports.

Good luck!


Indoor switch for outside outlet According to the NEC, if I have an outside power outlet, like on my deck, that is part of a bigger circuit with other outlets, do I have to have an indoor switch that controls that outlet so that I don't have to turn the whole circuit off at the panel in case of emergency? The outlet is a proper outdoor outlet, GFCI with a plastic cap.

GFCI protection is mandated.
Switching is not mandated.
In the event of an emergency that's actually an emergency, switching off the circuit or the whole house is perfectly reasonable regardless of what else is on it. Emergency does not imply "Well, that would be inconvenient for my fishtank, so I'll just let little Suzy fry after the GFCI failed non-safely." If you desire a switch for convenience, you can have one, it is not required by code.


20amp circuit with 130 feet 10awg main line and 12awg from junction box to outlets I'm new here, so I'll apologize in advance! But I successfully wired up my garage with the helpful information from electricians on job sites and LOTS of research on forums! I had to remove the 20amp breaker that fed 1 outside receptacle at the house from the main service box in order to fit the 100amp breaker feeding the sub panel in the shop. I had enough extra 10-2 direct burial to run from the new sub panel at the shop back to the receptacle at the house so I threw it in the ditch and backfilled it! It is about 150 feet one way.
My main questions/ concerns-
1- Given the distance, could I run the 10awg the first 130 or so feet and then use 12awg in a junction box closer to the receptacle to feed the receptacle for fitment issues?
2- I have an LED flood light on a switch with 12-2 direct burial that I'd like to run on the same circuit. Yay or nay?
3- I won't be using much from the receptacle at the house and the LED flood light won't use much current, so I feel like I'm good with the 20 amp circuit, or should I put it on a 15 amp breaker to be safe?
4- What is the best way to splice at a junction box, wire nuts or the screw down type connectors?
Thank you in advance for your help and sorry if I was unclear about anything (A.D.D. is working overtime today! Hahah!)

You'll be fine here
With your pressure-washer load on a 130' run of 10AWG copper, you're a bit over 3% voltage drop, and the LEDs will draw next to nothing atop that.  So, I wouldn't worry too hard about your plans.  What you make the splices in your "junction box" with depends on if you're dealing with an aboveground box or an underground handhole, though.  For the former, you can use standard wirenuts or lever-lock type connectors; however, for the latter, you'll want to use connectors rated for direct burial, as handholes get quite wet inside.


How can I securely mount a ceiling lamp where no box exists? Have a plaster ceiling that will not hold a heavy 5kg lamp.There is a ceiling rose and a hole for wires. The only alternative i can think of is drilling 6 or so heavy duty screws (through the 4 inch hole) into the floor boards above the plaster ceiling. These floor boards are pine and about an inch thick. Will i get enough purchase to carry the weight?

Nik, you need to install a piece of lumber (or some such support member) that is securely attached to joists, that spans the location where you want to attach the fixture. They make some ready-to-install gadgets for this also:


Is it OK to drill vertically through a joist? I just bought a new house and I'm looking to run some cables. One of the areas I would like to run it to would require drilling through a 2x10 sistered joist. Realizing that going through the joist should be a last resort, if the hole is 1/4" and in the middle of one of the joists will this weaken the integrity?

I have seen lots of articles about drilling through the depth of a joist, but very few regarding drilling vertically.

Don't do it.

The reason that you can drill through the face of a beam in the center is because the bending stress is essentially zero there.

If you drill from the top to the bottom, you're removing the portions that carry the brunt of the loading (the top and bottom of the beam). If a joist that big is sistered, there's a good bet that it's a major load bearing beam section that you don't want to mess with.

Find a different route for your wire. Ask yourself this question: Is it worth risking major structural problems in order to hide one unsightly wire?

Image Source


What test can I do to my washer's gearbox to determine whether or not it is bad? I have a Kenmore washing machine (model 110.92273100) that doesn't spin.  I've taken the gearbox off, and when I spin the input shaft (motor coupler), it seems to act the way I would expect.  When I spin the input shaft one way, the outer output shaft (which attaches to the drum) spins.  When I spin the input shaft the other way, the agitator shaft slowly spins back and forth.  However, I can hold the output shafts still with my hand, and continue to spin the input shaft.

Does the fact that I can spin the input shaft while holding the output shaft still mean that my gearbox is bad and needs to be replaced, or is it supposed to do that?

Is there a different test that can be done to determine whether or not my gearbox needs to be replaced?

I decided to go ahead and buy a replacement gearbox.  Testing the new gearbox before I installed it, I determined that the answer to my question is yes, my test does mean that the gearbox is bad.  With the new gearbox, I was not able to spin the input shaft and hold the output shaft still at the same time.

I installed the new gearbox, and now the washer works again.


Where do I add window casing with a replacement window I don't understand where I'm supposed to add the casing. I just put in a replacement window. There's the old window frame, the new replacement window jamb and a little space between them. Am I supposed to add the casing to the old frame, or do I add a stop in the space between the new window and old frame and add the casing to this stop? I want the casing to be white so if I added to old frame, I'd have to paint the frame white

Casing should almost always lap onto the current window jamb. It's the final edge for the wall finish. In your case, you have a slight level variation, which is usually handled with an extension jamb. You can also create a rabbet in your casing, which would result in an extension integrated into the casing.

In any case, the gap between the jambs should be insulated with fiberglass or low-expansion spray foam, and the casing should lap over the gap and onto the new jamb.

Ideally no joints are left flush. Each step should have a "reveal", creating a multi-level appearance. Flush joints are odd looking and difficult to get perfect.


Switching power to an air compressor I have an air compressor for running tools in my garage.  I recently moved the compressor to the basement and put an accumulator tank in the garage ceiling.  I did this to reduce noise in the garage and outside.

It works very well, but now I'd like to control power to the compressor from the garage via my insteon or zwave home automation system.

Years ago, I made the mistake of plugging a compressor into an outlet with its switch in the 'on' position.  (The manual advises against this.)  After a major arc flash, part of the plug was missing, and I replaced the outlet and plug.  So, I suspect that the initial inrush current may be some hundreds of amps depending on where the piston last stopped, and I'm reluctant to trust a standard 20 amp relay to the job.

How many amps should I plan for?

The compressor is "rated" at 120v, 14.5A.  My compressor manual does not mention how I would like to choose a relay or switch that will show no appreciable wear after 5000-10000 cycles.

What type of relay should I use?

Here's a picture of the compressor:

And one of the labels on the back

I would just use a standard air conditioning condenser relay rated for 30 amps or more to start with. Make sure it is rated for horsepower larger than your compressor. (To really calculate the inrush current you need the code letter from the motor nameplate under the LRA or locked rotor current. Then see Table 430.7(B) in the NEC. Multiply your horsepower by the number from the table and divide by one thousand. See this article here.)

Or just start with an A/C relay like I said above and if it wears out fairly quickly you could spend much more money for a higher rated motor contactor. An A/C relay probably costs $30 or less.

The other thing to consider is when you decide to upgrade your compressor, make sure it is a two-stage compressor. A two stage starts the motor unloaded and then engage the compressor after the motor is running. This significantly reduces the inrush current to the motor since it is starting unloaded. The single stage style is required to start with the compressor under pressure and consequently requires a large inrush current.

Good luck and stay safe!


Food safe fix for broken plastic valve I have a second hand espresso machine (this or similar - 800ESXL) and a valve in it has broken. From a bit of research, it looked like Breville knew the part was prone to failure and they quickly made it obsolete without a compatible replacement. I can't find a new replacement for it, so following advice here, I thought it'd be worth it to try gluing it back together.

I don't see any visible markings on the piece to indicate what type of plastic it is. How can I fix this as robustly as possible in a food safe way? I think this is before the boiler, so shouldn't be exposed to particularly high temperatures.

I'm looking for both whether this is possible from a materials perspective (is there a go-to general product for adhering "plastic" without knowing what type it is?) and a technique perspective - this is a small diameter piece and is threaded on the outside, so adhering the pieces as cleanly as possible would also be important.

You already tagged the answer.  Epoxy is fine for food content.

Food feedstock tanks are painted with epoxy paint, that's what you use for that. (We're talking genuine 2-part epoxy paint, not hardware store 1-part paint that has chunks of already-cured epoxy in it for marketing purposes.  No one will sell consumers uncured epoxy if there's a remote chance you might spray it.)

Steel cans are lined with epoxy (if you recall the fuss about BPAs, BPA is a common curing agent in epoxy; it should be fully consumed in the curing process unless the mixing is botched.)

Getting the epoxy to adhere to the broken parts is a real problem.  Even if it adheres, it may be stronger than the native material, which if deteriorated, would simply break again at the boundary layer or someplace else.  I would say "sand it flat" but then you'll lose the thread sync.

You may be wasting your time if the material is deteriorated.

At that kind of price you ought to be able to consult the factory? They may have deprecated the whole assembly and have a replacement.   Or they may simply say "tough beans, this is a top end product like Beats headphones, not made to be repaired."   In that case they must have prototyped it from something; I would search Grainger, McMaster-Carr etc. for similar components in metal and food-grade.


Data/Communication wire in conduit What wire is acceptable for use in underground conduit to transmit Data/Communication? Does it need to be shielded? Are there any specifications listed in the National Electric Code? Thanks!

If you are using it in outdoor conduit, it needs to be wet rated. Shielding is not required, and may offer little if any benefit, or detriment, for that matter. NEC says little indeed as it it is considered "Low Voltage" communications cable, but there are requirements for minimum burial depth to the top of the conduit, for instance. That is assuming you are using a conduit dedicated to communications/network wiring. There are also things related to the insulation type (outdoor-only insulation can only be routed a maximum of 50 feet inside a building, while "indoor/outdoor" insulation removes that limit (related to smoke and fumes in a burning situation.)
My professional advice as a low-voltage / network / telephone professional is to use fiber optics (also wet rated) when running between buildings, as it solves many repetitive problems that wired networking between buildings is prone to. One of the problems it can solve (if using "all dielectric" cable with no conductive members) is cohabitation with power wiring, but that is a poor idea from a "physical abuse of the fiber" point of view in any case.
When fiber is not an option, I frequently use "direct burial" Cat5e in conduit, since it's a conveniently available form of outdoor-rated cable, but I don't believe in direct burying anything I might want to work for more than a month or two (conduit resists rodent teeth and rocks much better than cable sheaths do.)


Is there any way to heat up a space noise free? I hate my gas furnace so much, because the central heating system is so noisy. So, I bought a portable oil radiator heater, which is a temporary solution for me. It is truly noise free though.

But it is good only for small spaces. I would probably need to buy 10 of those small portable heaters to heat up the whole house. The electricity bill would skyrocket though.

Is there any other noise free option to heat up a space (I don't care about cooling, I'm only concerned about heating)?

Completely noiseless is a high goal - it can be done, but may increase the expense considerably. Quieter than a badly designed hot air system is much easier.

In-floor radiant heat, embedded in concrete or gypsum cement, offers essentially silent heat delivery (so long as the pumps are properly sized) - the boiler or hot water heater providing the heat may make a small amount of noise, which can be reduced or effectively eliminated by isolating it or removing it from the house entirely, and piping only the hot water in. But the amount of noise may not enough to actually bother you - does your hot water heater irritate? Is it gas?

Radiant tubing in non-concrete installations is prone to making some noise (a few creaks, ticking, or the like) due to movement from thermal expansion/contraction, as is hot water baseboard heat. Again, far less than a hot air system, especially a loud one. Indeed, the electric oil radiator you describe as "silent" generally makes some small creak/tick noises in my experience.

A hot air system that is properly designed can also be fairly quiet. So exactly how much noise is too much and how much you are willing to spend to eliminate it does play a large factor in how you proceed.


Why won't my air hose engage the quick connector on a Fortress compressor? I recently purchased a 6 gallon 175 PSI compressor from Harbor Freight.  The compressor works correctly, but I can't get the fitting on the hose to index the quick connector fitting on the compressor.  I compared the quick connector to another one I have, and it appears that the collar does not have enough travel for the male 1/4" connector to engage it.  Has anyone else had this problem, or does anyone have a solution?
Thanks.

There are 2 common types of connectors. Unless your female quick disconnect is a universal one, and you will need to get the other type of connector. This is assuming that you are pulling back on the sleeve on the female while pushing the male into the connector.  The automotive type has a wide band close to the end of the male and the standard or generic is a taller narrow bump.


Wire a sub-panel to run a pottery kiln, or put a breaker in the main panel? Pretty beginner on electrical.  I have a 100 amp service (metered not against or adjacent to main dwelling - somewhere central in our mobile home court) with a 125 amp main box.  1300 ish sq ft, 3 1250 W back up floor board heaters on separate breakers, 3000 W water tank. Wood heat is main heat source.  It's inspected to code and I'd like it to remain that way IF POSSIBLE.  Wife is a potter and we want to wire a big kiln in the shed (nothing connected from shed to main bldg) for her.  It requires a 60 amp breaker, 48.5 peaks amps, 11 150 Watts.  I could A. put a 60 amp breaker on the main panel and run a wire straight to the kiln or, more preferably, B. install a sub panel.

I have my eye on a 70 amp sub panel that is 1 phase, 3 wire with a main wire size of #14-4 Cu.  This has confused the crap out of me - #14-4 Cu.  I understand that a 70 amp load requires a #4 AWG wire.  I don't know why the 14 is in there.  What about the other two wires since it's a 3 wire sub panel?  What should they be rated?  Is it hot-neutral-ground or hot-hot-ground?    Anyways, the specs on the main box says that you can install a "subfeed lug kit" - am I on right track here?  Is that how you'd install a sub-panel?  Can you install a 70 amp sub-panel on a 125 main panel with 100 amp. service?  Or would you put a 70 amp breaker on the main panel?

I'm in BC Canada.  130/150 total breaker count ("hot water tank" breaker is 15 amp x 2, and same with "front porch heat").  Isn't the total amps 125 for each side if the panel is rated for 125 amps? I'm not sure because our dwelling has passed an electrical inspection.  I'm also guessing that adding to the main panel a 60 amp breaker for a kiln or 70 amp breaker for a sub panel would violate code.

How do I turn off the main service without getting zapped?  I'd like to look inside the main box, but I don't want to fry.

Lastly the run to the shed in only 4 feet outdoors.  The rest of the run is underneath our structure.  About a 55'-60' run.

Help VERY appreciated!

You can rearrange your way out of your space shortage

While the presence of the service barrier in your panel makes clear that those two bottom-left "spaces" are actually useless as they are on the wrong side of the barrier to be used for a branch circuit or feeder, all hope is not lost.  With some rearranging of the existing breakers, and the replacement of one of them, we can make enough room in the panel to add a feeder breaker for a subpanel.

To do this, we start by moving the "This bedroom lights, plug, + fridge" circuit from its current home in space 5A two slots down to the existing spare in space 9A. Alongside this, we also move the "Master bedroom + back outside plug" circuit from its current home in space 4B down to the spare in space 12B, leaving us with spaces 5A/7B and 2A/4B as open pairs at this point.

From here, we can replace the existing dryer breaker with a DNPL220230; note that this is not a common-trip breaker, as CEC 14-302(b) (at least as of the 2015 CEC I was able to dig up) permits independent trip breakers in multi-wire branch circuits derived from 3-wire systems irrespective of the nature of the load.  The two 30A (inner) poles in spaces 5B and 7A are used for the dryer (just as they were with the DNPL153015 that formerly occupied that spot), while the two 20A (outer) poles that now occupy spaces 5A and 7B get the "Back bedroom electric heater" circuit from 2B/4A moved to them.  This allows the DNPL152015 that occupied spaces 2 and 4 to be removed, thus freeing room up for our feeder breaker, namely a BR2100.

You'll want to go big here, so you don't have to go back later

Now that we can run a feeder from here, we're going to take the liberty to install not one, but two panels as part of this.  The first one will be a CBRPL130, installed near the existing panel in the house, and fed using insulated 1/0 Al wire, either in the form of individual wires in conduit (hot, hot, neutral, with metal conduit as the ground path) or in the form of an armored (TECK90) cable.  This provides ample room for future expansion; if you wished to, you could even use a CBRPM140 for this new panel to allow the existing panel to be taken out of service at a future date.

Now that the space crisis has been averted for the long haul, we can then move onto feeding the shed.  This is best done using #4 Al in PVC conduit with a separate grounding conductor in the conduit, with a 70A (BR270) feeder breaker protecting the wires to the shed.  We then fit a CBRPM112 at the shed, with the main breaker serving as a structure disconnecting means, and a BR260 in it for the kiln circuit, as well as a BR115 each for lighting and general receptacles.

With both these new panels, the bonding strap or screw should be removed, as they are both subpanels, just like your existing panel.  Furthermore, it is a good idea to use an inch-pound torque screwdriver or torque wrench to tighten all terminal screws to the manufacturer's specified torque; this prevents embarrassing connection failures down the road.  The good news is that the shed does not need a grounding electrode of its own (it is grounded by the feeder equipment grounding conductor as per CEC 10-208(b)).

As to service capacity...

One of the other major substantive differences between the NEC and the CEC is in how they calculate service loads.  Unlike the NEC, the CEC does not count kitchen and laundry small appliance branch circuits separately from the base lighting and appliance allowance, as set out in rule 8-200(1)(a)(i) and (ii).  It also uses a 6kW baseline range load (vs the 8kW baseline used by the NEC) and applies an aggressive 25% demand factor to miscellaneous loads when a range is present, as per rule 8-200(1)(a)(vii).

It is this last factor that keeps the kiln from pushing your service calculations over the limit. When we run the numbers, we come up with 120m2 of floor area for your house, giving you an extra 1000W of base lighting load over the 5kW minimum, alongside 6kW for the range (assuming the range is not over 12kW), 3.75kW for the 3 baseboard heaters (with no demand factors applied), and a remaining unfactored load of 8kW (3kW water heater and 5kW dryer) that is demand factored down to 2kW.  This totals out to 17.75kW, or 74A @ 240V; from here, we add the 11.52kW kiln at the same 25% miscellaneous-load demand factor as the dryer and water heater, putting us at 20.63kW, or 86A @ 240V, well within what your 100A service can handle.


Hot Water Circulating System Problems My hot water circulating system was installed in 2006.  It has a dedicated return line from all faucets.  I've been having trouble lately with the hot water, it turns cold at the faucet when the pump is not on. I just replaced the back flow valve thinking that was causing my problem but I was wrong.  Does anyone have any idea what might be the problem? The water goes cold after turning off the pump.  It stays running cold until the pump is turned on or the circulating system is isolated  from the rest of the plumbing.
This occurs at all faucets.  They are all single lever faucets. The water never gets hot again until I turn on the pump or isolate the circulating system.  I do not know how it is hooked-up.  What you say makes more sence.  I think that the back flow valve may have been installed backwards. That would explain hot water turning cold when pump is off.

Here's a diagram of a hot water recirculating system

As I understand it, the idea here is that the recirculating system runs hot water around the pipework to keep the temperature hot near the faucets/taps. This allows for instant hot water at faucets/taps far from the water heater.

Even when no taps are running the pump should be actively maintaining the circulation as needed. It needs to do this as any unlagged pipes will cool the water in them if no faucets/taps are drawing hot water.

When the water near the faucets/taps is sufficiently hot, the "Aquastat" will turn the pump off.

Your power feed to the recirculating system should be via a timer, or other device, that lets the pump run whenever the "Aquastat" feels necessary. This should be "on" during any times of the day when you are likely to use the faucets/taps.

Some ideas:

your timer isn't on or you are not allowing time for the pump to raise pipe temp.
your "aquastat" is faulty.
your "aquastat" is not near the faucet/tap you tried.
your configuration needs additional "aquastats" or the "aquastat" relocated.

You should be able to test this with a thermometer and a voltmeter if you can locate the "aquastat"


What is this valve for on my well pump? What is the purpose of this hose valve on my well pump? It is standard garden hose shutoff valve. I do have a pressure vessel that sits on top of the pump that feeds my irrigation system as well as an outside hose bib.

-----
     |
     |    Pipe 1 (centered on pump)
Jet  |--------------------------------- To well
Pump |
     |---------------------------|----- To well
     |    Pipe 2                 |
------                          Hose
                                Valve

You mention that it's a jet pump - so the valve is probably for priming the jet. The centered pipe is suction, the off-center pipe is the jet feed.

In my opinion, jet pumps are well on their way to being a holdover from times past, when electric motor reliability was questionable, and submersible electric motor reliability doubly so - they trade complexity and inefficiency of operation to keep the motor out of the well - a portion of water is pumped down to the jet, to help bring up more water from a depth where straight suction won't work. As such, when starting one up, you need to put water into the jet pipe (without having a working pump...complex, not fun.)

With current technology, when time comes to replace a jet pump you will almost always save considerably on operational costs by changing to a 2-wire deep well submersible pump with a single output pipe. However, it's generally not worth doing that if your jet pump is working well at present.


How can I remove superficial pet urine stains from subfloor? After removing the carpet from our bathroom closet, I found urine stains on the plywood sub-floor (serenity now).

It sounds bad but the floors are quite sturdy so I'm reasonably certain that it's a superficial stain.  What would be the recommended way of cleaning it (short of removing/replacing the sub-floor).

I'm planning to eventually place carpeting back in the closet so I'm not concerned with leaving a mark.  Just want to make sure it's sanitary and odor-free.

-M

I use Zep pet spotter, but it's intended for carpets, not wood.  I think mop it with a dilute solution of chlorine bleach to sanitize the area, then seal it with a primer / sealer to prevent any residual odors from escaping.


What's an alternative to shoe moldings? My hardwood floors used to have carpet, so there are gaps beneath the "ranch"-style baseboards. Most of these gaps are covered with quarter-round molding, which probably draws more attention to the gap than the gap itself would. I'd like to remove the quarter-round molding and keep the "ranch" base molding. Is there another way to fill/cover that gap? What about filling it with caulk or drywall mud?

Quarter round and shoe molding are two different things.

Quarter round is just that...one quarter of a circle. Shoe molding, on the other hand, is much flatter with a rounded top.

Lots of people install quarter round when they intended to install shoe molding instead.

Choose shoe molding over quarter round whenever possible, as it looks better.

As for your question, it sounds like your baseboard and shoe molding is 'floating' above the floor. The best solution would be to simply remove the baseboard and molding and put up new stuff (or if the original stuff is of a particularly good finish/quality, then out it back)

If you don't want to remove the baseboard itself, you could remove the quarter round and then look for trim pieces that can act like a shoe molding but a bit taller so that they cover the gap. Visit your local big-box hardware store and you'll find an entire aisle of molding styles to choose from.

If the gap is especially large, you may want to use a molding to cover the gap, then a shoe molding at the bottom of that to create a built-up baseboard.