texts: Single pane windows with outside screens

texts: My house use to have old windows with storms I had to install outside each winter.  Through a grant, I had new windows installed.  They are double hung, single pane, with screens to the outside.  Do I leave the screens on during the winter?  How do I keep the cold out with single panes?


texts: I am trying to lower the fan speed on blower fan. It is currently set to factory default setting. My AC is 3 ton unit. Model no is 4A7A3036H1000NA. The fan settings on IFC are like TAP 1, 2, 3.... and currently it is set to Tap 7 which is the last setting. But when I look at the chart for CFM vs External Static Pressure Tap 7 comes around 2000 for all the numbers. My question is should I lower the fan speed to get closer to the required CFM instead of letting it be on factory default setting? I know that first static pressure need to be measured but again the factory default setting seems to be high for 3 ton unit.


texts: Do smart or programmable thermostats actually save money?

texts:
I am looking at replacing all the thermostats in my house.  I have hot water baseboard heat and forced air A/C. Each room's baseboard heat is controlled by a thermostat in that room.
I tend to prefer simple mechanical interfaces to digital "smart" systems.
My family does not have a "normal" living schedule. I am often up until 3-5am. My partner can wake up anytime from 5am to 9am.
I have heard that the benefits of smart temperature systems (which adjust the temperature settings based on the time of day and can be pre-programmed) are over-stated, and that classic single-temperature controls (like this or this) are actually fine from an economical point of view.
Is there significant savings associated with those smart systems, or can I use the more simple thermostats without costing myself in monthly bills?


texts:
Due to uneven floor, part of the oven does not stay parallel to the counter. I tried to tighten up the foot of the oven but it still does not fix the problem.

This is how the foot looks like:

Is there a way i can create couple of more threads in the foot to make it work?


texts: How can I prevent post support brackets from creaking under foot traffic?

texts:
I (well, a contractor) added a new addition to my house, and the floor creaks when I walk on it. I crawled under the addition and identified the problem.

On each footing, there is a steel bracket that connects the footing to the beam it supports. The bracket is connected tightly with screws. At the site of the noise, there is a small gap (~3/8 in.) between the footing and the beam. In other words, the beam is floating slightly above the footing. Thus, this particular bracket makes a creaking noise when the beam moves.

The bracket doesn't move visibly... it just creaks.

I tried to fix the problem by stuffing shims into the gap, but it didn't really work. Depending on the temperature, the noise gets better or worse sometimes.

Any suggestions? Is it safe for me to DIY this? If I remove or replace the bracket, will the resulting beam movement cause damage to walls or windows?

Thanks!

Edit: Here's a photo from my latest repair attempt: https://imgur.com/a/KQkkpbY


texts:
We are putting a new roof on our house (framing and all). The engineer sent me three prints with different truss spacing (16",19.2" and 24" OC). For obvious reasons, I would prefer to use the 24" centers (cheaper material cost, faster construction).

I am wondering what the downfalls are to using 24" centers. Do I have to use heavier sheathing if the trusses are spaced farther apart? The prints call for 1/2" sheathing on all three prints, but I will probably go with 3/4 just because.

FYI, I am in Ohio (stupid snow loads...) and we are using TJI trusses. Any advice is appreciated!


texts: Running a series of LED lights I have questions on 12 v power

texts:
Hello and thanks for your help.

I will be as precise as I can

I have 112 feet of 8 foot flouersent bulbs (14 8 ft units)  The current configurations are so that the fixtures are run in a series of 110v 3 wire with every other fixture on the same circuit.  I am leaving the fixtures and disconnecting the ballast.  I am running strip LED lighting over the existing fixtures.

I will be replacing four bulbs with two stips of 5 meter led strips.  The strips are rated per 5 meters at 12v 5a per run.

My question is:
1- do I have one massive transformer at the end of each unit and run individual wires from the transformer to the end of the light strip?

2- where the end of 4 light stips come together do I put in a 12v 20 amp power supply and run off of the 120 lines already there.

3- trying to achieve the most consistent lighting, do I chain the lights together and then run one common back to the supply.

4-  I am up to suggestions as it can get very expensive as I have 4 sets of 112 feet to run and power supplies can get very expensive placing one at every junction.

FYI The 110 currntly running is 12ga stranded wire and I can use that if needed.

Thanks in advance as I have no clue about 12 volt stuff.

Rich


texts: Is it safe to extend the drain hose on my LG washer?

texts:
I just purchased an LG washer, model WM3900HWA. The drain hose is not long enough to reach the stand pipe. I have seen this post where the answer is to simply buy a longer drain hose. However, the user manual for this washer says the following:

Do not install the drain hose with the end lower than 29.5 inches (0.7
m) or higher than 96 inches (2.4 m) above the bottom of the washer or
more than 60 inches (1.5 m) away from the washer.

How should I interpret the "60 inches away from the washer"? Is that just horizontal distance, or any combination of horizontal and vertical distance? The stand pipe is definitely closer than that, but I've never done anything with plumbing before so I want to make sure there isn't something I'm missing here.


texts: Is a Wet Spot in The Ceiling From Toilet Plumping?

texts:
My home is two stories and in a first floor room the has a wet spot. Deduction reasoning points to upstairs toilet as the source. And, if I turn off water to the toilet and stop using it then the water spot dries.

To be able to use toilet again, do I just replace the toilet?  Is it the a problem with the waste line that runs from the toilet and it no longer leaks because I am no longer using the toilet?

I know basic plumbing skills so I think I can make repair on my own.

EDIT
The tank is empty, water line is cut off, should I flush one more time to remove the water from the bowl (is that the right word for it)?


texts: Running AC/MC cable in boiler room, do I need additional metal conduit?

texts:
I'm planning to run AC cable (or MC, not sure which is better) in my basement to install an outlet near the boiler room. the cable that powers the boiler has sections that are inside of a rigid metal conduit. Do I need to run my cable through the rigid conduit as well? I'm talking about the parts that will be exposed on the wall.

Also I believe this is considered an unfinished area of the basement, but how is it different if it was finished?

Thank you


texts:
We are moving to a CONDO (so no common prop alterations possible) Our bedroom opens into a sun-room (that in turn opens outside via a sliding glass door) so our bedroom has French doors and a non-opening window, but they both lead into the sun room, not outside.

Question - if we replaced the non-opening bedroom window with a slider window that opened (because that would not be common property?) then we could use an AC in the bedroom that vented through that window into the sunroom - would this be OK to do? It would heat up the sun room but we would lock the sliding glass door leading to the outside open.


texts: Can I wire a dimmer in series with another dimmer?

texts:
I recently installed eight recessed LED fixtures and one hanging fixture in my living room.  The hanging fixture has three small LED flood/spot lights to illuminate built in shelving on the stone fireplace.  All fixtures are currently controlled by a single dimmer.

My problem is that the three small floods are too bright.  I've already got the lowest wattage dimmable bulbs available with this G10 style base.  Can I wire in a second dimmer in series with the main dimmer, to reduce power to just the one fixture?  I'd still like all fixtures to be controlled by the single main wall switch/dimmer but just want the flood fixture to put out less light.


texts:
Nest is not detecting Power (Rh) Showing error that power is not connected. Please help.

Installing Nest 3rd generation thermostat from Old Trane Weathertron Thermostat (Mercury one)

New stat wiring:

Old stat wiring:

Nest error:


texts:
One of my breakers keeps tripping - it is on a circuit with only a dishawasher and microwave on it. It is almost always the dishwasher that causes the break. Some days it does, some it doesn't. Today, it was tripped by the microwave, even when the dishwasher was off. I cant test these applianes on another circuit because they are permanantly attached.
This leads me to think it might be a breaker problem - both appliances are brand new.
It looks to be like the breaker panel is not new - lots of rewiring was done in a remodel about 6 months ago but possibly not the breaker panel.
When i tried to look at information on what fuse to get to replace it, i realized it has none (see number22 in the picture). But it says its 20 amp - possibly its just older than the others? Can i just buy a replacement 20 amp fuse with the information from the breaker below it? Or are there different types apart from the amp rating?
Thanks!


texts:
I hired someone from Amazon Home Services to install a TV wall mount. As the person was drilling holes into studs, he found metal when drilling one of the holes. He wasn't really sure what he was drilling into. But, he drilled through it anyway, and was able to install the screw and then the TV wall mount.

My house is a newly built townhouse (2019 construction). Should I be worried about something (water leaks, electrical wires short circuiting)?

Thanks,
-Ghulam


texts: Must I use both cables running to my bathroom fan?

texts: I have two cables running to exhaust fan hook up, each cable with one white and one black. Do I need both black and both white from the cables with the one black and one white from the new exhaust fan?  Then what do I do with the green ground wire?


texts: Feeding single circuit from two different subpanels (with interlock)

texts:
I have a main panel and a critical loads sub-panel fed by a PV inverter + battery backup. I need to avoid overloading the normal capacity in the critical loads panel (50A), and I'm already at a comfortable max on that for normal use.
However I'd like to be able to run my garage door opener off of that panel selectively, so that I don't have any concerns about tripping the breaker backfeeding that sub-panel, but also be able to easily switch over to backup temporarily to still run the garage door opener during an extended outage.
Is there a standard/easy way to accomplish this? I suppose I could use something like the Square D QO1DM10030TRBR 30-Amp Generator Main Breaker Outdoor Manual Transfer Switch (and just remove the generator twist-lock receptacle from the bottom and instead feed directly from the critical loads sub-panel), but I wanted to see if there was a better way of accomplishing the same thing.
Edit: In an ideal world there'd be a way to a setup a "transfer switch" like this without require breakers in both the panels and in the switch itself.


texts: How do I prepare this porous interior wall for paint?

texts:
In one of the rooms in my house the walls are wallpapered.  Underneath the wall is rough and porous (see picture).

My plan is to strip the wall paper and eventually paint it, but research seems to suggest that it needs some kind of treatment first.  I have read about skimming, and plastering, which while tricky, I'm happy to have a go at, but I have also read about using "alkali resistant wall primer".

What is the best way to tackle this?  I am after a decent enough finish, ideally without spending a fortune, and if possible not too tricky.


texts: 2-4 inch gap between crawlspace slab (floor) and surrounding wall - Why?

texts:
about a year ago I had my crawlspace conditioned. Among other things, the company put in a concrete slab for the floor and added a sump pump in the corner.

The strange thing is, there is a 1-4 inch gap on the surrounding slab (see attached picture).

NOTE: Where the crawlspace connects to the basement the gap is not there
i.e: where there is "no wall"

Does anyone know why this is? I am assuming this is related to the drain for the sump pump?

Another concern is my radon levels in the basement are extremely high and I am wondering if this big gap is contributing to the spiked levels.

Thanks in advance


texts: Can a one way lamp swtich be converted to a 3 way switch?

texts: Curious if I can convert a single turn switch on a lamp to a 3 way switch?  Thank you


texts: Should I be concerned about concrete/cement sealer fumes?

texts:
Full disclaimer, I don’t know anything construction really and this is not a project I am working on. Our rental unit is having the balcony redone right now, the flooring is pebbles embedded in cement/concrete; yesterday the contractors applied what they called a “sealer” and my god it smells! The whole apartment still smells so bad even 24 hours later. We asked the contractors about it and they told us it was “probably not toxic” and recommended we open our windows after they left and use fans to blow air out. We did as they suggested as the smell inside was so unbearable we have been considering leaving for a hotel, however this only made the smell worse as all but one window are directly over the balcony so we quickly shut them again. We’ve been running air purifiers with carbon filters and our two exhaust fans (kitchen and bathroom) but over 24 hours later and it still smells like someone has left their car running in a sealed garage or like manky old camping gear that has been left to rot in a storage shed. My partner is concerned we are breathing toxic fumes. Is that at all likely? Is it dangerous or does it just smell horrible? We have made attempts to contact our property manager and local health/safety authorities for advice but both are swamped due to COVID-19. Thank you for any feedback/advice.
ETA: The products used were Tremco Vulkem 350/351; safety datasheets for the products are here and here. It's Sunday night now, we spent the last two nights in a hotel, leaving the apartment to air out and when we returned the smell is still nauseatingly strong. Should we be concerned?


texts: Nema 14-50 40A outlet for electric car: one gang box (plastic or metal) and cable size ...code?

texts:
I'm getting ready to install a nema 14-50 outlet for an electric car/vehicle (EV) and I'm looking at the details. I found out that NEC 2017 section 314.17 talks about enclosures but I'm a bit confused.
The outlet will be in my (attached) garage so it would be indoor. I'm planning to run NM-B cable (AWG 6 or 8, about 15 ft inside drywall) from the breaker box (upstairs) where I'll have it connected to a 40A breaker. I can't do 50A breaker because my SE cable is rated at 75A and the main breaker is 60A. The city permit people had no problem with this when I consulted them. I can use it at night when nothing else is being used.
Do I need a metal box for the outlet? Will attaching the cable to the stud within 8in of the box be required? Am I missing any other details?

Thanks


texts:
I've been building a decking area which is 17ft x 17ft, the decking is to be the base for an Intex 16ft diameter pool, calculations show that the weight of this pool when filled with be approx. 18 tonnes.

To support this I've constructed a 5 inch concrete wall all around the inside of the decking base, which is as tall as the wood, inside the concrete I am filling the base with sand, right up to the underneath of the decking.

The question is, will this be enough to support the pool?


texts: Removing drywall from concrete ceiling, do I need to worry about something?

texts:
My basement is built from concrete, and I am thinking about removing the (gypsum) drop ceiling (like this) that is attached to the concrete ceiling. This should be fairly easy, since the drywall parts are just simply screwed to some metal bars, which in turn are attached to the ceiling (not sure I want to remove the metal bars as well).

I know structurally this should not be a problem, but I'm wondering if I am missing something: would this largely effect soundproofing (e.g., the noise will be much more obvious from the basement); will the basement become more damp, possibly colder?

Another question: should I paint over the concrete ceiling or should I apply something on it?

Or any advice or hints, ideas are very much welcome!


texts:
We had some recent work done on our house and it appears that one of the workers nicked the vinyl flooring in the kitchen -- resulting in a circular gash about 3/4 inch wide. Here's a picture:

Unfortunately the contract we had with them indemnify them against stuff like this so we'll need to repair it ourselves.

The good news is that we're eventually planning to replace the flooring (probably within the next year).  In the meantime, I looking for a way to repair the damage and make it resistant to water.

Any suggestions?


texts: Can I install a light switch on the end of a wall?

texts:
I just recently moved into a home and there is a 3 switch light switch at the end of the wall near where the fridge was.  We have purchased a wider fridge and the switches would now be covered.  I tried to move to a narrow 1.75" switch plate but it is still too close.  I looked around and I'm not too sure on the steps to take, or if it is even possible, to install a light switch on a beam.  Also to note, this is a load bearing beam.

Here is a pic of the switch with the older fridge. The newer one goes basically to the end.  Is it possible to mount a 1.75" switch place on the end of the wall?  Basically to the edge of the red or even on the white where it is all beam?


texts: Concrete patio slopes toward garage causing water seepage

texts: As indicated in inspection report photo my concrete patio slopes toward the garage so when there’s heavy rain water seeps into the garage. Is installing a French drain the only way to fix this or is there another option? Not thrilled about having to jackhammer the concrete and repour after for French drain. Same problem on the driveway near the garage door but less so.


texts: Safe/ less damaging way or method to attach/ screw these wall hook fixtures for easier future removal?

texts:
So I've got 2 (small 4 hook) + 1 (Long 6 hook)  of these collapsing hook fixtures (each has 2/3 holes for screws) as shown in pictures. I've tried to label the surrounding things as well as I can.

This is currently at my family's home where I needed some functional modifications in my current room.

Problem is I may end up changing rooms in few months or move to a separate apartment and would like to have these fixtures wherever I end up staying for longer.

Also, these were the last few pieces in stock and are not being manufactured anymore and I didn't like any others after lot of hours of physical leg work during market search (in humid Asia).

I'll either have to buy or borrow some tools or ask someone to help me do this.

So I'd like to attach/ screw in these fixtures with following in mind:

Least damage to fixture & wall during attachment
Easy remove ability with minimal damage to both during detachment
Easy cleanup, filling of holes etc once done

The construction is concrete columns & beams & walls are mostly brick, so I'm not sure what's behind the surface in each of the above variations/ scenario.

So is there a way or method or "dos & donts"  from experienced folks/ experts for someone who is a newbie to DIY stuff, at ones family's home.

PS: Any tips on whether placement looks better in line with top of frame or slightly moved below the line of the wood frames


texts: Ungrounded GFCI Outlet with 3 pronged connection

texts:
I have a GFCI outlet on top of my pergola outside that had solid 3-conductor wire ran from there to an outlet on the other side of my patio when my parents built the house.  My Mom wants me to put some decorative exterior lights on top of the pergola, so we bought a strand but they have a 3-prong plug.  Although the GFCI outlet has a ground connection, it is not actually hooked up where it plugs into the wall.  This is because when my Dad ran the cable and he used a very heavy gauge solid core wire.  Unfortunately, when I went to terminate the cable into a 3-prong outlet with screw terminals, the wires were so stiff that I could not get the ground wire connected to the screw terminal (I put one of those stickers on the GFCI outlet indicating it is not grounded).  I've attached a photo for further clarification.

My question is; do I need to connect the ground for the lights to operate safely, or is it good enough that they are connected to a GFCI outlet?

I think I'm going to end up going with Harper and RME's solution with the pigtail.  I can confirm that the outlet DOES WORK without a ground connection, just an FYI.  I'll install the pigtail this weekend maybe when it's not so hot outside....


texts:
First, I'm not good with home improvement or anything too manual for that matter - I'm more of a computer geek.

I am soon to move into a new empty apartment and I am going to go furniture/appliance shopping soon.

I figured before I start shopping, I need to know where to put things and what fits. So I thought of making a floor plan (a simple one). Having never done this before, I am looking for tips, tutorials, fallacies, geeky tools or anything to make this experience easier and more useful.


texts: Is this old basement floor concrete, grout, or something else?

texts:
What is the likely construction/material of the basement floor shown below?
It's not very flat, and the surface appears sandy. It's almost as if some kind of skim-coat was applied to the dirt floor. I've seen this type of basement floor frequently in old New England homes. What's it called? What's it made of? Is this technique still used today?

Note: answers such as "this floor appears to be partly made of water" are certainly accurate, but don't really get at what I'm looking for.


texts: Can I add an exterior outlet by tapping an adjacent interior outlet?

texts: Can I tap in a outlet not being used that is behind a bed and add a outlet behind it outside? Using it for a electric bbq grill. The grill specs are: 110 volt, 60hz, 275w, 5 amp service.


texts: Can I run the wires from a cable into a panel through separate knockouts?

texts: I am trying to add a thick outdoor rated cable (from a hot tub gfci breaker box) to my main panel box. The top of the box has two entry points that are not being used, but they are too small to allow all 4 wires into the box.  Can I cut the outer sheath back and run two wires through each entry hole with clamps to secure just the inter sheath?


texts: How can I make an outlet controlled by switch always hot?

texts: I currently have a receptacle controlled by a switch that I want to make constant hot. There are other receptacles in line as well, that are constantly hot. I opened the receptacle and am lost (not much electrical knowledge/experience). Here a few pictures to show what is going on in the box. Any help is appreciated.


texts:
I live in Sweden. Below is a picture of the 3 main fuses ( 20A 500V ) and our electrical box.

Now the problem is that if we have too many appliances switched on at the same time for a while ( dishwasher, washing machine and oven ) - the leftmost white fuse will get hotter and eventually pop. The other two will remain cold.
I'm wondering if someone knows how this can be fixed. But I also don't know how these work. Are those 3 fuses 3 separate main lines, that are then supposed to have the other small fuses in the secondary box split over them, and it's just a case of re-arranging which circuits connect to which main fuse, to distribute the load better?
That should be pretty feasible to DIY right? If not, I would love some insight on this.


texts: What is this kind of rubber band with low elasticity called?

texts:
I am looking for rubber bands that are not too elastic.

I remember with LEGO there were rubber bands used as a belt between rotating pieces:

They weren't the usual rubber bands that you can stretch much more:

Do you know what is their name?


texts: What is the difference between Square D and QP single pole circuit breakers, and can they be mixed?

texts: I just noticed that all of the branches from my upstairs service box are run off of 15 or 20-amp type QP circuit breakers, except for one 15-amp line that is for the hard-wired smoke alarms- it uses a Square D type breaker.  What is the difference between these two, and can they safely be mixed in a breaker box?


texts: GFCI receptacle with a light fixture with an on/off switch in between

texts:
We have a working GFCI outlet in the basement near a tub that the washing machiner empties into.

We'd like to install an overhead utility light, controlled by an on/off switch, protected by the GFCI circuit. I figured one terminal of the on/off switch must be connected to BLACK LOAD on the GFCI and one terminal of the on/off switch goes to the light fixture.  The light fixture's WHITE would return to WHITE LOAD on the GFCI receptacle. But this doesn't work. The GFCI always pops.

What is wrong with this diagram?  Thanks

P.S. The GFCI trips as soon as power is returned when the breaker switch is flipped in the breaker box.

P.P.S. So, I removed the light fixture and the GFCI still tripped when power was returned from the breaker, and re-tripped when I pressed Reset. However, I tried moving the WHITE wire coming back from the (missing) fixture onto the Line WHITE connector, from its previous position on the Load WHITE connector. And now, no more tripping. The whites could be pigtailed inside the box --right?--  so this is not unsafe?


texts: 30V showing on terminal of 3 way switch when switched off

texts: I have a 3 way switch I am replacing, and found that while testing the old switch, one of the terminals is showing 30v when it's switched off and should be showing 0v. The other terminal correctly shows no voltage when switched off. The situation persisted when I replaced the switch with a new one, so it wasn't a problem with the unit itself, and otherwise the other terminals show correct voltage (and that one showing 30v when off shows 120v when on). I'm assuming that means that I have current coming from somewhere further up the circuit but I'm not sure where it would be coming from. Is this a dangerous situation to be in or can I safely ignore it?


texts: magic chef gas stove no clicking, gfci is tripped, won't reset

texts: just like usual, I cleaned the magic chef gas stove Under the top. the gfci in the next room went red, no clicking, no pilot, but it's clean. What's wrong?


texts: How To Run Thermostat Cable Without Going Crazy?

texts:
I've read a hundred questions on this, and most of the answers come down to solutions I've tried that don't work, hiring an electrician, or doing some very messy work. I'm hoping there's some way to simplify things.
Here's what I'm dealing with:

A 3-zone heating system: Basement, Ground Floor, and Second Floor. Gas boiler is in the basement. Zones each have their own thermostat. Baseboard hydronic heating.
2 wires controlling each t-stat. No C Wire. :-(
Ground Floor has an older Nest, with enough battery backup it hasn't run into issues
Basement and Second Floor have basic cheap t-stats
I bought two Ecobee 3s before I understood all of this, months ago. Now, after months of learning, I'm not seeing an easy solution, just a bunch of messy ones.
I can buy Nest 2020 t-stats, but they're unreliable without a C Wire, and have lousy battery backups. I want to get a C Wire, do this right. I'm not leaving this house until I die.
Basement wiring is loose. I can pull the cable right through and hook up a 3 or 5 wire setup, easy. I've found where the C wire would connect to. All good.

The Second Floor is where all the problems are happening. The cable is not loose. Based on what I've read, it's likely stapled to the studs or to something somewhere. :-( Fishing isn't an option here. Every answer I've read says I'm not going to be able to successfully pull those staples out.
I don't have ductwork I could run it through. The ducts come from the attic and go everywhere except the basement :-(
The basement has a finished ceiling, not a drop ceiling. :-( The attic is mostly finished, and I don't see any wiring up there that would provide a guide on how to get down 3 floors, but I'm exploring.
So, what haven't I thought of? I could rip off the baseboards, make a clean hole to get from Floor 2 to Floor 1, but that won't get the wire across the basement ceiling. I could pull up the hardwood floor on Floor 1 to get across, but that sounds messy. I could try running cable up to the attic and look for a straight shot down from there, but I doubt it exists. I could borrow/rent a thermal camera, look for where things are running in the walls, and try to find the cleanest route to run things before I start making holes, and, if I'm lucky, find a simple shot.
Anything I'm not considering? I see a relay that lets you connect a 5-wire t-stat to a 2 wire boiler by sitting in between and handling the messy stuff, but, of course, that's not what I need. If there were a relay that could stand between the t-stat and the boiler, sending power on one line and signal on another, and then send the proper two wires from itself, that would be great, but I'm not seeing such a product.
This is driving me nuts. I'm really trying to avoid driving the wife nuts by breaking up walls and/or floors everywhere, or spending hundreds just to run a wire, but I'm not seeing a third option.


texts: Cannot find the common wire in "box #2" on a three way circuit

texts:
I have a three wire circuit wired incorrectly and it doesn't work the way it should.

If the switch with the hot wire is switched on (Box #1), the other switch works as it should (Box #2).  However, if the switch in Box #1 is switched off, the Box #2 switch doesn't function at all.

I have a multimeter and was able to locate the hot wire in the first box, and found continuity on the two traveler wires in box #2.  The problem is, the remaining wire is not black, it's red and there is ZERO continuity between the hot wire and this remaining red wire.

In this same box (box #2) is a single pole switch that controls the fan motor.  I tried taking the not-hot black lead and switching it with the red lead that should be the common for the fan light, but then nothing worked.  Not the fan, not the light.  I am stumped at this point.

The switch with the hot wire almost works like a drop leg circuit instead of the way it should.  Should I take ALL the wires out of box #2 and test each one until I find one that has continuity with the hot wire from box #1?


texts: Removing excess HVAC ductwork for efficiency

texts:
I have central ac in my home and at some point the kitchen was redone, blocking an existing vent permanently.
The flex HVAC ductwork leading to the vent (probably 8 feet of it) is still there.
Should I remove this ductwork to improve efficiency?  How much efficiency are we talking about?
Thanks!


texts: Can someone identify this HVAC duct component?

texts:
Getting ready to redo duct insulation.  On supply ducts off the trunk there are some sort of valve-like devices teed into the duct and oriented to point down.  Same diameter as the duct. Butterfly doors with some sort of doohickey centered in between.  The current insulation has a gap such that either side of this valve and the valve itself is not insulated, and moisture tends to condense on the bare metal surfaces.  I am tempted to replace them with straight duct.  But I don't want to break some function.  House dates back to the 1960s.  It does look as though they may have been retrofit into the existing ductwork.  I have not been able to find something similar on the internet.
I expect that it is some sort of damper, but it is not inside the duct.  This is throwing me. If only I knew the name to search on, I'd find it right off.:) Here is a picture.


texts: Previous home owner had hole drilled for shower drain through the metal web joist in the floor. Is this structurally ok?

texts: It was approved by the town inspector, but maybe they missed it. I would like to know if this is ok structurally.


texts: Remove ceiling lamp holder to change light bulb

texts:
I have a ceiling lamp (shown in attached picture) mounted in my bathroom. I want to remove the lid and change the light bulb inside and replace the lid. However, I am struggling to remove it.
There are three black holders (clamps). One of them feels like a spring plugged in and has an arrow pointing outward. I tried pulling it out but it doesn’t release the grip on the lid. The other two black clamps don’t budge either. I tried rotating it, applying pressure to the center to life the glass a bit higher but nothing seems to work. Anybody have any ideas? I live in Germany and presumably this was purchased in Ikea but i can’t find the product in their website.


texts: My old house built in the 70s had galvanized pipe which developed small leaks and we replaced it with PEX pipe. It was a two story house. The new house we are buying is three  story and has CPVC. I was told that it was installed because it is cheaper than copper and they were unable to install PEX due to it being three stories. Why is PEX not able to be installed in a three story house and is there more risk of CPVC developing problems than PEX or copper?


texts: Does a carport slab need expansion joints at interior piers or the perimeter?

texts:
I'm planning to pour a pad into an existing open carport / garage area that has mid-span supports resting on poured piers and a foundation wall going around the outside. I'm planning on digging down about 10-12", laying gravel and compacting, laying sand and compacting, then add a vapor barrier and metal mesh / rebar.
Is there anything I need to think about when pouring the new slab up to the edges of the foundation and around the piers? do I need to wrap the slab edges with foam insulation to give an expansion joint / allow them to slip past each other when settling occurs or is there a better solution?
The piers / foundation have been in place for at least 40 years. The slab would just be adding a new surface in the garage area.
EDIT: there will eventually be living space above the garage. I was sort of assuming I'd want the vapor barrier due to this. The space is approx 30' wide by 20' deep, and there's three garage slots, with posts supporting the joists above between each slot.


texts:
Lowes sells 10" square mirror tiles that I need to cut down to a smaller size (about 6" across).  I am struggling with a handheld glass cutting tool (about the size of a pen) getting straight consistent edges.  I was thinking maybe my sliding compound miter saw might do the trick.  Just as a test I made a very shallow cut into one of my tiles, but it just shattered.  I even created a jig to keep things tight and square during the scoring process.  That worked better, but still not great.

If I buy a diamond blade meant for wet saws, would that work in my miter saw?  I was thinking at a minimum I could score the tile very evenly and then it would break off cleanly.

Any suggestions on how to get these tiles cut evenly?


texts: Can these windows be shuttered from light in a simple and efficient way?

texts:
I'm a very light sleeper. I cannot sleep if the room I am in is bright. Face-masks don't work for me because they give me allergies, prevent me from sleeping well, or don't match the geometry of my face.
I signed a 1-year lease in an apartment that has very bad general insulation (bad sound insulation, bad air insulation, bad insulation from vibrations from neighbors appliances, bad light insulation, bad heat insulation...), and that includes one of the worse window designs I've ever seen. They are not air-tight, not heat-tight and not light-tight at all..
This has caused me a lot of grief for various reasons:

Since they are not airtight, during fire season (this is in California), we had to seal the windows shut with tarp because smoke was getting inside the apartment (costly, time-taking, difficult, not easy to do/undo);

For the same reason, I left one of the sides tarped up because our
downstairs neighbors are heavy smokers and the smoke would come up
and wake me up at night;

Neighbors going outside their houses to place calls or listen to
music can be heard as clearly as if they were in the room, same with
street noises, construction areas, etc;

And most importantly, sunlight wakes me up every day at 5:30 or 6AM.

What makes it extremely difficult to shutter these is:

The overhanging fixture (totally useless and extremely annoying), which reduces the options to screw curtain rods above the window, and leave out very little space between the wall and said fixture - I don't think I would mess with unscrewing them as they are fragile and would take up a lot of room;

The levers to angle the window's panes which are protruding and prevent placing a flat plank of wood or other material against it without cutting a notch for them;

The whole wall area around the window seems to be made of metal - nothing can be nailed or screwed in near the windows;

The frequent winds that blow rather hard and would often push away anything flat placed against the windows;

The absence of metal around the windows, preventing to use magnetic solutions (everything is aluminium);

The width of the window casing (about 8ft), preventing the use of one single panel to go over it;

The sunlight hits the window very powerfully and any hole of gap in the shutter casts a lot of brightness into the room;

The solution has to be easy to put on and off in the morning/evening.

I tried to build shutters twice already. The first model was just a very large piece of folded cardboard placed into the wall frame against the windows, resting on the window sill. It was an OK solution, but I had these huge pieces of cardboard in the room, always sliding and falling down, and the seal wasn't great, especially on top, I had to tape it to the wall to prevent it from always gaping and falling down.
My current solution involves three panels, 2 are foam boards that I painted black, and which stay on thanks to magnets that I glued around the window frame and on the boards, and a middle panel made of light-sealing fabric and a wooden rod, also held in place with magnets at the top.
I am also not satisfied with this solution, since the sides of the light-blocking fabric are not pressed against the window frame and light leaks in, and there are gaps caused by the gap between the magnets and the foam boards, which on top of it are curving with the heat, thus letting in a lot of light.
I am really desperate to get good sleep in this apartment whatever the time of the day or the position of the sun is, and I am slowly becoming insane thinking about the poor (cheap?) decisions of the people who built this building, the absence of countrywide standards, and why I ended up accepting to live here so naively.
Can I efficiently block out all (or most of) the light from these windows in a simple, efficient manner?


texts:
North American home from ~1960s. Unfortunately I dont have a "before" picture of the old fan wiring. Trying to install a new fan which has a light, controlled by a dimmer switch on the wall. Things get weird when I connect it (i.e. hallway lights don't work, one receptical in this bedroom seems to show as two hot wires instead of a hot and neutral, ceiling light in another bedroom doesn't work). So somewhere some wiring is messed up. The wires coming down from the light fixture hole in the ceiling are:

One white wire (say 14 gauge). Cheap non-contact voltage detector seemed to detect voltage.
Two thicker black wires, in a twist connector. No voltage detected.
Two thicker black wires and a thinner white wire, in a twist connector. Voltage detected. I'm assuming the two black are the power coming in/out of the room, and the white goes to the switch.
One black wire. Voltage detected. I'm assuming it is coming from the other side of the switch.

I'm not familiar with knob and tube or older wiring, but were the hot and neutral wires both black colour, and separate (i.e. not in a single conduit/sheathing like standard 14-2 wiring today)?
My fan has 4 wires:

Black (which I know needs to go to the hot in the ceiling, and powers the motor)
Blue (which I know needs to go to the hot in the ceiling, and powers the light)
White (which I know needs to go to neutral in the ceiling)
Green (which I think I can't do anything with since there's no apparent ground wires in the ceiling)

Are you able to identify the 7 wires in there?
I'll most likely be calling an electrician to help here, but I'm still very curious to know the solution.


texts: Water damage on paint beneath sink: is this a water leak?

texts:
I recently installed a DIY sink as a temporary solution while waiting for a new bathroom cabinet and sink to arrive.
Over the course of the past few weeks I've been noticing strange bubbles appearing on the paint beneath the sink, next to the sewer connection and water outlets.
The problem is progressively getting worse, but I can't figure out what the source of it is. I called a plumber and he said it's nothing to worry about, and probably due to the wall being wet when it got painted. However, the problem got worse since then.
All of the paint bubbles you can see in the pictures actually appeared after the plumber came last time, so it's an ongoing problem.
The only causes I can think of are:

There's a leak in one of the water outlets or in the drain pipe. If the leak is in the drain pipe, it wouldn't explain why bubbles are showing above and to the side of it.
The room gets damp when I take showers. Some of the humidity might be depositing where the paint got damaged and causing more bubbles. Hard to explain how the bubbles got started in the first place however.
The paint got laid on a wet wall. This explanation doesn't seem to hold considering it's been a month since I painted and the problem is still getting worse.

Here are some photos showing the issue. The areas where the paint has come off completely are due to me scratching that off with my finger when I first discovered the issue.


texts: What's the name/type for the closest match to this siding around today?

texts:
I need to match some siding on my house that is a modular home built in 1993.  The best I could come up with is reverse board and batten siding with 12 inch on-centers.  It doesn't feel like wood, nor vinyl.  My guess then is that it is cement?  Unfortunately, I also lost the paper/certificate that shows information on the house such as by who and where it was built.

I've found a few wood-based products online at Lowes and Home depot that seem to match.  However, none of them are in stock in any store or online.  Also, 12" on-center siding doesn't seem to be much available anymore as 6" and 8" seem more popular.  Here is what I've found from Lowes and something similar from Home Depot (I lack the stackexchange reputation to post another link).

Is there a name for this siding so I can better find its availability around town?  If not, does anyone know the name/type of siding that closest matches this?


texts: How does a Smart Switch that does not require a neutral work?

texts:
I read on the internet that a Smart Switch that does not require a neutral works via a hub because that's where it stores the credentials to the wireless network. This sounds like BS because you can just store the information on EPROM. A hub sounds similar to the Cloud servers that are used for all the smart switches that don't require a hub, but do require connection to the internet.
Also, for the smart switch to respond to the hub's commands, it would still need to be powered.
So do the switches have some sort of stored power supply, such as a rechargeable battery or a supercapacitor? If not, how do they work?


texts:
I am a DIYer here in St. Louis.

I am attempting to change the wall sconces in my 1920's home.

I want to replace these sconces with upgraded wall sconces ( Permo Vintage Industrial Wall Sconce Lighting Fixture to be exact).

I've removed the old sconces. I'm not down to the attached screenshots below.

Is this some type of hickey that i need to remove?

If not a hickey, exactly what is it?

There appears to be some sort of metal band with a screw in the middle. I'm not sure what it is

I also have Knob and Tube wiring (of course).
Basically, how do i attach my new sconces to these old skool features.  Thanks for your help in advance. - James


texts: How can I detect sub-second interruptions in mains electricity supply?

texts:
TL;DR: Is there a cheap and simple tool for detection of very brief mains power outages?
Long story and explanation:
Yesterday and today we experienced three or four interruptions in mains electricity supply - some appliances with switched power supply units (PC screens, LED lights) flickered or failes for a very brief period of time, while appliances with good ol' transformer+rectifier setup (like the clock display on the oven panel) didn't seem to be bothered by them.
I firmly believe that we have had many of these in past two years, as these glitches manifest themselves by various strange effects that I can't find better explanations for (fridge-freezer box somehow stops refrigerating and sounds an alarm few hours later, the wifi access point seems to brown out and functions very erratically until next restart, one PC headless restarts itself).
I've had the utility guy over today, he measured our mains tap (voltage, impedance, inter-phase impedance difference etc.) and he said everything looked good on their part so he can't really do anything. He further said I need to check my own wiring, which I will do, but I suspect there is something amiss at the utility since the whole building of 5 units experinces similar weird occurrences as we do. Lastly, he said I should talk to our neighbors and ask if they have similar problems. If they do, he'll come back and do more checks (we are connected to an underground cable which may be failing somewhere but he has no means of detecting that before a full blown failure and as per his measurements right now everything looks good).
Now it took me some two years to actually witness this phenomena, as it usually happened when I was away or in broad daylight with no lights on, and one could only guess we had this brief outage hours later when the fridge/wifi problems manifested themselves. I'm a bit on the technical side of thing, whereas my neighbors are not. Which means even if I ask them, I doubt they won't be able to give me a definite answer whether they, too, get these glitches.
So I'm thinking if I could get them some simple and power efficient gadget for them to plug in to their own socket somewhere, I could just ask them whether the thing has gone dark/silent/pop/kaboom lately, and we all would get a nice answer to a complicated question.
All I could think of was a relay feedback loop which must be manually "activated" and the loop will open on power failure in the relay. But I would prefer a off-the-shelf solution one can buy chaply in a shop, as I don't really want to give my nice neighbors a strange gadget I engineered to put into their wall sockets (and I'm not certified to manufacture such things either).
I specifically don't ask about checking my own electrical installation, as I'll have a professional do it. Also our wiring is three years old and had to be checked officially before we were actually allowed to move in and use it.
Our location is the Czech Republic, Europe. We have three phase 240 V burried cable mains with 8 separate meters for various units, staircase etc.


texts: Landscaping - How to Correct Heavily Flooded Yard

texts:
I live on a fairly small urban lot (~3100sq/ft) and have been having issues with water pooling in my backyard. Recently during a very large rainfall this caused my basement to flood. I'm going to be fixing the cracks in the foundation from the inside, but the flooding is likely the source of the issue.

Because of the restraints of my property I can't really divert the water away anywhere (at least in a way that I can see). I'm honestly thinking about turning the entire grassy area into a rain garden. What else could I possibly do?


texts:
Apologies if this is a stupid question, but I can't figure out a simple wiring setup. I have two simple switches controlling two separate lights, all on the same circuit, all in one electrical box.

There are three cables coming into the box. Left to right: First cable is WHITE & BLACK wires. Second is WHITE, BLACK, RED. Third is WHITE, BLACK. First two cables' black is joined together in a wire nut and then pigtailed into both switches (wirenut crimps 4 wires total). Red wire goes into switch one. All white wires are crimped together and are not connected to any switch.

See diagram below (note - I colored white wires in yellow so they could be seen on the drawing). Ground wires not shown.

My guess is that

white wires must be neutral rather than hot/switch legs as they are just wired together and don't go into any of the switches.
First cable with B,W wires is power in, as it is shared between two switches, and both switches operate independently (and control two separate lights).
Middle cable and cable on right (two and three) are load cables to lights.

So far run of the mill light switch setup, except for... WHAT IS THE BLACK WIRE IN THE MIDDLE CABLE? I would have expected the middle cable to only have two wires, with red wire being colored black.

My question is - do my assumption 1-3 look good to you guys, and 2) what is this third wire in middle cable that's connected to what I believe is HOT/LINE directly? Can recess lights be wired with LINE, SWITCH LEG, NEUTRAL?

Thank you!


texts: Can I remove oil-based paint from furniture with paint stripper and pressure washer?

texts:
I have an old dining table with a thick layer of oil-based paint. Since it has lots of paint chips so I decided to remove the old layer and repaint again.

I started off using a palm sander for a small section but it can't get to the small cracks here and there. I wonder if I can use Citristrip stripping gel and then pressure wash it off, let dry and repaint.


texts:
I purchased a wifi thermostat and cannot located the common wire. My unit is old and is a Coleman 70 with no terminals inside labeling the wires.

As you can see in the second image, there is a blue wire that is not being used that goes to my thermostat. I am trying to use this as a common wire, I am just unable to determine where this wire connects to.

THank you for the help.


texts: Holes in drywall slightly too wide for screws

texts: I drilled with 3/8" still bit as instructed, but the holes seem too large for the screws. I'm wondering what the best fix for this would be. Fill the holes up with wood glue and toothpicks and screw into that, or widen the holes to place anchors in and screw in there? Any suggestions would be appreciated.


texts: There's one thing about led dimmers and controllers that have confused me, were planning to put in over and under cabinet lighting, with both strips on at 100% the system should be running with 72 watts total, however the RGB controllers specs say the max output can be 48 watts. Since i'm only using a single color for the bottom and only RGB at the top, the RGB strip will consume 24 watts, the problem is, if the entire system takes a total of 72 watts, but the top RGB set only takes 24 watts, would anything happen if I used a 48 watt dimmer to control the RGB strip which takes 24 watts in a 72 watt total system? Does it mean 48 watts only on the RGB side or does it matter how much is also going in? I plan on sharing one power supply rated at 12v 7a for this system, where i will split the paths for the upper and under cabinet strips.


texts: How should I run power to a powered bidet toilet seat?

texts: Does anyone have a good solution for running a power cord for the Toto 2034#01 bidet toilet seat? I don't have an electric outlet behind my toilet and don't really want to install one. I am planning on running an extension cord (white) from the toilet to the wall outlet near my vanity, and then using these sticky things I found online to keep the cord in place and kind of out of the way. Not sure if it'll look good, or if anyone has a better idea.


texts:
I recently bought a new air condition. The guy who came to install it in my bedroom used PVC glue to joint two pipes the one of the air condition with the outside one(instead he could use something else), ..and this pipe get the air inside and water outside.
The first 24 hours there was a toxic smell of the glue even if it was off. I had the windows opened for hours and after I closed them , you could smell again the glue. Now(after a week) you can't smell anything except if you are under the air condition which it has a strange smell (maybe it is the air, when you turn it on), I can't understand if it smells glue or because the air condition is new.
Is now the air condition good for use?
I am worried if the smell is still in the pipe.


texts: Water leaks through the base of the window through a hole during hard rain. Is this normal?

texts:
I noticed that when it rains hard, our windows leak water from the hole in the picture, is this normal? I already removed the water though in the picture.

Other side of the window


texts: How to secure aluminium window lock handle that keeps falling off?

texts:
The lock handle on my aluminium windows keeps falling off. The handle had previously fallen off when I first moved in a year ago and the landlord remounted it. Since then it has become loose a few times, but has been able to be screwed back in. Now the two screws no longer hold. The internal thread (?) on the window frame is only a few millimetres thick.

How can I securely remount this handle?

I am not sure of the screw size/type, but below is a photo.


texts: Stain / residue on hardwood after years of rug covering

texts: I just bought a house from the mid 1800’s. Hardwood throughout but two rooms have had rugs on the floor for obviously many, many, years. When we pulled up the rugs we found that the hardwood was extremely dirty and/or stained. I’m sure there are a hundred different answers as to what to what caused this and the best course of action, hoping to get some ideas for cleaning or if refinishing will be necessary.


texts: Connecting new Pex water line to 20 yr old Pex

texts: I'm preparing to connect new 1” Pex water line from well to 20 yr old house, that is also Pex piping. I plan to either use copper crimp rings or shark bite clamp fittings. My question is, could there be brittleness & leak issues when I compress the rings around the older Pex tubing?


texts: What could cause my house to smell musty after coming back from vacation?

texts:
I just returned to my house (northern New Mexico, ranch-style, built in 1972) after a ten day vacation and found an unpleasant musty smell to greet me. The smell is primarily in the living area and the master bedroom, and I cannot smell it in the attached garage, which is semi-open to the attic. Before I left, I closed up all the windows, so there would be no ventilation other than through cracks in the walls and ceiling.

As soon as I got back, I opened up all the windows and turned on the fans, and while that has helped slightly, the smell is still lingering. The smell is strongest in the area around my bed (foam mattress 5 months old), but I can't see anything particularly wrong there.

Thinking that maybe the water in the traps might have evaporated, I ran all the sinks, but that doesn't seem to have helped. It rained only a very small amount while I was gone (less than 0.25 in). I can't find any plumbing leaks. So I would be surprised if it was some kind of sudden, rapid mold growth. It's pretty bone-dry here right now.


texts:
Which one is better for light bulbs in home to get more from light.

White board behind bulb?
White plastic covering the bulb?
Mirror behind the bulb?
Any other way?

How to get more from a light source?


texts: What type of bulb is globe-shaped with coils inside?

texts:
The bulb looks like a CFL, but looks like the spiral making up the CFL doesn't actually light.

It takes AGES to light up, at first I thought it was broke, but after awhile realized that the bulb just takes 10 minutes to fully turn on. Full disclosure: Just moved into an apt building, and am curious what type of bulb, CFL, or whatever this is, because I've never seen a bulb like it.


texts:
I have an outdoor Hydropool hot tub and have recently been having an issue with power.  It seems that periodically a build up of 'gunk' (my technical term for it) builds up around one of the electrical connections to the heater and eventually causes the breaker to trip.

In the past I have been able to fix the problem by simply disconnecting the wires and wiping away the gunk with some paper towel.  This typically happens only after quite intense rain storms but I'm not sure if it's related.

Is there a way to keep this from happening?  or is it a sign of something more significant going on that I should get checked out.


texts: using cental ac circuit in winter for regular outlets

texts: Is there a way to have your 240 central ac unit circuit double as a regular outlet in winter time for use in christmas decorations


texts: Can I use leveling compound between plywood and cement backer board?

texts:
I'd like to install slate tiles over a pre-existing plywood floor. The plywood floor is 3/4" and sits on joists.

There's a dip about 3/8" deep by 2 feet wide by 5 feet long. My plan was to fill it with self-leveling compound, before installing the cement backerboard and then the tiles. However, the guys at the tile store seem oddly negative about using self-leveling compound. Is there any reason not to? If so, what are my alternatives?


texts: What's the recommended distance of a fire pit from a building?

texts:
I'd like to know if there's an argumentation-/science-based recommendation regardless of the specific laws in different countries. Boundaries/parameters of my question:

fire pit for making a(n open) camp fire with wood for <= 15 persons (max. 10 kg of wood burning at the same time[1]) on the ground inside a stone circle
building made partly or completely of wood (I guess that matters, so should be distungished in the formular in the answer)
fire is watched permanently

The choice of the distance should avoid transmission of sparks to fire receptive parts of the house, e.g. exposed parts of the root framework. What would a fire fighting specialist/consultant, assurance specialist, etc. say?

[1] I've no idea how to measure fire energy emission, so I give this "dimension" for the beginning


texts: Bathroom vent terminates to attic not outside.

texts: Bathroom vents terminates to attic. The Inspector recommended that it terminates to the outside. What is the best way to do this. Should I just place the bathroom vent next to the roof vent opening.


texts: How to drill a table top without drilling through it?

texts:
I am considering buying a table (Flash Furniture 24" square top with 18" round center pole base). The table top is reversible, which means that it comes with no holes drilled in it. It attaches to the base via screws. Here are the instructions for assembling the table. It's showing a different bottom of the base, but I'm concerned about the top of the base, where it attaches to the table.
The instructions, being graphics only, don't say what drill bit to use or how to make sure I don't drill too far into the table. I think I can handle the drill bit selection part - choose a bit the thickness of the screw shaft - but what I don't know is how do I make sure I drill deep enough but not so deep that it comes out the table top. How do I drill a table top without drilling too far through it?


texts: Replacing a dimmer switch that is 1.)  broken 2.) not only dims the lights but also the fan speed. There are two switches. One I do not know what it operates but has a jumper wire from the dimmer to the bottom screw, a black wire on the top screw (same side), a red wire on the left side and nothing connected to the green screw. The dimmer has three wires coming out of it. Black #1.) is spliced into the red and black wire coming from the wall; Black #2.) is spliced into the jumper wire to the mystery switch; Green spliced into bare from the wall. I purchased a three screw switch: 2 golden screws on the right and then a green screw on the left. Where do I put each wire? Black on the top screw with a jumper running to the other switch, red on the bottom, and bare to green screw?


texts:
I live near Denver, where we have winters cold enough to freeze an outdoor dog bowl, and summers hot enough to make the water warm (not hot enough to be a problem, but cold water always tastes better on a hot day).

My thought is to rent an auger and dig a 10-12" diameter hole down 6-8 feet, then run a loop of PEX down to the bottom. The loop would be either just straight down and back up (easy) or a sort of helix (more surface area). Then I'd fill the dirt back in, put a small pump in the line, and do some sort of heatsink against a metal dog bowl.

Come winter, the goal is to keep the water warm enough not to freeze. Come summer, cooler than it would be just sitting out.

Think it's feasible? Would a 6-8' deep hole give enough heat transfer?


texts: what order should I be replacing floor and drywall in?

texts:
I'm replacing particle board panels with drywall (after adding some insulation) and removing the laminate floor and the carpet beneath with proper subfloor.
I've got the acoustic tiles down from the ceiling, the particle board off the studs, and will be pulling the laminate and carpet off next.

My question is, what order should I be doing the things in? Floor first or Drywall first?


texts: 208x240 buck boost transformer putting out ~260v

texts:
I recently installed a buck-boost transformer in one of our buildings with 208Y/120v service to support a 1hp submersible well-pump rated for 230v single-phase.

The transformer is a GE 9T51B0158 which is labeled for 208v primary x 240v secondary, up to 500va.

Per the label diagram, I connected 208v nominal (210v measured at the transformer) to X1 & X2, tied H2 to H3, and then took a meter reading at H1 & H4 before connecting to the well-pump control. I measured 259v at H1 & H4, unloaded. Is there some reason to expect this kind of over-voltage? Would you expect the secondary to drop down closer to 240v under some load? Or is it more likely that I have either misunderstood the wiring diagram or acquired a dud unit?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan


texts:
What I'm asking is if a GFCI wired onto the load of another GFCI will function?   Will it cause the upstream one to malfunction.  Will it cause the downstream one to malfunction?   It is against code?

I know I will inevitably get responses telling me there's no reason to do this or that I don't understand how to wire a GFCI.   This is not what I'm asking.

(Basically the reason is that it will allow be more flexibility to switch which circuit an outdoor outlet is wired into.   I will have access to a circuit for the garage (GFCI'ed) and circuit for a bedroom (AFCI'ed).   Using the GFCI protected circuit form the garage just seems easiest because it will therefore also protect some other outdoor lights.   But I don't know if the inspector is going to take issue with an outlet and a couple lights on the garage circuit but not in the garage.   If I just put an additional GFCI on the outdoor outlet, I think it is less likely to cause issues, and if it does, I can easily move it to the other circuit.)


texts: Why does my new replacement pull-out kitchen faucet sprayer leak?

texts:
I've had the same old sprayer attachment to my kitchen sink for a long time and last week I finally decided to get rid of it.  The current sink hose (with sprayer detached) is shown here:

And if you look closely, the hose from the faucet actually has a rubber tube inside it that is the water source:

I went to Home Depot with the older sprayer in hand and found another sprayer of the same size that seems like it should fit.  This is the new sprayer head.

To attach the sprayer head, I bought some teflon tape and wrapped it around the threads on the new sprayer head and then simply screwed the sprayer head onto the existing hose.  I hand-tightened it since the instructions said not to use a wrench.  With everything connected, it seems like it should be fine:

But when I turn on the faucet, I get water leaking out from somewhere in the vicinity of the bottom of the sprayer head.  My understanding was that this should be dead simple.  The old sprayer head didn't leak and I don't understand why a new one of the same size would leak.  Am I missing a washer or something?  Does the hose possibly need to be replaced?  It's difficult to tell whether or not the leak is from the coupling between the sprayer & end of the hose or whether the hose endpoint itself is leaking.


texts: Is it safe to put pots and pans with hard plastic handles on the bottom rack of the dishwasher?

texts: I have a Whirlpool dishwasher I bought in 2014. It works fine. But where should I put pots and pans with hard plastic handles when I load the dishwasher? I want to put them on the bottom rack, but I wonder if even hard plastic handles might melt from the dryer element at the bottom. Other than the handles, these pots and pans are otherwise made of metal.


texts: How should I build the walls for a tiny house on a camper frame?

texts:
I am preparing to build a tiny house on an old camper frame, and am looking for advice on how to build the exterior walls.  I'm planning to use 2x3 wood studs at 24" o.c., with 1/4" plywood on the interior and 3/8" plywood on the exterior. I'll use house wrap on the exterior, and r-13 insulation in the wall. Everything will be glued and screwed together.

Does this sound like the proper way to build the walls?


texts:
I have a new tub that is being installed and then I'm going to tile the tub surround. The problem is that several of the wall studs are either broken, bowed, or twisted pretty bad. What's the best way to go about this to get a nice flat wall to tile onto. The other side of that far wall is also my kitchen (with cabinets, and appliances and stuff) so I'm really hoping that the answer is not to take off all the drywall and put in new studs.

The two studs in the middle here are the ones that are twisted pretty bad


texts: Trying to replace this leaking heater with a tankless, need help with the piping

texts:
Just moved into this house, South Florida, two stories, the heater is leaking and I'm replacing it with a tankless. I'm not sure how to plumb it since now I realized I have more pipes coming and going from the existing tank than what I expected, and I don't see a pump. I'm suspecting there is some sort of recirculating but I don't see a pump anywhere.
I have five pipes that go to/from the wall

THREE behind the tank (top) - one pressure valve, one of the cold water, one hot water
TWO behind the tank (bottom) - another cold water, one that wraps around the tank and connects to the drain valve in front of it.

So, this is tankless heater I bought. How do I pipe this thing? My questions are:

For the cold water, there is a T right now, do I keep the T and basically plug what's going into my existing tank into the tankless?
Same question for the hot water, do I just do a one to one replacement and connect  the output from the tankless  to my existing hot water pipe?
What do I do with the pipe that wraps around the tank now? Not sure what it does? Should I just cap it and call it a day?? I suspect this is just a drain line since both valves are shut off, the one of the left obviously is to drain out the tank but the valve on the right is also shut.

I also made this video that shows the whole thing.
THANK YOU!


texts: How is a "ground joint union" different from any other union out there, and why are they specified for gas service?

texts:
The various documents (manuals, installation guides, etc) available for gas water heaters refer to the use of what's called a "ground joint union" between the shutoff valve and the appliance tee/drip leg.  How is such a thing different from any other union out there, or is this just a fancy name for a plain ol' union?  Furthermore, why are ground joint unions called out for gas service?

(BTW: for an example, see Figure 4 on Page 6 of this manual.)


texts: How can I mitigate low frequency reverb in a bedroom?

texts:
Outside my bedroom window, there is a store air conditioner which runs 24/7. It's noisy in general, but closing the window takes care of most higher frequencies. My issue is with a specific low frequency (around 50hz I think) which obviously does not yield to my windows or curtains.

Now, when sleeping with my head against the back wall of the bedroom, this low frequency noise is very noticeable and is generally an issue for sleeping well. However, if I turn around and sleep with my head towards the center of the room the noise is barely noticeable.

I accept my lack of options in regards to blocking the noise getting into the room, but I'm wondering if there is a way to mitigate it even when sleeping closer to the wall. Would a acoustic foam on the wall by the top of the bed help at all?

And in general, is what I'm dealing with here the waves reverb in the room? do reverb solutions (foam, soft surfaces, etc.) help at all with such low frequencies?

Cheers.


texts: What is a good wood to use to build a base for a heavy antique table top?

texts:
So my gf has a really sweet antique baker's table top. It has what I believe is a porcelain but may be ceramic finish.  I've never tried lifting it (it was here before I was) but she tells me it weighs a ton, or more precisely: "You'll need another man or my sister to move it. I can't possibly lift it," which I estimate means it weighs at least 75 - 100 lbs (my gf is small and not the strongest, but she can carry a 30 - 40 pound box if she needs to, so I know it must be pretty heavy if she can't even co-carry it).

The table supporting it is not so impressive. While the craftsmanship of the corner beams is impressive (by my low standards), this table has clearly seen better days and wasn't built to last.  All points of contact are separated and there is clear stress marks all over.

So, we're not up to building a new table from scratch (I've never done it and I don't want to be to blame if her table gets scratched if the new one collapses), so we're going to post an ad for a carpenter to come out and build us one. But I want to get a really nice wood that might hold up better than the last one. The tabletop is the real prize here, but I think it deserves a better resting place than whatever lumber is on sale at Home Depot.

Having said all that, I know that oak would be a bit much (both price and need), but even if I were to consider something that high-end, she's determined to paint the table some nifty color, and I know that it's just rude to paint oak.

So what wood meets the requirements:

Sturdy, hard, strong enough to hold up a 100lb+ slab
Not so expensive that I'll feel silly but not so cheap that I won't trust it to last more than a few years
Industrial enough in the sense that it's not offensive/de-valuing to the wood to paint it turquoise (or whatever she goes with).


texts:
If I bring my non-contact voltage tester within about an inch of any part of my washing machine's metallic housing, it beeps.

If I touch the machine, the tester stops beeping, but I don't feel a shock.

I plugged another washing machine into the same outlet and experienced the same behavior, so the issue seems to be the outlet, not the machine.

I then connected the washer to a different outlet on a different circuit, and the issue goes away. The metallic housing never has voltage when connected to the second circuit.

What could be the problem within the original outlet or the circuit that would cause this behavior?

I don't have a device to test the original outlet for ground, but the ground wire appears to be connected properly inside the box.


texts: What gauge wire/cord do I need for these outdoor lamps?

texts: I have two 700 watt outdoor halogen lamps, each connected to a splitter, then back to a power source. Given the distances illustrated below, what gauge cord should I use?


texts: Where is the grounding in this fixture box

texts:
We are replacing a light fixture and I removed the old one and am having trouble understanding the grounding here.
There are 3 twisted together copper wires up there that you can see in the photo.
Are these the grounding? Or is the fixture itself grounded?


texts: Disposal and dishwasher are on different circuits but keep tripping

texts: My house is about 5 years old and the dishwasher and disposal are on different circuits. Two weekS ago, I went to turn on the disposal and it would not turn on. I went to the breaker and the breaker for the disposal and the separate breaker for the dishwasher had both tripped. Turned them back on and everything ran fine. Since then, issue has repeated twice. At some point, when both items are off, the breakers for both trip and I have to go down and reset the breakers for both. Any idea why both are always tripping at the same time and why it is happening when neither appliance is running?


texts: Install Tankless water heater in the cold line

texts:
During cold season almost all the time we need to wait for hot water coming from the water heater to our faucets, showers etc. I want to install tankless water heater in the cold line as a supplemental element. In other words it is going to warm up the cold water in the cold line to reduce the wait time for getting hot water from the conventional water heater. Of course during hot season we can turn off the tankless water heater. In other words this tankless water heater will only be used on demand with lesser capacity because conventional water heater's hot water will also be mixed in the end points such as shower, faucets etc.
Will this work?


texts: How to stop a circular saw from locking?

texts:
I've been using my new circular saw for about a week. Today while making a plunge cut it just locked. It didn't get stuck on anything inside the board and it consistently locked every time I tried to cut something with it afterwards. Is there anything I can do about that other than invoke the warranty?

Update
Problem solved. The nut holding the blade down was coming loose. I'm new to power saws and didn't even think to check that. :/
Next problem. I tightened the nut as tight as it goes. Is it normal to have to do this after every single cut?


texts: Main Floors uneven after attic conversion

texts:
We hired a contractor to convert our attic into living space.  Long story, short...he was a nightmare and left with out doing any of the finish.  Now, the floor joists on the first floor are raising causing the hardwood floors to be like a roller coaster.  The first floor is over an unfinished basement.  The house is 41 years old, and until this was a beautiful example of quality craftsmanship.  Thank you for any help!
Ps...as of 2 days later, the crown molding on the first floor is pulling away from the ceiling, showing a 1/2” gap.


texts:
It appears our front loading Kenmore (aka Whirlpool) may need new main bearings, and various sources (including appliance repair guy and online reading) suggest that replacing them is a non-trivial job and "best to just replace the whole thing". (Btw, this failure was most likely caused by the machine not being properly leveled which caused excessive shaking during the spin cycle.  Something for others to learn from my mistake!)

Assuming I do need to replace it, I'd rather buy one that is easier to repair in the future. I don't mind if its an older model (though I definitely prefer a front loader). It doesn't need all the fancy electronic features (more to go wrong!).

Can anyone recommend a category or brand of machine that is better than others?

E.g. I wonder if some of the laundromat machines are better, as they have to hold their own in a pretty tough commercial environment?


texts: Need a small compression rod for stabilizing my dryer

texts:
Just joined and looking for some help in finding (or building) a small compression rod to stabilize my dryer. I have washer/dryer closet and the dryer sits atop my washer (in classic fashion). However, when the washer goes into a fast spin, the dryer shakes on top a bit and makes some noise. I realized if I could just get some small (say around 3" or 4") compression rods on either side of the dryer (between it and the closet wall), it would really help to stabilize the movement and the sound.

The closest I could find through web searching is 6"curtain rods, which are just too long and too weak. Ideally, I'm looking for something like what I'm showing in the illustration below. Big suction cup like ends would be great but as long as it's a fairly wide, flat surface, it could be anything (plastic, rubber, etc.). Any ideas where I could find something like this or how I could build it?


texts: How can remove a flat head screw that's in a hard to reach space?

texts:
I have an overhead light fixture and I need to remove the "cover" so I can change a bulb but the cover is held in place with metal brackets that have to be removed first  and they are attached to the main part on the ceiling with flat head screws.
The space between the cover and the ceiling is too small for pliers, and even small wrenches can't get enough grip. (I'm wondering how it was even installed in the first place, tbh.)
How can I remove it? Is there some kind of drill bit that could do the trick?


texts: Replaced bathroom ceiling light and now permanently switched on trips switch if flicked

texts:
I replaced the bathroom ceiling light recently but since I did this, it is permanently switched on and if you flick the switch to turn it off, it trips the upstairs lighting trip switch at the fuse box.

I thought that connecting live to live, neutral to neutral and earth to earth would give the desired behaviour but not the case. I took a photo of how it was wired up before I even touched anything (below).

As you can see there are three live/neutral and earth wires coming from the ceiling. I wasn't too sure what the purpose of the white terminal block was which seems to link up two neutrals from the ceiling which I would have thought would just do the same as putting all three into the brown terminal block.

Anyway, it is an incredibly tight space to work with the amount of cables here but I am assuming I would need to rewire it up exactly as it was before as per the photo? I'd be interested to know why it needs to be like so (I tried searching online but there are so many various scenarios I thought it would be easier to just explain my case with picture here).

There is just one light switch for this bathroom light.


texts: New Thermostat Won't Engage Plinth Heating in Kitchen Island

texts:
I have two plinth heaters on either side of my kitchen island. Since the rest of the house is hydronic, I presume that these are hydronic (there is a zone valve at the boiler) with electric fans because they have fan speed switches and not much heat comes out unless these are on.

I have just tried to replace the existing thermostat with a Honeywell RTH2300. I barely use this zone so I went with something easy. However even though the wires are hooked up the same way (G Y W Rh Rc) and set the temp to engage, nothing happens. The fans don't even turn on. The thermostat looks like it is engaged but the fans don't come on. One unique thing I have never seen before is that this thermostat has a switch that says gas/oil and electric. My system fits both descriptions (ie I have a gas run boiler but I have a G wire to allow the thermostat to call the fans when it calls for heat).

I have tried both switch settings with no results. Could this thermostat not be compatible with this heat zone?


texts: Zoned Forced Air System Runs 2.5X Upstairs vs. Downstairs

texts:
I bought a house built in 2005, ~4100 sq. ft.
Reasonably insulated to code, as required in Chicago, IL.
I've got an upstairs thermostat and downstairs thermostat.  Both are Nest thermostats specifically, and I can track the daily run times.
Once we hit sub 30 degree days, I've noticed that the downstairs furnace will run for 6 hours but the upstairs furnace will run for like 13 hours, to keep everything at 68 degrees.
First thing, I noticed is that the upstairs thermostat is in the master bedroom and usually behind a closed door and the rest of the upstairs with open doors was a few degrees warmer due to better air circulation.
I adjusted our upstairs thermostat to sit at 65 degrees vs. 68 degrees downstairs to try to compensate for that.
Even with the changes,  I haven't seen the variation shrink too much.  The upstairs furnace just runs way way longer.
Is that typical in a bigger house like this?  I always thought "hot air rises" -- in our old townhouse the upstairs would be smoking hot, to the point we need to close a damper.
This house seems completely opposite.
Aside from a possible HUGE hole in a duct somewhere that feeds upstairs, is what I am seeing normal?
I think if I measure the duct heat upstairs vs. downstairs it should be close...?
Intuitively there is a LOT MORE DUCTWORK for that heat to make it's way upstairs from the basement. Does that typically dominate for heat loss vs. "hot air rising"?


texts: How can I remove and repair raised objects in a textured wall?

texts:
My buddies and I are planning to repaint a wall at our local community center, however we're new to the wall-painting process.

The wall is in the interior of the building.

The white wall has blue and orange hand-prints (by design), so there is paint "jutting" out with "peaks" up to 2-3 millimeters.

We intend to repaint the wall, however we first need to remove the "peaks".

I did some research on the different methods, but I don't know what is recommended for our situation:

scraping the peaks off with scraper and then patching it with mud; or,
sanding the peaks off and then patching it with orange peel; or,
something else?

How can we remove the "peaks" off of the hand-prints?

Update: Removed question regarding how to cover orange paint, to focus the post on the "peaks".


texts:
We have screened porch that currently has outdoor carpet on the floor. We want to get rid of the carpet and maybe tile the porch. There is standard decking under the carpet. I have been told by both friends and a flooring contractor that we can just put cement board down and tile over it. However, there are, of course, small gaps in the decking, so some moisture will come up from the ground under the deck. My questions are:

Can I just use regular cement board for this application?
What thickness would I need?
Are there any other considerations I am missing?

I have tiled a couple of of bathrooms and a fireplace and would like to tackle this project myself to save some money. Thanks.


texts: How can I cover a wood stove pipe where it passes through the second floor?

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


texts: I want to paint exterior of house myself but not comfortable on 20' ext ladder. Anybody have scaffold recommendation or experience with renting it? Can it be taken down and moved rather easy? Does it take up a lot of space to store?


texts: How can I insulate the plywood before replacing the vinyl flooring?

texts: I removed the vinyl in my kitchen, but the plywood is cold. how can I insulate the floor before replacing the vinyl flooring?


texts: How do I wire a ceiling fan with a light kit?

texts: Ceiling has three wires: one white, one black, and one bare. Fan has four wires: one white, one black, one blue, and one green. How do I connect wires?


texts: Can the sum of the individual breakers greatly exceed the main?

texts:
I have a 100amp subpanel in my garage that I wired with several high-capacity appliances, such as 50amp welder, 20amp compressor, 20amp AC, 30amp car charger, 30amp car lift, plus 3 15amp circuits for generic 110v outlets.  As long as I am aware that I shouldn't charge my car, run the AC, and weld at the same time, am I okay with this setup?

When it passed inspection my electrician mentioned off-hand that he was a little worried about load calcs, and he was glad it passed.  If the main breaker trips at 100amp, why was he worried?


texts: Blocking the light from a window that spans up to the ceiling

texts:
I wonder how to block the light from a window that spans up to the ceiling. I want the room to be as dark as possible.

Here is the setting:

An additional constraint is that I cannot remove the blind that is adjacent to the window. (I can remove the other one.)

As you can see, there are currently 2 curtains that do a poor job at blocking the light, as they let light comes through the top, the left and right.


texts: AC power leaving the circuit breaker, but no AC power to AC power supply line in bathroom (and this bathroom is head/lead in daisy chain)

texts:
Background:

1)  Guest Bathroom lone receptacle is GFCI.  This lone receptacle is the lead receptacle in daisy chain to 3 downstream receptacles in Master Bath.  House built in 2001; builder did it this way.

Incident:   Wife plugged hair dryer into the end of line receptacle in Master Bath; circuit outage occurred.  The dedicated circuit breaker (labeled “Bath GFCI”) for this circuit did not appear to trip. Reset Bath GFCI circuit breaker regardless AND every other individual circuit breaker AND then the master breaker.

2)  Used multimeter to test (3 times) the dedicated circuit breaker for “Bath GFCI” in the panel (in addition to every other circuit breaker in the panel)  – all appear to functioning.

3)  Mutlimeter shows 120V leaving the “Bath GFCI” circuit breaker for this circuit.   However, no AC power to the Guest Bathroom wiring.

Special Note:  Cannot locate an upstream receptacle to Guest Bathroom - we checked every other receptacle in the entire house – all are functioning (including those that are GFCI) except of course  for the three receptacles in Master Bath (which are downstream to the Guest Bath for the GFCI daisy chain configuration).

Question/Issue:  If proper 120v AC power is leaving the  circuit breaker that is dedicated for this “Bath GFCI” circuit, why is there no AC voltage/power coming into the Guest Bath power supply/hot/lead line wiring (which ultimately feeds the Master Bath receptacles)?  Note that I removed the GFCI receptacle/outlet from the Guest Bath and there is no AC power coming into the actual power supply/hot/lead line wiring. Tested with multimeter and voltage tester.

I have since put wire caps on the exposed wiring in the Guest Bathroom and shut off the circuit breaker in case the power to the line is miraculously restored by divine intervention (or an electrician).
This is nuts.  And thanks for any insight anyone can provide.


texts:
I installed a 32x32-feet inch shower pan. The shower has walls on three sides. I was planning to install glue-up plastic panels for the shower walls, but all the ones I can find at the big box stores are either shockingly expensive or won't fit.

So, I'm wondering if there's a generic type of material I could cut to size and install using construction adhesive. For instance, could I just buy 4x8-foot PVC sheets?

I know I could also do wall tile on cement board, but this is a rental property and I don't want to spend a lot of time and money.


texts: Why is my smart switch tripping the breaker?

texts:
I'm trying to install some smart light switches into my house. I've had a little trouble doing it.

The first one was in the kitchen. Every time I tried, it tripped the breaker in the main panel. I went away for half hour to think about it and tried the breaker again and everything was fine - it worked. Strange, like it sorted itself out.

So I went to try the lounge next and all it did was trip the breaker every time, even after leaving it for a bit like the kitchen.

So I left the lounge and went to try our bedroom again. It just tripped the breaker, so for some reason I went and unwired the lounge and tried our bedroom again and it worked fine. I wired the lounge back together with the old switch.

I've tried every room and none of them except the kitchen and our bedroom will accept the smart switches. What an I doing wrong?

I've posted a picture of our main panel. Does everything look ok in it? Are all those earths suppose to be just bundled together? I've also posted a picture of the inside of the light switch and the back of the new smart

I've added another picture to the post (the last picture) can anyone tell me what the blue and yellow wires are please. obviously the red is the live and the green and black is the ground. but what are the yellow and the blue wires. thanks]1


texts: What is this pipe coming out of the basement floor?

texts:
I’m finishing an old (1930) empty basement and have a random pipe coming out of the floor. I have no clue what it is or what it went to as it sits alone in the space. It is metallic (tested with a magnet). It’s currently capped off and did have threading. I would say it is 3/4in thick. I am wondering if I can cut it off and recap or if it’s not able to be cut, if I should build it into a wall?

Thanks in advance!!!


texts: What can I improvise to slowly close a door?

texts:
I have a hall door that I want to have automatically close slowly, not fast.  I've tried a proper door closer.  It was cheap but became very noisy fast.  The other issue with it is I have young children and the youngest had trouble pushing it open even though the strength was wound down.

Option 2: I found something I think would work.  Butterfly spring door closers.  These are put over the hinge pin.  However, getting them to NZ is a ridiculously expensive process.  A $3 spring wants US$30 - $60 shipping from Amazon or Ebay.  I can't find them on Ali Express which usually has free shipping to NZ.

Any other improvising options?  I was considering a weight, some strings and eyelets but that would look a little bit untidy.


texts: Hi my question is I have a support beam I want to replace the 8 support posts. And just put 2 at each end of the beam .so that I can open up the space . My question is can I use steel post or do I need to stick to 2×4's. I am using 3 2by4 put together .. which is stronger?


texts: I want to remove a ceiling fan that is attached to a switch for the fan and a switch for the light.  Is it possible to: install can lights on one switch and a pendant light on the other switch by using the current wiring configuration of 1 white, 1 black, 1 red and one ground.


texts: Can concrete demo material be used as fill behind same project?

texts:
I am demolishing the old outdoor steps at the rear of my house, built circa 1955. I have discovered that they are not constructed on the ground surface, but sit upon a concrete block structure about 4 feet deep. Underneath the steps is an empty, 4-foot deep pit.

I plan to have a concrete patio surface poured over the area.

Can I demolish the steps into the empty pit, essentially filling with the demo material? Or will the broken concrete and blocks be too unstable a base to build upon later?


texts: How do I remove the sink drain in this situation?

texts:
I am replacing the faucets/drain in one of my bathrooms. I am trying to remove the drain, but I'm having a lot of trouble. I think it might be soldered on, but I'm not sure why it would be. What's the easiest method for removing the drain?

(below sink)

(above sink)


texts: What is required for seasonal maintenace of a heat pump?

texts: Over the years I've had several local HVAC companies provide seasonal maintenance of the heat pumps and propane furnace in my house.  It seems that every technician--even within the same company--does different things.  One tested a capacitor.  Another hosed out the compressors outside.  Some open the air handler up and vacuum it.  They all clean the burners, check/clean the filters, and make sure the condensation drain is clear.  What should they be doing each visit?


texts: How should I add flooring in my "crawl" space?

texts:
Our house has a basement where part of it is finished but one section is closed off by a door and just has a dirt floor.  The space is about 25'x25' and about 12' tall (not really a "crawl" space) with a dirt floor.  There are about 10 concrete block piers that are about 2'x2' and I suppose that's why the area is unfinished.  When opening the door I have to step down about three feet to get to the ground.

The area is dry and I use it to store stuff that I don't use very often (Christmas decorations, tubs, etc).  I would like to be more organized and have shelves and such, but the ground is unlevel, has rocks, bricks, concrete, etc and doesn't provide a good place to stack stuff. I would like to install a floor, sorta like a deck but perhaps with plywood rather than planks.  My first thought was to just build around the piers, setting posts at each corner.  I suppose this would work, but it would be a LOT of hole digging and I suspect I'll hit concrete near the piers.  My second thought was to install angle iron around the piers and use it as support for boards as I build around the posts.  I'm not too thrilled with that idea either because I have to drill eight holes in each post which doesn't seem like a great idea for support piers.  Perhaps that's fine, but I want to hear it from others rather than just assuming.


texts:
So I've got a three way switch that controls a light fixture. One at the top of the staircase and one at the bottom. You can see the configuration here:

https://imgur.com/gallery/tgu9VCH

I want to replace them with a smart switch, in particular the TPLINK HS 210. In the photos, you'll notice the bottom switch has already been replaced. The problem is that it doesn't work. The flourescent bulbs just flicker. If I flip the top switch, they come on but don't turn off using the bottom switch. I'm not sure how to wire the top interrupter with the smart switch.

Any help would be great.


texts: Which is better indirect or tankless hotwater heater

texts:
I am in the process of getting my boiler and hot water heater replaced. One company gave me a quote for a Weil McLain boiler and indirect hot water heater. Another company gave me a quote for a bosh boiler with a tankless hot water heater built in. There is 3 of us in the house and we wash dishes and do laundry while others take a shower.

Can anyone give me the pros and cons and which setup is better. Everything I read, tankless has maintenance cost and is cheaper to install, but every article I read leans toward indirect.


texts:
I have a 20+ year old, 115 gallon, electric water heater. Works like a champ, but I'm considering replacing it for a couple of reasons.

It's leased - I pay $20/mo.
It's 115 gallons for a house with 3 adults
It's 20 years old

Based on that high level criteria, I'm looking to replace it with an energy smart, 50-gallon, electric water heater - specifically - this one

Does this seem like a reasonable idea?  I'm looking to save money, obviously, over the long run between eliminating the monthly bill and the energy savings.


texts: My shower doesn't turn on when I turn the diverter

texts: I have a problem with my shower.  When I turn the diverter knob no water comes out of the shower head.  I have the type of knobs that are three one for hot one for cold and the middle to turn on the shower.  What is going on and can I easily fix it?  It isn't brand new but not very old the handles about 7 years old.  It worked until recently.  Any help? please!


texts: I am being forced to switch my gas furnace to an electric one and need to upgrade my mobile home from 100a to 200a. I would like to leave the 100a panel with all the load connections that run throughout the house intact. Can I add the 200a panel box near the 100a panel, install a 100a breaker, then run the wires it to power the 100a panel box, creating a subpanel? I am also concerned about redundant breakers, the 200a main breaker at the meter loop, the 200a main breaker on the interior 200a service panel, the 100a breaker in the 200a panel that will connect to the existing 100a service panel, and the 100a main breaker on the existing panel, that my house is wired to. Will I need to have any of them removed? Yes, I plan on having an electrician do the work but I want to explore/understand all my option before I hire one. So my questions are 1.) can use a jumper wire to power my existing service panel, and 2.) do I need to fear having all the redundant breakers? And 3.) will I need to remove the ground from the sub-panel so that the 200a controls the ground? Thanks to all for any advice.


texts: Do washing-machines provide a AC connector which is live when the machine is working?

texts:
I am considering to install an electrical valve between the water outlet and the pipe bringing this water to the washing machine (I have some traumatic memories from a pipe breaking and water flowing in an apartment for a week).

This valve would need to be open when the washing machine is working and closed when it is not. One of the ways would be to power it from the washing machine, at some place which is live during the washing cycle.

I do not want to experiment too much but was wondering whether is was usual to have such an output, probably for cases like mine.

Since I suppose not, would there be another way to control the valve?


texts:
We have a metal fence in front of the house and it has very strong iron rods both vertically and horizontally.
The issue is with the horizontal iron rod as its bend and also its vending on the other side is broken, so its sticking out on one side.
I tried to bend it with hand but its too strong and doesn't move. When I hit it with hammer I am not able to hit it from behind due to the mesh behind, ( the bend side is on the back), so if I hit it from the front the whole rod vibrates and its not helpful. See the below pics for clear details.
Any suggestions would be great, thanks