HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: thompson@forsyth.wsnc.org
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Source for audio/video/network wiring stuff
Date: 2 Jan 93 11:45:17 EST
Organization: Forsyth County, Winston-Salem  NC

In article <BRENNAN.93Jan1215250@hysteria.hal.com>, brennan@hal.com (Dave Brennan) writes:
> I'm having a house built and will be doing the wiring for cable, phones,
> audio, and twisted-pair.  Can anyone suggest or recommend a source for the
> wiring (coax, audio wire, and type 3 or type 5 multi-pair), outlets (coax
> and configurable phone, serial, thin ethernet), push-down blocks, patch
> panels, and anything else that would be useful?  Since I'll have phone,
> serial, and twisted-pair, I was wondering if there's anyway to get away with
> using a single patch panel instead of three.
> 
> Overall I'm interested in minimizing mu costs without sacrificing too much
> in the short term and not locking myself out in the long term.  I've never
> done anything to this scale before (just wired phones and audio) so
> suggestions in general to the task at hand would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> --
> Dave Brennan                                      HaL Computer Systems
> brennan@hal.com                                         (512) 794-2855
-- 
I'd recommend that you get a copy of David Gaddis' book on Home Automation. You
can order it from Home Automation Labs (1-800-HOMELAB).  This books goes into
a considerable amount of detail concerning prewiring for phones, data, audio,
video, etc.

As far as a source for the cabling, etc., I recommend Interconnect Products
at 1-800-832-2664.  Talk to Rene Brown.

I have no connection with either of these companies except as a satisfied
customer.


____________________________________________________________________________
Robert Bruce Thompson                thompson@ledger.forsyth.wsnc.org
Forsyth County MIS Department        (919) 727-2597 x3012
Winston-Salem, North Carolina USA    (919) 727-2020 (FAX)
From: patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r)
Subject: Re: Corporate-owned housing
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 92 01:21:28 GMT

In article <BzqBII.MHE@boi.hp.com> bobpassl@boi.hp.com (Bob Passell) writes:
>
>When someone is transferred and the relocation company
>takes over the house, who owns it?

This is bound to differ from company to company, and I have only second
hand info. My sister is an IBMer (which some claim stands for "I've Been
Moved"). When she was relocated the last time, she told me that IBM
bought the house from her and resold it at a loss. She had, of course,
attempted to sell the house herself and failed.

>Or would the fact that the owner was a corporate entity
>with a capital budget and no emotional reason for selling
>the house pretty much mean that it would be priced (and sold)
>at pretty much the prevailing market rate no matter how long 
>it took?

My understanding is that IBM deals this way - they *are* business people,
after all, and know sales well. The only reason they took a loss in my
sister's case is that market value had fallen below the amount of her
investment in the house. They paid her the amount she had invested and
sold the house at market.

If the market is poor, IBM may also hold on to such a house, offering it
to other employees transferring into the area. If I remember correctly,
they owned my sister's house for two years.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    |
George Patterson -  | When you're working on a project and drop
                    | something, it will never reach the ground.
                    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: jberlin@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Woodburning Stoves - outlawed?
Date: 28 Dec 92 13:02:52 EST
Organization: USAF AL/CFH, WPAFB, Dayton, OH


   An article in Sunday's real estate section proclaimed that home builders
in the Dayton area are refraining from installing woodburning fireplaces
and inserts in new homes and condominiums because of *possible* future
legislation against the burning of wood.  Is this a trend nationwide?
Does a 1990 EPA rating or use of a catalytic unit in the stove circumvent
any such legislation?  Are old units grandfathered? 
-- 

  Jim Berlin
 
"The opinions and views expressed here are strictly my own and do not 
necessarily reflect the official position of either the U.S. Air Force 
or its contractors."

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: nms@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (n.m.scribner)
Subject: Gas Water Heaters??
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 05:16:08 GMT

I need to replace my current standard 40 Gal. gas water heater.
Is there a collection of precious discussion on this subject ?
If so would someone please mail it to me -- I could not find such
a collection in the FAQ list for this newsgroup.

More specifically:
I need to replace my current 40 gal. gas with a larger (about 70 gal.)
gas because I now have 2 teen agers and a large Jacuazzi (the later is
used infrequently).  Are there any special features I should look for?
Does anyone know if a 10 year water heater is really any more likely
to last for 10 years than a 5 year heater ?

I would appreciate a direct reply if possible.
Thanks, Neal Scribner

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Cable TV Wiring & Antenna
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 01:22:05 GMT

lim@addvax.llnl.gov (Doug Lim) writes:
: 
: I was contemplating attaching an antenna into where the cable box (attached to
: the side of my house) comes into my house, thus using the existing TV wiring!
: Is this legal to do? Is this just like telephone wiring - in my house,
: therefore mine? I have been warned by a co-worker to be careful not to
: accidently disconnect any of my neighbors cable TV down stream of me as this
: used to happen all the time to him when he lived in an apartment. What do I
: need to look out for and how can I tell before the cable company and my
: neigbors come after me? :-)

Yes, you own the cable inside the house.

If you have a house, rather than living in an apartment, then there is no
way you can affect your neighbors' cable. You will have a separate drop off
of the main cable.

You will want to disconnect the cable, before installing the antenna, if you
use the method you describe.

: I opened up the cable TV box and inside were the following connectors:
:    Viewsonics VSSM-HPF-1 High Pass Filter
:    Viewsonics VSSRE-4 (1 In Cable Connection, 4 6.5db Out Cable Connections)
:    Signal Vision SV-2A 2-Way Splitter
: 
: The are connected using the following configuration:
: 
: From  In  -------------- Out  In --------- Out   To
: Wall -----| VSSM-HPF-1 |---------| SV-2A |------ Wall
:           --------------         ---------
:                                      | Out
:                                      |
:                                      | In
:                                 -----------
:                                 | VSSRE-4 |
:                                 -----------
:                                  |  |  |  | 6.5db connections
:                                  |  |  |  |
:                                   To Wall
: 
: I have five cable plugs in my house, so am I correct in assuming the five
: (4 out of VSSRE-4 and 1 out of SV-2A) going to the wall are to my plugs and the
: one cable into the input to the VSSM-HPF-1 is from the street and would be
: the cable signal if I subscribed? Can I then just remove the cable going to
: the input of VSSM-HPF-1 and connect a cable from my antenna into there instead?

The answer is yes - to both questions. 

However, I would change the order of the splitters.  I would connect the
VSSRE-4 after the high pass filter - then use one of its outputs as the
input to the SV-2A. With the current configuration, you have half of the
signal going to one TV - the other 4 TVs have to share the other half of
the signal.  By rearrangeing, 3 of the TVs would each get 25%, with the
other two sharing the remaining 25%. This balances the signal levels 
much better.

Bill
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: tomj@monster.apd.saic.com (Tom Johnson)
Subject: Re: I was dive bombed by a bat!
Organization: SAIC, Reston, VA
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 14:19:02 GMT


In article <1992Dec17.234448.2382@advtech.uswest.com> jsims@uswest.com (John Sims) writes:
>
>Anyway if there are any net.bat.experts out there, I'm wondering:


>2) What would a bat nest look like and what should I do if I find one?

My two oldest kids (ages 3 and 5) and I spent several enjoyable evenings
playing with our bats.  We'd throw things up in the air and watch the bats
track them with their sonar.  LOTS of fun, and now the kids really like
bats.  Better than being scared of the little cuties.

--  batman
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: jeffj@panix.com (Jeff Jonas)
Subject: Re: "balancing" a power panel
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 08:38:29 GMT
Organization: Jeff's House of Electronic Parts

In article <1992Dec30.175625.17689@phx.mcd.mot.com> fredch@phx.mcd.mot.com
	(Fred Christiansen) writes:
>What does "balancing" a power panel mean?  Why is it necessary?  How
>is it typically accomplished?  Yes, I know I can ask my electrician,
>but the Net often has many gems of wisdom which I would not get from
>a non-talkative tradesman.  Thx.

I'll try to make this brief but informative.
The usual electrical power you draw from an outlet is a single sine
wave that's 120 volts on the average (using a root-mean-square average
thus the "volts AC - RMS" on voltmeters).

Since sine waves go to zero twice per cycle, there are 120 times
a second that there is no voltage on the line (the U.S. is 60 Hertz).
This is inefficient for the transmission of electrical power,
so power lines tend to use polyphase / multiple phase transmission.
The 3 lines are 120 degrees out of phase to each other so there's
always a line carrying power at any given moment in time.

2 phases are delivered to your house.  If they're 120 degrees
out of phase, you get 208 volts across the lines.
If they're 180 degrees out of phase, you get 240 volts across
the lines.  This matters only if you have some non-120 volt circuits
for large appliances (such as electrical clothes dryers).

It's polite to the electric company to draw equally from both
sides of the line.  There are actually 3 lines going to your house:
the two "hot" wires and a neutral line.
You get 120 volts from either hot to the neutral.
If you draw the same amount of power from both hot wires,
there should be no current flowing through the neutral wire.
This makes for happy transformers and a happy electrical company.
Unbalance the load and you're drawing power from only one side of the
house's feed.  In the least, this is wasting the capacity
of the other hot wire that's less loaded.
In the worst case, you're placing your power demand on one output of
the transformer feeding your house instead of spreading it to
two outputs.  It's this stressing of the utility's equipment
that the electric company dislikes.
Since you share the transformer with your neighbors,
their loads and yours should balance out.

So - yes, you need to anticipate how much power you're going to draw
from the circuits and split them half and half.
Most breaker panels help by alternating the phases to alternate
breakers.  220v circuits simply have a double width breaker.

I hope I made this clearer.
I'd make an analogy if I could think of some well understood
case of something with 2 equal sources.
(like, you have 2 wells for water.  Take all your water from only
one and you'll start coming up dry, so it's in your best interest
to draw from both wells equally).

-- Jeffrey Jonas
jeffj@panix.com
From: rem@rockit.Eng.Sun.COM (Ralph E. Miller)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Wanted: Dry Wall Person (South Bay)
Date: 4 Jan 93 05:26:10 GMT
Distribution: ba
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: rockit



I need someone to repair (fill in, and texture) a number of wall socked
sized holes in my San Jose house.  If you know a skilled dry wall
artist, please pass along the name to me.

Thanks,
Ralph Miller
rem@sun.com
415-336-2178
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: guy@ns.network.com (Guy D'Andrea)
Subject: VA and FORCLOSURE, etc.:  So far....
Organization: Network Systems Corporation
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 92 17:28:31 GMT

Dec.14th 1992, we put money down on a home that was not "quite" into forclosure
from the VA.  We did not know until after the offer to the owner, that he
has not made his payments for the last 4-5 months.  Well he wasn't going to make
anything on the deal so he said our offer was fine.  It had to go to the VA and
we were told that it takes 3 days for that.  (SHHHhhh-yea, right!)  Then the VA
had to decide (since it was a VA loan) whether it was worth taking our offer and
the loss of $$$ from the original price they loaned for, or let the owner keep
the house and continue "not paying" on the house, and then go through forclosure
- then they can up the price from what we offered I guess...

Well today we found out the final approval from VA was done Dec. 24th but we did
not find out until today. (Merry Christmas to us!!!!)  What we found out was 
that the VA did the figures and found if we bought the house the VA would lose
about $20,000 on the deal.  BUT,... if they went through the forclosure on the
house, the VA would lose about $32,000 on the deal (This figure includes the 
realtor costs, 7%).  I know we are dealing with the government so numbers don't
always mean anything, but this time it did!  ;-)   Now if everything goes well
on our closing of OUR house, we will be in the new one in about a month!  ;-)

What I wanted you all to know was that it DID take from Dec. 14th (the offer) to
Dec. 28th to know whether our offer had been accepted or not.  This is not a 
quick process, although alot had to do with the owners going through a divorce 
so all paperwork had to go though their lawyers all the time...  Never-the-less,
I can say it was worth the wait to get such a great deal on a lovely house!

Good luck to all and thanks for all the help I have received here!!!!  ;-)

-Guy

 guy@nsco.network.com, Guy Dandrea, Network Systems Corp., Mpls. MN 55428,  USA 
                        1-800-328-9108  Fax:(612)424-1736 

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: Jensen_C@msm.cdx.mot.com
Subject: Re: Home Automation -- NOT X10
Organization: Motorola_Codex
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 17:45:36 GMT

In article <1992Dec29.220442.5536@phx.mcd.mot.com> fredch@phx.mcd.mot.com (Fred
Christiansen) writes:

...

>Builder magazine contains many ads for something called SmartHouse.
>Try 800-333-2411.
>-- 

That number has been changed to 800-759-3344
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r)
Subject: Re: boxing in a whole-house fan
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 93 04:41:55 GMT

In article <1993Jan4.023541.28570@ulysses.att.com> smb@research.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>I strongly suspect that during the winter, we're losing a lot of warm air 
>through the louvres of the whole-house fan.  Even if I sealed the top of
>the fan with plastic, there still wouldn't be any insulation.

You're correct. This is costing you.

>My idea is to construct a plywood box around the fan, with permanent sides
>about 12-15" high.  In the winter, I'd add a lid on top of this, with
>appropriate insulation and weather stripping.
>
>So -- first, will this actually do any good?  Second, will the plywood box
>impair the efficiency of the fan during the summer?  The peak of the roof
>is ~6.5' above the fan at the high point, alone one edge of the fan;
>naturally, it slopes down from there.

Taking #2 first, I'd guess that the box wouldn't hurt the performance of
the fan, but that's a guess. Why don't you knock a rough box together next
summer and try it out before you spend lots of time doing the permanent job?

In the meantime, do what a friend of mine did. She simply laid pieces of
faced insulation over the fan side by side, forming a solid layer over
the fan. (Actually, she didn't do this - she hired me to do it.) I put
the vapor barrier side down, and cut the pieces long enough to touch the
regular attic insulation on all sides. It sort of formed a domed tent
over the fan. Then we tripped the breaker to make sure nobody cut the
thing on by mistake.

She was quite satisfied with the results. She left it that way and put
in an air conditioner.

If it turns out that a box would interfere with the fan operation,
perhaps you can build it in such a way that the entire box can be taken
apart and removed each summer. Or you could hinge the sides so that they
fold down.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    |
George Patterson -  | If you maintain your motorcycle yourself,
                    | eventually you will have two of them.
                    |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r)
Subject: Re: "balancing" a power panel
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 93 22:39:28 GMT

In article <4094@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca> clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis) writes:
>In article <1993Jan1.005238.15689@porthos.cc.bellcore.com> patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r) writes:
>
>|In this area of the country, the total of each side's breakers cannot
>|exceed the size of the main breaker by law. Previous postings on this
>|subject indicate that this is not a universal code.
>
>In fact, previous postings show that your area is the exception.  Most
>places don't require this.  Must make wiring really wierd.  If you have
>more than a dryer, stove and kitchen, you'd have to have 300A or bigger
>services.  My house would need a 600A main...

Not really. In this area, anyone with any sense of economics uses gas
for everything they can. That brings you in at 100 or 150 amp service.
If I had an electric dryer, stove, and water heater, I'd need a 250 amp
service for my house.

As it is, I have a relatively new 125 amp main breaker and have one empty
15 amp circuit left for a four bedroom house. In accordance with practices
taught me by a military electrician, I have split the existing circuits
so that none of them have more than nine duplex outlets or twelve light
fixtures (or any equivalent combination of the two) per 20 amp supply.
Four of the circuits are dedicated to appliances.

Now, my parents house in Tennessee was all-electric at one time. It had
one 250 amp fuse panel for the heat, a separate 300 amp breaker panel
for nearly everything else, and a panel for the shop with four fuses in
it. With the exception of the shop fuse box, this was typical of houses
constructed in the 60s in that area. The conduit for the main service
is about four inches in diameter.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    | The gum-chewing girl and the cud-chewing cow
                    | are very alike, and yet different somehow
George Patterson -  | And after much study I think I know now.
                    | It's the clear, thoughtful look
                    |                        on the face of the cow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: majidi@yoko.rutgers.edu (Masoud Majidi)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: are mortgage points tax-deductible?
Date: 23 Dec 92 14:18:05 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

I would like to thank everyone who replied to my message either by posting
to this newsgroup or sending me e-mail.

I just called the toll free number of IRS (800) 829-1040 and was told the 
following:

For conventional mortgages if you have paid the points out of your pocket 
(I didn't know that there was another way of paying anything) if you use 
the house as your primary residence and if your income is below $102,xxx
then the points are fully duductible in the year purchase was made.

I am going to read the related publication just to make sure that the above
information is correct but again the above was told to me 5 minutes ago by
an IRS clerk so it should be pretty accurate.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to reply to my message.

Masoud Majidi,
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: cris@rigel4.fiu.edu (Cris Moore)
Subject: Pet Smells
Organization: Florida International University, Miami
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 16:02:41 GMT
Keywords: PET 


How should I go about removing the odor that was left after a room had been occupied by 
dogs & cats for several months (don't ask)....

The smell seems to be even in the walls....please help.


-- 
Cris Moore (cris@fiu.edu)     |   Why is this "page" intentionally left blank
Florida International U.      |   when it isn't?
Workstation Support           |
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: charvey@teal.csn.org (Chip Harvey)
Subject: Re: I was dive bombed by a bat!
Organization: Colorado SuperNet, Inc.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 15:27:57 GMT

What attracts bats?  I'm no bat expert either.  But I do recall an incident at
the University of Florida (Gainesville) last year or the year before. 
Concerned administrators built an attractive (to the bat) "bat house" in a
rural area of campus near Lake Alice (mosquitos) to lure bats from some of the
campus buildings they had adopted over the years.  As I recall, what made
the bat house "attractive" to the bats was a large amount of guano put
inside. Apparently, bats (as do most mammals) have a well developed olfactory
sense.  The key then was to eliminate the attractive smell of sh_t from
the campus buildings (!), and seal the holes the bats used to enter.  A
hibernating bat probably doesn't do much guanoing, and so bat assemblages
due to the scent of guano probably isn't something to worry about
during the winter.  

I don't know how the "Bat House" experiment turned out; maybe some UF
netters could comment.
From: jberlin@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: energy saving rebates 
Date: 24 Dec 92 08:22:18 EST
Organization: USAF AL/CFH, WPAFB, Dayton, OH

>>>Philip Barr <pbarr@convex.UUCP> writes:
>>>
>>>yes, but.... where is the economy for the utility company that gives
>>>cash rebates for appliances (ie. refrigerators) that use LESS energy
>>>instead of more energy?  in other words, why would the utility pay
>>>me to use less energy?  what's in it for them?


   Utilities are a regulated monopoly, they are pretty much guaranteed to
make money on regular operations, thus rates can and will go up.  However,
if more generating capacity is needed, they will have to enter a risky
undertaking, namely construction, permits, environmental impact studies,
siting studies -- a sinkhole for cash.  In many cases this can stretch out
over ten years or so, and they often are not permitted to reflect this 
cost in their rates until the generating plant is on line.  Meanwhile the
interest meter is running on all that cash.  Along with some possible
tax incentives, it makes more sense to reduce usage and avoid construction
expenses.
-- 

  Jim Berlin
 
"The opinions and views expressed here are strictly my own and do not 
necessarily reflect the official position of either the U.S. Air Force 
or its contractors."

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house