HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: denbesten@cs.bgsu.edu (William C. DenBesten)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Water leaking from TOP of water heater
Date: 26 Jan 93 20:39:56 GMT
Followup-To: misc.consumers.house
Distribution: usa
Organization: Computer Science Bowling Green State University

In article <C1FyDu.Hss@cup.hp.com>, dhepner@cup.hp.com (Dan Hepner) wrote:
> ... If it's a gas heater, make sure that if it
> isn't already done, you replace the stiff gas connection with
> a flexible one.  A plumber would do that as a matter of course.
>

What possible benifit would this give?  I have never seen rigid pipe
develop leaks, but have seen flexible ones develop leaks, due to being
flexed.
From: patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Insulating above a finished attic
Date: 26 Jan 93 17:26:50 GMT
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ

In article <eric.728015238@milton> eric@milton.u.washington.edu (Eric Hirst) writes:

>The primary options, then, are:
>
>1. Stuff in the fiberglass, paper side down, and hope for the best.  Maybe
>increase ventilation in crawl spaces.

First off, Reader's Digest is correct (this time). Any moisture that
might condense in the affected roof are will gravitate to those crawl
spaces and evaporate. Increased ventilation in the crawl spaces can't
hurt.

You will have a problem "stuffing" the FG in because of roofing nails
sticking down through the roof. I would recomend that you work from the
top, if you can get in there. Cut some pieces of plywood to use as
pushers (say, 9" or 12" wide), and work with one of these on top of the
insulation. You can press the FG down far enough with one of these to
clear the nails. This will also leave enough air gaps between the
insulation and the roof to provide more than adequate ventilation.

I did exactly this (actually, my push sticks were 2x4s) a few years ago
in my attic bedroom.

An alternate (and better) method of getting the stuff in there is to
remove the sheet rock, insulate, and re-rock, but this is not for the
faint hearted.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    | There are very few personal problems which
George Patterson -  | cannot be solved by a suitable application
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                    |
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Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: shoaf@helix.nih.gov (Susan E. Shoaf)
Subject: Re: Buying a FSO?
Organization: (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD)
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 13:54:45 GMT

In article <1k1qioINNt97@hp-col.col.hp.com> tvervaek@col.hp.com (Tom Vervaeke) writes:
>
>Hire a real estate attorney to look over any contract before you sigh.
>Make sure it's a real estate attorney. Expect to pay $75-100 per hour.
>It will be worth it.

Get the attorney after you write up the contract, that's when you sigh, and
before you SIGN ;-)
 
>Make sure the sales contract allows you to have the home inspected by a
>professional inspector, and that the sellers must fix all items.

I disagree here-this assumes the sellers would do a good job. Get an inspector
to tell you what needs fixing and then if it's major, get an estimate for
how much it would take to fix it for the long term (as you are going to
have to live with the repair), reduce the offer price by the repair cost.  Or
since many homeowners don't want the sale price to go down, get them to give
you cash back from the sale.

>Get someone to use the MLS service in your area and find out how much
>they paid for the house. If it is no longer in the MLS system, go to the
>country court house and ask to see the land records.. It will be there
>somewhere. Most MLS systems also carry the land records too. Our county
>does. You can then tell what they paid, what their mortgage amount is,
>etc..
This might help you if they have not done extensive upgrades to the house.
If they have upgraded, their cost basis will be higher.  If they used
other than a refinanced mortgage to pay for it, then that won't show up either.

>
>Go with your gut feeling on whether this is the "right" deal.
>
>Good Luck.
Ditto
>
Susan


--
shoaf@clinpharm.niaaa.nih.gov    

National Institute on Alcohol   |If you e-mail me and I don't respond,  
   Abuse and Alcoholism         |it is probably because you are a .com!
From: tvervaek@col.hp.com (Tom Vervaeke)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Cat Repellant
Date: 25 Jan 1993 17:38:35 GMT
Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division
NNTP-Posting-Host: itchub21.cs.itc.hp.com


Wow, it seems like I'm becoming flame bait. It my posts had been read
carefully you would see that I did recommend talking to the neighbors. I
would never harm a neighbors pet just for visiting. We do NOT have a
leash law where we live. However, as part of our covenants it states
something to the effect that if someone else's pet (I assume dog) is
agressively bothering/endangering you, you can shoot it dead. I even
asked a county sheriff (met him at the gas station one day) and he said
that's the way it works. Of course, we live in the country on 5 (but not
100!) acres.

I believe in live and let live. I don't care if it's a dog, cat, child,
etc.. If you're bothering my right to privacy, and I ask you to please
do your best to make it stop, and you take no action, I will! If I could
afford 100 acres I'd do it in a minute for more privacy. In Colorado,
unlike places like New York City, people who live in the "Country" are
private folks. If we were more gregarious we'd live in downtown Denver
or some such place.

I beleive my pellet gun is a very cheap, effective way of keeping your
dog or cat off my property. If for some reason that did not work, I
would call the animal control folks and have him/her taken away. If they
would not do it, I'd have to think what to do. It's hard to imagine that
pet owners don't care where their pets are. They put Spot outside, go to
work, and just hope he's there when they come home!  Is this reasonable?

The bottom line is that there ought to be a test prospective pet owners
take to determine if you are a person who genuinely cares about your
pet. If not, no pet. Of course this will never happen, it's a free
country.  My wife used to work part time as a volunteer for an animal
society, primarily with cats. She (and me to some extent) know what
really happens in the real world to pets out of control.

The problem is the owner of the other pet, not yours.




( ___ )------------------------------------------------------------( ___ )
 | / | Tom Vervaeke           Email:tom_vervaeke@hp0800.desk.hp.com | \ |
 | / | Technology Specialist  Snail: 1900 Garden of the Gods Rd.    | \ |
 | / | Hewlett Packard Co.           Colorado Springs, CO 80901     | \ |
 | / | Colorado Springs, CO   Voice    : 719-590-2133               | \ |
 | / | USA                    Fax      : 719-590-2117               | \ |
 | / |--------------------------------------------------------------| \ |
 | / | Quote of the week...                                         | \ |
 |___|           Quote deleted do to lack of creativity !!!         |___|
(_____)------------------------------------------------------------(_____)
   ^                                                                  ^

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: grun@intellistor.com (Paul Grun)
Subject: Re: Cracks in Foundation
Organization: Intellistor, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 23:52:31 GMT

In <1993Jan19.035506.27864@cbnewsc.cb.att.com> chapin@cbnewsc.cb.att.com ( Tom Chapin ) writes:

>I found a house which looks like just what I want in a location I
>like, for a wonderful price.  Ooops, it has cracks in the foundation.

[some deleted]

>I am by no means an expert about houses, with no real idea whether
>normal settling would ever result in this many cracks, or whether
>they would be an automatic veto, 
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ definitely NOT an automatic veto.
                                 But also something to carefully investigate.
>or whether it would be worth it to
>spend a couple hundred for a rigorous building inspection to find out
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ absolutely. Small potatoes compared to the price of 
						a house.  Or the cost of possible repairs.
>before making any offer.  Anyone with any ideas or experience?

Look out, 'cause here comes some free advice (and that's what it's worth).  

 1) make an offer on the place (if you really want to live there),
 2) have (at least) two contingency clauses inserted in the offer:
   - the first is a contingency on a general inspection, done by an inspector
	 of your choosing.  He'll (she'll?) advise on the expected life of the
	 water heater and other concerns you have. 
   - the second is a contingency on a structural inspection done by a 
	 structural engineer of your choosing. Don't proceed without having an
	 engineer look at it.  If you are concerned, even a little bit, you should
	 not proceed until you have been fully reassured.

>If anyone thinks it might still be worth looking into, does anyone
>know of building inspection types in the western suburbs of Chicago
>who would be particularly well qualified in looking at this sort of
>situation?
Sorry, can't help here.
>-- 
>	     tom chapin                tjc@hrcce.att.com

Like you, I'm no expert, except that I've gone through the house buying/selling
jig a few times.  Don't take my word for it, consult an expert.  Your mile-
age...

-Paul
-- 

goes to show, you don't ever know...
grun@intellistor.com
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Cat Repellant
From: gary@cdthq.UUCP (Gary Heston)
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 09:37:23 CST
Organization: Garys' Home for Obsolete Computers

hubcap@hubcap.clemson.edu (System Janitor) writes:

> tvervaek@col.hp.com (Tom Vervaeke) writes:
> >owner of the cat to keep it home. If not, either take action or call the
> >animal control folks. Why should your life be altered due to lack of
> >control of someone else?
> 
> That's right. If they can't keep the cat in the house all the time,
> send it to the pound. Why even go the tinyest bit out of your way for
> your neighbor?

Because if Tom wants a cat to use his lawn or flowerbeds for a toilet,
or a hunting ground, he'll get one himself. The *owner* of a pet is
responsible for them and any damage they cause. It is the owners'
obligation to keep their pet under control, whether cat, dog, falcon,
or snake. Part of that control is keeping their pet from annoying
the neighbors--but there are many who won't go the tinyest bit out
of their way to be a responsible neighbor.

For a few years, I had to keep my front flowerbeds covered with
chicken wire, to keep the cats out. It's not a trivial matter; I
considered it annoying to have to do that, particularly since the
inconvenience was due to someone elses' pet.

Gary Heston, at home...
gary@cdthq.uucp
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: news@tct.com (Usenet)
Subject: Re: Treating New Shower Doors
Organization: TC Telemanagement, Clearwater, FL
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 18:53:27 GMT

In article <29966@oasys.dt.navy.mil> dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Diane Segelhorst) writes:
>I recall hearing somewhere about a treatment that can be done to new
>glass shower doors, in order to prevent hard water spotting and etching.
>It seems to me it involved rubbing something (dishwashing liquid?) on
>them before they got wet the first time. Can anyone enlighten me further?
>
>Diane Segelhorst
>dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil

I've had some success with Rain-X on the tiles in the shower.  I would 
assume as good or better results on shower doors since it was designed for
glass.  I plan to use it extensively once my new house is completed :-) !

Rain-X is a automotive windshield treatment that makes glass much slipperier, 
allowing the rain (and bugs) to just slip off.  In the 3 years I used it on
my Ford Probe GT (rather laid back windshield) I used my wipers less than a
dozen times...in Florida!  I also used it on the headlights of the car and
motorcycle, the motorcycle fairing, and the helmet visor (a *REAL* must).
It does not have to be used before the surface gets wet, but make SURE it's
clean before applying.

Rain-X is relatively cheap, easy to apply, and lasts quite a while.  The
makers of Rain-X also make a defogger for the inside of the windshield that
is supposed to be excellent (I haven't tried it yet).  This should work very
well on bathroom mirrors to keep them clear.

Best of luck,  (and no, I don't work for Rain-X...I just believe in it!)

jeff@tct.com

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: torerik@cs.washington.edu (Tor Erik Jeremiassen)
Subject: Re: Power and current
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 03:58:07 GMT

In article <25427@galaxy.ucr.edu> judson@watserv.ucr.edu writes:
>In article <C1Bq16.2EA@math.okstate.edu> dunne@math.okstate.edu (Ed Dunne)  
>writes:
>> If I have an appliance with a heating element rated at 850 watts, how
>> much current (in amps) is it going to draw in a standard 110V circuit?
>
>
>P*V=I
>thus,
>(110 V) * (.850 Kw) = 93.5 A
>

This is clearly wrong.

93.5 A is about an order of magnitude larger than the real answer.

The correct formula is:

P = V * I  <==>  I = P / V, therefore I = 850 W/110 V = 7.7 A



Tor Jeremiassen
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond)
Subject: Re: Cat Repellant
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 21:26:25 GMT
Organization: Dixie Communications Public Access.  The Mouth of the South.

allen@tessi.com (Allen Warren) writes:

>>  . . . Our neighborhood also has no solicitation
>>signs too. A local neighbor, tired of being bothered by folks from the
>>city selling magazines, sicked his dog on the salesman. Guess the word
>>got around, haven't had any salemen this year so far!

>Whereas I can somewhat believe the above, by legal right, if the homeowner
>actually "sicked" his dog on the salesman, the salesman could file a formal
>complaint against the homeowner and homeowner's dog with the Animal
>Control Agency and also sue the homeowner.  

What you can and can't do depends highly on where you live and the status
of your property.  Here in Georgia, if my property is legally posted,
which involves registering the posting at the court house and erecting
county-approved signs around the property line so that one is visible
at any point on the property boundary, one can legally take quite 
severe actions against trespassers.  I understand we have one of the 
stronger posting laws (thank God.)

The way I deal with door-to-door beggars is with a large yellow sign
on my door that reads:

"WARNING:  Solicitors and Beggars shot on sight.  No questions asked.
Govern yourself accordingly."  

I also try to leave a pistol shell casing or two laying around on the 
walk.  My neighboors tell me the sign is quite effective, judging by
the number of H.Rollers repelled.  I can't tell for sure because I never
hear the bell they don't ring.... :-)

John
-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC               |Interested in high performance mobility?  
Performance Engineering Magazine(TM) | Interested in high tech and computers? 
Marietta, Ga                         | Send ur snail-mail address to 
jgd@dixie.com                        | perform@dixie.com for a free sample mag
Need Usenet public Access in Atlanta?  Write Me for info on Dixie.com.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: drand@spinner.osf.org (Douglas S. Rand)
Subject: Re: Breaker won't reset
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: 22 Jan 93 17:51:09

In article <C19ozw.4yr@srgenprp.sr.hp.com> brett@sr.hp.com () writes:

   Last night we had the breaker on the dish-washer/disposal circuit trip.
   At least I assume it tripped.  We tried to turn on the disposal and
   nothing happened.  After checking inside, I checked the breakers and found
   that one tripped.

   I don't know why it tripped either.  There was no unusual load (the disposal
   wan't clogged or jammed).

   The problem is that I can't get the breaker to reset.  The lever moves, but
   it won't 'click' off or back on.  It just stays in the tripped state.

   So, do I need to replace the breaker?  Do they tend to die in this way (the
   house is about 10 years old)?  Is there something else I can do or something
   simple (ie obvious) I missed?

If it won't click off then replace the breaker.  Breakers
do die.  Take down the name of the panel manufacturer and
start with a local homecenter.  If they don't carry the 
breakers,  then go to an electrical supply house.

--
Douglas S. Rand <drand@osf.org>		OSF/Motif Dev.
Snail:         11 Cambridge Center,  Cambridge,  MA  02142
Disclaimer:    I don't know if OSF agrees with me... let's vote on it.
Amateur Radio: KC1KJ
From: behnke@FNALF.FNAL.GOV (M.L. 'Broomen' Behnke)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: The Dutch Challenge
Date: 21 Jan 1993 19:37:19 GMT
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab
Reply-To: behnke@FNALF.FNAL.GOV
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov

In article <93021.120317BOYDJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>, Jeff Boyd <BOYDJ@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>
>One of my first tasks as flood season drew near was to stuff a heavy rag
>into the sump feed and brace it in with a strong stick.  This would slow
>the sump inflow rate to the point where a single 1/3hp pump could easily
>handle the job.  However, you need to be confident that the water can't
>simply find a new route into your basement, or if it can (eg. seepage)
>that the effective inflow rate is low.  Our experience with seepage was
>that the inflow rate was tiny compared to the sump feed.
>

But, is the water coming through the walls, or entering the sump via the
foundation drainage system.  If it's coming through the walls, plugging up the
inflow to the sump won't help much.  If the water is coming through the
foundation drainage system, plugging it up will slow down the inflow, but all
that water is backing up somewhere (under the floor, outside the basement walls,
etc.).  Once it builds up enough hydralic pressure, the water is going to invade
the basement again through the weakest point (around the wall/floor joint) with
a far amount of force(I can just see Jeff going into his basement and finding
little gysers all around the perimeter of his basement).  If the wall/floor
joint holds (unlikely), the next area of concern would be the pressure against
the outsides of the basement walls.  Once enough pressure builds up, the walls
will start to crack and bulge, starting at the lowest point on the wall.  In no
time the walls will fail completely and one then has the *FUN* task of jacking
up the house (if the local building inspector doesn't condemn it and order it
demolished), putting it on a temporary foundation, digging out your mud filled
basement, put up new walls and foundation, then dropping the house onto the new
basement walls.  Quite an expense can be caused by a rag.

Just my $.02

Mike Behnke
Fermi Nat Accel Lab
Batavia, Il.
BEHNKE@FNALF.FNAL.GOV

My opinions are my own, and not those of the lab.

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond)
Subject: Re: No Hot Water!
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 93 05:41:30 GMT
Organization: Dixie Communications Public Access.  The Mouth of the South.
Distribution: na

perley@cabot.balltown.cma.COM (Don Perley) writes:

>>One of life's little pleasures is a good HOT shower at about 6-8 GPM.
>>It took me quite a while to find a shower head capable of this.  I finally
>>had to buy an old one at an antique flea-market.  I figure my wife and I
>>about equate a 4 person family with more conventional water use patterns.


>Hmmm.. more than that.  I seem to recall in another post you said these showers
>run about 20 minutes, so that's potentally 160 gallons.  I have read that 
>a typical person uses about 50 gallons/day of water total, so your shower
>(if daily) is more than a family of 3 all by itself, and it's all HOT.

I don't think it's quite that bad.  My tankless heater can heat 3.5
gpm to a 100 degree rise.  That would mean about 150 degree hot water
most of the year.  Cut that water by a bit more than a third with cold water 
to make the shower right and that ~5 gpm.  We had an 80 gal heater before
and we could both barely get through a long, lazy saturday morning :-)

>Conservation aside, If you have trouble finding enough flow in a
>shower head in the future you could just get 3 or 4 of the modern
>heads and have them spray you from all directions.

Yep.  I got an even better idea after touring the Builtmore mansion in
North Carolina.  The showers there had a hoop of piping around the bottom and
top of the shower with several (4 or 5) heads on each and in addition
a LARGE (~ 1 foot dia) head in the center pointing down.  Water was 
heated in a heat exchanger from building steam.  Had a real industrial
flavor to it. :-)  Another alternative might be a deluge shower head
from an industrial chemical safety shower.

John

-- 
John De Armond, WD4OQC               |Interested in high performance mobility?  
Performance Engineering Magazine(TM) | Interested in high tech and computers? 
Marietta, Ga                         | Send ur snail-mail address to 
jgd@dixie.com                        | perform@dixie.com for a free sample mag
Need Usenet public Access in Atlanta?  Write Me for info on Dixie.com.
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house,misc.kids
From: chrz@tellabs.com (Peter Chrzanowski)
Subject: Re: Hot water too hot
Organization: Tellabs, Inc.
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 23:31:28 GMT

In article <74269@cup.portal.com>, Renee@cup.portal.com (Renee Linda Roberts) writes:
> Tell the landlord (or property cooperative leaders) to turn it down! It
> wastes energy, especially if it is over 140 degrees. Turning it down to
> 120 will make it so it will take more than 5 minutes to sustain a burn,
> thereby also saving them from potential liability claims (If the energy
> idea doesn't work, the legal usually does).

I agree with this.

The original objection was that dishwashers don't work properly unless the
water is at least 140F.  That's true, but it's also true that most modern
dishwashers have pre-heat capability: if the incoming water is not hot
enough, they'll heat it until it is.

The most common *real* reason I've seen for landlords heating the water
to scalding temperature is a too-small hot water tank.  They don't
want to replace it, and figure you'll use less if you have to mix
it with cold.

Now for REALLY hot water, I can still remember the dishwasher job I
had when in college.  New York State said that water had to be 180F!

Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
From: patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com (patterson,george r)
Subject: Re: What to caulk chimney flashing with?
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 19:59:49 GMT

In article <18143@umd5.umd.edu> bwilliam@oyster.smcm.edu (Bill Williams) writes:
>We have a few leaks around the metal flashing that joins our old brick
>chimney to the roof.  What's the best goop for re-caulking this kind of
>thing?  Silicone?  Roofing "tar" from the hardware store?  Some archane
>commercial stuff?  Any suggestions would be welcome.

The black roofing cement from the hardware store or lumber yard.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
                    |
George Patterson -  | Of course I talk to myself; I appreciate an
                    | attentive audience and an intelligent speaker.
                    |                            Henry Broadbent
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