How can I figure out why my circular saw has stopped working? I have a Hitachi C 7SB2 circular saw that has very few hours on it, but is perhaps 10 years old. I cut a piece of wood, put saw down, then tried to cut a second piece, but the saw would not run. I checked the outlet for voltage, and it was fine. Checked the cord for continuity, which was also fine. Checked the switch by opening the case, and found that current is getting past the switch. I then bypassed the switch, but the saw still would not run. I removed the brushes and checked for voltage at the brush terminals, and found that it had 120 volts. Finally I opened the saw case to check for obvious damage to rotor or stator, though I did not remove the stator.

Is there any test that I can do with a multimeter, or other device to check further?

I don't see any electronics in the parts diagram.

" ... a spindle lock provides an extra level of safety" from the product description on amazon.  If that is not the cause, I'd phone Hitachi customer support.

Most Table saws have an overload reset button on the saw somewhere


What is the best short-term solution for fused neutrals? I have inherited a house that has been in my wife's family since 1860.  I do not know when it was electrified, but it seems to have skipped knob and tube.  There is a lot of fabric-covered wire, and also some more modern romex wire.  On examining the fusebox (yes, fuses, no breakers) I see that both the hot leg and the neutral leg have fuses in them.

My long-term strategy is to replace the fusebox with a modern panel with breakers.  In the short term, I have purchased 30 Amp fuses which I intend to install in the neutral fuse positions.  (The hot-leg fuses are 15 or 20 Amp.)  My thinking is, since the hot-leg fuse is of a lower rating, it will blow instead of the neutral leg fuse.

Is this an acceptable solution?  Is there a better way to ensure a continuous neutral leg connection?

I understand the theory of what you're trying to do, but I also understand the theory of the electrical installer that put fuses on both wires.  You still have a wire running through the house that is only designed for 15-20 amps even if it's the neutral that should be fused via the hot.  If there was ever a short that resulted in 25 amps going down the neutral, you could be looking at a dangerous situation.

My suggestion, if you want to fix it, is to go all the way and modernize the wiring with a full rip and replace.  Although the reason I avoid older homes is because I would end up ripping and replacing so much that it's cheaper to get the newer home (think insulation, wiring, windows, weather seal, etc).  And until then, if a fuse blows, don't assume the wires are safe unless you have personally removed the hot fuse.

No- do not overrate the neutral side of things, try to keep them in line. The reason that the neutral is fused is for the early stages of earth leakage. This is usually caused by faulty appliances, damp, reverse shorts or any other problem that may cause electricity to travel down the neutral line.

Today the neutral is controlled in the distribution boxes found in the street. They have some more complex breakers in there; that's why in new distribution boxes you don't need anything really.

In modern wiring you would use an earth leakage circuit breaker that is more advanced than a simple fuse and can be coupled to a lightning breaker if your area is known for lightning storms.

-Edit for comment

NEC 240.22  Over current devices

This is typically for 2+ phase wiring and not sure how this relates to home wiring.

If its like a air-conditioner on a single phase, you would have a main switch that breaks live and ground but the breaker is in the distribution box.

I am unaware about the requirements for a fuse on the neutral. Like I said, the DB will have a surge protector, if any thing weird happens, like GND-GND leak, Live Short the entire Neutral will break too. Otherwise only the Live supply will trip on current overload. It is still required to have an isolation switch near every device any way.

*Obviously this is all scratching the surface here and should not be done with out approval of electrical engineers. US and EU standards vary allot so I have since stopped answering these questions. And any way the op is talking about 1860 house where there were no standards. *


Why does my home's power fade and surge when I plug things in? I live in Texas.  I ran 300 ft of aluminum electric direct-bury 4-4-2 from the pole on street to my new home. The pole is metered and yes, I had my utility's blessing to do so.

Everything worked perfectly for 6 months, but now suddenly if I plug anything (lamp, heater, charger ) in my lights dim, or sometimes if I plug in elsewhere things get very bright or plug in heaters work better or worse depending.

There’s no rhyme or reason to any of it.

I have undone and redone every receptacle to be sure.
I installed 50 amp breakers in every slot of box on house to try to solve this problem to no avail. (I have never once tripped a breaker ever)
I haven’t been able to put up sheetrock because I don’t want to have to remove it.

Call your UTILITY now on their EMERGENCY NUMBER

Your service neutral is going bad.  This is a power outage even though it doesn't appear so -- the fluctuations in light and heat you see are because the 0V reference mark for all your 120V outlets is no longer acting as such, resulting in outlets getting higher and lower voltages depending on what else is plugged in.  There's a good chance some things will eventually catch on fire if you keep this up

And please put properly rated breakers back in, so you aren't playing with fire for any longer than you already have been!  Whoever told you to do what you did with your breakers knows nothing about electricity, and should not be treated as a reliable source of electrical advice ever again!

It's just a hunch, but the fact that it worked correctly for 6 months and is now displaying symptoms of a ground fault to me indicates corrosion.

You mention that the 300 foot of wire you buried from the utility pole was aluminum.  Your house is most likely copper.  Did you use bi-metal splices to join the two wires together?

You should never join dissimilar metals together directly.  The two different metals will result in galvanic corrosion.  Over time this will be a fire hazard, as you will get arcing across the gap created by the corrosion.

So my advice would be to have a qualified electrician inspect these wires and the unions as quickly as possible.  The situation you describe is a dangerous fire hazard.


What ceramic tile base can I use over solid wood subfloor that's not too thick? I am renovating my kitchen and bathroom. My house was built in 1952. I will be installing ceramic floors in both. I have 5-1/2 x 3/4 tongue and groove boards running diagonally and nailed to the floor joists.

If I use 3/4" t&g plywood followed by 7/16" cement board and then tile my floor will be too high. What is the best method to prep for tile?

3/4" t&g plywood (not OSB) over 3/4" boards would be adequate by itself, in my opinion. The industry often suggests 1-1/4" as a minimum, and you'd exceed that.

Only good answer is go down. Cut the substrate boards, install quality 3/4" tongue & groove plywood, install cementboard.


Wiresize required for air conditioner of 1.5 tonne is 2.5 sq mm will work? My home has copper wire of 2.5 sq mm fitted with 15 Ampere plugs for running appliance. All wires are connected to main electricity meter with max distance (i think it is required) of 40 foots/feets.

The voltage is 220 volt which vary from say 180 to 240 may be. The power consumption stated by AC is 1550 watt (3 star 1.5 tonne voltas AC)

I will be adding a stabilizer 4 KVA to AC and that stabilizer will be inserted in socket of 15 Amperes.

Can you please help will it work?

2.5mm^2 wire is good for 18A inside a wall, so you are limited by the 15A sockets. A 220V 15A socket can deliver 3.3kW, and even if the voltage drops to 180V it can still do 2.7kW.  Your aircon requires 1.55kW so there is enough power available.

Depending on the type of aircon, it might draw more Volt-Amps than it does Watts. This would happen if it uses a big motor, and has a poor power factor.  Most aircons would be fine, but without looking in the manual for your particular model, it's hard to be sure.

Stabilizers are rarely used in my country, so I can't say much about that part of things, but your 15A sockets cannot supply 4KVA. If the load on the stabiliser stays at 1.5kW, it may be that the stabiliser will always stay below the 2.7kW which is available. If it tries to draw 4KVA from your sockets, there will be problems - either blown fuses, or, if you don't have fuses then a house fire.  Check the manual for the stabiliser to see how it works, and make sure you install 15A fuses somewhere between the wall socket and the stabiliser.

If in doubt, get a qualified electrician in.

Your wire is good enough man, what you need to change is the the 15A socket, just buy a 16 AMP or more Socket and install it on place of old one. No, issues.


Is it useful to paint outdoor conduit white to reduce the temperature? The typical color of most types of electrical conduit is dark gray.

I plan to run some kind of conduit along the edge of a flat roof to install security cameras, and I'm already worried about the heat radiating from the black roof not being good for the cables.

Will painting the conduit white help it absorb less heat from the sunlight directly in the conduit itself? Even if it is less heat, will it be enough to make a difference? Or am I worrying about nothing and it will be fine?

Elevating the conduit 7/8” or more off the roof surface will be more effective than painting but yes white is the least heat absorbing color.  Why 7/8” elevation? That is what code requires or a temperature adder is used when derating the wire; with 7/8” elevation, the adder is not required. This is located in section 310.15(A)(3)(c), "Raceways and Cables Exposed to Sunlight on Rooftops".

The heat radiated from a black roof will be less than radiated from any other colour of roof (because other colours reflect more light).

You haven't said what type of cable you plan to use, but it will probably be fine.

Conduit may be is hard to water-proof. use damp resistant cable.


Can I connect the ground pin of the wall socket to neutral? I have leaking currents issues in my apartment. There are some appliances in the apartment that don't have a problem with a wall socket that doesn't have a ground; like, TV, mobile charger, laptop charger, water heater, clothes washer, electric oven and router.

But there are other appliances that have a problem and need grounding to get rid of these leaking currents in the apartment which are; the PC rig power supply and my dish washer, but what is the reason of getting electric shock in my apartment ! I don't know.

The dish washer most the time shock me when I touch its internal metal surface, and my PC power supply is under the stress of leaking currents all the time ! Every time I touch the edges of the case I get an electric shock.

I thought the power supply is faulty, and I bought a new one and the same problem ! Then I learned that power supply need the ground but why exactly, I don't know.

======================================================================

Now it come to the configuration of electrical installation in my country. We now in modern cities, have 3-ph, star connection to the main panel of each apartment. Between each phase is 391V and any phase with neutral is 220V.

I think the neutral is also connected to the earth because in the main panel there's a big black wire that's going down with the 3-ph cables too. But I'm not sure if it's really going to a REAL ground of the building.

========================================================================

OK guys I have some new stuff I found inside the apartment :)

Today I did a trick that my colleagues told me to do.

Which is to connect the power strip and measure the voltages between L-GND and N-GND, and the results are interesting !

Without a power strip, that if I connect the DMM to the wall outlet directly then I won't find any voltages between L-GND and N-GND. But when I connect the power strip I find that L-GND gives 103V and N-GND 85V !! Why that ??

There are the photos I took this evening.

I did 2 tests with the DMM. 1 is using only one DMM probe and the other is floating 2 using both DMM probes.

First floating test:

This is live because it gives 23V

This is of course is neutral

Voltage from L-GND and N-GND on the power strip:

This should be L-GND because it's higher voltage of 103V

This is N-GND

This is the power strip from inside:

UPDATE - OCTOBER 26th 2019.

The OP has now connected the neutral to ground at the power socket.
This is against all advice from all people commenting.
He is completely ignoring the advice supplied by everyone.
He is wasting their time.

People who do what this guy has done this will kill themselves and their friends.

Don't be like this guy.

_____________________________________

Doing what you suggest may be fatal.
Dying will mean you do not have the problem any more but is not the best solution.
Ground and Neutral are NOT identical in functionality and need to be isolated from each other in use (despite being connected at the switchboard).

  There are some appliances in the apartment that don't have a problem with a wall socket that doesn't have a ground; ... But there are other appliances that have a problem and need grounding to get rid of these leaking currents

If, as you appear to be saying, the problem occurs with only some appliances only when a power outlet without ground is used then the correct solution is to use outlets which DO have a correct ground connection.

The reason that the problem exists is probably due to noise reduction capacitors in the input circuitry to the appliances concerned. There are two "Y" capacitors connected between ground and Phase & Neutral. When the ground lead is correctly connected the two capacitors 'carry noise currents to ground'. But, when the ground connection is floating the two capacitors form a voltage divider between phase and neutral, with the appliance chassis ground at the midpoint between the two capacitors - forming a high impedance connection at about half supply voltage. This then causes electric shocks between the appliance body at about Vmains/2 and a user connecting between boy and ground (via shoes or hands or ...) will feel a shock. This is usually unpleasant but nowhere near as severe as a full mains to ground shock. If the shock you feel is more a highly unpleasant bite than a muscle spasming grabbing blow then you are probably experiencing a Y capacitor shock.
Use a grounded outlet!

It turned out that the neutral is grounded. The electricity company is actually grounding the neutral from the distribution room. That's why they are grounding the main building panel.

I bootlegged the neutral to ground and it works fine now.

I actually not considering that bootlegging is a SOLUTION. But according to the fact that the neutral is grounded, then this is a good solution now to get rid of those floating voltages on the house appliances.


What is the name for a lateral band saw guide: one that guides wood forward at a set distance from the blade What is the name for a lateral band saw guide: one that guides wood forward at a set distance from the blade ?

I want to cut strips from a long flat strip of wood (ripping rather than a cross-cut)


What can I do about toilet water disappearing? Since last month, for whatever reason, the water in the toilet keeps disappearing every other day (like the water that sits at the bottom after you flush). This is enough to fill the apartment with the smell of.. human waste. I can notice it quickly when I'm home but when I'm out for the day, coming back home is like entering a sewage pipe.

The toilet is a regular kind with that sideways S shaped pipe to keep the water in there and when the water disappears its completely friggin gone, I cant imagine how this could even happen. Afaik theres no construction going on and my landlord is impossible to reach so what can I do about it?

I share Paulster2's concern that your plumbing isn't properly vented, or there's a blockage in the vent. You can try to snake the vent from the roof or running a garden hose down it to clear it out.

Signs of insufficient venting include drains that start slow and then gurgle after at the end, toilets that bubble, especially on lower levels, and traps that get sucked dry, especially on the upper levels.

Make sure that:

The flange (flappy thing) inside your tank is creating a good seal against the flushing drain, so the water isn't draining into the bowl, etc. and creating your own continuous draining overnight. If it's a quiet flow, you may not be noticing.
Inside the tank there's a plastic tube, (I forgot what it's officially called), that in some older models hooks/clips to and then runs/drains water down the overflow pipe. Check to make sure it isn't continuously running into the overflow pipe as that a) causes that highly annoying continuously running sound, and b) can cause a slow draw of water from the bowl.

Keep in mind I'm not a professional plumber or anything (prior responders sound far more experienced than myself), just sharing my opinon as I only do little jobs like replacing the toilet flushing system.


Can I run my hydronic circulator off an appliance cord in order to use it to purge air? I have a hydronic heating system with a relatively powerful B & G circulator pump.  This pump has a relay that is controlled by the furnace electronics; if there is no power to the furnace, there's no power to the pump.

This makes it tricky to purge air from the system via the technique of using the city water filler, a circulator, and the drain, thus bypassing the boiler.

I would like to be able to use the circulator when the furnace is off. I thought that the best way to do this would be to install a junction box with a UL listed DPDT switch (e.g. a Leviton 1286) that switched the circulator's feed from the normal furnace wiring to an electrically isolated hard-wired appliance cord of sufficient gauge that I would plug into a different circuit.

Can anyone think of problems with this?
Is this against the electrical code, or will it not apply so long as the appliance cord is not plugged into the different circuit.

Thanks!

For those who are interested in doing this:, I simplified the wiring diagram as illustrated below.

I cut the 120v lead to the circulator relay and wired it to a terminal block.  From that terminal block, leads go to to one pole of a 3-way switch and to the relay. Likewise, the other side of the relay was cut and now goes to the other pole of the switch.  The center pole of the switch goes to the circulator motor.   This allows me to run the circulator without running the furnace.  Total cost was less than $10.

It's a bad idea actually. If it's a very old system with big radiators you don't purge the air unless the heat is running & the radiators are at least warm & only add water if a purge doesn't produce water, so you don't kill your expansion tank or its bladder.

If it's a new system, all of the above is done automatically to keep your expansion tank safe. If you're experiencing creaking, clicking & knocking sounds then something's broken. It could be as simple as re-pressuring your expansion tank bladder (they're very low pressure) or it could be a leak anywhere in the system.

Get an HVAC guy out instead, for a full testing, tuning & assessment.


Do I need to ground black gas pipe? The backstory:

My HVAC friend, my dad and myself installed new gas pipes in my house after the 40 y/o pipe started leaking.  Suffice to say, the old pipe was beyond repair, every retightening of the pipe resulted in the next elbow becoming lose to the point, I would be tearing out drywall, air ducts and possibly beams to access it.  So we ran new pipe.

We got the permit, had the county do the inspection.  It passed, and we had Xcel (electric and gas utilities) come out and replaced the meter which was also old and leaking, and turn on the gas.

The setup passed inspection with a larger than needed ground wire going from the black pipe, near the meter, to a grounding pole going 5 feet underground.  Xcel comes out today to replace the meter and hook up the gas and says my grounding wire cannot be there, that it will ruin the meter and rust the pipe where the wire clamps to the pipe and that a small current runs from my appliances to the meter.  There is about 9 combined feet of pipe exposed outside, from the meter to where the pipe enters the house.  I asked, what if lightning strikes the pipe and the Xcel guy says "Lightning will hit another part of the house first."  So I call my HVAC, ask his opinion, I talk to a retired Master PLumber at Home Depot, and the county Fire Marshall and they all agree that it should be grounded.  Oddly enough the Fire Marshall comments, "even if lightning hits the pipe, nothing will happen".

Remember, this is a black iron pipe installation, not CGGT.  It is black iron pipe all the way from the meter to the room with the water heater and furnace.  From the black pipe, a yellow flex pipe goes to the water heater, and a stainless steel flex pipe goes to the furnace.

So the plumbers and county is saying something different than Xcel.  Should the pipe be grounded?  Is bonding at the furnace enough?

Can I put a thin layer of something between the clamp and the black pipe?  Foam, thin plastic, wax paper?  The Fire Marshall suggested dirt ?!?

According to National Electrical Code, the pipe has to be bonded. However, it can be bonded using the grounding conductor serving the equipment that uses the gas.

...The equipment grounding conductor for the circuit that is likely to energize the piping shall be permitted to serve as the bonding means...

As for lightning strikes, the gas company is probably correct. It's not likely lightning will strike the pipe, especially since it's right next to a house.

National Electrical Code 2014
Chapter 2 Wiring and Protection
Article 250 Grounding and Bonding
250.104 Bonding of Piping Systems and Exposed Structural Steel.
(B) Other Metal Piping. If installed in, or attached to, a building or structure, a metal piping system(s), including gas piping, that is likely to become energized shall be bonded to the service equipment enclosure; the grounded conductor at the service; the grounding electrode conductor, if of sufficient size; or to one or more grounding electrodes used. The bonding conductor(s) or jumper(s) shall be sized in accordance with 250.122, using the rating of the circuit that is likely to energize the piping system(s). The equipment grounding conductor for the circuit that is likely to energize the piping shall be permitted to serve as the bonding means. The points of attachment of the bonding jumper(s) shall be accessible.

Always bond everything metalic to the common ground


What could be wrong with gas fireplace that turns off when I turn it on? Pilot light is lit. When I turn it on, it starts up, normal amounts of flame. Then it turns a blue flame, and slowly disappears until even the pilot light goes out.

This was working not even 2 weeks ago, and to my knowledge, nothing has changed other than the temperature outside has dropped about 20 degrees.

My first guess would be the thermocouple is bad, or going bad.  The thermocouple is a small device that generates electricity from heat, they are used in gas furnaces and such to shut off the gas in case the pilot goes out (so gas doesn't continue to flow and fill the room).

I admit I'm no expert when it comes to gas fire places, but I had an old gas heater that displayed similar issues and it turned out replacing the thermocouple fixed the problem.  Besides they are usually fairly cheap (a couple dollars maybe), so it's a good place to start trouble shooting.

I'm sorry to say but obviously the first and most obvious solution to this problem is that the flame turns blue because it's running out of oxygen to burn I can almost guarantee being 20 years in the industry that in the two weeks between use something has built a nest, bird or flying insect such as bees have found a nice home in your air intake or perhaps if you have had a rodent enter from the outside they have built a perfect
dwelling in the nice dry warm air intake


How much weight will a 4"x8"x20ft oak beam support? I am building a tree house. I will cut two support beams from oak to support the building. How much weight will a 4"x8"x20ft oak beam support?

I will be working between two trees.

The strength of the wood beam will depend on the specific species of oak, the grade of lumbar, whether there are any cantilevers, side bracing, and other factors. But 20 ft seems like a very long span for a 4x8. Glancing at some load tables I would say you're in the ballpark of only a few hundred pounds capacity, which is not sufficient when you take into account the weight of the structure, the weight of occupants, snow, etc. (Don't take my word for it: you must get a more accurate number before you start building). (By the way, where are you going to get a piece of solid oak that long??)

Another side note: you don't say anything about the design of the tree house but be careful about how you connect the trees. When the wind blows the trees will move independently and you need to make sure that your structure isn't rigidly fastened to both trees. There are many examples online about how to make a platform that is fixed to one tree and slides at another. If you don't allow for movement of the trees you risk damaging the treehouse or the trees themselves when a gust of wind blows.

I would suggest you contact a structural engineer or local building code office. They will be able to provide you with load bearing numbers for common lumber, i.e. spruce-pine-fir; your oak timber will carry considerable more weight.
When we were kids (back in the sixties), the material used was limited only by what we could scrounge from scrap lumber piles, filtch from neighbors, or drag home from a construction site. Our treehouses were no architectural marvels, but nobody ever died from the treehouse collapsing on us either. But that was a day when three nine year old kids had more sense that a lot of adults today. Just have fun with it, and let your kids help.


How do I reattach this light fixture? The following light was removed from my outside front porch because the bulb had burned out.  Only problem is I didn't remove it and now I need to put the thing back up, but I'm not sure how the connection should be.  Is this something I should even be doing at this point?

It looks like you've ruined it.  The stranded wires (such as the black one visible in the picture) are usually permanently attached to the lamp (Inside those cloth tubes).  The solid wires are your household wiring.  Normally you'd attach the stranded black to the solid black with a wire nut, and the same with the whites.  Then attach the bare copper ground (or green) to the brass tab in the light.  But it looks like someone just ripped it off and detached the stranded wires from the fixture.

Buy a new one, and if you are unsure of how to remove the old wires or correctly wire a new fixture, the safest thing to do is hire a qualified electrician.

Also, make sure your housemates read this: http://www.wikihow.com/Change-a-Light-Bulb

Warning, dangerous advice, see comments

If the black and red cable is still long enough. Fiddle it through the hole and attach it directly to the bulb's socket.


GFCI trips after adding new circuit to it Preface: I am a complete newbie when it comes to electrical circuits. I usually have electricians do all the work in our house.

An electrician installed a circuit in our backyard with 8 outlets on it. The circuit was controlled by one GFCI.

Everything worked fine, as expected.

A couple of years later, another electrician added another circuit with 2 outlets and an air conditioner compressor to the same GFCI.

Now the GFCI trips every few minutes.

Obviously adding the new circuit has something to do with the GFCI tripping every few minutes. But beyond that I don't know why this is happening and how it could be fixed. Any suggestions? Thank you!

If you have too many receptacles on a 15 amp circuit this would be the issue as an AC unit will draw some current


Should twisted wire joints to 5 kW water heater be soldered? Say I'm connecting a water heater (~5kW) to the mains and I need to make a joint, not just replace the cable with a longer one.
Considering the high power consumption, would soldering the joint help in any way?
How the joint is made: 2cm of each wire are twisted together and then compressed with pliers.

I'd use a lever-lock style of wire connector
Given that your profile says you're in Germany, you should have no trouble getting lever-lock style wire connectors (Wago calls these a Lever-Nut™) and matching carrier boxes for them.  These are approved for splicing basically worldwide, and provide a far more foolproof splice than just about any other device I've heard of.

I think you can joint but wound wire around the joint. Public Electric Grid people do so. Their current is high. To compensiate conductivity the diameter at joint should be larger. This is my openion because we have seen responsible electric supplyers do so.


What size is an ice maker connection? The ice maker line to my refrigerator currently has no shutoff valve and I'd like to add one but I can't figure out what size the connector is. I purchased a 1/4 inch valve since the ice maker connector I have says 1/4 FCM on it but it did not fit. It looks more like 1/8 inch, but a 1/8 inch valve doesn't fit either, although it is very close. Where can I find information about water pipe sizes, there must be some standard?

My fridge is a GE CFCP1NIZSS:
http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=CFCP1NIZSS

The copper water line I am connecting it to has the exact same measurement as the fridge.

This valve was extremely close in size, and just barely didn't fit:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C0J3XI/ref=oh_o02_s00_i00_details

UPDATE:

Okay I thought that searching the internet for 1/4" OD Valve Male Female would get me what I need but I am getting no results so I've reopened the question! Can anyone give me a web link to a product that will fit? I've added a photo of the current connection where I'd like to add the valve. Thanks!

There are different standards to pipes and threads. Your issue is that you are trying to mix two different threaded standards.

The ball valve that you linked to has national pipe threads (NPT). NPT are tapered and it is that taper that makes the seal between a male and female joint. No washers are required.

What is shown in your photo is compression fittings which have a straight or running thread. The seal is made by either a ferrule or a rubber washer.

In your case, the connection between the copper tube and the supply hose has been made as follows:

1/4" Copper Tube > 1/4" Compression by 1/4" Compression Coupling > 1/4" Supply Hose

The seal on the copper tube is made by a ferrule that is located under the nut. As the nut is tightened, the ferrule is compressed between the coupling and the pipe.

The seal on the supply hose side is made by a rubber washer which is usually built-in the the nut of the supply hose. (The compression coupling would have come with two nuts, one of which has been discarded as the supply hose has one built-in.)

So, to answer your question, you simply need a 1/4" compression x 1/4" compression valve that will replace the current coupling. Here is a link to such a valve.

If you have more time and money, the best thing is to run either a 1/2 inch copper line or a 1/2 galvanized line to the back of your refrigerator with a 1/4 inch connection on it, preferably set in the wall in plastic box. An alternate cheaper way is to run a 1/4 inch line from the 1/4 inch connection at your dual shut off valve under your kitchen sink. However, the copper line is a hard line and it gets crimped especially when you or someone else is careless in moving the refrigerator around to clean or whatever.

Using two crescent wrenches, here's what to do if you already have a hard copper line to the back without a shut off valve anywhere in site. You can buy a kit that has the parts you'll need, 1/4 inch connectors with a 6 foot, 1/4 inch supply hose, that has the 1/4 nuts on both ends. Carefully do it yourself or get a plumber to cut the copper line with a copper pipe cutter, a nice clean cut, a couple of inches this side of where the line comes out of wall or cabinet (as long as it's not crimped, you're ok to cut it).

Put the loose 1/4 inch nut on backwards on the pipe, so the nut covers the ferrel tucked in at the edge of the end of the pipe, then, screw on the 1/4 inch connector/adjuster onto it, with the 1/4 inch threads to the 1/4 inch nut on the hose, and tighten, snug, never overbearing, ever with any plumbing.  Then connect the other end of hose/nut to the threaded end on the refrigerator at the bottom, snug! Remember!  However, the best thing to do anytime you are connecting a line to either a faucet or refrigerator or whatever the case may be, before you put that last connection on the refrigerator, put that end in a big bucket and turn it on to clear the line of air and grub, because who knows how long it's been sitting.  Plus, if you've got air in the lines, that's a whole nother headache, trust me you do not want! Get the air out!  You can do all of this yourself too! Don't forget to check everything for leaks!
Good luck! Now go celebrate you just saved yourself $150!!!


How do I put up a roof ladder? What is a safe process for getting a roof ladder on and off the roof?

Ok Walker, here's the scoop. beg, borrow or rent two extension ladders, ladder jacks and a walking pick. (wide plank that fits into ladder jacks). This will form a stable staging a few of feet below the roof soffit. Calculate the length of the roof and adjust your roof ladder accordingly. TIE OFF the rungs of the roof ladder, if using an extension ladder, so it cannot disconnect from the adjustable height locking hooks. Lean it up against your pick, climb up on the pick and carefully drag the roof ladder up and over the pick to the roof. The other advantage of using a pick is that you can work along several feet of the roof, moving your roof ladder as you go.  Most picks are 10 to 18 feet in length and can be equipped with a safety railing.  Check out your local rental center.  Be Safe.

Pics and procedures for using ladder jacks and staging (picks): http://www.ehow.com/about_5046018_ladder-jack.html

Use a 40 ft ladder and it will lean flat on the roof and be secure on the ground. No hooks, tugging or helpers needed.


Best Way to Extend 30A 120v circuit over 300 feet? I have an old barn to which i'd like to provide electricity.

The problem is that the barn is about 300 feet away. I understand that voltage drop over 300 feet is fairly significant. Buying thicker wire to accomodate voltage drop of that magnitude may be very costly, and I'd have to figure out how to terminate the end in the panel at such a thick gauge.

Is using a transformer at both ends a viable/smart solution?
Would using two conductors in parallel be a better or safer option?

How is something like this done normally?

Concentric-Neutral cable is relatively inexpensive and is intended for direct-burial. Personally, I'd be getting the 2 AWG stuff but that may be more money than you want to spend.

Note that you will need to drive ground rods at the barn. Two rods a minimum of 6 feet apart should be good.

Be sure to both bury it deep enough and put a pressure-treated board over top of the cable before you pile the dirt back on top.

You could consider distributing 240V to the barn. At the barn, use a 240-120V isolating transformer. Halving the current eliminates 3/4 of the power loss. without much complexity.

In the UK these transformers are commonly available, so reasonably priced - usually in tough yellow waterproof enclosures, used on hazardous environments like building sites. This allows the use of 110V tools to minimize the danger of cut or crushed cables. If these are available local to you, they sound ideal for a barn.


Possible Leak In Concrete I recently noticed that our outside wall has a wet looking spot around the faucet.

I tried looking in the wall at the pipe (from the unfinished basement), but

I couldn’t see very far because the hole is small (maybe could see an inch into the wall) and
I couldn’t see any condensation from what I could see.

Is there anyway to easily diagnose if there is a leak? There is a little bit of clearance around the pipe hole, but not much.

I have seen copper pipe have small pin holes on several occasions. If your pipe is copper and in contact with the cement this may be the cause. The only way to repair is to replace that section of pipe. When I do this kind of repair I make sure to use thick wall copper because it will last longer than thinwall.

Water doesn't flow uphill so I would look in the wall directly above the sill cock


Determining health risks associated with carpets I've read about the health risks posed by molds, but how can one determine the risks posed by existing carpeting? Are there some testing kits for allergen and bacterial levels?

This is not the carpets vs. hardwood floor question, but rather trying to determine if carpeting might be the culprit for respiratory problems experienced in a residence.

I think you need to know what you're looking for. Testing for mold is about all you can do, without sending samples off to a lab. $200 (homeallergentesting.com) is an expensive way to be told: yes, you own a cat.

If it's new carpet, it may still be offgassing.
If it's old carpet, especially a previous owner's, toss it without a second thought.

Disclaimer: I've never 'tested for' anything. I just proceed with the solution as if it were the problem (and my solution to anything wrong with installed carpet is putting it in the dumpster, where it belonged in the first place).

One of the few medical sites I really trust on the web - Mayo Clinic

Allergens:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/allergies/in-depth/allergy/art-20049365


How do I fit a “pocket door”? What are the fitting options including using a preformed kit etc?

got to this site, hopefully can help you out.
http://video.bobvila.com/m/21319451/installing-a-pocket-door.htm


Can I remove / rework studs to access crawl space/storage underneath stairs? I would like to use the space underneath my stairs for extra storage. When I opened the wall, I noticed the 3 studs are spaced 13 inches apart and I can't squeeze myself through. Is there a way I can (partially) remove one of these studs to create an access hole? I do believe it is a load bearing wall, so I know I have to be careful here.

I managed to squeeze through and  take photos inside the crawl space. So as you can see 2 visible studs that pretty much measure all the way up to the top the second floor the 3rd stud all the way to the right is a lot shorter and is nailed to the side frame of the stairs. I'm wondering if this would be a much safer stud to take out then the other two but is this holding up my stairs? Now All the way to my left is the Plumbing for my laundry room upstairs  which I really don't want to move or mess with and then there is studs for the bathroom, approximately right where my toilet is. Keep in mind there is a bathroom that takes up most of under the stairwell. I just wanted to utilize  the most amount of space I have left.

Here are the other two photos I forgot to include

The normal approach is to support the floor above with a temporary wall, cut out the offending studs, and add a load-bearing header spanning the new opening and resting on trimmer studs.

If you're careful you can slide the new header into the wall cavity above the new opening without totally removing drywall to the top of the header. Using a reciprocating saw, cut the studs off where the top of the new header will be by plunging through the drywall. This leaves you with a few short slits to repair, rather than having to patch in sheets of drywall.

What is on the higher side of the steps. Do the steps wrap around  180 degrees and go to the 2nd floor.. My neighbor owns a split entry and added storage under the steps. At the bottom of the steps and under the other half of the stairway was a coat cupboard. We removed the wall behind the coats to gain entry to the empty space. It worked great. Post other pictures to show the whole stairway.


What is the correct way to install a washing machine drain pan? I've got a laundry room on the second floor, and when it was remodeled the contractor put in a drain pipe, but no drain pan.  At the moment, I have the washing machine hooked up, but it's away from the wall and the drain pipe.

I picked up a drain pan only to find that its shape and features weren't conducive to a good installation, so I ended up getting this one from Driptite.  I feel a lot better with this pan because it'll lay flat regardless of where I drill the hole for the drain pipe.

Now here's my issue -- I just don't know how to install it properly.  The drain pipe isn't centered with the hole in the floor, it's angled, and I don't know how to patch the area around the pipe.  This is what it looks like:

I can drill a hole in the pan in the right spot, but then how should I really make a good seal with the pan?  The pan came with a PVC fitting that is not the right size for the pipe, and I'm actually not sure how it's expected to go together.  This is what I was given with the pan:

I assume that it's supposed to go in upside down from the way it is in the picture, otherwise the water level in the pan would have to be ridiculously high before it drained.  So let's just pretent that the fitting actually fit the drain pipe (it doesn't right now) and I flip it over.  It would still sit way too high because the fitting wont go down into the floor since the pipe is off-center!

At this point, I was thinking that I would need to do the following to finish this project:

Fill in the hole in the floor with something.  If so, what should I use?  Maybe some kind of silicone sealant / caulking?  Is there a particular kind I should use for the floor?  Is this a bad idea?
Cut the hole in the drain pan at the right spot.  Sadly, this is the only step that seems pretty straightforward.  I would cut it to be as close as possible to the diameter of the fitting
Caulk around the interface between the pipe and the drain pan.  The only thing here that scares me (a lot) is that when I put the washing machine in, it'll probably shift a little, and I would expect there to be a big risk of tearing the caulk and compromising the seal.

Perhaps there's another way to deal with this?

I could try to finesse (heat up) the pipe and bend it a little to be more straight, then find a fitting that will actually fit over the pipe snugly.
I would then have to cut the pipe little by little until the screw portion of the fitting is flush with the floor
Cut a hole in the drain pan the right diameter to fit over the threaded portion of the fitting
Slide over rubber washer
Screw on nut

After typing all of this out, I bet the second approach is the "right" way to do it, though the bit about heating / bending the PVC makes me a little uneasy.

Can anyone offer their suggestions and / or solutions?

UPDATE -- I picked up a better fitting and attached it to the pipe to see how much needs to be cut:

The bottom of the wrench flats is about 1.5" from the floor, so I imagine that's how much I will need to cut.  If I do that, the bottom of the pan will have to bulge up a little where the fitting is, as I'll need to put a rubber gasket ring below the pan since the plastic nut can't screw down all of the way (the thread is tapered).  This ends up being about 3/8"... has anyone had issues with their drain pans bulging a little?  I guess my main concern is that this means the water will tend to flow away from the drain... but as long as I cut the fitting low enough and it's below the lip of the drain, I should be okay.  Perhaps it would be a good idea to cut the wrench flats off and shorten the fitting so that it can be mounted even further below the level of the floor?

Go with your second approach of getting the right size fitting except don't bend the pipe, just deal with the angle. You pan lip should be higher than the ending (with fittings) top of the drain pipe so it can drain but that's all you need.

Why? PVC fumes are extremely toxic and you have a significantly better chance breaking the pipe than fixing the angle; then you'll have to tear up the floor to fix the pipe. A washer machine drain pan is used for worst case scenarios, not day-to-day use so as long as water can drain you'll be fine and a slight angle may actually decrease the minimum height of the drain anyways.

As for drilling the hole in the pan, mark it in place and drill it somewhere else with a sacrifice piece of wood/etc. underneath. You don't want to hold it up or anything because you'll need a decent amount of pressure to hold a bit in place and plastics like to fracture if not properly supported.

I used a 1 1/2" sink drain. Works awesome. Now the drain in the pan is flush with the pan. It will let all the water drain out.


How can I vent a portable air conditioner when there's no window? My shop does not have central air and does not have operable windows.  There is a steel door in the back and cinderblock walls.  My landlord is against me cutting a venting hole in either the steel door or the wall...any wonderful ideas, anyone, for how I can use a portable air conditioner here...it was murder here last summer!!!

Do you have a budget in mind for adding the ac? You can use a water-cooled unit, but plan to spend $1500 and up. These units can be hooked up to a water supply (sink, garden hose, etc.) and drained back to a sink, outside, or wherever is available.

The heat from the air is transferred to the water - much like a geothermal ac or heat pump works. We use these a lot in restaurant food storage rooms and for portable ac's at public events.

The so-called vent-less ac units work by dripping cool water over a screen in front of a fan. The humidity becomes unbearable and people will feel very uncomfortable quickly. Avoid these systems entirely.

https://www.wayfair.com/IcyBreeze-38-Qt.-Portable-Air-Conditioner-and-Cooler-110V-Chill-4038A-IBUC110V-L731-K~ICYB1000.html

Check out that link i think you all will like it the design is funky af but hey it's a really a/c and you don't need to vent the exhaust yup no vent house mind you they make these all different price is around the same $237 - $500

Let me know what ya think.


What alternate ways are there to get into a garage when you don't have the opener? I am locked out of the garage without a remote opener.  There are no windows and no doors to get in.  What are some ways to open the garage door without breaking down the door?

Typically, garage openers have a release pull that hangs down from the track.  When closed, this release will be close enough to the door to get if you drill a 5/8 inch hole about a foot under the where the opener attaches to the door.  Fish for the line with a wire coat hanger and then pull to release.  It will take a couple of tries but you should be able to do it.

Once open, go to your hardware store and get a garage door quick release lock and install it into the hole you just drilled.  In the future if you have a power outage or a failed garage door opener you will be able to get back in.

All you need do is borrow (since you can't get inside to access your own supply of tools) a regular, flathead screwdriver.  Place the blade of the screwdriver against the keyhole of the garage lock, just like you are attempting to unlock it with a regular key.  Then, bash the back of the screwdriver, driving it into the lock.  This will be sufficient enough to jar the lock open, without damaging the lock.  You may need to use a hammer to hit the handle of the screwdriver.


How can/should I mount this porch light? I want to mount a porch light on my outdoor shed/office.  I recently had an electrician place interior wiring however I elected to do the fixtures myself.

Uh oh.

Here's what the back of the porch light area looks like (on the inside of the shed):

Here's what the front looks like:

Here's a picture of the light I want to put on the outside:

The wall is a solid piece of wood about 1.5 inches thick so I don't think there's room to add a fixture bracket.

So... I'm stumped. How should I attach the light?

A pretty common approach is to build a small platform for the lamp to sit on, something like this

This has the advantage of giving you more depth to mount a receptacle box. You can use 3/4 inch material (nominally 1x ) or larger, such as 5/4 stock. You can then cut a hole, using a hole saw through the new block and the siding underneath giving you enough depth for a much deeper box, like this one

It also has the advantage of making it easier to get the base of the lamp vertical.

After the box is set, I would caulk the entry point of the wire and around the box itself. After the lamp is mounted, unless the fixture has its own gasket, caulk around the top, sides and all but a small section of the bottom (a weep hole just incase any moisture gets in.)

None of the answers given will make that fixture sit flush. It’s your house correct mount the mounting bracket right to the wall use the fixture housings as your box caulk around and have a nice day. It will be fine for 50 yrs make good connections tape them up use a 9watt LED build and have a nice day. Sometimes the code goes a little to far the fixture will look great and zero heat will emit with a 9 watt bulb. Sometimes you simply need to get the job done stop thinking so much.


How best can I seal up an old coal door? Alongside my house is an old coal door that was never properly sealed.  Some caulk was added around the metal exterior door, and a piece of plywood nailed over the interior opening (more to keep out critters than water, I believe).

As you can see from this exterior view, there's not much I can do about removing the door itself:

But on the inside there is a cavity that could be filled in somehow:

The framing inside here was metal -- it's mostly rusted out now -- and there is a little bit of daylight making its way through.  This is very obviously not watertight.

The house has a brick and mortar foundation.  What's the right way to seal this up to keep water and critters out?

As you already know there is water getting into there, if you only seal up the inside to make it look better you will have water collecting between the door and your seal. You don't want a pool installed in your wall.

To do this properly you really do need to excavate the outside remove the door and metal frame (if there is a steel load bearing piece across the top I'd recommend leaving that in and if there is a rain catch on the outside that could be left, but it doesn't look like there's either from the pictures). Patch the hole with material that functionally matches the foundation wall. Water seal the patched area then once it is dry back fill where you excavated. It would be good to make that area right against the seal a little higher grade when you fill it in than the area around it to help the water drain away and reduce infiltration.

I'd fill the hole entirely with low expanding spray foam.


Fixing wall with constant moisture over the years I live in Mexico where most of the houses are made by brick and cement. Over the years we have had moisture in the walls as shown in the images below.

As you can see, it looks like if the wall is falling apart. Even in some parts of the walls with this problem, we don't even have pipelines where it could be a potential water leaking. We have checked and we don't have any of those.

We have hired several masons to fix it and we have bought a lot of different chemicals and very powerful acids that eat the cement of the wall in order to kill the moisture but we have not succeeded, yet.

My dad told me that long time ago people used to put big chunks of charcoal in vases that sucked all the moisture from the wall but it seems that is a very old way to do it and the house would not look pretty with vases all over the house.

Is there a way or method you know in how to fix this for a long period of time?

I deal with excessive moisture in the house by using a portable dehumidifier. I live up in the Seattle area where we get a LOT of moisture. A side effect is that it creates heat from both the electricity used and that water vapor needs to release heat to condensate (the opposite of steam from heated water); this a positive in the winter (free heat from the water vapor) and a negative in the summer.


Need help wiring a new double pole line voltage thermostat [

Just bought my first home and this is my first time posting, so please forgive me if my terminology is incorrect.

I currently have bedrooms upstairs each with 1 baseboard heater and thermostat for each. The circuit breaker is off and I've undone most of the wiring to it.

The thermostat is an analog, single pole line voltage.

I'd like to upgrade to a digital double pole.

It looks like there is 3 wires (really groups of wires, I don't know the term for this), possibly 10-3 or 12-3 coming into the junction box. I didn't specifically look that the gauge. It might actually be 10-2 or 12-2.

Do I simply need to connect 2 hots and 2 neutrals to the thermostat and I am set?

OK, quick terminology issue: Single-pole and double-pole.  The poles are channels, which could have any purpose.  A single-pole switches one channel; a double-pole switches two.  (ignore the "st").  (source)

For a thermostat, one pole is sufficient to turn the heaters on and off.  For the other pole, you'd simply bind the wires together - and I think that's what's been done with the white wires.

You say this powers 2 heaters, and that's the dead giveaway.  The power supply would be one group of wires, and the outputs would be two groups.  Now look at what's going on with that switch: you have one wire spliced into the red thermostat wire (that must be the power supply) and two wires spliced into the black wires (those must be the heaters).

Follow the one wire and it goes to the Romex on the right.  That Romex goes to the power source, clearly, and its wires should be considered "LINE" (always-on).  Which means the white wire in that bundle is the other pole.

The other Romex cables go to the heaters, and they are "LOAD" (switched).

This wire is /2 Romex since there's no red wire. (ground is not counted, so /2 means black and white).  The yellow sheath suggests 12/ since some manufacturers recently adopted that as a color code.  The markings on the sheath say for sure.

Are the white wires hot (240V) or neutral (120V)?   We can't tell.  It would be wired the same either way.  240V heaters don't need neutral, so they use 12/2 or 10/2 wire, and re-designate and supposedly, re-mark the white as another "hot".  Somebody went to a lot of trouble to put red tape on the Romex cables... shrug.  In the old days, marking wasn't required if the use was obvious.

So we must go down to the breaker panel.  Looking at the layout, it should be obvious that there's a unit of "space".  If the breaker takes 2 spaces, it is a 240V circuit. There won't be many of those.

Simply, turn off one at a time and see what it knocks out. Generally there is one thing on each 240V circuit (well, oven and stove may share a circuit).  This is a good time to mark those breakers once you figure what they control. Not least it helps you eliminate; heaters are very annoying to test because they take a long time to make noticeable heat.

If it's a 240V breaker, obviously, these are 240V heaters.

Although the smart thermostat may not care if it's 120V or 240V.  It needs to power itself, but it may be inherently multi-voltage.  Many things are nowadays.

It goes without saying that you have to find the breaker in order to change the thermostat.  If you don't realize that, you should not be doing electrical work.

OP bought the wrong thermostat. You cannot substitute a double pole thermostat for an original single pole thermostat.The number of "poles" on the thermostat must match those of the breaker. One pole or space it takes up in the breaker panel is 120 volt, 2 poles is either 208 or 240 volt in the context of a wall heater. (There are, as an aside 30, 40 50 plus double pole breakers for other uses). So tell us how many poles and the amp rating of the heater breaker and go but the appropriate thermostat. From there we can help you with the wiring.
The wiring in the picture does not look like a pro did it. 1. Not enough twists in the wire. 2. Very long Romex sheathing extending into the box, which is a no-no. Both are potential fire hazards and need to be addressed, IMHO.


Still reading open neutral after restoring power to lights and outlets We recently plugged a space heater into an outlet in our son’s bedroom and only ran it at night. At some point, all of the lights and outlets in the room except one outlet on the opposite wall stopped working. No breakers were tripped. I shut down every breaker and even the main before restoring them one by one, and it resolved nothing.
I located the circuit for the outlet that the heater was plugged into. One plug in tester said I had a reversed hot neutral, the other said open neutral. A multimeter showed no voltage at the outlet, but the touch tester revealed there was power in the wire behind it. I shut off the breaker and replaced the outlet the heater had been attached to (using wire screws and not the stab backs). It was the last thing on the circuit with only one set of wires in the wall. When I turned the breaker back on, three lights in the hall and the light in an adjacent closet stopped working. There are no GFCI’s on the circuit.
I methodically opened every outlet and switch in the room (6 outlets and two separate light/switch combos). I pulled the stab back connections, pushed them in firmly, checked  and tightened every pigtail wire nut, and didn’t find anything obviously wrong. I flipped the breaker back on and all of the lights started working again. The outlets are now working also, but still show an open neutral.
The only weird thing I saw was one outlet with wires in all 4 stab connections and an additional set tied into the side screws (so three pairs of wire on this one outlet. I’m assuming it’s switched, but it is behind furniture so not used.  I did not pull the fixtures because I’m short and weak and they are heavy.
So in summary, everything is working, but I’ve still got an open neutral somewhere. Any ideas?  It appear that this one 15 amp breaker controls 5 lights, 5 switches, and 6 outlets. I did not pull wiring for the three lights that went out after I changed the outlet. They all work now too.

You found a classic case of why backstabs are considered  bad news by many electricians.
When you pulled the receptacles out the connection was temporarily reconnected and the lighting is working again. As we don’t know if everything was proper to start with but is functioning now I can tell you this will normally happen again and eventually burn the wire off at the weak point.
I would suggest checking each receptacle working back towards the supply or service and if one shows properly connected and the next one away shows wrong the problem is one of those 2 points and a device can be connecting ground and neutral down stream making them work or many other reasons.
If you plan to continue using a space heater I would suggest moving to the screw connectors or pigtails as this usually happens again with a heavy load.
The point of failure is at the last working or first non working receptacle or splice.
If this bedroom has a common wall with another don’t forget there could be a receptacle on the other side of the wall in that circuit.

Let me show you something I filmed a while ago to demonstrate this kind of thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89Zl0Hrgd1Y
The outlet in the video has zero outward indications anything was wrong with it.  How did I discover it?  By accident - touching a lamp cord.  It only flickered one time - and I could not make it repeat until I spent 10 minutes wiggling the tester in it.  I filmed it precisely for demonstration on these online forums to people that outlets do indeed wear out, and fail internally.
After that I went to Lowes and bought 30 of them, turned off all power, then started replacing them one at a time.  This was a new-to-us home with no furniture in it.  I got to where I could replace an outlet in less than 10 minutes.  Once I used up the 30 I bought more.  Not only does it make the place safer I could use the new outlets that prevent children from inserting objects into the outlet in the bedrooms.
Stab-backs into outlets are known to be troublemakers.  They are used for speed of building assembly.  This outlet in the video WAS NOT a stab-back.  Without actually being at your house and doing the troubleshooting myself I cannot be sure but it seems fairly obvious your outlets are being used as junctions and you have one that is mechanically broken.  They can fail internally, just as my video shows.  I would replace every one on the circuit and buy the better quality ones and assuming you have enough wire length, take the time to insert a pin to release the stab back, pull it out, bend the wire into a hook and screw it on to the new outlet.  You are not building a house on the clock here and can do the job right.  You can also take the time to align the outlet with the floor so it's nice and square.  I always think it is such a hack job when I see a crooked outlet or switch.
Also, you say you have an open neutral yet the outlets are working?  That does not make sense.  The neutral must be present in a 120v outlet for it to work.  Possibly you mean you have an open GROUND?  Use your multimeter on the AC section and check to make absolutely sure there is potential both between the black and white wire, and the black wire and green wire.  If you do not see 120v between black and green you have a dangerous situation.  If you have potential between white and green, and not black and green, you also have an incorrect and in my view, dangerous situation as you have a pair reversal somewhere.


Building a one or two step staircase in garage of awkward total rise I am curious what your recommendations are for building a set of garage steps in my situation.  I am wanting to replace the step in my garage which is an 8" movable hollow cement block.  The distance between the bottom of the door to the ground is between 17" measured to the top of the door metal weather-strip.  It is between 16.5" and 16 7/8" if measured from floor to bottom of the weather-strip.  I can find a lot of information on the internet about building stringers, but this height is a bit awkward.  8.25" is a bit beyond code requirements of approximately 7.75" maximum riser height.  However, doing two steps would require me to have a riser height of 5 2/3" which is way below the ideal 7.5".  I believe the unit run would need to be about 13" in this case as well (your thoughts), which puts me at a total run of 26", which is doable, but not optimal in my eyes.
So my question is

if there are any code exceptions for a single step in a garage (live in Maryland).
which do you think would be more comfortable, perhaps in spite of code requirements (single step of 8.25" or two steps of 5 2/3").
Depending on whether you chose option (1) or option (2), what do you think an optimal unit run length would be?

Thanks for all of the input!  Just to clarify two questions that have been asked:

The stair is from a doorway in the house stepping down to concrete inside of the garage.

The door cannot be lowered.  Without the weather seal, the door would be level with flooring.  The flooring is also of small thickness (laminate in that area), so the door is essentially level with the subfloor.

A landing is required if the door swings outward, except for screen doors. The landing is to be the width of the door and 36” in the direction of travel. (See ICC R311.4.3.)
The maximum rise of steps is 8”. The maximum difference between risers is 3/8” from smallest to largest. (See ICC R311.5.3.1)
The minimum tread depth is 9”. The greatest difference from smallest to largest is 3/8”. (See ICC R311.5.3.2)
A handrail is required if there are 4 or more risers. The handrail is to be installed a minimum of 34” and not to exceed 38” (See ICC R311.5.6)
I wouldn’t ignore the code. That’s how people end up in court after a neighbor has an accident without insurance.

I would make a single step- 1 tread and 2 risers. I think it would feel strange to walk up 2 treads that have such small rise.
I figure my overall rise from floor to floor- not floor to top of threshold or bottom of door. Often you are walking over the threshold and not on it. Looked at this way, your overall rise may be shortened a bit.
Worst case is a rise of 8 1/4" or so for one step (tread) is fine. I would make the tread width (the run) anywhere from 11"-13"- less than that feels tight  and more than that can be awkward- like you need to stretch your step or take two steps on it.


Fuse Switchbox for furnace I live in an older home I bought 2 years ago. It was built in 1924. While becoming familiar with the electrical system I discovered the circuit powering the heating furnace, from a 20 amp CB in the main box. As I traced the conduit to the gas furnace I found "power switch" box that contained 2 olde-fashion fuses.

When I opened the fuse/switchbox I found 2 fuses. A 30amp & a 15amp. Is this correct? Seems to me the fuses should be the same rating, right? Is 2 30amp fuses correct considering that the CB Box breaker is rated at 20 amps? Thanks! Dave

Here's the CB in the box. 20amp 120v.
Here is the fusebox with door closed. Not sure what the text means. Is it possible that prior to the currently installed gas furnace there was a 240v electric furnace that was protected by this fusebox? And then when it was changed to gas they used the previous 240v wire for the 120v line needed?
Here's the furnace name plate.
Here's the Gas Furnace Manual title page with the model number, etc.
I found this wiring diagram.
Here's another diagram.
Here's the 3rd diagram.

Background:
The 20A fuse is a Type S, meaning it is a "time delay" type fuse that allows things with motors to get to speed without making the fuse blow. The 30A fuse is a Type W with is not time delay, it is a "fast acting" type of fuse.
Best guess...
The furnace originally had Type S 20A fuses, but something was wrong so fuses kept blowing and after getting frustrated (but not finding out why), someone just put a larger Type W fuse in there so that it would not blow. Totally the wrong thing to do and is one of the biggest problems with fuses, which is why they are not used in houses any more.
Some time later your house was upgraded to using circuit breakers (circuit breakers would not have been used in 1924) and the installer wisely put a 20A breaker on that circuit, rendering the fuses irrelevant (assuming the wire is 12ga or larger).
But... here's another potential problem. Your drawing seems to imply that there is a 1 pole 20A breaker on the one wire feeding this, then the photo seems to show that there is a fuse (the 30A) on the white wire, which would be typically indicating the neutral circuit. It is illegal and DANGEROUS to have a fuse on the neutral circuit! If the breaker is 2 pole and this is a 240V circuit going to the furnace, then it's fine, other than the use of a white wire (white is only to be used for neutral circuits).
If none of this makes sense to you, I suggest getting a qualified electrician to look at it and, if possible, just remove those fuses.

What you have is correct. Your output from the breaker panel is 20 Amp one phase, in other words 120Volt.
Now the switch box has 15 Amp through the black wire which is (the power) correct because the control and the motor won't need more. The neutral line could even be shorted together and no need for the fuse (whatever the value is) but the fuse box mostly sold this way, with 2 fuses to be able to use it mainly for 240 volts.
Whoever said that it is dangerous to have a fuse on the neutral is mistaken.
Conclusion, what is on your photos is correct.
Only one more point to add, the 20 Amp breaker could even be replaced to 15 Amp but no problem to keep it as is if no other circuits other than the furnace  taking current from it.


What is this light? How can I replace / fix it? I moved into a new house recently and one of the lights in my new bedroom stopped turning on. I was surprised to discover that unlike the other lights in the house, it wasn't powered by a bulb, but the LED grid (?) pictured below:

This is the only thing connected to the switch, so I'm not sure how to diagnose what part of the system failed: the switch, the black/white wires connecting the mount and the transparent panel, the LEDs themselves, or something else.

What I should do to get light back in my bedroom?

This is an LED fixture. The idea is that it should last 60,000 hours (?). When it burns out you simply replace it. See the comment from @Tyson. The only other thing you can do is to check and make sure it is getting power when you turn the switch on.

You might be able to get a warranty replacement if you know the manufacturer or the place it was purchased.

Sorry I can't help you further.

You said that you do not have a tester.

Here is how to make a $3.00 tester.

Go to Home Depot and buy one of these for $1.50 and a regular lightbulb.

Replace the defective fixture.


Upgrading Doorbell Transformer for Ring Doorbell Pro I'm upgrading my Doorbell Transformer.  I already connected the house wire to the Transformer, but the doorbell wiring got me confused.
I have two white wires that I know will go together and Then I have one black wire.  Don't know which screw to connect it too on the diagram.  I see the two spots for the 16v which is the minimum and the two spots for the 24vac.
Which side does the white one go to and which side does the black go to?

For my Ring Pro, I hooked one wire (the red) to the leftmost screw and the white wire to the rightmost for 24v. It's worked fine for a few years now.


How would I disable my range oven's timer? I have an old Magic Chef range oven that looks like this:

When the range oven is plugged in, the timer starts at 1:59. The timer beeps when that length of time has elapsed. I fiddled with the timer buttons and tried every possible configuration, but the only way to stop the timer is to 1) reset the timer to 1:59, or 2) unplug the range oven.

Is there any way to disable the timer permanently? Perhaps by taking it apart, or some other workaround?

A label on the oven door indicates a number of 8114p351-60, if that helps.

I have an almost-as-old-as-yours Magic Chef oven, and the igniter and the oven light should work fine with the clock disconnected. Here's how to do it.

unscrew the back panel to get to the clock.
There will be two wires connecting to the clock: a white wire and a black wire that's daisy-chained to the light switch on the left side of the top panel.
disconnect both wires by wiggling their wire clamps and pulling until they come off.
cover the bare metal ends of both securely and thoroughly with electrical tape. This is very important!  If those wires contact any nearby metal you'll short the circuit at best, and at worst cause a fire-- unintended sparks around gas ranges are a shortcut to a very bad day.
I'd suggest taping the now-fully-insulated wires to the back of the clock panel so they won't be dangling in the back of the range where it might be hot enough to damage the insulation on the wires.

You could add a switch between clock and timer to kill the power or remove the power to the timer.


Detecting mold with a blacklight I've heard anecdotally that mold will glow green under a black light (UV light). Is this true?

There's a room in my house with a musty odor, and I'm trying to determine the source of the smell. There's a substantial amount of unpainted wood - here is a sample of what it looks like under an ultraviolet light:

(Photo specs: 1s f/4.5 exposure under 2 48" 36W T8 UV lamps.)

Does this indicate mold growth in the wood? (Freshly cut wood exposed to the same UV light does not reflect the same green-yellow color.) I have tried cleaning the surface of the wood with mold/mildew cleaner, to no effect. My understanding of mold growth is limited and I'm having a hard time coming up with reliable information about it.

What's the humidity level in the room? I'd go get a $12 humidity sensor and see what you got. My understanding that mold can grow >= 60% RH, though there are other factors (e.g. moisture will condense on a cold wall with a lower relative humidity). You may need a dehumidifier if you're too high. Of course that won't kill the mold but will keep it from growing.

It might just be glue, if the door is stained, the stain would highlight the yellow of the glue.


Connecting the motor to 12/2 wire and a 6 position dial in an evaporative swamp cooler I'm connecting a new evaporation cooler to an existing 6 position wall dial using the existing wiring. The idiot owner who wired the original cooler put in 12/2 Romex, intead of 12/3 for the motor (the pump also has 12/2 Romex, and that is wired and working).

Coming out of the motor is a Red(Lo), Black(hi), White(Com) and Green(Ground).

Coming out of the switch is a black(hi), White(com) and green(Ground). The Red(lo) isn't connected.

I'm ok-ish with having the cooler only work on one setting (hi), so I wired the black to black, white to white, and ground to ground, and capped the Red.

Tried the switch, and the motor isn't turning on at any of the settings.

Do I have to run a new 12/3 Romex and connect the red, or, in theory, should this work? I'm not excited about fishing wires down from the roof if I can avoid it.

The other idea I had, is to combine the red (lo) and Black(hi) into one connector, and connect that to the black house wire, but I'm worried that tI'm going to overload the motor.

It's possible there is something else going on (it's an old house and old wiring). I just want to make sure this is likely not the problem before I start looking at other things, or pay to get an electrician in.

First u can run a second 12/2 wire to get lo (red)
Black is hi
White neutral an green ground
Wire accordingly

Ck utube video. Guy does a good job show n tell on hookup

Also ck switch with power off using an ohm metrr an see if u get the proper reads


Will two 2x10 beams carry a a 2500lb floor for a tree house? I am wanting to span between 2 trees with 12 to 15 foot beams. I will have one beam on one side of the trees and another beam on the other side. The beams will be supported 1/3 in from one end and 1/3 in from the other. They will rest on metal plates on that will be about 4" long screwed into their undersides. The plates are mounted on tree bolts. So those will be the support points. I believe I have found that this wood will support 1200lbs each, but that is one long span. This is more like 3 spans. The beams will be about 20" apart (the width of each tree). I want to then build an 8x10 or 10x10 standard floor joist system and build a treehouse on top of that.

Including people, snow load, and the weight of all the wood and materials, it will be under 2500lbs. Will my 2 beams be enough? Could I use 2x8s? Do I need to double them up?

The drawing below is close to what I am wanting to do. My trees are straight and the overhang on the left and right is more. There will be around 1/3 of the beam extending beyond each mounting point and the floor will extend out there too.

There’s several issues with your plan: 1) support 2500#, 2) connect platform to beams, 3) differential loading on cantilever beams.

1) Yes, 2 - 2x8’s spanning 4’ or 5’ can easily support 2500# depending on the species and grade of lumber. However, a 4’ or 5’ cantilever is excessive for either a 2x8 or 2x10 and will eventually fail depending on how much of the 2500# load is on the cantilever beams.

2) The platform could exert a force of over 600 lbs. due to rotation on each H-1 connector by having the live load and dead load on the cantilever. The Simpson H-1 clip is only rated for a resistance of 400# to 500#, depending on the species and grade of the joists and beams. H-1 clips are not suitable for this installation.

See: https://www.strongtie.com/resources/product-installers-guide/h1-installation

3) Structures like this will not have uniform loads distributed throughout the structure evenly. A more detailed design and structural analysis should be done by a structural engineer (not civil engineer) or architect if you decide to stay with the extremely large cantilever design.

Btw, there are many videos about how to connect beams to a growing tree for a tree fort.


Did the plumber hook up my water heater backwards? I just had a plumber install a new 50 gallon water heater, but the cold water pipe is installed to the hot side (the left pipe when facing the front of the heater) and the hot water pipe is installed to the cold side (the right pipe when facing the front of the heater).  Is this ok? I thought that the cold water pipe had to go into the cold intake value and the hot water pipe would be connected to the hot value.

So I called the plumber and he said that everything is installed correctly. And he wouldn't change the plumbing.

Yes, reversing them would be a bad thing. The cold water should be entering the bottom of the tank, the hot output at the top:

I'd insist that the plumber fix this. But if they won't, I'd suggest picking up a pipe cutter, some sharkbite connectors, and just fix it yourself. Shouldn't take more than a half hour to do so.

if you toliet water is hot then yes its hooked up backwards


50 Amp tankless water heater and 30 amp double pole switch I just moved into a house. I have a 50 amp max tankless water heater. The circuit breaker is 50 amps. The water heater is connected to a NEMA 10-50 power receptacle. There a switch to turn on and off the water heater from inside the house. I am going to replace the switch. I noticed that it is a double pole 30 amp switch.

I haven't tested the water heater yet and I am going to replace the switch, but I would like to know if this is a safe setup, since the switch's amperage is lower than the water heater's max.

I am going to try to brake down your question.

  I have a 60 amp max tankless water heater.

Now just off of what you said the 2014 NEC Table 310.15(B)(16) shows that a #6 or #4 wire is needed for 60 amps, depending on which wire you use.

  The circuit breaker is 60 amps.

You are right in line with the amps of the water-heater.

  The water heater is connected to a NEMA 10-50 power receptacle

That receptacle is only rated up to 50amp but try to find a 60amp 3wire receptacle.

  There a switch to turn on and off the water heater from inside the house. I am going to replace the switch. I noticed that it is a double pole 30 amp switch.

BIG problem, the switch is way under sized, but from your picture it doesn't look like the correct size wire ether.

I would look at the wiring that is going to the breaker and see if it is correct. You may have to start over again.

No it is not correct.  The switch must be 60 amp also.


How do I fix laminate flooring that's begun to rise in the middle? We have laminate flooring in our kitchen/lounge and over the winter (which are cold and damp here in New Zealand) the flooring has begun to rise up in a couple of places. It was fitted by the previous owner and it appeared that they had left enough gap around the edge for expansion, but it turns out they didn't. Is there a solution to fix this without having to take most of it up and shorten/reshape a lot of bits?

One option we've had suggested is to get a dehumidifier in there to take the moisture out, but that doesn't seem like a long-term fix!

Depending on the layout, you might be able to fix this without taking up any of the flooring.  Here in the US at least, laminate flooring is usually installed in a floating manner, where the individual laminate boards are not attached to the subfloor at all and the entire floor is free to expand and contract (assuming it's not bound up at the edges).  The expansion gap around the perimeter of the room is hidden under a baseboard and some variety of quarter-round or shoe molding.

If your floor is buckling because its expansion gap isn't big enough, you should be able to remove that shoe molding and baseboard and cut the edges to increase the gap without pulling up the flooring.  I'd recommend an oscillating multifunction tool for this as it will let you cut very close to the wall, unlike a circular saw.  Here's a cheap one from Harbor Freight.

An answer to a question about squeaky floors recommended Squeeeeek No More screws. You screw them in until a certain depth and then break the head off, so the top wood is fixed to the bottom wood (it probably won't work with a concrete floor, like we usually have here in Europe), without a visible screw head (you fill the small hole with wood filler). I don't know whether it works with laminate flooring, and whether you can get it in New Zealand, but you can always ask them.

This will of course remove the freedom of the movement of the wood, I don't know whether that is a good idea or not.


How can I fasten a low-voltage plate to drywall? I do not have much experience with home improvement related things. I moved into my first apartment and I saw that the internet coaxial cable was pushed inside the outlet. I loosened the screws and using a knife I cut the thin paint layer around the cover and removed the cover

I pulled the coax cable out and fixed the position but when I try to screw the cover back it won't go in. What do I need to fix this outlet cover?

Low voltage plates without brackets make for a sad DIYer

It appears the last installer tried simply screwing the cover plate to the drywall directly without a bracket or box to back it up.  Unfortunately for them, screws don't hold well in drywall, as you found out the hard way.  While you could use drywall anchors, there isn't much left there for them to hold on to, thanks to the screw-job chewing up the drywall.

It'd be better if you got something called an "old work low voltage bracket", such as the one shown below, that installs behind the drywall with a set of built-in clamps that hold it to the wall.  You'd have to cut out the damaged drywall around the existing hole to the size of the bracket's cutout, insert the bracket, and then engage the clamps.  Then you can screw the faceplate to the bracket and have things stay together properly.  (Obviously, you need to undo the cable to do this.)

Use butterfly plugs or drywall Fisher plugs


I have 240V cable on a 120V circuit. Should I be worried? I'm reconfiguring my kitchen and moving some stuff around, which necessitates moving some outlets and switches. This is my first attempt at any kind of electrical work, so finding weird things makes me nervous.

It appears that my house (built in 1905 and remodeled several times before I bought it in 2004) used to have an electric oven. It now has a gas oven and a 110V 20 amp circuit that is supposed to power the electrical part of the oven (a clock and the ignition for the burners and oven) and a microwave/hood combo.

When I took off the oven faceplate, I found a 240V box behind it with big white and black multi-stranded wires (and a ground). It appears that someone used one strand of each of the big wires and attached that to the outlet's terminal screws. Then they used wire nuts and pigtails to run normal 12/2 (w/ ground) wire up to the microwave/hood.

How should I deal with the 240V cable that runs from the breaker box to the outlet? Do I need to pull it out and replace it? Is there a way to wire nut a 240V stranded wire to a 120V wire, and is that an okay thing to do? I realize that as long as the breaker is only 120V, the wire is just bigger than it needs to be, but I worry that someone might see the 240V wire at the breaker and try connecting a 240V circuit without checking for smaller gauge wire downstream. Best I can tell, the 240V cable runs in one piece from the breaker box all the way to the outlet.

Pictures:

It looks like the cable was indeed originally run for a 220V stove.

When the stove was replaced with a gas stove, rather than run a new cable they just used the existing cable. This is fine as long as both ends are properly terminated.

I don't like the way they terminated the outlet though. I think they should have used a 12 AWG pigtail. ( assuming it was a NEMA 5-15 or NEMA 5-20 outlet ) Other than that I might have done the same thing depending on the difficulty of running a new cable.

( NEMA 5-15 is the designation of a US 110V 15A outlet )

If it is easy enough, I would run a 12 AWG cable from the breaker box to another box near the first with a NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 outlet.
Then either put an appropriate outlet on the existing cable with a 40A double pole breaker (assuming it is 8 AWG wire); or just put a blank cover on it.
If you do just use a blank cover, you should either ground out all of the conductors or remove the cable from the breaker box.
This way it can be left wired for both gas and electric stoves.

If it is difficult to run a new wire, I would just do what they did; except use a pigtail to connect the outlet. Don't cut back part of the wire, use an appropriately sized wire nut.

Having a 40 amp circuit (nominally 8 gauge copper wire or 6 gauge aluminum) extended with 12 gauge copper is worrisome.  There are worse electrical faux pas possible in an old house, but the most expedient thing to do in this case is probably to replace the 40 amp ganged breaker with a 20 amp ganged breaker.  That will provide proper wire protection from overheating and short circuits.

In theory that is simple, but in practice you'll probably have to use a short piece of 12 gauge into the new breakers and then wire nuts to join those to the heavier cable—unless you can find a breakers with large holes.  That is okay inside the panel.  That will also help signal future electricians that the wire is not 6 or 8 gauge all the way.


How do I clean my jetted whirlpool tub? The master bath of our new house has a jetted whirlpool tub. We haven't used it yet, since the previous owners were, um, lacking hygiene. Is there a good way to clean it out without taking the whole thing apart? I've heard that some people use dish detergent, but then I've heard elsewhere that this can cause residue buildup inside the jets and tubing. Is there a good cleaning product made specifically for jetted tubs out there that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Does anyone have experience they can share?

Were the previous owners kind enough to leave the instruction manual for the tub?  If not, you may be able to look up the model online, and get a copy.

The last jetted tub I had experience with, had removable jets, which could be placed in the dishwasher (as per the instruction manual).  In order to clean out the tubing, we would fill the tub, and add 1-1.5 cups of bleach, then run the jets for a good 20-30 minutes, drain the tub, refill with clean water, and run for another 5-10 minutes.  It was amazing how much "ick" came out, and with the bleach you don't have to worry about buildup.

If the previous homeowners were as you say, lacking hygiene, you may want to repeat this process a few times.

Oh Yuk Jetted Tub cleaner, found on Amazon, is widely used by the lodging industry.

How To Use Oh Yuk System Cleaner For Residential Tubs:

Fill the bathtub with warm water. Make sure the water is high enough over the jets so you can turn them on.
Run the tub with the jets on.
Add Oh Yuk System Cleaner.  The longer you let Oh Yuk run through your system, the better job it will do cleaning your plumbing.

These are the recommended minimum times:
Initial Cleaning: 8 oz. per 100 gallons for 1 hour.
Maintenance Cleaning: 2 oz. per 100 gallons for ten to fifteen minutes.

Drain the bathtub.
Clean the scum ring and the surface of the tub with a good cleaner.
Fill the tub over the jets, turn the jets on for a few seconds, then drain the bathtub.


Is this a threaded tap? If so, what is the best way to unscrew it without damaging it? So this is the tap I have and I’d like to attach an accessory to it. I believe it is threaded and I should be able to unscrew the existing head to be able to use the threads, but I don’t know how to remove it. The plier (correct word?) tool that I have has sharp teeth and it’s scratching and damaging the tap. I’ve tried several grippy, nonslip layers between them to avoid damage but it’s still slipping or scratching the tap. Any suggestions?

I will use a piece of leather if I don't want to damage the finish. Think old leather belt if you don't have any scraps of leather.

The thread was a two-sided male screwing to both sides (female), the tap and the nozzle thing. All I needed was a larger tool and some more strength.


Why does this toilet clog so often? My inlaws have one toilet in their house that regularly clogs. They have two more toilets that don't seem to clog at all. They live in a suburb with full plumbing (not a septic tank). The toilet isn't low-flow. They had a plumber come look at it, plumber says there's nothing wrong.

But every third time we visit, my husband clogs it. Or I do. Other guests seem to clog it, too. The residents don't clog it. My husband and I don't usually clog toilets. We do eat more meat, less fiber while visiting, but we travel tons and put up with drastic dietary changes and new plumbing all the time, and we don't clog toilets. Just this one.

What makes this one exceptional is that we often have to snake it when it does clog. Just plunging never releases the clog.

Is the plumber nuts? Is there something else going on here?

Troubleshooting steps/questions:

Has this toilet always had this problem, or was there ever anything installed in this location that didn't clog like this? If the toilet has always had this problem then it's likely some issue with the initial installation; the drain pipe diameter may be too small, or there may be insufficient venting which is causing slow drainage in the wall because there's no "air behind water".
If it didn't always have this problem, then something has changed. Would that be anything obvious like a remodel, or something more gradual like build-up accumulation? If the toilet was replaced at some point, either as its own job or as part of a larger remodel, then most likely something was done during construction/installation that is causing an obstruction. If not, then mineral or organic build-up is the most likely culprit.
From the comments, what DID the plumber do, if he didn't scope the drain, lift the throne, and/or inspect the vent stack from the roof? Anything he did do, besides flush a toilet with nothing but clean water in it, may help to eliminate or diagnose potential problems.
Does the toilet always seem to drain slowly, even if it doesn't clog outright? Slow drainage of the bowl in all circumstances would point to an obstruction of the pipe diameter itself, such as an improper flange installation, a defect in the toilet, or blockage in the piping. Fast flow in a "normal" flush, but easy clogging, generally points to a foreign object blocking the pipe in such a way as to trap solids as they go down the drain, but allowing water without any solids to pass by normally.
Are there small children in the house? A child could have flushed a pencil, pen or other long, stiff object which is now caught in a turn in the plumbing and is trapping solid matter to form clogs. Scoping the drain will identify this blockage, and a professional snake will clear it (the homeowners'-variety snake with a coiled end won't do anything; you'll need a snake with bladed ends designed to chew into or through solid blockages, which require some knowhow to use without further damaging your drains).

If you are happy with the toilet and it only happens for one person possibly a women, it may have to do with her possible pregnancy. Women take prenatal which seems to contribute to this plus the pregnancy itself could be a factor as well. I will see if things improve at my home but but this is the only suspect. I was otherwise very happy with my top rated toilet that I installed less than a year ago which has surprisingly clogged 3 times in last 2 weeks. The remedy in this case should be to flush mid way or multiple times during single visit.


How to identify cat5 mid-cable I've recently purchased a house with several cat5 cables running through the attic.  I'm trying to hook one of them up to an access point on the ceiling that is positioned in a place that is about mid-cable.  How do I identify which cable is which without cutting them in the middle?  Is there a tool that can detect a signal in a cable non-destructively?

You can purchase a cheap tone and probe at harbor freight for less then $25. I have one and it works great. Harbor freight calls it a cable tracker, fyi

if you can't figure it out from the markings
use a tone genrator.

circulate an AC current one way through the cable use a clamp meter

circulate a DC current and use a magenetic compass.

these circulating currents will have to return to the source through some other path (not through the same cable) use a lamp or other load to limit the current.


Can I extend 20 amp garage outlet? Or can I only move it? In attached garage there is a receptacle with a single 20 amp outlet (marked as "Freezer" in a breaker panel). It is in inconvenient location. The idea is to extend this circuit to an area where I need outlets. After it this circuit will power 5-6 outlets.
I found this in NEC 2017 [210.11 Branch Circuits Required (C) (4)]:
(4) Garage Branch Circuits. In addition to the number of
branch circuits required by other parts of this section, at least
one 120-volt, 20-ampere branch circuit shall be installed to
supply receptacle outlets in attached garages and in detached
garages with electric power. This circuit shall have no other
outlets.

Does it prevent me from extending this circuit? If yes - which options do I have? Either move or extend but add a new 20 amp circuit with a single outlet?

So long as all the outlets are in the garage, you meet the language of the code.
The intent of the single outlet (marked freezer) would have been to minimize the possibility of the freezer being taken out by some other load tripping the circuit. You don't need to follow that intent, particularly if you are not also using it for a freezer.

I think you might be reading something old. The 2002 through 2017 NECs that I have here do not say it in that way, they don't have the part about having no other outlets. That phrase IS there for Laundry areas, but not in the part about garages in general.


Is it normal for a doorbell transformer to be warm and make noise? To make a long story short I am in the process of hooking up my ring door bell and I need to follow these instructions: (I want to wire directly to transformer)

To my understanding I need to wire my doorbell wiring directly to a 8-24V transformer which has a resistor following their specs.

For my resistor I used this product
For my transformer I used this product

I went ahead and tapped into a junction box which has some 14-2
Wiring - I hooked the transformer into those. I then souldered the resistor onto my doorbell wiring and hooked up my doorbell wiring to the transformer (distributing 16v to my ring doorbell)

I have three questions:

the transformer is pretty warm to the touch....Not crazy hot but deff warm. Is this normal for a transformer? Or do I have to much power being distributed to it?
the transformer makes a decent amount of noise. The transformer had the built in clip with the screw (it just goes right into a pop out in the box) but it’s not very secure? I am assuming the noise is from the vibration of it not being very secure to the box. (Also if I hold it down by hand there is still some light noise)
I guess my overall concern is I understand the very (and I mean very) basics of a transformer and resistor. But are the above items normal? Should a transformer be silent and cool? Based on my set up is there any red flags?

Transformers are always going to produce some heat. It's a part of the step-down process. It should only be warm to the touch, however. If it burns you, there's something seriously wrong.
Some noise is not unusual either. Go stand near a power company transformer and you should hear some noise as well. If the transformer is cheap, it might make more noise than a more expensive model (my experience only, yours may differ), but they generally aren't silent. #1 would worry me more than this

So did you have an existing traditional doorbell already and you are just adding the Ring unit to that circuit? because THAT is the only time you need the resistor. The resistor is there to protect the Ring unit from the effects of having an older electro-mechanical bell circuit on the same line; they are notoriously 'nasty" in terms of electrical noise due to a phenomenon called "inductive kickback". When the doorbell mechanism is the only thing there, nobody cares but if you connect the Ring unit to the same existing circuit, tat inductive kickback sends little pulses of voltage back on the line that may end up destroying the Ring unit. If you don't have an old system still in place and are just using the phone connectivity as your "bell", you don't need that resistor. Ring worded that poorly, you are not the only one who misinterpreted it.

The thing is, adding that resistor must also be done correctly, meaning it must be in SERIES with the Ring unit circuit. If you connect it in PARALLEL, it presents a 50W load burden on the transformer and that transformer cannot handle 50W!