How to remove Schlage deadbolt? I want to remove a Schlage deadbolt so I can re-key it.  I don't have the key (previous owner lost it).  The deadbolt has keyholes on both sides.  Here's a view of the inside face:

The outside face is the same except it doesn't have the "rivet heads" on either side of the keyhole.  Here's a pic of the bolt itself:

In your first picture the round disk looking objects on either side of the keyway are screw covers that are driven after the screws are tightened.

A strong sharp object, something like a chisel that you don't mind getting dull would do the trick. The pin that is in the screw head isn't very long so the cover will fall off readily after the cover starts lifting out. After the covers are removed, the screws are removed using a Phillips head screwdriver. The screws under the covers are #1 the screws in the latch are #2.

Take the whole thing to a locksmith and have him rekey it correctly.


Painting over reversed drywall I had a painter come over to paint the garage drywall (it was reversed for some reason).

https://imgur.com/V9Q5jcW
https://imgur.com/Uhajs6q

He used Sheetrock Dust Control to cover the nails and seal the drywall gaps. Later used 3 coats of Glidden Premium Exterior Paint for the walls and ceiling.

https://imgur.com/qPcenMj
https://imgur.com/2rBk6uM

The result looks pretty uneven, annoyed that I spent the money on a professional and still didn't get an even looking wall paint

How can I get an even paint if I have to paint over this myself

Three coats of paint here is insufficient, or rather inappropriate. This surface needed a good sanding, and probably some ready-made drywall joint compound, to make it even and clean.

Then one coat of primer and two coats of paint (until nice). In the current condition, I'd be afraid whatever you put over will flake sooner than later due to the bad base.

Personnaly, I'd have gone

drywall compound till nice all around
sand evenly
primer
2 coats.

I assume all those racks and shelves were removed prior to painting, right ?

From the current condition, I'm not sure how much sanding would give enough for the new paint to hold.

A coat of gypsum over it, then you can primer and paint


How can I get new sections of fencing to match the existing fencing? I have a lot of Fencing. half of the fence has previously been Galvanized, I have also created a few new fence sections.

My problem is that when the new fence gets galvanized, it will look too clean and polished and will stick out. I know that the oxidation that happens on the fence is the protective layer that you actually dont want to clean, however in my case, I would like to make the entire fence look the same.
so the choices are to either clean the old fence in some solution (which is cheap and readily available)  or to make the new fence oxidise quicker.
From experience, I know that the new fence will take a few months to start looking like the existing fence.

Any Ideas here?

The original galvanizing of the fence was in a bath of molten tin (hot dip galvanizing).

Since this is not practical for the old fence, there are cold galvanizing compounds.  They are zinc rich paints.

They will not stop rust that has broken through the original coating.  Rust must be removed, then coat the bare steel.

The aerosol versions would be very expensive for painting fence, but the compound is available in a brush on version.  Search "Cold Galvanizing Compound for Corrosion Control" and look for liquid brush on versions.

Use oil base primer for the coating of galvanished metal.You may also use vinegar.


How to get rid of CO₂ in a house with A/C in hot summer? Recently, I've been measuring the CO₂ concentration during multiple nights and the levels in the bedroom where I sleep are very high and unhealthy (over 1600 ppm).

I use an AirVisual monitor, which is high precision and catches the trends. I opened the window last night, and that's why the CO₂ is lower. But on all the other days, it's over 1400-1600 ppm.

I get a high concentration only when I'm sleeping, so I assume that the CO₂ comes from me. Since the windows are shut and the door closed, the CO₂ gets trapped.

The problem is that during the summer, the temperatures outdoor are over 95 F (35 C) with high humidity, and I have the airconditioning running inside. If I open the window, the heat comes in very fast and then the AC has to do extra work, which means waste of money and resources. And it's the same situation during the night.

How do I get rid of CO₂ inside the house without opening the windows when the weather is hot?

EDIT: After reading all the great suggestions, I have tried a new measurement with the device far away from my bed, so it will not be affected by my breath. I also checked for timers and couldn't find any. Last night I closed the window and the door at around 11 PM and the concentration started to slowly increase. During the night, the CO2 levels increased significantly (see graph below). In the morning, I opened the window and it slowly started decreasing. I have no doubt that there is a lot of CO2 in the room. So my question stands. How to get rid of CO2 or any other gases/vapors for that matter, in a hot, humid climate. Is HRV the only solution?

You want an high-efficiency heat exchanger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_recovery_ventilation

Basically, you pipe in fresh air, but have it cooled before, while you heat out the air that is going out. It's typically installed on central hvac systems.

It needs maintenance to be efficient and it is quite often overlooked by contractors as it's hard to notice when it's not working.

You can also try this:
Get some plants in places where there's high co2 concentration. If there's no sun, then use plants which are good in that situation.


Why am I seeing voltage on the neutral wire from my 3 phase power supply? I am not an electric engineer so I can only explain\understand in layman language. I am facing a persisting problem in my house. I have 3 phase and one neutral till my main electric board through which each phase is distributed to different part of my house, if I divide my house in three parts, distinct phase is going to each part. Sometimes my neutral wire shows full voltage as of the phase, due to which I lost a number of electric appliances. I have an earth(ground) connection as well. Called a number of electric guys, no one was able to rectify it. I need help. Appreciate any help or suggestion.

Three Phase Power

In three phase systems, there are three "hot" lines (L1, L2, L3). Often there will also be a neutral (N) and a ground (G). The neutral and ground should be bonded together at your service entry). The three lines are all 120 degrees apart from each other. Loads can be attached in either a wye or a delta configuration. In residential applications, often only two of the three phases are supplied (and different houses will get different pairs of phases as to balance them).

Delta

In a delta configuration, loads are attached between phases (and a neutral is not needed). This configuration is common for large motors and in industrial settings. In some delta configurations, a terminal on the transformer's secondary is grounded and provides a neutral. The ground terminal would be either one of the three lines or a center tap on the   coil between two lines (creating a high-leg delta configuration since one of the lines is at a much higher potential (with respect to ground) than the other two).

Wye

In a wye configuration, loads are connected between a line and the neutral. Based on the question, I believe that this is the configuration being used. The power company supplies the three phases and a neutral, and the customer supplies the ground. Normally, the neutral is connected to the ground (which is bonded to metal rods in the earth, water pipes, etc...). If the load is properly balanced (meaning that there are equal currents flowing on each phase), the neutral currents will cancel out to be zero and the neutral would be unused.

However, it is rare that the three lines will be exactly balanced, so there would be a neutral current flowing based on differences of currents in the three phases.

The Root Cause

My hypothesis is that the neutral in the building is not properly connected to the power company's transformer. Without a good neutral connection, the neutral voltage is not held to earth potential (the ground connection usually has 1-20 ohms resistance to the earth). The neutral voltage will drift towards whichever line is the most loaded (as it forms a voltage divider). For example, if L1 has a large load and L2/L3 are lightly loaded, the neutral voltage will be pulled towards L1, causing the L2-N and L3-N voltages to became much larger than their nominal voltage.

So, the fix would be to repair the neutral connection between the building's breaker panel and the power company's transformer. This may be a bad connection of the neutral in the breaker panel, or a failing transformer. Repairing this could be dangerous because the problem might be in a section of cable that cannot be easily turned off (if the break is before the building's main breaker). Working with the power company to turn off your service or check their transformer will likely be needed.

Split-phase Systems

This problem has an analogue in the split-phase system which is common in the United States, and there are related questions on this site:

Why do my bulbs glow brighter when the microwave is running?
How can I determine why my lights are flickering?
Can my apartment's electricity harm my computer? Is there an easy way to test the electricity?

I think that if you have 3 phase and 1 neutral wire then it is completely natural* to have voltage on neutral wire due to any kind of load imbalance. So I'm wondering:
1-why you need 3 phase in your house(cause this is used for industrial purposes)?
2-how are you going to balance the load?
Now even if you have a very good earth connection that means if one phase goes off, then the earth wound consume tremendous amount of power for a long time that will probably cause damage to devices or fuse welding.

*note:by "natural" I do not mean that it is ok to have full phase voltage on neutral wire but I mean that it is unavoidable and it may happen if you have load imbalance.


Are gaps above and below framing members a concern? I recently hired a framing crew to frame a new house. After it was done, I commissioned an independent review. The reviewer described some of the work as "shoddy," and pointed out a lot of gaps, particularly between king and jack studs and the plates. I took photos and added his notes to a few studs he pointed out. He also pointed out that the roof beams weren't birdstoothed, as the plans directed, but were instead set onto the headers and strapped to scrap lumber. In one place, the beams are strapped to a split 2x4.

Would it be appropriate to ask the framers to fix some of this work? I don't work in construction, but even as someone outside of the industry I'm looking at this and it just doesn't look good.

Edit: Here is an album showing many additional photos: https://imgur.com/a/WRBO1is

I always wonder “what else is wrong” when there are so many obvious errors.

You’ve noted the obvious problems, but you’ve probably missed some major items that are not so obvious:

In Picture #1 you’ve noted the gap issue, but missed the “double spliced sole plate”. (Splices are to be a minimum of 4’ apart, unless at intersection of a wall.)
In Picture #1 it’s difficult to see, but the subfloor is not nailed properly. (Nailing should be a maximum of 12” apart in the field and 6”” apart at the edges.)
In Picture #2 a twist strap is not an acceptable connector when it’s improperly nailed into a piece of blocking. (The length of the nails need to be long enough to penetrate into the beam...going through the piece of blocking reduces it too much.)
In Picture #2 I don’t understand your comment about the “pocket”, but if the beam requires two trimmers then it needs a connector too. (That whole assembly is questionable.)
In Picture #3 the gaps you circled are acceptable , but I doubt TV he double top plate is nailed together properly. It requires 16d nails at 8” on center (at a minimum) and I see no nails poking through the lower plate. 16d nails are long enough that they’ll show through the lower plate. If it isn’t nailed properly it does not meet code in your area (Alaska) and could fail under any seismic load.
In Picture #4 the framing to too “wonky” to be acceptable, including the gap you indicate at the top of the double jack studs. If the contractor argues that there are other jack studs next to them “so it doesn’t matter”. Let them know that the load is transferred to the foundation at the double jacks...not at random locations.
In Picture #5 the trimmer (jack studs) is not acceptable. It does not provide adequate bearing for that size beam. In addition the 3/4” plywood studs are not acceptable (actually they could produce structural calculations to prove me wrong, but I doubt it would be acceptable in your location for seismic activity.) Also, you’d need to glue the sheathing to the studs and I doubt there’s adequate nailing ...12” on center in field and 6” on center along edges.

I’d love to see more pictures to determine if floor sheathing in Picture #5 is adequate, roof sheathing is nailed properly, etc. Usually bad framing extends to anchor bolts, anchor bolt washers, holddowns, etc.

I agree with Greg Hill and “upvoted” his answer that you must get these things fixed before you proceed or you’ll be paying the cost to replace anything installed later.

What is the issue here? In my area, most of that is not how we frame things (code wise)  But - I can tell you for a fact that that none of those gaps shown are compromising the strength of the structure, anyone who frames and builds everyday knows that.


How do I install a fan when the electrical box has 2 white and 2 black and 2 ground wires? I am trying to install a ceiling fan with remote and the problem I am having is that there are 2 black, 2 white and 2 copper(ground) wires.

The first thing I did was to connect the red wire from the fan to the black wire from the box. Then connected the white wire from the fan to the white wire from the box. Next, I connected one of the ground wires to the screw in the box and connected the other ground with the ground wire from the fan and the fan bracket. Lastly, I connected the white wire from the the receiver (for the remote) to the white wire of the fan, the black wire from the receiver to the black wire of the fan, and the blue wire from the receiver to the blue wire of the fan. I put caps over the extra white and black wires.

After this I tried turning the fan on via the remote and the pull-chains, but it did not work. What am I doing wrong?

Usually only the receiver is attached to the mains. One set of receiver wires (usually black/white/bare or green) go to the circuit and another set of receiver wires, often with two hots (black, red or blue) go to fan and light separately, and then white to white and ground to ground.

If there is a receiver, the fans own wires should generally NOT be attached to the mains.


Correct grit and sander for sanding a cedar railing? We have a cedar railing around a deck. The railing needs to be sanded prior to applying a water sealer. Two questions:

What is the best grit of sandpaper to use? I read that using too fine of a grit might make it more difficult to seal, but the article did not provide much guidance after that suggestion.
What type of sander should I use? Is a random orbital sander OK, or is there a different preferred type?

Thank you for your input!

cedar is soft, grit not critical, I would use 150


How many bolted faults can a residential circuit breaker withstand? A friend told me I should change my 20 amp breaker after one bolted fault. Is this necessary? During testing of the tread mill that caused the breaker to trip it has successfully tripped two more times so I'm suspicious of my friend's advice.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop is rather unanswerable. How many faults are they built to withstand and still be functional, should I swap them out after X # of faults, and are they more likely to fail-dangerous if they're old and abused?

According to the UL, a breaker must safely clear its maximum current twice and still be functional. This is a manufacturing standard; not really your concern unless yours broke after the first fault.

CBs are built to always fail-safe. An older breaker that seems to nuisance trip more often than it should might be grounds for replacement and it's probably the easiest way to see if there is something funny going on but there's no reason to arbitrarily replace them after a few faults. Several thousand faults? you'd better check what's going on and that breaker goes in the garbage on principle.

I'm unaware of any UL testing that seeks to show a reset count limit. I'd assume the possibility of a fail-on state is negligible or it wouldn't be UL'ed. IME, when they break they just don't reset anymore. - Find me an un-safe one and we'll go sue 'em for all they've got.

Most bkr mfg's recomend changing the breaker after a fault as the resistance on the contacts is slightly degraded when it trips under load or if fully loaded and someone opened the breaker same or close to the same damage, as I said most house hold breakers can trip many times with not much change but a 480 3 phase breaker is or can be severely damaged with multiple trips causing single phasing because one of the hammer contact sets is usually damaged more than the others but they always open in my experience. If you have a breaker with high resistance on 1 leg with the load off flip the breaker 10-20 times this displaces the carbon and can sometimes give enough time to order a new breaker but I have only found this on 150+ amp breakers, I tried to post this as a comment but it did not work on my phone so had to put it here.


How can it be dangerous to feed a water heater from two separate panels? In a recent question, a user asked "Can a water heater be installed between two apartments and wired to both apartments' breaker boxes, effectively splitting the bill between the two?". One of the answers suggested that it was okay, and the poster of the answer went on to ask in a comment "How is running a hot, neutral & ground from each box to a subpanel that's circuit breakered & running a single totally code line to the water heater wrong or dangerous?".

Rather than have a discussion on comments, I thought I'd pose this question to the community.  How can supplying a 240 volt electric water heater from two separate electrical panels be dangerous?

WARNING:
This answer describes a fictional installation, and is NOT meant to be a solution to a problem.  This setup should NEVER be implemented in the field, as it is unsafe, and violates countless codes. These codes are intentionally ignored in this answer, in an attempt to keep the answer short and to the point.  There's likely no way to make this setup safe, and this answer makes no attempt to do so (and neither should you).  There are obviously other flaws with a circuit like this, though this answer only seeks to explain one particular flaw. Please stay safe, and don't ever try this at home.

Assuming that both panels are fed by the same 120/240V single split-phase distribution transformer (which may be a terrible assumption). The wiring would look something like this.

Click for larger view
That's two panels, wired to a single transformer. I've eliminated the grounding conductors, to keep the diagrams cleaner.  I've also added a 120 volt load to each panel, to make the installation a bit more realistic.  The whole idea of a secondary panel has also been eliminated, again just to make the diagram cleaner.
Ignoring any obvious code violations, this idea seems to work. The heater works, and everybody is happy!
At some point in the future, the tenant in Unit 1 has to have some electrical work done. Before beginning, the Electrician turns off the main breaker in the panel.

Click for larger view
Luckily, The Electrician immediately notices dimly glowing lights. They grab a meter, and find that the panel is still energized.  The confounded Electrician begins to investigate, charging $150 per hour while they do so.
If you follow the circuit, you can see why the Electrician was almost electrocuted.

Click for larger view
Electricity flows into the building on Leg B (red line), and into the panel in Unit 2.  From there it goes to the water heater, through the heating element, and over to Leg A (blue line) of Unit 1s panel.  Since the main breaker is open, the electricity can't follow the normal path along Leg A back to the transformer.  Instead it takes a detour through a lamp, and ends up on the "neutral" line in Unit 1s panel.  From there it flows along the service neutral, all the way back to the transformer.
The panel in Unit 1 is being backfed through the water heater, causing an unsafe, potentially deadly situation.

To make sure this answer appeases all involved, and so that it's not "ABSOLUTE DRIVEL!". I've added a secondary panel to the diagram, to show that it still has the same problem.  Unfortunately, I wasn't sure how to wire up the "neutral" for the panel, so somebody will have to fill me in on how that should work.

Click for larger view

It is always wrong and unsafe to connect a single load (hw heater in this case) to power via two breakers.

As already mentioned, this has the potential for live power where unexpected.

Given multiple meters and power circuits, it would be difficult to get the two supplies in proper phase. That would be the first unexpected result with the potential for destroyed breakers, smoking wire, etc.

Secondly, this proposal has the potential of causing a fire because the available current is doubled. That problem can't be solved because the water heater must continue to work, even when power is turned off for one apartment. Hence, each supply circuit must be able to sustain the whole heater load. The water heater and local circuits will have twice the rated current available.

Thirdly, this proposal won't achieve the desired results. For the load billing to be fairly split, the proposal assumes that current will flow equally on both circuits. That is highly unlikely in the real world. First, the load from each apartment will be different based on other use of electricity such as cooking, running hair dryers, etc. That load difference, w/o the cross-connect in this discussion, would result in different voltages on each apartment's circuits.

What will happen is that the apartment with the lowest other load will suddenly start supplementing the electric supply in the higher load apartment, even when the water heater isn't heating. So the apartment with lower overall usage will pay more than their share including for the free electricity they provide to the higher usage apartment.

If this imbalance exceeds the water heater rating, then one or both breakers will trip. Otherwise, the result is likely to be two nearly identical power bills.

The other potential issue is that breakers are designed for power flow from supply to load. I don't know if the backflow I've described would be benign, damage the reverse direction breaker or perhaps not be detected as an overload.


Baseboard heater thermostat doesn't shut off the heat My living room is heated by two electric baseboard heaters controlled by a single thermostat.  Earlier this week, I noticed that the room was much warmer than it should be, and figured that the thermostat had gotten stuck again*.  After turning the dial failed to produce the "click" of the switch turning off, and dialing the temperature all the way down didn't cool the room, I assumed the thermostat had failed and replaced it.  However, the new thermostat shows what appears to be the same behavior: when the thermostat turns off, the heaters don't turn all the way off.

Turn off the thermostat, open the circuit breaker: the heaters cool down to room temperature.
Close the circuit breaker: the heaters stay at room temperature.
Set the thermostat to 70F: heaters warm to around 200-250F.
Room reaches 70F: thermostat turns off (I can hear the click), one of the heaters cools to around 110F while the other cools to around 160F.
Turn the dial all the way down to "off": heaters stay the same temperature.

Both the old thermostat and the new one are simple bimetallic-strip switches.  I tested the old one with a multimeter, and it switches between infinite resistance when off, and zero resistance when on.

Any idea what's going on, and how I could troubleshoot/fix it?

* The switch in the old thermostat occasionally got stuck, not turning off until much warmer than the setpoint.

First, are you really sure they are still powered?  Heaters have a fair amount of "thermal inertia" - they take awhile to warm up, and they also give off heat for some minutes after they're shut off.  Obviously, the sure way to tell is to pop the service covers off and test with preferably non-contact testers, ideally a clamp-on ammeter.  Although at some point you'll want to measure actual voltage.

One way to measure is your house's electric meter, as it has a spinning disc or similar digital readout that will show rate of power consumption.  A stopwatch and a bit of research will tell you exactly what your whole house is drawing.  To measure the heater, shut off all other large loads.

Here's a little secret about resistive heaters that I use intentionally sometimes. If you apply 120V to a 240V heater, you get 25% of the heat.  So, if you're still getting (roughly 1/4) of the heat an hour after you "shut the thermostat off", there's a good chance a heater is seeing 120V instead of 240V.  The very serious question is WHY?  Because whatever's doing that could burn down your house.

As has been stated these old analogue thermostats function using a bimetallic strip, this is two dissimilar metals bonded together either straight or in the form of a coil. These thermostats generally use a mercury switch, mercury in a little glass tube with two electrodes at one end....  When the temperature is above the set temp the bimetallic strip or coil expands and moves the mercury switch to a physical position where the mercury cannot contact the terminals therefore no current flows. When the temperature is below the set temperature the mercury in the tube is moved so it a contact position by the bimetallic strip or coil contracting and power flows.  Most of these heaters use a single contact/single throw so as noted in a 230vac circuit only one side is cut off but its cheaper for industry why double  contact and single throw was not used.  Finally the lowest position in most thermostats is somewhat higher than freezing for obvious reasons. Two solutions apply 1) Buy digital thermostats that actually cut power flow at minimum or have an off position 2) Turn off the relative breaker supplying the baseboard heater.  A caution applies to always turn off the main breaker or particular breaker and then test for power, never assume power is off as this is a deadly mistake.

I have actually pulled someone off a 230vac wire who was leaning against his city water supply, water pipes are excellent grounds and he was just lucky I was there and acted quickly or he would be dead. Make no mistake with electricity it can easily kill or in the least do lots of neural damage.  I might add a suggestion that everyone should take a CPR course in the least and First Responder Course would be even better training like this saves lives.......


Reducing humidity with a fan: top or bottom? In the basement of my apartment block we have several little storage rooms (~65 sq ft), one for each tenant. Inside of mine the humidity gets a little high to my liking because although it has 2 holes in the wall with gratings that communicate with the rest of the basement, the air doesn't really move and becomes stagnant, which I think makes the humidity rise. The humidity outside that room in the same basement is OK, since it has good ventilation.

The 2 gratings are in the same wall, one at the floor level and the other at ceiling level. So I thought that in order to circulate some air and potentially reduce the humidity, I should install a fan in (at least) one of the two grates.

My question is: what grate would be the best choice for this purpose? The top or the bottom? And what direction should the air flow? Would I benefit from putting two fans, one in each grate?

My understanding using (possibly flawed) logic would be to use the top one and blow the air to the outside of the room, because the humid air would accumulate near the ceiling and this way it would be ejected out.

Dry air is more dense than humid air, so your thinking about humid air accumulating near the ceiling makes sense. Because it's a basement, however, I'm going to assume humidity is coming through the floor or walls. Tackling the source of the humidity by letting drier air circulate along the floor and walls will probably be most effective at drying the space.

Your best bet may be to mount the fan as an intake on the bottom grate, so less humid air blows onto the floor and quickly disperses rising moisture. It would also help to open up some air space along the floor. You could achieve this by storing your items on a raised shelf or pallet. Providing this extra space for air circulation might even be enough to keep your storage room sufficiently dry without forced ventilation.

Unfortunately, I'd have to say have the Landlord or their Superintendent address the situation. But, if you were to ignore that advice again (it's in your lease) then using the top &/or bottom with a full coverage piece of cardboard around the fan &/or blocking the bottom entirely with cardboard to only ever exhaust basement air is the way to go.

The top & bottom grates are a very old no future cost super "Green" (barf) passive "ventilation" & "cooling" "system". They really don't work well & never did. But hey, be a carbon monster & spit all over that nature stuff to save Grandma's hideous quilt.


Drywall screws for subfloor Are drywall screws suitable for attaching a 3/4" tongue-and-groove plywood subfloor?

In this case, joists are 16" O.C. and no glue will be used.

By "drywall screws", I think you are meaning 1 5/8" blued screws. I do not think that they would be a good choice. We usually shoot down plywood subflooring with 2 1/2" to 3" ring shank nails, however 2" to 2 1/2" decking screws work well, but just a lot more work. I would encourage you to use a little adhesive on top of the floor joists or strips of felt paper or Grace ice/water shield to avoid any squeaks later on.

In the field between the joists, they are fine. As long as you use 3" construction screws to grab the joists and proper adhesives.


how do i mount this old Toyo Toki (Toto) sink? I'd like to use this small sink in a powder room, but can't figure out how it mounts to the wall. There are large holes for lugs at the bottom, but if that's it the sink will tip and crack.

Does something go into the two upper holes? I've looked for brackets and nothing matches; they all use a French cleat system. I haven't found a guide to installing an old wall mount sink either; everything I found says "now install the bracket supplied by the manufacturer". Doh!

Edit: I understand that something is going to have to go into the top holes to secure the sink. I just don't understand what or how. The two top holes go into the sink and I have no access to the front. So I can't insert a screw or bolt there to stick out the back.

Any suggestions?

Edit 2: Added a couple more pictures of the back of the sink. I think making a cleat-type bracket like @eric-poole suggested just might work!

The two top holes in the corners are there because the sink is hollow. They are from the making of the sink. You will not use those holes. Every wall mounted sink that I have installed uses a bracket that is mounted on the wall first into at least one stud, then the sink drops down onto the bracket. The two lower holes then would probably line up to two holes on the bracket so the sink cannot be accidentally moved or bumped off the bracket.

If you do not have the bracket, you may have to fabricate one (I would use wood). It should not get wet back there if you caulk along the top of the sink after installation, so the wood should not fall apart over time.

Just off the top of my head, but that sink looks like it is the top of a toilet tank.  All of our old toilet tanks ( I live near Tokyo) have a faucet that shoots out water when the toilet is flushed so we can wash our hands in bathrooms with no sink.  If that is he case, I think you would have trouble mounting the ‘sink” so it was freestanding.


Why might our washing machine cause our clothes to smell damp when dry? Recently we've noticed that our clothes smell damp once dried.  It doesn't matter if we tumble-dry them, hang them outside or hang them indoors.  This leads me to believe it's our washing machine.  We don't leave clothes in the washing machine long after the cycle is complete.

The washing machine waste pipe is plumbed into the waste pipes under the sink in the kitchen, on the house-side of the trap.  I've had the trap off and the washing machine's waste pipe and there doesn't seem to be a cause for the smell.  I reckon it's inside the washing machine (I've checked and cleaned the washing machine filter).

What other things can I check for the cause of the smell?  Are there products I can put through the machine to eradicate it or could there be corrosion inside that means I need to buy a new machine?

Is your washing machine front-loading? I know some (many?) front-loaders have mildew problems because water gets trapped around the seal. Cleaning the seal and leaving the door open when not in use may help.

I had this problem for years.  I changed from liquid to powder, and problem solved.


fluorescent Tube F15 T8 Not working I have a desk lamp that takes 2 fluorescent tubes F15 T8.  The current tubes work but I wanted new ones. I just purchased new tubes and they don't work at all.  Any idea what is the difference between the old and the new?

This is the old Tube:

This is the new tube

On closer examination I notice that the pins on the old tube have been 'Tinned' with solder so I have done the same on the new ones.  This results in the pins being a little thicker.

This appears to have solved the problem and the tubes now light!!  I'm not sure if it is the lamp manufacturer that did this or if the pins used to be a little thicker.

The 2 lamps I have are fairly old 60's?  Made by Luxo.

I 'Tinned' the contact pins with solder, this seems to have solved the problem.


Does my toilet drain poorly because of bad venting? I have been in the house for about a year and the toilet has always had poor drainage. It doesn't overflow but there's hardly any suction at all when you flush it. The tub next to the toilet drains very slowly and will gradually fill up when using the faucet but just running the shower head it drains fast enough to keep up. Both are tied to the same drain line and I figure maybe there's a blockage somewhere. Btw, I replaced the toilet a few weeks ago and it made no difference. (reasons other than just drainage)
I had a plumber come out and they think that the venting was done improperly. The pipe on the left coming off the T is the vent and goes straight up through the roof. To the right, tying in just in front of the vent, goes to the bathtub.
I was quoted at $1200 plus materials to rearrange this. I'd prefer to keep that money in my pocket to fix other things and have no problem crawling in there myself to do the work. I'm just not sure exactly what their plan was to correct the placement of the pipes.
Here's what they wrote on the invoice:

Remove a section of the four inch main drain line into the crawl space area and tie in the drain and
the vent line separately so that it is no longer wet vented and. This conclusion was found due to having the customer flush
the toilet while I was on the roof to see what/ if any air was pushed through and it was minimal.

It's a common misconception, but blocked vents do not cause slow drains. If you Google it, you'll find lots of incorrect information that completely ignore the physical realities of how a vent operates. The purpose of a vent is to prevent the P-trap from being siphoned, it is not intended to help water go down the drain any faster - in fact, a properly vented fixture  will actually drain somewhat slower than a fixture with no vent.
People often talk about a vent in the context of an inverted soda bottle analogy, likening the vent to putting a hole in the opposite side of the bottle so the liquid doesn't slowly "glug" out of the mouth of the bottle. That analogy is nonsense, because there is no such thing as a plumbing fixture with only one entrance/exit like a soda bottle - water going down your pipes does not need to "switch places" with the air ahead of it. Every plumbing fixture ever made has a separate inlet and outlet, and is already open to the air  at the inlet side, allowing the air to follow the water down the pipes. Adding or removing a vent does not change that at all - it is not analogous to adding a second hole to a soda bottle, as it's actually adding a third opening to the already two-ended plumbing system. A blocked vent could potentially contribute to slow drainage if the inlet side is also blocked and cannot let air in, but in that case, it's really the blockage in the drainage pipe that's the issue, which is only exacerbated by the blocked vent. I can't imagine a situation where water can go down the drain, but air cannot.
As an experiment, you can pour water into a sloped pipe and watch it drain as fast as gravity will carry it. Now add a T and a vent somewhere along the pipe, pour the water in again, and see that the vent does not slow the water at all. In fact, plumbing without a vent will drain slightly faster, as water accelerating through the pipes "pulls" the water behind it. Although a vent slowing the drain may seem counterintuitive, it makes sense when you consider that the purpose of the vent in the first place to to prevent the pipes from emptying completely! You can watch a video of such an experiment here - in a realistic setup with a drain, trap, and vent, blocking the vent actually makes the basin drain faster.
Any air that needs to be pulled into the pipe can be pulled in from the inlet - a vent would only help in draining a toilet, for example, if the lid forms an airtight seal around the bowl. The vent is just there to prevent a suction effect that would siphon the P-trap. Your venting may be done improperly, and it may cause different problems with your plumbing, but it is not the primary culprit of a slow drain. If anything, a blocked vent would result in a drain that is faster and smellier (due to the siphoned P-trap). Look for a blockage in the drain pipe, not the vent.

Does my toilet drain poorly because of bad venting?

no

I replaced the toilet a few weeks ago and it made no difference.

remove toilet, place outside about a foot off the ground, with its drain unrestricted.  Dump a 5 gallon pail of water into the bowl and observe the flush.
If it's still terrible you purchased a terrible toilet... buy a toto. Otherwise your drain is blocked, get some FlowEasy cleaner from a plumbing store. For just that one 3" toilet drain I would get a quart and use the whole quart poured down the open drain when the toilet is off.  Wear gloves and a long sleeve.  Then replace the toilet.  Maybe consider getting the gallon of Floweasy and do all your drains.  Odds are your tub drain is also blocked which is why that is slow.


Replace outdoor fixture where existing fixture larger than new one I have an outdoor light fixture for an "Outdoor Lantern" type light.  This fixture is recessed into the siding and has a crossbar-style mounting unit similar to this.  I'd like to replace it with an exterior flood light to give the patio more light;  I've purchased an exterior flood light kit which includes a new weatherproof surface mount fixture box much like this.

Unfortunately, the hole drilled in the siding for the existing fixture is larger than the new surface-mount weatherproof box can cover.  I can't position the new box such that there is no exposed gap to the recessed existing fixture.

What's the best way to install the new light?

A tricky situation. If you can't get a piece of texture matching siding that you can paint to match, then I'd go with Aluminum flashing that you can easily paint & profile to the siding. You'll want to caulk & then screw or pop rivet the siding or flashing chunk to just under the siding's closest above rib to act as a roof for your patch, you're screwing the patch into just the siding & not the building or sheathing. First though, screw in an oval piece of plywood to the building's sheathing to fit in the old hole & fill-up the recess to mount your patch & new fixture to, center drilled-out for wiring. Use aluminum screws or rivets to avoid rusting, caulk your patch to the siding & caulk your fixture to your patch. Also, screw plugs with plumbing tape into the new box's unused holes, even if it's a bottom one.


Tub overflow elbow standard screw pattern; 2 or 1 screw? Is there a standard screw for tub overflow elbows?  Or most popular?  I am installing a new tub and looking for a overflow elbow with a screw pattern that will lend itself to a stylish overflow now, and replacement parts for when it gets rusty and grimy down the road.

I've included a picture of a one-screw overflow and two-screw that I have available to me.

Get the 2 hole one; it'll work for those, and single screw overflows almost always come with a bridging plate.

Actually, the only standard is what your bath faucet, knob, overflow & drain (maybe showerhead too, but who buys those they're always the worst clean out the warehouse afterthoughts) ensemble is. The manufacturer of whatever you buy should include its own overflow & drain. If you already have it & it doesn't have these for some reason, then either is fine & just depends on what's available at the store.


What size conductor do I need to bond water and gas piping? What is minimum size ground do I need for a 200 amp panel? I need to bond the hot and cold in the water heater and already have a ground rod in the ground. I also need to bond the water and gas.

According to National Electrical Code, the water piping must be bonded to the service equipment enclosure, the grounded conductor at the service (service "neutral"), the grounding electrode conductor (where large enough), or directly to one or more of the grounding electrodes. The bonding jumper is to be sized using Table 250.66. For 200 ampere service, you'll probably be using 4 AWG copper or 2 AWG aluminum.

For gas piping, you can bond it to the same things as mentioned for water piping. However, the sizing of the jumper comes from Table 250.122, and is based on the size of the circuit that is likely to energize the piping.

For example:

If you had a gas furnace that was fed by a 15 ampere circuit, the jumper could be 14 AWG copper or 12 AWG aluminum.  Since the furnace circuit is the most likely to energize the piping, you'll size the jumper based on the ungrounded conductor feeding that circuit. This is a somewhat controversial topic, as some believe the jumper should be larger.

  National Electrical Code 2014

  Chapter 2 Wiring and Protection

  Article 250 Grounding and Bonding

  250.104 Bonding of Piping Systems and Exposed Structural
  Steel.

  A) Metal Water Piping. The metal water piping system
  shall be bonded as required in (A)(1), (A)(2), or (A)(3) of
  this section. The bonding jumper(s) shall be installed in
  accordance with 250.64(A), (B), and (E). The points of
  attachment of the bonding jumper(s) shall be accessible.

  (1) General. Metal water piping system(s) installed in or
  attached to a building or structure shall be bonded to the
  service equipment enclosure, the grounded conductor at the
  service, the grounding electrode conductor where of sufficient
  size, or to the one or more grounding electrodes used.
  The bonding jumper(s) shall be sized in accordance with
  Table 250.66 except as permitted in 250.104(A)(2) and
  (A)(3).

  (B) Other Metal Piping. Where 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
  where of sufficient size, or the one or more grounding electrodes
  used. The bonding 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.

NOTES:
 - If this is a multifamily dwelling, the sizing might be a bit different.

Having a big ground does not matter if all the other wires are tiny because they will melt before the ground does. As long as the ground is bigger than any of the wires in the house, then it is sufficient. Usually the biggest wire is the one going to the oven or a dryer. The amperage rating of the box does not matter at all. For example, the box is 500 amps and the biggest wire is 100 amps. Then having a 500 amp rated ground is pointless because the 100 amp wire will melt long before the ground will.

The best ground is an 8-foot copper rod you drive into the ground with a sledge hammer. Then you clamp a braided copper grounding strap to it. Good idea to put it in PVC tubing to protect it from rain. For a house, the strap typically is 1/2" wide or larger.


How to solve new condensation in bathroom exhaust fan ducts? We live in New Orleans in a two story, 95 year old stucco house.  When we renovated 10 years ago, we put over 30 recessed can lights in the upstairs ceiling.  Those openings in an older leaky house—coupled with a poorly insulated attic—caused us to have terrible condensation problems upstairs in the hot humid months between May and October.

Every ceiling opening had moisture and mildew.  Our smoke alarms filled with water, and our hallway walls and ceiling would drip water in the early morning.

It took us some time (and the input of some smart people) to figure out the issue, but in the last year we have made several changes: our HVAC system has been completely redesigned and we made the decision to spray foam the attic (a fairly new option for Gulf coast states).  Our condensation problems have been resolved and we have a comfortable, dry house.  Going from consistent 65-75% relative humidity in the summer to the low 50s—which is low for New Orleans!  The attic is now pleasant as well, just a few degrees warmer than the house.

Just as we were ready to move back in, we discovered both bathroom fan exhaust ducts, as well as the gas dryer duct—all upstairs—have been filling with condensation.  (The exhaust vent in the powder room downstairs is fine.)  This is a new thing.

The guest bathroom duct and the dryer duct (both about 3-5' runs) travel horizontally and exhaust out the side of the house. The bath goes through the attic, the dryer through an inside closet.  The master bath exhausts go upward diagonally through the attic to the roof about 5-7'.  We then installed an additional damper within each bathroom duct (in addition to the damper that is part of the fan unit) and insulated the ducts.  The problem reduced somewhat (the bathroom ceiling no longer has condensation around the grill), but when the fans are turned on, water comes pouring out.

We have talked to a few HVAC companies and mechanical engineers and all acknowledge they are seeing more of this recently and are not sure what is causing it, nor how to solve it beyond what we have already done.  We definitely have a tighter, drier house.  But we have not really been able to achieve positive pressure.  Not without spray foaming the crawlspace under the house, an option with a lot of potential problems for us.

Our HVAC company thinks the bathrooms could exhaust into the HVAC system or even the attic itself without problems, but given our history with moisture issues, I am leery.  Another idea has been to install an electrically controlled damper that works in sync with the exhaust fan and is not dependent on the air flow. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Given all the experts that have looked at this first hand, I am hesitant to suggest a hypothesis based on other situations I have seen.  Also I live in a dry climate, so forgive me if I miss something obvious to everyone who is actually there in New Orleans.

As you know, condensation is the result of warm humid air contacting a cooler surface which is below the dew point.  From your description, you probably have slightly negative static pressure in your house and warm humid make-up air is being sucked through particular exhaust vents that connect to the outside.  That the problem became less severe when additional dampers and insulation were installed supports this hypothesis.  Unfortunately, short of a completely air-tight seal, warm humid air will continue to infiltrate through these paths as long as there is negative static pressure in the house.  Even a slow rate of warm humid air infiltration will eventually make every cool surface in its path wet.

The central blower on a system naturally makes slightly negative pressure in a house due to imperfect ducts that leak in spaces that are not open to the return(s) of the system (under the house, for example).  Any air that leaks out in such locations must be made up somewhere else, in this case by pulling a little outside air in through your bathroom exhausts.  The same situation occurs if the structure is somewhat leaky and the bathroom exhaust ducts are relatively close to the system return.  Return air flows via the path of least resistance and it may be easier to draw some air from a nearby bathroom exhaust than to draw 100% of the air from the far reaches of a house if remote supply air can more easily leak to the outdoors.

A relatively easy fix could be to give the return on your central air handler a controlled path for make-up air.  For example, you could duct a small outside air inlet directly to the return of your central unit, adjacent to the main return with a balancing damper so you can make final adjustments.  The outside air duct should probably be taped or sealed as well as insulated from the cooler temperature of the house.  It would also need to be small enough not overwhelm the main return or affect your energy consumption too adversely.  With a little make-up air provided directly to the unit from outside, your blower should stop sucking make-up air through your bathroom and dryer ducts.

Just a thought that maybe the ducts could be replaced with PVC instead of metal. Moisture seems to condense on cold steel much easier than plastic.

The other thought is to make sure exhaust fan ducts run vertical for a short distance and then run downhill to their terminus at the eave. Try to keep the vertical to a minimum.

Exhausting into the attic is against the code. But it does eliminate the problem. The moisture is then dispersed throughout the attic but this reduces the effectiveness of your insulation.


Is it normal for frost to accumulate on nails in my attic? I had a new roof installed this summer and I had trouble with my roofer (had several leaks).  Now it's winter and it's been abnormally cold the last few days.  When I put the Christmas decorations away, the pictures below greeted me.

There is a lot of frozen water on the bottom of all of the nails on one side of the house.  There is also frozen condensation on many of the boards.  The wood splintered in one area and you can see that there is a lot of frozen water on the roofing material.

I called my roofer and he tried to tell me this was a poor insulation problem.  After I told him I have 18 inches of extra insulation, he tried to tell me ventilation instead.  His argument (ventilation or insulation related) is all about condensation.  No way it could be his fault.

As reference, the side of the house with the water currently has very little snow resting on it.  The side with no water on the inside has a covering of about an inch of snow outside.  Both sides of the roof get approximately the same amount of sun.

I need help.  I have no idea if my roofer is lying to me.  I have had a lot of trouble with this guy in the past and I do not trust him at all.  So... is this normal?  If it is abnormal, how do I get my roofer to take action?  I talked to him on the phone and it's abundantly clear he thinks this is not his problem and has no plans to do anything about this.  When I had the earlier leaks I had to show him a picture of a steady drip before he would do anything.

Please help!

I'm late to the game, but this is obviously frost due to condensation. Leaks would appear as icicles. I've witnessed this phenomenon personally in very cold climates, and it's often just the result of seasonal changes that leave moist air in place from warmer days.

You may have a ventilation deficiency, but there's no evidence of roof leaks here, at least what's visible in the photos. Of course, you could have a leak elsewhere that contributes water vapor.

I would put a nail in the roof A frame underside and see if I have that effect there just to satisfy the other comments about cold nail condensate (I don't buy into that). Just look at the wood itself - looks wet, and plenty of frozen condensate - something is not right with your roof.

I am sorry condensation and temperature differences - I have never seen any such thing on the interior of a roof - cold cold cold weather and nothing - think the inside of a car does not get this way - the outside does.
You had several leaks - you still have leaks - I wonder if they insulated the roof with new paper / removed old shingles replaced bad boards etc.. . Get a second roofer to look at it - you will have better information from a pro.

Then you can talk to an attorney (free consult) after that you can talk to your roofer and explain you want it fixed or see him in court.

In short your roof is leaking..


Can I connect a 100A subpanel to a 100A main panel? I currently have a 100amp main service box but it is all full and some are even doubled up.I'm wondering if i can hook up a 100amp subpanel off of it? If so what size wire to go with?

It would be on same wall next to it within 12 inches. Do I have to use conduit between the two, or does it have to exit the bottom of main to top if subpanel?

Also all I'm seeing at local store is 100 amp main boxes. Is that allowable by code to use as a sub? I know sub can't have neutral bonded by that screw either way.

My local town in Illinois uses the 2011 NEC handbook. Sorry for so many questions, but i just want to do it right. Thanks.

Let me try and answer some of your questions. First the panels you are looking at that are rated 100A simply means you can use them for any application up to 100A. You can for example add a 60A breaker to your existing panel and protect the new subpanel with a 100A rating. It is not so much what the panel is rated as what the protection is rated.

You can use other methods other than conduit but first you need to select what type of method you prefer to use and that must be permitted as outlined in Chapter 300 of the NEC "Wiring Methods". So you need to select a method then follow the installation directions as outlined in that particular selection. As an example, let's say you want to use type NM (romex) to connect the new sub panel. That would be Article 334 in the NEC. It will have uses permitted with exceptions and uses not permitted and give installation rules you must follow depending on where these panels are and the type of environment they are in.

I would like to suggest that it may be a better idea to replace and upgrade the existing panel. I believe this would be a better method and give you a better value added rather than several subfed panels.

Hope this helps

  Oops caught use overlapping

You don't want more panels, but need to feed more loads. You gave no info on how many more loads, and how big those loads are. Also not about the next expansions that can be expected after this one.

When you get this planning, you might want to consider replacing the already crammed panel by a bigger one, instead of adding more and more panels and getting an even more messy installation.

Then you should discuss this with a qualified electrician, and compare the total installation price of adding more panels or replacing with one big panel, instead of trying to do this yourself.

An electrician will also consider factors as: is this a home, workplace, moist environment, outdoor, etc etc, all for the sake of usability and safety, with the help of NEC.


NEC Definition of "Maintained Spacing" for Wire in Free Air This seems like a simple question, but I cannot seem to find the answer in the 2008 NEC.

There are references to "maintaining spacing" in many sections of the code such as the following:

  310.15.B.3.a

  (a) More Than Three Current-Carrying Conductors in a Raceway or Cable.
  Where the number of current-carrying conductors in a raceway or cable
  exceeds three, or where single conductors or multiconductor cables are
  installed without maintaining spacing for a continuous length longer
  than 600 mm (24 in.) and are not installed in raceways, the allowable
  ampacity of each conductor shall be reduced as shown in Table
  310.15(B)(3)(a). Each current-carrying conductor of a paralleled set of conductors shall be counted as a current-carrying conductor.

For the life of me, I cannot find what "proper spacing" is for two wires run in parallel in free air. At the moment, I am most interested in the answer for NM-type wiring, but it would be good to have a reference for all types of wiring if possible.

Here is an example from the NEC for multiconductors in cable trays where I am hoping someone knows of an equivalent section that defines proper maintained spacing for free-air:

  392.80.A.1.c

  (c) Where multiconductor cables are installed in a
  single layer in uncovered trays, with a maintained spacing
  of not less than one cable diameter between cables, the
  ampacity shall not exceed the allowable ambient
  temperature-corrected ampacities of multiconductor cables,
  with not more than three insulated conductors rated 0
  through 2000 volts in free air, in accordance with
  310.15(C).

The National Electrical Code (NEC) does not define the proper spacing that should be maintained.

A similar question was asked, and answered on the Mike Holt Forum.

  That is the million dollar question. I just keep them from touching. Keep in mind that you can have 4- 2 wire nm cables stacked without being hurt by the derating that is necessary.

Spacing for single insulated conductors in cable trays, is in art.392.80(A)(2)(c) and (d).


Concrete porches pulling away from home and cracking I have an 1940'sish home with old concrete porches (x3) they are cracking, chipping, and pulling away from the home. Would I be able to repair them? If not could I build a deck over them (wooden)? I would prefer to build stairs for the time being as I am low on funds for a deck so that would be the best option, would that be possible? They are not solid concrete, filled in with cinder blocks and rocks.
thank you!

No, you cannot repair them. If a large concrete structure is falling apart, it means the foundation is not good. Putting a deck over it to hide the disaster is probably a good idea. Obviously, you should make footings below the frost line for your deck, unless you want the same thing to happen to it.

Personally I would probably build the deck and then sell the house and try to distract potential buyers as much as possible.


What is the cause of dishwasher vent leak? My dishwasher has a vent in the top of the door which I suppose is opened during the dry cycle to allow steam/moisture to escape. Recently, after running a load of dishes, when I open the door, about 2-3 oz of water leak from the vent and form a puddle on the floor.

What could be causing the leak, and can it be repaired?

This dishwasher has a "quiet" feature which involves a solenoid-operated value (that's too generous a description -- it's more of a flap) which blocks closes off the vent drain to reduce noise during the wash cycle. I removed the door control panel to inspect the valve/vent system. There is no crud clogging the drain, and the solenoid seems to be normally open (to the drain).

(See the part labeled "5" here)

Does the water appear clear/clean, or does it have food bits and/or detergent in it?

My guess is one of two things:

The seal on the flap has degraded and the high-pressure jets are now able to force water in under the flap.
There is some "ledge" in this assembly in which water can collect and puddle, and doesn't dry during the dry cycle (possibly because of the extremely humid air passing by it; there's no capacity in the air to hold any more water).

I found the air vent was clogged with some weird gunk on mine. I cleaned it out and it hasn't leaked since.


Why would you use copper over CPVC or PEX? Are there any advantages to using copper rather than CPVC or PEX?

Copper has a well-proven track record
Copper parts are more readily-available and it's easier to repair (eg, don't need the expensive crimping tool like with PEX)
Safer during fires since it is much more resistant to heat and giving off fumes

That said, I am a huge fan of PEX. It's been around for quite a few years now (though obviously nowhere near as long as copper), and for the most part is proven.

Pex is cheaper (in both material and labor costs),
Pex is easier to install, with many less connections required (eg, try doing a long straight run through a wall or perpendicular through joists - PEX slides right in, copper requires a ton of little segmented pieces and couplers)
Pex can look better when properly installed (when not properly secured, it sags, and because of the forgiving nature, you can have crooked lines and non-right angles).

From my experience, Copper is NOT RECOMMENDED for hot water circulating system.   I'm having to replace my entire plumbing distribution system due to pin hole leaks near solder joints in the hot water recirculating system. The leaks are never in the joint, but typically a 1/4" to 2" away, always associated with an area showing green corrosion and usually where there has been the spread of the flux and solder.  I'm on my 6th leak in 6 months... while waiting for insurance settlement to come in to repair all of the leaks in the ceiling.  No leaks in the cold water distribution...but i'm replacing both.   I've HAD IT with copper.

There doesn't appear to be a concensus as to what is causing the pinhole leaks, but it's a nationwide problem.   Plumbers say "not our fault" bad material.... suppliers blame in on chinese copper pipe and fitting ... or the turbulence of the water.  As near as I can tell it is caused by EXTERNAL corrosion that is accelerated by the warm temperature of the water and the solder flux that is oxidizing the exterior of the pipe.   I call BS on the rationale that says its due to corrosion due to the moving water.


Construction heater in garage I would like to run an underground wire from my driveshed to my garage to run a 4800 watt construction heater. I think they draw 20-25 amps.  I don't have 220 in the garage. The distance is 200 ft. Is 10/2 UF wire heavy enough for that distance?

4800w @ 220V 21.81A. 10AWG is two small.  8 awg is right on the edge using 3% max voltage drop (uglys page 50) if you want to run any lights you should be using 6AWG for that long of a run.

no.  that is not heavy enough wire for what you want to do.


How can I allow 911 first responders to access a locked residence? What if I live alone and cannot unlock the door during an emergency? What can I do to enable 911 responders to enter my residence without tearing down the door?

Call your local police department and inquire about a "Knox Box Key". They probably have a master already to open one. You will need to buy the one they suggest or have a locksmith get involved to match their key to the box you purchase. They might even have a system set up for your community that you don't know about.


How do I "fix" a bad sweat (solder) joint? I tried soldering some 1/2" copper (to make something like this) and some of my joints are horrible.

I tested it with water and some of the joints leak.

What is the best way to fix the joints?
What is a quick and easy way that will work?

These pipes do not need to much pressure.  (they are fed fluid from a holding tank into a float valve - the tank is about 100 gallons and sits about 3 feet above the float valve)

I cleaned them and fluxed them before attaching but since the joints are so close together I am not sure if I burned off the flux in the unsoldered joints before I got to them.

I might also have a torch that is too hot?

Just heat the joint up with your torch, once the solder starts to melt use Channel locks to pull the fittings apart. Once the joint is apart, wipe as much old solder off as you can with a rag. Now you can start over. Clean, Flux, solder.

You should not be applying flux to joints you are not working on, take each joint one at a time. If the joints are all close to each other, try doing the joints out of order. Solder one joint, then move to a joint further away, then back to a joint near the first, etc.  This should allow some of the heat to dissipate, and reduce the chances of overheating the joints.

Don't forget to wipe excess solder off the joint before it cools using a damp rag, nothings worse than an ugly joint (except maybe a leaky joint). And don't forget, soldering pipes is an art. And like most things, it takes lots of practice to get good at it.

I just fixed two bad joints, didn't disassemble them any of that nonsense. I used map/pro mix. Before anything got heated, I washed the outside of the pipes with warm soapy (DAWN)water to get the old flux etc...off. I let it dry. I heated the coupling that was leaking on both joints and worked my way around both endson both sides. Then i fluxed both joints all the way around quite liberally, hit both seams again with the torch, and followed the torch with an inch of solder each. waited for it to cool.....and whadda-ya-know? batta-bing! batta-bang!


How can I build deck stairs flush with the end of the deck? I have a deck design where I want stairs coming down perpendicular to the joist starting at the end of the joist.  You can see the picture as a generic not to scale drawing of what I mean.

I had an idea to have the end joist extend past the rim joist.  I then want to attach the stair stringer to the very end of the joist.  I am going to use USP's concealed stringer hanger.

Am I able to put a stair stringer like this, or is there a different/better way to get the stairs flush with the rim joist?

Double beam the ledger,
Notch out a rail seat .65 inches,
Set stringers in place,
Pre drill 3/4" pocket hole horizontally from stringer into ledger (will need 12" to 14" auger bit),
Use 1/2" structural screws to secure stringer to ledger,
Plug hole with hole plugs or mix sawdust with sandable titebond glue and patch hole.

Additionally, stringer 14ga prebent metal underneath each stringer, stubby nailed to ledger will help support weight if it's high off the ground.

I know it's just a rough sketch but I don't see any lamination of your end joists for support.  Add another joist at each endpoint and overlap them (all three sides).  Stringers can be attached with as little as a 1x3 piece of strapping or stringer straps.  All the weight is focused on the bottom of the stringer.  So your design is ok but add the extra joists.

Depending on what you are using for decking keep in mind your joist spacing.  The more people you anticipate having on the deck the closer the joists should be, just in case.


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

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

No, this really won't work.  Suppose you have 2 dimmers at 20% and 50%.   You are hoping the effect will be multiplicative, that is, 50% of 20% is 10%.  It won't.

Two SCR dimmers in series will, at best, give you the lower dimming level of the two, i.e. 20%.

A PWM dimmer, commonly used on dedicated LED circuits, pulses at its own high frequency. If you have two of them, they will pulse at different frequencies.  This will create a much lower "beat frequency", in music this is what makes it annoying when instruments are out of tune with each other.  In light, this would look like pulsing or shimmering.  You won't like it.

Actual LED emitters can be dimmed very effectively to absolutely any light level. Turn the LED on for 10 microseconds and off for 990 microseconds, you will get 1% brightness - they can be controlled that precisely.   It's a lot harder in built commercial products, which have to work with a variety of existing dimmer technologies made for incandescents, and also hit a "price point" that will make you snatch it off the shelf at Home Depot.  The result of these compromises is lousy dimming range.


How do I pre-treat and stain my hardwood floors a dark color? I'm about to embark on my first floor-refinishing adventure and I'm jumping in the deep end — not just refinishing, but also staining. And not just staining, but staining a light wood pretty dang dark.

I've read that, after sanding, I should hit the floors with some water to help them absorb the dark stain and prevent blotches. Do you recommend that? Any other tips?

It depends on what type of hardwood you have.  Some species like pine/maple are almost impossible to stain dark without blotching.

I have stained oak floors to almost black.  We picked up the darkest stain we could get - sorry I don't know the name but this was 8-9 years ago.  We sanded the floor then went over with a fine sanding.  Then we painted the floors with water.  Not sure how to quantify the water but it took about one hour for it to visibly look dry.  After we applied the first coat of stain.  Just rubbed it on with a rag and another guy was behind me wiping off any excess.  We did this three times total - one day between coats - no one was allowed in house but us.  48 hours after the last coat they threw on the finish/poly.  Looked great but the family had to go on vacation and trust us at their house (grandpa was letting us in).

My advice to you is put a few pieces of the wood material together - if you don't have any pick some up at big box or craigslist.  Go through the process - sand, water, stain, stain, stain - and make sure it looks like you want.  You won't get the perfect black finish with all woods.  You might find that you might want a different tint if you can't get that.  Also I would not do the water if you don't have a hard wood - it will cause blotchiness.  Also putting on gobs of stain will not make your floors darker it will just make it look like a kid did yours floors.  You will need to do more coats to get it darker.  My guess is after 3 coats you start to get diminishing returns.  Some people do 2 coats, some do 3.  Maybe on your test you do half 2 coats and half 3 and see if you can tell.

Edit: On a side note to staining.  If you are doing the floors totally DIY.  Do not over sand your floors with the course grit.  If you over sand with a course grit, you will get swirls.  If you leave those swirls then it will be very important that you get almost black.  Because you will end up with a chocolate floor with very black swirls.  The swirls will take to the stain faster and the pattern will show.  Not trying to scare you here - just go easy on the sanding and do finish sand it.

I did my living room floor last year. Pulled up the nasty carpet where I found thick white paint all over these beautiful hardwoods. I learned everything I did on you tube and I was at Home Depot almost everyday. My floor turned out AMAZING!  Im now as we speak doing my bedroom, and redoing my hallway. Be careful sanding because the stain will look horrible if there are uneven places. I sanded all the way down to the raw wood. This time I did not because they rented me the wrong sander. My stain color is Special Walnut 224. I washed the floor with soap & water after finishing up the last sanding last night and Im now fixing to put on the pre-stain conditioner. I would not skip that step. The staining is very stressful! But if you know you didn't skip a step you will get through it. Wish me luck and good luck to you!


Since neutral is connected to ground how is current kept off of ground? If neutral is connected to ground and current desires ground then I would think it would go to ground.  But my understanding is that it is kept off of ground until it's "upstream" of the breaker box, or unless a malfunctioning device shorts hot to ground.  So what "prevents" the electricity from going to the ground that the neutral is connected to?

Current doesn't want to return to ground, but rather it wants to return to the source.  The ground isn't a great conductor and while it is in parallel with the service, the amount of current returning through the ground is so small it is effectively zero.  However, if you lose your neutral then the ground becomes the only viable return path for the current to get to the source.

I replaced a residential service and the neutral on the service drop broke on the service drop-side of the point of attachment.  The house still had power because the system was grounded and current was taking "plan B" of returning to source through the ground.  Luckily the home owners just purchased the house and hadn't moved in yet.

The ground wire is for safety, it should be very close to the same potential as Earth. To that end, there is a legal limit of how much resistance there is from the ground at the service entrance to dirt outside. In the US it's 25Ω, or you can get away with just using two ground rods 6ft (or more) away from each other. (It's cheaper to install two ground rods than spend time and money on properly testing the resistance)

The reason the neutral and ground wires are connected at the service entrance, is to help keep the voltage potential of the neutral to Earth, as low as possible by keeping the resistance to Earth as low as possible.

To have absolutely no current on the grounding wire going to the ground rods, the nearest transformer would have to have equal current on both hot conductors. Since the transformer typically has it's neutral (center tap) grounded at the the same location as the higher voltage side, there would also have to have to be equal current on all of conductors on the high side as well.

So basically there is always some current going through the grounding system, at the service entrance. The main thing, is that the voltage is kept as low as possible; by keeping the resistance as low as possible.

If you want proof that there is some voltage, and therefore current, on the grounding system, measure the voltage from the grounding rod to a point in the dirt a few feet away.
If you measure any voltage with a high-end multimeter of even a tenth of a volt (AC); then there is current on your grounding system.
You can even measure some voltage from the grounding rod to the point at which the neutral and grounding system are bonded. Although this will be far less than the other test, as copper and aluminum are better conductors than dirt.

Even if you turn off your power, you will still see some voltage with both of these tests. Assuming there is someone else connected to the same transformer as you, and your neutral and ground wires are still wired properly. The amount of wire the current would have to travel through before it got to your premises would be greater, so the amount of current/voltage would be greatly lessened.


How can I make a long wall perfectly level? I am installing a short stone wall, made from these bricks.
The wall is not tall, about 2.5' (0.8 m), but it is about 140' (45 m) in length. The wall needs to be strong to withstand flash floods, which can dump 1' (30 cm) of water in the back yard in as little as 15 minutes.
I carved out a trench in which to place the first row of bricks. I've filled the trench with water to get a level.
----       ------
   \       /
    ------- <-- 6 inches (15 cm) wide

The trench is 2 inches (5 cm) deep at the low spot of land, but the wall goes up a slight incline, and there the trench is 14 inches (35 cm) deep.
----       ------
   |       | <--- It can be much deeper up higher on the hill
   |~~~~~~~| <-- I can pour in water to get a level, but no idea how to use that to place the bricks level
   \       /
    ------- <-- Still 6 inches (15 cm) wide here

How can I get this wall to be perfectly level, within 1/4" (5 mm) of accuracy from the one end of the wall to the other?
I can fill the trench with water, to get a level line. Is there some kind of concrete mix I can pour into the water that will easily give a level the whole length of the trench?
I considered just adding gravel to the trench, and eyeing if it is up to the water level, but the act of adding gravel will change the height of the water itself, so I don't know if that is a viable plan.

Use a 70 foot water level.
Here is a diagram of one.
Use 1/4 inch tubing or slightly larger.
Fill tubing with water before submerging one end.
The container of water is required because a huge difference in water level at the stick end, translates to a tiny difference in the water level at the container.
That keeps the actual water level almost the same, no matter how much you move the stick up or down.
NOTE: the accuracy suffers on windy days.

Don't worry about the foundation.  Get it sorta level, but understand that it will settle.  Then MacGyver a way to make the wall level at the top when it's finished.  Use a water level or laser level to check things with each course of bricks, and correct incrementally.


How to change the speed of a table fan? I have just bought a $15 table fan, AC, ie plugged into wall mains. The lowest speed setting is still too fast for my requirement, and hence also too noisy.  I estimate it to be around 5 revolutions per second or 300rpm.  How can I change the lowest speed to say around 150rpm?

Are there resistors I can simply change?

Try rigging up a fan control switch - pretty commonly available at most home centers and hardware stores. With a little minor electrical knowledge, you could rig one one up to a plug and put your fan on it. That'd give you a L/M/H setting, at an additional L/M/H. That's, what, 9 speeds?


Ceiling fan light dims I have a Harbor Breeze ceiling fan and light kit.  When I turn on the light, it starts out bright, but then in a second it dims.  It doesn't turn off, it just dims.  What could be causing this to happen?

One of the current limiting methods required by the U.S. is similar to a dimmer the current is limited by controlling an SCR and this has the effect of dimming. This may be the cause.

I had this exact problem. I bought two Home Decorator fans from Home Depot and installed them in separate rooms in my house. They have LED lights. I know for a fact that I wired them right because the model fan in Home Depot fan was wired the same and my remote worked perfectly with that fan. Both fans at my house had the same issue of the light not turning all the way off but dimming worked and fan speeds worked. LONG story short, I had another fan in the Master Bedroom that was turned on. When I turned the power to that fan off (wall switch toggled to off), both of the new fans worked!!! Now I need to figure out how to wire the Master bedroom fan correctly (9 wires in one box) but at least I know what the issue was!


Can a 20 amp circuit have a 14 gauge pigtail directly to one receptacle? I'm rewiring a a small part of a wall and I'm confused about a combination of the NEC and the products that I'm able to find.

I'm working on a 20 amp circuit (with 12g wire of course).  I'm connecting 4 receptacles each in their own box, 15 amp receptacles for normalcy.  But the terminals don't seem to accept 12g wire, even on the screws.  My first reaction was to make pigtails 14g pigtails, so that the 14g tap goes directly to the receptacle and is not used to feed the rest of the circuit.  12g in the box, 12g out of the box, and 14g inside the box only.

Is that type of splice allowed, or should I look harder for a 15 amp outlet that can more easily accept 12g wire?

National Electrical Code 2008
Article 210 Branch Circuits
II. Branch-Circuit Ratings
210.19 Conductors — Minimum Ampacity and Size.
(A) Branch Circuits Not More Than 600 Volts.
(2) Multioutlet Branch Circuits. Conductors of branch circuits supplying more than one receptacle for cord-and-plug connected portable loads shall have an ampacity of not less than the rating of the branch circuit.

Which means in your case, you'll have to use 12 AWG conductors for attaching the receptacle.
note: A duplex receptacle actually counts as two receptacles according to NEC
However, there are situation were 14 AWG conductors can be used on a 20 ampere circuit.

(4) Other Loads. Branch-circuit conductors that supply loads other than those specified in 210.2 and other than cooking appliances as covered in 210.19(A)(3) shall have an ampacity sufficient for the loads served and shall not be smaller than 14 AWG.
Exception No. 1: Tap conductors shall have an ampacity sufficient for the load served. In addition, they shall have an ampacity of not less than 15 for circuits rated less than 40 amperes and not less than 20 for circuits rated at 40 or 50 amperes and only where these tap conductors supply any of the following loads:
(a) Individual lampholders or luminaires with taps extending not longer than 450 mm (18 in.) beyond any portion of the lampholder or luminaire.
(b) A luminaire having tap conductors as provided in 410.117.
(c) Individual outlets, other than receptacle outlets, with taps not over 450 mm (18 in.) long.
(d) Infrared lamp industrial heating appliances.
(e) Nonheating leads of deicing and snow-melting cables and mats.

Check the Device

Click for larger view

Push in #14 CU solid wire for 15A branch circuit only.
Installation Screw Terminal > #14 - #12 AWG CU Wire Only.

Notice on the back of this 125V 15A duplex receptacle, it states that you can use 14 AWG or 12 AWG copper wire when terminating at the screw terminals, but that 14 AWG copper must be used when terminating at the push in terminals. It also says that if you're using the push in terminal, and 14 AWG copper, it can only be used on a 15 ampere circuit. If you're installing this on a 20 ampere circuit, with 12 AWG wire, you'll have to use the screw terminals.

Whether or not I could get away with it, I would first off NEVER put 15a receptacles on a 20a line. I've personally witnessed a receptacle melt in this fashion when a 10+ a heater on a 15a line cooked a 10a outlet. Same principle applies to a 15a outlet on a 20a line. Very unsafe.


How can I replace broken CFL bulb in a recessed light fixture? I tried to replace a plug-in 4 pin CFL and ended up having the socket stuck inside the can. How I can get it out? There are two clips at both sides in the can fixture - can I push these to get the broken bulb out?

That type of bulb just snaps in and out with a little pressure. It probably broke because the UV light had weakened the plastic, or because it force was applied in a sideways direction.

To remove it, turn off the light via the switch or circuit breaker. Grab the remaining plastic with a needle-nose plier and pull it straight outward. Do not twist or tilt or you risk damage to the socket.

Those clips are designed to hold the bulb in place, your fixture is designed for a 4-pin CFL. You need to either replace the bulb with an identical replacement or pull gently down on the fixture trim, remove the trim and replace the socket with one which accommodates the bulb of your choice (as long as it does not exceed the wattage and/or heat limitations of the fixture).


How to choose floor insulation? My question is about insulating the ground floor. I have a crawlspace under the floor which is vented and therefore quite cold (average temp in the winter is 4 °C and in the summer 13 °C plus there are loads of cold winds).

I think I would like to do it without stripping all the flooring - I would like to use the crawlspace to insulate it from below.

I have spoken to some 'well versed colleagues' and there is no consensus - options that have been suggested so far are

Squeeze blocks of styrofoam between the joists from below
'Hug' entire floor with insulation foil from below
Take glass wool and 'hang it' between the joists with some foil or panels

Now I am not sure which method is best (or none of the above?).

Can you please suggest best course of action?

There's nothing wrong with fiberglass insulation beneath the floors.  It will be, most likely, the most cost-efficient solution.

If you have a situation where critters like the insulation, well you have a vented crawl space! Critters get in there.

If you have an issue where the insulation gets moist and sags, the problem is not the insulation, it's a moisture/humidity/temperature issue!  If you have, especially during the summer, humidity circulate beneath the home and begin to soak into the insulation, you have a more serious problem and using a different insulation only ignores or covers it up.

Not knowing exactly where you are, putting plastic sheeting on the bottom of the joists is a potentially dangerous idea!  You are setting up a temperature difference between subfloor and bottom of joist, and then trapping moisture in that area.  A plastic 'vapor barrier' in this area can cause a substantial amount of condensation on the joists leading to wood rot.

Plastic on the soil.

You need to have plastic sheeting - thicker the better stapled to your joists on the bottom with the insulation sandwiched in between.   This is a must to first keep wind out and second to protect your insulation.

Additional info - I don't think I would press any insulation accept spray foam up to the subfloor.  Using the Building Science findings and applying it to this I would keep a couple of inches of breathing room between your subfloor and insulation.  I took the spray foam out because it is generally a vapor barrier in itself.  You could get some spray that contracts yet that still is OK since it will not harbor water.

Even with the plastic sheeting I would not want to chance my insulation getting wet and transferring the water to the subfloor.  Currently home owner has no water issue, so why start one.  So I would definitely leave a 1-2 inch gap between insulation and subfloor.

And it is a crawlspace.  Any insulation you add is going to be an attractive home for rodents (mice, rates, squirrels, chipmunks... and also some bugs).  They want to enjoy the warmth too.

So my final advice on this would be this.  You cover the joists with a plastic sheet barrier.  Then blow in cellulose insulation treated with boric acid - this is usually used for attics.  You might be able to do your whole house for a few hundred dollars and won't be causing water issues or pest problems.  The other option is spray foam - and I would still protect it with a plastic sheet.


Pneumatic die grinder or electric rotary tool Between a pneumatic die grinder:

and an electric rotary tool:

What are the advantage/disadvantage between using each one?

Also, which has more torque?

Pneumatic may be lighter weight, but you need a compressor that can keep up with it, and the exhaust airmay be a good or bad thing depending on what you're doing. On the other hand, compressors have other uses too.

A third option would be a flex-shaft tool.

Before buying any of them, know what you're going to do with it. Unless you have a specific task you need it for, you might be better advised to invest in a completely different kind of tool.

pneumatic tools can run for days and never get hot, but the compressor gets hot.  from a power consumption perspective, electric is much more efficient.  pneumatics have to be oiled regularly and create condensate issues with water in the discharge exhaust.  pneumatic is really just an old technology that is becoming more and more obsolete all the time.  still great for painting, but electric is pretty much better in every way.  for a cnc, you can get water jacketed motors that run high speed and torque for hours at a time.


How do I make a height adjustable desk? Has anyone made their own height adjustable desk? I'm interested in making a computer desk that can easily be adjusted for either standing or sitting.

The lift mechanism could be electric or mechanical, as long as it is not too hard or time-consuming to adjust.

(There are commercial options around, but they start at $700 for the cheapest of the cheap. I'm sure I could make something myself for less that would better suit my needs.)

Update: Just to answer some of the questions in the comments. The desk would be supporting two 22" LCD monitors, a laptop, paper and anything I leave lying around the house long enough for her to throw on my desk. :-)

I do have access to some welding expertise.

Also, I live in Australia so importing from many of the places suggested would be impractical.

I've built this desk twice. It costs me ~$100 USD in materials:

And here is my version of the desk:

You can adjust it, but it is a little difficult.  However, you can fit a modified treadmill under it as you can see in this video of me using the desk.  I'm able to type comfortably while walking at 2.2 MPH.

If I may presume that the reason you want a height-adjustable desk is so you can sometimes sit and sometimes stand ( or walk!), then take the idea of height-adjustable and flip it on its head.  Just buy a tall chair instead.  (I only have a stool at the moment):

I have a height adjustable desk at work ( not ghetto'ized, like my home version).  The linear actuators for my desk come from LINKAK:

Geekdesk.com does sell just the frame of their desk, which knocks a good bit off the price AND the shipping, possibly making that a good starting point for such a project. ergodepot.com does the same (with many more frame styles), but they are more expensive.


Smart Switch for pool light I had a led pool light that switches colors when you press the light switch in the house on/off. On the back of the switch I only have a black, white, and ground wire with no load wire. Can I use a "smart switch" with this?

The system I'm using is a Wink hub.

What you have is a plain switch, a dumb 12VAC transformer for the pool lights (finally, someone who takes pool safety seriously, yay!) and several "smart" LED lights with a trick.  They can change colors if power is interrupted for a moment.  And they can all do this in sync, which is usually the hard part.

You are now implementing a "connected home" platform, and you'd like to control these LEDs.  You're looking for some sort of glue/middleware device that will let Wink address the LEDs and change their colors.  Nope.

Not supported

You can put a smart-switch on their supply, sure.  You can have the Wink switch them on and off, sure.  Wink might even be able to turn them on and off quickly, as needed to switch their colors.  But Wink won't understand what it's doing or why it's doing it.

There won't be a way to tell Wink "make the pool orange" and have it tip-tap out the command to make those lights orange.  There may, but it would involve some special software coding; the question is whether Wink gives you the platform/language to do that.  Such a command series would not remember where the lamps are now, and certainly can't see them, so it would have to start the sequence from a cold reset-to-white, so it would take 10-15 seconds to reach any particular color.  On the other hand, Christmas light controllers do that kind of thing for breakfast, so maybe.

This is a hard problem, and it is unsupported: there's nobody to call for support to make this work, as you are discovering.

Though, given the cost of these things, it might be worth contacting the factory.  You can bet this has come up before.  They might even have a solution, or be motivated to develop one.  Their customer base are exactly the sort to do smart-home tech.

Or start over

One could go with LED lights designed to work with Wink -- or alternately, a controller designed to work with Wink.  I don't think you care if they're individually addressible, so that's a plus.  The big minus would be if this forces you to 120V lights - because you are quite correct to keep 120V away from your pool.  Electricity is much more lethal in water, because you can't pull your hand away, and it only needs to stun you to drown you.

The good news is if you can get a Lutron dimmer that plays with Wink, maybe you can find an RGB controller that works with Wink too.  I have started to see them from name-brand companies, so hopefully.  Those controllers are designed for LED strips, input 12 volts DC, and output 3 channels (4 wires, R G B and common) which go direct to simple LEDs. That would require you to run 4-wire cable down to each of your pool light locations (I sure hope they're in conduit).  And thermostat cable would suffice since you're at 12V.

a quick web search turned up this.

lutron dimmer switch

It says Wink compatible.

Sorry i put a link to a dimmer but they have a regular switch in the same line of wink compatible devises

The white wire is the neutral or common wire.


Furnace came on when it shouldn't have I happened to be down in the basement a short while ago and heard the furnace turn on and off after just a few seconds. About a minute later it came on and this time it stayed on for about 15 seconds and then it shut off. This has happened before due to a dirty flame sensor, so I assumed it is probably due for a cleaning again. But, I went upstairs and checked the thermostat and it's set to heat at 73 degrees, and it's showing the air temp is 74 degrees! I'm pretty sure it normally has to drop down to 71 before the heat comes on, yet something triggered it somehow. Could this be a faulty thermostat, and if so could this explain the start and quick stop too?

You probably have a boiler that heats water (or steam) and then pumps it through the house to radiators or baseboards. The boiler needs to keep the water heated to a certain temperature so that when the thermostat calls for heat, the boiler can pump the water (at the design temperature) through the house.

So, the boiler will "kick on" from time to time to heat the water.

Also, some boilers can heat your potable hot water too (through a heat exchanger). It could be "kicking on" to heat your hot water.


Is snow piled against the outer wall likely to cause damp? My question is basically that recently we have had a lot of snow, some of it is high enough to be over the damp-proof course (DPC).  Should I be worried about this, or would damp penetration take longer than the snow takes to clear?

Here in Alberta this turns out to be a non-problem.  What tends to happen is that the snow slides off the roof, stacks against the house.  Within a day or so, heat from house melts a finger sized crevasse and the snow is no longer touching the house.

Assuming that there is reasonable siding on the house this is a non-worry item IMHO.

If however, the ground is impervious to water penetration, and you start getting a pool of water at the base of this crack, then watch that carefully that it doesn't get above the foundation course.  If this happens, you need to create drainage to take care of it.  I've not seen this happen in our climate.

I pile snow against the base of my house using half a sheet of plywood as a form to make a vertical wall about a foot thick. It looks like a concrete foundation but made out of snow. After a day, there is a gap about 5mm or about 3/16" between the snow and the house. This acts as extra insulation (about R1 per inch of snow) and keeps the wall that much warmer. As spring approaches, I spread the snow on the lawn away from the house where it can drain away. There is a decent temperature difference when I feel the interior wall where I have the snow and do not have the snow: especially when it gets to around -30C. Just like an igloo.


What type of adhesive do I use to bond metal & glass? I need some strong adhesive for a table. The glass panel fell off and I have no idea what type I need. It needs to be clear and very strong.

Pics here:

J-B ClearWeld Quick Setting variety says it cures clear and sticks to metal and glass. I have never used this particular J-B product but I have had good results with other products of their line of epoxy.

A U.V.-type cure glue should work. Although I have never used this type of glue Other persons have mentioned it works very well for bonding metal to glass. I believe that  you will need a specific light, that is an ULTRA VIOLET lamp to complete the adhesion process. Here is a link:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015P21AII?keywords=uv%20glue&qid=1446526064&ref_=sr_1_8&sr=8-8


What is the purpose of this black felt on end of oven conduit? I bought an oven which I am installing (reference this post for details) and I'm confused by the black wrap at the end of the conduit shown in the picture below.

Is the wrap there just to prevent chafing during shipment/storage, and is it supposed to be removed?  It's somewhat long and takes up space in the junction box, so I'd prefer to remove it, but not sure if I can do so safely.

Is the conduit clamp supposed to clamp onto the felt or directly onto the conduit itself?

The conduit is flexible, if that matters.

It's a tough felt-like material with a sticky side.  I'm not sure what it's called.

That is called electrical tape, also called fleece tape.
It is used to keep the wires in a neat bundle.
It is not conductive, so you cannot clamp a grounding strap to it.
Remove it so that you can check for the plastic anti-short bushing at the end of the BX cable jacket.