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Magnetic North posted:Not sure where to else post this. I was thinking of getting an air filter / purifier to help with the dust in my apartment, particularly in the high-traffic room that is also my WFH zone. They're expensive enough that I feel I should seek out some information about getting a good and quiet one and learn about the qualities they have, if possible. I will say that dusting/vacuuming often (weekly or more) seemed to do more for my indoor air quality (when I was WFH at least) than anything else. Beyond that, there is a lot of information here on selection of an air purifier for your space. https://cleanaircrew.org/air-cleaners/ This is oriented toward covid prevention, but it’s the same principle. You determine what your space needs first, then determine which unit best meets your needs and budget. https://imgur.com/a/7C6QqQq Also, I own a Coway Airmega AP-1512HH because that’s what wirecutter recommended, and I like it ok, except that it’s kinda ugly, I’m skeptical how well it would do in larger spaces, and it’s kind of cheaply constructed. You can also get an air quality monitor to monitor pollution. Aranet and Airthings are two big names in those but I don’t own any so I can’t speak to their benefits. kreeningsons fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Dec 14, 2022 |
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Dec 14, 2022 16:24
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 Eat poo poo other brands.  Note that this is 1 year $/sqft not 5 years where many of these units will become the same or similar price. It's the "plus" unit which costs more than the base "healthmate" which I have. And the dba is at max speed, which is in fact deafeningly loud. I only do that when not home during fire season if the air outside is visibly gross from a close fire. Otherwise I leave it at min speed and it's in our bedroom - we sleep with it comfortably but otherwise can't hear it. I take meetings next to it. Edit: And to echo the poster above - get a hepa vac. Shark makes one you don't have to pay the Dyson marketing premium. Vacuum weekly or every other week. If you need to hire someone to come and get all the nooks and crannies the first time or regularly. Get the hose out and run it along all the baseboards, window sills, under your bed, whole nine yards where the base vacuum unit itself can't get it. The first few times with the upgraded vac might deeply horrify you. At my goony bachelor apartment I bought a hepa vac and had to empty it like 10+ times in a 2br apartment that was all carpet. It was horrifying. Literally did that every day for a week. In my defense I was 22. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Dec 14, 2022 |
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Dec 14, 2022 16:30
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H110Hawk posted:Buddy have I got the air purifier for you. I am a Austin Air cultist. Sit down before you look at the price. If you have a heart condition you might want to have your medication handy. I'm also looking at an air purifier maybe and this recommendation is, quite frankly, worthless without pictures of said goggly-eyed air purifiers.
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Dec 14, 2022 16:37
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H110Hawk posted:Post a picture of your box if you want specifics, but yeah assuming you have 2 slots next to each other free you kill the main, verify it's off on both poles, jam that sucker on there, run the neutral to your neutral bar, and turn the panel back on. Despite being an engineer, wiring scares me because I like living and I'm not infallible. I don't have any experience working in the box, only replaced some switches and outlets and minor stuff. In the little video for the product I linked it shows it at the bottom of the breaker box, though I read that they should be at the top. I don't know if my wires have enough length to move the top big breakers down. What's the best way to go here? Here's a couple pics of my box. https://imgur.com/a/OtTWQwA Yeah, an electrician and during the home inspection they griped about two hot wires going into that one breaker but nothing has tripped. Maybe I'll get another breaker at the same time to fix that. I assume this is what I need? E: anybody know wtf this thing is stuck on the side of the breaker box? It's got 3 wires inside, ground, neutral and hot, then what you see outside. It's one of the things added later and has two hot wires going to one breaker.  E2: doorbell transformer I guess. Suburban Dad fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Dec 14, 2022 |
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Dec 14, 2022 16:56
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^^ that's a transformer for your doorbell. edit: you should not have 2 hot wires going into 1 breaker that is called a double tap and is not to code, and should not be done to avoid fire, lugs are designed for 1 wire, not 2 and this can cause issues. You'd need to do a little more research on why there's 2 hots before you gently caress-around with it tater_salad fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Dec 14, 2022 |
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Dec 14, 2022 18:02
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tater_salad posted:You'd need to do a little more research on why there's 2 hots before you gently caress-around with it What do you mean? I assume it was jammed in after the fact and they cut corners to save $8 on buying another breaker. There's room in the box so I don't get it. My old house had stuff like this as well but the box was maxed out and full.
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Dec 14, 2022 18:07
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kreeningsons posted:I will say that dusting/vacuuming often (weekly or more) seemed to do more for my indoor air quality (when I was WFH at least) than anything else. That's kind of what I'm hoping to avoid. My modestly sized apartment has lots of furniture and stuff in it (not the least being my ever expanding WFH setup) so I was hoping for a passive buff to my dust defense rather than needing to turn the place upside down regularly. Normally I'd be game for a regular cleaning regimen but my positive energy is being spent trying to get out of my stupid shithole job.
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Dec 14, 2022 18:45
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Magnetic North posted:Not sure where to else post this. I was thinking of getting an air filter / purifier to help with the dust in my apartment, particularly in the high-traffic room that is also my WFH zone. They're expensive enough that I feel I should seek out some information about getting a good and quiet one and learn about the qualities they have, if possible. First off: I second the advice to get an air quality monitor. It'll tell you when you actually have a problem that needs addressing. Second: you can make your own cheap air filter by combining a box fan and a 20"x20" furnace air filter. Just put the filter next to the fan's air intake, turn the fan on, and let it run. The fan's suction will hold the filter in place, no straps or cords needed. You can make a fancier version of this, where you use 4 furnace air filters in a box shape and put the fan on the 5th face of the box, pointing upwards (the 6th face is the ground). That improves airflow and helps each individual filter last longer. Personally I've been satisfied with the simpler version though.
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Dec 14, 2022 18:57
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Suburban Dad posted:What do you mean? I assume it was jammed in after the fact and they cut corners to save $8 on buying another breaker. There's room in the box so I don't get it. My old house had stuff like this as well but the box was maxed out and full. I meant to say: jump to the electrical thread. It's another one here. This is easy, take 8" of black 12awg wire and pigtail the two blacks together then put the single wire into the breaker. Fixed. Unless something is far wronger that's all it needs.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:03
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Yeah if your only problem is dust and allergens, I would try regular cleaning, an air quality monitor, and a furnace filter + fan DIY filter, in that order, before moving up to a big fancy air purifier. If you live in a place with regular air pollution issues, the AQ monitor will tell you if it's worth getting a fancier filter - unless you live in a place with periodic but catastrophic wildfire smoke, that is.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:04
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H110Hawk posted:I meant to say: jump to the electrical thread. It's another one here. This is easy, take 8" of black 12awg wire and pigtail the two blacks together then put the single wire into the breaker. Fixed. Unless something is far wronger that's all it needs. Right that's kind of my thoughts.. if they didn't stick it in the same breaker there may be "reasons" that it was done. especially if there's room in the panel.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:10
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Suburban Dad posted:What do you mean? I assume it was jammed in after the fact and they cut corners to save $8 on buying another breaker. There's room in the box so I don't get it. My old house had stuff like this as well but the box was maxed out and full. Double taps are dangerous. And only done by idiots. Because it's being done inside of a proper enclosure, all you need to do it pigtail the two together with a short piece of wire so there is only one landed on the breaker. That's it. The presence of a double tap proves compete laziness or total cluelessness.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:11
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Second: you can make your own cheap air filter by combining a box fan and a 20"x20" furnace air filter. Just put the filter next to the fan's air intake, turn the fan on, and let it run. The fan's suction will hold the filter in place, no straps or cords needed. I actually tried this. It did basically nothing and was also too loud to leave on during work. I don't really notice anything regarding the air quality, I just want every horizontal surface of my apartment to not be covered with an inch deep layer of my dead cells. I'm realizing now I should have gotten the dust colored Ikea furniture.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:32
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Magnetic North posted:I actually tried this. It did basically nothing and was also too loud to leave on during work. An air filter won't save you.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:40
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Yeah, air filters won't remove dust from surfaces. They filter dust out of the air, sure, but the dust has to get into the air for them to be able to do anything. Dust that's sitting on surfaces needs to be dusted or vacuumed. The box filter measurably does work at improving air quality. I use one throughout wildfire season in California, alongside my air quality monitor. Noise is an issue, sure, but any air filter that's worth a drat is going to produce some noise, simply because they have to move large amounts of air around.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:46
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H110Hawk posted:An air filter won't save you. Yeah unless that dust spends time flying through the air in huge visible clouds then an air filter won't help much. The air filter is for if you live in a wildfire smoke zone, or maybe next to the freeway. The solution to OP's problem is to clean (vacuum, dust surfaces, wash linens) regularly.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:47
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Magnetic North posted:That's kind of what I'm hoping to avoid. My modestly sized apartment has lots of furniture and stuff in it (not the least being my ever expanding WFH setup) so I was hoping for a passive buff to my dust defense rather than needing to turn the place upside down regularly. Normally I'd be game for a regular cleaning regimen but my positive energy is being spent trying to get out of my stupid shithole job. I did notice less dusting was necessary in my 1 bedroom apartment with my Coway running at medium speed 24/7, for what that’s worth. I can’t really quantify it because it was back in 2020, but the dust accumulation wasn’t reduced by a huge amount. Even though there was dust accumulating, the filter still seemed to help my sinuses, though. I too had a lot of furniture and stuff, and since it was an option for me, I ended up selling a lot of my knick knacks to make cleaning easier.
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Dec 14, 2022 19:52
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Yeah I wish I could get rid of most of this poo poo that makes dusting a nuisance but I can't. I guess I'll just keep doing it right when people come up for board games... oh wait, that almost never happens either 
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Dec 14, 2022 20:02
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Does anybody here have an opinion on inspection cameras? In the short term, I'm looking for something that'll help me suss out electrical wiring in the walls. It would need a light. I'm hoping not to make big holes relatively but whatever.
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Dec 15, 2022 09:08
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Does anybody here have an opinion on inspection cameras? In the short term, I'm looking for something that'll help me suss out electrical wiring in the walls. It would need a light. I'm hoping not to make big holes relatively but whatever. As pointed out yesterday in the wiring thread, this is phrased as an XY Problem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_problem How about talking about what kind of "suss"ing you think you need and for what purpose, because I can nearly assure you an "inspection camera" (not really sure what that is) isn't the right way to solve whichever problem has led you to thinking you need to know where wires in your wall are at.
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Dec 15, 2022 16:45
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Well I posted about it last weekend in that thread and got nothing, but I can give it a go here with all the details so you can tell me what I need instead. I want to run a new, GFCI-protected circuit for my garage to cover ceiling lights and an outlet for a garage door opener. I have done outdoor circuits before (could have used a boroscope or inspection camera then too when I got a snag). It was even permitted, although the county didn't seem to care. I have not done such an indoor circuit yet. I have an existing switch off an overloaded circuit controlling a single light in the garage right now (it also does the kitchen). It is next to the panel so it is quite busy there. I don't have attic access at that specific spot and I'd rather not rip off half the wall to figure out where everything is. Heck, with the panel there, I am reluctant to cut into the drywall without seeing what is behind it first. The garage has two drywall panels down already (1/2" panels that fell on their own) which prompted all this, and there is an existing hole for the one ceiling light into the otherwise inaccessible area, and I can also look around at the panel, but I think I'd have to kill power to the whole house for that.
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Dec 15, 2022 18:06
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Also, "inspection camera" is literally a search category at Lowe's and Home Depot. Or Harbor Freight for that matter.
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Dec 15, 2022 18:08
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Well I posted about it last weekend in that thread and got nothing, but I can give it a go here with all the details so you can tell me what I need instead. I want to run a new, GFCI-protected circuit for my garage to cover ceiling lights and an outlet for a garage door opener. I have done outdoor circuits before (could have used a boroscope or inspection camera then too when I got a snag). It was even permitted, although the county didn't seem to care. I have not done such an indoor circuit yet. I don't understand why it matters where existing wiring is to do any of this. You can open the wall above the panel (if that's the direction you're going with the new run) just enough to get to the top of it and still small enough that it's covered up by the panel lid. You don't do this by plunging a jab saw 14" into the wall and hacking. You use a sharp razor knife or similar and just cut through the front/back paper. The rest of this is so vague that it's impossible to say. That's why you didn't get an answer before. Pictures would help. But your actual question is "how do I run cable in a wall and ceiling that look like <this>?" Instead you have decided how to approach this and are asking about how you apply your incorrect methodology to your situation. Rocko Bonaparte posted:Also, "inspection camera" is literally a search category at Lowe's and Home Depot. Or Harbor Freight for that matter. So they're cheap all in one boroscopes? Great. If you own a laptop I'd suggest you buy a $12 USB endoscope rather than whatever those things are. But I don't know how one would use it for this job.
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Dec 15, 2022 18:25
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Motronic posted:So they're cheap all in one boroscopes? Great. If you own a laptop I'd suggest you buy a $12 USB endoscope rather than whatever those things are. But I don't know how one would use it for this job. Inspection cameras are the common phrase these days for them in hardware stores these days ever since bigger companies realized that cheap USB crap on Amazon was there. I suggest cheap Amazon crap that has free returns if it doesn't work. They shouldn't need drivers or anything.
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Dec 15, 2022 19:07
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Anybody know if those cameras are chemical resistant? I might need to snake in to something and then spray a bunch of solvent on some poo poo. Would be using the camera to point the spray in the right direction. Most likely it would be Acetone.
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Dec 15, 2022 21:02
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wesleywillis posted:Anybody know if those cameras are chemical resistant? I might need to snake in to something and then spray a bunch of solvent on some poo poo. Would be using the camera to point the spray in the right direction. A plastic aliexpress endoscope that probably even has a plastic lens getting acetone sprayed on it? (at least that's the general quality of these things from a quick google search)
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Dec 15, 2022 21:07
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I'd spring for something more expensive than that. I see some that say oil and water resistant, but yeah, oil and water aren't really "solvents".
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Dec 15, 2022 21:18
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wesleywillis posted:I'd spring for something more expensive than that. There are ones specifically for plumbing and stuff so they definitely exist, but you’ll probably be paying more than is worth
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Dec 15, 2022 21:25
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Yeah, poo poo sucks, but but its also not really a solvent. Though I have to admit I've had some pretty crazy acid shits before.
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Dec 15, 2022 21:29
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I'm in the process of selling my house. It is currently empty and the temperature outside is supposed to start dipping below freezing for a few hours at night. The house is built on top of an un-insulated crawl space . Should I be worried about the pipes freezing? Day time temps should be above freezing except for a day or two where it might snow. Normally, I wouldn't think about it while living there but being vacant with no water being used I'm a little concerned but I'm not sure if I should be. I know an easy solution is to leave a tap running but if I don't need to waste the water I would prefer not to.
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Dec 16, 2022 08:35
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Maybe I'm biased from growing up in New England, but I wouldn't gently caress with that. You could get lucky if it really only goes below freezing for a couple hours at a time, but those days when it'll snow sounds like you could get extremely unlucky. Is the heating not working? It doesn't have to be kept at a comfortable temperature, but setting it to only 50° could still prevent your house from getting wrecked.
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Dec 16, 2022 10:27
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i like nice words
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Also, "inspection camera" is literally a search category at Lowe's and Home Depot. Or Harbor Freight for that matter. only you can say whether it would be worth it, but i've only seen it done for plaster walls and/or fancy millwork, where repair would be highly impractical. Even then, its just used to confirm the general location of where to cut. You already have drywall to repair .. opening the wall next to the panel isnt going to significantly increase your workload and will help ensure you do the task correctly the first time
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Dec 16, 2022 13:14
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wesleywillis posted:Anybody know if those cameras are chemical resistant? I might need to snake in to something and then spray a bunch of solvent on some poo poo. Would be using the camera to point the spray in the right direction. Depending on the concentration of the acetone and how much it's actually going to get on the camera you could wrap it in cling wrap (polyethylene I believe). You would want to pull it out and strip it off immediately but it might be the buffer you need. Otherwise you're going to need to spring for a metal housed glass lensed device.
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Dec 16, 2022 15:20
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Teabag Dome Scandal posted:I'm in the process of selling my house. It is currently empty and the temperature outside is supposed to start dipping below freezing for a few hours at night. The house is built on top of an un-insulated crawl space . Should I be worried about the pipes freezing? Day time temps should be above freezing except for a day or two where it might snow. Normally, I wouldn't think about it while living there but being vacant with no water being used I'm a little concerned but I'm not sure if I should be. I know an easy solution is to leave a tap running but if I don't need to waste the water I would prefer not to. I would go get a $15 timer thermostat and save myself a lot of trouble, personally
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Dec 16, 2022 15:38
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I think the issue is the uninsulated crawl space -- even if the house is heated, the static water could still freeze. It could freeze in the meter outside the house as well, I presume. I'd keep a tap running.
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Dec 16, 2022 17:41
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Maybe I have morning brain but as long as the heat is on I don't see what would be any different than any other year? Unless the house was just built in the summer it should be fine. You could shut the main off, in a pinch
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Dec 16, 2022 17:54
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Opopanax posted:Maybe I have morning brain but as long as the heat is on I don't see what would be any different than any other year? Unless the house was just built in the summer it should be fine. The thing that I've seen get a lot of people in the northeast when they are on vacation or a house is empty is mostly that outside wall facing cabinets get COLD when nobody opening the cabinet(s) or running water at all for days at a time. I've seen a lot of broken pipes under kitchen sinks in particular because of this. So leave the heat on AND open cabinet bottoms where you have plumbing against an outside wall. If you need to leave water running that's something you probably would already know because your poo poo would have frozen in previous years even while you were living there.
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Dec 16, 2022 18:03
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H110Hawk posted:Depending on the concentration of the acetone and how much it's actually going to get on the camera you could wrap it in cling wrap (polyethylene I believe). You would want to pull it out and strip it off immediately but it might be the buffer you need. Yeah, I was thinking a clear plastic bag or something. I'd definitely experiment first to see which ones are most resistant. I figure dipping them in a container to see
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Dec 16, 2022 18:14
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tetrapyloctomy posted:I think the issue is the uninsulated crawl space -- even if the house is heated, the static water could still freeze. It could freeze in the meter outside the house as well, I presume. I'd keep a tap running. yes, this is the issue. I'm not worried about inside of the house, I'm worried about the pipes under it. But I'm also not sure if I should be worried. Would keeping the inside pipes above freezing be enough to keep the crawl space pipes from freezing? Motronic posted:The thing that I've seen get a lot of people in the northeast when they are on vacation or a house is empty is mostly that outside wall facing cabinets get COLD when nobody opening the cabinet(s) or running water at all for days at a time. I've seen a lot of broken pipes under kitchen sinks in particular because of this. Previous years I would have been using the toilet and washing dishes and stuff to keep the water moving. Since I don't live there right now I'm assuming that because the water isn't moving the situation might be different. Kitchen water is in the exterior wall so this is a good point I hadn't thought about.
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Dec 16, 2022 19:01
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Teabag Dome Scandal posted:yes, this is the issue. I'm not worried about inside of the house, I'm worried about the pipes under it. But I'm also not sure if I should be worried. Would keeping the inside pipes above freezing be enough to keep the crawl space pipes from freezing?
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Dec 16, 2022 19:35
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