|
A hopefully quick toilet question: Inside the tank of the toilet, there are two vertical tubes. The overflow one for draining water, and the source one that's attached to a flotation device that fills the tank. The source column also has a little flexible tube that goes straight into the overflow tube. For some reason, after flushing, the water to refill the tank *only* comes out of that little tube, and straight down the drain. It'll sit there forever without actually filling the tank. I don't know what triggered it, or what to adjust to fix it. Any help appreciated!
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2012 04:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 20:55 |
|
|
internet inc posted:
If you can borrow a router with a flush cut bit with a bearing, it'll follow the top layer & cut the lower to match.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2012 07:44
|
|
|
Fuzzy Mammal posted:A hopefully quick toilet question:
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2012 07:51
|
|
|
Fuzzy Mammal posted:A hopefully quick toilet question: GWBBQ is right, definitely a fill valve problem. However, it might just be a clog. You might be able to just clear the clog and all will be good. Turn the water off first under the toilet before you try taking the fill valve apart.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2012 20:28
|
|
|
I live in a pretty cheap apartment building. I'm on the second/top floor. I can hear a LOT of noise from downstairs at certain times because there's a tweenage girl whose bedroom is under the living room: music, yelling, TV, video games, general stomping about, arguments with her mother... It is only going to get worse once she's out of school and is in there all day. The question: I have hardwood floors. Would it be worth putting a big piece of carpet down, maybe with foam underneath it? If so, what are my cheapest yet still reasonably effective options for foam? The other option is (a) continue to not use the living room at all except as a place to store my couches that I do not sit on  or (b) move.eta: x-posting to A/T Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Apr 21, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2012 16:21
|
|
|
A good carpet underlay will definitely cut down on noise, any shop that sells carpet (not rugs) will stock it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2012 21:47
|
|
|
I'm going to be doing some lead casting, and I have a 3m 7512 respirator with the P95 filters and the R6001 organic vapor cartridge. Anyone know if that's going to be sufficient? I've been looking and I can't find much either way besides "Use a respirator with the right filters! Brain damage!" Obviously I'll be doing this outside, etc etc. I don't want brain damage.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2012 03:12
|
|
|
you ate my cat posted:I'm going to be doing some lead casting, and I have a 3m 7512 respirator with the P95 filters and the R6001 organic vapor cartridge. Anyone know if that's going to be sufficient? I've been looking and I can't find much either way besides "Use a respirator with the right filters! Brain damage!" Obviously I'll be doing this outside, etc etc.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2012 05:28
|
|
|
I'm painting my kitchen. I had the bright idea to slap orange on the old greenish paint without priming it first. Most of the old color has been covered, but there are a few spots still more visible than I like. Can I put paint over the affected spots only, instead of the whole wall again, without resulting in borders? The second coat is less than 24 hours old and the paint's still from the same pot. I'm wondering about a shortcut like this, because I'm getting tired of the drat paint roll.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2012 12:31
|
|
|
What are you painting in your kitchen and where? Priming helps with waterproofing too.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2012 16:28
|
|
|
GWBBQ posted:OSHA requires full face respirators with HEPA filters at minimum and powered air pressurized respirators if employees request them. You'll probably be OK with yours if you use good safety goggles and do it outside, but if it's more than a one-time thing you should step up the protective gear. Thanks, never thought to look at the OSHA requirements. I'm going to be casting ~8-10 spline weights, so I might look into a full face one. Would probably be handy to have one anyhow. I see how-to's online for people making these without any protection at all, and I can almost see the lead poisoning happening.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2012 16:53
|
|
|
Combat Pretzel posted:I'm painting my kitchen. I had the bright idea to slap orange on the old greenish paint without priming it first. Most of the old color has been covered, but there are a few spots still more visible than I like. Can I put paint over the affected spots only, instead of the whole wall again, without resulting in borders? The second coat is less than 24 hours old and the paint's still from the same pot. I'm wondering about a shortcut like this, because I'm getting tired of the drat paint roll. Don't. You'll end up getting bright orange spots, especially since your last coat has had a long time to dry. Yellows and reds (and oranges) are terrible at covering. Priming with white might not even have helped because then you would have gotten white spots underneath. With these colors, you can either apply more coats or purchase better quality paint. One could argue that colored primer would help, but when you're down to buying new primer and having it colored, you might as well add one extra coat of paint you already have. In the future, when you have bright colors to paint, try to wait as long as possible between coats (24 hours is good) and make sure the paint dries as slowly as possible (it levels and covers spots as it dries) by closing your windows and lowering the temperature in your house (or cranking up the A/C). Paint on rainy/cold days. Use good lighting to see what you're doing. EDIT: I just remembered one old trick. All those gallons you keep in the basement? Try to see if one of them resembles the color you're about to apply. You won't have to buy primer and might save the pain-in-the-rear end 3rd coat that bright colors often need. I know it's too late for you, but I'm just throwing it out there.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2012 17:12
|
|
|
internet inc posted:Don't. You'll end up getting bright orange spots, especially since your last coat has had a long time to dry. Yellows and reds (and oranges) are terrible at covering. ... Yeah, painted my upper bathroom walls in an orangey-yellow, and it took 3-coats.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2012 00:11
|
|
|
internet inc posted:Don't. You'll end up getting bright orange spots, especially since your last coat has had a long time to dry. Yellows and reds (and oranges) are terrible at covering. Priming with white might not even have helped because then you would have gotten white spots underneath. With these colors, you can either apply more coats or purchase better quality paint. This is dead on accurate. Apply a new coat over everything, not just the problem spots.
|
|
#
?
Apr 23, 2012 02:50
|
|
|
I asked for some help with my TV mount a few weeks back. I just wanted to say thanks to jackyl, Grover and kid sinister for there input.  The set-up... (The 2x2s probably aren't necessary, but I they help put me at ease.)  and the final product.  Fake edit: After I took the picture, I realized the screen wasn't level, I've since fixed it. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2012 02:12
|
|
|
I have an A/C question: When I turn my A/C on, the fan on the outside on the condenser runs but no air is coming through my vents. I have a central air/heating unit in my crawlspace. I have tried replacing the air filter but that doesn't seem to affect anything. When I go down into my crawlspace where the evaporator unit is and have my wife turn the fan on upstairs, I hear an electric hum but nothing seems to "happen" at the evaporator unit.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2012 04:10
|
|
|
tadashi posted:I have an A/C question: Could be a couple things. Stick a screwdriver in your pocket along with 1/4" and 3/8" sockets and crawl down to your unit. Take the 2 panels off of the front. The lower panel (the one with the fan inside) will have a big pushbutton switch in the corner. It's a safety feature where the giant fan will shut off if the panel isn't in place. Anyway, that probably isn't your problem. Look at the blower motor. Strapped to it should be a flattened can-looking thing with wires coming out the top called the "starter capacitor". Big motors like that need an extra jolt of electricity to get them started turning. Turn the power switch off and pull out that capacitor. Is it leaking? Is the top bulging at all? Do you have a multimeter to test its capacitance?
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2012 16:46
|
|
|
Also: DON'T TOUCH THE LEADS ON THE CAPACITOR unless you want a big, unpleasant surprise. There may be something stuck in the blower fan, or the blower motor is shot. See if the fan spins by hand when you open up the case. BE CAREFUL as the fan may then start up.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2012 18:52
|
|
|
kid sinister posted:Could be a couple things. Stick a screwdriver in your pocket along with 1/4" and 3/8" sockets and crawl down to your unit. Take the 2 panels off of the front. The lower panel (the one with the fan inside) will have a big pushbutton switch in the corner. It's a safety feature where the giant fan will shut off if the panel isn't in place. Anyway, that probably isn't your problem.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2012 19:04
|
|
|
I apologize deeply, but despite being relatively good around the house in general, I have no loving idea about thermostat wiring. I know for a fact that no voltage level that matters is going into my thermostat - it's a gas furnace with a pilot light. The thermostat is the standard bimetal strip / mercury switch thing, but I'd like to replace it with a programmable one. It won't be getting any power from the wiring at the thermostat, but there are several good battery-powered ones. Can I just assume that the two wires running into the thermostat, if connected together, will turn the furnace on?
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2012 22:49
|
|
|
SoundMonkey posted:I apologize deeply, but despite being relatively good around the house in general, I have no loving idea about thermostat wiring. Bingo. A thermostat is just a temperature-based switch. It takes 24V AC from the transformer inside the fan box, then depending on what settings you have the thermostat on, it sends either cooling or heating calls back to the control board in the fan box. Once the target temperature is reached, the thermostat turns that switch off. Modern LCD thermostats need power themselves to keep things like their clocks and schedulers going. Modern thermostat wiring includes a neutral wire specifically for the thermostat so that it won't need batteries. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 01:12 on Apr 29, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 00:57
|
|
|
SoundMonkey posted:I apologize deeply, but despite being relatively good around the house in general, I have no loving idea about thermostat wiring. If it's 24V, you can buy virtually any battery-powered programmable thermostat you want and just hook up those two wires, and it should work just fine. They're very easy to install, and the instructions will tell you which terminals to land the wires on. You can just ignore any other terminals for cooling, etc, if your new thermostat has them; they won't matter. grover fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Apr 29, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 01:44
|
|
|
grover posted:It's probably 24V, but wouldn't hurt to double-check to make sure it's not a 120V switch. Should be pretty easy to tell with a voltmeter, or even by looking at the size of the wires. I assume I can just use my multimeter to test for voltage on whatever wires are coming out, and rely on that? I'm assuming it's relatively low current, hopefully, since I may put more of a DIY device on it at some point, using a relay or something.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 02:00
|
|
|
So I'm trying to figure out how I should deal with something like this: This is a picture of my neighbor's house, but my house has the exact same thing going on. Should I just rip out the weeds and pour some 2-3 inch thick cement (with some wire mesh, and maybe slant the cement away from the house)? Rain water sticks around and I'm afraid for my foundation. Any better ways of dealing with something like this?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 02:09
|
|
|
SoundMonkey posted:I assume I can just use my multimeter to test for voltage on whatever wires are coming out, and rely on that? I'm assuming it's relatively low current, hopefully, since I may put more of a DIY device on it at some point, using a relay or something. Not whatever wires. For 2-conductor thermostat cable, one wire is 24V AC, but the other one isn't a neutral. That other wire is the "heating call". Whenever the temperature dips too low, the thermostat bridges the 24V AC to the heating call to light up the furnace. Once the temperature rises high enough, the thermostat breaks that circuit. To figure out which wire is 24V AC, plug in an extension cord to a nearby outlet, then test for voltage between one of those wires and the neutral slot (the wider one) on the extension cord. As for DIY, 2-conductor thermostat cable doesn't come with a neutral, so there's no circuit to power your device. It's also AC power, so you'd need a rectifier of some kind to run your DC DIY stuff. Bank posted:So I'm trying to figure out how I should deal with something like this: Slab or basement?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 04:06
|
|
|
grover posted:It likely has an anti-scald device on it. If this is your issue, all you have to do is remove the handle, and remove the anti-scald ring that's blocking you from turning the handle full-hot. You don't need to shut off the water or anything.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 06:22
|
|
|
kid sinister posted:Slab or basement?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 06:24
|
|
|
SoundMonkey posted:I assume I can just use my multimeter to test for voltage on whatever wires are coming out, and rely on that? I'm assuming it's relatively low current, hopefully, since I may put more of a DIY device on it at some point, using a relay or something. Honestly, you can tell just by looking at the wire. If it's #18 (really small), it's 24V. It it's #12 or #14 and looks large enough to power a receptacle, it's almost certainly 120V.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 10:55
|
|
|
kid sinister posted:Not whatever wires. For 2-conductor thermostat cable, one wire is 24V AC, but the other one isn't a neutral. That other wire is the "heating call". Whenever the temperature dips too low, the thermostat bridges the 24V AC to the heating call to light up the furnace. Once the temperature rises high enough, the thermostat breaks that circuit. Some older heaters can be thermocouple-powered, in which case, it's millivolts at milliamps, and it doesn't matter which wire is which. Connect the two, and the gas turns on.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 17:58
|
|
|
Bank posted:We've got a crawl space here What kind? And how wide is that space between the house and walkway? babyeatingpsychopath posted:Some older heaters can be thermocouple-powered, in which case, it's millivolts at milliamps, and it doesn't matter which wire is which. Connect the two, and the gas turns on. Modern thermostats still use thermocouples as temperature sensors. What do you mean by "thermocouple-powered"? Thermocouples do generate a tiny bit of electricity themselves. If I understand what you mean correctly, then they would be sending that power down to the control unit... In other words, the thermostat would be generating the power, not the furnace, and just connecting those 2 unpowered wires together wouldn't do anything. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Apr 29, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 20:01
|
|
|
kid sinister posted:What kind? And how wide is that space between the house and walkway? I have lived in a house where neither the thermostat, heater, nor water heater had any AC going to them. There was a thermocouple in the pilot light that provided power to the thermostats. Mercury or bimetallic switches closed, and the gas valves used the power from the thermocouple to open. When the heater stopped working, I thought it was the gas valve, because I put voltage on it and it wouldn't open. It was actually the thermocouple failing, and 9VDC burned out the gas valve when I tested it. If this person has "no voltage level that matters... going into [his] thermostat" then it may be thermocouple-powered. I don't have a meter on his wires, nor have I seen the unit, but it is still an option. These things are usually called "microvolt thermostats" or "millivolt thermostats."
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 20:56
|
|
|
babyeatingpsychopath posted:If this person has "no voltage level that matters... going into [his] thermostat" then it may be thermocouple-powered. I don't have a meter on his wires, nor have I seen the unit, but it is still an option. These things are usually called "microvolt thermostats" or "millivolt thermostats." Sorry, yeah, I figured that's what it was, I just didn't have the right term. It's a VERY old house, and the heating thing in questions is honestly more of a gas fireplace than it is a big-kid furnace. Also it has AC running to it (via a wall plug), but it's only for the (ineffective) fan - it's never plugged in. So either it's getting its power from some weird place that I don't know about and the wires aren't too visible, or it's the millivolt kind.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2012 23:26
|
|
|
I got a new (old) weedeater from my dad over the weekend, I partially took apart the housing and cleaned it and everything seems serviceable except that it's not sparking when you pull the starter cable. I checked the plug and it's getting fuel and seems like it has an OK gap, what's the next place to dig in to? I thought about trying to scrape off the spark plug cap in case it had some corrosion inside, but it looked pretty clean and I don't have any pipe or gun cleaners that might fit in it, anyway. Also it needs a new brush guard, I assume those are fairly interchangeable though. The trimmer is a Kioritz SRM-302, I think it's from the late 80s or early 90s. Anybody got advice, or links to some good, amateur small engine repair resources?
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2012 20:25
|
|
|
coyo7e posted:The trimmer is a Kioritz SRM-302, I think it's from the late 80s or early 90s. I don't know if this'll help or not, but this came up: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/part-model/Kioritz-Parts/Brush-cutter-Parts/Model-SRM302AOX/0591/1503802 edit: If there's no spark, the problem is going to be somewhere in the magneto.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2012 22:33
|
|
|
coyo7e posted:The trimmer is a Kioritz SRM-302, I think it's from the late 80s or early 90s. It would appear that Kioritz is now known as or got bought out by Echo. They also have full schematics on their website. Seconding a problem in the magneto. You should also check the kill switch. Make sure that it isn't stuck, its contacts haven't broken off inside, etc.
|
|
#
?
Apr 30, 2012 23:56
|
|
|
Awesome, thanks! So basically this is probably what I need to do? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYoNC7np_8M
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2012 01:30
|
|
|
Also AI has a thread just for stuff like gardening machines: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3302145 They seem pretty helpfull?
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2012 06:06
|
|
|
kid sinister posted:What kind? And how wide is that space between the house and walkway?
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2012 06:46
|
|
|
I have a lovely ikea coffee table that I wish to spruce up a bit. I've seen other people putting cool paper designs on theirs and then applying varnish to protect the paper from spills, and I looked in to the same thing. I found some cool designs at papermojo.com and I've ordered some samples, but many of the ones I liked are made of cotton fabric instead of paper. Example: amazing  I would like to try and cover my table with one of the fabric designs, and I've found some nifty spray glue that should adhere to the faux-wood ikea poo poo and the cotton, but I'm concerned about the table getting messy from food/drink and general use. Is there any sort of varnish that I could use that works on cotton? Some sort of aerosol perhaps? Is there any other good way to protect a cotton tabletop without putting glass or something over it?
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2012 16:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 20:55 |
|
|
Richard M Nixon posted:I have a lovely ikea coffee table that I wish to spruce up a bit. I've seen other people putting cool paper designs on theirs and then applying varnish to protect the paper from spills, and I looked in to the same thing. I found some cool designs at papermojo.com and I've ordered some samples, but many of the ones I liked are made of cotton fabric instead of paper. You could try decoupage glue, you can spread it as a varnish overtop as well as use it to adhere it to the table.
|
|
#
?
May 1, 2012 17:27
|
|
