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chutwig posted:Thanks! I look forward to Motronic telling me about my mistakes so I can learn some new things. The first thing you should take away from this experience is to ask first. Dr. Habibi nailed it. You want to use low volt rings. And if you needed a full electrical box you go to the part of the aisle that says "old work" and buy one of those boxes. You bought a new work box. This is probably the hardest part of doing any work like this: knowing what is out there and what is the correct/fastest/easiest thing to use. Now head on back and pick up these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Anvil-6-in-x-6-in-Drywall-Repair-Patch-82542/308729562 and some 60 minute hot mud, a trowl,a 10" knife and a sanding sponge. If you want to do this the hard way and put that piece of drywall back in get these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-in-x-2-in-Steel-Drywall-Repair-Clip-6-Pack-82002/308729645 and some fiber tape. But I'd use the patch. Cut the fiber part of the patch off where it touches the box and just line it up/butt it to the box.
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Sep 18, 2022 14:46
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I've got a laundry faucet like this: And I want one like this (OK I foolishly already bought it):  Is there some sort of insert plate/kit to accommodate the faucet want? I'm assuming it doesn't go in the 'middle' hole of the old faucet?
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Sep 18, 2022 20:20
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Yes, that's super easy/common. The whole thing goes in the existing middle hole. You get a "deck plate" to go on the surface and cover up the other holes. Measure and make sure you get a deck plate that fits and covers up the holes.
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Sep 18, 2022 20:46
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:Yes, that's super easy/common. The whole thing goes in the existing middle hole. You get a "deck plate" to go on the surface and cover up the other holes. Measure and make sure you get a deck plate that fits and covers up the holes. Ah thanks, deck plate, perfect. Just to be clear, the new deck plate with 1 hole replaces the old deck plate with 3 holes?
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Sep 18, 2022 20:58
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epswing posted:Ah thanks, deck plate, perfect. Just to be clear, the new deck plate with 1 hole replaces the old deck plate with 3 holes? This is correct, check in the box before you go buying something - it might be included already.
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Sep 18, 2022 21:48
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Our sump pump basin is really stinky. Besides a cover, is there a recommended way to clean it/prevent sewage smells? Shop vac the standing water, put in some kind of soap, rinse again?
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Sep 19, 2022 12:54
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Admiral Joeslop posted:Our sump pump basin is really stinky. Besides a cover, is there a recommended way to clean it/prevent sewage smells? Shop vac the standing water, put in some kind of soap, rinse again? Why does a sump pit, so ground and rain water, smell like sewage?
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Sep 19, 2022 13:20
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Something probably fell into it & died. Have fun cleaning it out. After it's cleaned, pull the plug on the sump pump & fill it with a 10% bleach solution & let it sit over night. Ten percent will not hurt the pump seals.
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Sep 19, 2022 14:03
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PainterofCrap posted:Something probably fell into it & died. Have fun cleaning it out. Will do, doubt it's been cleaned in a long while.
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Sep 19, 2022 14:17
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Could you just put a chlorine tablet like for the tank of a toilet?
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Sep 20, 2022 20:47
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:Could you just put a chlorine tablet like for the tank of a toilet? First you gotta get the carcas out.
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Sep 20, 2022 22:22
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H110Hawk posted:First you gotta get the carcas out. Could you just put a gallon of muriatic acid in first?
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Sep 20, 2022 22:46
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Motronic posted:Could you just put a gallon of muriatic acid in first? I would mostly be worried about what it would do to the pump and stuff at those concentrations? No idea. Might cut the smell though to help you get it out.
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Sep 20, 2022 23:09
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H110Hawk posted:I would mostly be worried about what it would do to the pump and stuff at those concentrations? No idea. Might cut the smell though to help you get it out. lol it would destroy the pump. And whatever it discharges to most likely. Somebody gotta embrace the suck and get on down there with some gloves and a bucket with a lid. Then cycle water through a few times, throw 1/2 cup of bleach in there and take a shower.
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Sep 20, 2022 23:12
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Motronic posted:lol it would destroy the pump. And whatever it discharges to most likely. lol ok didn't read the sarcasm at first. "Surely the pump isn't bleach rated...?"  Yeah this is a sucky job, but it needs to happen. It's going to be a long time before that smell abates...naturally. And you don't want critter goo clogging things up in the interim.
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Sep 20, 2022 23:43
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Motronic posted:The first thing you should take away from this experience is to ask first. Dr. Habibi nailed it. You want to use low volt rings. And if you needed a full electrical box you go to the part of the aisle that says "old work" and buy one of those boxes. You bought a new work box. This is probably the hardest part of doing any work like this: knowing what is out there and what is the correct/fastest/easiest thing to use. Thanks for the advice. Knowing the name of the right thing to use is half the battle. I ended up putting the piece of drywall back in backed by some wood (because I had already done it by the time you posted and I wasn't going to undo it), put a few coats of mud down over a couple days, sanded it, primered it, and painted it. I'm going to put a second coat of paint down later. I'm pretty happy with how it's gone and it's been an educational experience. 
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Sep 21, 2022 00:55
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That too is a perfectly good method I've used a bunch of times and it looks like you have the skill level to pull it off. Nice job. The patches I linked are just fast and easy and require a lot less mudding skill.
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Sep 21, 2022 02:37
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chutwig posted:Thanks for the advice. Knowing the name of the right thing to use is half the battle. This is very nice and a drat sight better than I could've pulled off.
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Sep 21, 2022 03:24
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My wife requested a way to elevate the shower head in our main bathroom, so I purchased and installed this S curve pipe  Installed fine, works fine. All good there. The issue is that we have a shower caddy that secures over the pipe, but because there's not enough straight pipe coming off the wall, I can't secure it. If I could secure it, it would jut out at an angle instead of flat against the wall This is the caddy we have https://www.amazon.com/simplehuman-Adjustable-Stainless-Anodized-Aluminum/dp/B00PR0V2BE?th=1 This is the clasp, it's two half circles that are held together with a screw on one side  Is there some kind of hook that I could lay over the pipe, that I could then secure the shower rack to? Water proof and able to hold up two full shampoo bottles. Helpful if not ugly.
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Sep 23, 2022 01:47
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CzarChasm posted:My wife requested a way to elevate the shower head in our main bathroom, so I purchased and installed this S curve pipe Honestly, if weight isn't too big of an issue, I'd just glue another suction cup to the top (similar to the ones at the bottom) and suction it all just below the shower head and not worry about using the hook.
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Sep 23, 2022 01:53
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CzarChasm posted:(shower stuff)
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Sep 23, 2022 02:02
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BonoMan posted:Honestly, if weight isn't too big of an issue, I'd just glue another suction cup to the top (similar to the ones at the bottom) and suction it all just below the shower head and not worry about using the hook. Weight is an issue and the tiles in the shower are not smooth, so suction cup isn't going to work in this case. Slugworth posted:Anything stopping you from just installing a 1 or 2 inch nipple at the wall? Lack of knowledge. Can you expand on this? How permanent would this be?
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Sep 23, 2022 05:31
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CzarChasm posted:My wife requested a way to elevate the shower head in our main bathroom, so I purchased and installed this S curve pipe Sort of feels like you could use something made for another purpose on it. A lot of swivel tube clamps I'm seeing online with two ends are for some kind of drum or stage truss setups like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Global-Truss-Swivel-Aluminum-Finish/dp/B008BMI3B2/ Something like this could maybe work similarly if you do some measuring: https://smile.amazon.com/Demeras-Swivel-Purpose-25mmx31-7mm-Fishing/dp/B09WKZS8FS/ The issues I could see is making sure it's stainless and they might not be the right inner diameter. That first one mentions being 1 1/3" ID in the comments so I have no idea if it'd fit, but I could see clamping that to the showerhead and clamping the other clamp to that clamp if you don't mind it being a little swingy or the top being further out from the wall. If you do, you could get a little piece of pipe, bend it, and clamp them both to it, accepting that it'd be an inch lower than before or something. Maybe if it's slightly too large you could pad it with some neoprene or silicone sheet so it grips the existing pipe. I'd probably 3d print something that zipties to the top pipe and has a spot to clamp the shelves to on the bottom, but it'd take some measuring and time in CAD to get it right.
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Sep 23, 2022 07:36
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https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/...wE&gclsrc=aw.ds Buy that, bend it 90 degrees so it hooks over the pipe, and then put the caddy on the other part.
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Sep 23, 2022 11:38
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I've just removed an in-wall roof drain pipe, but that leaves me with an approximately 3" diameter hole in the base of an exterior wall. What's the best way to close it up? Drywall patch?
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Sep 23, 2022 17:15
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Selachian posted:I've just removed an in-wall roof drain pipe, but that leaves me with an approximately 3" diameter hole in the base of an exterior wall. What's the best way to close it up? Drywall patch? This is confusing. Are you asking about patching the outside of an exterior wall (what is it finished with?) or the inside of an exterior wall (what is it finished with? Drywall I presume)?
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Sep 23, 2022 17:17
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Motronic posted:This is confusing. Are you asking about patching the outside of an exterior wall (what is it finished with?) or the inside of an exterior wall (what is it finished with? Drywall I presume)? The inside. I don't really care what the exterior looks like because it's on the side of the house where no one goes, I just want to fill the hole to keep drafts and critters from getting into the walls. The exterior is vinyl siding, the interior is drywall.
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Sep 23, 2022 17:27
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Selachian posted:The inside. I don't really care what the exterior looks like because it's on the side of the house where no one goes, I just want to fill the hole to keep drafts and critters from getting into the walls. The exterior is vinyl siding, the interior is drywall. To be clear, you're saying you have a hole going through the entire exterior wall, so it is open inside and out? Just that you are not really concerned with what the exterior looks like after patching?
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Sep 23, 2022 17:49
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Jenkl posted:To be clear, you're saying you have a hole going through the entire exterior wall, so it is open inside and out? Just that you are not really concerned with what the exterior looks like after patching? Correct.
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Sep 23, 2022 17:51
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Selachian posted:Correct. Inside, patch the drywall using any method as your skill level dictates. I think it's been covered in the last page or two. From outside, use some spray foam to fill the gap. Let it expand out then trim it back when it's cured with a utility knife. You can get stuff with anti-pest properties, or embed steel wool or similar. The foam will look bad, and the sun will only make it look worse over time.
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Sep 23, 2022 17:56
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Selachian posted:Correct. You need to be concerned. Foam could be a component of the above solution, but you would have to install hardware cloth over the hole and fasten it tightly or you absolutely will have mice or whatever rodents in your area in your walls. (edit: sorry, didn't see this was addressed) Exterior finishes on a home are not purely cosmetic. This doesn't address water/snow.
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Sep 23, 2022 18:08
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Motronic posted:Exterior finishes on a home are not purely cosmetic. I knew I was forgetting something!
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Sep 23, 2022 18:16
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Motronic posted:You need to be concerned. Definitely this. Expanding foam isn't so tough that rodents won't chew it into little pieces and make a nest out of it or whatever. After you fill it and put hardware cloth over it or whatever you can get repair patches made for vinyl siding which should deal with your potential water intrusion issues.
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Sep 24, 2022 14:00
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Hello thread. I have an electrical nuisance and I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction. This hasn't graduated to "problem" yet but given that I don't know what's going on thought I'd finally address it. Here are the basics: - One circuit in our place covers the living room and an adjacent bathroom's outlets and lights - The bathroom also includes a ceiling-mounted exhaust fan - The living room has a TV, a soundbar, and a Roku unit connected to one of the outlets via a power strip If I turn the bathroom exhaust fan off while the TV is on, the TV momentarily blinks out. It's not a full shutdown, just a short blip. I'm convinced there isn't a full-on power interruption because the Roku doesn't reboot nor does it lose the WiFi connection. In under a second, the TV is back on and continues as if nothing happened: anything I was watching is still streaming uninterrupted. The only combination that leads to this is turning off the fan while watching TV -- no other light/outlet/appliance combination seems to produce the same result. Best I can figure out is that the TV -- an ancient Panasonic plasma -- is a power hog and any sudden transition causes it to brown out. Even if that's the case, I don't understand why it only happens when the bathroom fan is turned off but it doesn't care when the fan is turned on. Any thoughts on what could be happening, or what else I can do to test things to narrow it down?
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Sep 24, 2022 19:41
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I don't have anything to add, or help you with, but this same thing happens at my dad's place. The TV is an older Vizio flat screen. I think it happens when you turn the bathroom light ON rather than the fan off.
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Sep 24, 2022 20:34
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Trabant posted:If I turn the bathroom exhaust fan off while the TV is on, the TV momentarily blinks out. It's not a full shutdown, just a short blip. I'm convinced there isn't a full-on power interruption because the Roku doesn't reboot nor does it lose the WiFi connection. In under a second, the TV is back on and continues as if nothing happened: anything I was watching is still streaming uninterrupted. The wifi and roku are both running on AC-to-DC adapters which have a bit of capacitance built into the DC side to get rid of some noise. They are probably all experiencing a total outage and the DC stuff is just low-power enough to keep on trucking with just the capacitance until the AC power comes back on.
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Sep 24, 2022 20:38
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Trabant posted:If I turn the bathroom exhaust fan off while the TV is on, the TV momentarily blinks out.
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Sep 24, 2022 20:42
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More of a workaround than a fix, but I put nearly all my electronics on small UPS units, rather than trusting inside wiring in my old building. You can get decent ones as low as $100 and if you replace the batteries every three years, your electronics will never deal with a voltage dip. If you size the one on your internet/wireless properly, you can have service through power outages, which is very nice.
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Sep 24, 2022 20:55
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Trabant posted:If I turn the bathroom exhaust fan off while the TV is on, the TV momentarily blinks out. How old is this fan? Make/model if you have it? Is this like "the dawn of time" old or roughly modern? How old is your house? How old is your wiring? Make of your electrical panel? I wonder if the fan is noisy as hell (electrically) and has nothing preventing the windings from dumping that back into the line once it is cut off? Like some kind of magnetic shunt out of the motor as it desaturates and the field collapses? Arcing? I bet replacing your fan solves it. And I mean you will save money on your electric bill replacing the ancient plasma with something costco sells.
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Sep 24, 2022 20:58
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Thank you all for the replies! To respond to a few:bort posted:More of a workaround than a fix, but I put nearly all my electronics on small UPS units, rather than trusting inside wiring in my old building. You can get decent ones as low as $100 and if you replace the batteries every three years, your electronics will never deal with a voltage dip. If you size the one on your internet/wireless properly, you can have service through power outages, which is very nice. Not opposed to doing that, although I'd be more inclined to do it when there's a data loss risk. Thankfully this is more of an annoyance, at least unless it starts happening elsewhere. Corla Plankun posted:The wifi and roku are both running on AC-to-DC adapters which have a bit of capacitance built into the DC side to get rid of some noise. They are probably all experiencing a total outage and the DC stuff is just low-power enough to keep on trucking with just the capacitance until the AC power comes back on. Huh! I'll try putting my multimeter on all the outlets/plugs to see if I can notice a total outage, but given how brief the blip is, I suspect an oscilloscope would be necessary. Flipperwaldt posted:I've got speakers connected to my tv, and when I switch them off through a remote controlled power plug, they pop and anything connected to the tv through hdmi is apparently electromagnetically disturbed enough that the connection needs to be renegotiated. If something similar is happening for you, I wouldn't call it an electrical problem per se, more like a data integrity thing, poorly shielded hdmi cables acting like an antenna possibly. Gotcha. That would suggest it's the signal from Roku to the TV that's being interrupted rather than the TV losing power. I don't think that's happening, but I'll check again. H110Hawk posted:How old is this fan? Make/model if you have it? Is this like "the dawn of time" old or roughly modern? How old is your house? How old is your wiring? Make of your electrical panel? The fan/house (well, condo)/wiring are all 14 years old, the fan is a Broan 688, and the panel a Siemens G2424B1125. You're probably right on replacing the appliances in question, although it feels silly to replace a
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Sep 25, 2022 00:31
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