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Sex bolts 
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Jun 2, 2023 16:18
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dupersaurus posted:Are there any sites good for buying stuff like good quality individual hex keys? Are you looking for something in an unusual size? Hex keys are just inexpensive enough that I'd buy a complete set from Bondhus, Tekton, Wera, or Wiha depending on your budget.
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Jun 2, 2023 16:55
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Danhenge posted:Make sure you've actually extended the handles fully. Seriously. This, very this. Specifically, the sensor appears to be on the right side on mine. that and the bag/filler sensor should be the only ones. Maybe check you actually have 40V at the main power disconnect in the battery compartment. edit: I actually have no idea how the bag sensor works - I assume magnetic, but I don't know where the magnet is, exactly.
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Jun 2, 2023 19:47
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I have an whole house attic fan that I never use. The grill is noticeably hot, so I figure it must be adding a good bit of heat to my already hot 2nd floor. I want to get one of those magnetic insulating covers, but reviews for every one I have found have all claimed they don't stick well. Is this just people not knowing that aluminum isn't magnetic, or is there a better solution?
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Jun 3, 2023 01:13
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Xenoborg posted:I have an whole house attic fan that I never use. The grill is noticeably hot, so I figure it must be adding a good bit of heat to my already hot 2nd floor. I want to get one of those magnetic insulating covers, but reviews for every one I have found have all claimed they don't stick well. Is this just people not knowing that aluminum isn't magnetic, or is there a better solution? If you never use it, can you close it in from the top and put a bunch of insulation on it? I'm thinking like some thick plastic tarp and just regular fiberglass or w/e insulation.
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Jun 3, 2023 01:20
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The attic fan itself is directly above the grate with no access from the side. Disassembling fan is probably doable, but seems like a lot of effort and it still works even I don't use it.
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Jun 3, 2023 02:41
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If you're for sure never going to use it just use a bunch of spray foam and adhere a cover to that.
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Jun 3, 2023 05:17
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Even if I probably won’t, I also won’t be in this house forever so I’d rather not kill it. I’ll just get the cover and some extra magnets.
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Jun 3, 2023 20:33
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My bathtub drain is worn and chipped and I want to replace it. I'm trying to find replacements, but how do I tell from looking (and hopefully without disassembling my current set up) whether I have the fine or coarse threads? I think this is tied to the diameter of the drain itself and if we are looking at 1 3/8 or 1 1/2 diameter. I believe that I will likely have to remove and replace the gasket, & use plumber putty, is there anything else I might be missing? Can I just use pliers to remove the drain, rather than needing a special wrench?
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Jun 5, 2023 14:21
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You can kinda, sorta screw out the old one with needlenose pliers if you spread them. The wrench is awesome though. They're really cheap too.
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Jun 5, 2023 15:32
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i know nothing about electric stuff in houses so i want to check here before calling in another electrician to finish a suggested task/job i have a 4-pronged 240V + 3-prong 120V outlet in my place for electric washer/dryer which is two floors away from the building's circuit breaker. when tested, they're under-voltage at the outlet. however, when tested at the panel two floors away, measured 120V & 240V as expected. the electrician suggested that just replacing the breakers for those two circuits might fix it. that seems a bit un-intuitive to me since it's already 240V & 120V at the panel as expected. could that possibly make a difference? might replacing the breakers actually help the voltage get up to the outlets at full strength? if it could potentially help i'm happy to call someone in to carry out the replacement, but if this strikes others as probably unhelpful i guess i should look for another diagnosis both thanks & sorry in advance, i legit have no clue about this stuff :')
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Jun 10, 2023 00:53
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How much under voltage?
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Jun 10, 2023 01:20
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kid sinister posted:How much under voltage? i wish i could tell you. the electrician literally refused to tell me when i asked him directly, like flat out refused. he said at one point that it "flickers," and then when i asked for more specifics/detail, he said "well less than 120, that's all i have to tell you." word for word quote. (and yes that's part of why i requested he not continue the job from there) would you be able to elaborate a bit on what it might mean if, for example, the voltage is off by like 5% / 50% / 90% / if it flickers between different voltages? no worries if not
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Jun 10, 2023 01:35
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Soap Scum posted:i wish i could tell you. the electrician literally refused to tell me when i asked him directly, like flat out refused. he said at one point that it "flickers," and then when i asked for more specifics/detail, he said "well less than 120, that's all i have to tell you." word for word quote. (and yes that's part of why i requested he not continue the job from there) That’s very weird behavior on his part. I really can’t tell you how much voltage “off” appliances can tolerate, but I do know you can buy a cheap multimeter and figure out the voltage yourself. You can also buy breakers and replace them yourself very cheaply and easily - just shut the power off at the main and then stay away from the main line and bus bars. I think the last 50A breaker I replaced cost like $10?
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Jun 10, 2023 01:40
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space uncle posted:That’s very weird behavior on his part. yeah, there were several bizarre aspects in our relatively brief interactions. for example, i told him which panel went to our unit, and to please only touch that one, and when i left, he started loving around with another panel without telling me or alerting any neighbors/etc that he was doing so. also turned off all the power in my house with no warning, then went breaker by breaker doing the same, again no warning. i mean fortunately no real issue for me other than it was bizarre but like that could be a serious problem for some people in certain circumstances. anyway. but yeah, i'm relatively okay at DIY stuff outside of electrical poo poo, and judging from what i see on youtube, it seems cheap/safe/easy enough (edit: of course with turning the main off!) for me to give it a go after a trip to home depot for a replacement breaker and safety equipment/accessories like voltmeter/multimeter. i think i'm just so concerned by the electrician's other bizarre behaviors that it calls into his question his diagnosis, so i was also wondering if even doing it myself would be a waste of my time/money and the dude is just a dumbass and weirdo. definitely not paying that dude $100 or whatever for it though.
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Jun 10, 2023 01:44
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That sounds like a loving lovely electrician and your call to boot them was a wise one. If the voltage at the breaker output is in spec but the voltage at the outlet is not, there's no way the breaker can cause that; that would point to an issue somewhere along the wire in between the two points, most likely to be at a junction. If what they really meant is that the voltage feeding the panel is correct but the voltage at the output of the breaker is not, then that does sound like a bad breaker. NEC recommends no more than 5% voltage drop, but that's also calculated while under load. If you are seeing wildly different voltages between the panel and the receptacle without any load on the circuit, I'd treat that as problematic.
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Jun 10, 2023 01:47
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If it’s a standard wall outlet you don’t even need a multimeter. You can get something like the link below and plug it in. A multimeter is super helpful, but this should do the trick too. Wait till it’s $7 like when I got it. Klein Tools RT250KIT Non-Contact... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YDFQ2FV?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
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Jun 10, 2023 01:54
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IOwnCalculus posted:That sounds like a loving lovely electrician and your call to boot them was a wise one. thank you, this is all super helpful. i suppose maybe instead of immediately trying to replace the breaker, i should measure the voltages at the panel input & breaker output to see if it's likely a breaker problem or wire problem. if by any chance you'd be willing to link to a resource showing how to do that, that would be awesome as i'm new to this and not confident i'd find the correct thing, but if not thanks for this so far
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Jun 10, 2023 01:55
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One thing that will cause voltage drop/flickering...loose wires. Electrons flow and vibrate...which can cause the wires to loosen at the lug terminal on the breakers. Happens with the higher Amp more frequently. Turn off the breaker! Make sure the wire is seated. Tighten. Turn breaker back on.
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Jun 10, 2023 02:18
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HycoCam posted:Electrons flow and vibrate...which can cause the wires to loosen at the lug terminal on the breakers.  I mean, loose wires are definitely a thing, but
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Jun 10, 2023 03:24
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In the last month; well wouldn't start for one, air handler for another. Both issues were resolved by tightening the breaker lugs. If they aren't cranked right at install, they will loosen. It's an easy check that is often overlooked.
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Jun 10, 2023 03:36
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hm... so for context, i never personally saw a voltage reading from the outlets in question greater than zero, but the electrician did tell me they 'flickered.' i went to the breaker, turned it off/wore gloves/etc., took out the wires to the 240V circuit breaker, put them back in nice and centered, then screwed the terminal back together until i got some non-trivial resistance. tested it much like this guy does here and got 120V top side bolt to ground, 120V bottom side bolt to ground, and then 240V going from top bolt to bottom bolt. re-assembled, turned everything back on, went to the outlet with multimeter and got a flat zero no matter what i did. not sure how to interpret that. breaker itself appears to be in perfect working condition. probably a wire disconnection then?? or maybe a faulty/broken outlet? in which case it would actually have to be both outlets are faulty/broken? additional context, the two outlets, as far as i know, are on different circuits on opposite sides of the panel even though the outlets are very close to each other in the unit. so it's a bit fishy to me that breakers on opposite sides would be the problem when they seem mostly unrelated to each other, right? isn't it more likely that something in the route between breaker and outlet is killing the current? thanks for all the advice everyone! hopefully i will solve this mystery somehow soon :')
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Jun 10, 2023 03:48
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Soap Scum posted:i went to the breaker, turned it off/wore gloves/etc., took out the wires to the 240V circuit breaker, put them back in nice and centered, then screwed the terminal back together until i got some non-trivial resistance. tested it much like this guy does here and got 120V top side bolt to ground, 120V bottom side bolt to ground, and then 240V going from top bolt to bottom bolt. re-assembled, turned everything back on, went to the outlet with multimeter and got a flat zero no matter what i did. There's a break in the circuit somewhere between the breaker and where you did your test. It might be in the outlet you tested, or it might be somewhere upstream from there. If you know what other outlets are on that circuit, you can narrow things down by testing them as well. Eventually you'll probably fix it by opening up the box containing the faulty connection, disconnecting the outlet, and reconnecting it. You'll be running back and forth between the circuit breaker and the outlets a lot. Make sure that there's no danger of someone flipping the breaker on while you're working on it. Keep an eye out for melted/burnt plastic or other signs of a short circuit.
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Jun 10, 2023 04:06
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:There's a break in the circuit somewhere between the breaker and where you did your test. It might be in the outlet you tested, or it might be somewhere upstream from there. If you know what other outlets are on that circuit, you can narrow things down by testing them as well. Eventually you'll probably fix it by opening up the box containing the faulty connection, disconnecting the outlet, and reconnecting it. You'll be running back and forth between the circuit breaker and the outlets a lot. Make sure that there's no danger of someone flipping the breaker on while you're working on it. this is the conclusion i'm coming to as well. unfortunately there are no other outlets on either circuit at all, as far as i know, so i don't think i can pinpoint it much beyond the outlet =/ i'm kinda concerned about how difficult/expensive/time-consuming for either myself or a professional to spot/confirm/diagnose/fix will be though, ack. i suppose it does make the most sense that the outlet is probably the issue as it's the most 'complex' part of the circuit, most likely, and from what i can tell the place is quite well-built otherwise and generally up-to-spec, but there's probably a solid 20+ feet of wire in the walls between breaker and outlet that might need to be replaced and that feels maybe cumbersome/time-consuming/expensive to me? (not sure, never had to have that done) if it helps the investigation at all, i took apart the 4-prong 240V outlet:  possibly i could do some testing here? i also noticed that the orange insulator/tape(?) holding those wires together right where they emerge from the wall matches the orange tape going into the wall out of the breaker labeled for this 240V outlet. colored portion here shows what i'm referring to:  the gray-box-outline is the breaker in question, then the coloring follows the red-and-black wires down to where they join with others to an orange insulator grouping going into the wall anyway, thanks again for all the help everyone, massively appreciated. if there is a way i could maybe confirm the issue is either at or not-at the outlet, that would be dope, but either way thanks for all the tips
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Jun 10, 2023 04:23
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You should probably ask your questions in the wiring thread, in case there's folks there that aren't lurking this thread too. They actually know what they're talking about, unlike the randos who have just done a little amateur circuit laying. Like me. With that caveat in mind: it is unlikely that the break is inside the walls somewhere, so if the breaker's fine, the problem was probably with the outlet. I would try reassembling the outlet, and if it still doesn't work, buy a replacement. You could probably also test the individual wires for connectivity using a multimeter.
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Jun 10, 2023 04:34
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:You should probably ask your questions in the wiring thread, in case there's folks there that aren't lurking this thread too. They actually know what they're talking about, unlike the randos who have just done a little amateur circuit laying. Like me. i just noticed there was a wiring thread and crossposted there, haha. thanks for pointing it out though! feel free to quote/respond to this in the wiring thread if you want/are able to, but: how could i go about testing an individual wire? loosen them from where they're clamped and just tap the multimeter on the non-insulated ends? and i figure if that shows non-0, the outlet itself is the problem, but if it shows 0, the problem is in the wall?
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Jun 10, 2023 04:44
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Soap Scum posted:i just noticed there was a wiring thread and crossposted there, haha. thanks for pointing it out though! I am not an electrical expert, and this is the kind of thing where I think if you do it wrong you could gently caress stuff up, so I'm not going to give advice on how to wield the multimeter in this situation. Ask the experts.
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Jun 10, 2023 04:46
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I am not an electrical expert, and this is the kind of thing where I think if you do it wrong you could gently caress stuff up, so I'm not going to give advice on how to wield the multimeter in this situation. Ask the experts. word, tyty
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Jun 10, 2023 04:51
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You'd want a continuity tester but they aren't cheap, and at that point it'd make more sense to be calling an electrician anyways
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Jun 10, 2023 06:05
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Soap Scum posted:i just noticed there was a wiring thread and crossposted there, haha. thanks for pointing it out though! Edit: Nm I saw your post on wiring thread congrats on figuring it out! Nice job. Leaving my dumb post below for posterity. https://youtu.be/os2sWYz74h4 Watch this first and check the outlet again, you should not be getting any numbers at all because we already learned by plugging poo poo in that the outlet itself is dead. Then do what you said and loosen the wires from where they are clamped. Remember or label which ones are which. Tap one probe from the meter on your hot wire and one probe from the meter on your neutral wire. The same results from the video apply. Neutral + hot = 120 Neutral + ground = 0 Hot + ground = 0 240 is different: https://youtu.be/IWYidR9krlU I see Amazon has a meter for $10, it’s probably junk and will break but it will work for a while at least. If you’re doing a lot of electrical poo poo get a nicer one. AstroAI Multimeter Tester 2000 Counts Digital Multimeter with DC AC Voltmeter and Ohm Volt Amp Meter ; Measures Voltage, Current, Resistance; Tests Live Wire, Continuity https://a.co/d/7SRXWtv Remember not to touch any wires, remember not to touch the metal parts of the probes if they are touching wires, don’t touch metal parts of the outlet, be careful. space uncle fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Jun 10, 2023 |
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Jun 10, 2023 19:51
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space uncle posted:Edit: Nm I saw your post on wiring thread congrats on figuring it out! Nice job. Leaving my dumb post below for posterity. aha i still appreciate the post and effort though! and i did actually do exactly what you described after switching the wires at the breaker to make sure everything was all good and got the results you described. also if you caught my mention of it and are curious, the single-digit voltage reading on the 3-prong outlet was almost certainly due to a romex of wires running up through the back of the outlet box. so fully  i think?to do my own part, here is my own record of dumbness/stupidity for posterity for anyone who was curious of the resolution: Soap Scum posted:welp, good news is mystery solved, bad news is i feel extremely dumb. gonna get out ahead of the media by reminding everyone that i did disclose that i'm a total loving idiot re: house wiring
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Jun 10, 2023 20:40
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this is weird - i have one of these screwdrivers, and then i bought some bits but they don't fit (the opening at the top of the screwdriver is just a bit too large). https://www.stanleytools.com/product/stht60083/6-1-quick-change-interchangeable-screwdriver but they do fit into this one https://www.stanleytools.com/product/68-010/multi-bit-ratchet-screwdriver-10-bit?tid=575926 it just seems weird as the metal cylinder looks to be the same size on both
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Jun 10, 2023 21:51
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actionjackson posted:this is weird - i have one of these screwdrivers, and then i bought some bits but they don't fit (the opening at the top of the screwdriver is just a bit too large). There's a couple of possibilities. It may have more to do with the retention mechanism inside the tip of the shank. Those longer bits on the first one you linked often have a recessed bit for a detent that has a little ball bearing that's got a bit of a spring behind it and snaps into the groove to retain the bit. The smaller kind are often just held in by a magnet, although I have one Milwaukee where the bits themselves have a ball bearing on them. The other possibility is that it is larger. I have a Klein tools multi screwdriver thing and it's got 1/3" bits instead of the more normal 1/4" bits. The hole is so much bigger you can freely rotate the normal 1/4" bits inside it. I laid a bunch of these out on my modmat and while it can be a little hard to tell from the photo, the bit in the middle with two ends and the ball bearing in it is just under 3/8" while the others are pretty solidly 1/4". 
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Jun 10, 2023 23:21
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ok cool, thanks for the info. i just borrowed a bit driver from a neighbor
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Jun 11, 2023 00:52
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So we've got an old Dyson DC07 (yellow) standing vacuum, and the thin little gasket around the floor plate is pretty much destroyed. In my experience, this is one of those parts that's either completely inconsequential or the linchpin of the vacuum's entire operation:  Nobody seems to sell this part anymore, and even the bottom plate itself is a problem to source. Does anyone have a source for these gaskets/bottom plates?
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Jun 11, 2023 05:26
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Looks like the same shape & size as a '99 Honda Accord 4-banger valve cover gasket
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Jun 11, 2023 05:40
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If it's just the rubber gasket I'd put some RTV on it
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Jun 11, 2023 05:49
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In the state of Texas, can you call the city to come out and mark property lines? I was under the impression that was usually done by a private surveyor. My dad's neighbor is rebuilding the shared fence but they're encroaching several feet into my dad's backyard compared to the old location. They're claiming the city sent people out to mark the property line but are unable yo provide any type of documentation. I don't know the first thing about fence law but I'm assuming the next step is to hire a real estate attorney and a surveyor? Doesn't Texas have a law where if you maintain a property it becomes yours by default? Just looking for insight as all the law offices I contacted today are closed.
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Jun 11, 2023 17:19
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Ask a lawyer, yeah. They're gonna know way better than internet randos. But also, if this is the kind of thing that your dad can talk out with your neighbor about, that's the preferable solution. You don't want to find yourself suing (or threatening to sue) a neighbor if you can avoid it.
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Jun 11, 2023 18:39
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It's usually a municipal thing so I'd start by calling your city hall tomorrow and see what they advise
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Jun 11, 2023 18:54
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