My coffee machine doesn't boil the water and doesn't drop it onto my coffee. It's quite new and I don't have any idea what can be the cause. How can I verify how it work properly and how can I repair it? I have water, coffee, electricity, a multimeter, screwdriver, soldering iron.
I think this raises the question of where we want to draw the line of which appliances are included in our FAQ. "Installation, maintenance and repair of appliances." is currently on-topic.
This question on a fault with dishwasher turned up today.
We've had a few, but not many, questions in the past, but I noticed that the FAQ (recently updated by me!) doesn't make any mention of such questions one way or the other.
So should we allow such questions or not?
The FAQ can be updated...
I think you nailed it in your answer @SteveJackson
installing a toaster, or in this case the coffee machine, feel like they should be off topic to me, but I think we need to find a good way to draw the line
I don't think we want to help someone upgrade their blu ray player either
Perhaps we should say they need to be a permanent fixture of the home or typically sold with the home?
Well hopefully someone smarter wlll jump in, but I'd leave it as a wait-and-see case. Someone might be able to answer it. It's conceivably something you'd ask a handyman to look at. We're not overrun by blue ray questions yet.
Blades are expendable, and cement board does bad things to just about any blade. Definitely a case for "measure twice" because cutting that stuff is a pain.
@Tester101 Maybe so, but it's been established already that I'm mean and scary and thus more believable (or at least more likely to scare someone into doing what I say)
Which tools and materials to use for a specific task.
We moved into an older house, and one of the projects is going to be replacing the 2-prong receptacles and changing them into 3-prong. However, there's many layers of paint around/over the plates, and the screws as well. In the past I would just pry it off with a screwdriver, but I know that's ...
the outlet tester will tell you whats wrong with it if its wired incorrectly - the multimeter is more useful for tracking problems in lines - but only on close ranges
WRT replacing your plugs - bear in mind that if you have non grounded outlets now, its likely that your line itself to the outlet may not have a ground
38 DIYers say yes. But I agree with the gents, you don't need it until you have a problem to track down. Your main concern 90% of the time is - Is it OFF?
example - in my rentals, many of my outlets are wired to old cloth insulated non grounded lines - so to properly go to 3 prong would mean adding ground lines
ok that's armored cable and that will work as a ground
you'll need to wire each outlet to its metal box and ensure the a/c is properly connected with a wire clamp
There are some new plastic(?) cables (is that romex?) leaving the breaker panel, but it looks like those are all going to newer grounded outlets, kitchen for example
@Tester101 I look forward to downvoting your stolen answer and reporting you for abuse! ;)
yeah the plastic lines will be romex and yes generally all romex has a ground wire
they'll call it 12/2 or 14/2 - the first number = gauge (smaller number thicker wire) - the 2 refers to the number of lines in addition to the ground (typically black/white)
@Aaron @TheEvilGreebo I don't think it's code to use the armor as a ground anymore, but it would depend on which version of code your local area has adopted.
@Tester101, I assume that the only way to really find that out is wire it up correctly, ground the receptacle's green(?) screw to the outlet box, turn it back on, hope it doesn't catch fire, and use the outlet tester on it?
@TheEvilGreebo, does that piece go inside or outside the metal receptacle box?
@Aaron It likely will not catch fire even if you don't ground it. but if there are problems the electricity will not have a safe escape path, and could lead to electrocution at some unknown time.
Depending on how old the building is, and when the wiring was done. You might be hosed, or really lucky. To find out which, you'll have to open up the box.
Start by turning off the breaker to the receptacle in question, and verify power is off with either a voltage tester or a non-contact type...
See all electrical questions have been asked!
@Aaron you can replace all the receptacles with GFCI receptacles, but you'll have to label them "No Equipment Ground". If there is a ground fault, the GFCI will trip.
@Aaron The outlet will have 3 holes, but the ground may not be connected. If you test the receptacle with a tester it will likely show an open ground, but if there is a fault it will trip and shut power down.
GFCI's work by measuring the current difference between hot and neutral. If you have more current going out than coming back, it's going somewhere (hopefully not into a person) and the GFCI will trip.
lefty loosey doesnt' really make sense. You could rotate the screw so that the lower hemisphere of the screwdriver moved left, or so that the upper moved left.
@ChrisCudmore, I would phrase something like "I appreciate that you're trying to (help/learn/pitch in), but it really makes it difficult for me to concentrate on what I'm doing and make sure it gets done right when I have to shift my attention"
@Steve Jackson. When I win the lottery, and can stay home and work on the house, I might consider it. In the meantime, I've got that horrible Sunday, Dinner Time deadline hanging over every job.
She also doesn't know left from right. Instructions can be difficult. (Otherwise she's brilliant. I just can't figure out that gaping hole in her knowledge)
Or just say "This is Man time!", then crush a beer can on your head, burp, and fart (but not all at the same time. If you burp and fart at the same time, you'll create a vacuum in your stomach and implode creating a black hole).
At least that's my understanding of where black holes come from.
Aaron: Generally, that's how it goes. But when you have to twist it through a doorway, your plan sometimes evolves. "No battle plan, no matter how detailed, ever survives contact with the enemy."
@Aaron usually they are on a shelf above or below the "commoner" selection. Sometimes they are just in a box that you would see and think it's just extra stock.
Update: I finally finished my insulation in the attic. I only needed a roll of R-13 in total, so I bought faced for the vapor barrier on the bottom layer and peeled it off for those on top.
Which reminds me... I should probably go take a look in the attic at one point. I'm of the opinion that as long as I don't open the hatch, it doesn't need any work.
I finished my basement water damage repair, even shampooed the carpet before family showed up for Thanksgiving (no, I didn't get the after pics, and you already saw the before pics)
next up, between the holiday shopping, is to winterize my yard
@ChrisCudmore live in a town house where the back of my house pokes out a few feet, and I'm a foot or so lower than my neighbor. Said neighbor built up the back patio up above my foundation so dirt was directly against my siding.
drainage was also into the corner rather than out into the yard
yeah, I'm only getting so mad because it was like that for years and I would see a small leak from time to time, but we had some crazy storms in the late summer/fall and his gutter was backed up, making the problem much worse
@Aaron Depending on your heating/cooling bills, it's totally worth the effort to pull up some plywood :) I blew in a ton of the stuff when I changed out my second story windows and it made a HUGE difference.
The height of your joists determines how good your insulation can be. I didn't know this initially, but you can't just cram more in the cavity and hope for better insulation, it needs space to trap the air.
@Aaron frequently if the builder didn't put a floor in there, they didn't design it to have a floor/storage. light stuff won't be a big deal, but frequently storage isn't light
All the structure in the roof is mostly to support the roof itself, and any load on the roof (snow), so realize that you can put stuff up there and not see anything wrong until a major snow storm hits.
@Aaron Basically you attach another board to the existing joist to make it stronger. It's tricky to get right, and sounds like overkill for your purposes anyway. Something like this.
@ChrisCudmore Ah, sorry, I jumped into @BMitch's conversation about support. To get more insulation in, yes you could make the joists higher. Is that what you're referring to?
@Aaron you could do different methods of insulation. I'm assuming you have fiberglass now. I only have experience with fiberglass and blown cellulose personally. I think cellulose has a higher r-value per inch, so in theory you'd get some gain by replacing the fiberglass with cellulose, but I don't think it's that significant.
You need to figure out the r-value of what you have is, and then what's cost effective for getting an r-value you might want. So if you have 3.5 inches of fiberglass now, you have about an r-13.
So in my attic, I have 12 inch joists. I put in 3 layers of R-13 where I had to replace my insulation (it got wet), so I have approx R-39 there, which is ok for where I live (Houston, TX).
@Tester101 Me neither. Plus it might be more expensive to do that than add 2x4s and fiberglass or cellulose.
@Aaron The cheapest roll of insulation you can buy at the box store is usually R13 (for 2x4s). Since I didn't have very much to replace I could just triple up the roll. So roll off enough for the space, cut, roll it off again, throw it on top. Now I bought faced (has the craft paper on it) so I had to remove that from the higher layers.
When I did my whole attic I used cellulose because that was much cheaper, easier, etc.
If you buy enough of the cellulose they'll let you rent the machine to blow it in for free.
This question on a fault with dishwasher turned up today.
We've had a few, but not many, questions in the past, but I noticed that the FAQ (recently updated by me!) doesn't make any mention of such questions one way or the other.
So should we allow such questions or not?
The FAQ can be updated...
We moved into an older house, and one of the projects is going to be replacing the 2-prong receptacles and changing them into 3-prong. However, there's many layers of paint around/over the plates, and the screws as well. In the past I would just pry it off with a screwdriver, but I know that's ...
Electrical Tester
Depending on how old the building is, and when the wiring was done. You might be hosed, or really lucky. To find out which, you'll have to open up the box.
Start by turning off the breaker to the receptacle in question, and verify power is off with either a voltage tester or a non-contact type...
