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14:29
morning guys
kinda having a crazy idea this morning
now that i have experience laying brick and building a pizza oven... last year the gas insert fireplace in our family room started having problems (barings on the fan are going and is in general, pretty out of shape)
the insert sits inside of a brick fireplace - i can only imagine it was functional at 1 point in time
why cant i pull the insert, fire brick the inside (as i did to build my oven)? done and done?
You need to get up to speed on fire code requirements.
that, yes, and see if there is an actual chimeny and see the shape its in
I don't know if a wood stove needs a different kind of lining, different flu, etc.
wood fireplace i mean
14:33
Pull the insert, then have the fireplace inspected. They should be able to tell you what needs to be done to make it functional again.
What he said
no reason you can't do the WORK yourself
but call in the experts to figure out what the work should be
@Tester101 true. we had someone inspect the gas insert (what let us know it wasen't servicable anymore) - can have someone actually check the brick enclosure also
based on the $$$ i spent on the oven, rebuilding the fireplace could be cheaper than buying a new insert
Hi folks. I have a question from another room.
assuming the chimeny (if it has one - blanking on if one goes to the roof right now) is fine.
You might get lucky and find that the original fireplace is still in good shape.
14:36
in English Language & Usage, 3 mins ago, by Oliver Salzburg
In engineering, if you have a piece that connects two other pieces at an angle, what is the correct term to describe said piece? Like the green piece shown in the following diagram:
Elbow
agree - elbow
Cool, that's one of the options Oliver came across. The other being "angle", which didn't seem right.
Let me get him over here.
or preceed it with the degree - 90 degree elbow
@Tester101 @lsiunsuex Thanks guys :)
14:37
Yep, elbow
+10 for me!
Yes, here's your rating so far: ★★★★★★★★★★☆
FIY: It might also be referred to simply as "a 90". "Hey Gus, This vent is going to run right into this friggin' wall. Pass me a couple 90's, so I can fix the engineers f*** up."
shit. the more i think about it, the more i think its not real; the TV is on top of the mantel which means a real chimeney doesn't exist. i know the gas insert vents out the wall.
no way in hell venting a wood fireplace out the wall is legal / up to code
14:53
@lsiunsuex shouldn't it be apparent if you have a real chimney? those are usually exterior to the structure aren't they? or is this an interior room?
@waxeagle i had thought there might be a brick chimney behind the wall, but the more i think about it, the more i dont think theres one there
Chimneys are easy to spot. They're big brick rectangles protruding from the roof.
2
i found the firecode for NY - reading... wood ovens vent to an outside wall - maybe a wood fireplace can also
Or the side of the house.
nm if a wood oven can do it...hmm interesting
14:58
@lsiunsuex Can you link to that code?
more so than the want to have a fireplace, its really rather poorly insulted behind the gas insert - ie: cold air is already coming in through the insert. so at the very least, i think i'm gonna take out the insert, insulate and dress it up
try that - its a pdf
masonry fireplaces starts around page 14
15:11
sub chapter 15
Do you live in NYC?
NY, not NYC
buffalo
a good 8 hour drive away...
this might be to big for me...
laying brick and using an existing chimney on an outside patio is one thing. inside the house with only a metal pipe as exhaust is completely different.
pull the insert, insult it, make it pretty with some drywall, etc... and possibly use that space for TV components and get them off the top of the mantel as the wife has been begging of me...
@lsiunsuex Do you use the fireplace?
Or, would you if it worked?
15:23
before the barings on the insert fan died, yes, we did
have always loved a fireplace in the family room
Why not just replace with a new insert?
@lsiunsuex would electric be cheaper?
it would and i've considered it - i've planned to completely gut the mantel wall, build a new one that would account for components and be able to support an electric fireplace hanging off of the wall
still thinking about doing that
Is electric cheaper i the long run, or just up front?
15:26
i can get a nice electric one for < $1000. gas / real wood are usually $2000+ for nice ones
gas is cheap in buffalo, electric tends to be more of a bill we've found
i've talked about this before here i think. i'd gut it, build a false wall about 2 feet from the exterior wall - couple inches wider than the tv. hand the tv on the false wall. shelves behind the false wall for components. hang the fireplace on the false wall below the tv with a mantel between them
in wall speakers, etc... lots of work but not a huge expense
What's wrong with the old fireplace that it can't be repaired?
14 years old, the bearings on the fan are dead and it makes a grinding noise when its running. problems with the pilot. because of its age, its not serviceable anymore
ie: no parts
some of the screws that allow access to the maintenance areas are stripped, so he (the dude who inspected it) would have had to drill them
Does "the dude who inspected it" also sell fireplaces?
yes, which makes me think the opinion was biased
maybe i'll do some more research
"not serviceable" in that context means. "I don't work on them, I just install them. Buy a new one, it's much easier."
15:37
pilot's are easy enough to fix...
Motors can be replaced.
So, what do you do when you find a twisted piece of metal sticking up about 1/2" in the middle of your lawn?
@Aaron put on gloves and pull really hard on it?
oh shoot the upload didn't go
hold on a sec
@Aaron It's a piece of a sign/fence post stake.
15:42
It was a metal fence post that someone had cut off close to the ground, without digging it out
I dug down almost 2 feet
That looks about right
but man, you gotta dig a big hole to pull that out
@Aaron you're doing it the hard way...pretty sure the recomendation is to use a small explosive
yeah, I suppose
a lot easier to uset shovel I already had though
15:57
@Aaron way less fun :P
I'm fairly sure the permitting process for that twould have taken a while
and before you ask, yes, there is some amount of traffic on my street
@Aaron The guys where I used to work, used these for temporary snow fences. They used a bobcat to yank them out of the ground, at the end of the season.
I probably could have rented one of those without too much trouble.....
This idea is brilliant
What idea? Putting your wife in a piece of heavy construction equipment?
My wife likes to garden
but she complained about how hard digging it up each year was
i said, "rent a tiller"
she resisted
I rented a tiller. She was done in 5 minutes and loved it.
She still cannot explain her reluctance
Haha. They charge you for the Post hole digger attachment, and then charge extra for the auger.
@TheEvilGreebo I need to get a heavier duty tiller. bought the trimmer cultivator attachment this year...not good for my soil type
Wonder if they charge per shear pin?
That'd be shearly rediculous
So I worked with PEX for the first time this weekend
Didn't take a single picture either, sorry
16:21
@TheEvilGreebo How'd you like it?
compared to copper, very easy to work with
although getting the crimping tool into tight corners - tricky
Did you get your manifold installed?
decided against it
ultimately I realized I was wanting it mainly for new-toy-itis
Did you see a flow increase after replacing the old pipes?
didn't remove any of the galvanized yet
my goal was to tap into the existing H & C lines so I could start doing the PEX and have it ready to tie into when I DO pull the galv
(I've noticed among other things that I have main water lines that reduce to 1/2" then go back up to 3/4 - and thats copper)
I assembled a T to ball valve to male threaded connector to female pex connector
and then attached that right at the hot water output
no problems there
16:24
Did you try any SharkBite connectors?
but the cold line prior to the water heater - even though I drained the lines there was still water in them. Enough so that I simply could not get a good join
so i ended up pulling out all the copper from the main shutoff to the w/h
@TheEvilGreebo Are you using MAPP?
and THEN I managed to find a solder->barb connector which was a lot cheaper than solder->threaded->threaded->barb
No sharkbite - I used crimp, and I don't know what MAPP is
MAPP gas is used in soldering torches, instead of propane or butane.
It burns hotter, so you can solder pipes better, faster, and even with a bit of water present.
Oh, no, good old blue tank propane for me
but it wasn't a 'bit' of water
i shook and shook and shook the pipe to try to drain it
the line from the main to the splice had all kinds of hills and valleys
When it became clear that whatever I did I was going back to Lowes, it was all coming out at that point.
i was nervous about the crimp at first - not all of them were perfectly square- and i could rotate the fittings within the tubing
but there hasn't been a drip
16:45
I'm fairly confident that 1) the draw is adequate as-is, but could be improved by increased suction created by sealing the the back wall. This is because before the abortive attempt involving the duraflame log, we had a few wood-only fires and it worked well with a minimum of smoke leak 2) We had the fireplace, chimney, and ash drop inspected by a fireman lieutenant who does inspections in his spare time. He pronounced the fireplace structurally intact and gave us the go-ahead to use it. I'm really interested in focusing my question on how to do this project, not whether it's safe. — g33kz0r 11 mins ago
This is concerning. "I'm really interested in focusing my question on how to do this project, not whether it's safe."
its not concerning, its ignorant
i think comments like that should be cause to close the discussion - others may find it, do it, and cause an accident
Last night we were having a fire and the tempered glass exploded (I know)
oops
Aren't you only supposed to operate fireplaces with the glass doors open?
@TheEvilGreebo not nessecarily
16:57
the vent / flu needs to be open for sure
but keeping the doors closed helps control the heat
my brothers gas fireplace - the fireplace is sealed - hot air comes from vents below and above
its designed not to be opened
I'm thinking wood burning but I guess it depends on the fireplace design itself
shit happens. fire gets to hot and the glass shatters. my uncle broke his bi-folding glass doors - the fact of the glass shattering should enlighten the person that the fire they were building was too big
Walked through a house recently and noticed this homeowner recipe.
@Tester101 Awesome
17:50
so, fellow nerds
one of my startups - we've obtained just over 100 users from the local college - in regards to dentistry, there are just over 300 students in this local college - so we've captured roughly 1/3rd of that population - over 70 of them, are attending an event we're holding this thursday, which is F'ING awesome
costing us a fortune ($32 / person) but awesome
the vast majority of signups came from 1 student who wanted to be involved and helped spread the word across the campus
HOW do i find that person at the other 66 schools ? :)
@lsiunsuex put up notices on the message boards in the classroom hallways
I'd complain about this being off topic but it was kinda dead in here until just now... ;)
@lsiunsuex odds are, finding that guy is going to be luck. you're best bet is volume :)
17:55
we can make it on topic - how many dental students does it take to install a light bulb?
best rotary dremel wheel for cutting wood?
this is the best part. we've offered $150 gift card to a great local restaurant - all they had to do was go to the website and make a comment on a post about how to expand into other schools. of the 100+ students notified about this contest, 2, TWO, made a comment
love my dremel multi tool when it doesn't clog with dust and stop working
that kind of motivation is hard to find
this event on thursday is a social event - we're inviting the top 10 professional dentists from the area and its a social night - they can ask questions, advice, etc... i intend to ask them why their not interacting with the website more, etc...
if i need to change something - no problem
the boss seams to think students don't want to post to the discussions because we require they use their real name. which in this day and age, i think is ridiculous
or that they don't want to make a stupid comment - which is ridiculous also - its a community for students, thats heavily moderated. if there was any off topic comments, they would be delt with immediately - so there shouldn't be fear of peer prosecution or the like
18:02
@lsiunsuex I don't think it is - otherwise you get anonymous comments from lollypoplollypop
u guys are moderators (most of u) - has there ever been discussion on forcing real names on stack exchange and not aliases / handles ?
@lsiunsuex not that I'm aware of. It's the internet.
But we're also a general ask and answer site. You're dealing with a professional/future professional community. different aims
I'm not saying real names should be mandatory, mind you
just I see the reasons for it both ways
heavy moderation is a bigger demotivator IMO
Using real names on SE might cause loads of folks to get fired. I'm going to assume the vast majority of folks contribute to the site while their supposed to be working, since weekends tend to be fairly slow.
in fact Google's real name policy is pretty well derided by a lot of people around here
@TheEvilGreebo roight
@Tester101 whistles
18:08
@Tester101 I disavow myself of any knowledge of any such activity now excuse me I have to finish this project for my boss
Also don't forget that when "normal" people have problems/questions, they don't necessarily turn to the internet for answers first.
lets look at this also then - all of the people that signed up for the website, have friended us on facebook - all of them. and on facebook, their real name is exposed
so it kinda doesn't add up
@lsiunsuex I doubt that's the issue. It was probably just either a lack of motivation ($150 would have been plenty of motivation for me) or lack of ideas
@lsiunsuex I don't friend my work colleagues. Ever.
$150 gift card winner will be picked at random at the event - content of the comment has no impact on it. "use social media" would have sufficed as a comment
18:12
FB is purely social. Your site isn't.
@TheEvilGreebo how do u mean
@lsiunsuex Actually that's not true
creating fake FB accounts is easy
My wife has 3 fb accounts she uses for her zynga time sinks
but regardless - I still think its probably just motivation and lack thereof
you're dealing with college students. You're not gonna find that many extra-credit type go-getters - especially in a field as already taxing as dentistry
Maybe the content isn't comment worthy.
@Tester101 True of so many things...
18:17
i have thought about starting some off topic conversations just to drive some traffic - "whatd you think of iPhone 5?" , etc...
which i have found the vast majority of my users are apple users
getting "likes" on facebook isn't a good way to measure anything. If folks had a limited number of "likes", it might be a more useful metric.
true, but the like causes our posts to appear in their timeline.
@lsiunsuex Maybe
and this weekend i rolled out an update that removed the "login wall" so content is exposed to the main site without logging in or registering. you cant participate without logging in, but now google can come by and index and we can cross post to facebook to drive content
18:19
the boss has been instructed to now copy the url into facebook, every time he starts a new discussion
Have you conducted any market research (e.g. Focus groups)?
not yet
this thursday i hope to gain some of that insight
Sometimes it's hard for "technical" people to meet the needs of "non-technical" people.
"usually" events are technical - last time it was training on an Ivoclar digital camera (about $140k piece of equipment) - this event is purely social - no specific topic - just go out, talk to some dentists and shoot the shit
thats why i hope this thursday is productive for me - find out what they want out of the site, what works, what doesn't
@lsiunsuex I think you're missing what I'm saying. Maybe your users, don't really have a need for your service. Maybe a website is not the answer for them.
By "technical" I mean "computer geeks". "non-technical", would be the rest of the population.
18:27
@Tester101 i agree in that what they want are the events
they love the events and come willingly
the website is the means of coming to / registering for those events
@lsiunsuex Do you serve free food?
last event was free food - this event is open bar and appetizers
@lsiunsuex We have a winner!
College students + free food = MASS ATTENDANCE
College students will often go to extraordinary measures for free food.
but not for $150 gift card for free food haha
ignitedds.com i mean, wtf. its right there in the middle in plain english - you cant miss it haha
make a comment, win $150 - wtf.
18:30
$150 gift card raffle != guaranteed free food.
@lsiunsuex Not if you want them to work for it
@lsiunsuex How strict is your password policy? Maybe they all forgot their passwords?
8 characters minimum
signing up isn't the problem. driving traffic appears to be
maybe its like you said - the content may not be comment worthy
the dr. is a bit dry sometimes
Side note: Grey text on white background, hurts my eyes. It makes the text seem "not important".
@Tester101 agreed - been trying to move away from it
'tis a constant work in progress. (only 1 developer = me)
18:41
@BMitch You beat me to the edit, but didn't remove "Many thanks indeed,

James"
@Tester101 Ha, I figured someone would try to beat me, so I was typing too fast to see it. :)
I still don't understand why people feel they have to add that stuff, and why they don't also start with "To whom it may concern,"
@Tester101 Thanks expresses gratitude. THIMC is impersonal sounding.
All questions shall henceforth begin with "Dear Mr. Stack Exchange,".
19:00
@lsiunsuex so this is unusual, on linux/chome here your page shows up as black
@Aaron is the image server blocked by your network?
19:14
hmm
tested on safari, firefox, ie 7, 8, 9 and 10 - only glitches i saw was on ie10 and it was minor
will have to check
sorry, chrome os x tested also
forgot that i have an iphone app in the works - that may help drive traffic
like we think, their students. their busy. with an app, they can view the site whenever
@lsiunsuex You have 100 users, and you're already working on an iPhone app?
i have no life
@lsiunsuex Are you active on Startups?
i have an acct there but don't frequent it too much
Are you personally financing this venture?
19:24
the app would be done but i have to find out how to take a photo that was taken with the camera and scale it down - the app was uploading the photos full scale to the server and taking to long
my partner is for the most part - i pay for hosting and that stuff - he pays for the events and travel
in other words: no venture, no angels, just some pocket change, etc...
this event so far is our most expensive one - $32 a head is no joke - i told him, we may as well get a limo and a photographer and call it a wedding at that price
@lsiunsuex typically not, there's some weird rendering bug with some shockwave, I think, that causes the lback pages
do you have flash on your pag?
the video on the main page has been converted to html 5 but can load flash if needed - the resume section is flash cause it requires recording over webcam and the ignitetalks videos are still in flash - haven't had time to convert them to html5 video yet. no flash otherwise though
@Tester101 curious about the app comment. elaborate?
@lsiunsuex Just seems like a lot of work for 100 users, especially since you're complaining about a lack of traffic.
i guess my view is, any means of driving traffic to the site makes it worth the time investment?
if having an app gains me even 10 more users, it was worth it?
But you have no idea if it will drive traffic or not, you've done no market research to see if your users even want an iPhone app. Or have you?
19:38
no, i haven't
i trust in my partner that this idea (the website) in general is a good idea
i trust that once we build some critical mass with students we'll have sponsors
we have 2 sponsors that are very interested as of events that took place this last thursday / friday
so, as him and i discussed saturday, i am not to worry about where money will come from, as hes not to worry about back end changes or how shit is done (so long as its done)
120 users in 2 months of being live we consider to be good (given how targeted the market is)
knowing our current total $$ investment, 1 sponsor makes us profitable
time to go. later.
19:57
Anyone know how well sharkbites handle repeated pulling and twisting?
Well, I went with a normal sillcock and then connected it using PEX piping within the wall (which was WAY easier than soldering it... I highly recommend the gator bites fittings for anyone who doesn't want to solder). At any rate, I'll just have to drain the sillcock in late fall. At least my one in the front is frost-free. — jwir3 7 mins ago
20:22
0
Q: power outlet problem

gerrythe power outlet where my tv was plugged in lost power all of a sudden. However, when I plug in a receptacle tester, the power goes back on but when I remove the receptacle tester, power goes off again. What seems to be the problem.

<sarcasm>receptacle testers require power to function, so when you unplug it, it will no longer detect power from the receptacle</sarcasm>
heh

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