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12:17
Fuckkkk.... some of the three prong outlets in my house that I am selling don't have a ground.... Home inspector shows up tomorrow with the buyers.... FML
You didn't hear it from me, but a link from neutral to ground will pass a simple outlet tester, and home inspectors won't open an outlet to see anything like that
@maple_shaft Install GFCI receptacles, and apply the "No Equipment Ground" sticker.
@Bmitch @Tester101 Which is the better option?
My father in law is coming over tonight to help me with it, 8 outlets or so are like this
@maple_shaft Tester has the proper fix, mine is incorrect but cheap
Money is not a primary concern, just safety
@BMitch I have heard of doing this, but read where others have said this is incredibly dangerous
12:25
Most of the time, you'd never notice. But if you have a broken neutral, or a better path to ground outside of the device, it could electrocute you. That said, I've grown up in a house with this wiring and survived.
@maple_shaft You could use @BMitch's solution for a temporary fix, just to pass the inspectors tests. However, this is dishonest.
If you do it. Don't leave it like that.
@Tester101 These people made an offer contingent on home inspection, FHA loan. My primary concern is safety and them getting an FHA mortgage. My secondary concern is never having to touch it again. I will go with installing GFCI.
Can I get away with installing one on a common circuit?
fucking late 50's garbage house and unshielded two wire romex
can't wait to get out from under this thing
I grew up in an early 50's tank, brick all over, including many interior walls, and a foundation that mirrored the floor plan above (with small doors in the crawl space below that lined up with the doors above). Slate roof. And the same 2 wire electrical, no ground.
@maple_shaft Um... If you feed all the other receptacles off the GFCI, you might get away with it. You may have to label all the receptacles with "No Equipment Ground", but I'm not sure. I'll try to look it up later, as I've never dealt with this situation.
@Tester101 Might as well go with the overkill option if it works.
12:35
@maple_shaft OK. If the other receptacles are fed from the Load side of the GFCI, they all have to be labeled "GFCI Protected" and "No Equipment Ground".
@Tester101 I have a couple GFI outlets in my tool box, do home improvement stores sell the labels seperately?
They always have a bunch of labels in the GFCI box that I'm sure most people never use. I just threw one away the other day.
You could probably pass code by writing it on the faceplate or putting a handwritten label on it.
@maple_shaft There should be labels in the GFCI packaging.
For reference: NEC 2008 406.3 (D)(3)(b) and (c)
You could "inspect" a GFCI box or two at your local HI store, odds of anyone missing that label from the box are slim.
NEC 2008 406.3 (D)(3)(a) says: A non–grounding-type receptacle(s) shall be permitted to be replaced with another non–grounding-type receptacle(s).
12:44
@Tester101 Great, now my real estate agent told me not to do any repairs until after the inspection, because they may take it as is.
So if you can find some 2 prong outlets, you can just install them.
think thats bull, they won't give an FHA loan if it does not pass code
@maple_shaft If I was a bank, I wouldn't give loans on any house that doesn't meet code.
@Tester101 I wish I didn't throw those old ones away
wtf was i thinking
@BMitch You're all about breaking the "rules" today.
12:55
@Tester101 I only break the rules that don't matter to me.
The reason I personally wouldn't do the "no equipment ground" label is because inspectors see something like that and they look at everything else more carefully. If they plug a tester into a normal outlet and it lights up correctly, they move on and assume other things are ok.
@BMitch thats a good point
Looking at a place recently, the inspector looked at a couple of windows, but only start opening each one and checking tilt-out mechanisms when one was found faulty. So if there's a sticker saying "something unusual done here" they're going to start checking all the electrical.
@BMitch maybe thats what I should do then
connect ground to neutral for the inspection, then swap out those outlets with proper GFCI afterwards
Of course, I disavow all knowledge of this.
@BMitch our little secret ;-)
13:08
@maple_shaft you might wait, if the inspection turns things up you can just fix them and then they can have it reinspected
@BMitch If my inspector didn't test every outlet, I'd hire a new inspector.
but that sort of depends on how much they want/need the house
@waxeagle Usually when problems are found, they expect them to be fixed and the fix documented for the closing (typically a receipt from a contractor). Those fixes are verified by the homeowner during walk through.
@waxeagle These buyers seem nervous and flighty. I would rather the inspection uncover nothing that unsettles them in the slightest
@BMitch right, that's my experience as well (although frustratingly none of the fixes I asked for actually got done :()
13:11
@Tester101 I had a real thorough one that only checked in bathrooms/kitchen for GFCI, and otherwise I believe he only did a spot check.
@maple_shaft the inspection is going to uncover something
@waxeagle I know... but electrical issues make people nervous
peeling paint? not so much
@maple_shaft very true
Is it PUT time?
A few unfamiliar faces popping in.
@Tester101 like 30 something hours too early for PUT
13:18
@Tester101 So what does it mean if their is a ground wire, but it is wrapped around the metal receptacle box, but is only showing a reading of 6 on my voltimeter?
Most of the bad ones are completely dead, this one shows 6
6 what? volts?
What are you measuring to?
AC 200
From hot to ground, or from ground to a better ground?
13:20
hot to ground
neutral to ground shows about 2
Then it's a short on the ground
you can't use that either
6 volts from hot to ground, probably means your ground is not grounded.
What could cause that?
moisture in wood that's in contract with the metal box maybe
Maybe there's a spider behind the wall doing the 60Hz shuffle.
@BMitch lol. (So if I'm interpreting correctly it's making a circuit with something but there is a ton of resistance?)
13:23
Remember. Voltage is the electrical potential difference.
Could be induced (phantom) voltage.
I don't think the spider was resisting much :)
Fucking ungrounded outlets... why just this 8? Its like they wrapped a ground wire around teh box and forgot to run a ground parallel with the two wire romex to the upper floor.
The wire from the basement has a proper ground in it
Electrical wires create a magnetic field, if other wires run in close proximity to the ungrounded conductor a voltage can be induced on the other wire.
@Tester101 Thats why neutral to ground gives me a few volts as well
@Tester101 right, this is the concept that runs electric motors and electro magnets :)
13:27
@waxeagle And transformers.
@Tester101 More than meets the eye!
@Tester101 is that how they do that?
didn't know that
@waxeagle I first had that moment of clarity when I got a forever flashlight
13:29
There is a magnet inside that when you shake it, it runs up and down through tightly wrapped copper coils. This generates a phantom current that runs the LED
Not sure how these transformers work.
@maple_shaft sad thing is that I'm sure my college physics covered this, but then again they covered gobs of information that I barely retained
A Transformer is two differently wound coils, side by side. AC induces a magnetic field, which induces the current in the second coil.
By playing with the number of coils, you can adjust voltage -- Kind of like gears.
@waxeagle Power plants work the same way
@ChrisCudmore it also occurs in straight lengths of wire, just not as well.
13:30
burn coal, create steam, steam turns turbines, turbines and stationary magnets generate current
@Tester101 Which is why network cables are twisted, Trying to reduce this inductive current.
@ChrisCudmore this was the piece I was missing. We did induced current in labs and I remember dealing with electric and magnetic fields and either magnetism or current being induced
Also why your 80-pin IDE cable exists. They run a ground between each of the 40 active wires to suck up the cross talk. Still only a 40 conductor drive, but there's extra grounding.
This is 1840's stuff. Google Faraday.
Basically, a magnetic flux (Changing magnetic field) will induce an electric current in a conductor.
@ChrisCudmore Isn't that the guy from Lost?
It helps if you view electricity and magnetism as different 2D projections of the same 3D wave. (This is one of those things that is totally incorrect, but aids understanding)
Never seen lost.
Michael Faraday was one of the early pioneers of the science of Electricity. He was also quite the showman, with his portable experiments that he'd demonstrate at cocktail parties.
Pissed off a lot of the royal academy because he was a commoner. As we all know, only the nobility should be dabbling in higher learning.
@Tester101 Magic
David Blaine can thank Faraday for his work, which allowed him to pull off this stunt
I wish he'd stick to magic. His stunts don't interest me at all.
@ChrisCudmore But it's a Million volts!
13:49
I thought it would have been cool if he took off his hat at the end to take a bow. ZAP!
I've always found the American fascination with numbers hilarious.
Washington monument: You're ascending at 123 ft/minute to an altitude of. xxx.
Everytime I get in an elevator, there's a Smokey the Bear telling me how fast I'm going.
But, funnily enough, you don't seem to care about population. Just elevation.
WOW 123ft/minute, that's FAST!
I walk faster than that.
But to Smokey The Bear. It's an Important Statistic™
@ChrisCudmore My grandmother walks faster than that.
The whole Washington Monument elevator spiel is hilarious. Built in ..... with eleventy billion bricks, the largest being 17.8 tonnes.... Just a lot of numbers.
14:05
Wait... Why is Smokey the Bear at the Washington Monument? Shouldn't he be in Yellowstone or something?
To be fair, the monument elevator is slow because it's part of the tour. They're showing off various carved blocks and describing where each one came from. You used to be able to climb the stairs, but tourist were taking small pieces of the monument with them, so now we enclose them in a glass box and let them press their noses against the side.
@ChrisCudmore We don't talk about population because it leads to talk of over population, which leads to population control, and because many minorities are increasing population rather quick these days, that's a taboo topic.
In most of the world, outside a city there is a sign: Toronto, Pop. 2 600 000
In the states, its: Denver, Elev. 5280 ft
Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just different.
@ChrisCudmore We haven't figured out a good way to count people yet, they won't stand still long enough for us to count.
We tried lining them all up, but people kept sneaking ahead to try to get to the front of the line.
14:26
@ChrisCudmore it's their claim to fame "mile high city." most other cities have something about population or sister cities or something (chattanooga usually lists it's sister cities)
14:38
@BMitch @chrisf Any way to split a question into two or more questions?
@Tester101 Not without asking them yourself.
I think we just have to ask the person making the question to split it (delete half of the old and open a new one).
Just leave a comment asking the OP to do it
I'm guessing this is in regards to the dishwasher air gap and timer switch
@BMitch Correct.
Unless the timer controls the air gap.
14:41
Yeah I should have commented on that this morning. Sorry
I thought the timer switch wasn't a good question on its own, we don't know what the switch controls, just like we don't know what every light switch in the house controls.
It should probably be deleted from the question
And then the air gap can be merged as an exact duplicate
@BMitch Perfect.
14:54
Dup with what
@TheEvilGreebo With this one from today: diy.stackexchange.com/questions/18800/…
only a dup on half tho :/
agree, should be split
We spent money last night
ordered a 5'x3' soaker tub for the bath renovations coming up
tonight we're going tile shopping
while i love the extra deep tub concept i hate that you have to spend $140 (min) to get the only drain assembly that will fit it
15:16
@TheEvilGreebo Don't forget pictures!
Will try
taking off the last wk october to do the bulk of the work
Great, can't wait to read about it on the Blog in November.
You'll be waiting ;)
so speaking pedantically, how do you know where the ground and neutral coming out of a box are actually connected together?
48 mins ago, by BMitch
It should probably be deleted from the question
15:32
i hate doing that w/o another question there tho
0
Q: Should I be concerned about my house settling?

JNKI bought my home about a year ago (September 2011). It's a split-level ranch built in the mid-70s. I have a couple of spots, especially on a wall going perpindicular through the center of the house (basically from the front door to the back of the house) that has a lot of drywall nails starting...

i wonder if someone removed a support column under the load wall?
JNK
JNK
@TheEvilGreebo may be easier to discuss here :)
@Aaron What do you mean? Are you trying to figure out how to find where they are connected?
@Aaron The answer should be "at the service panel".
JNK
JNK
so it's a 2 story wall
so all the cracking/popping is happening near this wall?
JNK
JNK
15:41
not all
the doorways with the crack and the sticking are actually on opposite sides of the house
the crack is in the center though
JNK
JNK
and the popping
"the crack is in the center" - center of the door?
JNK
JNK
of the house
sorry
OK let me restart
is this crack wider towards the top of hte house or towards the bottom?
JNK
JNK
15:42
its not very tall
it starts above a doorway on the second story
and goes up to what I think is a drywall joint in the ceiling
It protrudes slightly so it looks more like the edges of the drywall sheets are pushing together
and that is above a doorway right at the centerline of the house
any issues with that doorway?
JNK
JNK
nope
its a pantry so I use it a lot
and no issues inside the pantry
is the gap between the door and the frame of that door consistent?
JNK
JNK
that I don't know
check that
JNK
JNK
15:45
ok
i dont care if left is wider than right , i care if top of left is wider than bottom of left
or such like that
also do you have a square and a level?
@JNK Any heavy rains, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, land slides, etc. recently?
or droughts
JNK
JNK
both drought most of the summer and heavy rains the past few weeks
JNK
JNK
15:46
i have a square and a level
Is the house on a hill. Did this start recently?
JNK
JNK
I have a nice long 36" level to check it with
the house is at the top of a hill
and there is a slight rise front to back
well It hink tester and I are thinking same thing
JNK
JNK
Earth in the back of hte house is probably about 3' taller than front
a long drought would dry out the soil under your foundation
allowing shifting
JNK
JNK
15:47
ok
flooding/rains could reshape the hill, also allowing shifting
in which case either could cause new settling
JNK
JNK
these nail pops existed before
so did the crack above the pantry
Does the cracking run parallel to the hill?
those dont worry me so much - i hate drywall nails, they work themselves out over time
JNK
JNK
but it looks like they were getting worse
15:47
thermal expansion/contraction
JNK
JNK
but i can't tell if its because I check it obsessively or not
@Tester101 define parallel
stop observing it, it'll go away
;)
JNK
JNK
The hill runs from front to back and the crack is in the same plane (front to back)
so basically I am paranoid?
if up and down the hill are North, South. Does the crack run East, West?
JNK
JNK
no it runs north/south too
15:49
@JNK No, that was a joke. I'm a smartass.
JNK
JNK
there is a slighter rise east/west too
Probably 3' from side of the house to the front door
The nails are easy - pull em, replace with drywall screws, mud, repaint
JNK
JNK
then it's level
@TheEvilGreebo yeah that was my plan, once we repaint this room
the cracks do worry me
they're relatively new right?
JNK
JNK
been in since I moved in
but I feel like they got worse
the nails I am positive are popping out more visibly
15:51
@Tester101 I know it should be at the service panel, but how do you determine if theyr're connected anywhere else?
cause that's bad, right?
@jnk So the east side of your house is lower than the west
But the west is level?
JNK
JNK
as far as the surrounding land goes, yes
the garage is at the east side
so it's cleared off over there
should I make a diagram?
I like GdD's answer for now
monitor more precisely
your "feeling" like their bigger is subjective
How steep is the hill? Have you noticed any signs of erosion (mud slides, splits in the ground, etc.?
Best bet would be to call out a structural engineer. It's hard to diagnose stuff like this through the internet.
JNK
JNK
@Tester101 North to south the hill in FRONT of the house is pretty steep (I have a high grade on the driveway). Otherwise it's not really that steep. From the lowest part in the southeast to the highest in the NW of the house (right next to the foundation) is like 6' probably
15:55
@Aaron Disconnect the wires at the service panel, and test continuity.
@jnk 6' over what distance?
JNK
JNK
whole length of the house, I haven't measured but 50' at least. House is 2k SqFt with a garage
@Aaron Don't forget to shut off the breaker before disconnecting the wires.
JNK
JNK
I'm bad at guessing long distances
@JNK Any cracking, bowing, twisting, etc. of the foundation wall (best visible from inside the basement).
JNK
JNK
@Tester101 Basement is finished in half the house, the other half is in the garage and there are no visible issues there or from the outside
16:03
What type of flooring in the finished part of the basement?
JNK
JNK
Carpet
I have tile in the laundry down there though
another area has stone
I can see the concrete in a closet and a crawlspace under the steps and it looks fine there
You might take your 3' level around the ceiling in the center of the house and just see if you find any hills or valleys - difficult to do if you have texture tho
JNK
JNK
it's not textured, all flat paint
and also on any walls and flooring that is fairly flat
JNK
JNK
floor upstairs is all hardwood except kitchen which is tile
16:05
otoh that may just depress you
JNK
JNK
it probably won't
if i went around this house with a level I'd conclude that the world did not conform to euclidean geometry after all
JNK
JNK
I lived in some real crappy old houses before so even if its worse than I think it's better than the other places I lived
@JNK Is the problem worse on the first floor, or the second?
JNK
JNK
@Tester101 I only have one spot on the first floor that I have seen any issue, and that is just the drywall joint above the steps
when you are standing on the landing on the first floor directly below where you come up on the second, there is a crack in the same N-S direction between two sheets of drywall in the ceiling
16:08
@TheEvilGreebo Euclidean geometry only exists in concept. There is no such thing as a right angle or parallel line in any constructed object. Which is why the 45 degree stop on your mitre saw always results in a gap in your baseboard.
You mentioned remodeling the kitchen, are any of the kitchen walls "under" the problem area? Specifically, are there any large openings in the kitchen walls that may not have been there before the remodel (extra wide doorways, large window like openings, etc.)?
JNK
JNK
@Tester101 Nope, it's just got two doorways of a regular size and the kitchen is upstairs. The Kitchen is CLOSE to the affected area though, since its the first thing at the top of those stairs.
You need to have somebody come out and look, or a very detailed model of the house and surrounding area (including a detailed description of the damage, and the damage location).
JNK
JNK
I can probably make a model
Money is an issue so I'd rather not hire someone yet
This is SW Connecticut so nobody comes to your house for less than $200 for pretty much anything
Have you tried contacting any local contractors? One might come out for a free estimate.
16:23
when we bought our house, the town clerk had a list of insured / certified contractors - ask yours
was basically a directory with contractor name and phone #'s
JNK
JNK
OK I might do that then
I don't want to freak out my wife either so I haven't mentioned it to her
My Father in law knows a lot about construction (he's a licensed electrician and has worked on a lot of projects) and didn't seem concerned when he came to the house
16:41
@JNK Forgot an important question... What year was the house built?
mid 70s
its in the q
@TheEvilGreebo I don't read question bodies, only titles.
wonder if a fluke network tone generator is strong enough to find the signal through a plaster wall
using the pig tails, i want to clip on to 120volt power line (the line is dead) and use the wand to see if the power line comes from the basement or the attic
@lsiunsuex What's the model number?
intellitone pro 200 toner
16:54
man, #$%#$ toilets
now the fill vavle on the upstairs one is having issues
i mean, obviously the tone generator is for finding cat3 / 5 / coax but i have had varying success finding lines through the walls
/me feels @Aaron 's pain - have had shitty problems lately as well
our upstairs toilet rains in the kitchen when you flush
been leaking quite a while apparently - sub floor really deteriorated - hence the upcoming reno
Demo Party at @TheEvilGreebo house!!!!!
i'll bring the plasma cutter
@lsiunsuex You bring it you ain't getting it backc
@lsiunsuex I used to have a cheap-o wire tracer that worked very well. Detects unshielded cable up to 12".
I'll bring the sledgehammer.
17:02
i mean, i'm pretty sure it comes from the attic - as we've been gutting the bed rooms, we lost the upstairs hallway lights - and obviously its on a 2 way switch where one of the switches is on the first floor. obviously we want to get it working again. and as all the old electrical i've disconnected appears to originate in the attic in a shit ton of junction boxes, i'm sure it comes from there
JNK
JNK
17:15
@Tester101 1977
17:25
Apparently people really don't like it when you ask multiple unrelated questions, in a single Question.
Damn. @BMitch Swoops in for the kill.
@Tester101: ok "Hire an electrician, or you may kill yourself" :) That comment was mostly a joke.
@Tester101 Boom, head shot.
Is there any way to search answers based on character count?
is:answer ???
I think I've come close to the character limit when my answer was "that object is X" to the question "what is this".
Q: "Or what's the best tool to do X". A: "C4"
C4 is always the right answer, for some definitions of "best"
@BMitch But a good answer would be "that object is X, and this is what it does/is for/why it's used."
So you're saying C4 isn't a good answer? I'd like to challenge your answer to a dual with C4.
17:34
A good answer would describe why C4 is a good answer, and maybe how to use C4.
I think a larger character limit would decrease "me too", and "should be a comment" type answers. If folks have to put in a bit more work, they might be less likely to post "not so helpful" answers.
today on fox news: chat room discussions used for homicidal maniacs confessions of C4 use in residential applications.
I don't disagree, I'm just being argumentative.
@BMitch C$ is always a good answer
c4 even
Sign in front of a Florida funeral home
@TheEvilGreebo As long as you don't mixup c4 with c#, we're alright.
@BMitch Why, would that be a problem? ;)
17:39
@TheEvilGreebo c# is a problem, no one has found a solution.
/afk men in dark suits at the door
i like c#. its every so much nicer than vb
@BMitch what question was that?
0
Q: Are 30 characters really enough to answer a question?

Tester101On some Stack Exchange sites, 30 characters might be enough to effectively answer a question. Is this same limit suitable for a topic like Home Improvement? Would it even be possible to increase the number of required characters, on a site-by-site basis? Are there any good answers in the system...

"Hire an electrician, or die!!!" - 30 characters and says why
17:45
no, it should be lower - "use a hammer" - 12 characters and could fit many questions
@lsiunsuex Screwdriver!
@TheEvilGreebo Who/what will do the killing?
@Tester101 That's how. Nobody cares about that.
Urologists are such hypocrites. He touches my junk on every visit, but I run my fingers through his hair ONE TIME and all of a sudden I'M the bad guy??
3
18:09
@bmitch You should probably handle the NAA flag I just raised.
@NiallC. It's a pretty bad answer, but it was in reference to David's question/bounty that asked how to fix it without replacing the toilet. Deleted.
@BMitch The @david bit threw me
Yeah, I said @David because it wasn't a good answer for the OP
A little irony:
sometimes (like right now) i put my earbuds in but forget to turn on music. so i sit here with earbuds in my ears, working but not actually listening to anything
@lsiunsuex I do that, so people will leave me alone.
18:20
they dont seem to care if their in or not - they bother me with stupid questions either way
"is the website down? " - "I'm the god damn systems admin and programmer for the website. I'm the only one with dev access to it and I'm the only one that works on it. I get texted and emailed if it goes down and i'm on the website ALL day. Do you think its fucking down and i just didnt feel like telling you? "
point them to downforeveryoneorjustme.com
i do
so did redbull phycopath dude make the jump yet or no ?
18:37
@lsiunsuex Appears to be rescheduled for Sunday redbullstratos.com/live
There's also the twitter feed: twitter.com/RedBullStratos
nice website / video
f'ing nuts.
19:02
@lsiunsuex That's why you've got them :)
 
3 hours later…
21:34
Seems like Ebay is the cheapest place to get LED recessed lights
considering I need 42, total, this is the lowest I've found them
by a dollar each

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