The DIY thread - DIYourself

Mahnken said:
No I think that's the used one that they removed (which doesn't look that at all). I'd imagine they put a new one in.
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Yes. The photo is of the used one. Guy swore it was rusted. Pointed to some brown near the threads that I couldn't see under the sink. Once he cut it off I wiped off the brown stuff with my finger and it looked like new. I asked him where the rust was now and he said I must have wiped it off. At that point, we really had no choice and I'm tired of washing dishes by hand. Like I said it only cost me $35 more than the tip I would have given him.
 
Mahnken said:
No I think that's the used one that they removed (which doesn't look that at all). I'd imagine they put a new one in.
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Sorry, I may not have expressed myself correctly. Since that is the one they took out claiming it was too rusted, even if it doesn't look bad I wouldn't reuse it, just in case they were right...
 
Bike N Gear said:
Yes. The photo is of the used one. Guy swore it was rusted. Pointed to some brown near the threads that I couldn't see under the sink. Once he cut it off I wiped off the brown stuff with my finger and it looked like new. I asked him where the rust was now and he said I must have wiped it off. At that point, we really had no choice and I'm tired of washing dishes by hand. Like I said it only cost me $35 more than the tip I would have given him.
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I guess he read your mind and decided he deserved a bigger tip, plumbers do have special powers...that's why I tend to install stuff myself when I can. So far the new dishwasher has been doing ok.
 
Bike N Gear said:
Yes. The photo is of the used one. Guy swore it was rusted. Pointed to some brown near the threads that I couldn't see under the sink. Once he cut it off I wiped off the brown stuff with my finger and it looked like new. I asked him where the rust was now and he said I must have wiped it off. At that point, we really had no choice and I'm tired of washing dishes by hand. Like I said it only cost me $35 more than the tip I would have given him.
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my perspective on it is that its more of an insurance policy for you and him so that theres less of a chance it would leak. I'd prefer it all to get changed even if it seems like a little bit of a rip off.

I do hope the new valve he used is a quarter turn and not that old style that eventually will seize up. I had that issue when our dishwasher was installed and the valve handle broke off under the sink. plus the same thing happened to the main shutoff valves to the house which got replaced with ball valves.
 
iman29 said:
my perspective on it is that its more of an insurance policy for you and him so that theres less of a chance it would leak. I'd prefer it all to get changed even if it seems like a little bit of a rip off.

I do hope the new valve he used is a quarter turn and not that old style that eventually will seize up. I had that issue when our dishwasher was installed and the valve handle broke off under the sink. plus the same thing happened to the main shutoff valves to the house which got replaced with ball valves.
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If the guy came in and said that the valve is as old as your kitchen so we should replace it out of caution I wouldn't have questioned it. But the whole claim that it's leaking and rusted when it looks brand new and was bone dry just makes me think it was a scam.
 
Bike N Gear said:
Yes. The photo is of the used one. Guy swore it was rusted. Pointed to some brown near the threads that I couldn't see under the sink. Once he cut it off I wiped off the brown stuff with my finger and it looked like new. I asked him where the rust was now and he said I must have wiped it off. At that point, we really had no choice and I'm tired of washing dishes by hand. Like I said it only cost me $35 more than the tip I would have given him.
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Pretty sure that's chrome plated brass. If so, not rust.
 
Bike N Gear said:
If the guy came in and said that the valve is as old as your kitchen so we should replace it out of caution I wouldn't have questioned it. But the whole claim that it's leaking and rusted when it looks brand new and was bone dry just makes me think it was a scam.
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If it is a multi turn knob - this is exactly what he should have said.

if he pulled the hose and it leaked when closed - that is an even better reason.
It could leak out of the stem or not close completely.

DId he use a push-on/sharkbite type for the new one?

Is it hooked to the hot or cold water?
 
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Patrick said:
If it is a multi turn knob - this is exactly what he should have said.

if he pulled the hose and it leaked when closed - that is an even better reason.
It could leak out of the stem or not close completely.

DId he use a push-on/sharkbite type for the new one?

Is it hooked to the hot or cold water?
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Good questions, need under sink pics!
 
Patrick said:
If it is a multi turn knob - this is exactly what he should have said.

if he pulled the hose and it leaked when closed - that is an even better reason.
It could leak out of the stem or not close completely.

DId he use a push-on/sharkbite type for the new one?

Is it hooked to the hot or cold water?
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I care enough that I haven't looked. Dishwasher works.
 
New bike tool, needed 16mm allen for turbine cranks.

Battery ran out on my goggles found out the hard way. Closed my eyes and put a few tacks, good enough to get the job done
 

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Helen Part II came through town and knocked out power for 12 hours. Wasn't on the to-do list for the day but made sense to take the opportunity to install the new breaker & interlock on my main panel. Also installed the additional neutral bar for the main house sub-panel that I bought probably over a year ago but haven't had a reason to get back into that electrical panel. Cleaned up some wiring in there while I was at it.

Never buy Eaton/Cutler-Hammer stuff. Absolute garbage. To get a 30A breaker that has the hole for the hold-down you need to buy a special one that basically doesn't exist. Or drill an 1/8" hole in the breaker. Which would be fine if the enclosure actually supported the hold-down. Ended up just using the two zip-ties included with the disconnect kit which I find hokey but it works and does meet code apparently. I'd prefer a screw holding the breaker down... But everything about the box sucks. Door gets stuck, the inner plate is hardly secured, breakers don't feel secure on the bus. Since it's a meter/breaker combo it's not something I'm switching out.

Of course I didn't take a picture with the interlock installed but Amazon picture included below. I have the incoming power receptacle for a generator but I didn't bother installing that as it's easier to do later now that the breaker is installed. Plus I never got the proper wiring as I need like 3 feet 8AWG wire.




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Maybe a question for @Mtbdog or another electrician...

While doing the above work, I noticed the electrician who hooked up the existing wire did a screwy install. They cut a few of the strands of the wire going into the breaker. It's been like this for 14 years or so, but I'm not a fan. Of course there's not a TON of slack in these wires.

100A breaker in this panel feeding the 100A subpanel in my basement that has 90% of the circuits in the house on it. Basically everything but the A/C.

Now it's a 1/0 SE Aluminum cable. Looking at the charts it should go by 75DegC and be rated for 120A so cutting a few strands isn't the end of the world if it's not less than 1AWG which would be 100A rated at 75DegC. Cable is rated 75DegC, hard to tell but googling says the breaker is probably also 75DegC.

Ignore? Re-terminate? Looking online the BR breaker is supposed to support up to 1/0AWG wire.

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Santapez said:
Maybe a question for @Mtbdog or another electrician...

While doing the above work, I noticed the electrician who hooked up the existing wire did a screwy install. They cut a few of the strands of the wire going into the breaker. It's been like this for 14 years or so, but I'm not a fan. Of course there's not a TON of slack in these wires.

100A breaker in this panel feeding the 100A subpanel in my basement that has 90% of the circuits in the house on it. Basically everything but the A/C.

Now it's a 1/0 SE Aluminum cable. Looking at the charts it should go by 75DegC and be rated for 120A so cutting a few strands isn't the end of the world if it's not less than 1AWG which would be 100A rated at 75DegC. Cable is rated 75DegC, hard to tell but googling says the breaker is probably also 75DegC.

Ignore? Re-terminate? Looking online the BR breaker is supposed to support up to 1/0AWG wire.

View attachment 257414
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Steve can you move the breaker to a closer spot to where the wire enters the panel and get more slack from the wire? Like where the red wires are now. If so cut off the old ends and start fresh. May I ask what purpose the zip tie is doing?
 
Mtbdog said:
Steve can you move the breaker to a closer spot to where the wire enters the panel and get more slack from the wire? Like where the red wires are now. If so cut off the old ends and start fresh. May I ask what purpose the zip tie is doing?
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Yeah. That was what I was going with. Breaker just below it with the red wires is the A/C. Just in my mind the "proper" spot for the sub-panel is the upper left close to the main breaker, but I guess it doesn't matter.

Zip ties are holding that breaker and the generator back-feed breaker together. With the zip tie on you can't rotate either of the two to pull them out. So apparently that passes code for needing a tool to remove the back-feed breaker.

Patrick said:
Crap - I just recycled a bunch of short sections, figured i'd never use them.
Let me see if I still have some stashed.
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Thanks. I may spend a lot of gas to get it from you. 🙂 Annoyingly my office has spools and spools of wire but all the sizes I need are MTW wire. It just hasn't been a priority, I can always stop at Lowes or something last minute if I need to hook it up before or after a storm. I don't have a generator yet...

Thought we were done with big storms but this last one knocked power out to basically the whole town, which is odd when Helene did not.
 
anyone have an idea what these are called?
they are like a plastic push rivet but don't have a center pin.
They are small - and are being used to hold two thin sheets of metal in place. non-structural, just positioning.
The metal was shifted, and cut through 4 of them.

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