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ball
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The Ball Residence
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Oct 1 18:19 UTC 2007 |
As mentioned elsewhere, we recently bought a single story brick house
in Illinois, USA. The most pressing issues are structural:-
* A post in the crawlspace supports the main beam of the floor, but
that post lacks a proper footing.
* A piece of concrete footpath has sunk, tilting towards the house.
* The roof requires a little reflashing work.
Then there are a few electrical issues:-
* Every "grounded" outlet in the house, isn't.
* Some important wires that should be in conduit, aren't. They also
happen to be just inches away from dubious-looking water pipes.
* There is no 240V outlet for an electric clothes dryer.
Of course there's plumbing too:-
* The brickwork around the well needs re-laying and some way must be
found of locking or bolting the cover in place.
* Did I mention that we have a well? There has been some discussion
about putting the house onto city water. It's not clear yet
whether there would be any cost or quality benefit. It would be a
big project.
* The water heater is in the attached garage. It needs to be raised
by about 18" and to have its flue fixed.
Outdoor projects will mostly be discussed in the Gardening conf:-
* A Mulberry (I'm told) tree has been planted too close to the house
and is busy dropping leaves and blocking guttering.
* Three HUGE connifers eliminate light from most of the back yard
and take up quite a bit of space. I'm thinking of having them
professionally murdered.
This item is for the discussion and of the above projects and other
challenges that lurk undiscovered.
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| 86 responses total. |
ball
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response 1 of 86:
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Oct 1 18:34 UTC 2007 |
Today I had to go out and buy incandescent bulbs for use with a
ceiling fan. The magnetic field from its motor interacted badly with
the ballast built into compact-flourescent bulbs, causing an ominous
and obtrusive buzzing noise.
I finally got around to hooking up the ice maker on our fridge/freezer
only to discover that what looked like at first glance like a
convenient valve and connection point, turned out to be a vampire tap
with no obvious way of shutting off the water supply. If I try to
disconnect the old, mangled semi-rigid fridge line, water squirts out
into the cupboard. :-(
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keesan
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response 2 of 86:
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Oct 1 21:39 UTC 2007 |
Mulberry trees plant themselves and grow fast. Unless you really like
mulberries, it should probably get murdered too. Have you considered a
clothesline instead of an electric dryer? A sunporch dries clothing nicely
in the winter. Have fun with the wiring and plumbing. I think there is some
way to add grounding to an outlet if you have an appliance that really needs
it - I can ask if you want.
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ball
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response 3 of 86:
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Oct 2 00:49 UTC 2007 |
I would probably prefer my clothes dried on a washing line outdoors
than in a dryer. I will suggest it, but ultimately that decision
rests with Mrs. Ball.
Somewhere I read that the next best thing to a grounded outlet is a
ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), which may the American term
for a residual current circuit breaker.
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keesan
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response 4 of 86:
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Oct 2 01:31 UTC 2007 |
Is something preventing you personally from putting up a clothesline and
hanging wet laundry on it?
What do you need to plug into a grounded outlet?
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ball
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response 5 of 86:
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Oct 2 02:29 UTC 2007 |
Lack of time and possibly the look on my wife's face.
Anything with a metal chassis and a three-pin plug should ordinarily
go into a grounded outlet.
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cmcgee
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response 6 of 86:
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Oct 2 03:06 UTC 2007 |
I have GFCI outlets next to the bathroom sink, the kitchen sink, and on
all outlets accessible from the outside of the house. Any outlet that
I'm likely to be standing on a damp or wet surface when I plug in the
appliance.
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keesan
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response 7 of 86:
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Oct 2 04:30 UTC 2007 |
Jim says to tie the ground to low. You can use a 3 to 2 pin adaptor with a
ground on it that screws to the 'box' behind the outlet. Ground is neutral.
The third wire does not carry current. Maybe you should phone for details
because I cannot follow this enough to communicate it and it is late. You
don't need to rewire the house, you can use one of the existing wires as the
ground (I think).
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ball
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response 8 of 86:
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Oct 2 05:12 UTC 2007 |
"When there are separate wires for neutral and ground it is much
less likely that a problem in electrical wiring causes a dangerous
situation which will cause electrical shock or fire."
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/neutral_ground_separate.htm
l
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