Home Improvement Today?

Sorry. Just excited how nice this turned out.

 

Meanwhile I’m over here swapping switches and outlets. Boring!

 

why is there a ground clamp under the sink? electrical panel on the other side of the wall?

 

I have no idea. Was not sure myself. No electric panel anywhere.

quote from my buddy

“Old code shit. Water is a conductor of electricity so that keeps er grounded”

 

Ive seen them on water heaters

 

looks good!

It was a pain in the ass to screw that soap dispenser in abd get used up quick, we got a kit like this. Thank me later

$18 Never - MT - The Original Soap Dispenser Conversion Kit - Made in The USA - Kitchen Sink Extension Tube Kit - Never Fill The Little Bottle Again!

https://www.amazon.com/Never-Mt-Soa...cint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583726553759359

 

Thank you.
It’s actually easy. One time install the pump just sits in the bottle, so screwing it on. The pump pulls out, fills from the top and sets back down in the bottle. Pretty slick.

 

Cool, the one we had didnt do that so it was a pain.

 

I didn’t quite get the curve perfect, but a little weatherstripping will seal it up. Would y’all put it on the top edge or the outward facing side along the top?

 

if you're on city water, with full copper/lead coming in, the electric panel needs to be connected within 10' of the meter. well system is also connected, but normally right near the panel/pump inlet, though more places are installing pex for wells and city water, which doesn't get connected because it doesn't have enough metal contacting the water to make a good enough connection per code.

many towns require bonding across the hot and cold water because the dielectric insulator connectors at the water tank can isolate the copper hot water piping from the rest of the grounding system. this is normally handled at the water heater.

it's just odd that a peninsula sink has a ground connection at it...

 

I live a few miles down the road and laugh every time I drive by that place...lol.

 

My old water heater started leaking so I picked up a hybrid one to replace it. A coworker is a licensed master plumber so he did most of the work for me. He had to get a little creative with the piping because of the variety of ProPress fittings I picked up for him to work with, but I think it came out pretty good.

It's a little noisier than I anticipated, but it's in the basement so it's no big deal. Looking at the meter over the past couple days, I'm now around 15 kwh/day for the whole house. I'm usually closer to 30. It'll be great if that small sample size holds across the whole month.

I just need to move a 110 outlet a little closer at some point for the condensate pump. For now I have an extension cord on it so it works until then.

 

I do in fact vacuum the house. I also use the plug in weed blower for dog hairs and dust bunnies! (13 year old GSD) I just open up the doors and sliders and blow it all outside!

 

Just finished converting a worthless wood burning fireplace to a decorative natural gas unit with volcanic rock base and fire rocks. I finished just in time for SDG&E to announce the doubling+ of natural gas prices for their captive customers. Wife didn't like the color of the fire rocks so we are awaiting replacements via Amazon. Should take about 20lbs. of glass rocks.

 

Any comments on a home Heat Pump? Anyone in S.W. part of the US? Is a Heat Pump more efficient? Heat Pump is for home Heating and Cooling? Same Unit?

 

yes but in the PNW
More efficient than what, straight electric resistive heat, yes
a high efficiency gas furnace, maybe depends on the rates for electricity and gas and cold do your temps get most heat pumps start to struggle below about 35 deg (there are models that to down to 0ish but they cost more)
basic AC operation is hot gas out of the compressor for through the outdoor coil and condenses into a liquid, the liquid is forced to the indoor coil and pressed through an orifice, the fine mist absorbs the heat from the indoor air moving across the coil, that gas is pulled back to the compressor and the cycle repeats
A Heat Pump adds a reversing valve to send the hot gas from the compressor to the indoor coil and the liquid boils in the outdoor coil. Also the outdoor coil is larger for the same tonnage to gather more heat in the cold
*simplified system
I do have 2 ton system in a 50 year old townhouse style
March to October my bill is around $50 light heating and full out AC
December to February $130 heavy heating

 

Truth. We switched over to HP and never looked back. Energy bill always sub 100$. We supplement with wood heat when needed.

 

If it routinely gets below 35 degrees in the winter and your home is poorly insulated I wouldnt bother with a heat pump. My house has no insulation in the exterior walls, just the brick outside. The HP runs constantly anytime it gets below 30 outside and thats with my thermostat set to 66-67.

All the guys that rave about them are installing the new expensive inverter based heat pumps on super insulated new houses, so of course they work well in that case.

 

Let's play a game. So, I have to ask a question on contracting and your estimated costs. Here are the details:

Location - Northern Virginia (1 hr from DC)
Basement shower roughed in needs finishing
Pictures are below
Nothing special needed or wanted plain white tile no door needed (curtain)
This is a spare bath for the basement
no rush
I've had 3 estimates done already (2 independent contractors, 1 sub from lowes (they do work for them that is).

What's is your estimated cost?