New England B.S. Thread

Would love to do this with it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUoxjenBrEA&t=1200s

 

On a CRV, it's more like a cat catcher

 

Had to replace the high pressure relief valve on my indirect water heater and the expansion valve yesterday

 

The joys of homeownership. How did you find out...leak?

 

Yea I went to grab my boots off the boot dryer in the utility room and it was leaking. Had been leaking long enough that the cold Pex feed line for the water heater was sweating and dripping. Then when the new valve was leaking I found out that even if the expansion tank sounds proper, that mine still had water on the air side.

 

I have the same/similar setup w/ FHW for heat.

Gotta flush my tank again soon. Thursday's supposed to be warm.

 

That happened to me right after the first of the year. New expansion tank and high pressure relief valve. I discovered as everyone seems to, leak past the relief valve.

 

Yea I replaced the relief valve and still had a leak so physically checked the expansion tank instead of just audibly checking it

 

X2

 

My heating company has a good crew of techs. They sent one out, with a helper, to take care of it. The service manager diagnosed it over the phone. He's only been doing this for 40 years of so, so I guess it was just a lucky guess.

 

Nothing wrong with that lol. I just don't have much extra money right now since I just bought the house in September. Thankfully I can be relatively handy at times

 

I'm pretty handy in general terms. I'll even do some minor electrical stuff like replacing outlets, ceiling lights, wall switches, etc.. A friend was very talented even though not an electrician. We once installed a new circuit breaker box in his sister in laws house. That was an all day project and he taught me a lot along the way.

Doors, painting, wall patching, and similar stuff I've all done. Replaced not only my garage door openers, but replaced the springs which can be a dangerous job.

I don't touch the boiler, and do just about no plumbing. It seems that all I ever do is make that worse. So, I call someone for that stuff.

 

I am relatively handy.

BUT I USED to be no-no for electrical, but have at it for plumbing. Then someone taught me - if you absolutely screw up electrical so bad that it will cause issues - the breaker flips back over and you don't do much harm. If you mess up with plumbing, you turn that valve back open and you can ruin a bathroom before you can turn it back off. Has kind of changed my philosophy.

I do small/medium jobs DIY - installing dishwashers and stuff. Large scale stuff I would farm out (replacing roofs, wiring a whole room).

 

That's fair, I don't touch my boiler either just for the fact of liability. I think I could do the upkeep but for $100 I'd rather not have to fight with insurance incase anything were to happen. My plumbing isn't the prettiest but it holds

 

We've been looking for a washing machine since the one we have was on it's last legs. Since we're planning on putting the house on the market in the spring and don't want to move a washing machine, we were looking at floor models or scratch and dent.

While wandering through Home Depot yesterday I saw a brand new $900.00 Whirlpool at 50% off. The appliance manager told me that someone had bought it, had it delivered, and decided they didn't like it. So, there it say. I raced home and showed the picture I'd snapped to my wife. Her only question was why I hadn't bought it on the spot. So, we went back and bought it. Wife signed up for a Home Depot credit card that she'll never use again and got another $50.00 off.

My friend and I picked it up, brought it home and lugged it down the basement. We did the hook up and did a test run. That's about the extent of my plumbing these days.

I agree with your point, but I've always thought about it the other way. Screw up electricity and you run the risk of burning the house down. Oddly enough, I do a lot more electrical than plumbing. I definitely hired an electrician to install the transfer switch for my whole house generator. He also replaced the meter box and wiring from the demarcation point into the meter box as well. Money well spent.

 

Oh, absolutely - anything more than adding an outlet, or maybe a light fixture to an existing circuit, I don't mess with it. I am looking at having my furnace go from direct-wired to a plug-and-socket so I can pull it and use a generator if needed. THAT will be an electrician. Your project, etc - yeah, I'm having someone else do that. But I'll futz with switches and outlets.

 

Stuff like that is pretty simple and when my friend could help we'd tackle that on a Saturday after breakfast. Our stove was hard wired into the box by the original owner. After about 25 years of that BS, my friend helped me rewire that with a 220volt plug. He also helped me put an outside outlet on the back of the house. If he'd been a good student when he was a kid, he'd have been an engineer making gobs of money.

 

Yea they all have their inherent risks lol. My father in law is really good with electrical so I learned quite a bit from him for proper installs. I feel common electrical stuff like replacing switches, outlets, and fixtures is fine if you take your time and pay attention to what you're doing

 

@Brownmatthall

 

I'll do basically anything in the house except messing with the furnace. I am going to be putting a subpanel in the barn as soon as the ground thaws.