New England B.S. Thread

We just had to replace the zone valve on our system. It seemed difficult until I realized they just turn to be removed and then turn the new one on and connect the wires. Still need to replace the controller though. The small piece of wood holding the circuit together is getting old. You realize it moved when you are cold because the heat didn't come on. Will have the heating company install that though.

 

It always surprises me how many people will mess with all kinds of things but electrical is the hard limit, nerve wracking sure but just take your time and remember the basics and you'll be fine

 

RI - not MA, would need to be licensed in RI, I think. I have other electrician friends too but none are in RI.

(to be on the up and up)

 

Yeah that is the buzz killer for sure

 

My transfer switch nearly was

 

Just don't open ever again

 

Yeah, I'm pretty decent with electrical. Electrical I can also just disconnect or flip a breaker. Plumbing I might not have a shutoff where the problem is, so I need to keep the whole house shut off.

I'm working on doing minor improvements to my basement to make it less horrible. I plan to put a wall up to separate the unfinished/utilities side from the "finished" side. I started framing in around the staircase because that was a mess of cut off studs and destroyed sheetrock. I had boxes of cedar closet planks left from the previous owner, so I decided to use them for this purpose:



I'm going to add another outlet at switch height in the center of the wall in case I decide that's the most logical spot for a TV. Otherwise, I'm happy with how it looks.

The floor is actually from a basketball court. It's 2" thick foam type material with a thin fake wood layer on it. I figure it's perfect to get some elevation off the concrete and I can use it as a base. I'll either carpet or put laminate/vinyl planks over it later.

 

Easy for you to say! Haha

 

You get used to the zaps it's fine

 

My Father in Law was a Master Electrician and contributed to a couple of versions of the National Electrical Code. When we first got the house back in 1980 he was young and spry enough to help me with a lot of wiring. He taught me a lot, but it wasn't until years later that I truly appreciated it.

He was so good that he got a deferment during WW 2 to work at the Watertown Arsenal wiring the equipment used to make artillery.

 

That's pretty cool! My FIL is a retired firefighter that knows how to do pretty much everything house related which is nice to have and learn from

 

I would guess that your FIL is from the generation of firefighters that all had "side jobs." Groups were pretty tightly knit and they often helped each other at their side jobs on their days off.

I interviewed for a fire job, which I ended up turning down. On the application there was a question about what licenses I had. Plumbing, electrician, carpenter, and so on. I used to joke that they'd hire and assign guys to specific groups based on what openings they had.

 

Yes I would say so. He definitely knows his way around a house

 

interesting to hear everyone's do's and do nots. I like electrical, must be the engineer in me but i enjoy the tidiness. I follow code to the best of my knowledge, and i just dont get as good of a feeling when plumbing as far as what not to do. I do minor repairs in plumbing, but feel like there is some black magic in there sometimes.

 

The friend who helped me with the electrical could also do plumbing, but his son ended up as a plumber so I just called him instead. My friend was an electronics "engineering technician" that worked on high tech electronics the last 25 or so years he worked. Before that he did about 100 things in electronics going back to the late 1950s. He had an intuitive grasp of electronics that was amazing. People he worked with whom I met over the years described him as brilliant.

When we did electrical work he was meticulous about following the code and doing everything absolutely right.

 

I heard that Moosehead is still virtually ice-free at this time. Is that the case? My son goes ice fishing up there with his friends and snowmobile around this time
every year and he hasn't gone up yet. His buddies up there told him to hold off coming up. He's up near Winnipesaukee and says it is the same, even near the shore you break right through. Not sure about Rangeley but I imagine it's probably marginal up there too?

 

I would say so since it's been getting above freezing during the day, at least at night it's below freezing from what I've seen. My family owns a cabin in Eustis

 

https://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing-boating/fishing/fishing-report.html

These were updated around Jan 30th. Just looking at Rangely, weather seems to have warmed up.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh78tE6kJfA

 

If I mess up plumbing I get wet. If I mess up electrical I can kill myself. Before I do any electrical I have to make sure I understand exactly what I am doing or I won't touch it.

 

Exactly, I can see water leak. Those pesky electrons...not so much