Your How To Partner.com: How To Articles and More

How To Mount Items On Plaster Walls

powerleg5 — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:32:03 +0000

When mounting anything on a plaster wall there are precautions that must be taken to avoid damaging the plaster. In much older houses the plaster can be very easy to crack and crumble away causing major damage to the wall.

First you will need a good stud finder, preferably one that has a deep scan setting. You want to locate your wall studs behind the plaster and use these to mount your item or equipment. The weight of whatever you are mounting on the wall should determine the size of screw or lag bolt to use.

After locating the wall studs you want to drill a hole through the plaster in the center of the stud. The wall stud will be 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide so you want the pilot hole centered in that span. The drill bit should be a masonry bit at least as big around as the mounting bolts you will be using. If you are using a hammer drill do not use the hammer setting on the plaster. Just use the regular drill setting and don’t force the bit to much. Use the highest RPM setting on the drill and let the bit do the work.

Most plaster walls have wood lathe strips between the plaster and the stud so make sure you are on a stud and do not mistake the lathe for the stud. Once you have bored through the plaster and have reached the wood stud then replace the bit with a regular metal boring bit that is a little smaller than the mounting bolts and then bore straight into the center of the wall stud about a half inch or 3/4 inch and stop.

You want your mounting bolt to be long enough to go through the plaster and the wood lathe and then screw into the wall stud at least one to one and one half inches.

Some situations may have brick behind the plaster and if this is the case then you want to still drill carefully through the plaster and continue using the masonry bit to bore on into the brick. You must use a lead set anchor for this application so you want your masonry bit to be the exact same size around as the anchors you will be using.

Lead set anchors or drop in anchors have to be set with an anchor set and a hammer. You just push the anchor all the way into the hole and then take the anchor set and insert it into the anchor and hit it with the hammer. This causes the anchor to expand in the hole to hold it in there.

Depending on the item to be mounted and the weight of it, lighter items can be mounted using plastic anchors in the brick. Never try to set an anchor into just the plaster. Always make sure the anchor is all the way into the brick behind the plaster.

How To Add A Circuit Breaker To A Full Panel With No Empty Spaces

powerleg5 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:39:27 +0000

Sometimes there is a need to add a circuit breaker to a panel that is already full of breakers. This can be done by replacing one or more single pole breakers with tandem breakers. A tandem breaker takes up only one space in the panel but it provides two circuits. It will have two handles with two separate lugs for the wires to go.

These tandem breakers are not to be confused with a double pole breaker which would take up two spaces in the panel and provide 240 volts. If you are needing to add just one 120 volt circuit to the panel then replacing one regular single pole breaker with one tandem breaker will do the trick.

If you need to add a double pole breaker for a 240 volt circuit then you would need to remove 4 regular single pole breakers from the panel which would open up 4 spaces and then put two tandem breakers in two of the spaces. These two tandem breakers will have the four places you need to feed the four wires from the removed breakers plus you will have the two empty spaces that you need for the new double pole breakers that you are adding.

For example, the four single pole breakers take up four spaces in the panel. Two tandem breaker only take up two spaces but give you the capability to re-feed all four wires from just two spaces in the panel, leaving you two open spaces for the new breaker.

There are a couple of things that you will need to verify before doing this. You must check the amperage rating for each single pole breaker that will be removed and make sure that the tandem breaker ratings match back up to each circuit. If all four breakers are rated at 20 amps each then you would need two tandem 20/20 breakers. You can also look at the wire size. #12 awg wire would go on a 20 amp breaker and #14 awg wire would need a 15 amp breaker.

If two were 20 amp and two were 15 amp breakers then you could get 1 tandem 20/20 and 1 tandem 15/15, or you could get two tandem 15/20 breakers.

The second thing to verify would be that all four romex cables are two conductor, in which they probably will be. You don’t want to have a 3 conductor cable that would be feeding two 120 volt circuits but using a common neutral and have those two hot wires from the same 3 conductor cable end up on a tandem breaker together. Two circuits that share a common neutral must be placed on opposite phases in the panel or you can overload the neutral.

See a Siemens Q2020 Tandem Breaker Here.

Shop For Breakers Here

5 Electrical Safety Tips For The Home Everyone Should Know

powerleg5 — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:29:37 +0000

Your home is a huge investment and keeping it safe also keeps you and your family safe. Many people take electricity for granted and many don’t stop to think just how dangerous it can be or how to avoid such dangerous situations in the home. There are a few things you can do to help keep your home safe from these dangers. Following a few simple guidelines can reduce your chances of experiencing any such hazards.

Avoid using extension cords
There never seems to be enough power outlets in the home for all of the appliances and gadgets that needs power to operate. This is where many people grab the extension cords to cure this problem. A better way to attack this problem would be to purchase a good plug strip with a 2 to 3 foot cord that you can plug in to the wall outlet and gain several more power openings a little further down from the wall outlet. You get what you pay for with these items so please don’t buy the cheapest one that you can find because that is exactly what you will get. Adding a wall outlet is the best solution but that is not always the cheapest or the easiest fix.

Install the proper wattage bulbs in your fixtures
Most ceiling mounted light fixtures are rated for 60 watt bulbs or less due to the heat that they produce. Fixtures that hang down away from the ceiling are usually rated to carry higher wattage bulbs due to the bulbs not being right against the ceiling. Many times when people blow a 60 watt bulb they will replace it with a 100 watt bulb. This is not a safe thing to do because the fixture can not dissipate the extra heat that the higher wattage bulbs produce and it can heat bake the sheetrock above the fixture along with the house wires inside the electrical box. There should be a sticker on the fixture stating the maximum wattage rating for that fixture.

GFCI protected receptacles
Ground fault circuit interrupters are outlets that are designed for use around water or outdoors power requirements. Kitchens, bathrooms and any outside receptacles should have GFCI protected outlets installed. The GFCI measures the amount of incoming and outgoing current and will trip out if it is not exactly the same. This is measured from what comes in on the hot side against what leaves on the neutral. If it is not the same then there is a ground fault and the receptacle will trip and shut down the power for safety purposes. If you do not have GFCI protected receptacles installed in your home then you really should have this work done for the safety of everyone in the home.

Properly sized fuses or circuit breakers
Most homes are wired with #12 AWG wire which is rated for 20 amps and some have #14 AWG wire which is rated for 15 amps on the lighting and branch circuits. Older homes have fuses instead of breakers. Fuses can be easily replaced when one blows but many times they are not replaced with the proper sized fuse for the size of wire that it feeds. This can create a dangerous situation when they blow a 20 amp fuse then replace it with a 30 amp to keep it from blowing again. This puts a strain on the wiring because the larger fuse allows a higher amount of amps to be pulled on the wire that is not rated for that much. It is a good idea to have this checked by a certified electrician to insure that the proper sized fuses or breakers are installed according to its wire size. This is also a good time to have the connections in the electrical panel tightened to avoid any future problems from loose connections.

Check your drop cords for safety that are hanging in the shop
Are your drop cords safe to use? Many times the ground prong on the extension cords gets broken off and this can be an accident that is waiting to happen. The round third prong on your cord is the single most important one to keep you safe while using power tools and any type of equipment or appliances. You can purchase a replacement cord cap for the end of the cords and you really should do this if the ground prong is missing. Without the equipment ground intact the metal casing on a faulty power tool can become energized with 120 volts on the metal frame risking electrocution to the user. Check those cords for any other type of damage like frayed wires and replace them if needed.

A few bonus tips of the day for you
Be sure and clean the lint screen on your clothes dryer after each use. Lint can build up and cause problems or even a fire if not properly cleaned and maintained.

Do you have fire extinguishers strategically mounted in several places in your home? The kitchen and garage or shop area is a perfect place to have one or more mounted for quick access.. Just remember that an accidental fire can happen quickly and can spread quickly so having a readily accessible fire extinguisher can help avoid a disaster.

Electrically powered 120 volt smoke detectors with battery back up are a must for a reliable early warning system for the safety of the entire family. If you do not have these installed in your home it is a small price to pay for the added security that they can provide.

My 4th Of July Salute

powerleg5 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:04:16 +0000

The 4^th Of July I Will Never Forget

I am sure we all have memories of at least one 4^th Of July that stood out more than the rest for whatever reason even if you can’t remember the exact year but you do remember the event.

There is one embedded in my memory banks as one of those that will forever be included in mine. This particular 4^th wasn’t spent celebrating but it did include a close friend of mine who recently passed away. The two of us spent this 4^th together working at his shop. He was a welder and a very good one.

The reason we were working that night was my backhoe needed a repair made on the engine block. Special concerns have to be recognized and performed when welding cast iron. Temperature changes was one concern so he said that we could do this repair late at night and lock the shop doors so we would not be disturbed.

After working non stop for several hours we decided to take a sit down break and relax. One bit of conversation led to another and then I learned something that I never knew about my friend that was very painful for him to talk about. As a matter of fact he told me that he didn’t talk about it and I was one of the few that would ever hear him talk about it.

The conversation was about him and his time in Vietnam. I never knew he was a Vietnam Veteran. As he talked about it, his voice was very low and slow and I could see the pain in his face and hear it in his voice as he talked about it. He talked about the things that he had seen and the things that he had to do to stay alive.

He talked about the situations that forced him into making a choice and making it quickly to do what he had to do. Things that he didn’t want to do but had to do. Things that would forever be burned into his memory no matter how bad he wanted to forget. Things that would mentally and emotionally tear the strongest of men apart.

As I sat and listened, the tone of his voice made it evident that for this moment he was reliving that horror. I felt his pain as I wished there was something, anything that I could say or do to help him. But there wasn’t anything. The more he talked, the more he hurt and the more that I hurt for him. That one conversation on that one particular night caused me to look at him as a friend from an entirely different perspective. He gained more respect from me in a shorter amount of time than anyone, anywhere had ever gained from me before.

I learned that night that he had shrapnel buried in his body that could not be removed due to its placement and it caused him a lifetime of pain that he had to endure. I learned about his countless trips to the doctors that resulted in more bad news of the effects that he could expect and the dim view of any available treatment. I learned of the things that the doctors said he would never be able to do again and about the things that would only get worse and never get better.

I felt this huge empty spot growing inside me as I listened to him. I felt an even bigger hope growing inside me that someone, somewhere could be located that could help him. But he had accepted the fact that there was no one out there that could help him. He accepted the fact that the only choice he had was to live with the pain without complaining and that is exactly what he did.

Many times I pulled into his shop only to hear him singing as he worked. Always in a good mood and would bend over backwards to help those that needed him and his services. His many customers never knew of his pain that those words that he would sing had to pass through to make it to their ears.

He was one of the few that could gain access to anything that I had. Whether it be tools, equipment or anything else that he needed and I, luckily was one of the few that could go to him in the same manner. If I had it then he had it and vice versa. All of our stuff was one for each other.

I sadly watched over time as he began to slow down in what he attempted to do. Then I even more sadly watched as he began to fail at things that he did attempt to do. Things that he was able to do for years without even thinking about it. I offered my assistance every time I seen him struggle. I did what I could to help him in the only way I knew how.

My heart finally sank lower than ever when he had to sell his place and his shop that he loved. Then he moved away to another state and I never seen him again. The rock bottom moment was when another friend informed me that Larry had died. I realized at that point that I would never again be able to hear him sing as he worked. I realized then that I would never again get to feel the joy that it gave me to tell him when he called that I did have an item that he needed to borrow and I would have it over to him shortly.

I didn’t feel very good that day after receiving the news about his death. I knew that his pain had finally ceased and I felt relieved for that but I began hurting in a way that I also knew that there was not anything anyone could ever do to stop it. But now when I look back at that one night, on that 4th of July, I realize what a special night that really was and how much it really did mean to me to be able to spend it with my friend Larry.

If there is a person in your life that seems to fit the bill that Larry did in mine then why not take a few moments and give them a call on this 4^th of July. Tell them that you were thinking about them and if nothing else you just wanted to say hey.

I know that I would sure call my friend Larry, if only I could.

3-Way Switch Brain Teasers- Can These Work?

powerleg5 — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:45:05 +0000

Here are a couple of diagrams of how some 3-way switches that I have seen were wired. Take a look at the available wires and see if you think they can be wired to work properly. In both diagrams, each 3-way switch basically has a hot, a neutral and one single wire going up to the light fixture.

3-Way Switch Diagram 1:

In the above diagram I ran up on this situation one time on a service call for a 3-way that wasn’t working right. I have to admit that upon first looking at it I had to scratch me head for a few minutes before I was able to get it working right.

This next diagram was how one was wired that I ran up on that did work and it made me wonder how it could possibly work right. After seeing how they had it wired it made sense then.

3-Way Switch Diagram 2:

I have seen 3-way switches wired about every way possible but these two had to be tops in the unusual department.

To see the answers or solutions on how to wire these to make them work just click here.

How To Verify A Hidden Water Leak

powerleg5 — Sun, 02 May 2010 02:28:16 +0000

If the water bill came in a little high then you could have a hidden water leak. The easiest way to verify this is at your water meter. If you will look at your meter you will notice a small triangular shaped device. This leak detector spins when water is going through the meter.

It is imperative to make sure that there is no water running in the house before checking the meter. With no water on in the house then the triangle shaped leak detector should not be moving at all. If it is moving then this shows that water is going somewhere.

You should have a main shutoff valve somewhere in the system before it branches off inside the house. Shut this main valve off and then recheck the leak detector at the meter. If the detector is still spinning then this shows a leak somewhere between the meter and the valve that you just shut down.

Look for any wet or mushy spots in the yard or under the floor. If you keep searching you will locate the leak because water is not hard to find when it is somewhere that it shouldn’t be.

How A Three Way (3 Way) Switch Works.

powerleg5 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:51:33 +0000

A three way switch can control a light or set of lights from two different locations. Plus, you can have as many four (4) way switches as you want as long as they are in between two three way switches. It takes 3 wires for a three way switch to work. One common wire and two traveler wires. Both three way switches will have one common and two travelers for each one.

The two common wires will be the black hot feed on one end and the load, which is the black hot wire from the switch to the light fixture, on the other end. The common lug on the three way switch will either make contact with one or the other traveler wires. If the switch is up it connects the common to traveler A and if it is switched down it makes contact from the common to traveler B.

The constant hot feed is hooked to the common lug on one end so it sends the hot to the other switch on one or the other traveler wires. When the hot feed reaches the other three way switch depending on which traveler wire is making contact with that switches common lug, it will either send the power up to the light or keep it at the switch.

Remember one traveler wire will always be making contact with the common. If the right traveler that is carrying the hot feed matches up with the common lug going up to the light, then the light will come on and if not the light will turn off. At either end of the three way switches when you flip the switch it changes the traveler wire that is making contact with the common and if the light is on it will go off and vice versa. Simple stuff huh? If you are having problems with your three way switches below are some links to help you get it figured out.

How To Troubleshoot 3 way switches

Learn The Different Ways To Wire Three Way Switches

How To Wire A 4 Way Switch

How To Install A GFCI Breaker

powerleg5 — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:34:48 +0000

A GFCI breaker has two lugs for your wires to go plus a white wire that is made into the circuit breaker. If you are replacing a regular single pole breaker with a GFCI breaker you will need to remove both the hot wire from the breaker and also the neutral wire for that circuit from the neutral bar in the panel.

Turn the breaker off that you are replacing. After removing the hot wire just unclip the existing breaker from the panel and take the breaker out of the panel. Depending on what brand of electrical panel you have will determine exactly how the breaker snaps in on the bussbar. Most all brands except Square D QO Series just hook on the side first and then snap right into the busswork on the panel.

The QO Series breakers snap in the same way on both ends of the breaker. On the GFCI breaker you will have a silver colored lug and a brass colored lug along with a white wire coming from the breaker. That white wire from the breaker will tie back into the neutral bar in the panel. The white neutral from your circuit will tie to the silver lug on the breaker and the black hot wire from the circuit will tie to the brass colored lug on the GFI breaker.

Once all these connections are made turn the breaker on and push the test button. The breaker should trip out if it is working properly. Replace the panel cover and that is all there is to that project.

Get Your GFI Breakers Here

How To Troubleshoot A Kitchen Oven

powerleg5 — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:10:42 +0000

When your ovens heating elements are not heating up it is time to locate the problem and repair it. Usually the two most common problems turns out to be the heating element is bad or there is a power problem to the actual oven unit. With these new digital type controls now the circuit board could be going bad also.

The first thing to check on this would be the power to make sure the unit is receiving 240 volts. You can check this at the oven receptacle with a multimeter set on AC 600 volts. If your particular unit is hard wired and difficult to get to the power connections you can remove the element and check it first.

Most elements are secured to the inside back wall of the oven with two screws. The element ends go through two holes and have wires plugged into the ends of the element. Pull the wires off of the element and set your multimeter on the continuity beeper setting and touch the meter leads where the two wires were connected. You will hear the meter beep if the element is good and no sound if it is bad.

The power loss to the oven can be caused by a tripped breaker or a blown fuse. Sometimes you might notice that the lights work on the oven but it doesn’t heat up. This could be due to one of the fuses being blown and the oven is getting 120 volts from the good fuse but not getting 240 volts to heat the elements. Replace the bad fuse or reset the breaker should fix this problem for you.

Installing a new element is not hard either as you seen how it came out so with the new element in hand just install it by plugging in the two wires to each side of the element and inserting it through the two holes and replace the two screws that hold it in.

Make sure to kill the power to the unit before removing the old heating element.

How To Repair Fluorescent Light Fixtures

powerleg5 — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:36:51 +0000

There are actually 4 things that can cause fluorescent light fixtures not to work. Bulbs, ballasts, tombstones, or no power.

Bulbs- This is usually the culprit when fluorescent light fixtures will not work. Try changing the bulbs first to see if this corrects the problem. Also remember that even if a bulb is working but has turned black on the ends it should be replaced because these bulbs put added pressure on the ballasts trying to burn them.
Ballasts- A fluorescent ballast will last for a good long while but eventually will fail. Sometimes these ballasts will emit a strong odor that will verify the need for replacement. If you see any leakage coming from the ballast that resembles tar that is another verification for replacement.

The most common fluorescent ballasts are for 4′ and 8′ fixtures. Most 4′ ballasts will burn two bulbs with a four bulb fixture having two ballasts in it. One ballast will feed the two inside bulbs and the other ballast will feed the two outside bulbs.

Changing the ballasts is not a difficult job but can be somewhat dangerous if not done properly. You should always make sure the power has been turned off to the circuit before attempting these repairs.

A 4′ 2 tube ballast has 8 wires coming from it. 2 reds, 2 blues, 2 yellows, 1 black and 1 white. The black is the hot feed and the white is the neutral. These two wires should be removed first. Then you can cut the the remaining wires loose one at a time and take out the ballast.

Match the colors from the ballast to the same colors from the fixture. It doesn’t matter which two colors hook to each wire as long as the colors match.

8′ 2 tube magnetic ballasts only have 4 wires and they just match up to the colors in the fixture.

Tombstones- These are the end sockets that the bulbs fit in to and they tend to break sometimes if the pins from the bulb are not inserted properly. If you have to change any of these the wires just push into the bottom of them.

Bulbs or ballasts are usually the problem in these fixtures and neither ones are very hard to change.