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British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)
-   The Trailer Park (https://britishexpats.com/forum/trailer-park-96/)
-   -   Home and garden projects (https://britishexpats.com/forum/trailer-park-96/home-garden-projects-853397/)

anotherlimey Jun 15th 2016 3:12 pm
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by Boiler (Post 11974895)
Design, you need an overhang which cuts the sun in summer but lets it in during winter.
That would solve my other window problem - the metal frames act like radiators. But I need to be cheap right now.

scrubbedexpat099 Jun 15th 2016 3:26 pm
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 11974906)
Mrs P e-mailed me when I was on my way home last night - our nice round, symmetrical, and relatively large flowering pear tree had shed about a quarter of its branches into the road. A neighbour had severed the torn end from the trunk and used his truck to drag it out of the road, so traffic could pass.

It has taken me two evenings to cut up the branches with bow saws. The rest of the tree is going to have to come down too, as there is a nasty split in the trunk, sufficient for the remaining three quarters of the tree to split fairly evenly and fall down in two clumps of branches. I envisage it keeping me fairly busy in the evenings for the next couple of weeks.
What wrong with your chainsaw?

Pulaski Jun 15th 2016 10:15 pm
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by Boiler (Post 11974914)
What wrong with your chainsaw?
Using bow saws is good excercise, also almost of the branches were so small that a bow saw is as quick, and safer than swinging a chainsaw.

I will be removing the branches from the rest of the tree while up a ladder, so using the chainsaw would be a huge no-no.

Obviously I will be using my faithful Husqy to fell the trunk and chop it up.

newadventure Jun 27th 2016 8:00 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Help needed from the British Expats Electricians Collective Knowledge:

One of the outlets (sockets) in the kitchen has got no voltage. It was working fine and now isn't. I have checked all the breakers. I have no idea which circuit it is on. I would have expected it to be on the kitchen ring main, but have checked all outlet boxes and accounted for all wires. There is a separate circuit for dishwasher and waste disposal, but again, all wires are accounted for. I pulled out the dishwasher (the delinquent outlet is above it) but the wires are out of sight inside the wall. Any ideas what i can do to trace the fault?
Thanks

Pulaski Jun 27th 2016 8:04 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Is that the only socket that has failed?

In a kitchen (or bathroom), my first thought would be that the GFCI has been tripped, which would likely take down half, or all, of the sockets - excluding the one the fridge is plugged in to.

If the socket isn't connected to a GFCI (and it should be), can you tell which way the wires come to the box - specifically up, down, or sideways? It is common for sockets to be wired radially out of the wires that supply the ceiling light for each room, so if the wires to the socket come from above, the connection may be above the ceiling, or in the back box that the light is attached to.

BTW US wiring uses a radial system, not a ring-main.

Nutek Jun 27th 2016 8:06 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 11986778)
Is that the only socket that has failed?

In a kitchen (or bathroom), my first thought would be that the GFCI has been tripped, which would likely take down half, or all, of the sockets - excluding the one the fridge is plugged in to.
One of our GFIs at our old house (for the kitchen) was in the bathroom.. Definitely worth checking around.

chawkins99 Jun 27th 2016 8:09 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by Pulaski (Post 11986778)
Is that the only socket that has failed?

In a kitchen (or bathroom), my first thought would be that the GFCI has been tripped, which would likely take down half, or all, of the sockets - excluding the one the fridge is plugged in to.

BTW US wiring uses a radial system, not a ring-main.
^^^ This was also my first thought but the GFCI outlet may be in an obscure location.

A friend had lost power in their upstairs bathroom. The problem was traced to a tripped GFCI in the DOWNSTAIRS bathroom.

sir_eccles Jun 27th 2016 8:15 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by chawkins99 (Post 11986783)
^^^ This was also my first thought but the GFCI outlet may be in an obscure location.

A friend had lost power in their upstairs bathroom. The problem was traced to a tripped GFCI in the DOWNSTAIRS bathroom.
I had a place once where the bathroom outlets had lost power, the GFCI was on an exterior outlet at the front (i.e. opposite end) of the house hidden behind a bush.

Pulaski Jun 27th 2016 8:16 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by chawkins99 (Post 11986783)
^^^ This was also my first thought but the GFCI outlet may be in an obscure location.

A friend had lost power in their upstairs bathroom. The problem was traced to a tripped GFCI in the DOWNSTAIRS bathroom.
Yes, it is common to link multiple sockets to one GFCI. I have seen sockets in two non-adjacent bathrooms connected to the same GFCI, I have also seen the sockets in a bathroom connected to a GFCI half the length, and half the width of the house away, ..... and outside. FFS! :frown: ..... Similar to what Sir Eccles noted above.

Until I had exhausted all possible, and some impossible locations for a GFCI, I wouldn't start digging around with the wiring. As part of the search process I would check all other sockets to see if they are also dead.

BTW I had expanded my first reply above while you and Nutek were posting.

newadventure Jun 27th 2016 8:27 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Thanks all. Yes, i thought it would simply be a case of finding a GFCI that had tripped but i have checked all that i can find (downstairs bathroom, porch, upstairs bathroom) and all are ok. I have checked two outside, but there may be others. I will have a further look around.

The cable from the socket heads downwards

Pulaski Jun 27th 2016 8:28 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by newadventure (Post 11986797)
Thanks all. Yes, i thought it would simply be a case of finding a GFCI that had tripped but i have checked all that i can find (downstairs bathroom, porch, upstairs bathroom) and all are ok. I have checked two outside, but there may be others. I will have a further look around.

The cable from the socket heads downwards
Do you have a basement or crawlspace?

Have you found any other dead sockets? .... What is behind the wall that the socket is on?

I hate to say it, you may just have a bad cable. I "lost" one socket in my garage, which an electrician said that it was likely a bad cable - that there is a break in the live side cable, and can't be repaired, only replaced, which would mean tearing holes in the wall to replace. :(

newadventure Jun 27th 2016 8:30 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
BTW US wiring uses a radial system, not a ring-main
I didn't know this, will look it up. I have got at least 4 separate circuits in the kitchen (not including the cooker - that makes 5).

No other sockets are dead

newadventure Jun 27th 2016 8:31 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Yes, i have a crawl space. Don't like going in there though....

Pulaski Jun 27th 2016 8:35 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by newadventure (Post 11986806)
I didn't know this, will look it up. I have got at least 4 separate circuits in the kitchen (not including the cooker - that makes 5).

No other sockets are dead
That's why US homes have 20-30, or more breakers, not three or four fuses for ring mains. So every so often you will find a socket with only one cable connected - the end of the line, as it were. Because of the inherent power limitations of 110v, you will find that most major appliances are connected to sockets on different breakers e.g. the microwave is usually on its own breaker, or with 1-2 general sockets, also the washing machine, and the fridge and likely on their own breakers with a few other sockets at most.

Pulaski Jun 27th 2016 8:37 am
Re: Home and garden projects
 
Originally Posted by newadventure (Post 11986807)
Yes, i have a crawlspace. Don't like going in there though....
Your answer may be down there! :( ..... That said, in my part of the US there is little or no wiring in the crawl space, most of it is in the attic.

I have spent many, er, "happy hours" in the crawlspace, some of it in a gap so low that I only have room to move because I am between the floor joists above me. :eek:


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