Home and garden projects
#436
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 14,577
#437
Account Closed
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2
Re: Home and garden projects
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.
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.
#438
Re: Home and garden projects
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.
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.
#439
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
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
#440
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.
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.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jun 27th 2016 at 8:11 pm.
#441
Re: Home and garden projects
One of our GFIs at our old house (for the kitchen) was in the bathroom.. Definitely worth checking around.
#442
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2015
Location: Panama City, FL
Posts: 2,062
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.
BTW US wiring uses a radial system, not a ring-main.
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.
A friend had lost power in their upstairs bathroom. The problem was traced to a tripped GFCI in the DOWNSTAIRS bathroom.
#443
Re: Home and garden projects
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.
#444
Re: Home and garden projects
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.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jun 27th 2016 at 8:19 pm.
#445
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
The cable from the socket heads downwards
#446
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
The cable from the socket heads downwards
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.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jun 27th 2016 at 8:33 pm.
#447
Re: Home and garden projects
BTW US wiring uses a radial system, not a ring-main
No other sockets are dead
#449
Re: Home and garden projects
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.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jun 27th 2016 at 8:44 pm.
#450
Re: Home and garden projects
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.
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.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jun 27th 2016 at 8:40 pm.