Recent content by Marc

I got a new cartridge, installed it, and everything is working great now. I guess it was just defective.

I've tried the cartridge both ways with no difference and I'm sure the lines aren't in backwards, they're marked clearly on the valve and I can feel the hot line get hot. But thanks for the thoughts.

I just installed a new American Standard Neo Traditional shower valve. When I turn the water on all the way hot, it gets nice and hot for a couple seconds, then goes very cold within 5-10 seconds. The water supply is hot, I believe something is going wrong in the mixing mechanism. I've...

Firefox is a bit faster and a bit lighter on resource usage. I haven't come across a website it doesn't work with in years. But where it excels is the fact it's far less likely to get spyware/viruses/etc. while browsing the web with it. That alone is worth using it for...

I once lived in an older apartment building in the northeast that heated half the apartment with the gas stove, it kind of had an extension on the side with a burner. But the stove was properly vented to the outside for the exhaust. In that apartment we also had a device that clipped onto the...

I don't know much myself, but I also recently bought a home with a well and noticed one odd thing. My flow test was conducted over 4 hours. The guy who did it said that was important to make sure you not only had the short-term flow, but also to make sure either the well had enough water in...

I noticed one other thing... I thought chlorinating water before a softener was a bad idea? Perhaps I'm just mixing the order up in my head.

Is it possible the factory rep tested for hardness, saw the water coming out wasn't hard, and said everythign was working well with the softener? Could the softener be busted and allowing the salt into the water? It'd be interesting to get a water test before the softener, but I doubt you'll...

This may be totally impractical for you, but when I bought my house it came with one of those portable dishwashers. A weekend of my time and $30 in parts and it's now plumbed in and semi-permanent. One of the best home improvements I've done and I'd highly recommend it if it's practical for...

I'm by far an expert... but if you're using an amp-meter (or a multimeter to measure current) that needs to go in series, not in parellel with the switch. -Marc

Gary says it all.. they quoted $340 and charged $405.

Guess I owe about $10k then! Odd since the local home depot gives workshops on how to do it all yourself.

>> FOR SALE BY OWNER Only an idiot or someone who knows what they're doing and willing to spend some money getting it right would buy a house in this condition. Hope for the latter!

Of if you're on a well, just run an extension cord from the outlet to the floor so the GFCI will trip if it floods. (don't really do this!)

Ah. I was thinking there was some jargon I was missing, like it was measured weirdly or something.