Thank you Steve, I have to get in gear and catch up with all the little jobs that are piling up. They take so little time to do but require so much startup and shutdown timeBob, you have done well.
Neat and tidy...
Greg, I'm more worried about the small mouth bass going after the worm.STREWTH !! No small wonder you don't have a problem with Alligators in your pool , my best guess is they have heard rumours about the Local Anaconda
... and I thank you for your kind thoughts
Bret, thanks for the encouragement. It wasn't raining today so I did a little yard work. I really hope that dead outlet I found is the source.
Hi Andy and thanks for stopping by.Nice job on the repairs. I like your timer idea, and I really need to incorporate that too.
John, I'm going to have to put that on my wish list. Looks a lot better than the one's I am using.
John, I found it on Amazon for a whole lot less than the GE it replaced.
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I would have left it well enough alone but because of Lyndon, Bret and a host of others on the GJ, I had to coat the project with some Tung Oil.
Steve, I wore speedos in my water skiing days because the boxers acted like parachutes and tended to slip off. With no way to pull it back up, it was a dangerous situation -- the boat's driver was laughing so hard he couldn't see where he was going.Sir,
Were you to welcome Greg, sans speedos,you can rest assured that your "furniture" will be well and truly uncovered.
Shame you couldn't save the palm tree.
Typed with my eyes closed
Steve.
To both Steves, thank you for following along and I do feel bad when we lose a tree. Unfortunately we have lost quite a few of them over the years.
John, please be sure to let me know if we can get together while you are down. I'm in the phone book (oh wait, you have no way to get access to one
). Just PM me when you know the dates (I can PM my number now but I don't answer calls with no CID or far away area codes). Andy, you should see me with a chainsaw. I wish I could say the palm tree was not harmed.Bob the logger!!
Bob was not harmed in the tree removal.
Stewart, at least I know it worked at least twice....
Guster, I rarely lose sleep but I expect to have a restless night tonight.Rather take my chances with the bass than Candiru... hehe. Bob is probably far enough south to know the rumours about that one.
Looking at that palm base it doesn't seem to have taken. Their root bases are quite something to clean up when they've established themselves. Done well performance managing that one.
Lyndon, wonderful to have you stop by. No need to be sorry! It's one of the great side effects of the GJ that we step up our game.Bob
I only do it now after copping a pissling from others on here about something I posted....
Sorry.
Also, great work on the palm. It certainly looked like a disaster waiting to happen with that small a root system. No wonder your hair sizzled when you went for a swim....
Lyndon
Back at the work desk.
Bob the logger!!
Bob was not harmed in the tree removal.
that's funny. or this
It's not often you see the full moon , mid-day.
Did you look like this
Colonic irrigation, anyone.
Regards
Steve.
Can I apologise , I cant remember what the topic was, but I think we're wayyyy off it. I'll stop now.
Have a nice day
Last I saw we were discussing Florida wildlife with Bob being ever-so-humble despite the street vibe from the extremely scared local alligators, spurious references to small mouth bass ( note: well that did break me up ) . Fortunately Bob used his chainsaw on the smaller log. The small mouth Bass was just a rumour. The worm can be seen in the photo of the palm treee roots if you look carefully. I guess you are now up-to-date ?? Gotta pay attention here my friend, fast pace and all....
and and 
At least I let her have her dignity with a towel and a sly wink that hinted at 'told you so'!Kenny, that's one of the reasons my wife and I don't go to the beach anymore.
Greg, I have to agree and my vote is to nickname him Clever Andy.
Steve, I was momentarily embarrassed but my ride was going so well I just waited until my arm got tired -- as long as the skis stayed on, my trunks weren't going anywhere.
It's not often you see the full moon , mid-day.
Did you look like this
Colonic irrigation, anyone.
Regards
Steve.
Can I apologise , I cant remember what the topic was, but I think we're wayyyy off it. I'll stop now.
Have a nice day
Greg, I think the pace of my posts has slowed significantly since we passed through the worm hole.Last I saw we were discussing Florida wildlife with Bob being ever-so-humble despite the street vibe from the extremely scared local alligators, spurious references to small mouth bass ( note: well that did break me up ) . Fortunately Bob used his chainsaw on the smaller log. The small mouth Bass was just a rumour. The worm can be seen in the photo of the palm treee roots if you look carefully. I guess you are now up-to-date ?? Gotta pay attention here my friend, fast pace and all....
Andy, I made so little money when we were first married that we couldn't even afford to pay attention. Now that we have more money, my attention span has . . . . .I can't afford to pay attention like you do
Stewart, are we still talking about fish?
Guster, more than one female friend gave up water skiing after a fall.Reminds me of going water-skiing with school friends. One of them, a lovely but rather uptight girl. Moreso than any practical sense at least. Offered her a wetsuit, making light of water getting up places where it shouldn't. Not really wanting to go into detail about the consequences of high pressure hydraulics on the tender female anatomy I didn't know much about at the time. Mind you the wetsuits had their normal wetlocker aroma which didn't help make our case. The staunch lass insisted she'll be fine in her two-piece as long as she has her lifejacket. We let her go given her claims of having done this before.
Sure enough she managed to get up on two skis without too much effort. Though it was a rather busy day on the dam and the lass took a spectacular spill when we crossed some wake lines of another boat. I was sitting on the transom keeping rope clear of the outboard as we went round to fetch her I could tell she was not very comfortable with the whole new experience and won't forget her face... it was both
Strangely enough the word quietly got around as the other girls opted for smelly wetsuits after that.
I think that was the same day my friend let the pretty girl drive the boat taking the wrong side passing another boat, right through the reed bank. I was the one on the rope and didn't have much time or room. Let go and veer out. I was just finding my wits on a wakeboard at the time and had a hard stop in the reeds when I caught a front side edge cracking some ribs in the process. Made it very hard to laugh about it at the time.
Funny how misery finds good company as the princess and I ended up big friends over a few beers later that day.
Too true!
Steve, thanks for that! I really liked the outlets in our Manly apartment, especially the ones with switch control. I was shocked when I lived down under that I wasn't allowed to play with the electrical in our unit. I was going to surface-mount a couple of extra outlets in the garage but was warned that I was breaking the law doing it myself. I didn't push it because my tolerance for 220v power passing through my body is quite low.Bob, well done on the electrical.
I hate gremlins like that.....
Electricals in your neck of the woods really fascinate me as they are just so different. We don't use solid cables, just multi stranded. All our cables including the earth are insulated and your fittings are just way different..
Apologies for hijacking your thread but I just had to..
Have a great day..
I don't have a vehicle capable of transporting 4'x8' panels so I usually rent something when I need to get multiple sheets of material home. The laundry repair needs a single sheet of drywall but it doesn't need to be a whole piece. Once the seats are removed, the little PT Cruiser has a decent size space.
Bob, those twist electrical connectors always make me cringe when I see them on the renovation shows. Do they actually do a secure fit ?
1/2 Cup has pictured my favourite Clipsal 2000 series.
Wall repair looks good. They are always fiddly for some reason.
Cheers GB
Bob, those twist electrical connectors always make me cringe when I see them on the renovation shows. Do they actually do a secure fit ?
1/2 Cup has pictured my favourite Clipsal 2000 series.
Wall repair looks good. They are always fiddly for some reason.
Cheers GB
Bob, those twist electrical connectors always make me cringe when I see them on the renovation shows. Do they actually do a secure fit ?
1/2 Cup has pictured my favourite Clipsal 2000 series.
Wall repair looks good. They are always fiddly for some reason.
Cheers GB
Rian, I really like your Berlingo and would buy one in a heartbeat if Citroen had even a small presence in the US (I kept my X1/9 for years after Fiat left the US market). Unfortunately the only Citroen parts available here are for 1975 and older models. I'm just as enthusiastic about my PT Cruiser but some of that enthusiasm is because of the gas-guzzling hopped-up turbo 4-banger. Your Berlingo is far more practical in that regard.Bob, you need one of these little Berlingo vans......
Like the PT Cruiser, they are so much more versatile than people realise.
Thank you so much for your contribution to the Charity Cycling Challenge I am participating in. As I mentioned elsewhere, every cent or penny collected means it's one less to worry about.
I was showing Katy the website of the charity when I saw your name on the home site. I had not realised you could comment on the "Together for short Lives" home page as well.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/GeneralMedicineTriathlon2017
Right, off to a bootfair now and then have to go take a ride again....... I am so unfit.
Rod, those twist electrical connectors work just fine when the right one is used by the right person. I probably need to explain a little more.Bob, those twist electrical connectors always make me cringe when I see them on the renovation shows. Do they actually do a secure fit ?
1/2 Cup has pictured my favourite Clipsal 2000 series.
Wall repair looks good. They are always fiddly for some reason.
Cheers GB
Andy, I learned a long time ago to pull on the joined wires with extra emphasis on the stranded wires that seemed most likely to slip out.Wire nuts, as they are called, give pretty good service if installed tightly. They are used all over over here. Quick and secure but when joining three or more wires one must be careful to get all wires in tightly. Of course Bob was just using them for a temporary connection there.
Great work Bob. Apparently one handed chisel users appreciate a sharp chisel. Relieving for the hurricane strap was good cabinetry
Kenny, thank you for the compliment -- even the boss was impressed (or at least made positive comments).
SF, I think Steve (1/2 Cup) has quite a few posts showing proper (and WTF) wiring down under. The re-wiring of the rental unit next door is truly amazing. These two posts should help.
...And how a proper job looks:Shorty no problems happy to oblige.
The West Wing is of solid brick construction and that includes the internal walls as well. I think you guys call them cinder blocks, then they are all rendered or stucco finished. Due to the fragile nature of the cinder block most of the chase work and removal of the old wall boxes and conduit had to be done by hand. That little exercise took nearly a day.
The old socket outlet you may remember.
View media item 60610
Then the new wall box and conduit set in place using a rapid cure Bostik epoxy adhesive. That took another day just to get the nine of them set correctly.
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The key things were that the wall boxes has to be set level and just below the finished surface which went well.
The other consideration I had was in order to install the conduits in each case which had to go down into the sub floor space so that I could wire them later I did not particularly want to remove the base board and not damage it.
That took quite some time and fiddling with to achieve.
So yesterday it was time to wire each of the outlets. I had always known that this part was going to be a challenge due to the construction style of the building being all brick both inside and out.
The other factor was that there is not a whole heap of room to move easily and it is like working in a maze.
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I donned a set of coveralls and began the decent into the abyss so to speak, to give you an idea it is a stomach crawl to get where ever you need to go with just enough room in places to lay on you side and do what you had to do. I took just enough tools to do what I had to do and a LED lamp to light the way.
Rather than drag the cable that feeds the socket outlets with me I precut plus some, the lengths I needed and had fed them down into the floor space from each room. This made the job a whole heap easier.
I took three trips down into the subfloor to complete the new wiring an remove the old conduits and cables. In total I spent 5 odd hours under the floor and I needed a long hot shower after it let me tell you.
So today basically all I have to do is to cement / mortar in and refinish each of the wall boxes, then fit off each of the outlets tomorrow and apart from the mains and main switchboard will basically complete the electrical upgrade.
I trust this answers your question. Have a top day.
Thank you Coop, I am really happy where things are at with the West Wing at the moment, I have achieved what I set out to do three weeks ago plus some.
The Quality Shed Time was great for a change and to that end I spent several hours last night with beer in hand sorting a whole bunch of old but usable electrical fittings and outlets from the West Wing plus some of the bits and pieces that one tends to accumulate over the years. The is quite a heap of stuff and I intend to sell it on Gumtree ( Craigs List )
drives I supposed I could have done it, but my friend has all the right sheet metal gear and did it in a flash for me which was fantastic.
I did install the chimney cowl yesterday and it took a whole 10 minutes to do.
I will be catching up with our prospective tenant at work Monday as he has been filling in for me while I have been away, more just directing traffic so to speak.
He will be surprised at the changes we have done thus far.
I have had a fantastic few weeks off work, yes it has been challenging at times but I have stepped off the Merry Go Round that is called work 100% for that time. Some have said you should go away for a holiday, take a break and my response to that is " what I am doing is a holiday "
All. Yesterday, I concentrated on the final 9 socket outlets that working on over the last few days, fitted the Chimney Flue Cowl, installed the new main earth stake and its bond to the water main incomer and then for the most part cleaned and moved all my stuff back to the Shed Downunder.
Just to show you guys how a socket outlet is wired out here, you will note the standard cable colours are different the Red is what we call the Active ( hot ) and the Black is the Neutral.
We switch the active in all cases.
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The cable from what I understand would be similar to your Romex? It is what we call TPS ( Thermo Plastic Sheath ) and as you can see it is double insulated.
The copper conductors are 2.5mm stranded ( 7/065 seven strands of .065 mm ). We don't normally use solid copper out here nowadays.
Typically where the circuit is fed from say a 20 amp circuit breaker you can have 20 outlets on one circuit, not that you would do that as you would split them over serveral.
The finished double 10 amp socket outlet.
View media item 60879
While I was at the electrical wholesalers ( Laurence and Hansen ) I picked up these great little numbers for when I was under the floor and in the roof space. These are a 10 and 20 watt LED units and they work a treat. I can highly recommend them for a host of applications, they come with a three year warranty as well.
View media item 60877
Anyway that's it for me this morning I out to the Shed Downunder
Have a great day and thank you one and all for dropping by...
Enjoy your Memorial Day long week end and please take a moment to reflect on its significance.
As we say out here in Australia on such occasions:
LEST WE FORGET.
Greg, you may have hit on the real reason why there are only 24,641,662 Australians living on a continent the size of the US. I have been tickled by 110 AND 220 power and feel fortunate to be alive and still holding on to usable brain cells.
Thank you Steve! I am going to post a bit more on the US wiring and the wire nuts.Spot on, but we do twist the seven strands of copper conductor in the same way as the cable strands are laid from manufacture. When you twist two together is the same process, easy.
My rule of thumb I have no more two conductors at any one terminal if possible but at some light fittings on one terminal you will have three depending on how you do your initial design and rough in
I trust this helps..
