Recent content by Russell_Reid

When we switched from electric heat/ AC to a heat pump we needed additional return air. Installer said that the variable speed fan requires much more return than the old system. I am not an HVAC tech but your problem sounds like the system is starving for air. And your ductwork isn't tight but...

Yesterday was in the teens with bitter wind chill. I spent most of the day in the shop with it set at 65F. Held temp just fine but it did go into defrost mode fairly often. But my home heat pump (3 ton central air) was doing the same. I am really happy with the heat performance. My heat pump...

I am 6'2" tall. I built all my workbenches (5) at 35". Matches the height of my table saw, the bed of my chop saw and the height of my collapsible saw horses (home built) with 3/4 ply on them. Anything can be an out feed or work support. All my small stationary tools (bench drill press, bench...

After the bitterly cold week (for Texas) due to winter storm Fern I wanted to post my experience with the Mr Cool DIY gen 5 mini splits I installed in October 2025. They have easily held temp in my shop even when it got down to 12F. I had them set to 62 and they had no issues holding that. Now...

I have all Ryobi. Been that way since I bought into the one+ system when they were blue and batteries were Nicad. I chose them when my Porter cable cordless died. The blue ones are still running on the lithium batteries. I have beat the snot out of them and they keep on going. Probably have 20...

My rigid vac that I had for 20 years suffered this fate. The edge of the impeller distance from the housing got too large and suction dropped. Happened slowly. Just replaced it with a Dewalt stealthsonic and boy does it '****'. Quiet too.

Spray foam the underside?

i have a 24'x50' building. Half of which is my shop (24'x25'). I lit the whole shop with 4 UFO high bays in a 10'x10' grid centered in the area at about 11' AFF. Mine are tunable both in color temperature and output. But I left them on 150w and 5000k. More than enough light for working on just...

Same here. The septic engineer told me "Doesn't matter how many places you can poop, it matters how many people are pooping."

We just put in our outbuilding this year. Has a half bath in it. Around here if you put a full bath in an outbuilding they consider it an ADU (Auxiliary Dwelling Unit). An ADU requires its own independent septic system. For just a half bath they allow you to tie it into your existing septic...

Alot of Christmas light longevity is how you treat the lights. Loose coils for storage, don't smash into a box, don't step or drag them when installing removing. Storage in a hot attic or shed takes a toll on wire and leds. I have my eave lights zip tied into a string. A color string along the...

Wow, this post has gone way off the beaten path. As the OP I consider my original request as answered. Thank you all for your assistance. The discussion about NEC grounding requirements and AHJ interpretation should probably move to it's own thread.

Well, arguments aside, in my case the outbuilding is definitely detached, the building is all steel construction, and 'significant lightning' is the definition of Texas. The electrician did not bond the outbuilding structure to the subpanel, at all. The grounding between the main panel and the...

Yeah, the black wire in that hole is the grounding rod connection that he installed. He didn't put in a bushing for some reason. I put the building bonding wire (bare copper) through the same hole but I didn't have a bushing or I would have installed one. None of the Romex has clamps on the pass...

should be there now. had to reduce the size so it would upload. my phone produces pics too large to upload here directly.