Recent content by Rusty Bolt

I have a Mastek ms6818. It works but sometimes it just barely works. If the wire gets more than 20"-24" deep it doesn't work at all in my soil. I did use it to find where my outdoor wiring ran. Consider this a lukewarm recommendation. It was better than digging up my yard. The same...

I don't use steel doors in my rental properties any more. They dent too easily. An employee at Home Depot showed me that just a solid rap with his knuckles was enough to leave a dent. When they're abused, they can break where they're drilled for a lock. I'm trying fiberglass now but it...

@RPH Well at least Vermeer Customer Support was there and answered the phone. @ant.foste That Vemeer video is a good video that you found. I see they throttled the air both at the compressor and at the oilier without explanation. A subtlety that's very easy to miss. Clearly those guys...

OK, I finally figured it out. Three days to figure out the tool and 12 minutes to punch the hole. I'll document the fix here for posterity. Just as I was about to give up, I called the manufacturer's tech support one last time. They had been worthless so far but the alternatives for poking a...

Does anyone out there know about moles, AKA missiles AKA pneumatic boring tools? I rented a 4 inch mole to put a chase under my driveway. It's a Vermeer VPT400 if that matters. I also rented a towable air compressor to drive it. It don't work so good. :shocking: It just sits there and...

Play a mono source through both speakers - if need be, you can hook both speakers to the same channel. Put your head between the speakers and listen. Think something like headphones. Listen to where it seems like the sound is coming from. If the sound seems to be in the middle of your...

You can use special floor leveling compounds that are made to go on thin 1/4 - 1/2 inch. They're reasonably tough. I've been using High Performance Cement by Quikrete Self-Leveling Floor resurfacer from Lowe's to fix some bad bird baths on my slab. It's $39 for 50 lbs. It can be quite thin...

All-in-all, I think 7/8 on 16 inch centers is one of the normal sort of installs for a pole barn. You'll have to run the numbers to see if that's cheaper than a smaller tube that's spaced tighter. I went to Blue Ridge Company and ordered a system for my 42x40 stick built. I got 8 x 300'...

So, do I understand correctly that you think it's appropriate for a junior inspector to (a) quietly ignore his bosses including the local head inspector (b) not say what his problems are and (c) do the passive-aggressive thing to piss off a customer? He could have raised any issues he had when...

Resolved? Did I say resolved? Silly me! :lol_hitti It's been a week since my new panel was approved for hookup. My electrician has called it in several times to the reconnect hotline and nothing has happened. So, I encouraged my electrician to call the area manager at NV Energy to see if...

That's what they said ... but I'm still waiting for the actual upgrade to take place. It's supposed to be scheduled by the inspector who got overruled. I wonder if that has anything to do with it or maybe they have a backlog due to winter storms.

It's resolved! I'm waiting for NV Energy to pull new wire and officially take my house off of their "extension cord" instead of looking for an MD to give me a prescription for oxygen to prevent them from turning off my electricity. :thumbup: The Carson City Area Manager came out with the...

I called my electrician this morning at 10:30 and left a message that this situation needed to be resolved by Close of Business tomorrow. I had an internal deadline of 1:00 for a response before I fired him and installed a new panel myself. I was actually at Home Depot looking at 400 amp...

Thanks for the interesting info. I'm surprised that you can get inductive heating in that situation. Isn't the induced current parallel to the wire and therefore in the thin direction of the sheet metal of the enclosure so that it can't flow? The NV Energy info tends to be not very clear and...

This tale of woe is shared in the hope that it might save someone out there some pain. Those of you planning a service upgrade might find the steps interesting. Those of you into schadenfreude will enjoy it also :lol_hitti A few months ago, I posted a question on upgrading my meter main to...