Recent content by The Metric System

Of the 3 options given I would go with metal because: It's the only one that won't burn. You can stick a magnet to it. Reconfigurable surface mounting with no holes and no labor is a real benefit.

I had a similar issue and got good results on CMU with an angle grinder running a brass brush. It took the majority of the soot off but didn't damage the surface at all. A face shield and respirator is highly recommended. I don't know if that would work with bricks, though.

We did both, it wasn't too hard. The entire slab is insulated with 2" rigid board, in our predetermined lift pier locations we built a deeper foam box to provide additional concrete thickness.

This is the best setup IMO. Use the in-floor heat to maintain the base load and keep the space from going to ambient, then have a forced-air system to provide rapid heating as needed. If you use a minisplit as the forced-air option you get AC and humidity control as part of the bargain. A lot...

Breakers are selected based on conductor size, not the equipment being run. What size wire do you have in the wall between the panel and the outlet?

I design/install flammable gas refrigeration systems for a living. Here's how the regulatory side works: Regulatory agencies (in the US this is typically UL) set flammable charge limits based on equipment type and application. Below this charge limit no flammability mitigation measures are...

A large part of propane safety is the question of whether a given leak in a given space can reach the lower flammability limit of ~2.1%. If it cannot, then the gas won't ignite even if there is an open flame present. A leak from a small ~400g cylinder dissipates much more readily than one from...

I don't agree with this one, I bought the cheapest possible minisplit in my size/feature range and it's great. I would much prefer to have a cheap unit that is correctly sized and installed than have a very expensive unit that is the wrong size and/or installed by a hack.

I have a bargain-basement Costway 24k BTU system in my ~25x50 garage. It is very nearly silent, does a fine job of controlling air temp, and the impact on my power bill was minimal. It was a great purchase, I would absolutely do it again. I suspect that most bad experiences with minisplits...

My wife furnished her side of the garage with a variety of USG toolboxes, her only regret was doing the whole thing in blue and not waiting for the purple to become available. I do not have the 56" roller but I have the 42" version and several other USG boxes. I really like them and regard them...

I suspect these two things are related. How far do you have to go to find an area with more robust codes/permitting/licensing requirements, and can you hire somebody from there?

We have a power station that runs off of our 40V lawn tool batteries, which we already own and always keep charged. It's a great low-cost solution to short outages, and was nice during the extended blackout to shift loads off the generator or to provide convenience power when we weren't running it.

I agree. As part of setting up our local ad-hoc microgrid during Helene we ended up swapping our suitcase inverter generator for a neighbor's brand-new open frame non-inverter ~5000W Generac branded one for several days. It was noisy and thirsty, and the additional capacity didn't really...

We are in Western NC and have exactly the setup you are describing, it works very well. Our panel has a dedicated "generator input" circuit that is interlocked with the main breaker so that they both cannot be On at the same time. It's real simple, just a sliding sheet metal guard. This...

That seems likely. Thanks, that clears things up.