Search results

I just went through this myself. Tried to find an outswing door for my addition, gave up and bought an inswing because it's all I could find. Between $450 inswing vs. custom-ordered $1000 outswing, I'll live with inswing.

I'm a huge fan of 4" furnace filters ever since I swapped one of my systems from a 1" filter to a 4" filter, and did some testing. I found a brand-new 1" filter was about 1/4" WC of restriction when new, creeping up to almost 3/4" WC after 3 months. By contrast, the 4" filter I replaced it with...

The refrigerant treadmill is a scam perpetuated by chemical megacorporations. They continuously create new refrigerants and either patent them, or they tool up one of the only production lines in the world to make a new refrigerant, then make that refrigerant mandatory by corrupting industry...

I live in Idaho and have a Pioneer Quantum. It's actually not even one of the super-low-temperature ones -- the super low temperature ones use vapor injection -- but still it keeps my shop warm into the well below freezing temperatures. It builds up ice in the pan and even around the coils, but...

The building is not built and hasn't even broken ground yet. I specd storage trusses which have open spaces and specifically spec loading. The plans call for a pull down attic ladder. I told GC I wanted a 30" ladder and he said no problem. The GC ordered the trusses, and that's when I asked...

Well I was asking for the $3000 worth of trusses I have on order with them. This must be a regional thing. I swear back east all you had to do was ask and the truss companies would give you a pre-engineered framing plan for an attic staircase. But things generally get more lawyerfied over time...

I want to put a big ladder to my attic, which uses 24" on center prefab trusses. I thought you could cut the bottom chord of a truss, as long as you frame it properly. I expected the truss company to tell me how to do this. They must deal with this all the time, right? Instead, they said it's...

So, the answer to the original question seems to be "yes, absolutely PoE cameras and an NVR is still the way to go". I don't have time or even the electricity in place to set up a system like that yet, so my plan is to buy two cheapie wifi battery-powered cameras, like TP link Tapos like these...

It seems like the world of consumer-level security cameras gets re-invented about every 2 years and I'm out-of-date again. Previously I always planned on running CAT5 to my camera locations, so I could run PoE cameras, and have a DVR on-site. Figured total system coust would be 2k+. That's what...

But why would there be a maximum breaker? The circuit breaker is matched to the load and wire size. So a minimum breaker size makes sense to handle the load. If the breaker isn't big enough, it will trip. But assuming the wire gauge is appropriate, why would there be a maximum breaker for the...

My mini split has the following specs: Rated Current: 6.1 Amps Minimum circuit ampacity: 16 Amps Maximum circuit breaker: 25 Amps Based on this, I should be good to run a 20A circuit and 12-guage wire, but I don't quite understand why there is a "maximum circuit breaker". Based on my...

So far this seems to be how it stacks up: building penetration and air sealing: no advantage one way or other. Either way, it's a hole in the house. risk of accidentally punching lines when somebody hangs a picture inside: external wins risk of noise from lines creaking in the wall: external...

I'm building an addition and will have a 2-head mini split. I can run the lines on the outside and use a cover like I did on my garage. But since I'm building new, I can run the lines inside the walls. Benefit of running inside is it looks better, and I don't need to buy a line cover. Benefit of...

If you can adapt a small chuck to it, that would be perfect for the bench. I'm just surprised in this world where we have a battery tool for everything, nobody has made a high-speed cordless drill. When I went from corded drills to cordless, I lost quite a bit of RPM in general. My old corded...

Because I'm always doing small bicycle, modeling, and 3D printing stuff, I use a lot of small drill bits. I really feel like I'm missing a drill specifically designed for small drill bits. Regular cordless 18V drill...the chuck is so big it barely fits small bits, RPM isn't that great, and...

4" furnace filters are indeed amazing. In my old house I converted to a 4" filter and added a water manometer so I could monitor filter restriction. The 4" filter was still only 1/4" inches of water after over a year, where the 1" filter was nearly 1/4" when new, and quickly increased to 1/2" or...

point taken the box is a lot simpler if you only need HALF a box...but having the 4" filter outdoors seems slightly sketchy...I'm in a dry climate but I don't know if those filters are designed for our 100+ degree desert heat. I guess the worst that can happen is the filter glue melts or...

I didn't think about putting a filter outside....that gives me something to think about. Not sure if my wife would hate a filter inside more or outside more. I like the charcoal filter too, but making a mechanism to bypass it seems complicated. Do you know if you could just leave it in the...

It will be mounted permanently. Normal HVAC would use a sheet-metal box. Off-the shelf metal filter boxes do exist, but seemingly designed for specific furnaces or air handlers, not as stand-alone filter boxes with duct connections. I will probably whip something up out of MDF. Yes, I am...

I don't have forced air, I have a mini split, and this is one of the downsides...now I'm adding a blower and filter anyway. But note not every forced air system will cause positive pressure. You need to have the system pulling in outside air, meaning you need really good filtration or it will be...