u/OurAngryBadger

Bought a house, this is a large 32x40 detached garage with 12' OSB ceilings. It currently has thirteen 4x2' 240v flourescent light fixtures (yes it's a 240v circuit, weird right?), based on the bulbs I'm clocking it in at 1,456 watts (not including ballast power) and about 140,000 lumens of total light.

My goal is to replace with LED lighting, keep it at about the same brightness (or preferably brighter if they are dimmable LEDs), separate both sides of the garage into two "zones", step the circuit down to 120v, and keep the total maximum power draw at 10 amps or lower per zone so I can install Leviton Smart 0-10v dimmer switches (they are max of 10 amps).

My questions are:

1. What LED lights should I be looking for, any recommendations? I see most of what is on Amazon is "ufo lights" but they all seem to suggest 16' ceilings or higher.

2. Has anyone done a project like this before? I am not an electrician but know the fundamentals of electric work and am decently good at it. But this would be much bigger than any project I've done before.

3. Could this be done for less than $1,000 assuming I do all the work myself?

4. I am really stuck on 4000k vs 5000k for color temperature. I prefer warmer light and don't like blue light, but I worry that the warm tone of the OSB ceilings and walls will make 4000k reflect too much warmth?

5. I currently don't have access to the attic space because I need to buy a ladder tall enough but I'm really hoping there are junction boxes at each light. But the UFO style seem to just hang from a chain. Does that work with an OSB ceilings like this?

6. Looking for any and all other suggestions or tips

Hi, my 87yo MIL lives with us in an attached apartment. She enjoys gardening and we let her do it on the property. Ever since the Alzheimer's she isn't very good at it and kills most things, but usually just from overwatering.

Anyway a week or two ago I guess she sprayed "the poison" (she found our ortho groundclear we use on the outskirts of the property for brush control) on some elephant vine plant growing on our deck to get rid of it.

The problem is she sprayed it when it was very windy and it got all over our lilac bush (pic 1), nothing at all is growing (actually dying)nin the flower garden (pic 2) and to top it all off after she sprayed it, it rained hard and I think the rain washed it all downhill into our yard (pic 3).

So... i know this stuff lasts quite a while. Is it safe to assume this whole area is going to be completely dead for a few years? Or is there anything we can do?

previous post here

Hi I'm the guy thay can't afford an electrician right now and installed my own smart switch in my detached garage, which was overheating because the switch is only rated to 5 amps / 600 watts but I have 1500 watts of lighting.

Anyway, all the sparkies were saying it's a 120v system despite being on a 2 pole breaker and it's a MWBC. But today I opened everything up, and the 3-wire romex that comes from the light switch goes to the breaker with the black wire on one lug and the white wire on the other. I hooked my multimeter up to it and I'm getting 120v on the white wire and 120v on the black wire (from the breaker with the switch disconnected). So its definitely 240v then?

Ok here's where I'm confused further:

1. How is my smart switch (which is only compatible with 120v) working at all with its neutral wire connected to the white hot from the breaker? This lutron claro smart switch specifically requires a neutral to work.

2. If the white is actually a hot, which it is because it has 120v from the breaker, and it's a 3-wire romex, that means there's no neutral. This garage was built and inspected in 2008, isn't it illegal to not have a neutral? This panel was inspected when it was put it, and these lights were put in when the garage was built.

3. How are my lights even working without a neutral?

There is definitely only 1 run of 12 ga romex that goes from all the lights, directly to the switch, and then directly to the panel in wall mounted conduit that is easy to trace. So there's no other wiring anywhere connected into this circuit.

[Video here](https://youtube.com/shorts/YV1uOEAB8yw?is=HMzX6qpaPTSYzVre)

I have a large garage with 52 flourescent tubes on a dedicated 20 amp breaker. I put in a Caseta Claro smart switch (pictured)nbecause the rest of my home uses Caseta, but the switch box is getting extremely hot and apparently these Caseta switches are rated for 5 amps / 600 watts max.

The lights pull "only" 1500 watts / 13 amps when on, but because it's on a dedicated 20 amp circuit with a single switch, I want to make sure the smart switch can handle a full 20 amps.

Any options?

I will take WiFi but prefer Zigbee. I am just worried WiFi or Zigbee signal would be blocked in the metal box. The Caseta signal works fine, but it's a lower Mhz and has a lot more penetration.

I put this Lutron Smart Switch in the metal switch box in my garage 2 years ago and have been using it since then. Today I noticed the metal box is very hot when the lights are on, to the point it hurts touching it for more than 5 seconds, which could be because it's 95°F out today (but it's only like 80° in my garage), but I decided to look up the specs.

Apparently this switch is only rated for up to 5 amps, but the breaker for my garage lights is a 20 amp 2 pole breaker (so I'm assuming 240v?). 

They are those long tubular florescent bulbs 28 watts each, there are 52 total tubes, so that's 1,456 watts or 6 amps @ 240 volts so, it's only 1 amp over the switch max rating?

But to throw a wrench in there, 7 of the tubes are burnt out, so actually the lights should only be pulling 1,133 watts or 4.72 amps which is under spec.

One final thing I will say is that the switch itself doesn't seem too hot, mostly just the metal switch box, so maybe it's just acting as a really efficient heat sink? I know the metal fins on the switch itself are acting as a heat sink by design and maybe the fact that it's metal on metal... But damn it's really hot and gets hotter the longer the lights are on

It's a 65x45 oval retention pond, approximately 60,000 to 75,000 gallons (less when it dries up a bit, more in spring).

As you can see I added a fountain last week, but so far it doesn't seem to have done anything.

I have also bought $150 worth of natural addictives from the local pond store, including pond dye, beneficial bacteria and algae eater. I also put all those in last week, and put the recommended amount in.

But it still looks bad, even worse now, it didn't have that film on the water surface before I added the bacteria and chemicals.

I also tried a pond rake but it doesn't really rake up the sludge on the top it just mushes it up and it reclumps within a day or two.

Pond store said to get grass carp to put in there and I got the permit for them, but im having second thoughts that the grass carp may strip too much plants out of there and kill off the natural panfish and catfish that are in this pond.

My goals for this pond is to make it look pretty, clean enough to safely swim in, but also keep the fish in it alive in case the kids want to go fishing in it.

The only thing I can think of is to get the grass carp and let them eat all the plants but build a dock for it so the fish can hide under the dock

Or maybe I could get a really big dead tree and put it along the shoreline but I don't want it to look weird

I don't know what else to do

Front and back stairs rebuilt (note only the first steps lead to a deck), $1600 total for both. Does it look good enough and does $1600 seem a fair price for what was done? I am worried about the gaps in the railing on the first set of steps but maybe it's just cosmetic or wood warping? They were done about a month ago. They serm solid but the gaps are just a little unsightly

Inherited this Sithl weed eater from a passed family member. It sat for 4 years and needed a whole new carb. I had my brother in law put in a new carb and it started, but was really hard to start and died at idle. Took it into a repair shop and paid $100 to have them look at it, they just adjusted the carb screws and said it ran great. I get it back home, it runs good the first time — but the next week I use it, it has idle and starting issues again.

So I read up on how to adjust the carb screws myself, did it, and it ran great again. But the next week I went to go use it — same thing, it was a nightmare to start and didn't idle well.

So I adjusted the screws yet again, got it running good yet again, used it. Next week after that — same damn thing. It's like a neverending process of having to keep adjusting the H, L, and LA screws.

Now, I notice something else is happening. I get the LA screw adjusted before each use so that the trimmer head isn't spinning at idle, but once it gets running and used for a bit, the trimmer head keeps spinning at idle and I have to keep adjusting it throughout the day.

But something else weird is happening too. When I get it fully revved up and trimming, then fully let off the throttle, it doesn't fully go down to a low idle, more like a mid idle. This is why the trimmer head keeps spinning I think. If I hold the trimmer head on the ground to manually stop it from spinning, then the engine immediately gets quieter and idles slowly like it should without the head spinning on its own. But if I pull the trigger again up to cutting speed, then let off, it does the same thing, returns to a mid idle and won't stop spinning and the engine doesn't get quieter until I hold the head against the ground again.

Any ideas?

Also, the air filter isn't dirty but I notice it's kinda slightly wet with gas. When I have problems starting it, if I take the air filter off completely, usually it starts right up. When I'm cranking it, I notice some gas sprays out a little bit where the air filter would be, but I don't know if that's normal or not with these, I'm not a small engine expert.

I have one on each side of my driveway, previous owner planted them together. The other one is fine and grew taller than this one. This one grew with a weird curve in it, is about 4 feet shorter, doesn't get as green, and the roots at the base are growing out of the ground.

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Is it time to cut them both down and replace, or can she be saved?

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They were the 2nd cheapest quote of 4 but highest rated on Google. Bad on me for getting rolled ridge vent (but they should have tried to get me to upgrade because they did offer rigid vent and I would have paid). I also had them add a new gutter and some new vents. Does the work overall look ok?

Just double checking before it goes on and there's no turning back. Location Northeast USA. Snowiest city in the country. Extremely rare to get big hail though. Roofer said this is sufficient and no point in upgrading further.

They are two different varities I put 2 of them in last fall and 2 of them in this spring. Bought from big box store. The two from last fall never had flowers on them and didn't get any this year. The two I got this spring had flowers on them when I bought them but lost them a few weeks after I planted them. I did zero research, zero fertilizer , no soil test I just put them right into the ground. I don't water them. Now they got holes in them and brown spots. They are hard to take care of because they are 450' from my house but I'm willing to try to save them.

Wife cut brown wire going to AC condenser. She thought it was part of a grapevine growing near it.

Inside the brown wire is 3 smaller 22AWG wires (red, white, green). I am assuming these are communication cables (?) since they are so thin.

I did my best to solder them back together, add heat shrink tube, and a layer of electrical tape on top for good measure.

My question is - how do I properly test this out now to make sure it's working properly? What do these cables even control? What should I look for?

Thanks.

Connection into the filter and out of the filter is 1" copper, then he immediately stepped down to 1/2" copper, ran it 2 feet to the water softener and stepped back up to 1" before the water softener.

Why not just do 1" copper all the way? Cost savings couldn't have been the reason because he used more propress fittings to do it this way. The only thing I can think of is the shutoff in the middle of the run, he didn't maybe have a 1" ball valve on his truck?

Does this stepdown to 1/2" and then back up to 1" before my softener affect my pressure/flow? Should I have him redo it?

First time planting trees. Wanted apple.

Probably didn't do the best job but just want some assurance they aren't going to die and will produce fruits.

The two middle ones are honeycrisp, the two end ones are Cortland. Planted the cortlands today, the honeycrisp I planted last fall. That's why there's different fencing around them (supply/price).

I added two wooden poles to the honeycrisp and wired them to the pole because the cortlands came with a bamboo pole they were wrapped to and it seemed to work well to keep them stable in the wind. I'm guessing it's okay to leave those on there for a couple seasons?

We have a lot of deer here but so far they haven't shown any interest.

Eventually I want to get granny smith or some other super tart apple to go on the ends to make a total of 6 trees.

Location: New York Zone 5 (i think)

Location: Northeast USA.

What would be a good price to repave it but also widen the main stretch by about 3-4 feet? It's 200' long with a 50'x40' square at the house/garage

Roof is original to house and 24 years old. Median quote from 4 roofers is $21,000 to replace it with mid range architecture shingles. 35 square. My question is if I go through with it, will my insurance company actually lower my rate or is that a myth? Attached are the only 2 trouble spots. Rest of roof looks great still.

The two black ones I'm guessing are from my gutters but not sure what the white pipe is, it actively has water dripping out of it even when it's not raining

Rochester NY