OT - Grumpy Old Man Thread

[847badgerfan]

On one of my rent houses, it had an old breaker panel.  Zinsco.  Zinsco and FPE (Federal Pacific) lost their UL certs decades ago. 

Anyways, I replaced the whole thing myself, with the meter air gapped.  Unbolted the existing, installed a skinny main cut off, and then installed all the breakers and wiring and everything.  Turned out great. 

Owning rent houses taught me a lot. 

That's where I learned a lot too. My Gramps owned a lot of buildings in Chicago, and I would help him repair stuff on weekends. Good times.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Look for the ones that are called heavy-duty or hospital-grade.  You might even be able to find ones that are TAA-compliant and assembled in the USA.

Unfortunately they're pretty much all made with crappy Chinese components, but if you can find the heavier-grade ones, they won't trip from normal but heavy loads, and they will last longer. 

Should it make me grumpy that I know more about TAA-compliance than most? 

[Gigem]

Yeah I'm in the process of replacing all 4 GFCI outlets in one of our rentals.  Garage, kitchen, and both bathrooms.  One is completely dead and the other 3 are weak and sus.

Can you just put the GFCI on the breaker panel?  I don't have them in my house, but I do have some GFCI outlets.  

Also, code now requires arc-fault breakers.  

[FearlessF]

reading the last 2 pages made me grumpy

[utee94]

Can you just put the GFCI on the breaker panel?  I don't have them in my house, but I do have some GFCI outlets. 

Also, code now requires arc-fault breakers. 

Yeah good thing I'm not rebuilding anything in the house.

On this old house some of the room circuits are shared with bathrooms.  In most cases I don't really want the entire branch to be GFCI so I prefer to swap outlets over breakers.  

[utee94]

Should it make me grumpy that I know more about TAA-compliance than most?

Same here my friend.  My previous job in supply chain, and my current job in planning, have had me heavily involved in TAA-compliant manufacturing and shipping.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Same here my friend.  My previous job in supply chain, and my current job in planning, have had me heavily involved in TAA-compliant manufacturing and shipping.

I've learned a lot about what "substantial transformation" means--and sometimes it doesn't seem that substantial to me. 

[847badgerfan]

Can you just put the GFCI on the breaker panel?  I don't have them in my house, but I do have some GFCI outlets. 

Also, code now requires arc-fault breakers. 

Here too. Everything new in my panels has the arc-fault. GFI's are also required for the first outlet downstream, and from there you can run as many outlets as you want.

In Illinois it was one regular outlet max downstream, and then another GFI was required. Arc-fault were not required - they may be now. I've been gone for a while.

Older construction is grandfathered, obviously.

I replaced a lot of these, back in the day. 

[OrangeAfroMan]

I've got a weird dental thing, had to make an appointment.  
I've had soreness on the inside of my upper lip, but way up high, like up to my nose.  I can't SEE anything, because it's just way up there, but I don't know what else it could be besides a gums issue.

I've been very lucky with all of that, didn't grow up consistently brushing, but never had a cavity.  My dad, uncle, and brother have had all the dental issues.
I'm probably more uneasy about this than I should be, but you always assume the worse with this stuff, right?
I really don't want to be missing my front tooth or something.

[bayareabadger]

Florida doesn't love government regulation that's for sure...

Wants to build my house out of bubblegum, gator, bones, and exposed wiring, not a goddamn person has the right to tell me I can’t!

[utee94]

I've learned a lot about what "substantial transformation" means--and sometimes it doesn't seem that substantial to me.

Was going to respond to this but decided anything I say here should probably be done from my private computer.

And... yeah.  Considering how sensitive some of the departments that yours and my companies' products go into in the FED space, I have to say the amount of "transformation" that is required in many cases, is surprisingly low.  

Like, comprosmisingly low, potentially.

I've discussed here several times the many, many things that our overseas vendors from one particular country attempt to embed in the hardware, software, and firmware, of the products they manufacture on our behalf.  We are constantly screening but it's possible for something to get by.  And when you're doing very little transformation, the entire BOM becomes suspect.  

[Cincydawg]

My eu tube remains blocked.  I've tried various "remedies" on line, none have worked.  The left tube is mostly open, the right is tightly close.  My congestion overall has abated, I "feel" OK mostly except for the tinnitus and feeling like my head is cotton.

I tried to play baseball yesterday but decided not to play in the field, I actually had one hit.  I was out of breath running to 1B.  I have not been running in nearly a month and it shows.

For a nonpainful malady, this probably ranks up there in annoyance.

[847badgerfan]

Have you been seen by an MD?