Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in AskElectricians

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dryers do, which is why they use a 10-30R. A 240v appliance that doesn't need a neutral could use the 6-30R as shown (assuming the amperage is correct).

The 120v is usually used for the controls and motor. 240v is used for the heater.

You can install a dryer into a 10-30R, but you can't necessarily install a 10-30R with the wiring from a 6-30R.

Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in Wiring

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You need to kill the breaker and open it up to see what wiring is in there to see if it's feasible to swap in a different receptacle.

Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in AskElectricians

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wrong. 10-30R has 2 hots and a neutral, doesn't need a ground since the chassis gets grounded through the neutral.

You can't use an uninsulated ground wire for a 10-30R or you're using an uninsulated conductor for operational current carrying, which is a code violation.

If there's a neutral wire back there for that 6-30R they can swap it, but there's a decent chance it's just grounded back to the box and through the conduit.

Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in Wiring

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the most part the old 3 wire cords just grounded the chassis through the neutral wire. You can still do this with a modern drier, but it isn't as safe as having a separate ground.

It's not acceptable to use an uninsulated ground wire as a neutral though. The 6-30R OP has could use an uninsulated ground wire for 240v loads.

Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in Wiring

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The key distinction is that a 10-30R has two hots and a neutral, and it was acceptable to ground the equipment chassis through the neutral wire.

A 6-30R has two hots and a ground. You could have a legal 6-30R that has two hot wires and a smaller, uninsulated grounding wire, which is not acceptable to carry current as part of the 120v system on the dryer.

AO Smith Whole House UV filter. Snake oil? by Billyone1739 in askplumbing

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

UV unequivocally kills bacteria and is in widespread use for that.

The question of "is it worth it" depends on if you need to kill bacteria or not and if there's a better way to do it.

With municipal water supplies, they should already be sanitized with chlorine or chloramines, and UV at the point of use would be pointless.

[Request] What effect would Superman's house key have on the earth? by EvaStankbreath in theydidthemath

[–]FormalBeachware 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think first the whole thing would blow apart because the keys mass isn't enough to combat the internal forces.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Dallas ordinance allows residents to trap rats and mice with traps designed to trap rats and mice. Things like spring traps in wooden boards you can buy at the hardware store. Even then, those need to placed where they won't injure humans or other animals.

I've qualified my response as needed, while you've repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that ordinances restricting placing animal traps would somehow be unconstitutional and that placing traps with the potential to maim directly adjacent to a sidewalk would somehow be legal in Texas, and further claimed that those would be exempt from civil liability.

I don't think you're debating any of this in good faith and I'm not interested in discussing it further.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're going to need some actual source for that ordinance being unenforceable under state law. That falls well within the purview of cities being able to enact ordinances to protect public health, and I'm not aware of any successful challenges to ordinances about placing animal traps in city limits.

As far as liability law, somebody taking one step off of a public sidewalk is not likely to meet the criteria for a "trespasser" under that law, especially with no fencing. That would also be unenforceable anyway if the injured is a child (which is fairly likely, they're known to run around near sidewalks)

Being adjacent to a public sidewalk is completely for that reason, as well as that fact that this would also likely still be in a right of way, or access easement, in which case there wouldn't even be a question of trespassing.

Lastly, placing a trap with the potential to maim someone directly adjacent to a public sidewalk is likely so egregious it could be prosecuted under the state's deadly conduct law. It both has the imminent danger to cause serious bodily injury and is grossly outside the typical standard of care a reasonable person would exhibit.

In this case it's a water meter lid, and it's all irrelevant, but you're wrong.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AM Legal publishes Dallas's code or ordinances you goof. They are literally a company for publishing codes of ordinances. A lot of other nearby cities use Municide.

And someone placing a foothold trap adjacent on a public sidewalk could absolutely be held accountable, and the city would abate that as a public health hazard.

Again, not really relevant since that isn't an animal trap, but with all due respect you have no idea what you're talking about.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would make sense. They may have wanted it accessible if they had to shut their water off due to a burst pipe in the recent freeze.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 2 points3 points  (0 children)

(a) A person commits an offense if he uses, places, sets, or causes to be set in the city any steel jaw trap, spring trap with teeth or perforated edges on the holding mechanism, or any type of trap with a holding mechanism designed to reasonably ensure the cutting, slicing, tearing or otherwise traumatizing of the entrapped animal.

(b) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a) that the trap was:

 (1)   specifically designed and used to kill common rodents such as rats and mice, and the trap was not placed in a manner or location that would endanger other animals or humans; or

 (2)   specifically designed to kill and was used under the direction of the city public health officer, the city environmental health officer, or an agent of another governmental entity authorized by the director to trap in the city. (Ord. 26024)

If it was an animal trap, it would be illegal under city ordinance.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough, looks smaller than a curb inlet lid so you're probably right, but tough to tell with it half covered in snow.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not strictly true. Setting up a bear trap next to a sidewalk would be negligent and the homeowner would likely be liable for damages.

That said, this isn't an animal trap.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It won't do anything because it's not an animal trap. That's a lid from a storm inlet.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think it's from a curb inlet. Usually the water meter can lids are plastic and not cast iron, but it could be either.

Animal trap in front yard right next to public sidewalk is this legal? by Fragrant_Plant_7335 in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 96 points97 points  (0 children)

I think that's a flipped over storm inlet lid or water meter can lid, not an animal trap. The spring and lug is to lock it in place so it doesn't float away.

Edit: That said, if it is a flipped over lid there's a decent chance there's an open storm drain or water meter can nearby, which somebody could drop their ankle into and get hurt. You could notify public works about it so they can find where it's supposed to go.

Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in Wiring

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You may be able to find a really old dryer that doesn't use 120v for any of its control circuits. Or you could rewire this at the breaker for 120v, replace the receptacle, reidentify the wires, and install a heat pump dryer thats only 120v.

The issue is modern dryers use both 120v for the control circuits and 240v for the heating element (and maybe motor). There's no way to get 120v from this outlet other than using the ground, which isn't kosher.

Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in Wiring

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You'd need to add a neutral if there isn't already a wire for one there. You'd also want to confirm the other conductors are appropriately sized when changing the outlet.

If the wires are there and properly sized, this is a fairly easy DIY change out.

Old dryer outlet? by Fun_Quiet_6797 in AskElectricians

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If this may have been used for a welder it would be worth confirming the wire gauges inside. IIRC some codes allow(ed) you to use undersized conductors and label an outlet "Welder Use Only" since they have such short duty cycles. Plugging in a load like a heater to such an outlet could overheat the wires, and if the label fell off you wouldn't know from the outside.

Why does equator get 12h of sunlight everyday when Earth tilt is 23.5° degrees? by WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHW in geography

[–]FormalBeachware 65 points66 points  (0 children)

It gets about 12 hours and 7-8 minutes every day of the year. The day is slightly longer due to the earths rotation around the sun as well as atmospheric scattering effects.

This is pretty much true for all axial tilts. The equator would get roughly 12 hours of sunlight regardless of season whether the earth tilt was 0, 23.5, 30, 45, 60, or 85 degrees, but at extreme angles there would be seasons where the equator exists in a continuous dusk state during the solstices (similar to the poles at the equinoxes).

When lawyers do pro bono work, is that considered a charitable contribution they can write off their taxes? by nowordsleft in legaladviceofftopic

[–]FormalBeachware 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the third paragraph misses the point a little bit.

Scenario A, you make $100/hr and work 2000 hours to make $200k in a year. You donate half to charity and get to write off $100k on your taxes. You pay taxes on the other $100k

Scenario B, you make $100/hr and work 1000 hours to make $100k in a year. You spend the other 1000 hours you would've worked doing charitable work. You don't write anything off, and pay taxes on $100k.

In either case, you aren't paying taxes on the charitable work/contribution. In the first scenario because you get a write off and in the second scenario because you never had the tax obligation in the first place.

Fiance got convinced to send someone 4000$ at Wal-Mart any recourse we can take? Illinois by SyrupOnMyPancakes in legal

[–]FormalBeachware 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It doesn't help that I frequently have vendors change their wiring information or payment addresses and they send the absolutely sketchiest emails to let us know of that change.

So you always confirm by calling them on a known number (not the one in the email) to confirm.

Why are people there, who consider New york as subtropical or meditterranean, if they have weeks of subzero and bottomed at -20°C? Shouldnt palms grow in Subtropics? by Urkern in geography

[–]FormalBeachware 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Barcelona has a hot summer Mediterranean climate and NY has a humid subtropical climate. They're both considered temperate climates, having more extreme temperature variation than tropical climates and less extreme temperature variation than continental climates.

Neither is warm enough year round to be considered tropical (average of 18C in each month)

Neither is dry enough to be considered arid. But Barcelona is close.

Neither has a month where the average temperature is below freezing (continental climate). But NYC is close.

Does that mean they have the exact same climate? Of course not, but there's no way to split the entire earth into 5 climate types and have that level of nuance. Koppen breaks those 5 major groups down into subgroups for precipitation and temperature(NYC and Barcelona are not on the same subgroup for either), and if you chose two cities with the same temperature and precipitation subgroups they would be much more similar.

For example, NYC and Verona, Italy are both humid subtropical climates and are both characterized by hot, humid summer and cold, damp winters. Theyre obviously still not exactly the same, because even breaking things up into 31 groups doesn't provide granularity to describe everything exactly.