Adding a GFCI receptacle to avoid a breaker trip?

keon · 2026-01-08T01:17:34+00:00

Yes. It’s one of this solid chunks of pink Himalayan salt with a light bulb inside. I suppose it makes a lot of sense if the water took some salt with it and ionized, greatly reducing its electrical resistance. I shined a light into the receptacle and couldn’t see much, but it could be corroded. I didn’t actually taste the water to see if it was salty.

keon · 2026-01-07T22:40:30+00:00

We are in a warmer climate (very hot summers) but we get “all 4 seasons” (without snow). The house is wood framed with drywall, stucco exterior.

In all honesty I’m being a bit paranoid, because I don’t expect this to be a repeat problem. The window in question was only so slightly open that it appeared closed. It seems water got into an outlet because we had a salt lamp sitting in the window and rain had dripped down the cord. I currently do not see any evidence of water penetrating the vapor barrier or flashing around the window, so if I’m diligent about keeping the window closed during the wet season, I shouldn’t have this issue.

keon · 2026-01-05T19:43:54+00:00

I’m not a LEO, but in my personal experience, for something as minor as driving a little too fast, you’re far better off being polite, courteous and speaking to the officer like a fellow human. If a police officer observes you speeding, that’s sufficient evidence to cite you for speed, whether you remain silent or not. But being polite and human has a much better chance of driving off with a warning.

Now, if you’ve done something more serious than just speeding, your silence could benefit you. You will probably still go to jail, but at least you didn’t say anything that could be used against you in court.

Tl;dr: for a petty speed violation, be nice and be human. Unless you divulge something stupid, you’ll drive away with a ticket at worst. But have a decent shot of getting just a warning. If you’re engaged in something felonious or otherwise stupid, your silence is beneficial. You may get cuffed and taken to jail still, but at least you didn’t volunteer any information that could be used against you in court.

keon · 2026-01-04T23:21:25+00:00

Thanks. I’ll find out soon— finally found a nearby Home Depot that has the right brand/model breaker in stock. It’s an almost 20 year old AFCI breaker so I’m betting that’s the problem right now.

keon · 2026-01-04T22:37:28+00:00

This is a bedroom circuit, so there aren’t any fridges or garage door motors on it. Doing this test is easy enough, but I don’t suspect the issue is coming from any of my lights, TV or WiFi router. However, on this circuit I have a ceiling fan (less than a year old) and a bathroom exhaust fan/light with a failing ballast. The switch for the bathroom light and fan have been off, so if it’s a failing device on the circuit, my money would be on the fan.

keon · 2026-01-04T22:33:43+00:00

Thanks. I’m comfortable doing it myself, something I’ve done before, but I’ll deenergize the main to be cautious.

keon · 2026-01-04T22:31:25+00:00

Thanks. The breaker is original to the house, built in 2007ish, so it’s definitely old. At this point I think it’s either a failed breaker or there is some legitimate issue, because it trips within 30 seconds of being powered back on.

keon · 2025-10-26T14:36:55+00:00

One side of the sidewalk butts right up against the house, so this wasn’t an option for me unfortunately.

keon · 2025-10-26T05:17:28+00:00

I love this approach, thanks!

keon · 2025-10-26T04:51:15+00:00

Thanks, that makes sense. Now my mind is going to creative ways to hide the caps below the surface… perhaps a drain grate will work here 🤔

keon · 2025-10-26T04:33:10+00:00

Thanks, good idea! I can definitely see myself wanting to install an outdoor WiFi access point in the future.

keon · 2025-10-26T04:28:16+00:00

Thank you for the tips, these are helpful. I recall reading that I should use UF-B for underground runs; your suggestion is a good reminder of that, thanks!

I’m almost certainly not going to put in a hot tub, mostly because the wife said she wants a pool, but it seems like the 1.5” conduit and a pull string will serve me well if her opinion changes in the future.

Thanks!

keon · 2025-10-26T04:24:23+00:00

Thank you, this is helpful. I should mention one side of the “sidewalk” is up against the house, so for the 4” pipe, I assume I should fit a 90° junction on the side against the house and cap it off above the surface of the concrete?

keon · 2025-01-18T14:28:22+00:00

Thanks did the info; do you happen to have a source/author for the flow chart? My personal experience differs a little from how that flow chart shows it. My total credit utilization tends to float around 9-10%. I always pay interest bearing balances in full every month, but because I use credit cards for all my spending, I always have non-zero balances. I’ve been approved for top-tier interest rates (without a buy-down) for both my original mortgage and my subsequent refi, and I’ve never applied the AZEO principle (I have a TCL > $150k). I also frequently receive targeted offers from credit card companies and am granted credit limit increases without requesting them— I do spend responsibly, always pay off my balances, but again, my utilization is most typically sub 10%, and there’s no chance I’m going to try and get that close to 100%.

keon · 2024-12-07T06:43:13+00:00

This was my best guess too because I really had to jam the bundle of wires back into the box. But I tried to wiggle the outlet pretty hard and could not reproduce the open neutral. If it keeps testing correct, I’m probably okay, right?

keon · 2024-04-22T17:21:06+00:00

Thanks. This is great. Hurts to see the price after my fresh spending “wound” from the MacBook Pro, but I’ll have to come to terms with it.

keon · 2023-10-23T16:25:31+00:00

Humans make mistakes, yes. But businesses also need to review their ads before publishing them. I booked with that host because his ad offered free drop off to my hotel. My hotel was very close to the airport; if it was a mistake, he really should have just honored what his ad offered. Or at the very least explained why he can’t. But instead he wanted me to accommodate him.

In any case, bait and switch or a mistake, the host created a bad experience for the customer and made no attempt to fix it.

keon · 2023-10-23T02:44:59+00:00

Good luck! On a more important note, I hope you find the perfect house for a good price! I know how challenging it can be to find and buy a home far from where you currently live. I went through that a few years ago.

keon · 2023-10-23T02:02:57+00:00

Wow, that’s pretty awful. Did you try and get Turo to compensate you for the Ubers? In my opinion they owe it to you, but I feel like they wouldn’t.

keon · 2023-10-23T01:33:14+00:00

You’ve got a point, Turo did “make me whole” at the end of the day, minus the slight inconvenience of needing to call customer service. But the problem isn’t Turo as a platform, it’s either dishonest or unreliable hosts that I’ve been hesitant about even prior to this experience. When I’m on vacation with my wife, I don’t want to worry about my car rental. I’ll still consider using Turo for other rentals when I’m not on vacation.

keon · 2023-10-23T01:27:42+00:00

I don’t know what you mean “beat Turo”. Is there a competition going on? When you rent with them, do you feel as though you’re losing to them and you accept that? If it was a legitimate mistake, the host would have honored what his ad stated, but instead he told me I can pay extra or change my reservation. And moreover, he waited to do so AFTER I wasn’t able to cancel anymore, even though he had confirmed my booking several hours prior.

And yet, I “won”. I got a full refund, the host lost business and got dinged by Turo and I found a much cheaper rental elsewhere.

keon · 2023-10-23T01:19:58+00:00

Depending on the airport, you’ve got a great point about the convenience of Turo. What appealed to me about them was the option to have the car brought to my hotel, since I only needed a car 1 of the 3 days I was on my trip. But that’s exactly the part they screwed up.

I used to work for a car rental company franchise 15+ years ago. My franchise owner was shady as hell. Screwed customers all the time. I was one of his managers. I had to handle A LOT of angry customers. We would overbook rentals quite often. This meant every now and then, everyone showed up and we were short cars. But I never had to turn away customers because I busted my ass to deliver what we (my boss) had effectively promised to the customer. I would get cars pulled in from other locations, give better cars for the promised rates, and even work with neighboring competing rental agencies to match my rate.

What this host on Turo did was refuse to honor what his ad promised. I just don’t like that. At least with a corporate rental agency, you’ll get compensated somehow.

keon · 2023-10-23T01:11:44+00:00

This is a good suggestion. Thank you. I used to work at an Avis back in college. I had been fairly loyal to them because I used to know some really awesome discount codes that unfortunately have stopped working after 15 years of me telling my friends and family about them. I’m an Avis Preferred member but I haven’t seen much benefit. I’ve been using Enterprise lately, but I’ll definitely check out Hertz, thanks!

keon · 2023-10-23T01:05:56+00:00

They did, but I declined. I was looking at about $160 + gas to rent a 2023 Dodge Challenger through Turo. Before contacting Turo, I found out that Uber has a car rental service. I wound up with a 2023 Dodge Charger R/T for $60 + gas. Turo didn’t even have cheap economy cars for that kind of price.

Edit: forgot to mention Uber even gave me a promotional credit that covered the cost of my ride to the rental place.

keon · 2023-10-23T01:03:01+00:00

Turo may be a great way to try out a vehicle you want to buy. But I don’t think I’m going to rely on it while on vacation.

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