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Those black flies are called midges FWIW. Second the good wishes on the surgery. I don’t know what the general prognosis is for shoulder surgery, but if my hip replacement 6 months ago is any guide, physical therapy is an important part of recovery.

Will let you know next week. Left hip scheduled for replacement Monday. I’ll be 74 next month.

My son bought a used L39 a few years ago. 3 point hitch parts were missing. He bought new parts from a Kubota dealer. Something north of $500 at the time. It wasn’t a problem to install them. I think he told me it’s about a half hour job to go from backhoe to 3 point and vice versa.

I think Dave is right here. I’ll have to admit to not having looked at your video, but the inspectors are typically pretty tight on the spacing specs. The inspector may have not noticed everything when he signed off on what you were planning. The plugmold will be a good way of fixing the problem...

The inspector is going to use the clearances that are specified in the installation instructions. I wouldn’t worry about what the general code says, they use the manufacturer’s spec when there is a conflict between specs. I’m not going to address the location issue, except to say I usually go...

I’m not sure what you mean by vertical pump that is in a pump house. That implies that the pump is above the ground and as others have noted, a shallow well jet pump is the type of pump one typically sees above ground. I believe I’ve seen illustrations of a jet pump that uses the well pipe to...

Yes, there should have been a fixture or bracket included with the light fixture. They typically have a ground screw in them. Is the escutcheon plate threaded? If so, there should be machine screws or threaded studs to mount the escutcheon to the bracket. Definitely missing some parts. If you...

Use 15 amp switches, they’re less expensive and more available. You’ll find that if you want dimmers the ones for LED fixtures are typically rated at 150 watts. Switches only need to be rated for the load they’re serving. A 15 amp switch will handle 1440 watts once you account for having to...

There’s an Agri Supply in Petersburg, Va. that makes TSC stores look tiny. If you want to have a look at what you’re buying, it might be worth a road trip. You can but buy online from them as well. it’s less than 2 hours from Free Union, in Albemarle County.

I had a job where the previous general contractor had been fired and had stiffed his subs and they weren’t coming back. The house was at the finished drywall stage. The drywall guy had covered 8 boxes in a not particularly big house. The owner had fortunately taken a lot of pre drywall pictures...

Are the sconces UL approved? They are supposed to be, but the inspector likely won’t be able to tell without looking very closely and/or removing the fixture or bulb to see the UL stamp. He/she is unlikely to do that, so you would probably get away with using some non UL approved fixtures. I’d...

FWIW you can use 15 amp receptacles in a 20 amp circuit as long as there’s more than one place to plug in on the circuit, in other words, a dedicated receptacle. It’s good to use 20 amp receptacles in shop areas since that’s the only place you’re likely to find a need for the ability to take a...

I wonder why the drop pipe is 1 1/4”? The standard around here for a residential well is 1” black polyethylene both for the drop pipe and the lateral pipe to the house. 1 1/4” pitiless adapter and pipe is a good deal more expensive than 1”. Black poly pipe ratings changed a few years back, so...

I find the vast majority in Albemarle County are ground down. Doesn’t matter to the inspector. I’d say keep your wife happy.

Were you planning on bringing the floor level up to accommodate the Schluter drain fitting? It requires something of a recess in the drain pan, 2-3” if my memory serves. How close to the top of the concrete is the pex pipe for the hydronic system? It looks like the pipe is wrapped in foam where...

I need to be brought up to date. What are these gas tractors? The only thing I can think of that’s modern and gas is the resurrected Allis Chalmers G that I‘ve heard someone had started making. Had a B&S Vanguard engine, but I don’t think that would suit anyone who wasn’t truck farming. I’m not...

My opinion FWIW is finished drywall puts you at 2/3 of the way. That’s for your average house. The higher the level of trim and detail, the less far along you are. Lots of work left to trim and finish the house.

Yikes!! Please don’t try going for 15-20 psi on drain and vent system, 5 psi is all you need or want. The caps and plugs for the system aren’t made to hold much pressure. A blow out even at 5 psi is pretty forceful, a test plug whacking someone can easily cause injury. Air pressure makes them a...

Well that’s news to me, but I am admittedly not as up to date these days since I’m mostly retired. A little research leads me to believe thar either the county isn’t enforcing that or hasn’t adopted the 2020 code, it used to be that they were three years or so behind. Also seems like it’s for...

I generally wire HVAC units to be able to use the maximum overcurrent device called out on the data plate. This may mean you have to use heavier gauge wire than the minimum ampacity spec on the data plate. So, the data plate might say minimum ampacity is 18 amps, so that would be 12 gauge wire...

Probably WD needs arc fault as well as GFI protection to meet code on certain circuits. Using GFI receptacles on the first outlet is great for saving money if all you need is GFI protection, but it won’t help you for arc fault protection. Supply chain shortages are a pretty big issue in the...

Ratings should be printed right on the insulation of the conductor. Lots of conductors have multiple ratings. Finley place is probably 1/2 mile from me, I’m near the west end of Catterton Road on Buck Mountain.

THHN is generally rated as THWN as well. You should be able to get the #6 and #8 cut to whatever lengths you need from a local electrical wholesaler, Capital Electric and Flameless Specialties are two local ones in Charlottesville. I’m not 100% sure they cut #10 since I’ve always bought that in...

Eyebolt is what I use.

Also take pictures of all the walls after the plumbing, electrical and mechanical stuff is installed but before insulation and drywall. You’ll be glad you did if something gets covered up that wasn’t supposed to.

I agree with the comments on number of cables in a box. Three #12 cables in a plastic nail on box is plenty. It’s also matters if the box will be holding a larger device, such as a dimmer or GFCI receptacle, what meets code for box fill might still be too much. I like 14 gauge better for lights...

They won’t accept a woodstove for the heat. Sounds your new rental will work well except for the internet part. The county and Dominion have made a deal to extend the Firefly network in almost all of the county. Central Virginia Electric, one of the Co-ops serving some parts of the county...

Albemarle County used to allow TCO’s, not sure when that changed. Electric boxes need to be “made up” for the rough in inspection, that is, grounding conductors and neutrals wirenutted together, and any other conductors connected such that they are ready to be connected to any switch...

You can transfer and retransfer the load manually with the lever that comes with the transfer switch(s). I believe the Generac transfer switches will automatically retransfer when the utility power returns, but you will still need to shut off the portable generator manually. You’ll need to add a...

Submersible pump because there’s a junction box on the top of the well seal. Tee is supporting pump and drop pipe. Would be good to know how deep the well is. Might be galvanized pipe in 21’ joints all the way down or could be black polyethylene pipe or even 20‘ pieces of 1” PVC pipe with glued...

You should be able to get it from a JD dealer.

Sounds like check valve at head of pump has failed. If you didn’t have the valve near the well head, the pressure tank would dump water back into the well until the pump cycled back on. As it is, the water it’s dumping back to drop the pressure to zero could easily explain the turbidity you’re...

Stranded wires need to be twisted together clockwise before joining with solid wire or wires which if there are multiple wires also need to be twisted together before wirenutting. It’s also very important when joining solid and stranded wires to extend the stranded wires a bit beyond the end of...

A nut or any kind of weight on a string works. You can hear very clearly when it hits water. Then just pull it out and measure. I’ll bet it’s not more than 50’ down. 30 gpm is way more than you’ll need or want to buy a pump for ($$$$). On a well that productive, I’d consider setting the pump so...

Here in central Virginia, it’s commonplace for the well and the pump package to be separate items in the contract, I haven’t run across any drillers who automatically include the pump package. I’m a little surprised you haven’t needed to get the water system operating before now in the...

That casing appears to be 6” PVC. The 10” probably refers to the hole they drilled to drop the casing in to where they hit bedrock. Once they hit bedrock the well is drilled in solid rock, no casing. That’s the way it works with the local geology east of the Blue Ridge Mountains where you are...

The flow is measured while the drill rig is drilling the well. It’s done by making a temporary dam to collect the water that compressed air is pushing out the top of the casing. Make an outlet in the dam with a piece of pipe and time how long it takes to fill a container, such as a 5 gallon...

Pex is terrible outside. Gets really brittle. PVC electrical conduit is much better and you can bend it with heat, as well.

A larger electrical contractor might have a recording ammeter that could be used to see what the starting and running amperages of the pump are. That’s what I’d be looking for after i put a clamp on ammeter on the line just to see what the numbers are. Could be a number of things, best guess is...

You can rent goats for cleanup. There’s an outfit called “Goat Busters” locally. The donkeys would be ok for me, but I don’t want a critter around that’s as good an escape artist as a goat is, even if they do eat poison ivy. I’d have too much of an urge to shoot them when I found one standing...

If it has the G80 Detroit Locker rear end, that’ll help. The trick to having a two wheel drive truck is knowing it’s limitations and to have enough sense to stop spinning the wheels when it gets stuck and get out and do something to get unstuck before it digs a hole. One thing that can help a...

I‘m getting more and more calls from customers about wiring for electric car chargers. I would recommend a minimum of 1 1/4” PVC conduit between the main panel and the garage. That allows you to install conductors for a 100 amp service.

I have a rebuildable Iseki engine from a MF 1240. Unfortunately 1.5 liter not 1.6 like you and Massynch are looking for. Possibly only needs honing and rings, maybe boring and pistons/rings. Previous owner not good on air filter maintenance, about 1000 hours on it, I believe. Better would be if...

They are convenient, but they’re a fair amount of trouble to put in, you need to put a switch leg from the light to the hinge side of the jamb, where you install a very small box that comes with the button switch and the carpenter has to carefully cut the box into the jamb when he installs the...

You’re probably better off with something with live hydraulics, live PTO, and more gears than an 8N, but I will have to say that they’re pretty amazing as far as a “haul it out of the bushes and make it run tractor”. They’re pretty good with a 5’ finish mower, too, doesn’t tear up the grass much...

You can get inverter technology HVAC units that combine both mini split heads and ducted air handlers all running off the same compressor. Also can produce rated heat output down to near 0* as well as having the option of adding resistance strip heaters in the ducted air handler. Really hard to...

If you’re planning on putting in a stand by generator, you might consider putting in the transfer switch now, it would save a fair amount of labor vs. retrofitting it later. I like to use a service panel outside next to the meter that has a main breaker for the house but also has extra breaker...

+1 on the 8-10”, it’s easy to cut off some extra, PITA to wirenut extra length on, even more of a pain to try to fold it in when it’s short.

If the “long sweep” fittings you are referring to are the white DWV fittings and not the grey electrical conduit 90’s, which bend around a much larger radius, I think pulling pipe or wire in may be pretty difficult. I’ve never tried using that kind of fitting for conduit, but I’ve had plenty of...

I bought a 2240 in July. It is a 1981 model, so the later series and a Mannheim tractor. It ran well when I bought it and have changed all the fluids and filters, cleaned the hydraulic system screen and have been fixing the issues an old tractor like this one has: new starter switch, new tie rod...