Carol Shenkenberger wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:
 CS> *** Quoting Roy J. Tellason from a message to Carol
 CS> Shenkenberger *** 
 CS> 200amps
RJT> Not bad.
 CS> 4 switches say '30', 5 say '20',, 4 say '15', and 4 slots are 
 CS> Forgot to add, GAS heat.  Not using electric for anything other 
 CS> than a blower unit.  (grin, otherwise i suspect I would need 
 CS> 250 amps and be minimal safety factor in cold times).
I would have expected to see a higher service for any sort of electric heat.  
There are some places around here that favor electric appliances,  but I'd 
consider electric heat to be way too expensive around here (I currently have 
GPU for an electric company -- the same folks that own Three Mile Island) and 
I really dislike trying to cook on an electric stove as opposed to a gas 
stove.

 CS> True.  I'm slowly chewing thru the file i got from you.  Not 
 CS> far enough yet to ask any questions, but be ready for a 
 CS> mini-flood of them once I am done . 
Feel free...
 CS> For the moment the only tips I have to trade back, is one that 
 CS> confuses lots of home owners but is actually easy to do.  If 
 CS> your seal about the toilet goes bad, you can get the new seal 
 CS> kit for about 2$ (Local price) and you just lift the old one, 
 CS> scrape the old 'gunk' off, then put the new seal down and 
 CS> replace the toilet over it.  Best to have some corkwood about 
 CS> if you replace the toilt too, as that will make a neat leveling 
 CS> material that will grow with the house as it shifts.  Seals 
 CS> normally last 10 years.  Many folks end up spending 200$ for a 
 CS> plumber plus the cost of a new toilet unit for what is actually 
 CS> a 2$ job and about 4 hours work for a *first timer at it*.
I did have to do that job,  once.  I ended up using a rubber seal rather than 
the wax ones,  but didn't know about the cork.  Had lots of fun with that 
place,  it was a mobile home which had been set up after thanksgiving,  and 
had no skirting on it when things got real cold.
The sewer pipe froze up,  the place flooded,  and I learned more about oil 
furnaces than I ever wanted to know.    The same guy that set it up also 
screwed up with regard to the electrical hookup and got the neutral switched 
with one of the hot wires so switching on lights caused them to blow 
immediately,  but not all of them.  We also got to replace the heating 
element in the water heater,  too.
RJT> Another thing you can do if you're careful is to remove the cover on 
RJT> the breaker box.  Then you'll be able to _see_ whether some of those 
RJT> "unused" breakers actually are unused,  or what...
 CS> Thats what we did yesterday.  Unused.
There'll be a screw on that breaker that is used for where the wire attaches, 
 and maybe another one that holds it in the box.  Some just snap in.  I 
personall prefer to attach the wire while the breaker is *not* in place,  and 
then put it in.
Whatever you do,  you don't want to come in contact with those bars running 
down the center of the box in the back...
 CS> We were pretty sure of this from the previous owner.  he had 
 CS> started the project, gotten to the point of box replacement, 
 CS> but hadnt finished it all.  There are 4 breakers there, not
 CS> connected to anything at all.  IE:  Instead of leaving those
 CS> portions of the box empty, he put in units that can be, but
 CS> are not yet, connected to anything.  ALL the leads are just
 CS> tied up and sitting there.  Call it switches that dont
 CS> connect to anything at all, anyplace, put there in place of
 CS> blank faceplates.
They were probably paid for when the prior owner stopped having the work 
done, I guess.
 CS> Ok, ah well. I'll hope then for 500$ for the porch.  
 CS> While I was underway (I'm Navy so go to sea for extended times) 
 CS> hubby had an outlet added to the kitchen to support a new 
 CS> dishwasher.  Apparently it was a simple job.  Cost was 50$ but 
 CS> he was also a friend of the family so it may be more to have 
 CS> bigger work contracted.  (yes, this friend is a real live 
 CS> electrician.  In case no one noticed, I'm scared of 
 CS> chewing-gum-bailingwire type electrical works).
Sounds like a reasonable position to me!   :-)
 CS> Normal cost for same level work in area is 60$.  (we got a 
 CS> price cut for not only being friends, but being totally 
 CS> agreeable to 'awkward' hours for the work.  In this case 6am 
 CS> and Don had to watch his kids for an hour but Don enjoyed every 
 CS> second of it, and we ended up keeping the kids for the day just 
 CS> 'cause they were fun and liked our 3YO).

Having a couple of 6YO grandkids around this place from time to time is a lot 
of fun as well...
--- 
---------------