If you're not a plumber you may not know... and you may NEED to know. The WAGS Valve is a brand name product designed to eliminate the risk of and damage caused by flooding when a hot water heater fails to drain properly. Some statistics suggest that a majority of water heaters fail within 7-10 years. While that number may seem high, if it's believed then about 5 million tank failures occur every year. During these leaks, the water heater keeps refilling and leaking, creating a cycle of damage that can go on for a considerable amount of time before it is discovered or remedied. The WAGS valve works to prevent costly floods and damage to property.
There are several different ways to saw trees into usable lumber, and quartersawn (quarter-sawn) lumber is a particular method of milling trees that yields highly usable, very strong boards with a lot less waste than, say, riftsawn lumber. Quartersawn lumber is particularly popular for oak and maple, where the exposed grain in the wood is important and plays a part in its use within a project. Most lumber is made by a process called rip-sawing (plain-sawn lumber), an efficient method that utilizes almost every square inch of a tree to make usable boards. The most hardy wood is made using a rift-sawn method that makes sure all pieces of wood are aligned towards the center of the tree. This generates a grain that crosses the wood and allows it to expand only along its length-side. Quarter-sawing is like the happy medium, presenting a cut that takes more time and energy, but using more of the trees available wood than the riftsawn method.
Many people take milled lumber for granted, not realizing there are several types - and they each affect how the wood is cut, how it wears, and how it ultimately looks in a finished piece. Rift-sawn lumber is a largely theoretical, unique and special method of milling that yields particularly usable, very strong boards with grains that run completely perpendicular to the face of the board. What do we mean by this? Well, basically that nobody does it. Rift-sawn boards are essentially choice cuts from a Quarter-sawn milling method. To actually set out and rift-saw lumber directly would be more than a little wasteful of the original tree, as each piece is cut towards the center, a method that is overly difficult, and produces less boards than either Quartersawn or Ripsawn (Plainsawn) milling.
There are several different ways to saw trees into usable lumber, and quartersawn (quarter-sawn) lumber is a particular method of milling trees that yields highly usable, very strong boards with a lot less waste than, say, riftsawn lumber. Quartersawn lumber is particularly popular for oak and maple, where the exposed grain in the wood is important and plays a part in its use within a project. Most lumber is made by a process called rip-sawing (plainsawn lumber), an efficient method that utilizes almost every square inch of a tree to make usable boards. The most hardy wood is made using a riftsawn method that makes sure all pieces of wood are aligned towards the center of the tree. This generates a grain that crosses the wood and allows it to expand only along its length-side. Quarter-sawing is like the happy medium, presenting a cut that takes more time and energy, but using more of the trees available wood than the riftsawn method.
It's easy to be confused by wire gauge, especially since, as the number gets lower, the size of the actual wire goes up! AWG stands for American Wire Gauge and is a specification of sorts that gives specific wire dimensions for, among other things, electrical wires. The sizes (gauges) range from 0000 ("four aught" the largest) to 40 (the smallest). Wire gauge is a term that refers to how wire is made - namely by pulling it through a die. A higher gauge, in theory, designates how many times the wire was pulled through a die to reduce its diameter. You can figure that a wire doubles in size every 6 steps in gauge.
When shopping for electrical test & measurement tools you will often come across category designations from I - IV. These can be confusing, or lead you to think that you need to look for a certain category, or that one s better than another. In terms of application, that might be correct. Overall, these designate particular uses and ratings for electrical test & measurement tools, and so we decided to put together this article to clear up any confusion and put it all into layman's terms.
There are essentially 4 parts to a central vac system and installing one is really not as daunting a task as you may think. Whereas most people are of the opinion that these are very difficult and most be thought out before building a home, retrofitting a central vacuum system is actually one of the more straightforward projects you'll undertake. While we won't go into specific details on the installation process in this article, let's just summarize what you're looking at with the goal of simplifying the process of deciding if it's right for you.
Milwaukee Tool has some pretty advanced battery technology and offers this in two sizes: the M18 Compact and M18 XC (eXtra Capacity) batteries. But is there a difference? It turns out there is, and the Compact battery isn't compatible with all Milwaukee tools. When Milwaukee added overload protection into the battery to prevent the tool from frying the motor or overloading the battery we knew we had reached a new era of "smart" batteries.
When using a tap & die set, it's important to understand the terms. "Tapping" is when you cut, or recut threads into a hole or nut. You use a "die" to cut or repair threads onto a bolt. Anyone who has worked on vehicles long enough has likely dealt with this issue in the form of a stripped socket or cut off bolt which has to be re-threaded.
With the advent of newer trimmer and lawn products that include 4-cycle engines, we are often asked whether these products are better than their 2-cycle counterparts (literally: "Which is better, 2-stroke or 4-stroke?") The answer may be simpler than you think, but first it's important to understand the differences between the two technologies. Each have their strengths, though we wouldn't consider them fairly matched - at least not for the purposes of portable lawn care products.
Here are some simple tips that will help you to produce almost completely usable compost in far less time. Before we get into those specifics though, let’s point out a few general do's and don'ts about composting.
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