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NCPE

Regardless of which vehicle you choose when you drive on the sand be sure to lower the air pressure in your tires for maximum traction.

Speaking from 30+ years of driving on the sand beaches of the NC Outer Banks.

NCPE

NCPE

The first thing I ask for before any contractor steps on my property is a copy of their worker's compensation and liability insurance along with the name of the issuing agency so I can verify that it is up to date. I have heard every type of excuse you can imagine but it quickly separates the profes...

NCPE

Typically the 5 chirps means the smoke detector has reached the end of its life (Usually 10 years). Check the manufacture date on the smoke detector, if it is any where close to the 10 year mark in is time to be replaced. If I read your post correctly you have replaced the chirping detector with a n...

NCPE

The air cooled engines (Honda, Kohler, Generac, Briggs & Stratton, etc) used in your typical home back up generator run at 3,600 rpm in order to generate electricity at the proper frequency and should be good for 2000+ hours if maintained properly. If you are looking for longer life move up to t...

NCPE

I concur with David Jay and Vitaflo on with their responses, given that you are having a problem and your neighbors are not it is probably in your system. It is unusual that you can hear the radio station with nothing connected to the system, unless you have speakers that have a built in amplifiers....

NCPE

Your local Hobby or R/C shop should be able to fill your needs, or you can have one custom built by Digikey. Looks like it would run you ~ $15.00 plus shipping https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/battery-packs/89?s=N4IgjCBcoMw1oDGUBmBDANgZwKYBoQB7KAbRACYB2cgThogF0CAHAFyhAGVWAnASwB2AcxABfAgBYw...

NCPE

Not sure if a permit is required given the description of the work involved but I highly recommend that you require proof of business liability and worker's compensation insurance from the prospective contractor and to contact the issuing agency / agent to verify that the insurance is up to date. Fr...

NCPE

Never could justify the expense of a whole house generator so we have a trailer mounted gasoline fueled Miller Bobcat Welder / Generator that puts out 9.5 KW continuous, which is enough to run the entire house other than the A/C compressors. 99% of the time the Bobcat spends its life happily welding...

NCPE

First National Bank of Pennsylvania (Brick and Mortar Bank with offices mainly on the East Coast) offers a free business account, but I am pretty sure that you must truly be set up as a business with a Taxpayer ID number instead of a social security number to get it established. As others have said ...

NCPE

If you have water cut off valves on either side of the pump it is very simple - turn off power to pump close both valves remove the 4 bolts pull cartridge out of replace with new cartridge and new o ring It helps to have someone to hold the pump housing while you are popping the cartridge out. Just ...

NCPE

From our experience you won't get cancelled provided you do all the paperwork / phone calls with the CC issuer to confirm they were fraudulent charges. We have several cards, and there appears to be no rhyme or reason on how they get hacked. Seems like every couple of years (some times more often) w...

NCPE

For reliability hands down go with the Lexus, have a RX350 in the driveway with 200,000+ miles and wouldn't be afraid to drive it across the country.
We drove Volvo 240's for years until they stopped making them, bought an XC70 and that was the worst car I have ever owned for reliability.

NCPE

NCPE

When we were on a municipal water system years ago we got the yearly solicitations you describe, but our house was about 10 years old and the water line was black polyethylene pipe (much more resistant to failure than the white PVC pipe) and it was only about 30 feet from the meter to the cut off va...

NCPE

Switched in December when DirectTV raised their rates (again :annoyed ). Overall very pleased, at $49.99 plus tax it saved us about $75.00 / month and the ability to have 3 users works well with our household. The DVR feature works great also. We are running ROKUs on all the TVS with no issues. We w...

NCPE

Some comments: Tire winches have been on vehicles for at least 30 years, and are pretty much trouble free other than the cable rusting in half or road grime / road salt locking up the mechanisms. Any competent tire mechanic should be able to quickly look at the winch and diagnose any issues. I'm gue...

NCPE

I have a 2005 Camry, a hand me down to my son, with 140k mileage. In 15 years, total non-maintenance repairs were two rear power window regulator/motor assemblies and an exhaust manifold leak. About $1000 total for the three repairs. I’d skip the extended warranty. Pretty much our experience with a...

NCPE

Disclaimer - I am not a fan of extended warranties, when you read the fine print there are too many loop holes. We typically buy 3 - 4 year old vehicles with good maintenance history and then put 300,000 or so miles on them before donating them to charity or sending them to the crusher. Anyway earli...

NCPE

+ 1 for Red Wing. I also have a 4E size foot and they have always been able to get a safety shoe or boot to fit my foot like a glove.

NCPE

NCPE

Wow - That is an old Maytag. Your best option would be to find the model number and check the online parts houses to see if they have an exploded parts diagram available for your model. Just off the top of my head www.repairclinic.com might be a good starting point. Not sure about the back of the fa...

NCPE

As they say "great minds must think alike". We had been looking at alternatives to DirectTV, received their price increase notification letter last Saturday, switched to YTTV on Monday and cancelled DirectTV yesterday. So far very pleased with YTTV, the ROKU devices are much more user frie...

NCPE

You might have needed an oil pan gasket but you should have noticed a large puddle of oil under the car in your garage. The DW took her Honda CRV to the stealership for maintenance while it was under warranty since it was "included" in the purchase price (she also liked the free coffee :? ...

NCPE

I would recommend a separate credit card to keep the business and personal expenses separate, and to look at Microsoft Money Plus as a accounting software package. (It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of QuickBooks but it is free

)

Good luck with your future endeavors !!!

NCPE

NCPE

Look for an ABC rated extinguisher with a metal head, should run you around $30 -$35 each at a big box type store.

Remember P-A-S-S

Pull the lock pin
Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire
Squeeze the handle
Sweep side to side at the base of the fire

NCPE

I installed low end Transcend Drive-Pro models in all our vehicles a couple of years ago after one of the daughter was run off the road by another motorist. Long story short the other driver initially admitted fault but as soon as the police department arrived she changed her story. Police Officer r...

NCPE

Get mine cut every 3 weeks, $14 plus a $3 tip. Same barber for last 35 years, one man shop (think of Floyd's Barber Shop in Mayberry). Able to catch up on all the local news / politics / etc. for the price of a haircut. He used to take walk ins but now everything is by appointment which works great ...

NCPE

Miriam - I FIREd at 57. Was planning to make it to 59 1/2 but the political climate at the monster megacorp that I worked at was sucking the life out of me so I left a couple of years early. This was the best decision I ever made !!! As far as the garage cleaning it is still on the to do list but th...

NCPE

It is hard to believe that I started this thread almost 2 years ago. This week marks my first full year in retirement and I hope my fellow Bogleheads in the Class of 2018 have enjoyed their retirement as much as I have enjoyed mine. Without the knowledge of the many members on this site I would have...

NCPE

Using verbiage to describe engineering information is pretty much marketing spin. Reminds me of Lord Kelvin's quote: “When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and uns...

NCPE

I have a variety of hobbies that wax and wane through out the year (They tend to keep me out of the bars and other undesirable places which makes the DW happy) :happy Amateur radio - always had an interest in wireless communications, first got my license in the mid 1980's and was active for a few ye...

NCPE

LCOL area, same barber for 30+ years, $14.00 for basic cut + $2.00 tip

NCPE

NCPE

I received more or less the same "ransomware" email this morning, it did have a generic password that I used years ago for websites that required a password but I figured I would never visit again and had no financial ties. Same blackmail about the websites, which I don't visit and I don't...

NCPE

timefour - I am a little biased being a lifelong resident of NC. You have a broad choice in living locations /climates here in the Tarheel state - from the mountains in the west to the Outer Banks on the east (Murphy to Manteo as stated above). Probably would be good to come down for a week or two a...

NCPE

As others have said the jump starter should work but "YMMV" (Your Mileage May Vary). Most of the higher end standby generators I have seen have either a weekly exerciser function or a trickle charger built in. If your generator does not have these functions I high recommend a Battery Tende...

NCPE

Just my opinion but $80.00 / month would be better spent on additional cats

One mouse in 17 years is a pretty good track record.

NCPE

NCPE

First off welcome to the Bogleheads forum you will find a wealth of knowledge on this site !! We were all in your shoes at one time, I would suggest dumping the advisor and keep the CPA. If you need Investment help use Vanguard's PAS or select a target date fund. An appropriate quote from the Whitec...

NCPE

The question for me is which high mileage car :confused 1990 Honda Civic 176,000 2007 Lexus RX350 180,000 1991 Chevrolet S-10 ~300,000 - speedometer doesn't work until you drive it at least 5 miles or so ) 1996 Chevrolet S-10 292,000 Wouldn't bat an eye about jumping in any of these and head across ...

NCPE

"Look to you left, look to your right. If you make it through the program they won't". Just retired after a 35+ year career as a PE, from my experience years ago getting my BS in Mechanical Engineering this is spot on. Engineering is a tough curriculum and if he seriously intends to pursu...

NCPE

To late to help with this situation but the first question I always ask a potential contractor is for proof of Liability / Workers Compensation Insurance and the name of the agent who wrote the policy. The scammers / fly by night guys will make all sorts of excuses but this one question screens them...

NCPE

The answer is as many have said are "it depends". Some people are comfortable with driving an older vehicle, some are not. To me age of the vehicle has no bearing, the track history of the particular manufacturer / model and the owner's routine maintenance are the deciding factors. Current...

NCPE

As they - say all things in life are negotiable. Last time I checked in my area realtor commissions on unimproved land runs 10% or better. You can shop around but if the area is really that booming I would be surprised that you have not already been approached by developers / speculators / vultures ...

NCPE

Wow - A thread I feel qualified to comment on !! We have both a 2007 Lexus RX350 (190,000 miles) and a 2013 Honda CRV (65,000 miles), we like them both but the Lexus probably wins out for the most part for the price difference you are talking about. Pros / Cons - RX350 - Much less road / tire noise ...

NCPE

Signature ? What Signature?? Back when banks still returned your cancelled checks the DW wrote one for the yearly insurance (~couple thousand dollars) and forgot to sign it. Went right through with no issues, only happened to catch it when I was reconciling the checking account. I now have regressed...

NCPE

The question for me is which high mileage car :? 1990 Honda Civic 170,000 2007 Lexus RX350 172,000 1991 Chevrolet S-10 278,000 (Probably closer to 300,000 - speedometer doesn't work until you drive it at least 5 miles or so :D ) 1996 Chevrolet S-10 292,000 Wouldn't bat an eye about jumping in any of...

NCPE

Speaking from 40 years experience as a Firefighter / EMT - "You get what you pay for" No offense to Uber but if I have a life threatening emergency I want the best possible pre hospital care I can get. For a non life threatening issue Uber is probably fine, but a wrong decision could mean ...

NCPE

We bought a Certified Pre Owned 2007 model with 30,000 miles on it in 2009 for about 25% off the best price we could find on a new model. Came with the Lexus 100,000 mile warranty which we never had to use, currently has 186,000 miles. Other than normal maintenance and having to replace a couple of ...

NCPE

Had one today, standard cut is $13+$2 tip. LCOL area, I have had the same barber for 35 years.

NCPE

NCPE

I never could justify a dedicated whole house generator, instead we installed a manual transfer / lock out plate on the electrical panel and an outside power inlet that we supply using the Bobcat welder we have for welding around the farm, 10 kw pretty much runs everything in the house except the he...

NCPE

I has been 3 months since I officially hit the “R” button and notified my management I will be checking out in 2018 and the stress level in my life due to work has drastically dropped. I had my annual physical this week and my blood pressure is the lowest it has been in many, many years. :D Good luc...

NCPE

First of all condolences on the passing of your father in law. I went through a similar situation with my mother's estate but you are much smarter than I was - you came to Bogleheads for advice before doing anything. :happy The first item to address will be to identify any tax implications for 2017 ...

NCPE

dm200 - The answer to many of your questions is "it depends". I am not sure of your exact location (hopefully you are not inside DC) but I am actively involved in Fire / Rescue response here in NC and can only speak based on my 38 years of being a firefighter / EMT. First off I will apolog...

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