wrote in message news:2c7c3e6e-b03d-4b38-aeea-

stuff snipped

There should have been a shut-off valve right before
the flex pipe at the dryer.

As I recall, he was installing flex pipe for the first time, and very long
run of it. This is a person who refuses to look at the internet before
starting such a project condemning it all as "worthless." I couldn't
conceive of doing something like that without a *lot* of research on the
net. It would also come under the heading of the gas lines in that house
being dangerous enough and old enough to require someone experienced and
competent doing the job. I have no idea, really, why he thought he was
competent to do gasfitting work. Obviously he was not.

This person is mostly a "swapper" or "plugger" and tends to diagnose things
by replacing things he believes are at fault. Replaced a perfectly good
ignitor when the problem was a vent sensor. Was about to pull the dashboard
on his wife's car because the fan would not stop running, even after the
ignition was turned off.

I had to step him through the idea that the fan only gets power when the
ignition/acc circuits are energized and that the dashboard switch was an
unlikely culprit. More likely was some ignition relay or electronic control
module that succumbed to the cold and starting sticking.

IOW, a decent technical ability but not good diagnostic skills. One thing I
like about Usenet is that it's very easy to evaluate the problem-solving
ability of most posters by the solutions they recommend. Some people don't
bother to read the question thoroughly (although to be fair, many enter a
thread well after the "setup" has been described) and others don't consider
the circumstances of the OP. As you've noted many times, people often post
woefully incomplete descriptions of their problems. That doesn't stop some
people from offering specific solutions. (-:.

Rubber mat at the panel can't hurt. How much good it
does depends on how good of an insulator it actually is,
what material it's really made of, etc.

That may be difficult to determine unless I get one of the $160 mats
suggested elsewhere that will protect me to 17,000 volts. I'm thinking
anything is better than nothing and in any event, it will make standing
there more comfortable. 17,000 volts seems a little bit of overkill for the
panel.

--
Bobby G.