Richard Moore

The style of the sticker would suggest at least 30 years old. I can't help beyond that. My best guess with most electric "furnaces" I find around here is that they are the same age as the house. Keep in mind that there's no heat exchager to rust out. Any elements, no matter how old, could burn out tomorrow, but they can be replaced, as can a bad blower motor. Efficiency wise, I doubt that a new one is noticably better than a 50 year old model. So...actual age doesn't worry me that much with electric furnaces. I run them and "clamp" the element wires. They are either working or not.

I really can't explain it any better than the stuff you can find online but I'd guess your focus and the relative backgrounds and foregrounds have a lot to do with it. I tried the moon size thing (using a ruler at arms length) many years ago and it's definitely true that it's actually the same size at the horizon as when it's higher in the sky. But, even knowing that for a fact, it still looks bigger!

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question491.htm http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/t ... 903-2.html I think the mountain thing is the same and has to do with our perception rather than any actual magnification. There's one stretch of road I travel on regularly where, on a clear day, you get this great view of Rainier framed by the buildings, trees, etc on each side of the road. It appears to be much larger there than open views of it, even when much closer to the mountain. Take a look at the photos on this page.. http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/sea ... htmlNotice how the more focused view of the last photo makes Rainier look much larger than the wide ange shot above it. It's all in our heads!

The sign says "Closed" and yet it looks quite open. Anything to do with Björk?

Your guess is as good as mine! Perhaps to provide some temporary "insulated" protection before they installed the breakers? It's an older photo and I really don't remember the particular panel. I don't think it's an issue.

I believe it is a general no-no to have any plastic female fitting pipe-threaded onto a metal male as the plastic female part can easily be damaged or cracked during the process. Even if that damage is not obvious at the time, the stress could lead to future failure. I haven't seen that particular combo (CPVC and the grey plastic "shark byte?" bit), but I was hoping somone was familiar with it and could say it was good (or bad). It seems like an odd set-up for CPVC.

I may have posted this before a long time ago, but I thought it might be of some use after the other split-bus thread. In each case I have marked the breaker that feeds the lower half with an "X". Click to Enlarge 68.28 KB Click to Enlarge 89.42 KB Click to Enlarge 70.72 KB Click to Enlarge 92.3 KB Click to Enlarge 74.41 KB Click to Enlarge 55.72 KB Click to Enlarge 67.53 KB And there are many variations of those.

LOL. And why not? One can go crazy trying to decipher the intentions of homeowners. I have a question. What type is that cold water pipe and fitting (lower left)? OK, two questions. Is that plastic female onto a metal male OK if it's not pipe-thread?

So, ignoring the mess, and back to the original question, it's a 150-amp service. Not 100-amps with a pair of 50-amp "main breakers".

OK. It really didn't make much sense to me to have a split bus panel rated for 150 amps with only two double-pole spaces for the mains section. But I can see one where, say, the dryer and water heater have been converted to gas and there might only be a pair of 50's remaining with the others blocked off.

Hi Jim, I was assuming there were more breakers on the upper bus than just the two. I've never seen a panel with just two "mains". But...here's a question. Supposing the other "main" spaces just aren't being used and he does in fact just have the two 50's in the main. Is that a 100-amp service, or a 150 service with unused spaces? I'm thinking the latter.

I'm not sure what you mean by the two main breakers? One would likely be feeding the "lighting" section, but the others are not really "mains" even though they are in the "main disconnect" section and are all part of the service disconnect. I suspect the other 50 is for the range. With a 150-amp panel and 2/0 AL SEC's, you have a 150-amp service. Have a photo?

Richard, I edited my own post to delete unneeded speculation about possible causes. Once that was removed, parts or all of subsequent posts made no sense and so, yes, I edited those. I'm sorry if you have a problem with that.

I agree Kurt. I was trying to do it tactfully, but have been having second thoughts ever since. I have edited, deleted some stuff/posts.

First of all, very sad. My sympathies to the families. Was he retired? The only link I can find is to Portland and that website is down. I expect we will eventually hear more from the medical examiner.

OK, IF you are going to cut off the protruding ends of the rafter tails (barge boards?), and with 8 mitred corners, then I agree a pair of downspouts would work. Problem is that I think it would actually look uglier than the 5 downspouts from 5 separate straight sections of gutter. That would at least match the gutter details elsewhere. Bottom line...It's a stupid design!

On the south/west thing...I probably have that wrong. You guys down there are actually backwards from King County, aren't you? So if this is the north or east sides I would have a bit less concern. I would doubt that the shingles themselves are going to suffer that much, certainly no more than having a downspout directing all runoff onto a single area.

I don't see how that would work. As Tom pointed out, you would really need 5 downspouts in order for all sections to drain. What they (or the dumb architect) should have done was extend the 3 shorter sections of roof so that it was a straight shot across. The house faces south or west, correct? I would worry about splashback onto the siding as the prevailing winds are going to be pushing it that way. I think you did right in calling it, and your client should be aware that it's not ideal, but I can also understand the resistance in fixing it.

I found this here... http://iaei-western.org/Files/2008/2008 ... el_Q&A.doc

from the faucets

Try a line/load reversal of the neutrals only. I don't know if it would or could do it but my thinking is that once power to the hot side is cut when the receptacle is tripped the tester may be sensing current on the still connected neutral. Even if that is a possibility (???) I would suspect the results would depend on what else was on that circuit, upstream.

As Mike said the condensation itself is normal...but the water pouring out of that joint when disconnected would seem to indicate inadequate slope back towards the furnace on that "horizontal" run.

My camera, a Panasonic TZ5, has an "Intelligent Auto" setting that I leave it on all the time for inspections. It changes to Macro by itself when needed. I do always check the data plate photos to ensure they were in focus. Maybe once out of every 10 data plate shots, I have to retake a photo. Here's a typical example, albeit at much lower res than the original...(finger keeping wires out of the way) Download Attachment: dataplate.jpg 142.63 KB As Chad said, on other cameras there should be a fairly obvious macro setting.

My handwriting is awful. I take photos of the serial numbers. Less chance to screw them up.

Mostly hand/finger signals. Taking the bathroom example, I'll make an "L" for a loose toilet or crossed fingers for the hot/cold reversed. Noisy exhaust fan...a wierd looking "N", not working at all...thumb down. No exhaust fan...I take a photo of the bare ceiling. A picture of my suretest plugged in showing "6500" for no GFCI. But, I also carry a pad to quickly jot down stuff that doesn't work well with photos.