Richard Moore

For warranty inspections, I give my clients the choice of a full report or a defect only punchlist for a reduced fee. "Punchlist" is probably not the correct term as it will include photos when I think they would be helpful. I have a special agreement for these with an area for the client to initial the option they decide on. Most clients, after living in their homes for almost a year, don't need the purely descriptive stuff (materials, locations, etc) and choose the defect only report. That is definitely the case when I did the original inspection and they already have that report. I lose a little money on these but I'm happy to swap that for the time saved on the report.

Ah! [:I] THAT makes so much more sense than all the piddly little wires as SECs. Thanks Jim.

Ummmm...??? Is the only meter on the smaller weatherhead? I can't tell how everything is connected to the panel but it looks like they are stealing electricity. Not to mention the more obvious crap.

Honestly, I really don't feel I need it but, at this point in an old fart's life, I just don't want to risk my savings, equity, etc. And it keeps the wife from worrying (very important). On the bright side it is a business expense and therefore tax deductable so, for me, the true cost is 30+% less than the actual amount.

OK. Very nice. But why I do have a sudden urge for a cigarette?

I believe that would be October, 1999. I'm guessing a bit on the month, assuming 0 would be 10(?). See this https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/Forum ... C_ID=10028

I'm with Brandon. The blue clashes with the new, designer maroon, navigation bar. Whatever color it was before(?), I think I preferred that. But, then, it's not my room.

I wouldn't want to put it like that. If that's all they do then you may end up with an unreliable or inadequate path to the utility grounded conductor, which means that a short or ground fault in a circuit might not trip that circuit's breaker. The rules for this "sub-panel" set-up are fairly simple, haven't really changed that much, and I doubt they differ in any significant way from one jurisdiction to the next. 1: The panel should have a floating neutral bar with all neutrals, and only neutrals, connected to it. 2: The grounding bar should be separate and properly bonded to the panel. All grounding conductors should go to that. 3: A reliable, continuous, grounding conductor should go to the service equipment (panel/disconnect). That could be the original EMT (at this stage it would be wise to test that) or an added conductor, but not the water piping. (Note that I have no objections to the connection to the water piping from the sub-panel, but it should only be considered as bonding of the metallic piping and not the actual grounding.) 4: The neutrals and grounds should be bonded at the service equipment which should be properly connected to grounding electrodes.

No, it's an unreliable path at best, and totally inadequate if the piping is not also bonded at the service disconnect. I assume they used to use the EMT as the grounding conductor, which is OK. Any reason they can't still use it? With the mixed grounds and neutrals and the two ground/neutral bars tied together in the sub-panel, I would have to wonder if this was ever right. It certainly isn't now and it doesn't seem that the renovation sparky knows what the hell he's doing.

W is either 1980 or 2000 (and presumably will be 2020). Hopefully, you can tell the difference between a 29 year old heater and one only 9 years old. The following is a little out of date, but you can pencil in A=2004, B=2005, etc, etc Download Attachment: BW-WH-letter-codes.pdf 20.27 KB I carry a few of these brand charts with me for those serial numbers which are not obvious. It's nice to be able to tell the client how old their appliance is on site.

While mostly true, there are some exceptions out there. Ayrlett, for one, makes a black ABS AAV. http://www.ayrlett.com/aav/products.html

I've never seen it but I would assume it's there to collect any iron scraps/filings/etc that were left in the piping and have clogged burners or valves in the past. Did you have sediment traps (dirt legs) at the appliances?

According to the chart I have, and the decoder in the library here, that would be the 49th week (December) of 2004. BTW, you can find the TIJ furnace decoder chart either by clicking on the Library button above, and then Popular Files, or directly at https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... _CHART.doc .

I had a call from the agent today. He had contacted Seattle Light as I had suggested and found out that they had, indeed, disconnected power some time ago. I have to believe that they wouldn't deliberately leave one leg live and so I suspect that, due to the small and tight meter base, one of the conductors had "sprung" back into contact with a terminal. Just a guess tho. Maybe a plastic sleeve came off as they re-inserted the meter. Or...it could be a Bubba. Evidently they are coming out tomorrow to restore power. I may or may not find out more. One question remains...would/could a water heater get damaged this way? I'm fairly sure it's not good for electric motors, but would it harm elements?

Interesting roof treatment at the rakes. Are the comp shingles somehow attached to half-round forms? I kind of, sort of like the fake thatched look, but are they going to hold up with that much bend?

Hmmm, good possibility Sherlock! The foam was pretty old and brittle (broke off a piece later on) so I'm not sure and it really doesn't answer the question about one leg being live (or one leg dead). This was a flip gone bad, both physically and financially, that has been empty for at least 6 months. But, at some point before that I would have to believe they had power to both legs. I've e-mailed the client and agent recommending that they contact the utility company and report the one-leg-only power. Thanks, I'll get back to what is going to be a long report.

OK...I think I've answered some of my own questions via Google. The locking ring appears to be a Rhino Ring. http://www.inner-tite.com/rhinoringrelease.html And, they are sold to utility comapnies for meter security... "The Rhino Ring can be an integral tool for electric utilities that are faced with incidences of meter tampering and theft of electricity by restricting attempts to remove the meter. Installation of the ring can also be an effective tool for collection departments wishing to lock-off the meter due to bad debt." The questions remain about how or why one leg is still energized and possible damage to the water heater, but this does appear to be the utility company's doing.

Yeah, that was my thought. I did "sniff" the conductors at the weatherhead. Both live. There was nothing unusual in the panel itself, so the only place I could see there being a break would be at the meter. I wonder if they actually disconnected both but one somehow got back in touch with the terminal?

Had a foreclosure today. Water was locked off for non-payment but the agent managed to get the utility company to come out and turn it on, temporarily. Electricity seemed to be on but after some strange results and readings inside I then discovered that one leg/phase was dead in the service panel. The meter had this lock on it that I haven't seen before. Click to Enlarge 18.9 KB Is this the sort of thing a utility company would stick on after cutting power? Would the utility company do soemthing as potentially damaging as only cutting power to one leg? The house had been winterized only a couple of weeks ago and the water heater breaker was off (with a note). If the breaker had been on before that but after the one phase was cut, could the elements at this 2007 WH be fried?

Why am I not surprised to hear that? Item 10 in the background facts suggests they were occupant homeowners. So we supposedly have two lawyers living in this place. It doesn't exactly reek of success does it? Something tells me that they may not have been top of the class at Harvard.

Hi Randy, Just a thought. Besides the ICC thing, I assume you produce your reports as a pdf file? As the vast majority of your customers are going to be using Adobe reader, it would seem wise for you to check the files you produce using the same, standard software. I always download mine after uploading them and give them a quick once over (using Adobe reader) to ensure nothing went wrong when I created them (using PDF995). I then copy and paste the link into the notification e-mail directly from the browser window. That way I can't screw up the address.

What BS! The buyers made an ammended offer after the inspection of $240,000 which, based on what looks to be a thorough and NORMAL report, was more than reasonable. So, the inspection would have cost the sellers a maximum of $10K had they accepted that. Surely they didn't/don't think their POS was in perfect condition? I smell stupidity, greed and an ambulance chaser. You are right that this would be an "alarming precedent" but I can't believe this will get very far in court. Hopefully, TREC, etc will support the HI, unless they want to see the home inspection business disappear.

Chuck, I'll leave the insurance questions to others but as for the NHIE... If you have, indeed, been studying hard I doubt you will have much difficulty passing. Having just recently taken the thing myself for our new state licenses, I have to say I was quite disappointed in how easy it was. I think the pass rate is 70%. I'm not sure exactly how they calculate that, but IMHO, that's horribly low and I wish the bar was set higher. Keep up the studying, go through the archives & library here, but don't sweat the exam too much. There's ample time and no need to rush so just make sure you read the questions thoroughly and carefully. Watch out for negatives as in "what is not an approved etc, etc".

Yeah, sorry, I either misread the original post or got a little sidetracked by Bill. I wasn't referring to unlined masonry chimneys being used for gas appliances. That's an additional set of problems, and an easy call I've made numerous times in older homes. I don't remember actually seeing this, but I'm talking about a clay lined masonry chimney that is now being used to vent a gas furnace and water heater. It would seem that the main issue there is draw due to oversizing whenever the water heater is being used alone...summer or winter.

I think I asked this a few year ago, somewhere else, and I don't think I got an answer that really sat well with me...so I'll try again: In this situation, why do we only worry about an orphaned water heater when, even if a furnace is still in use, the water heater may be the only appliance running?