Yooper

What can happen? A lot, if equipment is installed improperly and combustion air is inadequate. Inspected a home this week with a small laundry/mechanical area. This room connected a bathroom/bedroom and the kitchen and in it was an 80% furnace, gas fired water heater and a clothes dryer. All this and no combustion air! I indicated to call a heating contractor to have a combustion air inlet installed and to get the CO monitor off the ceiling to a lower point in the sleeping area of the house. In winter months, here in Michigan anyway, windows are closed and a furnace in an area where it can't get enough combustion air can back draft and cause real problems. Least of all, inefficient operation.

Thanks Marc, Had I remembered what I read in Electrical Inspections of Existing Dwellings recently, I would not have had to ask. I'm weak at electrical and trying to soak up all I can as quickly as I can. Thanks again for your help! Scott

Is this a split bus panel setup with no main shut off? Click to Enlarge 50.16 KB Click to Enlarge 72.18 KB

Thanks for the responses! I am concerned about pricing and even have that yet to nail down. Selling my self and the company I represent, is something I'm very comfortable with. A published price may put me in a bad spot and the last thing any of us want to do is to try to get more after the fact and quickly loose a client. Thanks for all the help! Scott

Does anyone post inspection fees on their website? I know this can always be done later, just wondered if it was good to show this up front or handle per inquiry. (None of my local competitors do, just for reference) If this has been already discussed, please steer me to it. Scott

The SureSeal is indeed only designed to be used with a trap. This was introduced to compete with the a trap primer, a device that takes a small amount of water from a potable water line and trickles it into a drain. This is only to keep the trap full of water. The Sureseal just allows a little water through when commercial restrooms are mopped and slows trap evaporation waaaay down. It has been approved for commercial applications only from what I understand.

There are elk to see. The bulls are incredible with their huge antlers. We stay out of the rivers in the early part of trout season for the very reason you mentioned. After visitors leave we get out and enjoy mostly quiet waters. I work in applied sales for the HVAC business so if you need any information, please let me know. Scott

Kurt, I'll try to be brief... In our example we'll use a 30' x 40' ranch house with 8' ceilings on a crawlspace, 120 sf glass and doors. Geographic location is northern Michigan where we design to 10 degrees above zero. I often use a lower temperature of 10 below 0 to cover the brief times like it was last night for a few hours. The U values are from the Manual J book and are the inverse of R values. Infilatration is on volume and air changes per hour. We'll use .018 U value and .25 air changes per hour on a newer well constructed home. The roof (attic) area is 1200 SF and an R value of 40 (required here in Michigan) Net wall area is 1000 SF R value 21 Floor over an insulated crawlspace is U value of .06 Glass U value is .35 again required by energy code. I use the same for entry doors but they would actually have a better U value. 1 / R value = U value Infiltration .018 x 9600 (vol) x .25 air changes/hr x 60 (temp diff) = 2592 Roof .03 x 1200 (SF) x 60 = 2160 Walls .05 x 1000 x60 = 3000 Floor .06 x 1200 (SF) x 60= 4320 Glass/Doors .35 x 120 x 60= 2520 Total BTU load per hour is 14592 So.... a furnace that has an output of 15,000 Btu minumum would be required to heat this house. If hydronic heat is used, 25' of standard baseboard of 580 BTU output per foot (reference Weil-McLain ThermaTrim baseboard) would be required - along with a boiler of adequate size. There is more to it from here, zoning and flow would be taken into consideration to select proper valves, thermostats, etc. If you wish to go into in a separate communication, I would be glad to try to be a help. Scott

Kurt A simple method I use often, is a five line calculation that can be used in a block/thermal envelope manner or room by room. The five load points are: Infiltration Roof Walls Floor Glass U value (inverse of R value) X area X delta T or temp differential = load in BTU/hour If a job requires it, I use Manual J but often this simple method works very well. Happy to work through an example if it would be helpful. Scott

The clear rectangular box is the very end of the heat exchanger and meant to collect condensate from the combustion process. Some other furnace brands are black and you just don't see the condensate. If it is draining properly and the furnace is running, all is well.