mgbinspect

Thanks for the responses. I know this is going to sound a bit masochistic, but I kinda miss the days when you guys (Jim K, Jimmy, Kurt, WJ and Chad), would immediately close in for the kill regarding the slightest corruption of the English language. As brutal as it was to be on the receiving end of such an onslaught, it certainly was educational - English 101. As an eternally aspiring writer, with a long way to go for sure, I liked it. I have grown to believe that we stay out of trouble by inspecting well, but we create the lasting memory of a professional through writing well. And, I seem to recall Mike O beating into our heads the profession was that right word, as opposed to industry. [:-tophat] PS. I always particularly enjoyed the tiny under the breath comments WJ would make, regarding a post, that painted a picture of him drumming his fingers while resisting every urge to erupt.

Or cares, even with a picture. Is that BB King I hear singing in the background low and slow? "The thrill is gone... " [:-weepn] Nah... Couldn't be.... Just a passing melancholy moment. Yeah, that's the ticket! [:-shades]

Boy, either it's never been put to me quite like that, or I've forgotten it. That's good info. Thanks.

Indeed, You're right, I had forgotten that gravity water systems also have large distribution pipes. Am I correct that steam is always large diameter pipes? I don't ever recall seeing small pipes on a steam system.

Opening the door wouldn't. Typically an oil burner cuts off if it isn't experiencing consistent fuel flow and flame. If the tank was allowed to go empty and was just filled, the fuel may be contaminated by all the crap that was on the bottom. (It's best to never let the tank get too low, and, if it does, you need to leave the boiler off for a few hours for the crud to settle down. Once the jets in an oil-burning system get crap in them, that's all she wrote. It will run like a dog until the filter is changed and the jet is replaced. This is so critical that, as a disaster restoration contractor, I dealt with many a back-puff (a disaster where the oil burner system soots up the entire house with black oily soot - big money to undo - a mess! Thousands of dollars.) Also, the burner is controlled by a temperature sensor. When the water gets to the prescribed temp, it shuts down until the water temp drops a few degrees and then repeats the process. Next time one cuts out on you, try hitting the reset button on top of the transformer. If it fires up again, you're low on fuel or the fuel's contaminated. An oil-burner won't run more than about maybe 15 seconds without a good flame, to avoid a flash fire in the firebox.

Maybe, but I doubt it. Richmond is boiler land too. There's a ton of them downtown (Inspected two this week already). Most of the steam is gone now. In fact, come to think of it, I bet it's been eight to ten years since I've seen a steam system. At any rate, the old vintage oil burning boilers always have those big service doors to make a thorough cleaning easy. Imagine that... But, they're not very efficient. The original oil burner assembly for that boiler was huge in comparison to what you see there - probably 1/3 bigger. And, yes, steam will always have a site glass because water level is critical.

I was always amazed by how fast a gravity system heats up.

When I first started inspecting, there were a lot of old gravity hot water systems here, and believe it or not, they heat up almost as fast as a circulated system. Also, the expansion tank is a giveaway. A steam system has no need for an expansion tank. Air (steam) is compressible, but water is not. Hence, the expansion tank. When water heats up and expands, it needs somewhere to go. Now, I should back up and correct myself slightly. Many steam systems are converted to hot water, so don't be fooled if you see large distribution pipes with a hot water system. In such a case, you are looking at a steam system that has been converted to hot water.

That photo doesn't show much, but as a rule, steam distribution lines tend to be huge in comparison to hot water - like 3" to 4" diameter.

This is an interesting word: I was reluctant to respond to "have" until I was able to research it a bit. Although, many of use "have" in this fashion (me included, from time to time), the definition doesn't seem to support the use as a command regarding a personal action. It appears that "have", as a transitive verb, would relate to an object or quality, rather than an action. So, you can say, "Have faith!"; "Have a good day." or "Have a smoke." But, "have someone do something." may be questionable. The defitions would suggest that, if you choose to use "have", it is proper to write "Have the furnace serviced by a licensed HVAC contractor." instead of "Have a licensed HVAC contractor service the furnace." Is anyone able to authoritatively nail this down? Jim, Jimmy, Chad? I'm not certain myself. This is a tough one.

Thanks. Added to the list.

Improve (added to the list) Consider (added to the list) I use it when proposing a suggested upgrade Test (added to the list)

OK, Thanks. That's a relief.

That'll work. I'm deciding what to do about a cannister light nicely surrounded by blown cellulose. Properly installed or not, I'm not excited about the combination, especially when I envisioned someone installing an over sized bulb. I figured there'd be a past thread on this one. That being said, does anyone else have a particular uncomfortable feeling about cannister lights and cellulose insulation?

Yeah, try as you may, it's difficult to contort "recommend" into a HI friendly implied command. Reform! Although that doesn't work either. [:-tophat]

I've been through every generation of T-Mobile SideKick ever made. They're not as spectacular as a lot of phones out there. The SideKick is more akin to a little laptop that will fit in the palm of your hand. I can't bring myself to move (allegedly) up to the newer phones. The sideKick does all that I need it to.

My little phone screen didn't do your pic justice. Yeah, that's pretty ugly. Didn't mean to appear smart. I wasn't able to really tell what your concern was. It looked pretty tight on the little screen. Pardon'

Eh, thanks Neal. (I think) Kinda hard to imagine using "go" in a report, but it's the thought that counts, right? Yeah, that's the ticket... BTW, you wasted a word there, Neal. "Go" could have been implied by merely stating "pound sand". [:-graduat

Here are words well suited for use in our profession in imperative mood: Address Adjust Align Apply Arrange Ask Budget Call Clear Consider (useful as a way to suggest a future upgrade) Correct Create Dig Eliminate Ensure Excavate Fasten Fix Have Hire Improve Inquire Insulate Install Level Identify Inspect Obtain Plan Pull Reconfigure Reinforce Relocate Remediate Remedy Remove Repair Replace Reposition Request Reset Rotate Secure Seek Service Survey Test Use This is obviously an incomplete list - a start. So, please contribute words that are equally usefull in report writing and I'll move them up into alphabetical order in the list and it can serve as an online resource. Maybe eventually, it can be moved to the download library as a Word document.

because... ?

In a nutshell, embellishment and superfluous language are the enemies of good report writing.

It's simply good business writing, which I was first turned onto in the mid-eighties by The Fred Pryor Career-Track Seminar - Effective Business Writing. Their message was: Successful business people tend to be busy, and don't appreciate others wasting their precious time with inefficient writing.

Yes, *.* is old computer file lingo for "whatever" Exactly, don't beat around the bush on what to do next. Be precise. Leave no doubt. In a recent thread I took someone's sixty word beast of a paragraph and reduced it to a fifteen word crystal clear sentence, which included everything they had attempted to convey. That is the beauty of first person active voice implied command.

When it comes to clear issues, that need attention, I am crystal clear on what action needs to be taken or what specialist needs to be contacted for further evaluation. Otherwise, you'll get a call for direction that, in my opinion, was omitted. If there's a question in our client's mind regarding what the next step is, we failed. Even implied commands are merely recommendattions. We have no authority regarding the transfer of a property. The buyer can choose tto disregard the action item and the seller can refuse to perform it, but there's no question regarding what was recommended.

Or, consider my favorite approach, which saves a ton of keystrokes and is crystal clear -first person, active tense, implied commands: Remove and replace *.* due to *.* Correct the *.* which is *.* Align and secure the loose *.* Identify and eliminate the source of the *.* Install a *.* Besides saving keystrokes, nothing gets lost in translation because agents usually find it easiest to either copy the summary, as is, or attach it and basically write "what he said", so there are no questions or debates over the action items. Everything simply ends up being a yes, I'll do it or No, I won't issue. Returning to the subject matter, is it my imagination, or does that material look like it's never even seen its first fire? It's awefully thin, like maybe 1/4", yes?