hausdok

Hi, I'm thinking golden buprestid larvae damage. OT - OF!!! M.

Coming soon to a home near you! Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Many thanks to Phillip R. Smith Sr. Sweet Home Inspections Samantha (Tuscaloosa), AL

Editor's Note: I prepared the following alert in January of 2008 but it somehow didn't post and remained hidden in the archive so I'm re-posting it now. Washington, D.C./January 10, 2008 - Release #08-161 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with A.O. Smith Electrical Products Co., of Tipp City, Ohio , today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 6,300 whole-house exhaust fan electric motors that can be miswired and overheat, posing a fire hazard. The recalled electric motor is part of a residential whole-house exhaust fan that is typically mounted on the floor of an attic. The shutters of the fan are visible on the ceiling of the floor beneath the attic and must be opened and closed by the consumer. The motors were included with exhaust fans manufactured and distributed by Air Vent Inc. and Triangle Engineering of Arkansas Inc. "A.O. Smith," the model number, and the service date code are printed on the rating plate of the motor. The recall includes model numbers S56A30A54 andS56A30A97, and service date codes 032076M - 334076M, 03207JY - 33407JY, and YB07 - YL07. Units that have a sticker indicating that the unit has been rewired are not subject to this recall. The fans were manufactured in Mexico and the recalled motors, included with the exhaust fans, were sold at home improvement stores nationwide or by professional installers or builders from February 2007 through November 2007 for about $3,000. Inspectors finding these fans should advise homeowners to stop using the recalled unit immediately and contact A.O. Smith to arrange for a free inspection and repair of the motor. For more information, contact contact A.O. Smith toll-free at (866) 567-3878 between 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's Web site at www.aosmithmotors.com To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled product, please go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08161.html The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Editors's Note: The following was submitted to TIJ via E-mail by James Simmons (User name: Mr. Electric). Mr. Simmons is a Master Electrician who has trained many home inspectors how to inspect for electrical deficiencies. The attached pictures are from a repair we just did (we are getting him a price to replace the service). If you look at the first two pictures you see what the breaker looks like on a visual inspection. Then the last picture shows what the 125-amp breaker actually looks like! There are several issues with Zinsco/Sylvania: 1. The first one is this is the reason I recommend a licensed electrician look at every Zinsco/Sylvania panel. You just cannot visually tell that there may be a major problem with them. It is very dangerous to remove a breaker in these panels especially since many of them (this one included) do not have a main breaker. 2. The second issue is that these panels are junk and are by far the highest number of panel problems that we find (followed by ITE, Murray, FPE, and older Siemens). 3. The last reason is that the breakers are very unreliable. I have seen 20-amp breakers with continuous 30-amp loads on them without tripping more than once. We have seen many examples over the years where Zinsco/Sylvania breakers are overloaded and did not trip. Please feel free to use these pictures, forward the email, or to post the information. Jim P. Simmons Mr. Electric PH: 360-705-4225 Click to Enlarge 53.01 KB Click to Enlarge 24.45 KB Click to Enlarge 52.3 KB Click to Enlarge James P. (Jim) Simmons owns and operates a Mr. Electric franchise in Olympia, Washington. Jim is a Master Electrician that has been licensed since 1975. He's done several seminars for home inspectors (NAHI/ASHI); has taught classes on the NEC as a Washington State Department of Labor and Industries approved instructor; has served on the Board of the Puget Sound Section of IAEI (International Association of Electrical Inspectors) since 1994; has served on the Washington State Electrical Board since 1999; is a member of the board of directors for the Olympia Master Builders (representing over 1000 members in Western Washington); and was named Top Gun at the 2008 Mr. Electric National convention.

Hi, Thanks for letting me know about the link. I've removed it and replaced it with three new links. I don't know if the one out of those three that Fisette wrote is the one I'd previously linked or not but I'm sure his answer is probably about the same. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

PDWT! For you easterners, the drones are about 1/2 to 5/8 inch long and the soldiers with full head on close to 3/4-inch long. I used to have a little terrarium sitting on my desk with a rotten piece of wood in it and about 5,000 PDWT. One day I forgot to put the lid back on after dropping a fresh piece of rotten wood into the tank. I left and when I came back from the job my crow was sitting on the edge of the tank drowsing and looking very bloated. Not a single termite left in the tank! ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Yeah, It was like that when I did Dennis Wilson's house - same thing when I did that Yanetski Betancourt's house. The realtor told me Wilson was a baseball dude before the inspection but since I don't pay attention to baseball it didn't mean much to me. He turned out to be a nice young laid back guy - in his mid-30's or thereabouts, I guess. We were in the basement checking out some efflorescense on the foundation wall when I said to Wilson, "So, I hear you're a baseball guy." "Yep, guess you could say that," he answered. "Sorry, I don't know much about the sport, I never watch it on TV," I said. "Me neither," he answered with a grin. We got on fine after that. Guess he was happy not to have someone going all google-eyed and pestering him for his autograph. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Maybe one of these will help: http://www.midamericanenergy.com/pdf/gas_srv_manual.pdf http://www.nicor.com/nsr/atyourservice0305.pdf ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

The guy that put in all of those systems probably wears both belt and suspenders on his pants. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I've heard that and it seems to make sense to me; although I know next-to-nothing about heat pumps. I didn't even bring up heat pumps because the OP's question was about "firing" up "furnaces". I kind of expanded that logic to include boilers because they also burn fossil fuel to produce heat and aren't powered solely by electricity as electric heaters, electric central heating systems and heat pumps are. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

That's precisely what we do. I'll fire it just before I'm going into the crawlspace and run it only long enough to make sure that it works and won't short-cycle. Then I shut it down and switch it over to fan mode to cool it down while I'm down in the crawlspace. If I'm working alone that day, I'll ask the client to walk through the home and check to ensure there is air kicking out of all registers; if Yung is with me, she'll do that while I'm doing the crawl. By the time I come up through that crawl hatch the exchanger, and the house as well to a certain extent, has cooled down. The hardest ones for me to do are the radiant heating, hot water and steam systems. These take a while to come up to temp and stay warm for a long time after you shut them down. They have to be hell in the summertime for folks who live in those climes where they are the norm and FHA is the exception. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Dumbwaiter chases? OT - OF!!! M.

Ditto Jim, I can't see a reason either other than the inconvenience of a warmer house to those present and the seller when he returns home. The seller will get over it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Great. There's this little hole in the Battinkill, right behind - aw, skip it. I don't know you well enough yet. Connecticut conservatism at it's best. OT - OF!!! M.

How about a little fun quiz - The responses from across the country should be interesting. 4th Picture from the top - What made this damage? 1. Rot and subterranean termites 2. Rot and powder-post beetles 3. Rot and carpenter ants 3. Rot and pacific dampwood termites 4. Rot and moisture ants 5. Rot and annobiidae (death watch beetles) 6th Photo from the top - What made this damage? 1. Rot and subterranean termites 2. Rot and powder-post beetles 3. Rot and carpenter ants 3. Rot and pacific dampwood termites 4. Rot and moisture ants 5. Rot and annobiidae (death watch beetles) 8th photo from the top - What made this damage? 1. Rot and subterranean termites 2. Rot and powder-post beetles 3. Rot and carpenter ants 3. Rot and pacific dampwood termites 4. Rot and moisture ants 5. Rot and annobiidae (death watch beetles) Rob, wait till you get a dozen or so responses before you declare a winner. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Florida has apparently had so many issues with mold, and persons passing themselves off as "mold professionals" that they've found it necessary to recently pass a new law regulating mold assessors and remediators. The thing that strikes me is that those who end up drawing up the rules for this thing might end up being those who are minimally trained in the first place, instead of being from the scientific community, and it might just give legitimacy to one or more of these so called mold associations that have been using junk science as their springboard for years. Dr. Fallah, I'm wondering if you've seen this and if you'd care to comment on whether this makes sense or is just one more over-reaction to media hype. Thanks, ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I've seen it here a few times. Here, they just insulated the walls and the ceiling of the stairwell. OT - OF!!! M.

Which is why I said that it isn't necessarily true. I have a paper here from Rheem that explains how to pipe parallel vs. series and it explains that they should be piped in series when they aren't the same capacity or Btu and that the smaller one should be in second position so it's not overworked. I just spent some time trying to find it on the Rheem site but they've redone their site and I'm no longer able to access all of the technical bulletins they told us we could use here. That means that I'll have to re-type the article, scan the diagrams and then input the whole thing manually. That's going to take me a day or two, 'cuz I just don't have the time right now. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Not necessarily true. If you are adding a second tank to an existing system, such as when there's a new addition added, they can be plumbed in series if they are not the same BTU/Capacity, in which case the one with smaller capacity and less Btu/Hr is in second place. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

She'll probably blame her failure to attend on the affects of mold. OT - OF!!! M.

When you install a window it's clear and you can see through it. When it gets dirty, you clean it so that you can see through it again. You expect to be able to see through it. When a seal fails on a double-paned window and there's condensation or mildew between the glass, the window is no longer able to do what it was intended to do - provide you a clear unobstructed view without opening the window. If folks want window with clouded glass they can purchase them made that way; otherwise they should be clear and free of condensation. As far as I'm concerned, no amount of rationalization can justify not calling for replacement or repair of a failed cell. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Take a look at Bain's link. Which one of those balances were used? OT - OF!!! M.

That's pretty much what the edges of the sound deadening insulation looks like in just about every return air plenum that I've looked into for the past 13 years. All of the big scientific honchos agree, fiberglass is an element that bio degrades in the human body and it is not harmful to humans beyond minor irritation. I can remember one memorable series of inspections where the guy's wife would have me go into the attic and crawlspace first to see if there was any fiberglass insulation in the home. She swore up and down that she was hyper-sensitive to it and that it makes her sick. She even had a copy of Jeff Mayes book that she brought along to the inspections. As soon as she discovered that there was fiberglass in the attic or crawlspace, the inspection was stopped, she handed over a check and away I went. She finally bought a house that had the attic insulated with cells and was uninsulated in the walls or under the floors. The return air plenum for that forced air system had sound deadening insulation that was in about the same condition as your photo. So far, it's been about 8 years. I drive by that house several times a week and they still live there. Guess she isn't as sensitive to insulation as she thought she was. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Older with weights - sash cord, sash chains, window weights. Newer - balances - lot of types, the most common ones I see are the ones with the spring, mini block and tackle and thin nylon string. The damn springs break all the time. You can find one or two that have broken during an inspection and everything else will be fine and then a couple of weeks later one can break without any warning. I got a few calls about them back in the 90's but smartened up. Rather than get that phone call from the client about, "Hey, you missed a broken spring on one of my windows and now it won't open," I now give 'em a 1-minute mini lesson on how to remove the sash and replace a broken balance. Haven't had one of those calls in about 9 years. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Jeez Jodi, It's all right there on the label to the right of the temp control dial. Just read the flash sequence and compare it to the label and you'll know whether it's normal or something needs to be done to correct it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike