hausdok

Hi Charlie, If you go to the Advanced Energy link above and check out their study, one of the study houses was dne that way. OT - OF!!! M.

Yes, See my post above from 4:39 pm. That's what I was referring to when I said that it was conditioned air. Sometimes they are used as plenums and they're under positive pressure; sometimes they simply have floor registers opening into them, but what they had in common was the fact that they were conditioned. OT - OF!!! M.

OK, Well, I didn't think any of you actually walked around taking pictures of folks eating lunch at the home inspection conventions. Guess I was wrong. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

This I can tell you. Research done by the Northwest Wall and Ceiling Bureau has determined that wind-driven rain can be pushed 3-4 inches up behind siding during severe storms, so you'd want to ensure that there's at least a 3-4 inch overlap onto that flashing. If the long leg is only 5 inches and you leave a 3" flashing reveal, you've now created a situation where there's only 2-inches of flashing behind the siding. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jesse, What you don't realize is that when the winter weather is dry like that and you close your crawl the crawl becomes cooler and drier than the interior of your home. All that moisture that you create in your interior is going to be seeking 24/7 to find it's way into the crawl through a process known as "vapor diffusion." Under certain conditions, that can cause that vapor to become trapped between the underside of floors and insulation, condense on pipes in the crawl, and lead to fungal growth. You know what the conditions in your crawl are, but conditions in other folks' crawls might be more prone than yours to cause those conditions if they seal them up. This is a case-by-case basis thing. The only blanket statement that I think applies is that a completely sealed crawlspace will be fine, regardless of climate, only if it is conditioned space. Others might have had different experiences than I. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

I've seen probably a dozen since 1996. Completely sealed off from outside but the air inside conditioned. That's one of the things that Dr. Joe advocates - turning them into conditioned space. The typical crawl is not conditioned space. If you seal it off from the house without introducing it into the conditioned envelope of the house, you can make those already horrible conditions worse. That's a reasonable statement that I can agree with. However, just saying to seal them, and giving folks a link to Dr. Joe's top 10, without going into what Dr. Joe advocates doing in those areas when you do seal them, could result in lots of folks telling clients, "Seal 'em," with only half the story. Fair enough, but I spend a lot of time in crawlspaces. To me, and others in crawlspace country, a discussion of how to seal them, or not seal them, is meaningful. I've seen vented crawlspaces under homes built in flood plain areas that were 100% flooded with several inches of water under them, but with well installed vapor barriers, where there were no issues. Then I've seen crawls where the houses were high and dry and owners thought they'd seal them in the winter, without understanding what can happen when that's done, and they created a situation that ended up with fungi growing all over the place, wood rot, and insects. If Ken closes off the vents, he needs to make sure that any soil under the home is fully capped and sealed, and then he should condition that space, because, unvented, he's going to get a situation where vapor diffusion from the interior of the home will drive moisture down into that crawl where he'll have created a huge petri dish. The probability of someone creating the large petri dish is a lot higher with an existing crawl than it is with one of Dr. Joe's ideal situations, which are aimed at new construction, because if the homeowners got a nasty crawl that's all dank, littered with rat droppings and everything else that comes with that, he's certainly not going to want to vent that into his interior, so he'll probably leave it as sealed unconditioned space and ultimately get himself in trouble. Most crawls I've been in are well above freezing, even in the worst winter weather here. I'm sure that I couldn't say the same if I were in New England, but I remember that our unheated and vented basement (a root cellar, really) where I grew up in New York only got down to freezing during unusually cold winters, so closing the vents when the temps in there are above freezing just doesn't make sense to me; especially if the floors and the pipes are insulated. A while back, I had a really nasty crawl and recommended that my client consider having it cleaned out and getting it sealed using Jeff Tooley's methods, as described by Advanced Energy Corporation's study and explained numerous times in JLC. The only thing I recommended that he not do was close the vents, because he didn't want to spend money conditioning that space during the winter. The contractor hired to do the job talked to me and then cleaned it out and installed the barrier. It turned out beautifully - more like the interior of an operating room than a crawlspace. Even with the vents open, it's going to be a pleasure for anyone to inspect that area from now on. There are regional differences that mean a lot when it comes to crawls. The humidity in the southeast is so bad in the summertime that leaving a crawl open during the summer can cause the exact things that closing them off improperly in the winter in northern climates can cause. Anyone in the southeast who has a crawlspace beneath their home, and is considering closing it, should spend some time checking out Advanced Energy's website. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, I've seen them separate like that when it had nothing to do with settling and everything to do with the framing shrinking behind the veneer. By the way, that soldier's row under the window look awfully flat and that can sometimes be a tipoff that the framing has shrunken behind the veneer. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi Jimmy, While I agree that there is a way to safely close and seal every crawlspace, I don' t think it's wise to simply refer someone to Dr. Joe's top 10 unless you also explain to them under what circumstances they can safely seal a crawlspace in a given climate. Seal a crawlspace incorrectly, and, I don't care where you are, you can damage the home. OT - OF!!! M.

Washington, D.C./November 7, 2007 - Release #08-073 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Carrier Corp., of Farmington, Conn., today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 185,000 packaged terminal air conditioners (PTAC) and heat pumps (PTHP) manufactured in Mexico due to a defective electric heater in the units that can break, posing a fire hazard to consumers. These are Carrier-brand packaged terminal air conditioners (PTAC) and packaged terminal heat pumps (PTHP) manufactured between 2001 and 2005. Model numbers included in the recall are 52C, 52P, and unbranded model 84 units sold through the Bryant and FAST channels. Serial and model numbers are located on the rating/data plate on the right front of the unit, underneath the removable front panel. A complete list of the serial numbers involved in this recall can be found at www.carrierptacrecall.com. The units were sold with 208/230 and 265volts, and have capacities of 7,000, 9,000, 12,000, and 15,000 BTUs.. These were sold through HVAC dealers and factory-direct sales from January 2002 through December 2006 for between $425 and $675. Inspectors finding these breakers should advise homeowners to stop using the heating mode of the recalled units until they are inspected in accordance with Carrier's inspection instructions, which can be found at www.carrierptacrecall.com. Consumers should contact Carrier to receive a free repair. For more information, contact Carrier at (800)761-8492 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's web site. To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including a picture of the recalled product, please click here. 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.

Washington, D.C./November 7, 2007 - Release #08-073 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Carrier Corp., of Farmington, Conn., today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 185,000 packaged terminal air conditioners (PTAC) and heat pumps (PTHP) manufactured in Mexico due to a defective electric heater in the units that can break, posing a fire hazard to consumers. These are Carrier-brand packaged terminal air conditioners (PTAC) and packaged terminal heat pumps (PTHP) manufactured between 2001 and 2005. Model numbers included in the recall are 52C, 52P, and unbranded model 84 units sold through the Bryant and FAST channels. Serial and model numbers are located on the rating/data plate on the right front of the unit, underneath the removable front panel. A complete list of the serial numbers involved in this recall can be found at www.carrierptacrecall.com. The units were sold with 208/230 and 265volts, and have capacities of 7,000, 9,000, 12,000, and 15,000 BTUs.. These were sold through HVAC dealers and factory-direct sales from January 2002 through December 2006 for between $425 and $675. Inspectors finding these breakers should advise homeowners to stop using the heating mode of the recalled units until they are inspected in accordance with Carrier's inspection instructions, which can be found at www.carrierptacrecall.com. Consumers should contact Carrier to receive a free repair. For more information, contact Carrier at (800)761-8492 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's web site. To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including a picture of the recalled product, please click here. 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.

Sure, Go to the TIJ Library to the Heating Systems category and download a copy of the serial number decoding chart. From that chart: Age is the last 3 digits of the serial number. First digit being the year and the second and the third digits being the month. Example xxxxx241 = 41st week of 1982, 92, 02, etc., xxxxx533 = 33rd week of 1985, 95, 05, etc.. If anyone has more brands and serial number decoding information to add to that, let me know so I can update it when I have the time. OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, So, how about when you sell the house, What will you do about it then? See my response to the post you made on the other thread. Wood dust is not only combustible, it's explosive. Touch off a spark in a shop full of wood dust and the vacuum caused as that dust ignites and burns will literally collapse the garage inward. In order to keep the dust down to a safe level, so you don't create an implosive event, you'll need to be running a serious dust removal system. When that's running, it's going to steal combustion air from the furnace and it's going to be burning dirty and wasting fuel. I honestly don't know why you'd waste your time with this. Now that I know that you want to use it for a woodshop, I'd recommend you install an electric quartz heater at the ceiling and forget about using a gas furnace in that garage/shop. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, Furnaces are located in garages all the time around here, so physically locating it in the garage isn't the issue. The issue is where you'll get your return air and combustion air and how you'll vent it. You'll need to set it up so that your return air isn't being drawn from within 10ft. of the burners or draft hood. That means you'll need to install a return air duct that will gather air from the opposite end of the garage from the furnace. You'll need to figure out whether there's enough combustion air in that garage for the furnace. You'll need to know the volume of the garage in cubic feet and you'll need to have 50 cubic feet for every 1,000 Btu/Hr input of the furnace. For instance, a 75,000 Btu/Hr furnace is going to need 3750 cubic feet, but a 100,000 Btu/Hr furnace will need 5,000 cubic feet. If it were a 100K Bth unit and your garage is only 20 by 20 by 10, it will be too small, so you'd then need to either cut an opening in the outside wall of the garage to allow fresh outdoor into the garage (That will only defeat the whole purpose of the furnace being installed in the garage), or you'll need to build an enclosure around the furnace to seal it off from the rest of the garage and then install a properly-sized intake vent from the outside into the furnace room so it will have sufficient combustion air. Like Jerry said, you can't use the dryer vent, so you'll need to install a double-walled 'B' vent right up through the roof, ensuring that it's correctly sized and configured and that it extends the right height above the roof. All of that's going to be expensive, and then that big unit is going to constantly short cycle, because it's way-oversized for the area you're trying to heat, and you'll stress the heat exchanger and waste fuel. You can stick it in your basement if you want to, but then you've violated the membrane between the garage and the house and you'd probably need to install backdraft dampers on the system - another cost. Also, if the basement isn't large enough in volume to accommodate both of those gas appliances (the old furnace and the new one) plus any water heaters and gas dryer, you'll need to either scavenge combustion air from the rest of your house or cut in exterior vents into the basement. If it's a heated basement, guess what? Now you've got to have both furnaces in an enclosure and get their combustion air from outside. Now do you see why Jerry is telling you to get an HVAC guy out there? This is not the type of thing one does for a do-it-yourselfer project. If I were you, I'd install a small forced-hot-air gas-burning garage heater that's sized for that 4,000 cubic foot space and drop that big furnace off at the nearest landfill. Or, if it's not too old and still in decent condition, maybe you can arrange to swap it for a small gas garage heater with a local HVAC guy. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

What a great idea! Bet if we all began doing this, the reel-tours would be very happy to stop hanging around during the inspection and would stay away from us. Click here to learn more about this innovative new approach.

Hi Eric, Yeah, that's a good point. WHILAG had folks in the room from ASHI, NAHI, AII, NACHI, AHIA, NABIE, WSPCA, WSIA, as well as myself and one or two other independents. We knew that there were more non-association-affiliated inspectors in the state than those affiliated, so it was important that the focus not be solely on associations. The turf wars began within minutes of the first meeting beginning. After one or two meetings where no real progress was being made toward consensus, it became clear that, in order to work toward developing decent recommendations for legislation, they first needed to develop a single uniform S.O.P. to accompany any recommendations; one that everyone in an association could agree enabled them to automatically meet the requirements of their associations by simply complying with the model legislation. It was a bitch. There was a lot of blood shed in that room, but none of the associations can claim that they were excluded from the process and independents can't claim that it favors only the associations. Still, it remains to be seen whether the legislators will be listening this year, because they sure as hell weren't listening last year. We were right on the brink of some pretty boneheaded stuff until it got pushed off to a sunrise review. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, The oldest ones that I've ever seen were Hotpoint brand electric water heaters and both of them were over on the Olympic peninsula in the same town about a mile apart seen about 6 months apart. Tall light tan brutes with cast iron legs and embelleshments on everything. They were both made in 1951. Can't imagine I'd want to take a bath in that water though. Wouldn't one expect there to be some kind of a black gunky coating developed on the interior of that tank by now? OT - OF!!! M.

Hi, I just got off the phone with Connecticut-Electric's POC on this issue. Spotting these isn't going to be easy because Square D only gave them the information to describe a legitimate Square D breaker and didn't share information about the tell tales on the counterfeit ones. He says that, without taking the breakers out, one should look for: 1. Only QO model breakers and not any others such as the Homeline series, etc. 2. The amperate numbers are painted in white paint on the end of the toggle. 3. When the breaker is installed the UL sticker is supposed to be upside down when the toggle is above but on the counterfeits it is rightside up. (Looking at the picture, this one has me scratching my head.) 4. The yellow tinge on the top of the chromate mounting clip. He explained that they'd contacted all of their dealers before these got out onto the market, but they have no way of knowing whether other distributors have released any counterfeit breakers. You guys can take solace in the fact that the information being put out about the counterfeits is sufficiently ambiguous that it's probably doubtful that anyone in this business could ever be blamed for missing one of the counterfeit breakers. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi, You're very welcome. I should point out that I started that sometime in the spring of 2006 and that when ASHI changed their SOP requirements to include their code of ethics I didn't go back in and redo the ASHI portion. I suppose I should, but getting re-motivated to work on that again, after spending 6 straight hours the other day moving it to a Word document and reformatting it, ain't gonna happen real soon. I think you'll find the WHILAG portions interesting. The group took home all of the various SOP's and then came back the next month to start trying to put together one that would satisfy all of the respective organizational requirements plus what the independents and franchises wanted. After the initial review, they agreed that the one that was the most comprehensive and consumer friendly was the NAHI SOP and they voted unanimously to use that as the basis for the WHILAG proposal while borrowing from some of the others. In the end, it took 6-7 months of meet 4 hours a month to get a consensus SOP that all felt satisfied the various association requirements while protecting consumers. Even though not everyone got what they wanted, the process was about as fair as it could be and the result was the best they could come up with given their differences. OT - OF!!! M.

https://www.inspectorsjournal.com/forum ... goto&id=60

Just so folks will know: I started using the intentional misspelling because the reeltors have trademarked the word, "Realtor." I don't want to bother with sticking trademark symbols into messages; and, I don't want to risk getting a cease-and-desist letter from some lawyer that I would have to hunt down, mop with honey and stake to an anthill... Oh, for any humorless reeltors' lawyers out there, the above was written in mirth. WJ Hi Walter, That's exactly why I started with the reel-tour; that, plus it kind of fits. First they reel them in, and then they are their tour guides until the clients decide what they want. OT - OF!!! M.

Les, I like you even though you are a better flirt with the ladies than I am. Seriously though, there are a lot of folks who care about establishing true qualifications and consistent standards for this thing we do. Heck, lately I've even had some real estate folks express concern to me that they're seeing inspectors who are, more and more, slavishly pandering to them but can't seem to find their way around a home's systems. Can there be any doubt that 'qualifications' are not the priority when even a few of the real estate folks are complaining? Sadly, the number of folks in this profession, and in the real estate profession, who want to keep things the way they are - with most inspectors dependent on real estate folks for referrals, and many being reel-tours' little helpers - greatly outnumbers inspectors and real estate folks who care. Heck, only a small percentage of the total number of real estate folks in this country easily outnumbers the combined total of all home inspectors. We've got no clout at all, and I don't think we're every liable to have any clout, until/unless consumers ever figure out the present paradigm, and begin to aggressively resist doing business with inspector/reel-tour trysts, demand real verification of qualifications (training and experience), and insist that all inspectors prove that they can do what it is they claim to be able to do. I don't think we're going to get that until the number of inspectors in this business who really care greatly outnumbers those who don't want to rock the boat and prefer to see things remain the same. Given the current growth spurt and the number of new folks that seem to be leaning toward the get it done fast, write as little as possible, and keep the reel-tours happy way of doing things, I don't see see reinforcements on the horizon anytime soon. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Hi Brandon, Agents can have all the blacklists they want, but if a buyer gets your name from a trusted friend or relative the buyer is probably going to call you first. You might not be able to do anything about a blacklist, but you can do something about agents who wrongfully defame you. If an agent is successful in steering away a potential client that's been referred to you by the potential client's friends or relatives, word is liable to get back to you, because the potential client is bound to pass the badmouthing back to those who referred you. If they believe in you, they'll probably call you and tell you about it. What agents say about you or your business to steer buyers away from you may or may not be actionable. I've found that a very in-your-face phone call to agents who've badmouthed me can unnerve them pretty well. They might never refer you, but they're less likely to badmouth you if they think you're liable to try and haul them into court. There are a few agents here who just go sit in a corner and glower when I arrive, because they've had that conversation with me. If you allow yourself to become dependent on the good will of real estate folks, a blacklist probably can hurt your business. Since I can't do anything about blacklists, I focus my "marketing" (if you can call it that) on the clients. Rather than try and impress the agents with how I can "help" them, I focus my efforts on doing every inspection the way I'd want an inspection done for me and I work hard at establishing rapport and trust with my clients. I think that they're less liable to be influenced by the agent, if they believe in their hearts, despite whatever the agent says or does in the way of damage control, that they should listen to me when it comes to understanding the condition of the house. If they believe in me, they'll refer me to co-workers, friends, and relatives and the cycle continues unaffected by zoidism. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike

Our files are on a server up in Canada. OT - OF!!! M.

I inferred (perhaps wrongly) from the announcement that the bogus breakers are all black and don't have the amperage rating on the face of the toggle like the one in the picture. If I remember it, I'll call CPSC in the morning and see if I can get some more information. OT - OF!!! M.

December 2001. A - M (without the I) are the months followed by a 2 digit year. OT - OF!!! M.