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Are you guys sure it's a sewage pump? It's really hard to tell from the picture, but the discharge line looks like 1 1/2". I don't remember ever seeing a sewage pump without a 2" discharge. Tony

Thanks for your replies. Terry, this is exactly what they did. Both furnaces are the same make, model, size and age, shared a common return duct and was set it up as a single-wire operation. They both fired up and shut down in unison. As far as ductwork sizing, almost none of it was visible. Just the plenum and about 5ft. of the trunk lines. Thanks again

I'd like to get some opinions on a set up that I've never seen before. There are two furnaces, set side by side and both controlled by the same thermostat. Here's a little background. The original section of the home, which is about 45 years old was originally about 2700sf or so with a single HVAC system. About 25 years ago an addition was added, bringing the the square feet of the building to 3500, but they made no alterations to the HVAC system. The seller, who bought the building about 17 years ago, realized that the single heating system wasn't adequate for the building and instead of zoning off the building, which would have been extremely difficult, decided to over-size the ductwork (from what was visible) and installed another furnace. Now when there's a call for heat, both furnaces fire up and deliver heat to the building through a single set of ductwork. Has anyone ever seen this before? Sorry for the long-winded description. Tony Click to Enlarge 52.53 KB

Just to do a little follow up, I did speak to the village inspector about this stuff. Regarding the well covers, he said that they have documentation from the manufacturer that those things are rated for 500lbs. I gave my client the number of a company that makes custom steel grates. He couldn't give me an answer about the foam board. I found the manufacturers requirements about covering the stuff and the code requirement saying the same thing. He agreed and said that the guy that approved this was out of town until next Friday. Maybe he has additional information. Here's my question; they want to close early next week. Once the CO is approved and issued, can or do these guys change their mind and make the builder change something? The buyer is worried that she'll have to pay for it once they close.

Yeah it's a mess. This place is built on the bottom of a sloping lot. All the other townhouses in the complex either have garden basement windows or walk-outs. Whoever designed the ones at the bottom of the hill apparently didn't design them tall enough and needed to use egresses. As far as the foam board, I was doing a little research in the 2006 IRC and found section R314 Foam Plastics. Paraphrasing section R314.4 says that the exposed foam board needs to be separated from the interior with an approved thermal barrier minimum 0.5 inches thick. There are a few exceptions and I called the village to find out if they apply, but so far I haven't heard back.

Thanks for the information. That was very helpful and yes, that's a circulating loop to the 2nd floor fixtures. One other thing that has me scratching my head is the placement of the window well covers. They built a deck over the basement egress windows and were required to build an access that "a 7 year old can open" according to the village. These openings are directly in front of the operable panels for the dual sliding glass doors and are about 4'x4'. They built these covers out of some sort of plexi-glass and aluminum struts and set them in the opening. I weigh about 180lbs (give or take a few) and these panels flexed to the point to where I thought I was going to fall through. Plus they were loose. Anyone can lift them off. If the cover was left off for any reason, someone walking through the door can go right down the well. I find it hard to believe that this isn't a safety concern and that the village let this slide. I'm going to give them a call. I'd like to get some opinions though. Thanks again. Tony Click to Enlarge 47.58 KB Click to Enlarge 50.55 KB Click to Enlarge 51.83 KB Click to Enlarge 37.33 KB

I had a job at a new townhouse this afternoon. In the basement furnace room, the builder enclosed the foundation walls with extruded polystyrene. I was under the impression that this material cannot be left exposed. The certificate of occupancy was issued yesterday and I'm going to call them in the morning about this and a few other things. I just want to make sure that I have my facts right. Thanks for your help. Tony Click to Enlarge 55.03 KB

You didn't mention who the manufacturer is, but this is Weil-Mclane's direct-vent requirements. I would assume they are all pretty much the same. Download Attachment: Weil-McLane direct vent.pdf 292.21 KB

Thanks everyone. I was skeptical when I was told it was copper roof. The house is located in a nice blue-collar town. A copper roof would have been a fortune and would have been way over done for this neighborhood. I like the magnet idea. I'm going to give that a try. Thanks again. Tony

I have a job next week with a home that has a metal roof. The buyer said that it was a copper roof. When I asked him if it's possible that the roof may be steel with a copper colored coating, he said no. He was told it was copper. Can someone give me some tips on how to distinguish a copper roof from a steel roof with a copper coating? I can't remember the last time I've seen a roof that wasn't wood or asphalt. I did find a picture of the listing, but it's not that great of a shot. Thanks for your help. Tony Click to Enlarge 35.42 KB

No. I like getting clear evidence. There would be no way for me to determine if the stains were old or even what caused them.

I can't agree with this. I had one a while back where the washing machine drained into on old concrete utility tub. The tub drained fine when I ran the water at the faucet, but when the washing machine drained, water flowed out of the floor drain in the basement. Apparently the drain line under the slab collapsed and had to be torn out and replaced. I would have never found this if I didn't run the washing machine. Click to Enlarge 40.77 KB

I have a question about an electrical panel. The bar that holds the right hand side main lug has somehow bent and pulled the lug off of the enclosure, almost to the point where it would be difficult to remove or tighten the SEC if they had to. My question is what would be the repair, if any? Can it be bent back into place? Thanks in advance for your help. Tony Click to Enlarge 55.55 KB Click to Enlarge 69.03 KB

I put it in the report as well, especially on newer units. This is one of those things that can void a manufacturers warranty. Tony

Thanks Bruce. That does make sense now that you pointed that out. The wiring is unconventional, but I guess my question would be, does it need to be repaired?

No it's not, but there was a disconnect switch marked "generator" directly above this panel. It was disconnected from the panel. Matter of fact, it doesn't look as if it ever was hooked up.

That's correct there is no bond screw, but there is a bar that extends across the top of the panel (just under the feeder lugs) that connects the neutral bars together. It's coated in black plastic and difficult to see in the picture. As far as the ground, this is the land of conduit. The 1 1/2" metal conduit bonds the two panels together. The main panel is grounded and bonded. So if I'm understanding you correctly, the circuit has to terminate where it started from. In this case it originate from the sub-panel and it needs to terminate in the sub-panel. Is that correct? Thanks again, btw.

I have a question regarding a sub-panel that I was hoping to get help with. At today's inspection there was a main panel and a sub-panel installed in this home. The sub-panel is installed directly next to the main panel and connected together with a 1 1/2" piece of metal conduit. Removing the sub-panel cover, the first thing that struck me was the lack of neutral wires. There are 9 circuits and only 3 neutral wires. All of the wires for the circuits along the left hand side of the panel and two on the right hand side run through the 1 1/2" conduit, into the main panel, where they pick up neutral wires and out through the main panel. So basically what's happening is that power to these circuits is being supplied by the sub-panel and returning to the neutral bar in the main panel. I've never seen a panel wired this way. Is this allowed? Hopefully my explanation makes sense. Thanks for your help. Tony Click to Enlarge 55.05 KB

Here's the installation guide for this switch. Tony Download Attachment: Generac.pdf 795.23 KB

I'm looking for some advice. I found these lugs tapped onto the bus bars on the load side of the main breaker. The wires on the lugs are feeder wires for a sub-panel next to the main panel. There were no schematics, diagrams or any other identifying information at all on this panel, only the name of the manufacturer (General Electric). I could not determine if these were retrofitted onto the panel or if it was manufactured this way. Has anyone else seen these type of taps before? Thanks for your help. Click to Enlarge 41.76 KB

At the end of the segment, the reporter said something about tearing out the split-faced block and replacing it with new split-faced block. Is there a type of water/weather resistent block or did she mis-speak?

Thanks for your answers so far. To answer some of the questions. This is an 8 year old home. R-30 in the attic and R-13 in the walls w/ mid-efficeint mechanicals. Not particularly tight construction. The basement where the mechanicals are located is unfinished and the dryer is on the main level. The basement floor is sealed, but not the ash dump floor. That's what made me think about the ash dump acting like a vacuum. I didn't think radon reduction fans were that strong, but I can't think of anything else causing smoke in the basement, but not on the main level. My only other thought was that something in the ash dump caught fire, but when I opened the door to look inside it was fairly clean.

I'll start with the question and then give the details. Can a radon mitigation system cause a fireplace to back draft? Here's the situation. I got a call from a friend last week telling me about smoke in his basement. They moved into their house about 6 months ago-a typical two-story home (approx. 2500sf) about 8yrs old, not a tract home, but not custom built either. The way it was explained to me was that a fire was started at about 1:00pm. with no apparent problems in the main level. At around 6:00pm my friend goes into the basement to find it filled with smoke. The fire deptartment comes out and couldn't find out where it was coming from. They had a Chimney Sweep check it out and could find no problems. Then they called me. Here's what they have; a masonry fireplace with an enclosed ash dump; in the basement, a 132,000btu mid-efficient furnace, a 50gallon warm air draft water heater and a recently installed mitigation system. Apparently this is the 1st fire that they made using real wood. Previous to that, they used Dura-flame logs. Can the reduction system depressurize the building enough to cause the fireplace to back draft? My one thought is that the mitigation installer sealed the entire basement, all the cracks and sealed down the sump lid, but not inside the ash dump, the only direct connection from the fireplace to the basement. I know there are so many different factors that can contribute to this, but I thought that I'd start with the radon system. Thanks for your help. Tony

My neigbor is a cop in one of the suburbs of Chicago. From what he told me regarding people's possesions being left at the curb after a forclosure, once the sherrif moves the stuff out it becomes public property. He said that they get calls all the time about people going through other peoples possessions and they tell them there's nothing they can do. It's disgusting and vulture-like, but apparently not illegal.

According to my Prestons guide, the GE AC unit (21TA924H) 2tons MFD between 1967-68'