Brandon Whitmore

They should design/ approve something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Fernco-FPW4252CS- ... B000R7SWKG for that type of repair.

I want this one: http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/ppd/5415101181.html Sorry, no help to the OP at all.

I spoke w/ a PGE (the electric utility) meter technician today on a jobsite. He said that the Bulldog panels have been getting flagged during house sales and a lot of them are being replaced during the negotiation process. I asked him if he knew why, and he said something along the lines of " some home inspectors are misinformed and don't know what they're talking about". I've decided to keep the panel and tell any potential buyers to either take it or leave it. Thanks all.

Marc, Interesting-- Bulldog's are fairly common in these parts. According to Inspectapedia Inspectapedia, ACFI's can help protect against shock. AFCI: Shock Is this information incorrect?

[quote FYI, in Canada, AFCI's are required only for bedroom outlets. Nobody is getting shocked, or at least not enough to warrant wholesale AFCI's throughout the house.] I'd been so stuck on thinking that AFCI's were for fire prevention, that I'd never considered the shock protection they provide until I read this. Thanks John.

I'm slowly changing out everything I can to gas in this house, so there aren't any space issues. I know I can't possibly anticipate every random thing an inspector will call out, but figured I'd try to get ahead as much as possible. Pulling a permit and changing out the panel myself will cost appx. $300. If the purchaser requests a panel change out during an attempted sale, the price would/ could jump to appx. $1,000. That makes perfect sense. Thanks Jim..

I've got a Bulldog Pushmatic panel right now, but am considering "upgrading" to a Square D Homeline. I don't plan on living in my place forever, and figure it could reduce the risk of a fail sale. What are the chances an inspector would call out the Pushmatic as being obsolete and recommending replacement? Out of curiosity, why is it that when doing a panel change out, AFCI protection isn't required for existing circuits (at least not in OR)?

I've never heard of "local authorities" in OR relying on a home inspector to do an inspection-- is this common down there? I wouldn't base any portion of my inspection on what was allowed 30+ years ago either.

While I see why one would think it's a temp. sensor, it isn't. It's a flame rod-- google flame rectification if curious.

I had a response typed involving things going off, and mess prevention, but decided I'd better exercise some restraint.

Looks like a poor man's water hammer arrestor to me.

In case any of you are interested, I have a new in box Tramex Moisture Encounter Plus I'm planning on selling one of these days.. I could probably be talked out of my beat up used one as well.

Soot does indicate a history of incomplete combustion, but this may have been addressed. How did the pilot and burner look? They should both be a sharp blue. How did the exhaust smell with the furnace running for a few minutes? If you get a strong aldehyde smell, you've got incomplete combustion. While CO is colorless and odorless, the accompanying crud is not. If you take a good whiff of the exhaust and it burns your nose or lungs (car exhaust odor) you've got an issue.

It isn't air in the line. If the burner has fired and run recently, any small amount of air/stale gas would have bled quickly. Even if there was air in the line, the furnace would have made multiple attempts to fire and would have fired fairly quickly. (assuming natural gas here). The status indicator lights will only flash a fault code right after there's an issue-- you likely know this, but just in case.... Start with the basics. Pull the thermostat from the wall, tie together R & W, and see if it runs properly for an extended period of time. If the burner ends up shutting off, and the blower runs for a while (cooling things down) before the burner re-fires, you've got an airflow/ over-heating issue. If it runs fine, you've got a t-stat issue. In order to eliminate the t-stat and wires, I always jump the furnace at the board.

I wonder if your rotary t-stat has a heat anticipator setting? If so, I'd replace it--it's not intended for your newer furnace, and it's probably not set correctly. Pull the t-stat from the wall and connect the R & W wires-- I'll bet the furnace runs perfectly without the thermostat. If so, then yes, it's your thermostat.

The first thing I do when diagnosing issues with a furnace is to remove the thermostat from the equation. Your furnace will have fault codes (flashing lights) that may point you in the right direction....

The orientation of the intake and exhaust must be correct.

With the intake partially plugged, your appliance is starved for oxygen. This leads to unburnt gas and CO, which are byproducts of incomplete combustion. Have you considered getting creative and using something like a leaf blower to blow out the pipe?

Crossover/ carryover flame. It's hard to tell from a picture.... Those burners can be replaced within a minute or two if it's actually an issue, which I doubt.

That's bad...

Thanks for the responses guys. This is probably not something within the scope of an inspection, but has been a code requirement here in OR for at least the last 3 code cycles. Ansi Z21.80 is the standard for line pressure regulators (e.g., dropping from 2psi to low pressure). The vast majority of the MP/ Secondary regulators I run into in use are considered service regulators. The installers don't seem to know the difference; they just use whatever the salesman spec's/ sells them. Over half of all regulators I check aren't approved for their listed/ intended purpose. At least, they don't seem to be-- I'm far from an expert, and have our engineers digging further...

I'm doing a little research, and hoping some of you can help.... Section G2421 of the ORSC: Oregon Code requires flow controls (MP regulators) be listed as complying with ANSI Z21.80 spec's. Do y'all in other states have this same requirement? After doing some digging into which regulators have been tested to those specifications, I'm not finding many. I'm slowly compiling a list of regulators with this approval.

Is there a requirement to anchor the posts to the pier pads now?

If it's located in the garage or somewhere damage wouldn't occur once it fails, I wouldn't replace it until I had to. If it's located inside the house, I'd have to weigh the pro's and con's, e.g. if it fails, what's it going to cost me. Where is it located? Does it have a pan with a large drain pipe installed? Tankless water heaters aren't worth it, especially on retro fit installations. I tried to make a tankless unit make sense in my house, ran some calculations, was able to do the entire installation and all utility upgrades myself, and decided I wouldn't recoup my costs. I'lll assume that replacing what you have with another tanked unit will cost appx. 1k. $4500 for a tankless unit- not a chance.

Here's a poor picture from a gas line inspection I did last week. There are several violations visible, assuming you can zoom in to see good enough. I showed up to size our gas service and meter, and to do some consultation work. The owner asked me to check things out while the plumber was working away. Before I left, they asked me how to fix it (not just this one issue). After considering their options, they decided to start completely from scratch. Nothing like throwing appx. 10k down the drain. Download Attachment: gas1.jpg 1716.78?KB