sepefrio

When are garage door openers required to have the optical sensors installed. Did a house today that did not have optical sensors. The door was new, but the opener was not. Are the sensors part of the door, or the opener? My common sense says the opener, but who ever said code and common sense always coincide?

Came across this today and just wanted to make sure. The TPV extension (which is plumbed to the exterior) is marked.... B137.5 UPC Hot/Cold ASTM F876/F877 Maybe I'm a little confused, or just um, thinking too much. But I would rather ask here vice making a mistake. From what I can find on the internet, that type of PEX is rated up to 180 degrees. Section P2803.4 of the International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings specifies that the TPR valve must be installed within the top 6 inches of the water heater tank in order to enable the valve to discharge at a temperature of no greater than 210°F. As a result, any discharge piping must be rated to withstand at least 210°F to prevent melting and blockage of the TPR valve when discharged. Or am I getting something wrong, missing something? Image Insert: 176.33 KB

Lines are at the right hand side of the tank. No close up photo though. Image Insert: 45.66 KB

It is a in use oil tank, the previous owner built a shelf unit around it. lol.

Mike, that green looking stuff was plastic. I think they like put some tupperware on it and it melted. The soot is the fine black powder coming out of the elbow joints of the flue.

Just curios how you guys write up panels that have no markings, as in you can't tell which breaker goes to what. You can't confirm if the appropriate breaker for the AC is the right size for example. Do you mention it in just the panel section? Do you mention in all concerned? Or do you make simple comments at each item, then an overall comment in the summary? Just reread this and I'm not implying just panels. I mean overall. For example a leaking roof. Do you do a complete write up in the roof section and the attic section (since there is water damage from the leaking roof), then one for the living room that has water stains or make simple comments in the individual sections and in the summary make a detailed write up about the entire condition?

The pipe is hollow and I can put my thumb through the hole. But from you reply I think I got the answer. Thanks. Image Insert: 76.62 KB

Thanks Jim.

I blew up the picture of the leg that really concerns me. After all these views maybe this will help someone make a suggestion, lol. The leg itself is rusted through with a almost quarter sized hole in it. Image Insert: 75.7 KB

You are correct sir, no rain cap or spark arrestor. Tell me though, how did you make that guess? Teach me old wise one!

If you look close, you can see the black soot that is coming out of the vent stack along the bend seams. Is this indicative of back drafting? Image Insert: 157.38 KB Image Insert: 35.03 KB Also, this look like melted plastic? Image Insert: 162.03 KB

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Well, I've had to leave the kitchen appliances alone and move over to bathroom items. Seems they are the only ones that are happy when I give them #$%^.

Man if this keeps up, I may just stick my hand in an electrical panel, lol

LOL, although I use a computer a lot, the one thing I never figured out is the damned photo programs. Maybe I was just trying to compensate? Sizes reduced.

Um, maybe I didn't explain properly, the motor for the pool pump, not the pool itself.

Found this today when doing an insurance inspection. I have a feeling the owner (its rented, 2nd story currently empty) may lose their home owners policy. The problems are obvious, just posting it for others to see. Image Insert: 150.66 KB Image Insert: 154.25 KB Image Insert: 118.86 KB Image Insert: 138.51 KB Image Insert: 118.85 KB Image Insert: 87.98 KB Image Insert: 83.69 KB

Well, I just got off the phone with the electrician I had recommended to fix the problems and this is what he told me. First he said I'm lucky to be alive and that house is lucky to be standing. He wasn't sure which actual problem caused the box to explode as there were quite a few possible causes. 1) There is a small pool at the house. A pool man was repairing the pool but had not installed the pool light properly. The pool water itself was energized. 2) Part of the closing deal, fresh cut lawn and such. The riding mower had run over the grounding rod for the pool and severed the cable. Pool wasn't grounded. 3) Not at the circuit, but outside in a nice electrical box that was locked, when the pool was installed, they had tapped into the AC power line and spliced in the pools power. Thus both units were running on the same breaker, the one I had turned on when it exploded. 4) One of the breakers that hadn't melted was cracked in the back where is connects to the bus. He said odds are, if one was cracked, others probably were too. The good news, at least for my clients, the pool motor nor the AC got fried. Oh, and since I was doing insurance inspections all day I could not get there to take any pictures, sorry. EDIT: I forgot to mention the reverse polarity problem too, like i really need to though, lol.

They gave up trying to fix that years ago, they just put a dab of super glue on and all is good.

The glasses are an easy thing, I actually got some that look like and also work as sun glasses so I get use to wearing them. Kind of a bit more expensive but I don't feel like a dork wearing them. Also, the gloves and boots are, at least for me, a habit from the Navy. Again, spend an extra few bucks an you can get some that don't look horrible. I have found, most people that don't wear them is because of how they look. Other says because they aren't comfortable, but if, like the glasses, you can get multiple uses out of them, they become comfortable after a little while.

OK, just got a call from the buyers agent with an update, The Master Electrician was really a handyman service. But to show good will, LOL, the sellers (remember they are a flipping company) have agreed (at the agents demand really) to let the buyers pick an electrician and repair it and they will pick up the costs. I think this company is worried about me suing them or something too. The agent told me they asked her if she knew if I was pissed off or the like. They also commented that maybe they could throw a few inspections my way. She said they were going to wait a few days then give me a call. Brian, actually, there is a decent sized scratch/gouge in my safety glasses. Not sure if something flew out and hit it, or if they were scratched after they flew off my head as it went bouncing across the kitchen floor. That dang Navy practice of always wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is really burned into my head.

Well, this afternoon I went back to re-inspect an electrical panel I had previously reported as needing fixed. On the original inspection, when in the kitchen, I turned the disposal on and smoked it. Seriously, it seized and started smoking. Seeing that the disposal, and all the appliances were new, I stopped there and went to look at the electrical panel. It was making Rice Crispy sounds, snap, crackle and pop but stopped after a few seconds. I took the temperature and it was at about 83 every spot in the panel I checked. Every ten to fifteen minutes, I'd check again. The circuit for the AC got hotter and hotter finally reaching 112 degrees. I shut down all the breakers and told them to get an electrician in there. Well today, after it was "fixed" yesterday, I went back in. I took the cover off and took a general look, and it all looked good. The owner (a flipping corp) was there and I asked why the power was secured and he said "just to save power and to go ahead and turn it on". Well, my client stepped forward to start throwing breakers and I reached out, stopped him, guided him to the side with his wife. As I started to explain the safety hazards, I also started to turn the breakers on. All I remember is something like, "although it is very unlikely you never know when something can go wrong". I started to say something else but never got the words out. As I flipped the next breaker, the box exploded on me and threw me back about 8 feet. I'm not really sure what happened after that except I kept telling people I was OK, the clients, the agents then some guys dressed in big coats and yellow hats. Despite my protesting, I got transported to the hospital. After being monitored for a few hours I'm home now and I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong or was it just a bad luck thing. I don't remember what the panel looked like after it popped, but my clients agent said it was a melted mess. The owner put the fire out with a fire extinguisher he had in his car and the fire department did the rest. Maybe I'll go back tomorrow and try and get pictures. But for now I just thought I would tell people that stuff does happen and not to take anything for granted. I don't think I got electrocuted but I did take a whack to the head, probably from getting tossed. I'd also like to thank every HI I ever spoke to including several comments here about keeping an eye on your client. This was the first time I had a client reach out for the electrical panel and I'm just dam glad I stopped him. Oh and tomorrow, I think I'm gonna get Rocko and Guito and go visit this "Master electrician" that repaired the panel.

Rich, Not fighting it, was actually looking for an answer to the home owner when he said "Why is that wrong?" Like Bill said above I told him it was against NEC and then he said "why?". Then the sellers agent said it should be grandfathered. I replied it wasn't grandfathered and again it's against NEC. So I do know it's wrong, not fighting it, I'm just looking for more of the answers to the questions that come up. Although correct, I think that by replying with simply "It's against NEC" I'm not really answering his question as he (A Navy Chief) probably is wondering what the Navy Enlisted Classification has to do with it. [:-slaphap

I know you can't use an extension cord with a garage door opener. By my question is why is that the rule? The only thing I could guess, Johnny takes the extension cord for a minute to operate his bench light to work on the car. The car catches fire, Johnny starts pounding on the garage door remote but (since no power) it won't open. Poor Johnny. Is it that simple? Or is there another reason? Image Insert: 418.18 KB

As I read this, this popped out at me as well. Quadruple tapped?