Terence McCann

You've got mail.

Marc, shoot me your email addy and I'll attach one of their reports. I'd post it but it has the clients name and address. Again, I have no business interest in this - just thought it was a nice add-on.

Hopefully they got a pump in the basement and got the water out quickly. The only thing I'd replace is the electric/electronic controls that were under water. You can reuse the burners. If it's a finished basement they should be replacing drywall too.

I believe that Mike is one of those guys that has "been there/done that". I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss.

How thoughtful & caring.

As I said Mike it's all in what you're comfortable doing.

Anyone hear from Brian G. lately?

Although the SOP doesn't require the inspector to do certain things it doesn't prohibit you from doing them either. The SOP is a baseline and then the inspector can add on to it. John knows what he is doing and feels comfortable digging deeper when it comes to furnace inspections. Good for him. Pulling a blower door, looking for mold or wiggling the squirrel cage to see if the motor bushings are sloppy takes only a few more minutes and doesn't require any training per se. Just going the extra mile. There are inspectors doing IR and that is well beyond the SOP but their branching out. Personally I would find it monotonous to always follow the SOP - kind of like working on an assembly line. In the end it doesn't much matter what other inspectors do, it's what you're comfortable doing. Also, telling the client that you are going well above the "SOP" is great marketing too. Your client will remember the extra steps you took, to look out for them, and the next time one of their friends are buying a home they will sing your song. Don't do anything extra without getting some mileage from it.

Is this in our library here Mike?

If memory serves we have discussed this before and John (Bain) made some good comments about pulling the blower door to have a look-see. A forum search should turn it up I would think.

Thanks, Terry. You've helped me to win a bottle of Pinot. - Jim Katen, Oregon Do you need my shipping address????[]

One side read: Copper/#4-100 AMP, Copper/#1-150 AMP and Copper/#2/0-200 AMP. Other side read: Alum/#2-100 AMP, Alum/ #2/0-150 AMP and Alum/#4/0-200 AMP

One last question Kurt, did you take an IR picture of the same area before running the shower (although I guess it wouldn't make any difference on the outcome - wet is wet).

If I understand correctly Kurt you run for an hour then (before you had an IR) test the ceiling below with the SM?

Kurt, do you have a picture of the shower without the IR present?

RecallChek - works seamlessly with 3D too Marc.

Amen to that.

06 perhaps?

I installed a ductless split a/c in our master bedroom (bedroom sits over the garage) a while back. I installed a on-delay set for 5 minutes to prevent short cycling and a reverse acting head pressure control for condenser fan low ambient control. I like the bedroom like a meat locker - I keep it 60 degrees in the winter and 64 in the summer. I've run the a/c in 40-50 ambient without any problems. The thing that's different about the systems Kurt is referring to is multi-evaps and one condensing unit. Imagine a 4 ton condensing unit and only having a 1 ton evap. I'm not sure how they overcome superheat/sub-cooling problems. Will put it on the "to-do list". I feel a vacation coming on first though. []

Sorry Kurt but I can't help here. They were coming into vogue, in some of the old downtown warehouses that were being converted into loft dwellings, about the time I was departing from the 9-5 gig. I find it interesting that they can run multi-evaps with one condensing unit but haven't spent the time to research. I take it you've run into a location with them? Thread drift alert: Hey, btw, whatever happened to that multi-dwelling unit that had all those condensing units stacked side by side & over and under?

In my other life I use to plan and sell maintenance agreements in the commercial/industrial market. I would have a base labor cost x hours needed to PM equipment /.6 for markup. With a GPM (guaranteed maintenance program - repairs included) I would put a multiplier from 1.8 to 2.2 based on the age of equipment. With this formula you should be good to go for estimating. What you need to know however is how many hours are needed for each piece of equipment. Take the chiller for example (Ohio Climate): 12yrs A (journeyman) & 16 hours T (trainee) to PM, clean and start a 400 ton centrifugal with associated pumps and cooling tower (includes cleaning the tower and punching tubes). Then 2 hours A time for every other month until shut down in October which would be 4 hrs for an A man. . An A man is probably up to 55.00 per hour cost and a T man might be in the 30.00 cost?? (been a while). You also have to take vehicle charge (20.00 per trip) and maintenance supplies. You have to remember too that you’re not just sending a man to look at the chiller as there is still the AHU, pumps, controls that come into play. 20 hrs A = 1,000.00 16hrs T = 480.00 7 trips VC = 140.00 Water treatment 500.00 Miscellaneous = 150.00 2,270 /.6 = 3,783 selling price. All repairs included might be double that amount. We also use to take insurance policies out on the big tonnage equipment. You’re light on the price for the cooling tower. I don’t think you could buy a fan motor for a 400 ton tower for 300.00 not to mention the time to install it. When you state 700.00 for an AHU there is so much information missing that I couldn’t come close to giving an estimate. Chiller water or DX? VAV or constant volume? Pneumatic controls? Are there bag filters and pre-filters? Bag filter can be really costly. A filter change alone might be 700.00. Pumps may be OK. Boiler is probably a tad heavy.

For something that might be as simple as a thermocouple? Then again one never knows.

Is it gas or electric? If gas is it spark ignition or standing pilot? Is the pilot lit or does it light on a call for heat? Have you tried replacing the thermocouple? If electric did you check the breaker? Need more information.

Any pic Jim?

Got it Marc, thanks.