Terence McCann

Go to the light, go to the light! Who ya gonna call, ghost busters! Ok, moving on, do they have an oil fired furnace? Any underground oil tanks?

Thanks for the link Chad. That's the stuff. Pretty nice too, you don't come out of an attic itching and sneezing, hard to believe it's fiberglass.

Most new homes have a type of blown in insulation in the attic that looks almost like cotton batting. What type of material is this? Tanks.

Brian, do you have the wording from NEC that relates to this? Tanks

Jim stated: **By the way, I'm becoming more and more convinced that AFCIs are pretty much useless. At least they certainly aren't worth the aggregate amount of money that is being spent on them across the nation.** Why is that Jim?

Thanks Jim!

My default verbiage on Zinsco panels however, I can not take credit for it, I believe that I picked it up from the ASHI forum. Author not remembered. The Zinsco brand panel box hasn't been manufactured for many years. There are documented problems with these panels that can, in some cases, be serious. Some Zinsco panels have aluminum bus bars (the bars that run down the middle of the panel to which the breakers connect). Over a period of years, oxide forms on the aluminum causing a poor connection with the breakers and leading to arcing, overheating, and eventually breaker failure. Other problems with Zinsco panels include circuit breakers (depending on the vintage) with a dismal performance record and the possibility of unbalanced multi-wire circuits. Zinsco was bought by GTE - Bryant - Sylvania and for a time true Zinsco breakers were unavailable. Though UL listed replacements are now on the market, they can be very expensive. Replacing the aluminum bus bars with copper ones may not be a cost-effective remedy, either: by the time the bus bars and breakers are replaced, it may be less expensive to replace the entire panel. These breakers should be removed for a thorough evaluation of the bus bars and breaker contacts by a qualified, licensed electrician knowledgeable with Zinsco panels and their issues to determine what action, if any, needs to be taken.

Well water or city?

Any one have a good web site that explains proper construction methods for a variety of retaining walls (wood, concrete etc.?) Tanks!

Hi Bill & thanks for the reply. If the waste line were leaking wouldn't his cause a sink hole effect due to soil errosion? This is just like someone put a balloon under the floor, a big bubble.

Hello All: On a few of the older homes that I have inspected the basement floor (concrete) has pushed up. When you knock on it it's as hollow as a drum. I would guesstimate that this is due to freeze/frost conditions pushing the floor up however, I would have thought the floor was below the frost line. Also, wouldn't you need an active source of water to lift the floor. Some areas are pushed up a foot or more. Comments? Thanks... Download Attachment: basement1.jpg 39.47 KB Download Attachment: basement2.jpg 46.88 KB

Sure, that makes sense. There is a potential difference between 20 & 23 feet. Also when there is a nice big wire there it becomes the path of least resistance - lower ohms than your body. Back to the topic of stray voltage from an attached electrical device for a moment though. If the aluminum siding had an earth ground, such as a ground rod, and not attached to a cold water pipe that might be directly used for a electrical ground, would it still trip a breaker in a short condition? After all the cold water pipe is nothing more than a connection to the earth. Also, wouldn't it help more in a lighting strike or would it be more of a hindrance. Example: Lighting hits 50 feet away and you happen to be touching the siding. What are your thoughts here Jim.

This was in the latest ASHI Reporter: A New Jersey class action lawsuit has found Federal Pacific Electric Company (FPE) guilty of violating the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act by cheating during its testing of circuit breakers in order to obtain UL approval. This is just a snip-it from the article but good wording to help reinforce the "that's gotta go" category.

Most of the homes I see have a piece of coiled aluminum wire attached to the outside silcock and the siding. I have also seen a wire attached to a ground rod however, the majority have the 1st method. I always thought that it was due to electrical items attached to the home such as porch lights, outside power outlets and the like and the possibility that these could energize the siding and present a shock hazard if the siding was not grounded in some fashion. No?

I know we kicked this around once before briefly but is it code to ground aluminum siding and if so does someone have the wording for it? I'm not sure if this would fall under NEC or not. TIA

This was on a waste line in the basement however, it was up towards the floor joists of the first floor and was a wye fitting. The cast that connected to it and ran into the floor did not have this material on it. Perhaps the plumber, at the time, only had this fitting with this material on it when he was working on the home. BTW, the home dates to 1919. Note to self: Take better pictures.

I like two as well.

Howdy all: More that once I've seen a tar like material applied to cast waste lines. It sometimes has a blue outer covering and it looks cracked in places, this is where you can see what appears to be a tar base substance. Is this a leak repair method? TIA

When you guys talk about snap ties are you referring to the type you see on poured concrete foundations? If so that's not what these marks are (at least I don't think so) I have to go back today to p/up the Radon monitor, perhaps I'll take a closeup. TIA

Hello all: Have a look at attached picture. What would cause these marks on the basement walls? It looks like when you shoot something with a BB gun, how it is deep in the center and fans out towards the edges. These marks were on all walls. Each one of these had water stains and looked rusty as well . TIA Download Attachment: Bradley.jpg 30.43 KB

8. Improves your aim when using a low toilet. - Jim Katen, Oregon 9. For those that have been cut on the bias.

Great Catch!

Hi Don: A little late here. Some of the bypass dampers are operated off a static pressure sensing device or a amperage sensor from the blower motor. As Bill mentioned it allows a bypass when zones start shutting down. The last kicker with these is that when zones start shutting down and the bypass opens it allows the return air temperature to really drop in the cooling mode which means that the supply air temp plummets. Most manufactures incorporate a temperature low limit to knock off the cooling, this prevents the evaporator from becoming a block of ice.

The newer furnaces have multiple thermal limit controls placed in various locations to sense abnormal conditions such as flame roll out etc. These are preset, no adjustment can be made they are, electrically speaking, open or closed. The blower is typically on a time delay relay. When there is a call for heat the time delay relay becomes energized and after a preset time the blower comes on. No adjustment can be made to these either. Hope this helps.

On older furnaces, with a combination fan/high limit switch, the settings should be 100° for fan off, 150° for fan on and 200° to shut the whole furnace down. If the fan is running the discharge temperature should never hit 200° unless it is A)malfunctioning or B)someone has tampered with the settings. This condition would rate very high on my "fix it now" list.