John Kogel

Hot and ground reversed is very strange. I would suspect a faulty GFCI unit, internal short circuit maybe.

It's not a dilemma. In our climate, the outdoor air is only that humid when it's cold outside. When you warm the humid, cold air, its Rh drops like a stone. You are correct, sir. The HRV has a drain pan and a drain to send that water back outside. A house I inspected a couple of weeks ago has a furnace blower fan in a plywood box in the crawlspace. Ducts draw warm dry air from behind the woodstove and blow that air into the lower level bedrooms. I'll post a pic man(y)ana.

Yes, you can get a few of these for $15 each. Click to Enlarge 25.78 KB The ERV/HRV idea is good but when the outdoor humidity is over 70% you don't gain much, except you are circulating the heated air, which is good. Ceiling fans are easy to install, good for circulating warm air.

An electric baseboard heater right below that window.

I use "amateur repair" to describe something like that. And that it is not going to last. Kurt, could that seam be fused together with vinyl concrete? If they cut a groove and filled it?

I see only stranded Al, could be wrong. The nails can be zipped off on the inside and then sealed with electrician's putty. But for my client, I would ask for the panel box to be pulled out and replaced. They can reuse the busbars and breakers, so it's $100 in materials.

Yes, we have dampwoods and subs, not as prevalent but we all know they are here. The code book allows treated wood in contact with soil, so the builder has no obligation to change what he did, as I understand it.

I think in an "unfinished" basement, for example, the paper will be left exposed because the room is unfinished. So we say cover the paper because it is a fire hazard and they say we plan to but for now it is unfinished.

I posted this over in IN as well for fun, kind of a poll. New construction, poured concrete foundation, they embedded ?X4 wood nailers in the concrete so they could start the vinyl siding down over the concrete. All well and good but I said this provides easy access for termites or ants, especially when the wood gets older and water-soaked. I believe the wood is pressure treated so it is allowed. What we don't know is this - did they treat the cut ends of every piece? I said they should dig the wood out of there. I guess this did not go well with the builder. What say y'all? Click to Enlarge 66.22 KB Click to Enlarge 87.57 KB Click to Enlarge 73.85 KB

Thanks, y'all. I have sat thru dozens of hours of CE HVAC lectures but get more usable info from this, simple question, simple answer.

Expect the unexpected, and leave no stone unturned. [] I had a similar frustration not long ago, alone in the house for 2 hours, went about my biz, finally someone returned my call. The hatch is in the garage slab! Under a pile of tires and hoses, a concrete well that's open to the crawl. Right in the corner where they pile the junk. Double wide mobile with solid plank skirting. No hatch. I remove a couple of planks, solid plywood nailed to 2X4 framing behind the plank siding. I remove one of the vents and peak in there, even got my head in there (had to fold my ears in), no sign of a hatch, though, but I got some pics. Then a neighbor comes by to snoop around, tells me there's a hatch alright. In the floor of the porch. Under the astroturf carpet. Starting at the bottom step, we roll up the carpet, then pull it the other way, et voila! there's the big hatch, so simple.

I had my hands full with this place about a month ago, and wish I had spent more time getting specs. But this is typical for here, the essential circuits are in the generator panel, which serves as a subpanel when there's no emergency. The emergency here was the somebody let Billy Bob handle some tools. [] Click to Enlarge 29.53 KB Click to Enlarge 59.44 KB Click to Enlarge 42.32 KB

Thanks. Sam, the Payne heat pump today has a tall compressor and says 'piston' on the label. I guess for every rule, there is an exception to the rule, eh? [] Actually, I don't think it has a piston, just says it does. Click to Enlarge 29.04 KB Click to Enlarge 58.83 KB Yeah, that oil tank's sprung a bit of a leak. Click to Enlarge 69.56 KB

Now that I know I can safely but briefly run a scroll type AC compressor in the winter I have some Heat pump questions. We have the ocean breeze for AC, so I see mostly heat pumps here. I ocassionally come across an antique 20 year old unit that is still pumping out heat. How can I tell if it has a piston type compressor? If a heat pump outdoor unit does not respond to the thermostat and the emergency heat comes on instead, what are some simple tests to narrow down the problem? If a heat pump outdoor unit fan is spinning, mild weather but the coils are covered with frost and there's no heat, what is likely to be the problem? If a heat pump or AC unit has sat unused for 2 years, is there any precaution before turning it on?

He could have IDed his unit, if this was so important to do, by manipulating the breaker and checking for power with a voltage sniffer, power is off to this one, now it's on. The point being he hasn't bought it yet, not his to play with. Not that you damaged it but why take a chance?

It was wrong from day 1. And it is easy to fix. I would call for professional removal of the suspected asbestos material. Then install a metal heatshield with as much pipe clearance as possible.

So much as I respect Robert's judgement, I will say no that is not acceptable. As usual, opinions will vary. I would want to know why is it there? Has it really been up against the vent pipe for 50 years, or is it there because somebody was too ignorant to give the pipe proper clearance? How about they install a metal shield with a 2" air gap?

Marc, you misread my post. I said Yes, we have those, too. [] Meaning they live in my climate as well as in sunny Lafayette.

Yes, that is done here as well to allow the service panel to be installed further away from the meter can. Only trouble with this installation is that they ran out of concrete or energy or incentive. [:-slaphap The concrete should cover all the horizontal portions of the run.

They don't even have stingers. The ones around here do. Although they seem very reluctant to use them. Tried telling that to the 12-year-old daughter of my clients. The old boathouse was full of them. She wasn't buying it. Mud wasps here too. Insects are amazing.

My laptop has only two prongs. No idea why. Usually the laptop power supply has a grounded power cord, 3 prongs. But the primary side of the transformer probably has only two leads and most of the circuitry is on the secondary side, converting low voltage AC to DC. The cable from the power supply/battery charger to the laptop is only two conductors, so the laptop itself is never grounded. Doesn't seem to need it. I use a long two-conductor extension cord to run my laptop power supply. It's handier to pull one end of a light gauge cord, like lamp cord, out of my briefcase and leave the bulky power supply in the case. So I haven't grounded this laptop's power supply in 3 or 4 years. A reference to ground is a good thing for desktops computers, printers, monitors, etc because for one thing it provides a path for stray voltages or static charges that can otherwise blow circuit components. Surge protectors need grounding. Good idea from Marc, to put a grounded surge protector in the circuit in the panel or near the panel so everything downstream is protected. Even if there are only 2 conductors the surge protector at the panel can protect your expensive electronics.

I guess you'd call that a soak and suck job. [] I like the idea of dragging inspectors through the crawl, but you might find they are not all that absorbent. [] How about it, Randy. Did you get any on ya?

That cable is protected only by the breaker back at the transformer on a pole somewhere down the street. I don't know how many amps can flow through those SEC's before that beaker trips, but it is a lot. We sometimes see a flexible cable feed from the weatherhead to the meter box, well clamped of course. But below that, it is routed inside the wall, always, and typically in rigid conduit. That is indeed sloppy work and it shows a blatant disregard for the safety of the home owner's family.

That used to be allowed around here too. It's a dumb idea. If the point of running the pipe uphill is to prevent water damage in the basement, then the hole negates that entire idea. Water shoots out of the hole when the valve is open and after the valve is closed, all of the water in the pipe runs onto the basement floor anyway. What's the point of going uphill again? The little hole in the uphill pipe was *never* allowed by the manufacturers. If you'd like to put your water heater below grade, then you should figure out an acceptable location to run the TPR discharge. I haven't seen the little hole but yes, that's funny. Put a pan under it and a water alarm in the pan.

"Pappy showed me how ..?"