John Kogel

Jim, maybe you blew unburned vapor into the top barrel? Ka-boom! When I worked at the garage, the barrel stove used to belch huge plumes of toxic black smoke.

Thanks Bob, and Brandon, that helps a lot. Yes, I wasn't getting a visible spark from the piezo igniter so I went with an open flame to light the pilot. The pilot flame was a shade on the yellow side, so it could be there was not enough heat on the TP at first. The flame is hitting the top of the thermopile as shown in the manual. I downloaded and printed a manual this AM. You gave me some things to check out.

I could use some education in the gas fireplace department. I don't light pilot lights for home inspection, but I operate the fireplaces by normal controls on a regular basis. Usually if the pilot light is lit or if it has electric ignition, a flip of the switch starts it up. 5 years in this house and I still don't understand my own fireplace. It is a 1990 builtin Montigo 28C propane fireplace that we never use, but it is supposedly our emergency heat source. We had a wind storm hit us yesterday and electrical power was knocked out for everybody down our road for about 5 hours. For entertainment and hopefully heat, I pulled the 20 lb bottle off the BBQ, hooked it up to the fireplace and proceeded to bleed air out of the line. There is a push button igniter, but I found it better to just hold the pilot control in while holding a Bic lighter to the pilot light. After quite a long time with my head in the hearth, I got the pilot light lit. Then I turned the control knob to 'on'. When I flipped the remote wall switch for the flame to come, nothing happened. I turned it off, played cards for 5 mins, flipped the switch again, nothing. I left the pilot light burning and proceeded to lose at cards for an hour and a bit. At 9:30, the power came back on, thanks, guys, you deserve the overtime pay for a miserable Sunday night clearing lines. Flipped the switch to the fireplace and the stupid thing lit up all pretty and burned for about an hour like that until I shut it down for the night. Here's what they say about Millivolt. "Millivolt ignition systems use a standing pilot light. This type of ignition system does not require any external power. Millivolt ignitions are also remote ready and can accommodate anything from a simple on/off wall switch to a programmable thermostatic remote. The pilot light can be turned off for extended periods of non-use and then re-ignited when needed. Millivolt are the most common ignition type on the market." My question is, where does the millivolt ignition system get its power? The manufacturers hint that it generates its own power by some sort of magic. Why did my dead fireplace refuse to light up until a bunch of time had elapsed?

"Improvised Handle Ties" or tiebars. I would report them. If you don't, the sparky will say you were a dumbass for missing them. [] Depending on what those breakers serve, it may not be important safety-wise for them to trip together, such as split-duplex kitchen receptacles (he's in Canada, y'all). I often find one side of those tripped, even with the factory tiebar in place.

I have also seen them on high end range hoods. Putting the fan some distance from the hood makes it quieter to operate. But they can be used for dryer or bath exhaust as well. Mike is correct, those arrows appear to be in opposition. ?? This one serves two bathrooms. It looks like they lose (loose? lews?) on pipe length here, but who am I to criticize? I'm sure it was an expensive upgrade.[] Click to Enlarge 51.85?KB Click to Enlarge 67.31?KB

Explanations are required. [] You tore down the 1899 part? You started to build forms for the rebuilding of same? Now you find out you need approved plans? You can draw up plans as much as possible yourself, but you need to find an architect to finish them and sign them. You could have renovated the old place forever, but now that it is gone, there is no turning back. Sorry about that.

You have been subpoenaed. That does not sound like you have been hired to be an expert witness. I think you need to talk to your client and his lawyer as to what their intentions are. You have no choice but to appear. As a witness, maybe it's called witness to the fact, you can just read from your inspection report. If someone asks you for your opinion, then you are entitled to payment. Just a witness? You are just doing your civil duty for free. You can ask them to call you first, so that 2 or 3 days don't get frittered away out in the hall.

Thanks, Bill. Your planned strategy is probably good. Since you live close by, it won't be a major hardship if the buyers bail out of the deal. When in doubt, punt to the agent. [] Also if the story got minimal news coverage, it won't affect the property value over the long term. Different if it was an unsolved murder.

In this area, the tank service contractor will search the property for free, and then if he finds one, makes a bundle making it safe to the current standards. It often involves removal and removal of the surrounding soil as well.

The only info I can find is references to ads in newspaper archives from the 60's. I would forget about finding a paper trail and concentrate on whether it can be made safe to operate. Probably not. http://share.uppermichiganssource.com/M ... ew/2213533

Molester next door, yes, I would call them and tell them before scheduling. Past scene of a crime, probably not.

You would have to call Ontario Hydro for the final answer, but what has been said above about sizing holds true for BC Hydro. We don't concern ourselves with that end unless the insulator or connection to the mast needs repair. We do need to keep our eyes open these days, because much of this work is now contracted out and those guys will sometimes goof up. For example, after a new pole installation, the service conductors were stretched so tight, they were lifting the gutter.

Ian, the listing agent was disrupting your client's inspection? You should have dismissed her as soon as she opened her mouth. Mike O will tell you. I remember an inspection on short notice where I had Google Mapped the location, but didn't recognize the place until I drove up to it. In the course of discussion, I mentioned that I had inspected the house before, for the sellers. No big deal that time. Another time, the client's agent dropped a few hints that maybe I could cut her client some slack because this was the second time I had inspected the house, but I played dumb and barreled on thru to the invoice, already made out. []

Montgomery Ward is/was a distributor. We need more info, such as a 640 X 480 picture. Any emblems, badges or labels?

You're probably right, but could be wrong. [] If the wire from the red lamp (top of the pic) to the ground pin was broken off at the ground pin, the tester would appear to work normally on properly wired outlets. Then if that stray wire crossed over to one of the hot wires of the middle bulb during a test, some voltage would be drained off to the red light, maybe enough to light it while robbing the middle bulb. The resistors are there to prevent a dead short condition from burning the wire. Just saying it is possible. Richard properly proved that the GFCI is screwed up, by trying another tester. Why do we use these crappy testers in the first place? Well, gremlins tend to steal them, they are easily replaced, and handy to use.

I inspected a 100 yr old house full of starving students. They had run out of furnace oil and were heating a dozen little rooms and hovels with electric space heaters on extension cords. There were a half a dozen 30 amp fuses on the branch circuits. Smoke alarms were all dead or disabled. And we used to think college students were the smarter kids. []

Good point, Marc. Arcing between the wires in the tester could definitely produce screwed up readings or flickering lights. I found with my variac test of last week that the neons won't light with less than 80 volts. So with shorted wiring, you may indeed have only one of the lights coming on, the wrong one. BTW, I found those pic on the net. The GB testers I buy now are a tiny bit better with little circuit boards in them, I think. In my bag I have a DMM for double-checking goofy readings.

So I wasn't crazy after all. I had one like that on an outdoor plug a few years ago. [] They say the 3-light tester is crap, and it is, but there are no mysteries in the circuitry. A light comes on only when there is voltage across the resistor in series with it. My guess is there is a loose connection in the circuit board of the GFI, or some little integrated circuit chip is suffering from dementia. Click to Enlarge 55.56 KB Click to Enlarge 39.3 KB

I'm with John on this one. Too much water for that minimal surface of pipe. It could be groundwater or a leak.

Is that a riding stable I see? It is huge.

If you can't answer Jim's question with any certainty, a home inspection will be about $400 well spent. A concrete block wall bowing in, a wood floor with a sump pump, and a dirt crawlspace are all items that need a close look. Could you move the water heater upstairs? Sometimes, those small spaces were created to house a furnace or boiler. In the past, I have suggested filling the pit would make more sense than keeping a sump pump running all winter.

A lack of heat in any room is a concern, IMO. The danger is flaky space heaters on overloaded extension cords, which can be deadly. Sweating windows and mould in closets from people sleeping in icy rooms is a minor issue, but not good. We've all inspected rental housing where people have lived without heat. Mold between the bed and the wall. Mould on the bathroom ceiling. The house I grew up in had a kitchen cookstove and a fireplace for heat. The doors were kept closed and the only heat in my bedroom was a hot water bottle, member those?? I don't remember ever seeing mold, though. Too cold, maybe.

I believe what you describe is the proper way to deal with the EGC at the end of a run, around the screw and then to the receptacle. If another cable is leaving the box for another destination, then you join the 2 wires and a short jumper with a wire nut. But the wire to the box is always uncut with a long end, correct. I sometimes will pull a cover and a receptacle if I suspect Al foul play. I have run into opposition over what an acceptable nut for Al should be, depending on the location and the authority. So now I recommend 'maintenance of all fixtures and receptacles by a qualified and knowledgeable electrician', or something to that effect. The rule of thumb that I use is to have all connections checked every 10 years. If that is a hardship, replace it all with copper and be done with it.

With the newer GFCIs - those that are about 12 or fewer years old -- the GFCI won't reset if the line & load are reversed. However, it's supposed to behave like that from the moment it's installed. In other words, it wouldn't have power from the get-go. I don't know how they behave when supplied with low voltage. I tested an older model Leviton GFCI and found: It trips and resets down to 80 volts AC. Below 80 vac, it will neither trip nor reset. The neon lights of the cheapo tester flicker and die at this ridiculously low voltage. Click to Enlarge 66.18?KB Correction: I forgot that the variac is on an isolation transformer, that grey thing under the black thing. My polarity test was invalid.

For Xmas, get yourself a Humidistat to hang on the wall downstairs. It will tell you if there is excess humidity coming up from the crawlspace. If so, a simple poly vapor barrier laid over the dirt is what we would do here. Google this word - efflorescence.