Jim Katen

The bath fan exhaust was ducted to the eave vent. That might have been part of the problem. Otherwise, the situation is exactly like what I see on '50s houses. Brown, syrup-like stains streaking down the siding on the exterior wall of the bathroom. Given that this one had mushrooms growing out from between the siding planks, I told them to remove the siding in this area. My hunch is that the OSB sheathing is a mess underneath. I never heard what happened. - Jim Katen, Oregon

The stuff I see isn't from tannins. While I see it on old cedar siding, I also see it on old fir siding. And lately, I'm seeing exactly the same stuff on Hardiplank. I think it has more to do with asphalt from the tar in the felt paper. Here are some pics from a house I inspected in mid February. The house is six years old. This stuff ain't tannin. - Jim Katen Download Attachment: Stains 1.JPG 51.16 KB Download Attachment: Stains 2.JPG 66.98 KB Download Attachment: Stains 3 w Mushrooms.JPG 97.22 KB

A "transfer switch" is a switch that transfers incoming power from one source to another using a single switch that's designed for that purpose. There are also things called "transfer panels." These use two regular circuit breakers with an interlock device between them that only permits one of the breakers to be in the "on" position at a given time. As far as I know, either set up will fulfill the requirements of 702.6. That section refers only to "transfer equipment." That's interesting, I see a lot of generators too, and I can't remember ever *not* seeing some type of transfer set-up. Some have been pretty bogus, but at least there was a nod toward the issue. The better installations do, indeed, include an instruction panel as you've proposed. For a real kick in the pants, check this out: http://cgi.ebay.com/GENERATOR-EXTENSION ... dZViewItem - Jim Katen, Oregon

Incandescent lights plugged into it would burn really brightly, motors would run really fast . . . for a short time. Electronic items would probably be destroyed. I'm not sure what would happen to things that had power transformers attached. I'll mess with it and get back to you. . . - Jim Katen, Oregon

First one was outdoors on the third story back porch of a 6-plex. The receptacle was next to a porch light, about 7 feet off the porch floor. I have no idea why it was wired that way. No one else knew either. The resident had never plugged anything in there. Second one was, just as you guessed, for a 240v ac unit. The homeowner ran the circuit himself, but didn't want to bother buying a special receptacle. It was easier to use what he had on hand. He was fully aware of the danger and had even warned his wife never to plug her vacuum cleaner into that receptacle. This one clearly comes under the heading of "stupidity" rather than "ignorance." The third one was originally a multi-wire circuit that served the two halves of a duplex. The homeowner replaced the receptacle and didn't understand that he had to break the tabs. He'd connected the red & black wires to the receptacle lugs and neatly coiled the white wire and tucked it into the back of the box. Result - 240v on a 120v receptacle. I attribute this one to "ignorance" rather than "stupidity." These are probably good illustrations of why it's a good idea to have an electrician do even the simplest home wiring. - Jim Katen, Oregon

You aren't supposed to solder copper gas lines, but you can braze them. Are you sure it wasn't brazed? - Jim Katen, Oregon

It's extremely likely. I think you've nailed it. I frequently see the coca-cola staining thing on the siding. Every time it's been a humidity/condensation issue. Around here, it's very common in houses from the '50s & '60s on the exterior side of the bathroom wall. In newer homes, it's usually a misplaced bath vent. Nice description of the problem, by the way. - Jim Katen, Oregon

Abso-freaking-lutely. As Bill said, it's in the section on optional standby systems, Section 702.6. The generator lacks a transfer switch. Without this important safety device, electricity from the generator can travel backwards on the utility power lines. Linemen who might be trying to repair these lines could be killed by this improper installation. A secondary concern is that, without a transfer switch, certain circuits in your house could receive power from both the power utility and the generator at the same time. This could damage appliances and might even start a fire. Have an electrician install a transfer switch. It's called a transfer switch. There are several different kinds. - Jim Katen, Oregon

Yes. It's happened to me three times. In every case, the receptacle was wired with 240v. I just checked again with my GB 3-light tester. When you apply power to both flat prongs, all three lights light up. When you get an anomalous reading like this, you should re-test the receptacle with something else, preferably a multi tester, to find out what's really going on. BTW, false grounds do not make the three light tester glow dimly. However, partial voltage does. You'll often find this on switched receptacles where the switch is in the "off" position -- a little voltage, say 50 volts, can leak through a bad switch. - Jim Katen, Oregon

I've never seen copper clad aluminum wiring installed in a house. If I were to ever run into it, I'd probably notice it because of what Mike said; the wires would be abnormally large for copper. Dan Friedman has an exhaustive site devoted to aluminum wiring at http://www.inspect-ny.com/aluminum.htm The only thing I could find there about copper-clad aluminum is nearly 3/4 of the way down the page. It says, "Copper-clad aluminum wire has a thin copper outer skin and a core of aluminum. Therefore it looks like copper, except on close examination of a cut end. Markings on the cable jacket would include "Al" or "Aluminum". There is no known history of connection overheating problems associated with copper-clad aluminum wire. No corrective actions are required for copper-clad aluminum wire." I hope this helps. - Jim Katen, Oregon

I feel no ill will toward the double tap rated breakers. They seem to work just fine. Multi-wire circuits have a long and proud history. Plus I like the elegance of them. And after all, the entire service is really one big multi-wire circuit, no? Back-stab devices suck. Their entire raison d'etre is to encourage quick, cheap work and lower the bottom line. On the other hand, I love those breakers where you stick the stripped wire in the little hole and then tighten the screw. Nice design. Split bus panels were a poor idea. Too easy to overload them. The 6 movement rule is ok by me. Without it, a lot of installations would be very expensive to expand. Existing AFCIs are a cruel and expensive joke. - Jim Katen, Oregon

I think we all agree on that point. The picture isn't clear enough to see that one way or the other. What you can see is all the equipment grounding conductors gathered together like spaghetti on a fork and shoved under one lug. There could easily be an electrode grounding conductor in there among the weeds. Lazy electrician. You're engineer needs to get out in the field more. I can't actually read the spec on the meter but it sure looks like a class 200 meter in a 200-amp can to me. Brian G, what do you think? - Jim Katen, Oregon

For Mike G. The section that Paul quoted goes back to the 1995 edition of CABO. Back then it was called section 703.7.4 and it uses precisely the same words. The 1986 - 1992 editions of CABO don't use those words, but they require masonry veneer installations to comply with Figure R-503.4. That figure shows weep holes required on 4' centers. None of the codes that I have say anything about reducing weep hole spacing to 16" when wicks are present. Do you know where that idea originated? - Jim Katen, Oregon Download Attachment: CABO 86 Veneer Figure.jpg 45.14 KB

You can use it as a handout as long as you don't change anything and as long as you leave my name and copyright on it. Don't publish it in any books or periodicals. - Jim Katen, Oregon

See the attached Q&A paper. - Jim Katen, Oregon Download Attachment: Double Tap.doc 28.63 KB

Well, I can't find any prohibition against it. The grounding connection to the earth really has nothing to do with equipment grounding, so, if there's going to be a problem, it'll have to do with outside influences on the system such as lightning strikes, power surges, stray currents in the earth, etc. You might want to post this on the ASHI forum. Douglas might have more insight. He really knows article 250. I fall asleep every time I wander into it. - Jim Katen, Oregon

No. There's no such requirement for a residential garage. I know it would make sense if there were such a rule and, in my area, garage receptacles are universally installed high on garage walls but there's no such rule in the NEC. Commercial garages, on the other hand, have to have their receptacles at least 18 inches off the floor. There's an assumption that flammable fuels are being dispensed there, not just stored there. Read all about it in article 511. - Jim Katen, Oregon

I think that good, honest and trusting home inspectors tend to hang out with other good, trusting and honest home inspectors, both in person and on the web. The shysters run silent and deep. There are plenty of them. Or, in the immortal words of Bill Loden, "Don't tell my Mama I'm a home inspector. She thinks I play piano in a whorehouse." - Jim Katen, Oregon

Holy sh*t, Prickett! And to think that I was considering visiting Arizona this spring. Damn! That was a close call. - Jim Katen, Oregon

Around here, you'd need to write it in Russian, Polish & Spanish. For the Americans, you'd need to have a pictogram. - Jim Katen, Oregon

You might as well throw in home inspectors too. - Jim Katen, Oregon

I remember it well. The debate had to do with: 312.8 Enclosures for Switches or Overcurrent Devices. Enclosures for switches or overcurrent devices shall not be used as junction boxes, auxiliary gutters, or raceways for conductors feeding through or tapping off to other switches or overcurrent devices, unless adequate space for this purpose is provided. The conductors shall not fill the wiring space at any cross section to more than 40 percent of the cross-sectional area of the space, and the conductors, splices, and taps shall not fill the wiring space at any corss section to more than 75 percent of the cross-sectional area of that space. Jerry set his hook on the phrase "for this purpose." (The underscoring above is mine.)It was his contention that, in order put such wiring in a panel enclosure, it wasn't enough that there be sufficient room for the wires and splices, the wiring space in the panel had to be specified for that particular purpose (foreign wires and splices) by the manufacturer. Douglas's view (that I happen to share) was that "for this purpose" simply referred to the spaces within the enclosure that are meant to be wireways as opposed those spaces that are meant to contain the panel parts -- i.e. buses, breakers, mounting hardware, etc. In addition, Douglas sought the advice of electrical expert Creighton Schwan, who said, pretty much, that Jerry's interpretation was just wrong. I like Jerry and I've learned a lot from him. His ability to see things from different angles and to question convention is good. But on this subject, he's out there hanging onto a twig on the end of a branch. - Jim Katen, Oregon

The installation in your picture complies with 300.3(b). All of the conductors are traveling together. The installation would conflict with that code section if the wires were run individually or if the grounding wire were run outside the cable. - Jim Katen, Oregon

Sure. Yellowjackets. Bad characters. That's a large nest, but not all that unusual. They seem to like my property. One year I decided to wage war against them. After some serious hunting, I found 5 underground nests. Killed 'em all and dug them up. The smallest was about as big as a basketball, the largest was about as big as the one in your picture. The loss of these five nests didn't make a dent in the yellowjacket population. By late August, the suckers were so thick, that walking across the yard was like wading through a sea of the damn things. - Jim Katen, Oregon

Darren, the rule isn't that a shower door can't open inward, it's that it must open outward. Subtle difference in phrasing, but it should address your question. As far as I can tell, the rule appeared out of nowhere in the 1992 CABO (P2309.1) and pretty much stayed there till it just vanished into thin air in the 2003 IRC. (It was in the 2000 IRC at 2708.1) The reasoning behind the rule, as I understand it, was exactly what Kurt said. If you've ever had someone collapse inside a shower, it's pretty tough to get to him if the door swings inward. If anyone has any idea why the rule was dropped from the 2003 IRC, I'd love to know why. - Jim Katen, Oregon