rkenney

During a recent home inspection while in the basement, I overheard the realtor advising the client on the need to drain the water heater as regular maintenance. Not something I would normally recommend a new homeowner to undertake because of the steps involved (this was gas). I never felt this was particularly effective unless you turn of the water inlet. Of course if you do this you have to turn off the gas. If you've gotten this far you also need to open the TPR to allow water to flow. Clean up the mess and if the valves don't leak after you've messed with them, refill the tank and relight the gas. So, what would you do/say to a young client after hearing the short (drain the tank) advice from a realtor to a client during a home inspection? A.) say nothing? B.) explain all the necessary steps to be effective (and contradict the realtor)? or C.) let them believe they are accomplishing something by merely draining the tank with the water running?

It's gas company cya. The meter cock doesn't have a handle for a reason. They don't want joe homeowner messing with it. Their reasoning is that most people can't even light their pilot light much less find a wrench to turn the gas cock on and off. If you put a handle on it, different story, better tell them, hence the label. When they restore service (gas company) they always check for leaks, and light pilots. Doesn't mean they don't want you to turn it off if you smell gas!

The valve has been stationary (on) for a long time. Just as with water valves the concern is that once closed it will leak if opened. All gas company instructions for emergency shut-off, regardless of the valve type, instruct you to call the gas company to restore (turn-on) service after an emergency shut-off.

This is certainly a fascinating read. I took the time to google the names mentioned and read the columns and articles associated with that search. My question is, what exactly are Mrs. Kramers "expert" qualifications that are referred to in so many articles, and what "career" did she give up, as purported in one article, to become a full time mold advocate?[?]

I would report to the standards of the IRC. A savvy lawyer (is there such a thing) would love to take the case of a guest (child or adult) who fell on your property. Happens all the time. Limit your liability, CYA.

Guess that's possible. Chimney was block with a liner and there when we moved in. With three sides exposed to the weather I had always figured the chimney was mostly cold air most of the time. Worked great once a draft was established, lot less effective as the stove cooled off (fire died). Inlaws slept on the pullout in the basement on one visit and set off all the smoke alarms trying to relight the stove one winter morning.[]

Doesnt really add much to the house 'lines,' does it. (needs a flag or pennant) Bigger question is does it work well. My first house (owned) was an end unit town house with three stories of exterior wood stove chimney. Had one hell of a time keeping a draft on a cold day. Worked well with a raging fire but getting it started was tough and keeping a draft with a low flame was nigh on impossible. Got tired of dragging wood through the basement anyway . . .

Reminds me of that final high school lab assignment. The answer, "I dunno" was insufficient for a satisfactory grade. If, however, I had answered, "The data correlation is insufficient for a causal conclusion and will require further analysis and study of dubious value." I would undoubtedly received a passing grade, accolades, and a government grant for continued study! A confusing confluence of contradictory conclusions. Government hard at work or hardly working? [:-graduat

I do try to get feedback from my customers with some very limited success. In reading this thread and thinking about it, (I've been known to do that) I wonder if it's not more important just to have attempted to solicit feedback (makes them feel like you're really interested, and I am) than to actually get it. I kinda feel like no feedback can be positive and maybe a future referral while the really feedback motivated people are most often the ones who think they have a gripe or are discontented with their home inspection. Complainers may not outnumber everybody else but they are far more vocal. Glad I haven't had to deal with them yet.

Thanks for the reply. That was pretty much my take on the whole deal. We do have some wood stoves and fireplaces in the community, so the idea of being 'in the neighborhood' was plausible enough, most of the county property listings are wrong on the fireplace so I was prepared to tell her I did not have a fireplace, but when she mentioned gas flues I hung up. Glad to hear you're more polite than that, but I didn't call them. If you're going to cold call, get used to it.

I received an interesting call this morning from a chimney cleaning service. They claimed they were in the area and cleaning, among other things, gas furnace flues. This is what I found curious, because I had never heard of such a thing. Gas burns much cleaner than wood or even oil. So while it is conceivable that a gas flue might need cleaning under extremely adverse conditions (bad furnace) - has anyone else ever heard of this?[?]

Isn't that what you call the "path of least resistance"?[:-monkeyd

A good open source (free) web site designer is Kompozer. It's WYSIWYG and allows you to see the finished page, source code, and FTP your finished page to your server. You can play around, make changes, add pictures or create new pages and then save or reject as you want. No changes are permanent till you upload the page to your server so you can save multiple versions locally. Great for adding/changing key words or meta tags. Takes a little setup but it has web forums for help as you go along. Google anaytics is free to track your results. There is also a host of demo SEO software out there that can help point you in the right direction. Feel free to critique my website, although this was already done on a previous post, any help is appreciated since I am not a website designer, just cheap!

Nice pictures, at the risk of sounding stupid, care to elaborate?

Could someone please identify this for me. These town homes are about 10 yrs old. Most of the adjacent homes (but not all) have this on their roof. The 1st picture is not real clear, but basically it just looks like a folded piece of strap metal as revealed by the attic photo. Does this have a purpose? Click to Enlarge 18.23 KB Click to Enlarge 31.22 KB

What would you report (wording) this problem without scaring the buyer half to death. Beautiful deck all vinyl on top and barely 42" high, so no dirt was added afterward. Is it ground contact or total ground immersion. House built in 2000 so deck is somewhat newer. Click to Enlarge 44.26 KB

The valve and CSST may be damaged however when the dryer falls from the ceiling. Howed they do dat...

The husband thinks it says 'Studio outlets." But the wife, not sharing his hobby enthusiasm, is sure it says "stupid outlets." Bob Kenney www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com

Point well taken! I was envisioning this system as two independent sources; hot, cold. But of course you are right, it is a loop at the water heater. Bob Kenney www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com

I wasn't suggesting that the cold water would flow, only that the static pressure would prevent an impedance to the flow of hot water from the circulator pump. Enough volume (flow) of hot water would need to occur to move the hot water from the heater tank whatever distance to the remote pump, in a short enough time to raise the temperature at the circulator by the desired amount. You are right though about the static pressure being the same in both lines, and after I read that maybe it doesn't present that much of a difficulty. Just raise the hot water side above the static pressure and return it on the cold water line. Guess I'll have to buy one and find out....does take a little while to get hot water to my kitchen... Bob Kenney www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com

This is good to know. I have not seen one of these, but did hear a guy discuss running a pump from his hot water heater for just that reason. Just curious, how do you suppose the pump returns water against the cold water pressure? Certainly you would have to have some pressure differential; i.e. higher circulator pressure than cold water pressure. but, how much higher until you had adequate flow? Bob Kenney www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com

Yes, a new battery makes no difference in the display when turning off the SM. I did download a 'true' copy of the manual, however, and the first page said that it would indicate a low battery by displaying BAT. Don't know where I got the original instructions from on the web, but they were identical except for that omission. Just wanted to know if there was some indication before the meter suffered erratic operation from low battery (not something I like to deal with on-site). Bob Kenney www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com

Some time ago a post was made asking if anyone would feel comfortable buying a surveymaster from E-bay. The standard 'Caveat emptor" was responded. Well I just got my surveymeter from Ebay, ran all the calibration checks ( with and without the remote leads), checked my bathroom floor, the wet wall in the shed, yada yada. All works well, I am quite pleased (I am cheap - but not easy). When the unit turns off, either manually or automatically, there is a battery graphic in the upper left corner. Is this supposed to indicate battery charge ( no reference to it in the manual)? Bob Kenney www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com

What would you say about this gas line installation? This was a HOA inspection of the exterior of multiple units. I called attention to this simply because it looks 'bootleg' and not safe. No protection where the CSST goes through the wall, the shutoff valve doesn't look like an exterior type, and I thought the valve needed to be in the room with the appliance (gas stove)? Bob Kenney, Maryland www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com Click to Enlarge 25.58 KB

Thanks Jim and Richard for the replies. I am a firm advocate of "measure twice and cut once," and this applies to words as well (my wife may disagree . So I appreciate the clarification you've provided. It was worth the $2.99 simply to raise and answer the question. I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught. Winston Churchill Bob Kenney, Maryland www.IndependentHomeInspectionMD.com