asihi

A few questions; Do you happen to live on the 1st floor of the building? Are the ducts in the floor or ceiling? Does it have the sour smell of sewer gas?

I have a quick question. Can a cracked clay lined masonry flue be lined with stovepipe? I did a job a few months back where the fireplace flue liner was cracked. The seller, who said he is a contractor, refused to get a Chimney Sweep to fix it and said that he would do it himself. To make a very long story shorter, I went out yesterday and none of the work on the fireplace was done. The seller said it would be finished by closing, which is today. I just got a picture from the buyer showing the flue being line with what looks like stovepipe. This seems like double the work, plus I'm not even sure if he's going to get it into the smoke-shelf. Has anyone ever seen this before? Sorry that the picture is sideways. I can't figure out how to flip it. Click to Enlarge 83.19 KB

Thanks to everyone that responded. Everyone except Jerry. All of this stuff has been very helpful. Again, with the exception of Jerry (you suck). Tony

From what I understand, I am not an expert witness, though the attorney said that he wants me to write up a bill and give it to him after my testimony. I wasn't asked to do any type of research or re-visit the building. To be honest, I have know idea of how I can help his case or his client. This thing happened so fast. The subpoena came on Wednesday night and the trial is starting on Monday. The attorney called me yesterday to give me my scheduled time for testimony. From what I was told, I'll be in and out of there within an hour. I'm not really sure what to expect. If it was me, I would not go to the attorneys office prior to the trial. I would tell the attorney that you will be the custodian of record and that you will be at the listed time and date for the trial since you have not be hired as an expert or litigation consultant. At the trial I would not offer any opinion but only identify that I did write the report. As said in an earlier post, if you are asked for an opinion or additional information that is not in your report you turn to the judge and state that you have not been hired as an expert. The judge at this point will most likely admonish the attorney and tell him to hire you as an expert or change the line of questioning. Just so I'm clear on this, if this attorney wanted to hire me as an expert there would be some sort of contract spelling out the terms, correct? Thanks for your help with this. This has definitely been a learning experience Yes, you should have a contract that spells out your part in the process. Send me an email and I will send you one that has worked well for me for several years. It's not for everyone, you need to have an even temper and most of all you need to be able to understand that it is only a job and you can't take anything personally. Most EW's are paid very well for the work. Most EW's in our profession have fees in the $200 to $300 range, per hour. scott@traceinspections.com Thanks for the offer. I will send you an email. By the way, the trial starts tomorrow and I'm scheduled to testify on Tuesday. Even if I wanted to prepare or do some research, I would not have any time. Another stupid question; I was subpoenaed to testify. I'm assuming that even if they ask me to be an expert witness, I do not have accept. Is that correct? The way that this whole thing is being pushed together, I'd rather just testify and get out of there. Thanks again for your help. Tony

From what I understand, I am not an expert witness, though the attorney said that he wants me to write up a bill and give it to him after my testimony. I wasn't asked to do any type of research or re-visit the building. To be honest, I have know idea of how I can help his case or his client. This thing happened so fast. The subpoena came on Wednesday night and the trial is starting on Monday. The attorney called me yesterday to give me my scheduled time for testimony. From what I was told, I'll be in and out of there within an hour. I'm not really sure what to expect. If it was me, I would not go to the attorneys office prior to the trial. I would tell the attorney that you will be the custodian of record and that you will be at the listed time and date for the trial since you have not be hired as an expert or litigation consultant. At the trial I would not offer any opinion but only identify that I did write the report. As said in an earlier post, if you are asked for an opinion or additional information that is not in your report you turn to the judge and state that you have not been hired as an expert. The judge at this point will most likely admonish the attorney and tell him to hire you as an expert or change the line of questioning. Just so I'm clear on this, if this attorney wanted to hire me as an expert there would be some sort of contract spelling out the terms, correct? Thanks for your help with this. This has definitely been a learning experience

From what I understand, I am not an expert witness, though the attorney said that he wants me to write up a bill and give it to him after my testimony. I wasn't asked to do any type of research or re-visit the building. To be honest, I have know idea of how I can help his case or his client. This thing happened so fast. The subpoena came on Wednesday night and the trial is starting on Monday. The attorney called me yesterday to give me my scheduled time for testimony. From what I was told, I'll be in and out of there within an hour. I'm not really sure what to expect.

I thought I'd give a little update. This trial, which was initially postponed is back on again. I got another subpoena to show up next Tuesday (3/15). I was subpoenaed by the defendants attorney. (I have not heard anything from my client, the plaintiff). This attorney wants me to meet with him at his office an hour before the trial to go over the some of the stuff we're going to be talking about and then he said that I'll be in court about an hour. He also said that he's not looking for a freebie and wants me to bill him. Does this sound like an expert witness? If so, I haven't had a chance to do any research or re-visit the property. The only thing that I have to go on is my report, which was written 4 years ago. I've never done this before and I'm kind of nervous and kind of intrigued as well. I'm curious to see how this system works. Heck I don't even know what to charge the guy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to everyone that responded. Now that the holidays are over, I'll give them a call to see exactly what they want from me. In a small very way, I'm kind of intrigued on how this process works. I sat on a jury about 10 years ago and it was interesting. Of course I wasn't in the defendants chair though.

I'm looking for some advice and thought I'd get some perspective here. I'll try to make this very long story shorter. I did a job for a client about 3 years ago. They bought a flip from a builder and after moving in they got some major flooding. To shorten the story, they are going after the builder, stating that the builder knew about the chronic flooding in the area. Fast forward to July of this year, I received a deposition notice from the defendants attorney. I met with the guy and talked for about 15-20 minutes. No big deal. That was the last I heard anything about this, until today. I got served with a subpoena by the defendants attorney. Along with the subpoena was a witness check that won't even pay for my parking in downtown Chicago. I know I have to show up, but is this something I need to get my attorney involved in? I'm not sure what I can really add to this situation, plus it was 3 years ago. Other than what's in the report, I really don't remember much about this place. Thanks for your help. Tony

Thanks to you and everyone else for your response. You're right about the over-thinking part. I'm usually not like this, but for some reason this job got to me. The buyer is a single 20-something year old woman, 1st time buyer, buying a 110 year old flip, which was kind of a mess. She had no idea what she was getting into. I'm not sure what the RE agent was thinking, showing her this place. Tony

I guess why I'm having a hard time with this is because of the furnace. Category 1 gas fired furnaces aren't allowed to vent into an unlined flue. Would a flue made of this block considered to be lined?

There was about 3" of snow on an 8/12 roof

I'm looking to see if I could get some clarification. I did an older building yesterday that had an interior flue that vents the Cat1 furnace and water heater made from chimney blocks. I couldn't get on the roof because of the snow, but there was a small opening at the base where I could see that it wasn't lined. Most unlined flues that I see are made of single wythe brick, which is an easy call, but this block kind of threw me for a loop. The Chimney Safety Institute defines a chimney liner as clay, ceramic or metal conduit, so I think I have my answer, but I want to check here just to get other opinions just to make sure. Am I correct? This flue is unlined? Thanks for your help Tony Click to Enlarge 39.1 KB

It sounds like it's wired as line/load reversed. Tony

I had a job a few months back that had three of these installed. I was asked if I was going to test them and I told my client that there was no way without getting water all over the place. He look at his son and said "well what are you waiting for? Get in there." Click to Enlarge 13.2 KB

I don't. It was in a relatively small room and I couldn't get a wide enough shot. My initial thought was like John stated; the panel was bonded and the current making its way back to the service neutral by the bond in the meter cabinet. I can't believe this went unnoticed for so long. Someone finished the basement of this building and added some circuits. I had to stare at this for a couple minutes to make sure I wasn't going crazy.

I had a job the other day on a 10 year old building. Everything was fairly typical until I got to the panel. I removed the cover and found that the service neutral cable was loose and hanging in the panel. The end of it was taped and it looked like it was like this since day one. This was the typical set up that we see all the time; a lateral service to the meter with rigid metal conduit from the meter cabinet to the panel with 3-cables. The service was grounded with a driven rod and a connection to a water line in the building and was bonded. I'm aware of all the implications with this set up, but in my head, I'm trying to figure out exactly how the electrical system was functioning. Was it the ground connection to the water line? Because of the bond in the panel? Thanks for your help. Tony Click to Enlarge 96.22 KB

Click to Enlarge 12.32 KB This one would work if you had a rider. Click to Enlarge 10.67 KB This one would work well also.

I don't know anything about this place. Here is a follow up email that I got that may help a little: I have to say, we have the GREATEST group of inspectors around. After putting out the word, my email was flooded with help. Thank you for your assistance. Here is a recap: *CO reading of 55, only when water was turned on *Home was vacant *Electric Water Heater, Whirlpool *No known recalls, I checked *City Water *CO Meter: Fieldpiece SCM3 Here were some of the suggestions: -Check the water heater -Problem seen before, with water in copper pipes that sat for a long time developing CO in line. Ran water thru lines for an hour or so and problem disappeared. -May be a faulty meter, better equipment. . . .more accurate results -55 not that high, although should be at 0 (zero). 55 is too high for indoors -Humidity could be setting off detector, depending on the equipment -Gas heater could cause back drafting when running water. -Could be fluoride in the water -Inspector carries a 2nd detector to verify numbers if they are way off -Reading of 55 can be achieved when cooking in kitchen -Is the plumbing stack sharing space with furnace flue? Water turned on can create negative airflow/back draft of running furnace. -When was the last time the detector was calibrated? -What are the sources of combustion in the house? -Is there a wood-burner attached to water system for home heating? -Possibly the vent fro the water heater, if there is a hole in the vent in pipe or in the chimney -Call city (water dept) maybe they are working on line and CO is being sucked into the water source. -Could be coming from water vapor, meter can be sensitive to that -CO detectors are cross sensitive to other gasses, so it actually may be reading another gas If conditions had included a Well Water Source: -Water may have methane from fracking in earth for natural gas drilling -Could there be natural gas in the well? (this was a common suggestion) -Could be aerating hydrogen sulfide gas, fooling the meter -Possibly byproducts of combustion are being sucked into water supply The city has been called to the inspection site. Our inspector will follow up with his findings in the field. All of theses suggestions were forwarded to him as well. Thanks again for all of your help! PS If you need anything you can now text me, on the GLC line. 734-284-4501 Carol Batko, Executive Director ASHI Great Lakes Chapter 734-284-4501 or carol@greatinspectors.org www.greatinspectors.org

I belong to ASHI-GLC. Yesterday an email went out to the membership about a problem one of the inspectors was having on one of his jobs. It seems like a real head scratcher. I thought I would post the email her to see if anyone could offer any suggestions. Just off the phone with an inspector, he is in a house now doing the inspection. Getting very high CO rating (55) whenever he turns on the water????? Home is on a slab Electric Water Heater Furnace is on Getting this reading throughout the house, but ONLY when he turns on any source of water (ie; washer, kitchen sink, bath sink, etc.) HELP, have you experienced this? Do you know what is going on? FYI, levels return to normal when he shuts off the water source. PS you can respond to this email or text me on the GLC line 734-284-4501 ASHI Great Lakes Chapter 734-284-4501 or carol@greatinspectors.org www.greatinspectors.org Any thoughts on this? Tony

Here's a good article about condensing furnaces. http://www.ashireporter.org/HomeInspect ... stems/1871

Great article. Thanks Rob.

The building was built in 1989 and the panel was very clean. It definitely was a FPE Stab Lok panel. I was surprised to find the Challenger breakers when I opened the cover. It seems that Challenger made these breakers specifically for Stab Lok, with the Stab Lok name printed on its identification sticker. I can't seem to find any information on these breakers at all.

Hi everyone. I did a forum search and couldn't seem to find and answer to my question. I did a job on an early 80's condo that had a FPE Stab Lok panel installed. Instead of FPE breakers, someone installed all Challenger breakers. The problems with the Stab Lok panels and breakers are well documented and I always recommend upgrading then when I find them, but I can't seem to find much information about the reliability and function of replacement breakers. To me, this set up still has the same poor connection at the bus bar, but I'd like to get other opinions. Would you still recommend replacing these panels when the breakers are replaced? Thank you in advance. Tony Click to Enlarge 43.05 KB A quick edit; after looking at some of the pictures that I took, I noticed that it not only says Challenger on the face of the breaker, it says Stab Lok as well. Are these the same crappy breakers as the orange handled Stab Lok breakers? Click to Enlarge 84.37 KB

Cleaning that section of the coil would be nearly impossible. According to Trane's installation manual, when a unit is installed in an inside corner, a minimum of a foot is needed between the walls. http://www.desertmountaintrane.com/tran ... 0guide.pdf