Brian Kelly

Chad You need to think long term. You and I are not getting any younger and the wood thing might be a short term idea. I would use the oxygen barrier tubing with the thought's that some day you might change out boilers to a more conventional boiler with gas or oil, and then the tubbing question might come into play. It is only a few dollars more and the over all lo0ng run should be considered. That's my concern with your question and we all know you have the money to buy the new batteries any way.

I see this all the time in commerical buildings and residential homes. I believe the cause of this is a dirty duct system and possiable the transfer of air from one area with a large amount of dirt and dust being put thru the system and not being filtered properly. Most of the time you will see this on high suplys and returns. This is my best guess.

One point that was brought up is the vent condensating in either SS or Alum. Both will condensate in certain conditions inside a brick or block chimney. In the NY area we tend to use SS and when needed the SS chimney must be lined (insulated) with the proper liner, manufactured by the liner company. I have only seen the insulation liner used in a few occasions and should have been used in many more. The chimney liner insulation kits should be used on all outside wall chimneys and even on certain inside chimneys.

Bain was correct your wording was way to much. You were also correct as to the 4' clearance rule. The termination cap from what I have seen is ok just too close to the window and the A/C unit. I have seen windows open in the middle of the winter with the furnace working so the statement that the window will never be open when the furnace is on is not correct. Case in point a family gathering with a large crowd puts off some good heat and possible smoke, so one might open a window to vent. The termination vent is called a Bay-vent. I have seen and installed them many times in the past. I hope this helps.

I will be working Tues. am for a York distributor and will get the proper info then for you. I hope this helps.

In the 90's I worked for a HVAC company who installed a large volume of this stuff. We too found that it was not the best for health reasons as more and more people are sensitive to just about everything. We had a machine that cut the flat sheets into every size and shape. We even cut it to be round, as round sometimes was easier to run and support. It us now more commonly used as a metal duct insulation.

Spelling or not those with glass houses should not throw stones. Where are your credentials for asbestos.

There we go again not comparing apples to apples. Those in law enforcement are trained in identifying the different drugs. The key word is TRAINED.

Sonofswamp With that statement then I must assume that you call out mold with out any question. I am not an asbestos expert and will never claim to be, that being said I will never positively call out :asbestos", I will always state "what appears to be Asbestos". We have some other insulation that looks very similar to the asbestos and most of the time you can tell the difference but I will never call it out as asbestos. I was in the Plb & HVAC trade for over 27 years and have come across more "what appears to be asbestos" and I all ways informed the client to have it properly tested for verification. I do not know what instructors that you have had in the past but most all of the ones that I have knew the business better than most HI's I have ever meet. (no I am not an instructor) Remember Hi's are generalist and not specialist in all aspects of the home, so don't try an be by calling things out you do not know for sure.

All sinks need to be trapped. That is a day one in plumbing class question.

Chad According to my source the year is the first two consecutive numbers is the year. Your unit is a 2003. The local supplier for the Kelvinator is Northstar in Rochester NY. Hope this helps.

Chad the Kelvinator is a 2003 unit as I was told the first 2 numbers together in the serial # are the year build. The local wholesaler rep. for Kelvinator is Northstar. Hope this helps

This is a good tool for the HVAC tech. I would say it is an expensive toy for the HI's. As a HI we are told that we need to be generalist's and not HVAC specialest. I have no need to look that close into the heat exchanger as I am not trained in HVAC and not qualified to determine if the furnace has a true cracked heat exchanger. I do look into all furnaces and check for proper cycling and rust or sediment build up.

I have a Gorilia ladder. It is a 21' ladder that is just like the "Little Giant" ladders but cheaper. Mine fits in my Mazda MPV mini van with out any problems. There has only been a few times that this ladder does not work on higher roofs. Well that's my 2 cents.

The venting system is very common around here. But the venting out under the dect is a no/no. The clearence to any opening (window, door) must also be 4', and looking at the pictures it seems to me that they might be closser than that. The insulation packed around the pipe is also wrong and will usually be called out in the installation manual. It should be called out as improper installation and venting. No questions asked. Well thats my 2 cents.

I have been discussing the idea of purchasing a Radon measuring device. I have a fellow HI that states the benifits of the equipment compaired to the canisters I have been using. I am very happy with the canisters as I have my results with in 24 hours of mailing them in to the lab and the total cost is what I call execptiable. I have been told that a machine will cost aprox. $700 with an aditional $100 per year calibrating costs. My questions are 1) is there any liability put on myself if using a machine. 2) is anyone else using these and is there any benifit as to using the canisters? Thanks

I am fairly new myself and I worked up a flier and left that with them . In my flier I had a discount coupon. That is a personal choice. Some on this and other boards do not feel that going after the Realtor's is good, but that is also a personal choice. I my self go after only certine realtor's that I beleve are good and are looking out for their clients. There are some good realtor's out there and if you do a good job for your customers, you will eventiually get the WOM clients, but it is not easy and it does take time. As with everything that is good, all things come with time.

I use the Palm Tech. it seems to work well for me. I still are learning to use the PDA but then again I am not much of a computer geek.