Charlie R

I got a few phone calls from them, told them "No thanks"

Sorry, I'm blue.

"Most of these ground wires are cut from lawn cutting services. That is why I ask." Are you sure they are ground wires or are they locator wiring? If the gas piping underground is non-metallic, then they wrap a locator wire around it so you can locate the pipe underground with a metal detector. The wiring simply ends above ground but is not physically attached to the piping.

Not necessarily "ungrounded" although there is obviously no place for the "ground" prong of a three prong receptacle. If the receptacle is attached (installed in) to a metal box and wired with armored cable back to the main service panel, which should be grounded, then you may have grounding there.

I'm with Scott, "Ya know, I would just tell them that is is against my company policy to sign such forms." sounds like the best approach.

Good Job and Well Done! We need more stories like this to get out to the public.

This is a small photo software program I have used for years, easy to use, small - not a memory hog, does pretty much anything I want. Great if you use a Windows netbook. Free download. - http://www.irfanview.com/

I run a Mac and I'm not really worried about viruses, but I found from another Mac user that some viruses that are attached to an e-mail, while harmless to the Mac, can be spread to other people who use Windows if you forward the e-mail. For that reason I downloaded a free mac virus checker, ClamX at - http://www.clamxav.com/index.php?page=dl - current version is 2.08 if you are interested. No slow down or change in performance, I've been running it for about 6 months, hasn't found anything.

Here is a free software download - http://www.cutepdf.com/ - works nice. Make sure you download the free version as there is a paid for version. Basically, once installed on a Windows computer, just pull any document up to print but don't send it to your default printer. This software will convert almost anything to PDF. Pull down the menu to select a printer and you will see a printer named CutePDF. Print to that and it will ask you where to "print" to so you just select a folder where you want your PDF to be and hit print. Bingo, your document is transformed into a PDF and placed wherever you selected. Works nice for me, I keep my inspection agreement as a Word doc, but change it to a PDF for e-mailing. I know some of you use Word for inspection reports, this could help change those to PDFs for e-mailing.

I've had my TK-11 for over two years now, bought three batteries (Tenergy 18650 3.7V) and a double charger. I put a fresh battery in each day before I leave the home, the other two batteries are in the charger. I have a big old Mag in the tool bag for clients to use but I've never run the battery too low on the Fenix. Only problem I've had was wearing out the belt pouch that came with it.

I don't know about anyone else but when I read "Tell your son to be relentless in his marketing efforts", I interpret that as "offer kick-backs!"

Looks like me, old but still working.

I was right, had one in a condo, here is a few pics of how I find them. The insulated lines are the supply and the return to the fan coil unit, the bare copper lines combine to a mixing valve. This arrangement allows maximum heating of the water for the heat purpose, mixing valve tempers the water down for domestic supply. At the fan coil is the pump switch, and as usual, the extremely dirty filter that allows both the A/C coil and the heat coil to get completely clogged. You have to remove the screws and then the cover to get to the filter and most homeowners don't make the effort. This unit was rated to give 30,000 BTU max. Obviously, the water heater was made for this application, but this one needs to be replaced, soon. Click to Enlarge 41.69 KB Click to Enlarge 52.43 KB Click to Enlarge 47.04 KB Click to Enlarge 53.77 KB

I see them here in the high-rise condos, most of them use heated water from the gas water heater. These condos are pretty small, probably 600 sq ft or so, only issues I've noted are that the water heater was replaced and the new heater isn't correct, or hooked up correctly, and you really have to keep the coils clean on these as I have found a lot of fungal growth in them. I have an inspection today and I'm pretty sure I'll see one.

Thanks for all the advice. I called around myself and found that at least in that area, most tanks are stilled owned by the supplying company and they won't fill each others tanks. Found the company that had that address, but the agent had already found them also so all is good there. I had a disclaimer I would throw in my report about not inspecting underground tanks (oil or propane) but I am modifying that statement to include the possibility that the propane tank is not actually a part of the property. Thanks all.

Didn't know where else to put this so if it's in the wrong forum, I apologize. Here we go - I did an inspection of a 5 year old home (big) that is now bank owned. There was an underground propane tank to service the propane gas tankless water heater, a propane gas furnace (that was the back-up for a heat pump) and a propane gas pool heater (shut down for winter). I opened the lid and found the gas valve closed and the pressure gauge reading zero - no gas and turned off. I put it in the report, everyone understood, I can't test these things. A few days later the agent calls, asks me if I remember who the gas supplier was? I say no, just call and get a supplier to go out, inspect and put some gas in the tank, turn it on to the home. I know they won't do that unless they can go in the home and check everything, then, if you want I'll come back (for a fee) and inspect the gas appliances. The agent says that no supplier she has called will put any gas in the tank unless it's their tank, they all will quote a price to replace the tank with their tank and then fill. Is this just a local thing, State of Maryland (also known as the state of Confusion) thing, or is this a common practice around the nation? If it is common practice, shouldn't we point that fact out, because if the client can't find the original supplier (out of business, bankrupt, etc) the client could have a pretty big bill changing out an underground tank. Thoughts? Experience? Click to Enlarge 127.82 KB

See it here in Maryland all the time, never had any electrician agree that it was a problem. That, and double-taps for the dang doorbell. If there are other issues I write for the client to hire an electrician to fix the other issues AND the neutral wiring. If it's just the neutral wiring, and everything else looks OK, then I write that the client should be aware this common issue exists, period. I have noticed that the past couple of years in new construction inspections, it's been done right so I don't know if someone here is starting to crack down on it or not.

I had a new town home, went to lift the attic access panel (in the bathroom) and it wouldn't budge, figured it was painted in. Took a knife and cut the paint, still wouldn't budge. The job super was there, he said to let him try. He couldn't budge it so he put his fist through it. The carpenter (at least he was paid to be a carpenter) had just put trim in a square on the bathroom ceiling with no opening. Once we could see in the attic, no insulation!

I guess that's what they mean by "Public Restroom" [] Did the superintendent say "but it meets code!"

Sorry Philip, but no, I was just relaying what the construction super stated. Happened here in Maryland so let me dig around.

I took this photo this summer on a new-construction (Baltimore County, Md) inspection. This was early in the morning and the home I was inspecting had windows reflecting on the home next door. The temperature of the siding in the shade was 70 degrees, in the center of the "stars" it was 160. The construction super said they had had similar problems on several other homes and had switched out the offending windows, but in one case the homeowner refused. The damaged home owner took them to court and the super said the judge ruled that the contractor was obligated to offer to replace the windows, but if the owner of the home doing the damage refused, then that home owner was liable for damage to the other home. Yes, I wrote "be aware that - - " Click to Enlarge 53.32 KB

My crawlspace the other day wasn't as bad as yours, but this was the first time I ever saw hanging termite tubes this long in Maryland. At least 10 joists were damaged severely, several more had damage, and there was a whole lot of non-termite stuff wrong here. Click to Enlarge 62.21 KB

You just gotta love this place, you can't help but smile! Thanks guys.

Just replace it, it can "look" fine, but if the breakers don't trip, then all sorts of bad can happen. Why risk that?

Good info, thanks!