Norm

George, It sure would seem so. I got most of my information from Nick Liotti with York. 1-800-219-9192 select technical support. If you leave a message Nick is good about returning calls. NORM

Terry, As I am informed by the folks at York, Rheem, and Trane when you are dealing with a split system air-cooled central AC installation the following applies. The electronics measures the resistance in ohms at the evaporator coil. When the coil moisture level raises the resistance raises. This triggers the blower motor fan to increase in speed. If there is an integral humidistat installed in the system when the relative humidity in the conditioned space rises above the manually adjusted setting it will trigger the blower motor to reduce it's speed allowing the air to remain on the coil longer in order to extract more moisture. Please bear in mind I prefaced this post by saying "I am informed by......" that's different than "I know or I understand". I hope this helps. NORM SAGE

Terry & Chris, Et. Al. Variable air handlers are common here in S. Florida in residential installations. In certain circumstances they do increase the SEER of the system. In the case of the York systems Model #s' beginning with the letters HDH range from 12.0 to 13.50 SEER with a variable speed air handler. I recently wrote an article titled : "SEER SO WHAT", which was published in the Gulfstream ASHI Digest and the newsletter of the Florida Association of Building Inspectors which I would be glad to send to anyone interested. Better yet, I will send it to Mike "O" and he can use it as a resource. For immediate reference go to the following link http://www.energystar.gov/ia/products/p ... d_list.pdf you can access 15 pages containing the model numbers and SEER of 455 models produced by 28 manufacturers. NORM SAGE

Take the model and serial number down and call the local distributor for the particular manufacturer. They will tell you what the SEER is. There are instances where the units are labeled 12 SEER and a variable speed air handler is introduced into the system which raises the SEER. I have never heard of a coil which fits into your hand used to accomplish this. Besides, adding a component violates the UL or other testing laboratories approval unless the system was tested with the particular component. NORM SAGE

George, I guess my memory served me correctly. I said over 100 bags. Didn't realize it was 300 but now you have jogged my memory and I think you are correct. As to the amount of the suit, when I left Michigan there wasn't a dwelling worth over $150,000.00. Given this was a relatively small house I would put the price at =/- $90,000.00. Punitive damages would account for the remainder. NORM

Willie, Talk about thread drift. We've gone from deadfront covers to racoons. At any rate, about two years ago there was an article in one of the Detroit newspapers about a family who had filed a lawsuit against a home inspector. Seem he inspected a =/- 1600 square foot two story home and issued his report which didn't mention any problems in the attic. Mind you =/- 1600 square feet translates into =/- 800 square feet in the attic (not very big). Subsequent to the closing the buyers noticed a strange odor. Further investigation revealed copious amounts of racoon feces in the attic. Also the NM cable was chewed to pieces and the insulation was destroyed by urine. George will have to help me with this, I believe the article stated they removed over 100 large plastic garbage bags of insulation and feces. It was apparant that the inspector never looked in the attic or mistook the feces for normal attic contents. Norm Sage

George, Until you mentioned it I had completely forgotten about that racoon case. I have no idea what happened. I would bet a call to the Detroit News or Free Press research Dept. would provide the answer. NORM

George, You say "one multi-million dollar jury award.....and six months profits down the drain". You must have one hell of a practice. I don't think I know of a single, not franchise) home inspection company that grosses in the multi-million dollar range in any given year. That's gross not profit. Did I move to Florida from Michigan too soon? NORM

Philosophiical differences aside I do market realtors and also belong to the local realtors board as an affilliate. I am only too happy to accept realtor referals so long as they don't attempt to comprimise the integrity of my job. Realtors will always be a part of the equation Uh-Oh, I'm drifting sorry. Here in S. Florida 95% of the lockboxes are the electronic ones. I rarely see the old combination boxes. Having an electronic key gives me some degree of flexibility in terms of scheduling particularly in cases where an out of town buyer won't attend the inspection. It also makes it easy to retrieve tools you may have left behind and don't tell me none of you have never done that. NORM SAGE

When I remove a dead front cover and find the fasteners to be pointed rather than blunt I don't reinstall the cover. I simply leave the cover and the fasteners in proximity to the panel, tape a piece of cardboard or whatever over the panel, and inform the owner of the situation. If you re-install the pointed fasteners you are, in effect, condoning the defective condition you are (I hope) reporting. NORM SAGE

Ellen, While I don't use a manometer I have utilized the services of a womanometer on occasion. I bring Leslie with me on inspections and if she says it isn't right it flat out isn't right. Getting serious now I believe, at least from my perspective, the use of such monitoring devices is so far fetched from reasonable standards of practice, not to mention standard of care, that it is not warranted. If we go to far in this direction then we will soon set up laser particle counters in order to inform our clients that there are too many airborne particles in the indoor air which could contain fungal spores, dust mites, bacteria, viruses, and a whole plethora of other contaminates which may or may not have an effect on them. Keep it simple and accurate and you won't go wrong. Go too far and it doesn't end. NORM SAGE

Mike, As of 10:50PM January 22, 2004 Florida remains under the Florida Building Code 2001 with the 2003 revisions. Maybe someday our less than progressive state will adopt the IRC. Hell we are still building houses like they do in the frigid north. The authorities haven't realized you don't ventilate attics in hot humid climates like you do in cool dry ones. I guess they don't know how cold air coming out of an air conditioning duct blowing accross a sheetrock ceiling reacts with the humidity in an attic when the temperature on the attic side of the ceiling reaches the dewpoint of the air in the attic. Go know!! NORM SAGE

BBB here in S. Florida is kind of like the ACLU. Those folks are commonly referred to as the American Criminal Liberties Union. If a client calls the BBB and inquires as to your firm they are told "there have been "X" complaints all of which have been resolved. They don't tell the person who inquires in whose favor the complaints have been resolved. The average consumer reads through the "been resolved" language and assumes the "X" complaints were your fault. Eighteen years in this business and I won't have any part of those folk. I do get calls from the BBB =/- ten times a year soliciting my participation. I will forego the 2-4 inspections I may loose as a result of not being a member. NORM SAGE

Thanks to Mike "O" you are absolutely correct. This is the best forum going. NORM SAGE

I'll go with the contactor theory. I've seen this happen numerous times. Here in S. Florida lizzards get into the controls and fry. Sometimes there's enough lizzard juice left in the carcass to complete the circuit for quite awhile and the condensor freezes up. NORM SAGE