New furnaces in the south

[agafner]

I have recently inspected a townhome that has had a new furnace installed. Its is a gas furnace but the flue pipe is not metal/aluminum, rather it is a PVC type material. It definitely was not a makeshift flue pipe that someone just attached, all connections are tight and fitting, everything looks as though this is a upgrade in furnaces. Anyone have any insight into this?

[ldapkus]

Originally Posted by agafner

I have recently inspected a townhome that has had a new furnace installed. Its is a gas furnace but the flue pipe is not metal/aluminum, rather it is a PVC type material. It definitely was not a makeshift flue pipe that someone just attached, all connections are tight and fitting, everything looks as though this is a upgrade in furnaces. Anyone have any insight into this?

Before you report that as a problem, you better go back to your study guides and look at the HVAC section. What you are probably looking at is a
HIGH EFFICIENCY FURNACE.

[Jae Williams]

...and don't be surprised when you find two pvc pipes.

One will be for combustion air and one will be for exhaust.

And sometimes the two-pipe system will terminate in one pipe---it is actually one inside the other at that point.

[David A. Andersen]

Where do you guys come from?

There is an SOP out there. If your state is not licenced, there is likely an SOP that applies!

THERE IS NO REAS0N FOR A HI TO INSPECT AN HVAC UNIT BEYOND RUNNING THE EQUIPMENT FROM THE THERMOSTAT! IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT, KEEP AWAY FROM IT!

Until you receive the proper training, there is no reason to even go there. No one says you have to, and there is no reason to add ancillary inspections to your plate unless you know what you are doing!

I do not like to put Inspectors down but you need to put it down before you end up in court.

Seeing this is your first post, I will assume you are new to the field. Unless you want to become a statistic, stick to what you know!

You can not be held liable for what you did not report on when it is not a required inspection point. But... If you go off "half cocked" in your inspection and get into stuff you know nothing about, you will not be around long enough to become a "seasoned HI"!

[Doug Edwards]

Worth repeating!

[Michael R. Boyett]

Yes, especially the part about becoming a 'sadistic'....

well dang, now you went and editted your post so this one doesn't make any sense now.

[Michael R. Boyett]

I'm not sure what set off David's rant but whatever...the guy asked a simple question. He didn't say he was gonna tear the system apart and analyze all the internal workings of it, jeez.
Anthony, for what it's worth I have seen only one high efficiency furnace in the last three years here in central Texas. Thay are just not that popular around here yet. Georgia is likely the same. With that said, I do agree that it would be beneficial for you to go look into them more and get some 'book learning' on them. Good luck.

[Michael R. Boyett]

Originally Posted by dandersen

You can not be held liable for what you did not report on.

Of course you can, that's not the brightest thing you've ever posted here David....you been drinking this afternoon or something?

[David A. Andersen]

Sorry guys, bad week!

Anthony, there is no stupid question.
This thread drifted from your question and I about had it with misinformation this week!

The furnace you saw is a condensing furnace. Because it removes so much heat from the combustion gasses (to put into the house) moisture in the combustion gas condenses in the flue pipe. This condensate will corrode regular metal flues so they must be made from a resistant material like the plastic pipe you saw.

Normal furnaces with metal flues must send enough heat up the flue to keep this from happening, thus a lower efficiency.

I see these furnaces all the time here, I assumed they would frequently use them in GA as well. My mistake.

Re-reading your post, you were not the one implying there was something wrong with the system. Again, my mistake. I apologize.

[Michael R. Boyett]

Now, that's more like the friendly, informative DA posts we all know and love. Gerry B must be having a bad week also, he's having a slug-fest with another prolific poster the last few hours that are out of character for him also.

[Russel Ray]

Originally Posted by dandersen

Where do you guys come from?

There is an SOP out there. If your state is not licenced, there is likely an SOP that applies!

THERE IS NO REAS0N FOR A HI TO INSPECT AN HVAC UNIT BEYOND RUNNING THE EQUIPMENT FROM THE THERMOSTAT! IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT, KEEP AWAY FROM IT!

Until you receive the proper training, there is no reason to even go there. No one says you have to, and there is no reason to add ancillary inspections to your plate unless you know what you are doing!

I do not like to put Inspectors down but you need to put it down before you end up in court.

Seeing this is your first post, I will assume you are new to the field. Unless you want to become a statistic, stick to what you know!

You can not be held liable for what you did not report on when it is not a required inspection point. But... If you go off "half cocked" in your inspection and get into stuff you know nothing about, you will not be around long enough to become a "seasoned HI"!

I have to disagree with that post.

One has to start somewhere. Even after 33 years of real estate experience, I still occasionally have questions. When posts like the above show up, they only discourage people from asking questions. It's when home inspectors are afraid of asking questions because someone else will jump on them and try to make them look stupid, feel stupid, etc., that creates problems. Home inspectors who quit asking questions for whatever reason are home inspectors who get into trouble.

Originally Posted by dandersen

THERE IS NO REAS0N FOR A HI TO INSPECT AN HVAC UNIT BEYOND RUNNING THE EQUIPMENT FROM THE THERMOSTAT!

Actually, there is, especially if all of one's competition is doing more than just "running the equipment from the thermostats." Notwithstanding any SOP whatsoever, courts quite often are prone to look at what the industry in general is doing. If all the competition is inspecting the furnace, I think that I better be inspecting it, too.

Originally Posted by dandersen

IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT, KEEP AWAY FROM IT!

New technology comes along all the time. So if we see something new during the course of our inspections, we should just ignore it? Can't agree with that. I would rather tell my Clients that I have no idea what it is, what it does, how it works, or whatever, but that I'll know within 24 hours. And then I go to NACHI and ask. That's what NACHI is for. This is not a membership of 9,200 people who know everything there is to know.

Originally Posted by dandersen

You can not be held liable for what you did not report on when it is not a required inspection point.

Actually, you can. As I said previously, if all the competition is doing one thing, and you are doing something else, and you get sued for not doing that one thing that everyone else is doing, SOPs notwithstanding, then one can, indeed, be held liable.

[thejnicki]

Anthony, It appears that you may be a new member, congrats.. Dont be discouraged to write another post, most of the time the members are not in attack mode and you can get great information..

There actually was some defective PVC installed in my area that was causing carbon monoxide poisioning...

[Russel Ray]

More than just your area, Tim:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml98/98072.html

[Patrick Bolliger]

For a great explanation on Metal flue's and natural gas burning appliances go to the Gas Appliance Mfg. Association website.

Here is the link.
http://www.gamanet.org/gama/inforeso...y?OpenDocument




Too bad there is no section on high efficiency systems and venting at this point.

[Patrick Bolliger]

Guys
Check out the new guide in the website mention above in my post..

Great information in the guide: "Safety First In Your Customers Home"
Here is an example:

"Proper Venting by the rules"

An explanation of Categories!!