This house had 8 of these vents on the back of the house. They are all 6" diameter with a flexible foil hose inside. None of the hoses were attached to anyhting- about 2 feet of hose connected to each vent. House was built in the 60s. The house had a boiler only for heat, which was not located near the vents.
Anyone seen this before? Any ideas what they are for?
Just a guess but maybe some kind of radon mitigation attempt!
Attempt to ventilate perhaps.
I was at the house for about 10 minutes a couple days ago. The utilities were off, so we had to reschedule. The seller was supposed to have them turned on. Anyways- I will be going back to the house on Friday. I still have no idea what these were used for. Possibly a grow op?? Whatever it is, I don’t think they are of any use anymore. I’ll probably just recommend they remove them and fill in the holes.
Those are a visual indicator that you need to climb into the crawlspace and see what’s going on…
When I was employed in the HVAC service industry I always found it helpful to enter the inspection with an open mind and unbiased opinion. Trying to diagnose the complaint before I arrived on scene, often confused the diagnostic process and resulted in excessive time (and excessive client costs) spent on issues from preconceived notions.
I realize you’re trying to gather information about what you are about to encounter, however these are dryer vent termination kits and it is highly unlikely that there are eight dryers in the house.
I simply caution you to not use this message board to produce a preconceived notion in your mind before you conduct your inspection because there’s absolutely nothing any of us can tell you until you provide information in greater detail. Once this information is in hand, I would hope that you could determine the answers to your questions without having to ask anyone here (who is not qualified to answer).
There is a picture on an active thread of a piece of HVAC duct posted by a non-member asking “is this Asbestos”? if we could analyze asbestos from our computer monitors, we would put a lot of people with PhD’s out of work!
I hope you don’t take offense, but there are a lot of inspectors here that just can’t seem to “think on their feet”. Your “best guess” is always better than “our assumption”!
David he already said he has seen the ends and they are flex foil. Not being in your location I can’t say for sure but would bet it was hooked up to box to prevent high levels of radon with one blower.
The other two hoods were from a ERV that was removed and one hood may be for a dryer.
:shock: Easy big guy- did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed… just asking if anyone had seen this before. And I was already in the basement. Reread the first post and don’t jump to conclusions.
Just giving you an opinion.
"Don’t get a mind set from here, before you get there. "
Sorry, I assumed you couldn’t have done much in 10 min…
My conclusion is that you shouldn’t “jump to conclusions” (just like **you **said), laugh it off.
Is having 8 dryer vents into the basement a “significant issue”?
Maybe it is. There is some reason for them to be added. It’s your job to find out why. Sorry but no one here can lead you down that path with the information provided.
Why do you have to remove them?
If you do, you are going to re-create the situation that required their installation in the first place.
Instead of asking here, how about asking the Home Owner?
Its bank owned. And they aren’t dryer vents. They are 6" not a 4" dryer vent. If you don’t know what it is, haven’t seen something similar, or dont have anyhting valuable to add to this post, then I don’t need your feedback. I was looking for an educated guess from inspectors who may know what this is or have seen it before. I wasn’t lookng for a lesson on how to inspect a house. Thanks.
I am going to guess an old radon mit system?
Looks like 8 ways for heat loss to occur to me. 
It was an abandoned grow op.
When I went back, I found cut wires coming from the ceiling where many lights were hanging. Along with many of those planters that you start seeds in. The entire basement appeared to be dedicated to this at one time. Sad part is that half of the main floor was used as a daycare recently. No one has lived in the house for over a year.
Snow. We get it 3 to 4 months a year:-)
SUSPECT: legal or illegal grow opp of some sort. Did you see anything added to the electrical panel? Normally for a grow opp using 8 bottom vents will be put the lines through a one or 2 large carbon filter baffles to hide the pungent smell. most prefer to use a chimney. There should be signs of extra plumbing. ceiling wiring etc. Unless the home was busted and the home owner removed most of the hardware.
look at the floor joists to see if the were notched and the notches are empty.
condensation is a big thing in opps. They are mostly used in the off season growing months.
Coiuld be seller used to run a home cleamers, and they are all old dryer vents…:shock: just kidding…I think;)
Jim
James. Do not be sorry for being analytical. That is what you need to be a good HI. I say bravo for thinking outside the box.
Off thread: In my younger days when I was not thinking as an adult but yet old enough to be well on the way to putting aside money and building a family, I would drive my friend that delivered sewing machines throughout the city of Montreal. The rag trade has a hug underground manufacturing sector. It still exists today. the rich like to keep themselves wrapped in the tax free environment ANY WAY THEY CAN!!! Look at the tags on top of the line manufactured clothing brands at The Bay, and other distributors of clothing. Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and the rest. Made in sweet shops owned by individuals that will surely go to hell by subjecting humans to suffering and a non living wage.
I have seen basements set up with sewing machines. true sweet shops. I know many an immigrants that worked sweet shops to become Canadian citizens and buy that home they would never get in their country.
There would be fresh air injected into the house for circulation at one side and exhausted stale air pumped out the other side. James you are onto something.
Bravo on the start to a solid hypotheses if you can add it all up together.
Electrical panels. 3 phase and you are onto something.
Single phase manipulated and you are onto something.
NOTE. That many vents become a suspect condition.
The neighbourhood will also be part of the detective story. Does the neighbourhood have a high ethnic population.
Walk or drive around the block/s looking for the same thing.
JMO.
Great reasoning James. Bravo.
sorry for the edit.
We are there to observe and report. it not about why. it is about what we see. If it has negative consequences the wrie it up.
Didnt see any extra plumbing, but the basement receptacles alone were wired from their own 100 amp panel. Yes, alot of ceiling wiring- that was cut. No carbon filters. A majority of the stuff used to grow had been removed. The walls were also covered with plastic wall cladding- the kind that you see in commercial kitchens and hospitals.
Great deduction and observations buddy.
If you can not place a figure on grow op, then IMO write your observations.
Everything that is defective, deficient. No suspicions.
Your observation on defective structure, components, systems and materials.
Just my 2 cents.
plastic wall cladding- the kind that you see in commercial kitchens and hospitals Did you do any moisture readings?
I have seen some oddball ventilation attempts for crawlspaces. did these go into crawlspace or just into first floor?
They went into the basement. Old grow op. See my posts above.
Actually- This wasn’t too far from you!!
