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Does Your House Breath?

I never had frost buildup on my windows before!

Like many houses my 1974 rambler was in need of attention.  For the past 5 years my justification for postponing the needed exterior maintenance was the bad economy.  I felt investing a large sum of money in the house was not wise.  Some of you may agree with this and some will not.  Regardless, at the insistence of my wife, last summer became the year of THE HOME IMPROVEMENT.  We contracted for new roof, windows, doors, siding, soffits and fascia.  Keep in mind to meet new state building and energy code requirements housewrap, window and door flashing, caulking, weather-stripping, and low E glass need to meet a very high standard of insulation and heat loss.  This old leaky house no longer leaked.  It is warm and comfortable inside, but this lack of breathability resulted in very large frost buildups on all of our windows and doors as soon as the weather changed.  Any home inspector would quickly recognize this as a problem that needed to be resolved now.  By ignoring this very obvious moisture sign, which many homeowners do, the next concern is going to be mold.  (http://bit.ly/19ut8aA)

I never had radon before!

But…it didn’t stop there.  As a MN home inspector radon testing is a big part of our business operation.   I had tested the basement previously and my radon concentration was at the minimum EPA standard of 4.0 picocuries.  Upon re-testing after the exterior remodeling was completed, my radon level is 3 times higher.  What is the lesson to be learned from these 2 events? (http://bit.ly/1huOoxd)

Houses work as a system.  By changing the exterior envelope of a home it will have a huge impact on how the interior functions.  What was never a problem yesterday may be a major problem today. 

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI certified inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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Getting The Heat On

How do I prepare my furnace for winter?

Great question and even better timing! The quick answer is, except for checking a few basic items, you don’t. This is a job for professionals. Winter is close and if it’s another few weeks before you get around to a furnace tune-up you are going to be waiting in line for your contractor.

One thing you can and should always do, at the beginning of the season and then monthly, is to change the furnace filter. You will find it in the metal duct connected to the furnace, just before the air enters the lower fan section. A clean filter improves efficiency, performance, and safety.

Did you know a perfectly good furnace can create CO because of a dirty filter!

By robbing a furnace of air, combustion (the burning of fuel) will not be complete and a byproduct of incomplete combustion is CO.

The new high-efficiency furnaces are essentially people proof; good care for a homeowner would be looking for rust and moisture on the floor or behind the front cover. Older furnaces, however, can very often be operated in a condition that permits back draft which allows deadly gases to enter the home. Here the main indicator of a problem would be loose metal chips or scorching near the burners behind the furnace door. With all furnaces you could check the quality of the burner flame.  This will tell you if it’s burning safely.  The entire flame should be blue; orange flame tips indicate improper burner settings and yellow tips indicate the presence of carbon monoxide. Finally, check the round exhaust pipe which is on the top of the furnace. If this is rusted, scorched, has holes, or is leaking moisture it is unsafe and needs to be replaced.

After all that…still make The Call! 

Having a pre-season professional tune-up will give you peace of mind and will very likely save you money over the heating season.

A furnace, out of tune, having a cracked heat exchanger or even missing covers can be a source of carbon monoxide emissions. Unfortunately, we don’t get a second chance with carbon monoxide. It is a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas that kills many people during the heating season.

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI Certified Inspector
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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My Furnace Is Leaking!

My laundry floor is soaked but I can’t find a pipe leak anywhere! 

I don’t believe you have a pipe leak. I think you’ll find that the water is coming from the bottom of your furnace because the air conditioner ‘A’ coil drain is blocked. “What is an A coil drain?”

The A coil (which is like a car radiator shaped like the letter A) sits in the air delivery duct just above the furnace. This evaporator coil is used for air-conditioning. When operating, it gets very cold and the air flowing over it and through the duct becomes cooled. The sudden drop in temperature causes the air flowing over the coil to give up its moisture (cold air does not hold the same amount of moisture as warm air). The moisture then runs off the coil into a drain pan and is transported through a plastic pipe to the floor drain. The more humid the day… the more moisture released!

Unfortunately furnace filters do not capture all of the finest dust. Some of this settles on the A coil and is flushed off when the air conditioner is operating. Usually this dust is just flushed down the drain. However, over time the dust can accumulate in the plastic drain pipe; eventually blocking it. Now the only escape the water has is to flow over the top of the evaporator tray and down inside the furnace, to exit on the floor.

You can overcome the problem by finding where the drain pipe exits the furnace duct. 

Usually there is a half inch plastic pipe that goes to the floor drain. Just above the pipe you’ll find a plug and this is at the level of the evaporator tray. So, by removing that plug, you can clean any debris out. Blow through the plastic tubing from the outlet end to discover if you have a blockage. If there is blockage you will need to remove the plastic pipe and blow it out.

this point you have overcome the problem of a blocked drain and your floor will dry out! But, be very careful; the water that has leaked At down inside the furnace could have caused an electrical short or rusted out the heat exchanger. Be certain that all electric wiring and contacts in the furnace are dry and the heat exchanger is good repair before attempting to start the heating system.

It may be a very good idea to call in an expert to do this job for you!

Doug Hastings
MN Home Inspector, Minneapolis & St. Paul
ASHI Certified Inspector, ACI
Kaplan University, Home Inspection Lead Instructor

Rob ‘Pops’ Leslie
Kaplan Professionals, Retired

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