Chaladder

[ICE]

Wall furnaces are a popular item in some areas, mine included. Charitable foundations, utility companies and the government make them available for free to qualified buyers.

There are three medium sized contractors and a bunch of two man shops that get the work around here. One of the medium outfits also has as it's mission, training people to install them and then sending them out to the World to get a job. With that group, the installer I get may five installs experience or none. The one and two man shops make errors and learn from it and get better over time. The med. sized outfits ignore me.

They tell me that I am only inspector that writes the corrections I write and I have written them in the hundreds. After so many years of doing three and four inspections on something as simple as a wall heater, knowing that they will have to come back and that costs money, I am starting to believe them. They didn't single me out to make the same mistakes every time.

There is never a ladder. That's right, they are telling me that I am the only inspector that looks in the attic. I find every dumb thing you can think of. I had one where the vent was sticking out of the roof and visible in the stud bay but the middle segment was laying on the ceiling joist. They have cut out purlins and purlin braces and eliminated rafter ties. Upside down BW with the segments taped together and some really egregious mistakes in the configuration without a strap in sight. I have posted a few pictures on other threads but they might be hard to find because my topic title hardly ever makes any sense, even to me.

A one man operator met me recently and when I asked him for a ladder he brought me this. The med. sized contractors tell me that it is too expensive to leave a ladder for every inspector. I tried collecting a re-inspection fee. The chief of Mechanical told me that I could not do that until there was no ladder for two inspections. I told him that there have been hundreds with the same three contractors. He told me that every permit is new and they get two.

There are three manufacturers that I have encountered, Empire, Williams and Cozy. Empire allows exposed carpet below it's furnace. The other two do not. Empire is built better and costs more. The reason for the covering of carpet is all about fire.

One company did this. I got a little bit angry.

They would do this in a house with kids. So I know it is coming out as soon as I sign the card but what about for the week or three it was here waiting for an inspection. When you called and asked what to do, I told you it had to be permanent. Why do you never do it until I write the correction? Are you hoping I was transfered? If that happens I'll send you a memo.

All makers state that the furnace shall not be placed in a hallway or traffic area. They know that these things will burn you. They have been in hallways for years so why change now? The previous furnace stuck out of the wall 2" or 3" and now it's 6" to 8". Perhaps the maker got smarter and the install instructions have changed. I'm not sure but what we allow in hallways is that if the hallway is not reduced below 36" wide from wall to the face of the furnace, it passes. This is another persistent violation and contractors swear I am the only one that enforces it.

I hope that other inspectors have the same problem as I. If not, then there is a bigger problem.

 

[Rio]

That heater sticking out in the hallway is horrible. As for a ladder why not bring your own? Our company uses these nice small aluminum folding ladders that when in the stepladder position come to 7' +/-; they fold up into 4 pieces. For the other stuff, stick to your guns, don't let it slide because 'other people do'. Good luck and don't let it get you down.

 

[Jobsaver]

That's right, they are telling me that I am the only inspector that looks in the attic.

On a remodel inspection this year, I had a sixty year old plumber tell me that during my inspection was the first time in thirty-five years of holding a license he had personally witnessed an inspector crawling a crawlspace.

I do not think it true that you are the only one to look in an attic, or I in a crawlspace, but I can tell by looking at many inspectiors in the places they congregate, (schools, training, etc.), that there are indeed many inspectors that spend little time crawling in tight spaces or up ladders.

Perhaps they are all using a cell phone on a stick to take pictures.

 

[Alias]

I climb ladders, I crawl attics, and, if code minimum, crawlspaces. My favorite is when I go to look at a roof deck and the contractor looks at me when I tell 'em I'm going up onto the roof. 'Gee, so and so jurisdiction doesn't do that'. I tell 'em well, I do.

As to your wall furaces, I don't like them in hallways either. I would fail your second one in a heartbeat.

Here, the local CAA's install either woodstoves and inserts, or rarely direct vent kerosene heaters; when there is program money. The monitors are installed by the local jobber and they never get permits.

I will say that for the one contractor that installs woodstoves, inserts, and pellet stoves that he really knows what he is doing and does a clean job. It's the happy homeowners that scare me, and a couple of the local contractors who don't know what they are doing.

 

[mmmarvel]

Use to work for a small shop where we sold all sorts of wood stoves, pellet stoves, inserts - you get the picture. We had two outfits that we worked with you did installation if the homeowner wanted it (and a vast majority did). That was ALL these two outfits did, install wood stoves/inserts, etc. they had it down to an art. They would pull a permit, they knew what they were doing, dealt with it and as far as I know, no installation EVER failed an inspection, and the inspections were good (I know, I had them install an insert at my home and I watched the inspector when he came to inspect). It's sooo nice when the installers/contractors have some experience and care.

 

[JBI]

The first 'line' of defense any shoddy contractor will use is 'nobody else does that/says that/enforces that'. I had a heating contractor tell me that no other inspector in three counties required permits for installing new heating systems, even when changing fuel types. Not only did I know for a fact that almost every one of the other inspectors did, I actually polled our membership at that months meeting. Guess what? UNANIMOUS, everyone requires the permits, everyone knew who I was talking about AND everyone groaned in unison.

Keep it 'cool' ICE, keep fighting the good fight.