Bazaar day in the inspection dept

[elkimmeg]

Every now and then one has to shake their head. Real world situation defy logic and numb one senses. I received a call from a very reputable chimney sweep today, concerning an oil burned venting issue The home is a early 60’s ranch, where an elderly couple reside. The oil burner is vented threw the foundation into a sewer pipe sloping downward. That’s right it vents into the ground??? Well recent rain must have collapsed the original clay sewer pipe and backed up exhaust into the home. For years the people have complained they were sickly Anyone here hazard a guess why? Tomorrow I will be making an inspection to approve they chimney sweeps solution. I will continue my findings and post the solution. Weird day today. Got another call to inspect a 2 year old wood stove that had never been permitted The owners are selling the two family home and the mortgage company and buyers insurance company require a certificate of inspections. The owner tells me they never knew wood stoves required permitting or inspections. My reply was did you read the manual as all manuals printed after 1979 require language of code compliance. First response to they is to pull a permit and bring in the manual.. I tell them I will review the folder for the residence and get back to them.
In the folder is board of health and fire dept inspections listing numerous safety violations of t cracked chimney and wood stove installations violations. I do not know why these were never brought to my attention before. Numerous wiring violations, an oil burner converted to a gas burner without inspections, vented into the same chimney as the wood stove. pie plate used to seal another opening in the chimney. I will update this post as I inspect situations tomorrow. btw Closing set for Monday

 

[kregars]

Lovely...(putting on my everseeing cap) the closing will not occur and the money paid will be returned since the home being bought was out of compliance and no chance of all issues being resolved prior to Monday...just a hunch.

 

[Sundeep Arole]

Elk, I don't know how you do it. I'd surely quit if day after day I had to do inspections like that. Who in their right mind would think of venting a oil burner into the sewer? I can only hope the closing didn't happen - I'd hate for a new homeowner to be stuck with this mess.

 

[kregars]

HotFlame,

Odd things happen...experienced it first hand...the house I bought last year had both the HVAC and Water heater venting up same flue (both gas)...because it was outside of code I requested they resolve that ASAP with a promise of 3 day closing. They paid out the waz00 to get someone in that day to install, next day to get the inspector out and called just after the inspector left noting all was completed. Contacted the County Govt office and got verification that they were within code. Nice thing was they also verified all other venting etc to ensure that the house was within code from when it was built...amazingly enough, the DWV/Fireplace/and now HVAC-Water were all within current code...house was built in 1972 (the day I was born none the less the ppl that it was built for closed on it and moved in per county taxation records).

The only thing that was on the edge of code was the alum. electrical wiring (that I have since replaced...along with the breaker panel)....thought it was funny...they had some wiring that was the old dangerous alum...and some that was high quality copper..some alum linking outlets that were fed from the feeder line as copper...in any case..my explorations in-wall have been fun to say the least...they also used RG-58 for video..but alas..I am not WAY off topic (all that was replaced with feeder RG11 from the tap to the breakout box where it goes from RG11 to RG-6-U/QS..I now have NO loss of signal from tap to TV.

Sorry for swinging off (WAY) topic. :/

Elk,

How was your Friday? Any more updates??? Just curious

 

[berlin]

"Odd things happen...experienced it first hand...the house I bought last year had both the HVAC and Water heater venting up same flue (both gas)...because it was outside of code I requested they resolve that ASAP with a promise of 3 day closing."

that is not outside of code, providing that the flue can handle the exhaust gas volume of both appliances and that they are both power/ both atmospheric; I would estimate that 80% of homes that heat with gas have this type of setup.

 

[kregars]

I appeared to be a DIY install as the house initially was heated (water and air) with Electric. The install was questionable and the home inspector flagged it as a fail without certificates noting that it was not withing code spec of either initial build, nor when the addition was added (not to mention when it was converted to gas heat for air and water in 1994). It was an up and out installation and the ID was 3in IIRC...I now have SS 3in for both appliances exiting seperate locations but looking from the outside, it appears to be a single stack (because of the way it's installed one behind the other. The company that did the install will likely be called upon again to install the new up and out chimney for both front and rear woodstoves...I was impressed with their work, and they came by AFTER we moved in and dropped off their card and a free inspection/cleaning of the stacks.

 

[elkimmeg]

First the stove that needed an inspection 3 years later.

After the install owners neglected to pull a permit
Dutch west Cat medium stove stove condition good, Except burning junk probably ruined the cat combustor, Chimney terrible. Cracked, motar eroding out , about what one can expect out of a 200 year old chimney. Did I mention it is un linned and also vents the oil burner?. 4" clearance in front of the loading door 3 " each side clearance to combustiables to the rear issues
Did not pass Money will be adjusted at the closing., I had to condem the installation and chimney. With the burner using the chimney, the people have a choice either power vent it or line the chimney. If they line the chimney, the stove will have to be removed. If they power vent, the chimney must be repaired, all loose motar removed and replaced, plus a full liner for the stove . In either case it will be expensive to solve. Might be cheaper to power vent, abandon the chimney and remove the stove. They have 14 days to vent the burner in a safe manner. The stove is red tag condemed. After 14 days, I can not leave them exposed to aditional danger, they will have to vacate the home.

The burner vented into the sewer

That's right vented into the septic system. These owners were exposed to many type of dangereous gasses oil burner exhaust and sewer gas. It is amazing these people survived Though they have experienced years of sickness. The solution was to re route using All Fuel Pipe into the flue above the downstairs cellar fireplace. The original fire place was being bricked as I inspected the venting. The old Mama Bear Fisher stove that had been in that fireplace was sitting near by. Never to be used again. The chimney sweep came up with the best solution using ALL Fuel pipe He had to to pass threw a combustiable wall and clearances to combustiable issues. He used a tee making the final 90 degrees turn into the fire place flue.
The tee setup satisfied the cleanout door issue. This is the Chimney sweep, I would use to make my installs if I were unable to.