Inspection

[Wayne214]

Can anyone (Elk??) tell me what SHOULD happen during an inspection?

 

[elkimmeg]

did you have an inspection or worring about an upcomming inspection. Provide more details are you talking about HVAC, down draft kitchen hoods. wood stoves. dryer vents. narrow down your concerns please

 

[Wayne214]

We have an upcoming inspection for a Hearthstone woodstove. I just want to know what the inspector should/will be looking at for the stove to pass. I have checked all clearances so I know they should be ok, but am wondering what will be checked about the install itself. Does the inspector go on the roof to be sure everything looks ok from up there? Does the stove get pulled out from the fireplace to see how it was connected? Just curious, thats all.

 

[wahoowad]

Wayne,

Good question. Just today I called my county buulding inspector and I asked if he had any codes or guidelines that he was going to check. He said nope. I asked if he was going to refer to the manufacturer's installation instructions and he said yes. of course this was just my county in Virginia (albemarle). Heck, my dealer didn't even tell me it had to be inspected.

 

[Mike Wilson]

OMG, you people inspect downdraft kitchen and dryer vents ?!?! Massachusetts never ceases to amaze me. I'm suprised Buddy Cianci doesn't run the place...

 

[BrotherBart]

Wayne,

Good question. Just today I called my county buulding inspector and I asked if he had any codes or guidelines that he was going to check. He said nope. I asked if he was going to refer to the manufacturer's installation instructions and he said yes. of course this was just my county in Virginia (albemarle). Heck, my dealer didn't even tell me it had to be inspected.

Heck I was in the largest seller of stoves in our town's store the other day. Same place I bought my stove 20 years ago. I asked the owner what the county permit requirements for stove installations were and he didn't know.

Sigh. Groan.

 

[elkimmeg]

Buddy is doing time. How else is one to know if these appliance vents are done correctly? Especially if concealed prior to final inspections. What do you think 15,000 dryers fires last year is USA is not worth preventing or should the public wait for 15,001 before getting concerned? Its part of the code. 15,000 times last year something went wrong. I really do not know if I prevented any because after my inspection none so far have added to that satistic.

Did you ever hear of grease fires caused by faulty venting of down draft hoods? Its a real concern in resturants which are required to be inspected periodically. Are you saying I am wasting my time. Just what are you implying? To me I am doing my job to the best of my abilities. Are you implying Iam not doing enough. or Iam doing too much. If this is so, then please advise me what is acceptable. to sit back and know I could have prevented one incident
My town has about 4000 household, I should wait till__________ how many dryer fires before I should investigate them or either bother inspecting them.

 

[rudysmallfry]

My inspection was a joke. The inspector drove up, looked up at the newly installed chimney on his way to the front door, came in, looked at the wood stove, signed the permit, and left. No measurements, nothing. I spent weeks trying to make sure I'd done everything correctly, paid fees to get the permits, and they guy spends a total of 30 seconds in my house. Guess it's different everywhere, but in my town, I'm sorry I even bothered. (my stove is also a Hearthstone)

 

[Xena]

Guess it's different everywhere, but in my town, I'm sorry I even bothered. (my stove is also a Hearthstone)

Don't be sorry. It's good to get the inspection for insurance purposes.

 

[crow]

My inspector in Cincinnati came to my house , looked at the stove for a few moments. Read a few things in my manual . Eyeballed the clearances.
Chatted with me for a few moments about having lived in New York City . Approved the install & left .

The only piece of mind that I have was that I did so much research to build my hearth, and had the stove installed by what I deem to be a reliable professional dealer .

There are so many instances where details can fall through the cracks...

I would love to know with certainty that my install was a safe one . I feel confident that it is...however it is not because the inspector did anything to assure me.
He was definately NO ELK !

I guess they don't have that much experience inspecting woodstoves here because I live within city limits...

So , ultimately , I did the inspection for insurance purposes.
Cover all the bases.

I only wish we had inspectors like Elk here. Someone who was as thorough and who really knows and cares about what they were doing.
No such luck in Cincinnati.

 

[DavidV]

in my county when you call and ask they have nothing standard they just go by manufacturer specs. In time I am sure it will change.