HVAC Technicians bug Believe me when I say that I wish I could put down my broad brush of criticism----but I can’t---and I have tried. Of course your HVAC service person would never have to be painted with my broad brush. It is very common to call for servicing of heating equipment in the context of the home inspection. I am perpetually amazed at what “servicing” means to these guys. I have had to become much more “proactive” in specifying exactly what I want included in “servicing”----otherwise things rarely look much different “later” than they did “before.” For example, did you know that it is “unusual” for servicing to include checking for carbon monoxide? Or that it does not include vacuuming dirt and debris out of the interior of the furnace compartment? That it does not include inspection of the interior and exterior of the furnace venting? Lets take a typical furnace that has not been serviced for a while and the inspector notices large amounts of white “condensate” all over the vent connectors, inside the furnace compartment and perhaps all over the floor. The combustion by-products of a gas furnace are made up of slightly acidic moisture. Under normal furnace operation this particulate is vented to the exterior of the home. For various reasons it can condense inside the vent and drip out of the pipe connections and back into the furnace or onto the floor---leading to corrosion of furnace components and/or the venting system itself. Here are a couple of pictures of what this condensate looks like. If the HVAC Service Person comes in and services the unit and leaves all of this condensate in place how is anyone coming later going to make any kind of reasonable statements about its presence. We would be foolish to assume that it means nothing just because there is a sticker on the furnace that states it was serviced yesterday. There can be lots of causes of the presence of condensate at furnace components and almost all of them are not good----hence the reason inspectors will call for the furnace to be serviced. It just feels really weird to call for servicing when it was just serviced yesterday----or even a month ago. The next two vent pipe pictures were taken in the attic. The vent pipe is for a furnace that had a service record that showed “annual” servicing. It takes a long time for vent pipes to get to this sorry state----a lot longer than a year. Why wouldn’t checking this pipe---both inside and out---be a routine part of every furnace servicing? I have seen bees completely block a vent during the summer when the furnace is not being used and then the furnace does not vent properly when fired up in the fall. I am done venting now----so is the furnace. Charles Buell Seattle Home Inspectors, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
me.
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is this a 7 year vent, or a 17 year vent... (nice cicada!)
Alan, more like "old faithful"----every hour:)
Charles, After watching hundreds of home inspections, I bit the bullet and had my gas furnace serviced. I watched and asked questions that he said no one has ever asked before. I feel it was well worth $135, I don't know if the technician felt the same way...
Click, the furnace turns on.... Fan starts... warm air flows, MAYBE change a filter... Slap on the sticker... CHECK PLEASE!
Paul----if you didn't press them a bit I think they would not do much for their 135.
Robert---EXACTLY---you have nailed it!
We have ours serviced every year. Now I wonder how thorough the checkup is. You always make me worry. : (
Charlie, You have put poor Barbara in tizzy:) I had a beauty today, you will see more on that soon. You are soooo right about "servicing", I usually have to specify in the report what should be serviced. Why should I have to do that?
Barbara, people seem to think that B-vent lasts forever. Most of the problems I see with it are when the furnace gets replaced---the pipe is 22 years old---and it doesn't get replaced along with the furnace. The next thing you know you have 40 year old pipe. On the Planet Charles all b-vent would be required to be changed when the furnace is replaced. The stuff does have a life expectancy after all.
James you ask exactly my question. They should be doing way more that we could ever know that they should be doing:)
HAHAHA. I rarely speak of this time in my life Charles, but for this post I MUST make an exception. My second X husband was a HVAC guy and if you could, would you please put something toxic and lethal on your broad brush and paint it right over his face.
And dang it, now I gotta watch the service guy I use and not just give him the key to my house while I'm at work.
I hear that all the time. The furnace was just serviced last week.
Then why didn't they clean this, or inspect that, or change this, or look here?
Again, what can you say?
Tammy, it seem like we all have someone like that to paint in our lives:)
Jay, sometimes a guy just has to rant I guess:)
Charles, as for these conditions on the inspection, I guess homes aren't old enough for that, or the service techs catch it -- like that would really happen.
When my furnace is serviced, I'm standing right next to the guy, asking questions. Can't say that I've seen these conditions.
What I like are the guys who install single wall vent pipe, where you can't help but hit it when you try to service the furnace, or inspect it for that matter.
Andrew, do you have furnaces in Kentucky?:)
Andrew, I almost forgot----that cicada at the top of the post is a Kentucky Cicada:)