I have written about electrical history before such as the grounding of receptacles in reference to laundry circuits which begins with the 1947 NEC (which was the first required grounded receptacle in dwelling units (residential) to be a "3-pole type designed for grounding"). So let us start with the first code section to reference grounding type of receptacles in residential (dwelling units).
1947 NEC 2124 Receptacle Outlets Required.
(b.) In Dwelling Occupancies. In dwelling occupancies, in every kitchen, dining room, break/aet room, living room, parlor, library, den, sun room, recreation room, and bedroom, one receptacle outlet (1 comments)
I think we will see more and more of these Heat Pump Water Heaters (HPWH) as the energy code requires to achieve a certain amount of energy credits based on structure size.
With the Wenatchee and Chelan areas being cold during several months of the year planning on the Heat Pump Water heater discharge will need to be considered. These unit discharge cold air as part of the process of extracting heat energy from the surrounding air, just like a heat pump, air conditioner or refrigerator will.
Here is a study that was done in Richland Washington (2 comments)
A popular TV show is “Stranger Things” which features the Upside Down, which is an alternate dimension existing in parallel to the normal world. The Upside Down is devoid of human life much like the crawlspaces I visit.
But what I am discussing is the upside down installation of insulation. The kraft paper is a vapor retarder meant to reduce the potential for moisture problems caused by diffusion. Typical and required installation in our area is to put the vapor retarder on the “warm-in-winter” side, or better stated (5 comments)
New construction in Washington State requires builders to hit some energy efficiency marks, or as the code state credits. The number of credits you will need to achieve will be based on the size of the home. Here are the credits required based on size for 2015 IRC-1. Small Dwelling Unit: 1.5 credits Dwelling units less than 1500 square feet in conditioned floor area with less than 300 square feet of fenestration area. Additions to existing building greater than 500 square feet of heated floor area but less than 1500 square feet.
A little background R-22 ( Freon) was the popular refrigerant up to around 2010. Pre-2010 you will find R22 on some systems but many were starting to move over to the replacement refrigerant R-410A.
In 1987 there was an agreement called the Montreal Protocol. This agreement established requirements that started the worldwide phase-out (2 comments)
In general, the grounding electrodes and their conductors create a connection of the electrical system to the earth (earthing). The earth is considered to be at zero potential. The second function of the system is to dissipate over-voltages into the earth. Overvoltages can come from the system itself or from lightning.
It is typically required the grounding electrode conductor (GEC) should be one continuous length without a splice. But there may become a time that it may require a splice such as when work is done during remodeling or the replacement of existing (3 comments)
A very common appliance in homes, especially homes built after the 1960’s is the factory built, or prefab fireplace. People love their wood burning appliances and to get that traditional cozy feel they often opt for these prefabricated fireplaces because of cost and ease of installation, but they come with limitations and a hidden danger that most do not think about.
These prefab fireplaces are not your traditional site-built masonry fireplaces that most people think of when they are thinking a wood fireplace. Traditional fireplaces are (8 comments)
Grandfathers: I hear this on many occasions when doing a home inspection - “but it is grandfathered.” Well, that may or may not be true and to assume it is a wrong way to think of anything. We have rule changes in building codes typically for very good reasons, most often for improved safety. So to say “grandfathered” is to say I would prefer not to have improved safety. Think of it this way, do you want a car without seatbelts? Yeah, the car may be built that way but your face will still go through the windshield (21 comments)
As a home inspector I know that often things are missed or not done because of various reasons, some of it just human error some of it is you don’t know what you don’t know.
In a recent conversation with a specific organization I did a home inspection for I brought up an item that was missing during the final inspection and recommended its installation. I was met with a bit of a curious response, “Well we passed our final and we have done X- number of homes and this has never (9 comments)
1. Three goals scored by one player in one game, as in ice hockey. 2. Three wickets taken in cricket by a bowler in three consecutive balls. 3. Three consecutive wins or outstanding accomplishments by the same individual, such as a jockey in horse racing.
Also a hat trick can be something a little more humorous and a great lesson.
During a bathroom inspection a hat was on the wall. Now this was a bit of an odd place for (47 comments)
I am not talking Carbon Monoxide here but “Certificate of Occupancy” (some other common acronyms CO, COO, CEO, C of O). This will mainly concern newer construction and in areas where CO’s are required such as Washington State.
I have done several home inspections now that either I was provided information that the home did not have a Certificate of Occupancy or there was some conditions in the home that leads me to question that the home may have not received one. I always inform my (4 comments)
Here is a little more fun for when it comes to home inspections and garages. One area that seems to get a little controversial is the part of what designates a source of ignition when it comes to garages.
I had a discussion with local AHJ’s ( Authority Having Jurisdiction or better known as a Building Official) about electric water heaters in garages and some of my local AHJ’s have decided that they do not think that they need to be elevated to achieve the 18 (25 comments)
Well being a structural pest inspectors I have gotten several calls over the years on spiders, and especially the Brown Recluse Spider. I even grew up thinking there was Brown Recluse spiders in Washington State because my dad said there was. You always believe what your dad says, right?
Brown Recluse
First off I am structural pest inspector so my main concern is those bugs and organisms that can cause structural damage to homes (wood destroying insects) ; termites, carpenter ants, anobiid beetles, moisture (11 comments)
When performing home inspections on older homes/housing stock you often will run into odd, or out of the norm installations.
One such case was an older home with a panelboard installed horizontally versus the normal installation of a vertical installation. This is not a normal installation of a panelboard. But the question is, Is it wrong? If so why?
Now there are some practical reason why this is not a good, code or no code. On this particular home the cover wants to keep (3 comments)
Dry charge, loopholes, refrigerants, cooling costs and you! Chelan Home Inspections
If you live in a part of the country that air conditioning is part of your life you should have some information when it come to servicing and replacing Air Conditioners (AC’s) and Heat Pumps.
So one of the items I look at when evaluating HVAC systems during a home inspection is what type of refrigerant is in these systems. As of 2010 all new AC’s and Heat Pumps should be using the newer non-ozone depleting refrigerants, such a R-410A. R- 22 has been the standard (20 comments)
What is this diatom you are drumming about? Well these are a vast group of photosynthesising algae. They have a siliceous skeleton which is commonly used as an abrasive and also because it is a siliceous material it is also a desiccant.
Diatoms are one of the largest organism groups on the planet and can be found in almost every aquatic environment, be it freshwater, saltwater and even damp soils.
Because of their abundance, diatoms probably account for as much as 20% of global photosynthetic (4 comments)
Okay we don’t all scream, but many do. The 2014 NEC is moving one step closer to the eventual goal of whole house AFCI (Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter) protection. As a home inspector in Washington State we are required to report the location of any inoperative or missing GFCI and/or AFCI devices when they are recommended by industry standards. So keeping up on these new rules is very important.
In review some of the new requirements I had some questions on AFCI protection. The code provides 6 ways to (16 comments)
Sometimes I have to ask myself, really! What are we doing. I was performing an one year warranty inspection for a client and ran into a bit of a backlash from the contractor.
Here is the story, my client had the washer and dryer moved to the garage to free up some interior space. The contractor put an exhaust fan in the garage to for these appliances. The problem is this now breaches the fire resistive barrier.
In my report I state “ A fan was installed for (6 comments)
With our electronic world now becoming a mess of cords, power strips and adapters to plug in our new world gadgets think of a world where the cord becomes obsolete.
We can thank that wonderful think tank of MIT with what maybe the next biggest revolution in electrical connectivity. This is where Physics meet practical applications.
Nikola Tesla theorized something like this about 120 years ago with “resonant inductive coupling”, also known as "electro-dynamic induction".
(Nikola Tesla drawing)
Now to the future welcome to WiTricity Corp, a company founded (6 comments)