How often do we home inspectors see something that is correct and incorrect at the same time?
In this case, it was the good, the bad and the smokey.
Every gas appliance should have access to its shut-off valve within 4' of the unit and on the same level.
Oftentimes I see this kind of installation on a flip and the valve is in the basement ceiling just below.
The valve cannot be on a different level of the house.
In this case Flipper, not his real name, put the valve behind the range, and inside the island into which the range fits! Happy day! THIS IS GOOD!
However, when we went to test the oven, it heated up for a while, did not reach temperature, and then produced smoke and turned off the kitchen GFI receptacle beside the sink off to the right off of this photo!
Ummm... This gas range has a slight electrical need. You see the clock on the front panel. That is the panel that shows all the settings, and the burners and oven are all ignited with a spark. That is pretty normal.
But Flipper hard wired the range into one of the kitchen GFI circuits! And for some reason the unit isn't doing well and trips the GFI. THIS IS BAD!
There was no circuit labeled in the EXTREMELY-OVERLOADED-WITH-DOUBLE-TAPS-EVERYWHERE panel box that looks to service this range. And I could not find a plug anywhere behind the range. So I suspect this unit is hard wired into the kitchen GFI circuit. I really don't know! But I do know a bona fide electrician is needed!
My recommendation: on flips things often look really, really beautiful. But be sure to test stuff! Test everything! Many times doing that will reveal things not otherwise observable! Remember, don't ASSume everything must be GOOD because it looks GOOD!
Comments(61)