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Want to buy a furnace? -----how about a water heater?

The blue lines in this picture trace the “high-water lines” from previous flooding of the crawl space. The interesting thing about this past flooding is that the three "flood lines" that one can see on the furnace indicate that the furnace was not replaced after any of the flooding. The one blue line on the water heater, which lines up with the middle blue line on the furnace, is consistent with only one flooding of the water heater.

Appliances with high water lines

Drowning of the burner components of any gas appliance----or any appliance not designed to be submerged----is likely to void the warranty of the unit.

I was so glad the gas was shut off to the building so that I didn’t have to worry about whether they worked or not. High water lines on gas appliances makes for an easy inspection.

Charles Buell

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Posted by Charles Buell, Seattle, WA, Home Inspector on 02/04/2009 11:59 AM

Comments (19)

Inspections in the Home Buying Channel

seattle wa home inspector, shoreline wa home inspector, king county wa home inspectors, hot water heaters, furnaces

Originally posted at: Seattle Home Inspector's Blog: Want to buy a furnace? -----how about a water heater?

Post is included in group: The Ninety-ninth Percentile
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19 Comments on Want to buy a furnace? -----how about a water heater?

FEB

Hey, Charles. There is no way I would trust anything like that after a flood. Thanks, Jim

Jim & Maria, I agree---let alone MULTIPLE events:)

Think when the water hit the electronics it popped a breaker? I hate having the furnace and/or the water heater in the crawl. Good eye Charles.

Jack---I think I could have killed them with my sunglasses on:)

Charlie,

I will admit it, I envy you. You get all these graphic photos and never have to leave your own house.

Now you're showing off by making those neat blue lines and I haven't learned how to do that yet. Three floods! One crawlspace. That must be a record!

Steve, actually Barbara sent me these pictures from her house and asked me to put some nice blue lines on them for her.

Barbara---sort of a different version of a "broken record"

FEB

Charles, What a mess! Whatcha mean that the warranty might be warranted? A little Simple Green and some elbow grease and who will know the difference...

Your building consultant in Brentwood, TN - Michael

" OH MY " was this the same house as the carpet mess you shared with me?

You just get all the fun inspections inspections don't you? .....

Dang Michael----of course you are right:)

Nikki, you got it----same house. It has been great blog fodder---not really good for much else:)

looks like the buyer need to put in an order for one of each. cw

Charlie - time for a new warranty? No pre-existing conditions there. Yep, go with that.

Maybe Nikki can put a box of charcoal nearby to soak up the smell...

hahahaha.....

Jay.... I will ship that right over to Charlie "overnight/express"!

Charlie - I hear charcoal works wonders!!!

laughing head

Cheryl, yes----a long time ago.

Jay, do you think I can get the warranty extended?

Nikki, I don't think you have enough----don't matter how much you got----it won't be enough:)

FEB

Charlie - I had a sale pending with a boiler that got rained on (sort of) after the pipes burst. The fact that the owner painted over the walls and tried to hide mold was the real deal breaker.

Carol, mold is a hard thing to hide for very long----has a tendency to like being seen:)

FEB

Charlie, Have you heard of the Nautilus brand of submersible furnaces and water heaters?.....Neither have I. Time to scutttle those two tubs.

FEB

Just when you think you've seen it all!

If the blue lines were removed, what would we be seeing? A rust line? a black mark?

James, are you selling stock yet?

Debbie, a mud/dirt line----I will go dig up the original picture but I don't think they will show by the time AR reduces them in the post. Here is a picture of the back side of the furnace where one of the lines shows pretty good on the air return

high water mark

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