Out of sight out of mind, HVAC inspections.            Wenatchee Home Inspection Services

This is part two of my articles on taking advantage of the elderly. Like I stated in part 1, it is bothersome to me that some contractors would do the work they do and leave the client unknowing.

So I was brought in by a lovely 90+ year old young woman to do a home inspection. This started off with her hiring me to look at her roof because she thought there was some wrong (long story there). After having me there for the roof inspection she want a full inspection from me to look for any other issues that she may want to take care of.

Being the home was older they had the furnace located in the crawlspace.  Not my favorite place for a furnace to be installed, but it is what it is.

The unit is barely a year old and when the contractor installed it being that it was below the exterior level of the home it would require a condensate pump to properly discharge the condensate from the evaporator coil to the exterior of the home.

Only one problem, there was no receptacle to plug the condensate pump into. So now we have a condensate pump with no power. The condensate is backing up in the housing and starting to rust the unit, a brand new unit. You have to be kidding me!

So there are a few rules that are in play when a furnace (HVAC  equipment) are installed in such locations.

One- Lighting is needed

IRC (International residential Code) E3903.4 - Storage or equipment spaces. (Bold/Underline is mine)

In attics, under-floor spaces, utility rooms and basements, at least one lighting outlet shall be installed where these spaces are used for storage or contain equipment requiring servicing. Such lighting outlet shall be controlled by a wall switch or shall have an integral switch. At least one point of control shall be at the usual point of entry to these spaces. The lighting outlet shall be provided at or near the equipment requiring servicing.

Two- Beside the obvious need for a receptacle there is not secondary wires installed for the condensate pump. These wires are there turn off the air handler should there be an issue with the condensate pump. (Yeah I know why install those if you have no power for the pump).

If this is not corrected eventually the housing could rust out and could cause damage to circuitry in the unit.

There is no excuse for this type of work and it is not compliant with the codes.

NCW Home Inspections, LLC  is a Licensed Washington State Home Inspection service located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Oroville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more…  

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