Furnace recall overlooked by home inspector
Q. When we bought our home, our inspector said nothing about the furnace, except that it "appears functional." Recently, we had it serviced by a contractor who said it is a recalled unit made by Premier. He said it is a fire hazard and should be replaced immediately. Shouldn't our home inspector have told us about this?
A. Premier furnaces were manufactured by a company called Consolidated Industries. Many of the units that they produced during the early 1990s were subject to a safety recall by the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Recall notices for most products are outside the scope of a home inspection. However, recall notices for Consolidated furnaces and the fire hazards associated with these furnaces were widely publicized and were frequently discussed among members of the home inspection profession.
By early 2001, competent home inspectors were routinely disclosing the safety problems posed by these fixtures. Therefore, it is surprising that your home inspector said nothing about the furnace in your home. He may be a new and inexperienced home inspector, or he may have been misled by a faulty aspect of the CPSC recall, as we shall now see.
When the Consumer Products Safety Commission issued their recall, they included only those Consolidated furnaces that contained NOx rods in the burner chambers. NOx rods are hardware intended to minimize hazardous emissions into the atmosphere. Furnaces with NOx rods were exclusively named as defective by the CPSC, which published a list of model numbers for the recalled units. According to the list, model numbers containing an "X" were specified as unsafe. Furnaces without an "X" in their model numbers were not listed in the recall. Many home inspectors relied on this list during their inspections.
In fact, nearly all of the Consolidated furnaces from that era, even those that do not have NOx rods, have performance problems that are hazardous. These defects should have been noted by the Consumer Products Safety Commission and should be reported by home inspectors. Specifically, most of those Consolidated furnaces allow combustion exhaust to escape from the burner access openings and to vent into the attics where the furnaces are commonly installed. This venting problem leaves visible heat marks on the furnace casing. Inspectors who do thorough examinations of these furnaces take note of such conditions and recommend further evaluation by a licensed HVAC contractor.
When the furnace casings are removed by HVAC contractors, cracks in the heat exchangers are often found. This is a non-repairable condition that can emit deadly carbon monoxide fumes into the living space of a home.
Q. We hired a contractor to restore our home after a major fire. He told me he does not need to install a firewall in the garage because it is not required by the loan company, even though the garage is located under the master bedroom. Isn't a firewall required by code?
A. A one-hour firewall is required in all attached garages. This has been part of the building code since 1927, and there are no exceptions to this rule, regardless of the type of loan. If your contractor does not agree, perhaps he is not the right man for the job. If he insists on omitting a firewall, you should ask the municipal building inspector to educate him.
• To write to Barry Stone, visit him on the web at www.housedetective.com, or write AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 94301.
© 2014, Action Coast Publishing