Did home inspector miss furnace problems?
Q: When I bought my house, the home inspector found nothing wrong with the furnace, but his report says, “The furnace may need maintenance or repair soon.” This did not seem urgent at the time, so we bought the house, assuming that the furnace was operative. Yesterday, the man from the gas company was here. He said the furnace has code violations and is not safe to use. I don’t understand how my home inspector missed these problems. What should I do?
A: It would help to know exactly what kinds of code violations the gas man found. Not all code violations are difficult or expensive to repair. Specifics matter a lot. For example, a disconnected flue pipe is a code violation and is very dangerous, but repairing a disconnected flue can be a quick and easy job for a qualified contractor. On the other hand, a furnace that is installed in a prohibited location, such as a bedroom closet, violates code, is potentially hazardous, and could require costly relocation to another part of the home.
Aside from code issues, your home inspector was definitely unclear in his report. If he believed the furnace might need maintenance or repair soon, he should have stated the conditions that prompted that conclusion. Instead of advising you in such a vague way, he should have recommended professional servicing of the system before the close of escrow. Then the defects or code violations could have been determined and rectified before you took possession of the property.
You should find out exactly what is wrong with the furnace. Then contact your home inspector and ask for a reinspection. If the defects are visible and accessible, the home inspector should take responsibility for his lack of disclosure. Hopefully, the repairs will not be costly ones.
Q: I have a manufactured, wood-burning fireplace, installed 15 years ago, when the home was built. It draws well when burning, but when the fire goes out, the draw of the chimney gradually reverses, and I wake up with outside air blowing smoke into my living room. The brick fireplaces I've had in other homes never did this. Is this a typical problem with manufactured fireplaces, and what can I do about it?
A: What you describe is called down-drafting, and this can happen with fireplaces that are manufactured or constructed of masonry. Common causes of this condition are inadequate chimney height, high wind conditions, or obstructions within the chimney, such as when chimney sweeping is overdue.
Correction therefore, could be a matter of extending the chimney height, installing a wind-resistant chimney cap, or simply having the chimney professionally cleaned. A certified chimney sweep can evaluate your fireplace and chimney to determine the cause of the down-drafting and the best means of repair.
• Distributed by Action Coast Publishing. Questions to Barry Stone can be emailed to barry@housedetective.com.