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The gas man out-did our home inspector

Q. We just bought a 20-year-old home and hired a home inspector before closing escrow. According to our inspector, the wall heater was in good working order when he inspected it. After we moved in, the gas company found the heater to be unsafe. According to the gas man, there is a hole in the heat exchanger, and the entire furnace needs to be replaced. Shouldn't this have been discovered by our home inspector?

A. Home inspectors typically disclaim heat exchangers as being outside the scope of a visual inspection because the internal components of a furnace are usually inaccessible for inspection without dismantling the fixture. However, it is sometimes possible to observe cracks and holes in the heat exchanger of a wall furnace by looking into the burner access at the base of the fixture.

Gas company technicians generally perform a visual inspection similar to what is normally done by home inspectors. They observe what is visible without taking the furnace apart. In your situation, the hole in the heat exchanger was visible to the gas man. Therefore, it should have been apparent to the home inspector, as well.

My advice is to call your home inspector and ask for a reinspection of the furnace, letting him know the gas man observed damage inside the fixture. If the hole in the heat exchanger is visually accessible, the inspector should take some responsibility for that oversight.

One of the ways homebuyers can protect themselves from this kind of problem is to request a gas company review of all gas-burning fixtures, prior to close of escrow. This is a free service that the gas company routinely provides upon request. In addition to adjusting the burners on stoves, water heaters and furnaces, they check for serious safety problems. When defects or hazardous conditions exist, the gas company can help to discover them before you take possession of the property.

Q. Last winter we installed strips of fiberglass insulation between the rafters in our attic, but our heating bills did not go down. If attic insulation doesn't help, what can we do to reduce the costs of heating our home?

A. Attic insulation should be installed between the ceiling joists in your attic, not between the roof rafters. That is why your utility costs did not go down.

The purpose of attic insulation is to contain heat within the living areas of your home during the winter, and to keep the heated air in your attic from entering the living area during the summer. This means the exchange of heat must be stopped at the ceiling, not at the roof. When insulation is placed between the roof rafters, heat is allowed to penetrate through the ceilings and into the attic. From there, your hard-earned utility dollars simply escape into the atmosphere by way of the attic vents.

The solution is to relocate the fiberglass bats in your attic. And be sure to wear adequate breathing protection when handling fiberglass because small strands of glass can be released into the air when the material is disturbed.

• 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.

© 2018, Action Coast Publishing

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