Boiler Inspections: What You Can Do With A Mirror

The biggest problem I find with boilers on old Minneapolis and Saint Paul homes is leaking exhaust gas.  While every heating contractor knows to look for backdrafting at the vent while performing maintenance checkups on boilers, I’ve found that many contractors don’t bother to check for exhaust gas leaking around the jacket of the boiler, which can be just as serious of an issue.

To identify these exhaust gas leaks, I start by just looking at the jacket, or ‘cover’ of the boiler.  If I find black or brown scorch marks around openings in the jacket, it’s usually a dead giveaway that the boiler is leaking exhaust gas.

Another obvious sign of exhaust gas leakage at a boiler is heavy rusting in one particular area on the jacket; if you see rusting like the kind pictured below, it’s bad news for the boiler.

To confirm these exhaust gas leaks, I use a combustible gas detector.  While the most common use for a combustible gas detector is to detect natural gas leaks, they can also be used to detect exhaust gas leakage.  When I inspect boilers, I check around the entire boiler for exhaust gas leaks while it’s running.  A combustion gas analyzer can also be used to confirm exhaust gas leaks, but this method takes much more time, because there is no instant audible feedback.  The video below shows me finding just such a leak with my combustible gas detector – aTIF8800A.

If you don’t own a combustible gas detector or a combustion gas analyzer, we can’t hang… but you can still check for exhaust gas leakage on your boiler.  Simply hold a room-temperature mirror above the suspected areas.  If there is exhaust gas leaking out, it will fog up the mirror.  It probably won’t be as dramatic as the fogged mirror shown below, but it’s the same principal.

Exhaust gas leakage is a problem because it could contain carbon monoxide, which can be deadly in high enough concentrations.  Even if the exhaust gas leaking out of a boiler has a very low level of carbon monoxide, this is still a potential safety hazard that needs repair.  There is no acceptable amount of exhaust gas leakage.

The repair for leaking exhaust gas at a boiler is often to have the boiler replaced, which is an expensive repair.  In some cases, the exhaust gas leakage can be repaired by a qualified heating contractor who specializes in boiler repairs, but this is usually an expensive repair.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email- Home Inspector Minneapolis

    

Water Softener Installation Defects

I’m not sure if it’s handy homeowners or negligent contractors that are responsible, but I find the same installation defects on water softeners over and over again.  The installation instructions for water softeners are pretty much the same for all the different manufacturers, so the information I’m giving here should apply to just about any water softener.

Missing ground clamp

All of the metallic water distribution pipes in the home are supposed to be bonded; in other words, they’re all supposed to be able to touch each other.  If the water pipes in the home weren’t bonded, what would happen if an energized (aka ‘hot’, aka ‘ungrounded’) wire came in contact with one of the pipes?  All of the plumbing fixtures and other pipes that were connected would become silently energized.  When everything is properly bonded and there is a proper ground jumper at the water meter, this can’t happen.

I find this bonding compromised by a plastic by-pass valve at nearly half of the water softeners I see.  If the water softener manufacturer provides a plastic by-pass valve, they will also provide a ground clamp that needs to be installed on the water pipes coming in to and going out of the water softener.

If you live in Saint Louis Park and you don’t have this installed when it’s time to sell your home, the city inspector will require repair of this as part of their Point of Sale inspection program.  If you don’t have the clamp, don’t worry; you can achieve the same thing with a pair of ground clamps attached to the water pipes and a bare copper wire running between them.

ground clamp

Improper drain hose

The drain hose that comes from the water softener needs to terminate in a manner that won’t create a potential cross-connection between the potable water and anything else… such as sewer water.  This is usually achieved with an air gap; this is just a literal gap between the end of the discharge pipe and the drain receptor, whether it’s a floor drain, standpipe, or laundry sink.  The only problem with the diagram below, which is what one of the water softener manufacturers includes in their installation manual, is that water will shoot all over the place.  When water softeners discharge water, the water flows fast.  It doesn’t dribble out.

The photo below is an example of an air gap at the floor drain.  Even if the floor drain were to back up with sewer water, the water wouldn’t come in contact with the end of the discharge hose.  Also, note that the cover for the floor drain has been cut out a little bit; if this wasn’t done, the discharge from the water softener would probably splash water all over the place.

Water softener discharge at floor drain

Softened water provided to the outside faucets

While this isn’t technically a defect, it’s bad practice to run softened water to the outside faucets.  Lawns and plants don’t need softened water, and this is a tremendous waste of softened water.  Any time a water softener is installed, the water supply pipes for the outside faucets should be connected upstream of the water softener.

It’s also standard practice to connect the cold water for the kitchen sink upstream of the water softener.  The reason for this is that softened water will have a higher sodium content – but probably not enough to make much of a difference, according to the Mayo Clinic web site.

In the photo below, you can see that all the water for the house passes through the water softener; this is a wasteful installation that should be corrected.  Because this was an unfinished room, it would be quite simple to run un-softened water to the outside faucets and kitchen sink.

Powered by an extension cord

This is probably the biggest “no duh” defect that I find with water softeners.  Everyone knows that extension cords aren’t supposed to be used as a substitute for permanent wiring.  If an outlet is needed, it should be installed by an electrician.

That concludes my list of the most common water softener installation defects.  While I’m on the topic of water softeners though, here’s one more piece of information; this list gives the water hardness for most cities in the Twin Cities metro area.  I keep this list with me, and use it as a reference whenever a clients asks me about the water hardness is their city.   Water Hardness List

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email- Home Inspector Minneapolis

    

Vacant Houses Don't Have More Radon

As a Minnesota home inspector who does a lot of radon testing, I hear a lot of myths about radon being repeated over and over again.  I’ve actually heard other home inspectors perpetuate a few of these radon myths as well.

Myth: vacant houses have high levels of radon. The idea behind this myth is that radon will build up in a house while it’s sitting vacant, so a radon test on a vacant house won’t be accurate.  This simply isn’t true.  Radon has a very short half-life; as radon particles die off, they’re replaced with new ones.  A radon test conducted on a vacant house will be just as accurate as a test conducted at an occupied home, all things being equal.

Myth: radon is mostly found in older houses. In reality, the radon doesn’t care how old the house is.  Both new and old houses can have radon problems; we have found zero correlation between radon levels and the age of the home.

The one bit of unintentional truth to this myth is that starting in June of 2009, Minnesota began requiring passive radon mitigation systems in all new construction homes.  We’ve performed many radon tests on these new homes, and have yet to find a single new construction house with a high radon level.

Myth: opening the second story windows shouldn’t affect the radon test, because the test is located in the basement. The problem with this myth is that houses act like chimneys.  Opening the windows on the second floor might actually increase the radon levels in the home.  For a valid test, the windows in the house need to be kept closed.

Myth: radon tests should always be placed in the lowest level of the home. If the home has a crawl space or a basement that nobody will be spending any time in, why in the world would you want to know what the radon level is down there?  If you’re testing your own home, put the test in the lowest level of the home that you use regularly.  For a real estate transaction, the radon test should be placed in the lowest level of the home that could be used regularly.

Myth: radon tests aren’t needed for homes with walkout basements. While we’ve found that radon levels in homes with walkout basements tend to generally be lower, this is certainly no guarantee that the radon levels will be low.  The highest radon level we’ve found at a home with a walkout basement was nearly four times higher than the EPA action level.

Myth: granite countertops have an effect on radon levels in a home. This myth gained popularity in 2008 because of a media scare.  You don’t need to worry about granite countertops.  They’re fine.  You can read more about this myth here – radon in granite.

Myth: you need to hire a professional to test for radon. The do-it-yourself radon test kits that you buy online or at a home improvement store will work just fine.  It takes a little longer to get the results, but these kits are far less expensive than hiring a professional to test your home for radon.

Myth: holy water will keep radon from entering a home. Ok, I made that last one up.  That concludes my list of the most common myths about radon.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email- Home Inspector Minneapolis

    

Backup Sump Pumps

Most houses with sump pumps rely on the pumps to keep the basement from flooding.  When a big rain storm comes through, the sump pump will really be needed… and that’s also the time that the power to a  neighborhood is most likely going to get knocked out, disabling the sump pump and allowing the basement to flood.  This happened to a lot of homes in North Minneapolis this spring after the tornado came through.

If your sump pump quits working, will you know about it before your basement floods?  Do you have a backup in place?  Does it work?  Are you sure? If you depend on a sump pump to keep your basement from flooding, it’s important to have a backup system in place, just like it’s important to back up the hard drive on your computer.

It’s one of those things that most people don’t think about until it’s too late.  If you want to protect your basement from flooding, get a backup system.  There are a few different backup systems available.

Secondary Electric Pump

A secondary electric pump would be a good option to keep your basement from flooding in the event that your primary sump pump failed.  The secondary pump would need to be installed a little bit higher in the sump basket than the primary pump.  The downside to installing one of these is that if the power to your house went out, the pump would be useless.

Battery Backup

By far, the most common type of backup sump pump system that I’ve encountered is a battery powered system.  This consists of a big heavy battery that’s about the size and shape of a car battery, as well as a backup sump pump that sits in the sump basket a little bit higher than the primary pump.  This system will save your basement from flooding if your sump pump fails or your power goes out.

The Basement Watchdog is a brand that makes backup batteries with a warning to tell you if the battery has a problem.  This is a good feature to have, because I find that many backup batteries are dead.

If you already have a backup battery for your sump pump and it doesn’t have a warning to tell you if the battery is dead, you should test it periodically.  You can simply unplug your standard sump pump and fill the sump basket with water using a garden hose to test the backup pump.

Hydraulic Pump

Another backup option for your sump basket is to install a pump that is powered by the municipal water pressure coming in to your home.  The nice thing about hydraulic pumps is that you don’t have to worry about keeping a battery charged all the time, and if you have an extended power outage, you won’t have to worry about the pump failing.

The downside to using a hydraulic sump pump is that they’re not nearly as powerful; the video below shows just how slow they pump water.  The original video was nearly three minutes long, so I cut out the middle as it got a little boring.

If the water at your home is supplied by a well, a hydraulic backup pump obviously wouldn’t be any good, as a power outage would also knock out your well pump.

High Level Alarm

No matter what type of system you have installed, it’s a good idea to have a high level alarm installed in your sump basket.  These alarms will sound off if the water level in your sump basket gets too high, and you can buy one for under ten bucks at Home Depot.  If you don’t have a backup system in place, these alarms will at least tell you that you have a problem and you need to jump in to action.

I inspected a very nice home this year that had a completely finished basement that definitely could have benefited from one of these high level alarms.  This house had in-floor ductwork; when the sump pump failed, the ducts ended up filling up with several inches of water.  Click these links to see photos of the flooded ductwork and flooded ductwork 2.

The water level in the sump basket never got high enough for the basement floor to get wet, but the standing water in the ducts acted like the worlds largest whole-house humidifier, which caused major condensation throughout the basement; even the outlet covers were dripping with water.  If the sump basket had been equipped with a cheap little high level alarm, this never would have happened.

If you want to have a backup sump pump professionally installed, hire a plumber to do it.  Mark Jerde with RM Mechanical tells me that he has installed dozens of these systems.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email- Home Inspector Minneapolis