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It's Sunday afternoon and your water heater springs a leak. Turn the water off to it and start draining it with a hose. Give us a call at one of the links below and will be there first thing in the morning.
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19. Does the closet or garage have a black or dark film on the ceilings and walls indicating poor venting? If the surface of the closet where the furnace is kept is dirty with carbon buildup, then it is a sure sign that the vent is spewing carbon monoxide into the home. This is extremely deadly. Always check for proper venting when making your furnace inspection.
20. What is the condition of the wiring around the opening of the firebox and around the gas valve? Are the wires burnt or melted indicating a flame roll out? If the wires are burnt make sure that you find out the cause. Most of the time the problems that cause flame roll out are related to lack of combustion air or an improper sealing of the blower door.
21. Check Out the Base of the Furnace? Is it caulked and sealed properly. If the return air section of the system is exposed to the combustion air chamber or the area in which the furnace is then it will quick a vacuum. This vacuum can pull the flames right out of the firebox causing a flame roll out. This will also cause the mixing of the air that the occupants breath with the products of combustion. Carbon monoxide can enter the home and can be deadly.
22. Check Out the Return Air on the Furnace? Where is the return air coming from? It must come from the common area or an area directly connecting to the common area that cannot be sealed off. The return cannot be in a bathroom, bedroom, attic, or under the home. If the return is coming from under the home or the attic give an estimate to remedy the situation. The reason for this is that code specifies that the return cannot come from an area that can pick up objectionable odors. This does not have to be changed out according to code unless you are replacing the furnace. The return air can never come from an area that freely communicates with the same air serving the combustion air ducting. The return cannot be in the attic with an attic furnace. Shut the furnace down and give a price to install the system properly.
23. Does the system have an evaporator coil? If the furnace needs to be changed out then the evaporator coil should be changed out as well. This will help prevent future call backs due to leakage. If the customer does not want the evaporator coil changed out simply leave an estimate. Bear in mind that changing a furnace out with an evaporator coil is more difficult and time consuming than one does not have an evaporator coil.
Visual Inspection, Condensing Unit
This is the visual inspection procedure for the condensing unit or air conditioning side of a package unit. The purpose of a thorough visual inspection is to make sure that you catch all of the problems that a particular unit is having. It is to prevent needless call backs and dissatisfied customers. It is for additional sales and to allow the homeowner to make an informed decision as to which way to proceed, either to repair or to replace. Of course, the more problems that a unit has the more expensive it will be to repair and the more likely that the customer will be to replace the unit. The more thorough that you are in your detailed examination and written diagnosis the better off that you will be.
During this inspection you will be looking for:
/ Burnt wiring connections
/ Burnt wiring itself
/ Discolored or oxidized electrical blocks, terminal posts, fuse carriers, or bus bars
/ Oil around the capacitors
/ Oil around the compressor terminal posts.
/ Obvious signs of Freon leakage (rusted out filter dryers)
/ The condition of the condensing coil
/ Obvious Code Violations that will affect the cooling
You are looking for defective items in the unit that will cause future call backs. Be very thorough always. Your customer might not want to fix what you find, but because you are going to write down an estimate for it on your invoice if it does cause a problem down the line they will need to pay for it. We do not like hearing that you should have noticed the problem and should have fixed it the first time from your customer. That customer that does not want to pay for the repair the first time is the same customer that will want you to replace the defective part for free if it should break. We do not want to give these type of customers any leeway to say that our work is anything less than professional and very thorough. Diagnose everything and leave written estimates.
Make sure the power is off before proceeding. Always test with a meter before touching. Never trust anyone to turn the power off, not even yourself. Double and triple check with your meter to make sure the power is off.