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GAZETTE Newspapers
By: Arthur S. Lazerow
Title:
Common Concerns
We regularly receive short questions that do not lend themselves
to a full article, but cumulatively, they show that there are
many basic aspects of living in a home that homeowners and
apartment dwellers are unsure of. Here are several of these
questions:
Question #1: Carolyn from
Olney emailed: “When shopping for my furnace filter, I see
numerous types and I never know which to buy. What do you
advise?”
Answer #1: The purpose of the furnace filter is to clean
the air for health reasons, reduce dusting and keep our homes
cleaner, and keep the downstream system components free of dust
and debris. The choice of a furnace filter comes down to the
design of your furnace filter space and money. If the furnace
is designed to accept the one-inch wide paper frame or washable
filters, the cheap fiberglass filters function acceptably, so
long as they are replaced monthly. They are not adequate
if a family member has serious respiratory allergies. In this
case, the slightly more costly quilted or accordion one-inch
wide hypoallergenic filters are recommended. Any washable
filter will be acceptable, again with the understanding that
they must be washed monthly.
If the furnace is retrofitted with an electronic filtering
system or a 3.5-inch wide media filter, these serve the system
adequately if they are cleaned or replaced frequently. Take the
manufacturer’s recommendation and divide by half. A
knowledgeable heating contractor told me that electronic filters
work so well that they accumulate the dust and debris over about
30 days and then their efficiency becomes degraded. He
recommended that I replace the electronic guts with a 3.5-inch
wide paper edged box filter and replace it every 90 days. The
results have been excellent.
Question #2: Samson P. of
Cabin John emailed: “My wife and I just moved into a home built
in the 1940’s and my wife keeps asking me about safety outlets
for our bathroom. Do you know what she is referring to and what
should we do?”
Answer #2: Your wife is correct. She is referring to Ground
Fault Interrupting Circuit breakers (GFCI’s), which you probably
have seen in your hotel bathroom on vacation or in other places
you have lived with the red and black reset buttons (or other
design) in the middle of the outlet. These were designed as
speed breakers to protect lives from electrocution in wet areas,
such as bathrooms and kitchens.
They were invented by NASA and picked up by the electrical
safety industry in homes about 1980. The first application was
to protect circuits in bathrooms and exterior outlets. Several
years later, new-construction electrical codes required
installation of GFCI’s in kitchens and finally, one circuit in a
garage and in the basement became standard about 1990.
My recommendation is that you have a licensed electrician
install GFCI’s at a minimum to protect all bathroom circuits and
each kitchen circuit within eight feet of any faucet. If the
local code has other than eight feet as the standard, comply
with that code. If funds allow, the next priority would be to
protect the exterior outlets, a garage circuit and then a
basement circuit.
Question #3: Elmore and
Wendy from New Market emailed: “We live in a twelve year old
townhouse with a fire sprinkler system. My neighbor mentioned
that her plumber told her that the ‘backflow…something?’ must be
replaced every ten years. What is she talking about?”
Answer #3: No homeowner or home inspection client has ever
raised this issue. Talk about off the radar screen. A home’s
basic water system relies on the main water service pipe
connecting the water company’s street main to the home. (I do
not recall having ever seen a sprinkler system served by a well
pump.) The main service enters the home, with the water
typically passing through a water meter, then a
pressure-reducing valve and then through the home’s distribution
piping. Prior to first occupancy and approval by the plumbing
inspector, the home’s water pipes are sanitized and, with
chlorine in the water, remain sanitized.
For homes with fire sprinkler systems, there is a “T” in the
main pipe above the meter and below the pressure-reducing valve
to provide high-pressure water to the sprinkler heads. These
sprinkler pipes are not sanitized, so a backflow presenter valve
must be installed to eliminate the potential for cross
contamination. Although rare, there are reports of
gastroenterology illnesses due to ingestion of sprinkler water.
For health safety, manufacturers of these backflow preventer
valves recommend that they be replaced periodically. Most
valves contain tags that recommend a ten-year replacement cycle,
but recently there was a recommendation for replacement at five
years. Check the valve for the manufacturer’s requirement or
check the manufacturer’s website if the tag is missing. Home
inspectors routinely find out of date backflow preventer valves
and note this as a deficiency.
Have a question relating to a housing or environmental issue?
To contact Mr. Lazerow, click on “Contact Us” at
Albaninspect.com. Mention “Gazette Newspapers” in your
question. Every question will be answered and some will be
included in this column. If your question is used, a gift in
appreciation for the excellent question will be sent.
Arthur Lazerow, president of Alban Home Inspection Service,
Inc., was a homebuilder for 25 years and is now a nationally
certified ASHI home inspector, having performed more than 5,000
inspections during the past 10 years. He can be heard every
Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. as co-host of Real Estate Today
on WMET 1160 AM.
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