Associated Master Inspectors

An Ounce of prevention

Clothes dryers cause almost 16,000 fires each year in the US. What does your dryer duct look like?

Et Tu, Plumber?

Back in the day, this would have been the house’s “main grounding connection.” It’s where the electrical service was grounded to the house’s steel water pipe. Somewhere along the way, someone changed out the thicker steel pipe for a more slender copper tube. Disturbed rust on the screw threads shows where someone loosened the clamp to change it, but callously disregarded the fact that the old clamp didn’t fit on the new tube. Like the Grinch’s heart, it’s two sizes too small. This leaves the house with a very poor grounding connection to the earth, making it vulnerable to surges.

Basement floor drains are supposed to *remove* basement water, not bring it in. One of the reasons that home inspectors run so much water during an inspection is to reveal problems like this one. The basement floor drain is connected to the main sewer line, which doesn’t drain fast enough. As a result, some water backs up into the basement. While this might be a sign of a simple obstruction in the sewer line, it might also be a sign that the whole sewer line needs to be replaced.

Your Dryer - It's Full of Hot Air

Your dryer tumbles your clothes with lots of hot air, which is then vented out through a duct to a vent outside the home. Went the vent does not have good clearance, airflow is restricted which can have several results:
• your dryer may take longer to dry your clothes resulting in higher energy usage and additional wear and tear on your clothing.
• lint is more likely to collect in the dryer duct which can be a fire hazard.
• reduced airflow can trip temperature sensors in the dryer causing it to shut-off (and you may need a service call to reset it).
• the pressure of the reduced flow can cause the duct to come apart and vent into unwanted locations, like the crawlspace.
This vent well should be removed, the soil dug down another 4-6", and a larger vent well installed.