Originally Posted By: dchongo This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I have an issue that I would like to have some help with. I inspected a water heater in a house that was wrapped with an insulation blanket. At the time of the inspection I tried to feel through the insulation looking for the relief valve and piping. I was unable to feel the piping or relief valve. I indicated in my report that Local codes require to have relief valve piped full size to the floor and that there was no valve. My client indicated that they wanted some of the defects corrected in the purchase agreement. (One of the items was to have a relief valve installed.) I recieved a call from a plumber who was at the house to install that piping. The plumber informed me that there was a valve installed. ( The valve was on the back side of the heater against the furnace (under the insulation blanket). Days later I recieved a bill from the seller of the home for the plumbing service call. (My client was the buyer of the house). Apparently I missed the valve which was hidden by the blanket. What should I do about this? Should I pay the bill or inform the home owner that I’m not responsible for the cost of the service call?
Originally Posted By: rwills This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
For future reference, I usually take a photo of the water heater and state: “NOTE: Water heater was operating at time of inspection but not accessible for full inspection due to insulation wrapping”.
Originally Posted By: fduemig This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Quote:
I indicated in my report that Local codes require to have relief valve piped full size to the floor and that there was no valve
.
Quote:
Should I pay the bill or inform the home owner that I'm not responsible for the cost of the service call?
If you said, "no valve was observed due to insulation blanket" or, "the heater may not have a valve", you might have beeen okay, but you said there was not one present. I would pay the bill - good customer service.
Fred
Originally Posted By: jonofrey This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Many times I’ll cut the blanket off (mainly because I like to hear the sharp snap of precision cold steel when I flip my blade open) to properly inspect the water heater and then indicate such in my report. If the blanket is nasty I’ll leave it on and disclaim the water heater.
Some manufacturers have it stated directly on the lable that external blankets will void their warranty.
