Ventilation system
I need this course to enhance my knowledge so I can be a better Home Inspector.
Articles related to HVAC System were very informative and helpful. I could use it for my own at home and share it with my clients. Am now moving on to the final examination. 
Good morning…this is a picture of a forced air oil furnace I inspected…in the pic. you see oil burner,above burner is sight glass and an electronic air cleaner right of furnace…
good afternoon…I inspected a heating system for a fiend using normal operating controls…it was a forced warm air system which used fuel oil…I saw no evidence of a material defect and advised a service of the furnace before next heating season…
For my additional reading i read an article on Pellet stoves which are common in my area…instead of wood they burn small compressed pellets…pellet stoves appear similar to wood stoves but are quite different…
Pictured is a Weil-McLain Series 3 water boiler. This system is a oil fired hydronic system, that uses conduction to distribute heat via radiators. These radiators are located on the exterior walls of the house.
Just completed a inspection of my home heating system as required by the course, found the InterNACHI check sheet very helpful!!!
I just read a article on geo thermal heating and cooling, its interesting to see just how efficient a heating system can be, unfortunatly there is such a high initial cost. I wonder if the land above said system can be used for other purposes above ground. Can you pour a slab for instance over a piece of land that has geo thermal system below?
starting this course
Here is the heater/air conditioner in my house. It’s very interesting to see how the system can change the flow of hot an cold to provide the house with both.
The only problem I could find with my heater system was the pipes going into the house are supposed to be completely covered with foam to prevent heating and cooling. Some of the foam is falling apart from weathering.
Geothermal heat makes a lot of sense but is very costly to install. The article didn’t say how much you could save over the long run or how much the maintenance might be. Saves energy though.
HVAC inspections can be complicated, but going through a checklist is always the best solution. Pictured here, we were operating the Heat Pump system in heating mode first, everything functioned as expected. Next we tested the Heat Pump system in cooling mode and the refrigerant lines start to frost and the temperature difference was only about 5 degrees. We followed the checklist and when we got to the filter, it was so dirty I couldn’t believe any air would pass through it. We removed the filter and the HVAC system functioned normally in cooling mode with a temperature difference of around 20 degrees.
The forced air unit is natural gas fired. There are manual dampers installed in attic with a bypass duct and damper installed to prevent overheating of heat exchanger. The exterior refrigerant lines at flashing have a broken seal at flashing that can lead to rodent infestation.
Apartment complex gas meters
The electric heating system has no indication of material defects. Emergency shut off should be more easily accessible.
Gravity Furnace : It’s interesting that Gravity Furnaces weren’t more efficient given they work on simple principles. It will be interesting to see how many homes still operating with these systems.
Hi, Michael. There aren’t many gravity systems left in the U.S. Most are being replaced. The last one that I inspected was in Philadelphia about 10 years ago.
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