Jonathan Cartwright
01-20-2010, 09:19 AM
I was talking to an inspector yesterday while doing a termite inspection. The house was REO and the water heater had been lit upon or only a very short time before our arrival.
He was saying to the client/agent that he could not check the water heater for gas leaks as it had not run long enough. He was using one of those TIF type testers - the big red ones. He said that due to the excessive condensation in the combustion chamber, I could hear the water dripping and sizzling on the burner, there would be excessive pressure in the combustion chamber caused by the water vaporizing and that this could cause some of the combustion gasses to be forced out from under the unit through the combustion chamber opening and causing false readings on his detector. He said that after the water had heated sufficiently to stop the condensation that this condition would go away and he could check for gas leaks around the control valve area. I left before he did so I did not find out how this ended.
Sounds plausible but I have never heard of this. Is this a real thing or just bunk?
He was saying to the client/agent that he could not check the water heater for gas leaks as it had not run long enough. He was using one of those TIF type testers - the big red ones. He said that due to the excessive condensation in the combustion chamber, I could hear the water dripping and sizzling on the burner, there would be excessive pressure in the combustion chamber caused by the water vaporizing and that this could cause some of the combustion gasses to be forced out from under the unit through the combustion chamber opening and causing false readings on his detector. He said that after the water had heated sufficiently to stop the condensation that this condition would go away and he could check for gas leaks around the control valve area. I left before he did so I did not find out how this ended.
Sounds plausible but I have never heard of this. Is this a real thing or just bunk?