Thread: Cracked Plastice Vent

Inspection on friday had 2 Rheem furnaces; one had this plastic pipe with several cracks. No, it's not Plexvent or Ultravent (it has stickers that were not; looks like it say's MetalAsbestos, [Not Metalbestos]). Both furnaces have cracked inducer fan housings.

Oh, did I faill to mention the HVAC contractor was there about 3 months ago to service them?

Darren
New Jersey Home Inspection - About the House!

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Great pick up Darren!

one trick to illustrate leaks in plastic vents is to paint them with gas leak bubbles or Windex and operate the appliance. When the inducer kicks in, it will blow the soap away. What you are looking for is it spitting as the velocity will probably be too great to form a bubble. Also, should it ever come to court, the traces of your soap will still be there to prove where you tested. Just don't let any soap drip onto anything else.

I use a chemical smoke puffer but in a cabinet with air swirling around, it will be difficult to spot leaks under pressure.

Another trick is take a small piece of Saran Wrap and loosely place it over the suspected crack without sealing it to the vent--just lying there loose. It will flap in the breeze.

There are other techniques such as plugging the termination to force a crack to manifest.

Hth

I think the photos show the cracks well enough. Personally, I wouldn't block the opening to try to get the crack to open up. I have used a felt marker and then took photos to draw attention to the cracked areas.
JF

Very common with Rheem and Ruud units built in the early to mid 90's. The fan unit is stamped with "Windjammer" on the housing.
They had a recall, but I think it ended several years back.

Darren,

I think I have been in that house...or ones just like. Owner has HVAC contractor look at the inducer fans and says Don't worry about. At least that's the information I've been told many times. Go figure.

Neal,

You might have been there; it's your old bosses hometown!

About 5 years ago, I called out cracks in 2 housings; the seller was an elderly german woman who said I was crazy.
The buyers agent called PSE&G; they sent a service tech who couldn't find any cracks etc. The tech left a message on my voice mail telling me I didn't know what I was talking about.
I called back the number he left; it was the shop in Summit. I explained the situation to the boss, he sent another guy out who red-tagged both units. The boss called me back, thanked me and said he would take care of the first tech.

Darren

New Jersey Home Inspection - About the House!