July’s Newsletter topic discusses water heater and furnace exhaust vents because both are Life-Threatening (LT) deficiencies which, for properties receiving a REAC score, are high points!
NSPIRE Deficiencies per each Standard:
HVAC:
Water Heater
What Do These Mean?
NSPIRE Protocol prohibits the following for both fuel-fired water heaters and furnaces:
- Misalignment – this could mean:
- The draft hood on the water heater isn’t where it’s supposed to be
- The exhaust is negatively pitched. All vents must pitch up then out – no downward slopes.
- Disconnected Pieces – this one is pretty obvious.
- Holes – sometimes you’ll find holes left behind after a combustion test. For single wall B-vents, it’s acceptable to use high temperature fire retardant putty to plug the hole. For double wall B-vents, they typically require a plug AND the high temperature fire retardant putty.
- Lack of supports or clearances.
HUD states in the Standard the following:
HVAC
Water Heater:
Unfortunately, we are still waiting for further guidance from HUD on exactly what kind, how many, and where supports need to be…not to mention what is considered “properly connected.”
In the meantime, inspectors are making judgment calls based on their own knowledge/experience so many inspectors are citing missing collars, for example.
- Improperly connected
- The exhaust vent reduces in size – you want the pipe to go from small to big…not big to small
- Using the wrong material OR installing it incorrectly
- Lastly…HUD states the following under BOTH Standards:
What this means is that high temperature (fire resistant) foil tape CAN be used…but only to REINFORCE the joints – not to connect the joints.All the joints should be connected with sheet metal screws and then install the tape over the screwed joint.
Contact me!
For all training, Pre-REAC inspections, or appeal consultations, please reach out to me at kmarkan@c4n6.com
Resources
HUD has PDFs (videos are currently down) on how to appeal and how to close out H&S deficiencies here:
NSPIRE Toolkit
**Remember, if you will be appealing something,
your “defect mitigation in 24 hours” is that you are appealing…not that you fixed it!**
To subscribe to this free monthly newsletter and read newsletters you may have missed, click here: C4N6 Newsletter Registration and Archive