Smoke detector removed, found by a Phoenix home inspector

Smoke Detectors Removed

by Southwest Premier on August 25, 2010

DEFECT: Smoke Detectors Removed

During our Phoenix Home Inspections we find allot of smoke detectors that have been removed.  It amazes me how many times I see this in an occupied home!  Smoke detectors are vital to the safety of the occupants in a home and therefore should be properly maintained and never disabled.

One of the main reasons that I hear for removing smoke detectors is that they go off randomly or have nuisance alarms.  I have written a basic smoke detector troubleshooting guide on my blog InspectingPhoenix.com.  If your smoke detectors are going off randomly or have other problems you should troubleshoot and fix the problem instead of removing the smoke detectors.

If the Home Inspector noted in your Home Inspection report that there are any problems with your homes smoke detector system, you should have these repaired immediately for the safety of everyone in the home.

This information was provided courtesy of Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC.  Reproduction in any form is not permitted without consent.  Copyright 2008-2010 Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC.

Southwest Premier Home Inspection is the Phoenix Arizona Home Inspection leader.  To find out more  visit our Phoenix Home Inspection website www.swpHomeInspect.com

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High water pressure found during a Phoenix Home Inspection

Improper Water Pressure

by Southwest Premier on August 25, 2010

DEFECT: Improper Water Pressure

Improper water pressure takes two forms, high pressure or low pressure.  Different problems arise depending on which condition your plumbing supply system suffers from.  During our Home Inspection in Phoenix we find allot of high water pressure.

The normal water pressure range is 40 to 80 psi.  Most utilities try to keep the water supply to your home around 80 psi but this pressure fluctuates with demand and due to their equipment.  Below I will discuss some of the problems associated with pressure above or below this range.  At the bottom of this post I breifly discuss water flow vs water pressure.

High Water Pressure

High water pressure (over 80 psi):  I will start with high water pressure since it can cause the most damage to the homes plumbing system.   In the Phoenix area, this is the most common water pressure condition our Home Inspectors find.  Some of the problems associated with high water pressure are:

High water pressure found during a Home Inspection in Phoenix

High Water Pressure

  • Premature failure of water faucets and fixtures
  • Failure of pipe joints
  • Water hammer or banging

The fix for high water pressure is to have a plumber install a water pressure regulator at the supply line entry into the home.  This pressure regulator can be adjusted to maintain a proper water pressure within the normal range.  If the water pressure is extremely high, you may want to contact the utility company as one of their pressure regulators may have failed.

If your Home Inspector noted in your Home Inspection report that your water pressure is high, don’t ignore it thinking that you will be able to take more enjoyable showers.

Low Water Pressure

Low water pressure (under 40 psi):  Low water pressure does not cause the physical damage to fixtures and pipe, this one is more of a nuisance and sometimes even dangerous.  The problems most commonly associated with low water pressure are:

Low Water pressure, found during a Phoenix home Inspection

Low Water Pressure

  • Low water flow to faucets.  This one is the biggest annoyance with low water pressure, I’m sure everyone has experienced a shower with low water pressure at one point or another in their lives.
  • Scalding can result due to the sudden loss of cold water to a faucet when another faucet is run in cold.  When one person is showering and another person flushes the toilet, the person in the shower could get scalded.

The fix for low water pressure is much more difficult.  The first step is to contact the utility to see if there is a problem with their equipment supplying your neighborhood.

Water flow vs. Water pressure

I am not going to go into this in detail in this post but one condition that often gets confused with low water pressure is low water flow.  Water pressure is mostly dependent on the pressure entering the home from the utility.  Water flow has allot to do with the diameter of the pipe that is carrying the water once it gets into the home.

Example: Two identical homes have the same water supply pressure and identical fixtures, the only difference is the size of the water supply pipe into the home.  Home “A” has 3/4″ supply pipe and home “B” has 1 1/4″ supply pipe.  Home “B” would have much better water flow with multiple faucets running due to the increased supply, more water is available to all of the faucets at the same time.

If your home has great water flow with only one faucet running and it diminishes greatly with a second running, you may have a water flow problem instead of a water pressure problem.

I should note, checking water flow at a shower can be tricky since most shower heads increase the force of the water by reducing the nozzle sizes, this can make you think you have higher flow than you really do, to judge accurately you may want to use an unrestricted faucet such as an exterior hose-bib.
This information was provided courtesy of Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC.  Reproduction in any form is not permitted without consent.  Copyright 2008-2010 Southwest Premier Home Inspection, LLC.

Southwest Premier Home Inspection is the Phoenix Arizona Home Inspection leader.  To find out more  visit our Phoenix Home Inspection website www.swpHomeInspect.com

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Faucet Leaks From Around Handle

August 15, 2010
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DEFECT: Faucet Leaks From Around Handle A water faucet leaking from around the handle may not seem like a big deal but it can cause allot of damage over time.  You may think that this water is just dripping from behind the handle into the shower or tub and not causing any problems but there [...]

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No Insulation on Air Conditioner Suction Line

August 15, 2010
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DEFECT: No Insulation on Air Conditioner Suction Line A common defect found by our home inspectors in Phoenix is either missing or deteriorated insulation on the air conditioner suction line.  Below is more information regarding this problem. On a split system air conditioner or heat pump the freon line-set runs externally to connect the separate air handler [...]

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Water Heater Temperature & Pressure Relief

July 20, 2010
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DEFECT: Water Heater Temperature & Pressure Relief (TPR) The water heater Temperature & Pressure Relief Valve (TPR) and associated piping is a critical safety feature of a water heater.  The purpose of the TPR valve is to relieve the pressure in the water heater in the event of a runaway thermostat or other overpressure situation. [...]

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Dirty Air Conditioner Evaporative Coil

July 8, 2010
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DEFECT: Dirty Air Conditioner Evaporative Coil In Phoenix we find allot of dirty or clogged air conditioner or heat pump coils due to removed air filters.  Many of these are bank owned homes where the filter was removed because it was totally clogged.  Anytime we find a missing filter during our Phoenix Home Inspections we [...]

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Stucco To Grade

June 23, 2010
Home Inspection stucco to grade

DEFECT: Stucco Installed To Grade Stucco to grade can be caused by one of two things.  Either the stucco was installed all the way down to ground level or the ground was raised to the stucco level.  No matter the cause, big expensive repairs can ensue. While stucco is designed to withstand the elements, it [...]

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Nailed Down Rolled Roofing

June 17, 2010

DEFECT: Nailed Down Rolled Roofing Unless you are torching down bitumen rolled roofing you will have to use some nails but these nails are just a part of the installation process. Many people think they can just roll out the roofing material, nail it down, trim the edges and they are done.  A roof installed [...]

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A/C Condensate Drain Enters Plumbing Vent

June 17, 2010
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DEFECT: Air Conditioner Condensate Drain Line Enters Plumbing Vent On a roof mounted air conditioner, the condensation drain line typically either penetrates through the roof to a drain at the lower edge of an exterior wall or it extends to the edge of the roof and drips off.  Either one of these methods is acceptable [...]

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Jetted Tub Pump Bonding

June 17, 2010

DEFECT: Jetted Tub Pump Bonding Jetted tub electrical pumps and all metal that is in contact with the water are required to be electrically bonded to help prevent shock in the event of a short circuit.  This is a fairly common defect, most likely due to confusion between bonding, grounding, Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) etc. Note [...]

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Over-sized Wire to Circuit Breaker

June 11, 2010

DEFECT: Over-sized Wire to Circuit Breaker An over-sized wire to a circuit breaker is only a defect if the circuit breaker is not rated to accept the wire gauge.  For an example I am going to use the 15 AMP General Electric circuit breaker in the photograph below.  In this photo, this 15 AMP breaker [...]

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Bathroom Fan Vents Into Attic

June 6, 2010

DEFECT: Bathroom Fan Vents Into Attic A fairly common defect we find when doing Home Inspections in Phoenix are bathroom vent fans that exhaust into the attic.  The purpose of these fans is to remove humidity from the interior of the home and exhaust it outdoors.  Venting it into the attic may seem like an [...]

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