Evolving commercial drone use laws

I hope you are having a prosperous summer!

Although not directly related to home inspections, I wanted to share with you updates to FAA commercial drone use law as I know some of you are using drones for inspections and property video montages.

The FAA has released a new set of rules for commercial use drones weighing up to 55lb that come in to effect August 29, 2016. Click here for the official summary.

• Must be 16 years old and have a remote pilot certificate with a small UAS rating, or be directly supervised by someone with such certification.
• To qualify for a remote pilot certification, pass an FAA approved aeronautical knowledge test, or have a non-student Part 61 pilot certificate (TSA conducts a security background check).
• Operators to ensure drone is safe before flying.
• Use limited to daylight hours.
• Fly up to 400' in the air, or higher if within 400' of a structure.

Last year, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed SB142 that attempted to restrict the use of drones flying over private property. Here is a link to an informative article by Dirk Dallas on the issues facing drone regulation in California.

On a side note, use of drones for deliveries is still banned, but the FAA has allowed Google's X Division to test their drone delivery system, Project Wing.

CA Pro Home Inspection: helping clients make more informed decisions

Safety Glass 101

I inspected a duplex last week that had glass sliding doors. The doors were in poor condition, but I was more concerned that they did not contain safety glass. Safety glass is designed to minimize physical damage in case of glass breakage. Safety glass must contain an identifying label that can not be removed (acid-etched, sand blasted etc). Safety glass is usually laminated or tempered. 

 

Laminated glass is two layers of glass sandwiched with a laminate. The laminate is the reason why the pieces are held together when it is broken. 

Sometimes you can identify unlabeled laminate glass by examining the reflection of your hand or some other object- you should see two different images.



Tempered glass is almost 5 to 10 times stronger when compared to its untempered counterpart. Tempered glass shatters into tiny fragments with rounded edges when it’s broken. It can take a higher load and deflects further before breaking, but can not be reworked.

Tempered glass can also be identified through polarized glasses when viewed from an angle. Black lines, a result of the heating and cooling process, should appear as your angle from the glass surface increases when you approach the glass’s side.

However, when uncertain, and in potential hazardous areas, I always assume that glass is not safety glass and recommend further assessment.

If you are interested in more information on when safety glass is required, here is a link to the International Residential Code R308.4

CA Pro Home Inspection, serving Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties

Inadequate combustion air

COMBUSTION AIR

There are many different elements I inspect when examining gas furnaces- leaks, missing drip-leg and shut-off valve, rusting, inappropriate materials, burner flame patterns, heat exchanger damage etc. Another thing I check is the presence of combustion air.

In older homes, I find gas furnaces in small, poorly vented closets, but sometimes, even an enclosed garage with a gas water heater, gas furnace, and gas dryer may not have adequate combustion air.

For a furnace to work properly, it must have an adequate supply of combustion air to ‘feed’ the furnace. Gas furnaces also require a secondary source of air (‘draft air’) to maintain an appropriate exhaust - to help maintain chimney draft.





What’s an adequate supply of combustion air?
Standard of practice is 50 cubic feet of air for every cubic foot of gas (i).

If a gas furnace is rated at 100,000 BTU’s per hour, it will burn approximately 100 cubic feet of gas per hour (one cubic foot of natural gas contains about 1,000 BTUs).

Therefore, it will need approximately 5,000 cubic feet of combustion air.


Total appliance BTU’s / 1,000 x 50 = cubic feet required


As you can see, a small closet that has no door vent, and a small opening in the ceiling, may not have enough combustion air for the furnace to function correctly.

Why is this important?
Inadequate air intake can lead to increased levels of carbon monoxide (CO- a poisonous gas). Secondly, a lack of ‘draft air’ is likely to result in backdraft. This means combustion product (CO) can go back in to the room, rather than up the chimney/flue (because the room is under low pressure having been starved for air because its been pulled in to the furnace for the combustion and dilution process).

To test for backdrafting, you can put your hand in to the base of the draft-hood, you should be able to feel cool air being drawn in. If you feel hot, wet exhaust air, then spillage/backdrafting is taking place. Rust around the draft hood may also indicate a chronic backdrafting problem.

Making sure a gas furnace (and other gas appliances) have appropriate combustion air is crucial to the safety of the home owner.

Helpful links-
http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/strucfireengineer/pdf/bml/Frequently%20asked%20questions%20on%20Carbon%20Monoxide.pdf

http://www.homesafe.com/coalert/detect.htm
 
Source (i): Principals of Home Inspection, Carson Dunlop & Associates, 2008