Expert: Russel Ray - 10/11/2008

Question
I purchased a home 3 months ago in Seattle, Washington.  Prior to the purchase, we had an inspector go through the property.  He identified some issues with the furnace, which were fixed.  recently when i attempted to turn on the heat, it would not work.  My warranty company was quick to get an electrician out, who said the furnace was "overloaded".  they fixed the issue, however they will not cover it again because the furnace is not on its own circuit.  Apparently there are lights and outlets wired on the same circuit both before and after.  as such, if we plug something in "downstream" we risk burning the furnace out.  I'm told i need to have a dedicated circuit wired in, which will cost about $1000 by the time the wiring is run and sheetrock replaced, etc.  Is this an issue to take up with my inspector or do I go after the previous owner since it was not wired to code.  The inspection report has disclaimers stating that they are not electricians, but I would think any good inspector would know the basic code and be able to spot something like this.  thanks for your help.

Answer
Hey, Christian.

I can't give you a real good answer without reading the complete home inspection report to determine what conditions were like at the time of the inspection, what the limitations of the home inspector and home inspection were, and what the service agreement says. All those clues need to be added together to get a proper response. Notwithstanding that, let me try to give you some general guidelines and help.

First, I have to wonder who fixed the issues with the furnace that were identified by the home inspector. I'm not familiar with the laws in Washington, but here's how it would work down here.

Home inspectors are not licensed here in California whereas furnace technicians are. So a home inspector cannot intrude to far into the jurisdiction of the furnace technician without possible civil or criminal penalties — working in a licensed profession without a license.

Thus, a licensed professional should never rely on the report of an unlicensed professional. So when the furnace technician went to "fix" the furnace, he should have analyzed all aspects of the furnace, including overloading, circuit protection, dedicated circuits, etc., absolutely everything regardless of whether or not it was in the home inspection report.

The great supermajority of professionals in one industry would never rely on the report of a professional in another industry; the liability is too great.

So my first question would be to the furnace technician who "fixed" the furnace. Why did he not analyze the complete heating installation to discover the lack of a dedicated circuit and possible overloading problems? Once I had the answer to that question, then I would know better how to proceed.

I'm presuming that your furnace is an electric furnace. It would be difficult to "overload" a circuit that the furnace is on, not that it can't be done, but it would be rare, too, mainly because everyone always puts them on a dedicated circuit. So I'm not sure how lights and outlets got wired to yours unless the furnace circuit breaker in the electric panel is simply double-tapped. If that's the case, it's a pretty easy and rather inexpensive fix. But I'd have to see just what's going on in order to fix it.

Without knowing the type of construction in your home, I can't adequately address the issue of the wiring, but $1,000 sounds kind of high to me, even by West Coast standards. It depends on just exactly what is going on.

However, always ask for a line item proposal for the work to be done, broken down into labor and materials. Many companies upcharge materials, so that if you can buy it at Home Depot for $100, they'll buy it at their resale discount of $80 and then upcharge it to you for $130. It's a great money-making method. If the company declines because "we don't provide line items; we just do the job," you'll know what's going on. Don't be afraid to ask what parts need to be replaced, buy them on your own either at Home Depot or on the Internet, and then hire the furnace technician to install them. You can save a lot of money that way if you're willing to spend some time searching for the parts you need.

Notwithstanding all that, certainly contact your inspector since your only three months into your new home. Remember that s/he is on your side, and if he can identify some things that the seller forgot to disclose, or that were not visible, were not accessible, or didn't exist at the time of the inspection, then s/he can help you approach the Seller about the subject.

If you need a very, very good home inspector there in Seattle (Bellingham) to help you work through the issues, I can put you in contact with him although I don't know what his schedule is like currently. I'd let you and him work that out, as well as any other requirements that he might have to provide you with better answers to your questions, like having access to the service agreement and the home inspection report. Let me know and I'll put you two in contact with each other providing he agrees. I'm sending your question and my response to him.