I work part time in the plumbing departmentof a big box store that serves the metropolitan Boston, MA area. Consequently I listen to the stories from tenants, landlords, homeowners and contractors.You can’t always tell if the customer is out of his league untill they either start talking or by observing what they have in their hands. Recently I saw a customer trying to assemble a plastic dryer vent cover to a length of double wall B vent. As an introduction and an effort to initiate some assistance I said to him that he was attempting to mix different systems that weren’t intended to be used together..Where upon he told me that he was a contractor doing some modifications to a 2 family house in one of the metro cities and the inspector was requiring him to use B-vent to install the dryer vent .I did not hide my astonishment – and distain for the requirement- very well and I have been thinking about the negatives of this requirement since. I cannot determine exactly what hazard the inspector is trying to protect against. Out of curiousity, I scanned the outlet temperature of my gas dryer and found outlet temperatures right at the appliance outlet between 96 and 112 deg. F. depending on what setting was used so high temperature can not be an issue. I do not know of any connector which will direct the exhaust from the appliance into the inner pipe only, so lint is likely to eventually clog the annular space forcing the volume of air into the inner pipe. This will increase the velocity in the inner pipe, cause higher back pressure making the appliance work harder thus wasting energy and potentially shortening the life of the appliance. And there is no practical way for the user to clean the lint out of that annular space between the pipes.
My wife thinks I am getting cranky in my old age, but I am not convinced that this is one of these times. I know that there is a sentence in the code that final decisions are up to the local inspector, but I see no practical system of checks and balances for decisions that are contrary to good judgement – certainly the contractors I have talked to over time are just resigned to complying with inspectors requests regardless of how impractical they seem if they ever wish to do business in that jurisdiction. Does anybody have any responses?
Replies
Don't believe everything you hear ....
Box Store clerks have a well-earned reputation for being gnorant. Yet, I've heard their customers speak some amazing things as well. To be fair, it's not really the job of the store clerk to design things.
I've lost count of the 'electricians' and 'contractors' who have headed for the hills as soon as I produced my card and asked to see theirs. I've also lost count of the 'inspectors' who had absolutely no mastery of any trade but had plenty of seminar training!
My advice? Stick in your department. Know where your parts are. Make sure the right parts are in the bin. Otherwise, say little and believe nothing.
everyone is smarter than the next guy
Appliance Type Restrictions
The following are examples of appliances that are NOT to be connected to Type B gas vent:
• Gas-fired clothes dryers, which can create positive pressure and
produce lint that can block the vent.
Box Store Clerks
I understand where you are coming from in regard to "box store clerks" - I never was aware that I knew someone who had spent time in prison for some serious offense until I took up part time employment. I am retired from 35 years in engineering and construction for the nuclear and natural gas industries, was a partner in a residential construction business before the collapse and have done renovations and additions since that time. I do not consider myself a "clerk" and have been at it long enough so that customers seek me out because the advice I have given them has been correct and my fellow "clerks" refer them to me as well. In defense of the " clerks" however, I find there are also many tradespeople and former small business owners who have actual experience, that for a variety of reasons, be it health or economics, are employed in the big box stores. Also the young kids out of high school who have little focus and direction in their lives. As a consumer you have to be smart enough to discern if what you are being told has merit. Which is why many customers ask the same question of multiiple employees, I'm sure.
Thanks Larry
I appreciated the people at supply houses and the big box stores. Sure, many times I know a lot more than the serivce people, and they can only direct me to the correct aisle rather than correct parts. however, I am sometimes amazed and thankful that some of the big box store staff are very knowledgible, more so than some people at actual supply houses.
And sometimes you need to ask three people to get three different answers and then figure out which seems best. Just he nature of the beast. But I appreciate knowledgible sales people wherever I find them.
There is also the very real possibility that the contractor misunderstood what the inspector told him was required.