Comments on: Chinese Drywall http://www.mermininspections.com/blog/from-the-inspector-chinese-drywall/ Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:53:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Jacob Mermin http://www.mermininspections.com/blog/from-the-inspector-chinese-drywall/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Jacob Mermin Tue, 12 May 2009 20:56:30 +0000 http://www.mermininspections.com/blog/?p=63#comment-3 Greetings A. Stewart, It is very possible. You are correct Sir! Copper will turn green. Just look at the Statue of Liberty. An air conditioner is a de-humidifier with cold air being a by-product. An average three ton air conditioning system produces 10 to 12 gallons of water or more each day depending on the humidity that day. The evaporator coil in your air handler is full of Freon making it very cold. When the hot wet air from your house hits it, the moisture in the air is removed and it goes out the drain line to the outside. The interior of that air handler is very wet. The coils are made of copper and usually over time turn green just like any statue you see in any major city. It is normal. You have to look beyond that corrosion and green. There are other items in that air handler that can be effected. Some air handlers that I have inspected have a braided copper wire coming into the electrical section. Some air handlers have a disconnect breaker in the unit. There you can see solid copper wires to the breakers. In this set up there is an electric heater. A 15KW electric heater is going to have a number 4 copper wire coming to the air handler. This is a pretty big wire and very easy to see. Some portion of this wire is going to be visible inside the air handler. A 10KW electric heater inside the air handler is going to be fed by a number 6 copper wire. Again a number 6 copper wire is pretty big. This number six copper wire is going to have several strands of wire. If there is Chinese Drywall near the return vent in the house there is a very good chance there will be the visual evidence of the possible effects of Chinese Drywall. People ask me what does the return grill have to do with it. If there is Chinese Drywall in a house the gasses associated with the effects of Chinese Drywall will be vented out into the room and sucked into the return grill and plenum by the air handler. That is why even an air handler that is installed in the garage can still be effected by the chemical gasses associated with Chinese Drywall. So, it can be difficult to see this blackening of the copper coils of an evaporator coil in an air conditioner's air handler. Now you know what else to look at inside an airhandler. I am a EPA Certified Type ll air conditioning technician. You do not want just anyone looking at this stuff. Make sure that they are qualified. Also you want a report with pictures by a seperate company that is certified in something connected to this Chinese Drywall situation. In other words no one is going to take the word of a home owner, or a pest control guy because he was up in the attic one day looking for rat poop and he just happend to see inside of the air handler. Have a Certified Home inspector that is also certified to open up your air handler, look at it, and write a report with pictures if this type of evidence is found. And to your original question. I have seen coils that have been all black, one third black, half black and just a little bit black. I beleive that is determined by how much of the Chinese Drywall was used, where it was used in the house, and how long it sat around before it was used. I have been in homes where several different brands were stacked up in several different rooms. Don't believe the builder. I have heard many builders say no Chinese Drywall was used in this home. They don't want to be known as the Chinese Drywall Builder. Spend the $99.00 and have it checked photographed and documented. Thanks for your comments. From The Inspector Jacob Mermin CHI/CMI www.mermininspections.com jacob@mermininspections.com 239-243-7322 Greetings A. Stewart,
It is very possible. You are correct Sir! Copper will turn green. Just look at the Statue of Liberty. An air conditioner is a de-humidifier with cold air being a by-product. An average three ton air conditioning system produces 10 to 12 gallons of water or more each day depending on the humidity that day. The evaporator coil in your air handler is full of Freon making it very cold. When the hot wet air from your house hits it, the moisture in the air is removed and it goes out the drain line to the outside. The interior of that air handler is very wet. The coils are made of copper and usually over time turn green just like any statue you see in any major city. It is normal. You have to look beyond that corrosion and green. There are other items in that air handler that can be effected. Some air handlers that I have inspected have a braided copper wire coming into the electrical section. Some air handlers have a disconnect breaker in the unit. There you can see solid copper wires to the breakers. In this set up there is an electric heater. A 15KW electric heater is going to have a number 4 copper wire coming to the air handler. This is a pretty big wire and very easy to see. Some portion of this wire is going to be visible inside the air handler. A 10KW electric heater inside the air handler is going to be fed by a number 6 copper wire. Again a number 6 copper wire is pretty big. This number six copper wire is going to have several strands of wire. If there is Chinese Drywall near the return vent in the house there is a very good chance there will be the visual evidence of the possible effects of Chinese Drywall. People ask me what does the return grill have to do with it. If there is Chinese Drywall in a house the gasses associated with the effects of Chinese Drywall will be vented out into the room and sucked into the return grill and plenum by the air handler. That is why even an air handler that is installed in the garage can still be effected by the chemical gasses associated with Chinese Drywall. So, it can be difficult to see this blackening of the copper coils of an evaporator coil in an air conditioner’s air handler. Now you know what else to look at inside an airhandler. I am a EPA Certified Type ll air conditioning technician. You do not want just anyone looking at this stuff. Make sure that they are qualified. Also you want a report with pictures by a seperate company that is certified in something connected to this Chinese Drywall situation. In other words no one is going to take the word of a home owner, or a pest control guy because he was up in the attic one day looking for rat poop and he just happend to see inside of the air handler. Have a Certified Home inspector that is also certified to open up your air handler, look at it, and write a report with pictures if this type of evidence is found. And to your original question. I have seen coils that have been all black, one third black, half black and just a little bit black. I beleive that is determined by how much of the Chinese Drywall was used, where it was used in the house, and how long it sat around before it was used. I have been in homes where several different brands were stacked up in several different rooms. Don’t believe the builder. I have heard many builders say no Chinese Drywall was used in this home. They don’t want to be known as the Chinese Drywall Builder. Spend the $99.00 and have it checked photographed and documented. Thanks for your comments.
From The Inspector
Jacob Mermin CHI/CMI
http://www.mermininspections.com
jacob@mermininspections.com
239-243-7322

]]> By: A. Stewart http://www.mermininspections.com/blog/from-the-inspector-chinese-drywall/comment-page-1/#comment-2 A. Stewart Sun, 05 Apr 2009 18:29:19 +0000 http://www.mermininspections.com/blog/?p=63#comment-2 What about coils that are not totally turned, you can still see the copper but are very dark copper, a lot of condensation and lime deposits (this is on a home that is 2.5 years old.) Some of the coils look dark but not black. Could this be an indication that Chinese Drywall could have been used in some portions of the home? What about coils that are not totally turned, you can still see the copper but are very dark copper, a lot of condensation and lime deposits (this is on a home that is 2.5 years old.) Some of the coils look dark but not black. Could this be an indication that Chinese Drywall could have been used in some portions of the home?

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