CA homeowners: You've got 3 days before new Title 24 rules hit your pocketbook.

[Irascible]

If you've been sitting on the fence then I'd suggest getting off today. It's been in the news. But if you haven't heard, all HVAC jobs that have permits pulled on or after October 1st will require duct testing (http://hphaa.com/picpages/title24/title24.htm) and possible repair. That will add somewhere between a few and many hundreds of dollars to the cost of your job.

[simpleman]

Thats a good thing right? I wish they would inforce it here.

[Irascible]

Tight ducts? That's almost always a good thing. Government regulation? That depends on your philosophical point of view.

[bigbird]

Hi john,if i read the regs. correctly i`m exempt. climate zone 4.

[drk]

Can't believe They would pass a law like that! Big Government wins again. I'll tell them to stay out of my business.

[NormChris]

You can expect similar regulations to start showing up in other states. California, Oregon, Washington and Minnesota are on a regulation roll. They are creating new HVAC regulations and tighter HVAC licensing, especially concentrating on electrical licensing for HVAC technicians.

Some of it is good, some not so good. I tend to agree with the title 24 regulations and the stronger duct regulations.

I have serious disagreements with the HVAC electrical licensing much of which is unreasonable. Washington and Oregon are out of control with their HVAC electrical licensing. Totally unreasonable!

All of this will be coming to your state soon. It is just a matter of time. States look at what other states are doing and then begin doing the same or similar. Washington took their cue from Oregon. Minnesota followed them with their HVAC electrical licensing. California has had title 24 for years and is now looking at the new electrical licensing for HVAC technicians that is in place in Washington and Oregon.

Keep watching your state. It will reach you soon.

[NormChris]

Check out this thread to see what goes on in Washington State regarding the licensing of HVAC technicians and their ability to perform basic HVAC related electrical work.

http://www.hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=72420

[Irascible]

Holy ****e! It looks like I need to visit the law forum more often.

You're exempt for now BigB. It's utterly absurd of course. But apparently they based your climate zone on Santa Clara's temps, which is lower than San Jose. Smart money says they'll correct that error next time around.

[bigbird]

I recieved my copy of the standards last week from cec.
144 pages long,i`m totly confused now. I know i`m exemp now for duct testing but one page says min. r-6 duct insul. the next page says min. r-8 insul.I sure get confused reading that complecated stuff.

[simpleman]

Goverment regulation..so whats new,who ever got the money to get people to vote their way,then that will be the law we have to live with.

Who fault it is for all these regulation..I feel sometime it ours.I mean we all know how important it is do thing by the book and we always want to cry when we have people arounds of who dont to thing right.But yet here we go again
complaining now that someone has step in said we have to
set some kind of standard...a level playing field if you
will because we/they are being wasteful.


Here the chance to make it happen and here we go again *****in because time are a changing.

Personally I'm like anyone I hate how the goverment step in
to our life and demand change...however if it narrow the gap
between me and the cut corner guys and,also reduce the demand for consumption then I'm all for it.

[Edited by simpleman on 09-28-2005 at 07:06 AM]

[jdenyer]

Yikes, looks like the consumer will get scr*wed again! If the duct system was never installed correctly to begin with, then let's make the homeowners pay all over again:eek: I'm all for energy efficiency for HVAC systems, but while homeowners are gonna have to shell out big bucks to save a little heating or cooling energy, most of America will continue to drive monster SUV's getting 12 miles/gallon. Large electric utility companies lobby for just these types of laws, it allows them to keep raising rates, yet not spend the money to bring new powerplants on line, it is after all much cheaper for a utility to legislate conservation at the homeowners expense than to build a 1000MW powerplant. I wonder when the regs will come out stating that if your equipment is pre-1990 you must replace:D Everything has gotten out of control within the last decade, home prices are becoming unaffordable, gas prices and heating prices are skyrocketing, groceries are going up, yet pay is not increasing nearly fast enough. The middle class is now headed to become the new working poor. I know our industry needs to get things up to snuff, but is overbearing goverment red tape the answer? I'm willing to bet that a lot more homeowners will get their equipment fixed rather than pay really steep prices for replacement. I just can't wait for legislation that requires yearly home inspections, much like cars do now:D Sorry guys, just my rant for the day:D

[davidr]

Originally posted by Irascible
Tight ducts? That's almost always a good thing.

:D Pandora's box is about to be opened in California.