I received today’s Wordless Wednesday photos from an AHJ, who will remain anonymous. 🙂
During an inspection, he found this water heater enclosure. But what’s that thing sitting on the pipe behind the vent?
A still-energized exit sign!
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Looks like it has power????
Just needs a little maintenance and good to go.
Yes, it has power!
– Lori
You weren’t supposed to see that. Now John Wick will be coming to see you…
It looks like an old Emergency Exit sign with the ‘EXIT’ glass missing…
That’s exactly what it is, Tony!
– Lori
Wordless is the only word to explain
……or another word comes to mind……WHY?
It looks as though the sign has two bulbs intended for use when mains-powered (which are dark) and two other bulbs which are designed to be automatically powered by batteries in case of power failure. My guess is that if the kitchen lights go dark because of a tripped breaker, the exit sign would provide enough light to make the outline of the door visible. Opening the door would then allow enough light into the room to allow someone to find and reset the tripped breaker. A purpose-built emergency light may be cheaper than an exit sign, but if the exit sign was on hand and wasn’t needed for anything else, this would seem a perfectly reasonable use for it if the mains wiring was done safely.
It also looks as though the frame has a strike but that door sure looks flush to me.
Next level question; does that door allow enough airflow for that water heater to draft properly? If it doesn’t have a grill or a decent undercut/floor clearance, they could have a CO problem in that room (It could draw air from the ceiling plenum if that is open too.).
Good questions, Curt!
– Lori
I wonder if a required exit was taken out and drywall added to create a mechanical closet? As noted above a strike plate on the frame and new door with no latch set. Notice the new ceiling tiles and no wall framing around the closet.