About Nez Perce County, ID

I had a client in Lewiston ID recently who closed on a house over by Lewis-Clark State College. Eric, the dad, was active duty military and had only had a few minutes to spare when we did the inspection. His wife was also busy plus they had three kids under the age of four. These were busy, busy parents.

The night that they closed on the house, I got a phone call from Eric. The gas furnace was dead, no good, muerto. 7:30 pm on a Friday night and my clients have no heat with the temperatures supposed to drop to the high 20's that night. Not good at all.

So I bundled up, headed out and went to see what I could do to help. When I got there, the Realtor was already there (which impressed the heck out of me since it was a Friday night!) and the kids were running from room to room having a blast. Eric was out buying new fuses for the current overprotection on the furnace - he and Brian Wilson, the Windermere Allstar Realtor, thought it might be a power problem.

I tested the thermostat first and heard it click to activate when I hit it with a heat demand. Good. But nothing from the furnace. Bad. So I tried turning on the fan from "auto" to "on" to see if I could force the blower to start. Switch worked fine, good. Blower didn't start, also good - I now had a (slim) clue. Brian and Eric were on the right track - it was a power problem.

The next test was to see if the fuse was burned out (newer houses will have a wall switch instead). It looked good but we replaced it anyway. I could track the input power to the junction box and also to the furnace. Into the box was "live" and to the furnace was "dead". And it stayed that way after changing the fuse. Odd, so I did what home inspectors aren't supposed to do - I took apart the junction box.

It turns out that there were two lines into the box and two out but only one was live and they mixed up the two wires so the new stuff was connected to the old feed and vice versa. One line from the electrical panel (supplying the furnace) was dead. Obviously, the breaker at the main panel was off. Easy fix.

We went outside to the breaker panel and I just stopped dead. The panel didn't look right. It had been a couple of months between the original inspection and this particular Friday night. I had forgotten that the house had a Federal Pacific panel that was just fried. Eric had asked for the panel to be replaced and the seller agreed. Brian reminded me of the original panel - It's never good when the inspector is looking confused. I went ahead and opened the new panel, looking for the breaker for the furnace. I looked again.

Then I laughed. When the electrician rewired the panel, he forgot to include the furnace circuit when he did.

We didn't have a furnace problem. We had electrical issues , one easy to fix (on Monday!) It was very much a relief to Eric and his wife and to me as well, plus I had the satisfaction of being of real service to Eric's family and to the Realtor.

Lewiston ID Clarkston WA 3rd Quarter year comparison report....

Date Range=07/01/2008-09/30/2008 as compared to 07/01/2007-09/30-2007

TOTAL - RESIDENTIAL (All Areas)

Current Period

152

27,657,207

181,955

506

One Year Ago

182

32,606,647

179,157

596

Increase/(Decrease)

(30)

-16%

(4,949,440)

-15%

2,798

2%

(90)

-15%

Statistics for: Class=RE,LD,CI,MF,FA AND Type=SFR,SF-2A,MWL,MW/OL,CDO AND Date Range=07/01/2008-09/30/2008 AND Area=Astn/Clmns,ClarkDtown,ClarkHghts,LewisEMain,LewisWMain,LewisDtwnE,LewisDtwnW,LewisDtwnS,LewisOrchE,Tammany,Waha,LewisNorth AND Grouping Selector=3; As Of: 12/16/2008

Qty Sold % Chg Volume Sold % Chg Average Sale % Chg Median Sale % Chg Qty Active % Chg RESIDENTIAL All Areas Asotin/Clemans Current Period 4 943,150 235,787 231,575 18 One Year Ago 9 1,957,275 217,475 226,000 30 Increase/(Decrease) (5) -56% (1,014,125) -52% 18,312 8% 5,575 2% (12) -40% Clarkston Downtown Current Period 22 2,633,696 119,713 122,500 78 One Year Ago 45 7,368,380 163,741 150,000 134 Increase/(Decrease) (23) -51% (4,734,684) -64% (44,028) -27% (27,500) -18% (56) -42% Clarkston Heights Current Period 29 6,589,007 227,207 212,000 85 One Year Ago 28 6,123,875 218,709 216,012 107 Increase/(Decrease) 1 4% 465,132 8% 8,498 4% (4,012) -2% (22) -21% Lewiston East Main Current Period 1 54,000 54,000 54,000 2 One Year Ago 1 79,700 79,700 79,700 2 Increase/(Decrease) 0 0% (25,700) -32% (25,700) -32% (25,700) -32% 0 0% Lewiston West Main Current Period 0 0 0 0 0 One Year Ago 0 0 0 0 0 Increase/(Decrease) 0 0 0 0 0 Lewiston Downtown East Current Period 13 3,201,094 246,238 234,700 57 One Year Ago 12 1,948,510 162,375 149,000 41 Increase/(Decrease) 1 8% 1,252,584 64% 83,863 52% 85,700 58% 16 39% Lewiston Downtown West Current Period 27 3,962,300 146,751 142,500 83 One Year Ago 35 4,763,025 136,086 129,000 92 Increase/(Decrease) (8) -23% (800,725) -17% 10,665 8% 13,500 10% (9) -10% Lewiston Downtown South Current Period 16 3,888,450 243,028 197,500 62 One Year Ago 20 5,414,000 270,700 255,000 63 Increase/(Decrease) (4) -20% (1,525,550) -28% (27,672) -10% (57,500) -23% (1) -2% Lewiston Orchards East Current Period 36 6,318,760 175,521 152,000 97 One Year Ago 28 4,312,832 154,029 159,250 106 Increase/(Decrease) 8 29% 2,005,928 47% 21,492 14% (7,250) -5% (9) -8% Tammany Current Period 0 0 0 0 5 One Year Ago 0 0 0 0 2 Increase/(Decrease) 0 0 0 0 3 150% Waha Current Period 0 0 0 0 8 One Year Ago 2 406,900 203,450 203,450 10 Increase/(Decrease) (2) -100% (406,900) -100% (203,450) -100% (203,450) -100% (2) -20% Lewiston North Current Period 4 66,750 16,687 9,750 11 One Year Ago 2 232,150 116,075 116,075 9 Increase/(Decrease) 2 100% (165,400) -71% (99,388) -86% (106,325) -92% 2 22% Sub Total - RESIDENTIAL (All Areas) Current Period 152 27,657,207 181,955 506 One Year Ago 182 32,606,647 179,157 596 Increase/(Decrease) (30) -16% (4,949,440) -15% 2,798 2% (90) -15%

We are getting ready for the the Holiday Season in the Lewis-Clark Valley!

Winter Spirit Christmas Lighting @ Locomotive Park 2101 Main-Lewiston
where the Steam Engine 92, and Camas Prairie RR Caboose all come to LIFE!
Thanksgiving weekend .... Music, entertainment & Great Family FUN!

for any questions ... call 208-748-3000 photos from http://www.winterspirit.com/

Winter Spirit, Inc
PO Box 1813 · Lewiston, ID 83501
(208) 791-7017

The volunteers of Winter Spirit, Inc., ignite the spirit of the community during the winter holiday season with lighted sites located throughout the Valley.

Performers at Lewiston's Locomotive Park, courtesy of Winter Spirit. Photos below by Larry Kopczynski, whom has been a steadfast supporter of the Winter Spirit since it's beginning.

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So Bring your Family to the Lewis-Clark Valley for a Night of FUN & Hot Chocolate!

~Keep the Spirit~