What is a gas regulator and relief valve? That “dish” looking thing on your gas meter is a regulator. Its job is to control the pressure of the flammable natural or propane gas as it enters your home. High pressure is needed to distribute gas to all the homes in your neighborhood or city. But this pressure is too high for your appliances to use safely. The regulator on your gas meter has the job of bringing the pressure down to the level your appliances need. Inside the regu

Here's a fairly common item I see while performing home inspections. What you're looking at in the picture is the discharge and overflow hoses from a water softener tying into the homes sewer drain system. Why is this an issue? Because of the way they are connected. Appliances like your water softener should not be directly connected in this way. They should have an "air gap" connection. An air gap connection prevents sewage from being pushed into the appliance in the case of