Scary Loud banging noise, Bad install!

yolanda

Hello,
My parents had a Crown BSI 138SN standing pilot, natural gas steam boiler, and a 75 gal A. Smith water heater installed fall of 2005. Since then have very loud banging noise in pipes. Called company back, they claimed it's a water hammer due to dirt, added some boiler clean, drained refilled boiler, didn't correct situation. Later on they wanted to change out a water main pipe claiming that it is clogged with mud and that is causing the banging, we refused. Gas company came out and checked unit, found gas leaks which they repaired.
These guys came to the house for a chimney clean and pressured my parents into a new boiler, yes their boiler was old, and yes they were probably going to need a new one eventually but these guys really put the screws and a scare into them, and my poor parents ended up with a horrible install.
Come to find out that these guys used copper piping for install, there is no pipe on the safety relief valve on the side of the water heater, the supply pipe coming off the back of the top of the boiler is incorrect from the point where it leaves the boiler all the way up, equlizer is supposed to be piped off of the supply sfter the main and from the bottom, reverse pitch on gas water heater flue pipe doesn't conform to code - fire or building, the header angles are off, and the flue piping clearance is not far enough from combustible parts. Basically the install was horrible.
They are still under warranty, first contact has been unsuccessful. We are in the Brooklyn, NY area. Perhaps you can recommend someone that can help us out of a bad situation, and also perhaps recommend a good inspector that I can have document all of this as well.
I appreciate any help you can provide.
Thank You so much for listening.

ttekushan_3

If you have a digital camera

you may want to post a few photos of the piping arrangements. The steam folks here are pretty sharp. You'll have plenty of unbiased info to work with.

gerry gill

also call in the city inspector

so they put the fire under the ''contactor''..

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Steamhead (in transit)

Finding a good steam man

in the NYC area is easy. Go to the Find a Professional page of this site, type in your zipcode and follow the instructions.

Not sure if Matt "Mad Dog" Sweeney of Triple Crown P&H in Floral Park will come into Brooklyn, but if he will, you'd have someone who has installed a steam system in his house from scratch.

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Ken Field

Yolandas pictures

Here is a link to her pictures. Saw them on another site. This is a beauty.
http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t320/yogi1313/

Ken

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Steamhead (in transit)

That's one for the Hall of Shame

let's see.... water heater flue pipe pitched the wrong way..... boiler turned so the burner end is pointing toward the wall.... copper steam piping..... no header... horizontal portion of Hartford Loop way too long....

Not much about this job that is done properly. The entire installation needs repiping by a competent steam man.

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ttekushan_3

Oh dear.

I see at least three areas that can cause water hammer at different times and places.

Perhaps the installer felt he should leave a gift of water hammer for every occasion.

-Terry

steven E.HEAT

need a bklyn. steamguy ? inquire within.

gerry gill

oh my...

kind of sad the instructions weren't read...

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Steamhead (in transit)

Knee pads

those thick manuals make great knee pads..... :-O

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Weezbo

Yolanda, that has no agreement with reality.

everything about that install needs help. were any two boiler men looking at it ,the unspoken word would be 'sawzall'. ( rapid removal tool)

that the gas company tech did not mention that to you, seems to be unbelievable ,to me. you deserve a second opinion,and..at this point far better help than you got.

it needs to be remedied ..the reason straight from the gate is ,the flue pipe. it just doesn't have the word Safe inscribed anywhere on the installation. it is dangerous to operate either of these appliances at the moment. we have a great gas man here, perhaps he will see this post..if so, he will be highly p.o.ed if one of us has not suggested that you shut the system down before someone dies in the home. it is sad that this is your current lot in life...you need some help soon...try Find a Professional on the top of the page...

if the gas company man saw this as "normal", you may need to call them and have them send someone else out to check his work...tell them you do not want to disscuss this any further until they send out a more experienced service man and makes sure your family is not written up in the obituaries in the morning ...

yolanda

Thanks

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for looking at the horror, I konw it must be difficult for a bunch of professionals to look upon such atrocities. I do so appreciate all the assistance that you all have given me. I am immediately going to find someone today to fix the install, and then I am going to do what it takes to try my best to make sure hacks like this don't cause harm to some other unsuspecting people like my folks.
Thank You all for your professional assistance. You have been an invaluable resource to me.
Yolanda

yolanda

Just spoke to the owner of the company which did the install of the monstrosity, and told him the littany of problems wrong with his company's install. He told me that he does over 300 installs a year with copper piping and has never had a problem. I of course added the word "yet", and explained to him what could happen to the pipes (since I have now become so educated, thank you very much).
He wants to send his guys out to take a look, but he said something very telling on the phone that makes me distrust him even more than I could possibly already... He said he wants to know who is "condemning" his work?!

Right there he is showing that he doesn't believe there is anything wrong with what he does or has done. I told him that an engineer looked at it, and that I will have a fire marshall and building inspector come in as well, he said that the marshall and inspector will do me no good...

We ended it with me telling him that I will have the repair done independent of him and that I will be expecting payment of that repair by him. He said that he would like to see an engineer's report if I expect him to pay for a repair. I will be getting that report to him, and I have a scheduled appointment with a REPUTABLE installer.

Warm Regards and much Thanks,
Yolanda

A Wholesaler

ouch

Pretty easy to see why it is banging.
What happened to pride in workmanship here?
Total disregard for manufacturer and instructions and principles of steam install here, not to mention safety!

Please don't stand near it during operation and banging till it is repiped!!

From a much earlier and controversial post- "distributor should fire that contractor"

JohnNY

Yolanda,

In what area of Brooklyn are you located?

I responded to your post on another forum yesterday, condemning the work.

For what it's worth, 300 installations a year is probably a really, really, really big lie.

My company usually installs less than 100 boilers per year and we're not exactly a small company when comparing ourselves to local industry peers.

I consider my company to be among the best boiler installers in our area so if you think there is something I can do to help you, or if you'd like to take this offline, please feel free to contact me through the link below.

I'm not fishing for business, I can simply offer some options and informed advice in a quick one-on-one conversation if you'd like.


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yolanda

Hi,
I am in the Marine Park area of brooklyn. I appreciate your help, and have heard many good things about you from others at the forums however, I have already found someone via this site that has come in and looked at the situation for us and will be helping us out. I have done the requisite checks and I am confident that I have a qualified professional this time.
Thank You all for your concern and assistance.
Yolanda