110 Degree Indoor Temp

Mitch_4

I have yet to purchase one..I just collect them as I actually repair things...probably have 50 or so

Sad, sad,sad...

gasfolk

Laws, Ethics, Morals, Good Behavior...

In another thread there is a debate whether THE LAW allows leaving a heating system in an unsafe condition WITH THE OWNERS CONSENT. That debate is focused on what THE LAW (in 50 states) says and whether PROs should study THE LAW. A slightly different question is whether a sense of PROFESSIONAL ETHICS puts any limit on the kind of hazard a PRO can leave in place.

Assuming a homeowner gave permission, and assuming one could "get away" with it in a court of lawyers, Would PROs on the Wall be satisfied if one of your techs serviced a system and KNOWINGLY left a serious safety violation that days later heated a house to 110 degrees, or filled the house with CO, or burnt the house down?

Is it just the lawyers that keep PROs in line?

gf

Mitch_4

being a

one man shop, (and in Canada) when I come across n unsafe or potentially unsafe condition, it is either fixed, or shut down. UNion Gas, the utility in my area has told me I cannot disconnect gas lines or electrical as that is vandalism, should the H.O. get someone else to fix, the additional labour to reconnect, and test for leaks etc would be on me. Any shut down is reported to the utility (they have a form for that). The only other thing I may do is run the unit in a temporary repair if the house is cold, while I am there monitoring the situation, then it gets shut down, and the H.O advised of options.

In the other thread, I wonder how much was compromised to get the house to 110°..most stats do not go that high, aquastat? what kept it running?

Tony_23

Lawyers

True Pro's don't need lawyers to keep them in line. If you read the article, not just the thread, you'll see that a social worker turned on the switch to the unit. The social worker should bear some culpability in this case. Of course, that won't happen because the service company has an insurance policy and the social worker doesn't.

Social workers' main job is to keep themselves working by finding problems, kind of like lawyers.......

gasfolk

I had read the article ...

and spoke with Newsday to be sure it was right. But the social worker is an issue for that other thread.

For this thread, assume no social worker (e.g. the occupant is found dead of overheating or of cold exposure after opening the emergency switch) and assume the lawyers say the tech did okay.

Would you accept your tech leaving a system with the safety issues described in the original post?

gf

Tom Blackwell_2

I'll relate a couple of experiences and see what you all think...1. was called to a local laundry because they had a boiler problem. Found both lwco's jumped out and the high pressure switch with a jumper also-they had beenrunning it manually until the man reset hp switch tripped. They didn't want it fixed;too expensive just get it running. I placed a gas co. cylinder lock on the meter and told them they would have to call the utility to get it unlocked. Lost a customer, but slept that night. 2. A friend of the boss had an oil furnace in the basement with a stack switch that had malfunctioned and it was late Friday afternoon. I worked with it and adjusted and cleaned, but still didn't trust it. Boss talked me into letting it go over the weekend and converting to a cad cell Monday. Sunday night it failed to ignite and the stack switch hung up. After some time the firebox did ignite and blew out the side of the enclosure and set the house on fire. The fire department saved the house, but for me that was the last time-no more mr. nice guy. I don't care what the lawyers say, I will not leave an installation in an unsafe condition. It still amazes me the number of jumped out safeties that I find, even on industrial boilers and equipment.

Chris S

I think that in our litigous society- If you can't fix it (correctly) better to not touch it at all, beacuse the last guy who had his hands on it will be laible for everything that goes wrong.
I have an aquaintance through my fire dept. who asked me to work on his boiler. The boiler was 6 months old& had been installed by a hack with several code violations evident. The most obvious was the venting ( z vent going into a concealed space too close to combustible materials etc. I told him I would work on it only if I could start by fixing all of the problems and in conjunction take care of his no heat call. When he heard the cost ( he's a bean counter by education & profession). He said he just wanted to get it running. It was early fall so it wasn't critical- I gave him a list of the issues he needed to get addressed & told him I wouldn't work on it. He found someone , did not correct the violations, got it running & doesn't care about the rest. The hack who installed it wasn't coming back- he considered it a good job.
I think there are plenty of homeowners who make bad decisions for any number of reasons, when I meet one like that I simply don't work there. My family's well being & security is more valuable than that quick buck, or urge to just help someone out.


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Weezbo

there are many jobs that one comes across ...

when doing service work that are liabilities to even get to much less work on...

there are far too many examples to discuss , so , when you come across them it is best to list or number them ...the problem arises as to who wants to pay for administrative work...

there are systems that have never worked right from day one.
Do you "marry the building?"

When it is seriously deficient you have to think of the safety of the inhabitants and the neighborhood, do not forget that you only have Permission to do your work,...yet you have an obligation to yourself and others do do your best. it is like having to continuously read the ethers for some Answer.....

i am certain that Lawyers are not an answer... judges can only weigh the decision based on laws. Solomon would wonder how we resolve these problems.

Lets turn this question a bit...What happens when the service call you get is master crafted to destroy your business and professional integrity? What happens when it is designed to hold you , some young tech's future or your company open to a criminal judgment?

I think that there are higher laws than the flow of dollars in the economy . When you confront some immediate danger to the occupants i think that you need to get right after it and get them out of the situation, get some witness to the situation at hand, call an inspector,fire department, ambulance,some other agency, as hearsay is not really worth while as a form of making good judgments.

No one can catch every thought that comes along therefore do what you can do to stay right with God. do good and look not unto whom. be prudent,document the deficiencies, tell the people it too much liability to be on the property when that is the case.

renters will have to find other accommodations...that is something that their landlords will have to work out, not you., and Tell them so. i have to go to work.

hope what i said helps.