Not sure what to say (GrandPAH)

mtfallsmikey

Has anything been done about Pennsylvania's archaic contractor licensing requirements, or is it still the same?

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

A fine example of a modcon install

it's a wonder no one died. The gas line wraps around the boiler room without any support - except for that ball valve handle. The vent lines were increased from 4" to 6" - both transitions on the horidzontal, so the installer drilled holes in the increasers and epoxied in drain fitrtings - that dump onto the boiler room floor. And the wiring? Fuggetaboutit! The ground wire is not connected & - well - see for yourself.

Steamhead (in transit)

I hope that guy

has a good lawyer- he's gonna need it.

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gerry gill

did the guy actaually get paid?

ouch!!

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Big Will

My first response

when I see something like that is to laugh. If I can hold it in when the customer is standing there it leaves a awkward silence while I compose myself. Like you said what do you say?

Ed_26

NTI

What a way to give a good boiler a bad name! Where do these installers come from?

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

nope

If anything, it's worse. Plumbing remains the lone trade that requires a license; previous inspectors who were direct employees of the municipality where they lived have been replaced by 3rd-party independent inspection businesses who often have employees with little knowledge of what it is they are inspecting & the process has become a money-scam for the most part. A few are very good, but the majority fall well below what I'd consider a minumum set of standards. Alas, there are no standards and no checks/balances. The consumers are being ripped off by this system while the 3rd-party groups are lining their pockets with ill-gotten gains and the municipality is skimming their cut off the top. Al Capone would be proud if he were alive to witness what's going on in PA.

jackchips_2

Come on

Dave, everyone can tell hanging the gas line on that ball valve was temporary. He was coming back to install a globe valve so when it's turned off the handle won't move.

Are you consulting or taking on the reinstallation? Looking forward to the after pictures if you are doing the work.

Jack

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

yes

And after being caught stealing, he got fired. He'll surface again, here or in another town, to continue wreaking havoc with mechanical systems. The never-ending cycle of mayhem will continue. They come, they go.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

Starting out

consulting, but hoping to do the corrective action. There's a long laundry list of things wrong & that's without considering the numerous code violations of PA's boiler law. The PA boiler inspector is top-notch and we often invite his input before we begin. I think he needs to see this one(G). It's in a large apt bldg, so he is the large in charge, not the 3rd-party agencies who wouldn't have clue-1 as to what's not kosher here.

The "installer" evidently can't follow or read instructions. The primary/secondary is FUBAR and because he couldn't get that right, he hot-wired this puppy to run 24/7/365 while maintaining 180F in the primary loop! Great way to ru(i)n a modcon, eh?

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_2

He double ell, that's where!

Hey! Here's a pop-quiz while I'm away for a few days. (Going back to the school I attended for dyslexia www.gow.org & then off to Niagra Falls with my bride for several days!)

Why is the ASME expansion tank wrong for use with this application? ME, not fair if you answer!

Hint: waterlogging & why. The answer lies closer to the NTI than you might think.

Unknown

ASME.... not the issue

Dave, with the microbubble air absorber you should not use a ceiling tank. But using a ASME bladder floor mounted tank would be fine :-)

skw

(I hope I was allowed to answer)

Cosmo_3

I think I know who installed it

If this is an apartment building, by looking at this job it must have been a friend of a friend's 3rd cousin's uncle who used to do pipefitting for a big company.

If not then it was the building owner himself. Not to hijack w/ my own story, but I just had an old client complain the city told him his boiler was a fire hazard and the city was giving him trouble, and then he passed the buck and lied to me that the city inspector said my install was no good. So I looked up my records, and found the permit# and called. The inspector asked me when the last time I did a cleaning, or even saw the boiler and I told him the homeowner told me his oil co was taking care of it, I installed it 9 yrs ago and never went back.

Long story short, he NEVER, yes NEVER had it cleaned or serviced since the install and figured out on his own how to replace the nozzle every year. He came right out and told me after I cornered him, and if my hands would have followed my first impulse unchecked I would have been momentarily relieved.......

now that's FUBAR

Good luck with this mess Dave, it actually looks like you have some room to work, anyway. Are we not lucky living in PA where on bigger jobs it is so easy working with our L&I inspectors? I wish they would get involved in single home res jobs as well.....


Cosmo

Cosmo_3

as for the inspection situation....

Dave pretty much nailed it quite well, its just a rip-off. All the houses I completed since the new inspections, the only thing asked by the inspector was whether I had 100psi for 15 minutes.... that was even asked in a job I only did ductwork on. I asked how I was supposed to test a metal ductwork system with 100 psi air and I was told that everyone else does.....

Cosmo

Unknown

you're not saying....

Cosmo,

You meant to tell me that you actually had the system HOLD 100psi?? All this time all you had to do was put 100psi air in one end and see if it came out the other for 15 minutes... silly you!

skw

Cosmo_3

let me get this right

In other words as long as every one of the hundred psi's I send in one end, come out the other end I should be fine?

Every day is truly a learning experience.

Ok, I was just getting a confusing AIA billing done, I gotta runnnnnnnnnnnn

hope your doing well Steve

Cosmo