What do they mean by this??!!

kdshakk

Hoping for some feedback from heating experts here. If you saw the line "Find two capped off supply and return risers in the wall, connect them" on a proposal to evaluate the heating system in a 5 story loft building, what would you interpret that to mean?

STEVEusaPA

A...what did they say it meant?
B. I'd guess somewhere someone removed 2 radiators (supply & return) and capped them off.
So someone has to find them, and the radiators and reconnect them.

ratio

Agree with @STEVEusaPA. It means they're not proposing to run new risers from the basement\wherever, just find & attach to (hopefully!) existing pipe that's hidden in a wall.

kdshakk

Thanks for your replies. What the initiator of this action "says" it means is that the plumber will cut the risers. What he did was have the plumbers cut the supply and return risers because he did not like the way they looked. Now he is saying that because the work order was signed we knew that was going to happen. Just trying to see if that is the interpretation.

Fred

kdshakk said:

Thanks for your replies. What the initiator of this action "says" it means is that the plumber will cut the risers. What he did was have the plumbers cut the supply and return risers because he did not like the way they looked. Now he is saying that because the work order was signed we knew that was going to happen. Just trying to see if that is the interpretation.

????? If you cut supply and return lines because you don't like the way they look AND you don't find a way to relocate and reconnect them, what did you expect? They weren't in their original location for looks. They served a purpose; to supply and return steam or water.

kdshakk

You are absolutely correct. He knew what he was doing, but figured the rest of us would not be able to figure out his "code", which was correct. The ensuing problems have been huge, but know we are down to disputing what the original intent was and I want an expert interpretation of what that line in the proposal meant.

ratio

Sounds like this is going to litigation/arbitration? An internet opinion isn't going to help much with that I think. You probably want an expert opinion. I believe some here have done that in the past—they may be able to offer a more useful opinion.

KC_Jones

It reads to me like he intends to uncap those pipes and connect them...to each other. There is no mention of radiation at all.

DanHolohan

If it’s a loft building, it’s most likely two-pipe steam. Connecting a supply to a return without benefit of a steam trap or orifice would certainly screw things up for the rest of the tenants.

GroundUp

It would mean to me, that I need to call the PM or engineer and ask what they mean.

kdshakk

I appreciate how this community always fires in with their thoughts. We are indeed probably about to enter into litigation, BUT it is not with the plumber involved. I live in a small, coop, loft building and one particular tenant decided to direct the plumbers to cut those pipes and THEN said that the line in the work order "Find two capped off supply and return risers in the wall, connect them" was indicative of this intention. I wanted to get some feedback without initially stacking the deck. I agree that we will need an expert to provide an affidavit.

Intplm.

Shouldn't have to read into this all that much.

Find the lines and reconnect the return to the return and the supply to the supply.

Hopefully that will be the end of it.

Cooperation from all is , of course "key" here.

I hope things get resolved soon.

STEVEusaPA

I think @DanHolohan nailed it best.

ChicagoCooperator

And don't forget to change your building rules to not allow modifications to the heating system without proper professional oversight. ...

kdshakk

@ChicagoCooperator, we actually already have such rules. They were ignored.

ChicagoCooperator

kdshakk said:

@ChicagoCooperator, we actually already have such rules. They were ignored.

Fun! Sorry you have to deal with that.