Steam expert No. NJ?

jalubarsky

Can someone recommend a steam savvy company in Bernardsville NJ?

My unit is still heating but I noticed my boiler was consuming an abnormal amount of water this heating season so per this site's recommendations I checked all vents and only found two that were closing slowly.  I replaced with my go to Groton's and no improvement. All returns are visible and no leaks.. So I shut boiler off, raised water to top of boiler and the boiler leaked immediately hence need a new boiler. It is a Burnham 18 yrs old and as I knew for a long time it is way too large.  

Steamhead

We have plenty: @EzzyT , @clammy , @JohnNY among others. Go here:

https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/state/NJ

jalubarsky

Got it - thanks.  

Mad Dog_2

Yeah, You're very fortunate to not only have a steam expert, but a choice of excellent ones. Some people post here bemoaning the fact that their area doesn't have ANYONE let alone a steam expert in their end of the State, but we do our best to guide them. Steamhead's even been know to take "Trains-Planes-and Automobiles to survey problem jobs. Good luck. Mad Dog

Jells

Steamhead said:

We have plenty: @EzzyT , @clammy , @JohnNY among others. Go here:

https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/state/NJ

Just want to point out there's no way to know which contractors you've mentioned here, their listing doesn't have their usernames! Also, being listed here is not a guarantee they'll do right by the customer. I've already used one who was very unsatisfactory, basically walked away and ghosted me when I asked for a combustion test on the sooty boiler before I paid for the expensive return repiping he prescribed. Apparently brainless customers are preferred.

pecmsg

Jells said:

Steamhead said:

We have plenty: @EzzyT , @clammy , @JohnNY among others. Go here:

https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/state/NJ

Just want to point out there's no way to know which contractors you've mentioned here, their listing doesn't have their usernames! Also, being listed here is not a guarantee they'll do right by the customer. I've already used one who was very unsatisfactory, basically walked away and ghosted me when I asked for a combustion test on the sooty boiler before I paid for the expensive return repiping he prescribed. Apparently brainless customers are preferred.

How busy were they
How demanding were you

I've worked with @EzzyT and just talking with @clammy and @JohnNY have the utmost respect.

There's 2 sides to every story!

JohnNY

@Jells

"I've already used one who was very unsatisfactory, basically walked away and ghosted me when I asked for a combustion test on the sooty boiler before I paid for the expensive return repiping he prescribed. Apparently brainless customers are preferred."

Wait. Let's get some clarity on this statement. Are you saying the contractor suggested you replace return piping but you asked for a combustion test before he do that work? Or did he do the work and you wouldn't pay him until he provided you with a combustion analysis? I can't even imagine why these two tasks are being mentioned in the same conversation.

Jamie Hall

Jells said:

Steamhead said:

We have plenty: @EzzyT , @clammy , @JohnNY among others. Go here:

https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/state/NJ

Just want to point out there's no way to know which contractors you've mentioned here, their listing doesn't have their usernames! Also, being listed here is not a guarantee they'll do right by the customer. I've already used one who was very unsatisfactory, basically walked away and ghosted me when I asked for a combustion test on the sooty boiler before I paid for the expensive return repiping he prescribed. Apparently brainless customers are preferred.

I agree -- there is no way. I too have worked with one of those three personally, and know the other two by reputation extending over 20 years, and I've never known or heard of one doing less than a quality job. In recommending them, I am not going by the fact that they are listed on The Wall -- although we surely do appreciate their support -- but by personal knowledge.

I can, however, see any of them (and most quality contractors in any trade, for that matter) walking away from a problem... customer.

Jells

JohnNY said:

@Jells "I've already used one who was very unsatisfactory, basically walked away and ghosted me when I asked for a combustion test on the sooty boiler before I paid for the expensive return repiping he prescribed. Apparently brainless customers are preferred." Wait. Let's get some clarity on this statement. Are you saying the contractor suggested you replace return piping but you asked for a combustion test before he do that work? Or did he do the work and you wouldn't pay him until he provided you with a combustion analysis? I can't even imagine why these two tasks are being mentioned in the same conversation.

It was the former, I said 'before I greenlight the repiping I want a combustion test on the sooty boiler'. I did not believe the wet side was the problem when the boiler was so sooted up and obviously combusting badly. If that makes me a problem customer, so be it.

Your bafflement as to why these two tasks are in the same discussion is the same as mine! Why repipe returns where there is clearly a problem on the combustion side? One subsequent test showed it making so much CO that it is a hazard! I won't even rule out the the returns should be replaced, though there didn't appear to be the low water problem he said he was trying to solve.

I'm currently waiting for another boiler tech to schedule a revisit after I have just had the chimney relined. The liner was intact though of aluminum not stainless. I had to do it though to eliminate the venting as a source of the combustion problem. There's a good chance it was as pointless as my friend letting the contractor frack his well when the problem was an aerator screen needed cleaning!

JohnNY

Jamie Hall said:

I can, however, see any of them (and most quality contractors in any trade, for that matter) walking away from a problem... customer.

I "walk away" from customers from time to time, but for reasons that are good for me. You have to understand something that is a byproduct of this particular forum. There are people that come here for advice first and what they read here is what they come away believing is the word of The Great Steam Gods In The Sky. There are about a dozen people here that comment on everything. Overwhelmingly, the advice and diagnoses given are sound and well expressed by some of you/us. But there are factors limiting the validity of any advice being given remotely: the posters' perception and ability to express the condition; the non-inclusion of some system behaviors not recognized as being problematic; some noise or smell or temperature that just doesn't come through in an internet post....those are just a few. I've had several people look at me like I was an idiot when I've told them what was wrong and how to fix it. No one is subtle about it and they love to be right and know more than the knucklehead standing in their cellar. Then they want to go shot for shot with me to confirm I don't know the first thing about their boiler.
I manage to bring most of those people around pretty quickly because I really actually kinda do know what I'm talking about and I think that reveals itself eventually. But there are some people who just stand their ground and don't want to hear it from me unless I start repeating what they've been told on this forum. I don't want to work with/for someone who doesn't trust my mechanical capabilities. I will lose on that deal every time. Any contractor will. And for at least those reasons, some customers have to be fired before we're hired.

ChrisJ

I'd have no problem recommending @EzzyT, @clammy and @JohnNY

Jells

JohnNY said: I don't want to work with/for someone who doesn't trust my mechanical capabilities. 

So what's a customer to do other than to blindly trust the contractor when the contractor says something that doesn't seem sensible?  A few weeks I had yet another guy (not a HH member) look at my system because I had called his company for the chimney work.

He stood there and touted his 3 decades in the business and how many thousands of boilers he had put in, and without laying hands on this 10 year old boiler told me it was done and needed to be replaced, and had been improperly sized by Jstar who had installed it.

He wanted me to blindly trust him just like you do.  I listened to him politely and told him "okay give me a price." I never heard from him again...

JohnNY

Jells said:

JohnNY said: I don't want to work with/for someone who doesn't trust my mechanical capabilities. 

"So what's a customer to do other than to blindly trust the contractor when the contractor says something that doesn't seem sensible?  A few weeks I had yet another guy (not a HH member) look at my system because I had called his company for the chimney work.

He stood there and touted his 3 decades in the business and how many thousands of boilers he had put in, and without laying hands on this 10 year old boiler told me it was done and needed to be replaced, and had been improperly sized by Jstar who had installed it.

He wanted me to blindly trust him just like you do.  I listened to him politely and told him "okay give me a price." I never heard from him again..."

I don't know why I can't get this quote thing down...

Ok. Your point is taken and I don't disagree with you. I guess my point is that it's up to the contractor to take the work just as much as it's up to the potential client to offer it, and ghosting goes both ways. Nobody wants to have a conversation about why you won't be working together. There's just something there that doesn't work for the ghoster. Since you brought him up, Jstar and I share(d) many of the same service areas. His fans were rabidly loyal and he did a very good job of convincing people he was the sole authority on the subject of heat and boilers. We didn't always see eye to eye on business but I admire him for how he presented himself in the field.

Jells

JohnNY said:

Since you brought him up, Jstar and I share(d) many of the same service areas. His fans were rabidly loyal and he did a very good job of convincing people he was the sole authority on the subject of heat and boilers. We didn't always see eye to eye on business but I admire him for how he presented himself in the field.

haha, I didn't know that, only that folks here thought he was competent, and I saw nothing to change that. But as a consulting business owner myself, I recognize that selling yourself is ALWAYS a big part of this kind of business. I suck at self promotion even though my dad was a successful salesman, and I've seen others in my biz who aren't as good as me but better at the schmooze keep working. A reader of this and other threads of mine would agree my interpersonal skills are not the best!

Early in my career I kept getting called to fix this one guy's work. It got bizarre. When I finally worked with him I got it, he was very charming! I've gotten a lot of pushback when I tell young people that sales is important no matter what your field, even if it isn't actually selling. If you're not selling yourself the guy who IS will get the cookies.

My son is starting a career as an outdoor guide, and has always managed to acquire mentors and is attracting repeat clients. The sales and charm genes skipped a generation!

Jamie Hall

Fascinating conversation here. Better watch out though, you may find yourselves in a sermon one of these weeks! Whatever did happen to @JStar , anyway?

ChrisJ

Jamie Hall said:

Fascinating conversation here. Better watch out though, you may find yourselves in a sermon one of these weeks! Whatever did happen to @JStar , anyway?

I think he ended up doing commercial work

Jells

Jamie Hall said:

Fascinating conversation here. Better watch out though, you may find yourselves in a sermon one of these weeks! Whatever did happen to @JStar , anyway?

He and his partner(s?) sold their business to a larger firm and stopped doing residential. Frustrating for someone like me who had hoped for continuity of care for my boiler from a fairly young guy.

What do you mean "in a sermon"?

clammy

Just wondering if the boiler has a leak when you over filled and checked what would be the point in combustion testing being it has to be changed ? Trying not to be a jerk but if it has a hole in it what’s the point the boiler is done and needs to be replaced . The issue I see is why is there a hole in the boiler it’s a burnham so time wise you did ok w 18 years but that doesn’t explain why ,them again 18 years isn’t to bad . Point being aside from a replacement boiler your system needs to be checked to ensure your not losing water else where in your system . I also have walked away from many a job when I feel in my gut that there will never be any way to satisfy a customer and also there will be no money to be made only aggravation on both sides w myself ending up on the short side of the stick w a empty pocket but still the expenses of wasted time . I think most think a magic wave of the magic steam stick and all is well ,this is usually never the case when working w old system which haven’t had real maintance performed and where never installed correctly to allow it to be done ,usually just to wand a boiler out that was not set up can be a job alone and add a finished carpeted basement w no drains and possibly a laundry sink on the other side of the basement ,it makes doing the maintance a hassle w liability leaving a mess no matter how many safety drop clothes and tarps you put down . On the other side if the boiler is sooty why hasn’t your oil company stepped up and clean the fire side w the annual service contract and left you a combustion any print out if not wrong oil co I would say . Bernardsville is way out of my area and the cost just to check it out would not be financially rewarding to either and most likely there would be another post of complaints and or questions , nobody really likes being under mind and feel that there trustworthiness and knowledgeable is being second guessed by the internet . Maybe it’s just me
Peace and good luck clammy

ethicalpaul

Jells said:

Jamie Hall said:

Fascinating conversation here. Better watch out though, you may find yourselves in a sermon one of these weeks! Whatever did happen to @JStar , anyway?

He and his partner(s?) sold their business to a larger firm and stopped doing residential. Frustrating for someone like me who had hoped for continuity of care for my boiler from a fairly young guy.

What do you mean "in a sermon"?

Brother Jamie I believe is in the Order of Saint Benedict (The Benedictines, not Oriented Strand Board ) and apparently gives sermons!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedictines

Jells

@clammy I think you have me confused with somebody else. The boiler is 10 years old, gas, and has a VXT metered fill valve that shows it's not losing water.

Speaking of unprofessional messes, the company that did the flue liner replacement didn't cover the chimney hole in the basement when they pulled the liner out from the roof. I was standing there when a huge plume of soot & brick dust filled the entire basement!

That was a good time, almost as good as the reason I was there, which was they accidentally turned on the manual fill ball valve, and flooded the entire steam system. It turned out that a main vent installed by a contractor during an return pipe leak fix (replacing a stuck Gorton 2) didn't have a float valve and flooded the basement studio apartment. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a Three Stooges flick...

TonKa

Jells said:

He wanted me to blindly trust him just like you do.

Nowhere in what @JohnNY posted suggests he wants a customer to blindly trust him.

An informed customer is a good customer. A true expert a given field will discuss that information and explain why they think it may or may not apply in a given situation. Real trust is not blind.

Jells

TonKa said:

Jells said:

He wanted me to blindly trust him just like you do.

Nowhere in what @JohnNY posted suggests he wants a customer to blindly trust him.

An informed customer is a good customer. A true expert a given field will discuss that information and explain why they think it may or may not apply in a given situation. Real trust is not blind.

Then I'm trying my best to be a good customer! But I assure you not all contractors want us to be informed. On an unrelated site someone recently told a story about how the proposal for a water softening system didn't specify what the equipment was, and when he asked they refused to tell him! Crazy, right?

Snowmelt

Are you still having problems with this boiler ? Did you get your combustion test done yet ?

Jells

Nope, still trying to get in someone with the expertise and will to solve this. 

dabrakeman

I think the OP just sold his house and moved to Florida.