Always pays to snoop around.....

Mad Dog_2

Intplm.

What the.......?

Robert_25

Duct tape on the flue pipe?

Mad Dog_2

I was called in after a recent, major storm surge caused the sanitary house sewer & drain to have a backflow event that filled the basement with several inches of storm water & sewage.  I was looking in to replacing the 100 year old House trap and cutting in a Quality Backwater valve to prevent this from happening again. 

The flood restoration company had come and gone leaving the finished basement pristine.  I ALWAYS like to poke my head in to the boiler room.  I found the water heater flue undersized and as I touched it, everything wiggled...NOT a good sign. Everything was moving. 

I squeezed behind the boiler and found the 7" Flue pipe rotted about 1/2" inside the face of the foundation wall face.  Next, I ran my hand around the bottom...huge gaping hole...put my hamfists right thru...Mad Dog 

Mad Dog_2

Mad Dog_2

I hate when water heater draft hoods jump out of their guide holes. Sometimes they'll work their way halfway across the flue way and spill...so I made Some tabs.  I'm not a huge fan of furnace Cement versus sakrete, but that's what I had.  Smeared it on with my hand!  Very nice, educated  folks but had NO idea condition of the flue pipe.  The Yo Yo that put the boiler in a few years ago tied right in to the old stuff & never upgraded hwh to 4"  ..He also, left the Old Boiler Jacket door, and old steam water feeder behind the boiler (his junkyard!).  Mad Dog 🐕 

Mad Dog_2

Mad Dog_2

Mad Dog_2

I guess we shouldn't expect much 🤷 🙃 from a Guy with no pride....ha ha 😂 🤣 😆 😄.  If I had to do work like that, I'd rather make pizzas 🍕 for a living...Mad 🐕 Dog 

mattmia2

Mad Dog_2 said:

I hate when water heater draft hoods jump out of their guide holes. Sometimes they'll work their way halfway across the flue way and spill...so I made Some tabs.  I'm not a huge fan of furnace Cement versus sakrete, but that's what I had.  Smeared it on with my hand!  Very nice, educated  folks but had NO idea condition of the flue pipe.  The Yo Yo that put the boiler in a few years ago tied right in to the old stuff & never upgraded hwh to 4"  ..He also, left the Old Boiler Jacket door, and old steam water feeder behind the boiler (his junkyard!).  Mad Dog 🐕 

I've seen people drive screws in next to the tabs to lock them in.

Mad Dog_2

I have a saying: "If a plumber will do shoddy work like that, knowing its for public viewing, imagine what he'll do behind walls, boilers, and crawlspaces!"  Mad Dog 🐕 

mattmia2

Mad Dog_2 said:

I have a saying: "If a plumber will do shoddy work like that, knowing its for public viewing, imagine what he'll do behind walls, boilers, and crawlspaces!"  Mad Dog 🐕 

I was just working on an av system like this. The rack and the lectern down where you can see them were at least neat (although no thought was given for how the monitor arm would move), when i got up in to the ceiling to pull another cable all the cable to the rack was shoved through a flex connector that was way too small, not sure if there was a piece of flex that was removed or if it never existed, cable wasn't on its own supports, was just zip tied to rod that supported other things.

MikeL_2

  Mad dog,
      You're so right about obvious shoddy work & the potential for hidden disasters.
       I snoop around, too, but have a different perspective, policy, and procedure before touching any discovered deficiencies that are dangerous. I never want to be the last one on site in case some other hidden flaw causes property damage or worse.
   I make sure the homeowners have functioning CO detectors before I leave, and will shut down the equipment and document all the obvious issues before proceeding with repairs.
    Was there a permit & inspection by the building code official when the boiler was installed?
    Chimney liner?
    Adequate combustion air?
    
   
   

EBEBRATT-Ed

I used to have an old book that talked about keeping mechanical rooms and boiler rooms in good shape. There was a saying in there "dark corners invite trash"

Isn't it the truth?. Go into boiler room with plenty of light and it's usually pretty clean. One that has only a few lights everyone leaves their trash behind.

It's obvious that who ever installed that boiler didn't care about anything

Mad Dog_2

MikeL..Who knows..Probably not.  I read them the riot act in a nice way about how serious this was. Very nice folks that I know casually for 40 years. First time working for them. Yes, I've been known to rip the wires off a runaway Commercial Gas Steam Boiler when the Building owner didn't want to listen to my warning and told me to leave.  

Made that boiler safe.  Went outside and called the gas utility.  Mad Dog 🐕