Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

Craziest thing a customer ever told you

RayWohlfarth
RayWohlfarth Member Posts: 1,617

I was called by a brewer looking for a boiler. Only this boiler had to be special it had to discharge out the bottom lol I know. His plumber thought steam only rose and couldn’t go down He planned to run all the steam piping for the system on the ground I wanted to tell him my boiler was special as it generated steam which could go both up and down instead I suggested he find a new plumber

Ray Wohlfarth
Boiler Lessons
ethicalpaulMad Dog_2ChrisJ

Comments

  • Mustangman
    Mustangman Member Posts: 113

    Ray,

    Good call.

    Mad Dog_2
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 8,608
    edited May 1

    I have an oil leak.

    Not such a strange service call being that I worked on oil burners for a living, but this one was a little different.

    Picture this: You are a Coast Guard enlisted man in your dress blues. You are 2 hours from reporting for duty. You are going to deploy for 30 days on a Coast Guard Cutter. Your wife and new baby are saying goodbye and as you are ready to get in your car, you happen to see a little rust under a paint chip on your oil tank. Just before getting in the car you decide to flick off that rust. Then a pin hole opens up and oil starts to trickle out in a steady stream. You put your finger on the hole and yell for your wife. She calls the oil company, and within minutes my phone rings.

    Here is the rest of the story:

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    Mad Dog_2
  • tim smith
    tim smith Member Posts: 2,800

    stupidest one I ever heard, replaced a pump on a boiler after getting approval from the misses. Big ole house. Then finishing up and writing bill. Husband gets home and says after seeing bill, that’s way too much I don’t pay retail for anything. I said I gave price for approval to your wife, he responded “ she does not have the right to approve anything”!
    I bet she now has 75% of their assets and he’s pushing daisies. This was 30 yrs ago, shocked me anyone could think that way. His nickname from there forward was Richard (the short version”.

    Mad Dog_2GroundUpChrisJEdTheHeaterMan
  • HomerJSmith
    HomerJSmith Member Posts: 2,560
    edited May 1

    I looked at a boiler install because I was interested as my friend owned the house before the current owner and I was working across the street.

    I looked at the boiler that the new owner installed and told him that the installation was incorrect. He said, "I don't want to hear any criticism of another contractor." So, I shut up and walked out, thinking that a more intelligent reply would have been, "Why do you think it was installed incorrectly?" Not crazy, just stupid.

    Mad Dog_2
  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 7,401

    Gimme a minute..I have many...I'll think of the best one. Mad Dog

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 8,608

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,405
  • jumper
    jumper Member Posts: 2,374

    I tried to rent boilers to apartment owners. An advantage to customers is that they can expense rent as opposed to depreciating purchase slowly. Tough sell. Later change to business tax was to allow expensing purchase if it "saved energy". But that too was a tough sell.

    I don't know if crazy is the correct word but you'd suppose that businesspersons do arithmetic?

    Looking back I think I was a little crazy to attempt unconventional enterprises.

    Mad Dog_2
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,102

    Started with an oil company fresh out of school. We had this old customer Mr. Callahan who was getting up there and probably had Alzheimer's although they didn't call it that back then. He used to drive to the office to pay his oil bill in a huge Cadilliac.

    Anyhow he called for service late one afternoon because the "water was boiling in the pipes" and he had "dragons in his sink" Poor old guy.

    He then asked our secretary if I could stop at the store on the way and get one roll of toilet paper and a quart of milk.

    I don't remember what the actual problem with the boiler was. The secretary who sent me on the call was concerned enough so she called me when I was at the job.

    She told me "get the hell out of there" LOL

    ChrisJWMno579326ysshEdTheHeaterMan
  • tim smith
    tim smith Member Posts: 2,800

    MATT, I did get paid after going around and around with Richard.

    PC7060
  • tim smith
    tim smith Member Posts: 2,800

    I got one more, and elderly lady who we worked for years for called for a service call. While there she asked us to put another T87 thermostat on for her as hers was really old. We obliged, set the heat anticipator (yes in old mercury days) and checked operational, all ok and left. She ended up calling us over and over again saying we ruined her so efficient heating system. She use to brag to her lady friends how efficient her system was. She left it set at 64 and the house was oh so warm. Now shes freezing and has to turn it up to 70 and its costing her a fortune. We just ruined this and we must correct our mistake or she will report us to the better business bureau. We went back several time to appease her and make sure all working well. Nothing satisfied her. So finally we took are trusting T87F calibration wrench and adjusted stat to be 70 when set for 64. Whew, she finally got her most efficient system back. Never went back there I will tell you.

    PC7060CLamb9326yssh
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,405

    Was the old one level?

  • Pumpguy
    Pumpguy Member Posts: 685
    edited May 2

    Back in the days when we were fixing vacuum pumps out in the field, we had one apartment building manager call us with the message " Can you come out right away and fix our pump? Its been making noises for 6 weeks and it just stopped today"

    Dennis Pataki. Former Service Manager and Heating Pump Product Manager for Nash Engineering Company. Phone: 1-888 853 9963
    Website: www.nashjenningspumps.com

    The first step in solving any problem is TO IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM.
    mattmia2CLamb9326yssh
  • GroundUp
    GroundUp Member Posts: 2,031

    "Yeah just go ahead and do it, I don't care what it costs"

    -Easily the craziest thing I've ever heard from a customer.

    kcoppPC7060EdTheHeaterMan
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,500

    Hi @GroundUp , I've had clients say that to me. I always took it as a sign that they trusted me to take care of them, which I always did. I think that customer was giving you a compliment! 🤩

    Yours, Larry

    WMno579326ysshDave CarpentierEdTheHeaterMan
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,102

    Sometimes the "go ahead and do it I don't care what it costs" bites you in the butt. You don't get the job in writing and you do what they need and charge them a fair price …not gouging and then Mr. NICE GUY refuses to pay.

    mattmia2Mad Dog_2
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,138

    @EBEBRATT-Ed

    Did you stop and get him milk and TP?

    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • GGross
    GGross Member Posts: 1,156

    "The check is in the mail." (t was not)

    GroundUp
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 10,405

    I was sure that was going to end with an explosion.

    PC7060CLamb
  • tim smith
    tim smith Member Posts: 2,800

    Mattmia, it was level but way out of calibration, the reason we replaced is she wanted one that looked newer as old was really faded plastic finish.

  • DanHolohan
    DanHolohan Member, Moderator, Administrator Posts: 16,585

    That’s a column, Scott. 👏

    Retired and loving it.
  • JMWHVAC
    JMWHVAC Member Posts: 52

    "We paid all this money for floor heat so the floors would be warm and they are cold." Stat was set at 72* with air temp 72*. I said if you are cold turn the thermostat higher. "I don't want it warmer but I want the floor warmer." I said, "Then open the windows."

    I tried to explain the floor temp is only as high as needed to warm the room to the thermostat setting. She coudn't grasp it but her husband understood. She told the boss, "I think his cancer has gone to his brain". (I had cancer at the time) That wasn't the only item I couldn't get across to her, but 20yrs later I still do service for them. To my knowledge she never opened the windows for warmer floors!

    PC7060
  • 9326yssh
    9326yssh Member Posts: 9

    We're all still waiting for this minute to finish....

    Long story coming?

    Thanks

    ratioEdTheHeaterMan
  • GGross
    GGross Member Posts: 1,156

    Oh I had a similar one though I was not the installer and it was sort of backwards, they wanted to know why it was so hot in a room and wanted me to check the boiler installation because they suspect it was overheating the space. they had an entryway into a fairly small living room area and I noticed one of those electric floor heat thermostats on the wall, it was set to floor temp of 95, I think the max it would allow lol They did not believe me when i told them that the floor heat also heats the space and will over temp if left too high, fixed some thermostat time/schedule problems for the bedroom which made them happy. The guy took me out to show me his corvette after and even let me sell them a boiler for a new garage he built to keep the corvette clean, I just told him the floor was not going to be 95 lol He said that was fine because his wife wanted nothing to do with the corvette garage

  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 7,401

    I have lots of Long stories, but a quick one. In my late 20s. I Enter the home on a Running toilet call. The Older Woman says follow me upstairs.

    As We are going up the steps she says

    : "OK what's this gonna cost me?"

    Me: "Not sure, let me check it out."

    Her: "Doesn't matter...all you plumbers are crooks anyway. "

    Me: " Goodbye..."

    Her: "where you think you're going? I need this fixed!!!"

    Me...Driving away...

    She probably kept her mouth shut for the next guy....Mad Dog

    mattmia2CLambPC7060EdTheHeaterMan
  • RayWohlfarth
    RayWohlfarth Member Posts: 1,617

    so many great stories Thanks for making me smile

    Ray Wohlfarth
    Boiler Lessons
    Mad Dog_2
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,210

    There was a small 1100 sq ft house with full basement.

    The owners eventually finished off 1/2 half of the basement. The 80% furnace and standard WH were in the other half. The wife would come home and start the dryer, exhaust hood and husband would come home and shower with exhaust fan on. The WH was cold the next morning as the pilot got snuffed out.

    This only happen after finishing off 1/2 of the basement, the wife would not believe me that all of her exhausting was pulling air down the B-vent chimney.

    I told the husband that we should experiment by cracking the basement window in the mechanical half of the basement for a few days.

    See how the WH did with that air inlet and if it worked then I would cut in a comb air inlet.

    Hubby agreed but wife said "We are not going to leave a window open in the basement or cut a hole in the side of the house!!"

    So hubby had to get a second opinion. A week later he called back and said to cut the inlet.

    The 2nd opinion guy had added a register/grill in the basement duct, but in the return duct.

    The hubby knew this was counterproductive and dangerous.

    They now have a 6" inlet with insulated flex hanging down near the WH.

    PC7060EdTheHeaterMan
  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 7,401

    Who's on first??? Mad Dog

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Member Posts: 17,223
    All Steamed Up, Inc.
    Towson, MD, USA
    Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
    Oil & Gas Burner Service
    Consulting
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • PC7060
    PC7060 Member Posts: 1,297
    edited May 4

    Wait a minute! Add a battery which can then run the generator which will charge the battery and power the house.

    Perpetual free energy, where do I sign up!
    :)

    Mad Dog_2JUGHNECLambEdTheHeaterMan
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,747
    edited May 4

    I think we have a winner here…

    PC7060
  • HomerJSmith
    HomerJSmith Member Posts: 2,560
    edited May 5

    It was fun reading all of these. Thanks, Ray.

  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 2,132

    Do you see it? Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you?! CAN YOU ??!!

    No, I'm very sorry I can't see the leak on that pipe you are pointing at. Yes, I see the pipe. There isn't a leak on that pipe or any other pipe. I'm sorry I can't help you. No, my eyesight is just fine. Yes, my hearing is fine too.

    PC7060Mad Dog_2