Here comes old #9 down the pipe

David Sutton_2

you go to a house and properly size up the boiler , you take care to plan well, you pipe it in in such a way that you see the dead men smile at you. the hole job comes out great. now the home owner aint happy cause now his pipes are banging in spots they never made a sound before.

the house is 100 yrs old and the place has settled down and pipes are all pitched is crazy ways and now you own the bldg. trying to quiet it down. how far do you go? what are we responcable for?you try and explain to the H.O what is going on and try to fix some of them and still you get some noise here and there.

then he tells you the old one never did that (it never shut off either or built presure) useing the drop header the steam is drier and moves so much better, but when it hits water look out that pipe is jumpin,

you then explain that you need to remove some pipe and repipe it cause the pitch is wrong and can't be releveled. he has a fit that he has to pay for this. am i the only one this happens to? oh well we do the best we can.... thanks for listening ( reading).. David Sutton

Unknown

Yep , youre not the only one

that has happened to . I hate being the 1st one to fully look at the system as a whole - while in the middle of installing the boiler . Ive been trying to get my company to work up a special contract for steam replacements , because most customers dont want to hear that they need main vents where there werent any , or new rad vents , or some pipes have to be repitched . I want something in the contract saying what you stated - we will size the boiler correct and pipe it to manufacturers specs . We will include a good skim and boiler flush , but anything that needs to be fixed after that is a charge . With the way new steam boilers run , its the nature of the beast to have alot of noise and banging in a system that wasnt piped right to begin with . Good luck Dave .

Bob Cat_3

Sometimes I wonder.......

I went through that once. I was killing my self trying to get steam up to a radiator on the third floor. The pipe was hot at the base of the riser but nothing at the radiator. The Ho tells me it worked before I changed the boiler. I finally cut a hole in his wall to find a capped pipe(that had a sand hole in it;which is why the riser was hot). I was not happy. I questioned him again and he said it always worked, lying right to my face. Now I Check all radiators and piping before I change the boilers (as long as they still run). I tell them up front that I will not be responsible for mystrey noises.

David Sutton

now thats a good...

sound idea this will be something to talk to my boss about thank you ...David Sutton

David Sutton_2

need more ideas please

Paul Pollets

Pre-Existing Conditions clause

When you've done this more than 100X you learn to put a clause in the "Exclusions" called "pre-exisiting conditions". That allows you to charge to repair pipes that aren't pitched properly that you may not have been aware of. This doesn't excuse careful analysis of the system before beginning the work, but it's possible to miss something and not be blamed for what you didn't do.

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keith

Clarifacations

At the end of my proposals for equipment replacements I list several clarifacations. These are a couple of the ones that pertain to your question.
1) Any work in addition to what is listed above or discussed at the time of the walk thru will be performed on a time and material basis.
2) This proposal includes any requirements and modifacations associated with the replacement of the steam boiler and near boiler piping. It does not include any repairs or modifacations to the rest of the steam system.
Similiar ones apply to different types of systems.