operating heating system during construction

jim f

i have a contractor insisting i turn on the heating system on a hydro air system. my response was only if you sign a waiver and that he would be responsible for any damage to the equipment. im looking for input, pictures of sheetrock infested systems or anything else i could use to justify my actions on not firing this system up. thank you very much for your information

jim f.
tri-city heating and cooling

hr

You might

try ther manufactures installation and care manual. Often times they warn against this and caution doing so will void warranty.

It's an issue I have struggled with forever. Hard to deny a contractor heat, and I HATE using oil or LP fired construction heaters in new homes.

I don't have a great solution to "construction heat" issues. It sure does take a toll on new equipment working in sheetrock, and sanding dust!

hot rod

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Tom Meyer

Construction heat

About the only solution I've seen was an electric water heater attached to the infloor PEX system. It was temporary, but provided heat for the construction phase. When they put the permanent heat source online, they just cut out the electric water heater. Couple of points on doing this. It takes a while for a garden variety water heater to heat up a slab. It's not cheap to heat using electricity in many areas.

Tom Meyer
Senior Designer/Trainer
Precision Hydronics Corp
www.precisionhydronics.com

kk_2

filters

This place makes filters you can put over the registers:

http://www.thermopan.com/products_thermoregcover.htm

A sheetrocker friend of mine also tells me they sometimes cut up standard filter material to cover the registers and just wrap it around the edges.

Hope this helps.

techheat_2

look at this

http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=41247

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Mark Eatherton1

DO NOT under ANY circumstances

allow an atmospheric gas fired appliance see ANY of the sheet rock dust, or you WILL be disassembling the boiler to remove the carbonaceous buildup caused by the unburnable deposition of sheet rock dust.

I've seen them boogered up so bad that the construction crews were suffering from CO poisoning. Not a pretty picture.

ME

Jack_23

It is kind of your contractor

to be willing to pack your system with construction debris and dust (I don't care how well filtered it is) prior to taking possession. A waiver will do nothing but give you something to fight over later. Don't you have enough headaches all ready. Running a closed radiant system is one thing. Running a ducted system is another entirely. I have seen several pieces of equipment have problems very early in life and when returned to the manuf warranty coverage was denied due to the unit having been used as a construction heater. It is very easy to tell. I understand the contractors desire to get things curing and working in comfort is always nice but if it was my system I wouldn't do it.

Rudy

In Chicago...

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Ed S

I worked at a Hotel taht had 150 PTAC units that had heat trouble the very first year and then subsequent years. It turned out that every one of those units was used when sheetrockers were doing their thing and every one of the long squirrel cages had a 1/2 inch of dust on every blade.
It took a long time to rectify that sitch...
For heat use an indirect Make up air unit mounted on a 4 X 8 trailer...100% fresh air heated pressurizes the house so less leakage, works pretty good with flex ducting

Tom Meyer

Mark

"carbonaceous" and "boogered up" in the same paragraph? Now THERE is a combination of "contractor-speak" and "college instructor-speak" if I ever saw one!

Tom Meyer
Senior Designer/Trainer
Precision Hydronics Corp
www.precisionhydronics.com

keith

temp heat

Jim, Temp heat is always a touchy subject. Not only construction debris in the finished product but also who maintains the temp heat for the duration of the project? Who wants the responcibility of maintaining/monitoring temp heat? Who is going to check the building twice a day to make sure there is no system failure when its not filled with contractors?
On a couple of jobs I piped the boiler, ran pex to a temporary Unit heater and cycled the UH fan off a line voltage stat. Worked well and my men were as happy as they get.
On another note, when does the equipment warranty begin?
Good Luck, Keith

Joannie

Construction

Have you ever seen the inside of a boiler when it has been used as a saw horse??? I have.

:-)

fishface

Be careful about starting up equipment when the construction is not finished. I have seen several coils plugged up from sheetrock dust and sawdust. One of the worst things that happened to me was the time I caught the guys sweeping up the floors and sweeping all the rockdust, sawdust, pieces of wire,and other debris into the return box in the floor.

Bill_14

Suggestions

Your proposals should always EXCLUDE any temporary construction heat and all related costs.

In addition, if your permanent system is installed and ready to heat (or cool), your arm will be twisted to fire things up. In fact, you will be pushed hard to do this. If you decide to allow this to be done, you need to write a warranty letter at that point for the owner & GC to sign-off on with the understanding the 12-month warranty begins at that time. List the specific pieces of equipment in your warranty start-up letter that are being used.

Since your original proposal excluded temporary heat costs, you should be covered for filter replacement and all the other issues for having equipment running in dirty conditions.

This issue is always a potential squabble and you always need to have some contingency funds in your initial bid to cover the possibilities (regardless of what your bid proposal sez). Who you would be working for, when will the job start & finish, what type of equipment is being used, etc.? These are all things to be considered when thinking about putting your final price on a job.

In addition, you need to be prepared to propose a 6-month extension to the warranty period (total of 18-months) at the same time you write the warranty letter at equipment start-up. I can guarantee that you will get calls 10-month’s following job completion to replace a motor or something.

Finally, you should EXCLUDE utility costs in your initial bid proposal. Otherwise, you could be paying for excessive power and/or gas bills during construction. Watch out for the famous backcharge!!

Paul Pollets

Exclusion disclaimer

I like to put the following disclaimer in the Exclusions: "Not responsible for temporary heat; if boiler is used during construction, a cleaning charge of $XXX.XX will be incurred and billed on final progress payment"

Never had to argue since making that clear.

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lchmb

just finished

I spent the better part of 6 hour's taking apart a weil mclain gas boiler that was 3 month's old.. a plumber had installed the unit and the homeowner was the gc also..he saw no problem lighting the unit up and was very upset when it was plugged solid. Wanted an explanation as to why so he could charge the plumber "it must be something he did"..Didn't like the idea that It was his fault..If I were you I would tell them to rent some construction heater's and call you when they are all cleaned and ready to go

Mark Eatherton1

Do I get any..

extra point credits for that? Thanks for noting it Tom!

And thanks for the referal:-)

ME