Why would the gas Co do this

JM_2

I recently signed up for New England Gas Co "Comfort Plan" $70 and they will come out at any time to address boiler Problems. Serice to Controlls is free, water related Problems Cost $$. Before they will accept you they come to inspect the Boiler. The day before he came out I replaced the old pressuretrol which had minimum cut out of 2 with an additive one with a minimum cut in @.5. I set the diferential at 1. The firest thing the tech does is bump the presurtrol differential to 2. Why? This boiler heats one apt on the first floor. I put it back to one as soon as he left.

Mark Hunt

Well........


he HAD to do Something!!

Who knows?

My question would be, "Why stop at 2 ya' chicken?"

You fixed it.

Don't let them touch your system from now on.

Mark H

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ScottMP

IN

The land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.


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ed wallace

because more power is better arggg

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flange

gas company is in the business of selling you fuel. their techs are not usually savy especially with steam. someone told them to set it that way. no reason just do it. wonder if it gets pushed down the ladder to create more gross sales?

Unknown

When I learned the steam business,

I worked for the gas company. Dave Harrington showed me how to clean a LWCO, and cut gauge glass. He showed me some mechanical gas valves and dampers on old coal steam boilers, that had been converted to oil, then gas. He taught me how to talk with customers.

Probably some of you knew him.

Some guys didn't care for steam. I'll never figure THAT out.

Noel

Unknown

Those are my boys that I trained

they should know better. I have a feeling the tech may have not been an "A" rated service man who may not know what is correct.

Paul Mitchell

Most Gas co. contracts are not worth a penny

Here in NJ the gas co. will tell contract customers"see you in a few days" and if they cant wait then they have to call us and pay.

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Dave Yates (PAH)

old gauge glass cutting technique

Hey Noel,

Ever cut a gauge glass with a piece of string (wick yarn) and lighter fluid? Only the really old timers will remember this one(G).

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Unknown

You know, I've only heard of that one.

Never seen it done.

Remember the little red float balls that you put in the glass so the hard of seeing could find the water level?

Noel

jim_14

my gas company bypassed all safety features

about 5 years ago while on a service call to my old boiler. LWCO, pressuretrol, everything even the on/off switch, basically the boiler was just mis-wired after they performed a repair for me.

Luckily, the NYS Public Service Commission made them give up home heating repairs... nice guys, all of em, but they just werent trained well in heating equipment.

Unknown

Gas Company Service

It is either feast or famine.

For many years some gas companies spent a lot of money on training and had some of the best gas service people you could ever want. They were not only trained on the gas side but on Hydronics (including Steam) and warm air systems. The company I was the trainer for had a progressive training program with testing at every level which covered 4 to 5 years of training with over 42 weeks in class or practical hands on training. It included field evaluations by supervisors who themselves were highly trained.

When the move to deregulate and unbundle the gas companies and holding companies or large corporations took over the gas companies it was death to training as it was. Do not misunderstand me training is not cheap, my budget for my last year of full training (1993) at Providence Gas (now New England Gas) was $650,000. Wish I had some of that now.

The name of the game is money and not what they want to spend to continue to give the excellent service they gave in the past. The game today is too make money, nothing wrong with that but, understand that service departments in gas companies never made any money. They have to do too much for free- example Turning on gas, shutting off gas, leak calls, etc. So the actual charge for service never made any money. Even those who sold contracts for service (most do not include maintenance) made no money.

The companies that still offer some form of service may have very poorly trained personnel servicing equipment. I now do training for many gas companies but it is only seminar type presentations and not a full scale training program.

As the older service techs retire we will lose the experience that is much needed in this area. As I travel the country I find that knowledge about gas equipment service, safety, combustion and etc is very much lacking. With out good trainng and experience a lot will be lost in the future. The equipment manufacturers will have to make servicing user friendly if they expect to continue to have their equipment stay up and running.

Just the title of Dan's book "The Lost Art of Steam Heating" tells you something. It is becoming a "LOST ART" the few on this site who still choose to work on and install steam are few and far between. What does the future hold for all the new techs. They need to be much more intelligent and electronically capable in all of the new technology. They also need to find someplace to learn about all of the older stuff that is still around in many places. It breaks my heart when I hear techs saying I could not fix it so I sold them a new system. This is just the way it is.

My apologies to those of you who are excellent techs and do a wonderful and professional job every day. But you know that there are techs, I use that term loosely, that can just not cut the mustard. It may not be their fault they just have not had the opportunity to get educated. Say isn't that what this site is all about.

Mad Dog

Save your $70.00 and put it toward a service

contractor in your area. Use find a professional. Mad Dog

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Unknown

Problem here in RI is

most contractors rely on the Gas Company to do service. Very few Rhode Islanders come to my training classes for that reason. So this gentleman who I believe is in RI must rely on the gas company.

I believe I gave him two local outfits that can service his equipment. One is the "Gas Doctor" and the other is "Natural Gas Works". These outfits are run by two of my former students and do very professional work.

JM_2

Gas Co

I only count on the gas Co for emergrncy "get the system running at 3am "service. I know enough to call a contractor for real service and repair.

JM

Unknown

Why won't the contractor

come out at 3AM?

JM_2

comtractor

They will come out at 3am but the rates are higher for emergency calls. Gas Co will come out for free to relight a pilot.

Unknown

Nothing is Free

we all pay for that service in our gas bills even though they will not service if you do not have a contract. If you sell gas you should have to service your customers and do it professionally. Since 1993 New England Gas is very poorly trained if trained at all.