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Another reason to own a cat...................hb

heatboy
heatboy Member Posts: 1,468
in THE MAIN WALL
I love cats. This is not a cat bashing story or anything. As a matter of fact, this cat could've saved this woman's life.

I received a lead from Wirsbo last week to add radiant to an existing home. I met a very nice lady who has done all of her radiant homework and was looking for help. When I was in her home, I noticed it was rather chilly. She is in the midst of remodelsing due to some mold issues so I figured she just had some of the heat turned down. After we get through with the walk though upstairs, I asked her to see the basement so I know what kind of access I will have. We walk down the stairs and there over in the corner is a new Crown Freeport ODV boiler with an Amtrol indirect. The boiler is stone cold. I asked and she starts to relay the story of this. It seems the boiler was installed in August, but the contractor couldn't get it to run correctly. There was an odor in the house when it ran. I walked over and took of the front panel to expose the door and you could tell there was a problem with the door gasket. Swing the door open and to my suprise (not really) there was no door gasket at all. Now to the cat part. She came home one day after this was initially started and strating feeling ill, then noticed her cat was laying on the floor unconscious. She put it together what the problem was and opened all of the windows and doors.

I called Crown and they sent her a door gasket the next day and I made arrangements to go back and install it. After the door gasket is installed I started it up and the boiler started to chug. I noticed before I started it, that the airgate was almost all of the way open when it calls for an input of 1 GPH. The first thing I thought of was a blockage in the freash air intake so I took the duct off and the burner came right into specs. There was nothing in the duct itself so I venture outside around the back where the termination is. This is where I find that the original contractor cemented the coaxial vent in and proceeded to cement closed the fresh air inlet!

One of the benefits of being in this trade for half my life is I get to see it all. Just when you think you have seen the dumbest thing yet, tomorrow brings another gem.

Unfortunately, the entire vent system will need to be replaced because it is screwed. Also, the boiler was set to close to the rear wall not allowing for the proper bend radius for the vent. We will have to cut away the boiler and move it away from the wall. All in all, it will cost this client over $1700 dollars just to replace the vent system, make this boiler safe and up to manufacturer's recommendations.

When you hug your kids tonight, don't forget about fluffy!

hb

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