new condos heat - how sad

ScottMP

Went on a new heat call this morning for a older woman who hit her shut-off switch by mistake. Gas boiler with zone valves and a priority.

She called and said she reliased she shut the heat off by mistake but it was taking along time and no heat. I figured somthing froze during the night.

When I got there she said it was just starting to get warm. I explained about priority and I noticed her dampers where closed and I explained that.

I reached over to open her damper and looked at her baseboard. My heart sank. This is a nice woman with a three year old condo. Nice place.

All of the baseboard in her home has the element turned side ways !! The whole place !! No wonder it was taking forever to heat up. How sad that she spent all this money and has such a lousy set-up. How can someone make such a mistake ?

Sometimes it dosn't take much to be above the competion huh ?

Scott

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Mijola

Just because it has been 3 years, this is no reason to not have the owner contact the contractor and demand that this problem be fixed at no cost. If her condo has this problem, chances are other units are the same way. Maybe her condo board could help exert some pressure on the contractor.

Dave DeFord

I agree with the above post...

regarding contacting the original builder/contractor. Also generally in condos the condo assn is responsible for the maintenance of the physical plant. I don't know as the laws and agreements are different from state to state and from assoc. to assoc., but it's probably worth checking it out.

jw

If this is the first problem.......

In three years? This goes to show how oversized the system is! If it has kept the place warm for three years and is just "slow" to heat back up even with misinstalled rads, it must be at least 100% oversized. I bet the boiler cycles a lot even at design temps. I honestly cannot say that I have seen an undersized boiler install. In fact I rarely see on with less than 50% oversize.

jw

Bill Nye

Where was

the building inspector or code enforcement officer? Where are the boiler cops when you need them?

Dave_8

have found this before

Had a call from a woman who had heat in part of her house and no heat in other parts. She told us that the contractor had been there several times and scanned the baseboards with his infrared thermometer and told her there was no problem with the heating system, it must be the insulation package. After we corrected the problem the rooms heat nicely now. See the attached picture!

Boilerpro_3

I've seen this many times

In fact just a couple days ago in a very nice newer stone faced home...It is absolutely amazing the lack of common sense!

Boilerpro

Mark Wolff

I can hear the laughter now!

If you call 99% of the contractors in this nation and tell them a job they did was installed wrong 3 years ago, the laughter will be the last thing you hear before they hang up. If you pursue it in court, the next will be their lawyer explaining their warranty program, then the judge as he/she throws it out.

Do I think this is right, NO. Do you have any legal grounds for suit, NO. Can we all learn from this, YES. The fact that the system ran for 3 years without a problem is an insurmountable obstacle to any legal pursuit you may try.

Hopefully the contractor will have better supervision over his apprentices next time (who do you think REALLY put it in!). And while we are on the subject of oversight, where was the building inspector looking when he did his Certificate of Occupancy inspection? That is where the majority of the blame should lie. An inspector should know a lot more about plumbing and heating than a new apprentice.

J.C.A._3

I Quote one of.....

Mr.Milne's favorites. "Common sense, ain't so common". My pesonal favorite.... "They say that hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. They're WRONG! Stupidity is far more prevelant" Frank Zappa. Chris