Wall of shame

Joe_51

I haven't even started the boiler piping on my house and I know it'll be 1000x better than that !! I bet it makes you guys sick to see someone in the trade do this...where the heck was the inspector ???????

S Davis

Wall of shame

Here are some pictures of a new install in a 8000sqft. custom waterfront home in the San Jaun Islands of Washington State.
This guy was a regular McGyver of the heating world, notice the heating pit that tries to heat the 800sqft. living room with 18' ceilings or the custom in wall radiators in the family room.

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

jerry scharf_2

neatness counts

Notice none of the copper was exposed where he had cut the romex and shoved it into the power strip.

Yikes!!!

lchmb

oh my

Was this an actual company or did a homeowner try (being the operative word) to do it himself???? What a nightmare to try to resolve..GOOD LUCK

S Davis

Can you say contractor?

Unknown

Unbelievable!

Thank goodness for band iron or the whole place would have fallen down. I took the liberty of shrinking these down a bit, enhancing and rotating the photos you posted. My neck was getting a little sore from looking sideways! Thanks for sharing this mess with us. Can't wait to see how it looks after you're done.

Glenn Stanton

Unknown

I think

Someone was in a rush to get back to their crack pipe. I especially like the 16" on center underfit plates there, I know I recommend that to all my clients that don't actually care about being warm.

_______________________________

Northeast Radiant Technology, LLC

Robert Brown, Co-Owner, RPA certified Radiant Designer

207.899.2328
NRT@maine.rr.com

S Davis

Thanks Glen

I had rotated the pictures before I posted them but It appears I did not save them that way.
Well see if I get the job, I am not so sure I want to do anything with what is installed, the tube is not oxyegen barrier and with the way it is installed I would most likley have to put in second stage heating, I will know when I do the heatloss calcs.

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

J.C.A._3

Outstanding work!

The homewire into the power strip gives"just that bit of confidence" eh?

Nice soldering too! My cat did better than that after a few lessons.

Which Island is this on? I need to warn a few friends in the area to stay clear of this "contractor"(?). What a cluster&%#( ! Chris

S Ebels

Wow!

Please tell me that the pic with the oil filter is sideways. At first I thought it was but if that were the case the drain for the line would be pointing up. If it's not, how would one avoid an Exxon Valdez incident each time the filter was changed?? Please say it's so!!???

Where would the world be without outlet strips?? Love the "code" wiring job.

The hanger strap brings new meaning to Weezbo's term "lashing up"

Tell me the saddle valves are not on a boiler line!!!?? Please?

I wonder if they were aware that the output of the top three chunks of BB was nil. Last I knew you couldn't raise the temp of air that had already been heated. (Left Coast Physics???)

Start the remodel with a match and a gallon of what fire investigators call "accelerant"!!

S Davis

Island

It is on Orcas Island.

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

J.C.A._3

Nice place.

I've spent some grand times out in the San Juans. My Uncle lives on San Juan Island. Down toward Mitchell Bay/Snug Harbor.

Caught a trophy Silver in Henry Island Bay, facing Snug Harbor. Had to fight off a seal trying to teach her pup how to get a free meal. Got the whole fish, but there were a few "soft teeth" marks across the skin from the experience.
What a fight! she would let it get to within 50' of the boat, then strip out about 300' of line to give the pup another chance. A native from the University saw what was happening, and pulled his skiff over the head of Mom, blipped the tiller afew times and spooked her away. My first over 20 pounder.(I've had a few since!)

Great place to know. All of the Wallies who miss the chance to visit the area are missing God's country.

P.S. I've got a photo of the crew that built/re-built the Orcas Inn, mooning out the total of the front windows during the work. I'll see if I can find it and scan it. Chris

Carl PE_2

RUN

Run. Run like the wind. Run away from that place as fast as you can.

Don't touch anything. You touch it, you own it forever.

If it's on an island, then swim.

Get out of there and never look back.

Dave Yates (PAH)

Aw shucks fellas....

That "pit" rad & BB install is obviously designed to be utilized with a 2-stage stat!

As for the dueling expansion tanks, he probably just saw that movie "Rocket Man" and couldn't get that backpack fuel assembly out of his mind.

I think this job deserves first place for creative use of what's-on-the-truck. Think of the fuel he saved by not running all over creation looking for parts & pieces(G).

Besides which, this was a side job for him. By day, he designs radiant systems for an internet huckster.

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Tony_8

Oh My God !!!

I thought Mickey Mouse was DEAD !!!! He's just been on a "working" vacation !
After the 1st couple of pictures I had to go get some Naproscin.
What a thinker this guy is ! He even color-coded the saddle valves
Seeing that fintube stacked up and laying on top of those rads reminded me of a fella telling me that "at low temps bbd radiates heat, not convects it" Hmmm

I saw a strip hardwired into a j-box the other day. The j-box had the heating system t-former mounted on it by one screw so it could accomodate the extra wires, and the strip powered the sump pump. Nice...

I sometimes get a bit perturbed when I see these things, but have learned that it really just helps to make a real craftsman shine.

DaveGateway

arrested

Thanks Glenn,now I can laugh sitting up,wouldn't it be cool if you could get arrested for work like that!

joel_4

the sad part

Is that a good contractor probably bid the job at 2x this guys price and was declared a "rip off artist" by the G.C. who "new a buddy" and would save the H.O. a ton of money compared to those other "primadonnas". Home owners watching look and learn, you pay peanuts you get monkeys. Anyone who could afford to have an 8k sqrft house on an island could have afforded to do it right the first time. 8k water front come own out here that worth 3-4 million at least, your telling me they couldn't spend couple hundred k on something nice?

S Davis

G.C

It was the G.C. that did the job, he got alot of material from radianteck, 3/4" non-oxygen barrier tube with all cast pumps and a used cast iron boiler.

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

S Ebels

Any pics

Got any shots of the boiler?

How old is this system?

Have you had a chance to open it up and check system fluid quality? I would assume that what is in there is no longer what you would call water.

S Davis

Boiler

Yes I took as many pictures as I could.

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

Paul Pollets

Island Job

I think Gilligan did it.... Pull it out and start over.

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Weezbo

Well.....

Its getting better each day...:) now the guy has retired to work for the state as an appointed elecrical board examiner...:)) so...be careful with the electrical ... hes given up working for the internet hamster...

Steamhead

Had to run down the basement ;-)

cause I saw that pic and thought someone stole my boiler!

Now I happen to like the Burnham V1 series, but that one has to be at least 15 years old. Not much time left on the warranty, eh?

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Constantin

Thanks Glen!

I'm up at my mums with a dialup connection, so your work on squeezing and rotating the pics is much appreciated! Well, judging from all the CAT5 wiring snaking through the basement, this is one expensive house and/or a Microsoftie moved in.

The "plumbing" and "electrical" work is amazingly bad and deserves a few minutes as a discussion point in a training setting. Imagine the hilarity you can inject into a classroom by playing "where's wally?" WRT to all the code violations, hack details, etc. of this installation?

However, such installs are also somewhat endemic in island or boat environments where proper supplies are hours/days away. Naturally, that does not excuse the horrible install, it just means you have to plan ahead.

Anyway, I hope the installer is sent to a penal colony in Siberia to learn to appreciate the finer points of properly installed heating systems. If a PI signed off the work shown above, he/she should go too.

The sad part is, think of all the wasted resources/time/energy as that garbage is pulled out and replaced with something else. Now that the house is as far along as it is, you'll either have to insulate the heck out of it to make staple-up work (i.e. >15BTU/sq ft on a design day) and/or go to radiators. Either way, you have a big mess on your hands because you'll have to work around a lot of other systems like the computer stufff shown in one picture.

jack_22

new install

Was this 'new install' recent (in the last 10 years)? I know the salt air is corrosive, but c'mon! Did someone actually pay real money to have this job done? If so, is the one who got paid still loose to prey on others? Do they have any kind of inspection at this locale?

S Davis

New Install

The job looks like it has been in progress for maybe 3 years as best as I can tell, they installed alot of used material, there is building inspections in the area but you have to pull a permit and call for inspection, because of the remote location a lot of people do work without them, it was the general contractor that did the job, the owner lives out of state and I think fired the contractor, alot of this is secondhand info as I am dealing with the caretaker.

S Davis


Apex Radiant Heating

Guy_5

a sign

It rather says something when someone has to label the sight door and T&P gauge. Lucky for the owners that they have at least a quality boiler there. By the look of the rest of the system, it has probably been waaaay overworked.

Guy