Its starting already

tommyoil

Just got back from now from my first middle of the night call this season. Got called at 1:30 A.M by Captain so and so of one of our neighboring fire dept's. It seems that last winter before this customer left for Arizona, she had her "good family friend",her plumber, come and winterize her seaside home. He did a great job too. He drained the entire house so it wouldnt freeze. Toilets,watermains, antifreeze in all the traps, the works. He drained the HW boiler and system too. He came back in July, charged up the house,flushed all the toilets,ran some water in all the sinks and left. Forgot the boiler. HW boiler w/o LWCO strikes again! It took me an hour or so to get on the road and get there. It was at least 140 deg. in that basement. Fire capt began yelling at me about how he was going to "take action" against our company. Said code requirements state that the boiler should NOT have been left in such a condition. After what turned out to be a very heated (no pun intended)discussion in the middle of the street at 3:00 A.M. he realized that I was NOT the "friend" who put the 87 year old in danger. Bottom line is this. The lady in unhurt, and the house DID NOT burn to the ground. Is the plumber liable for the cost of the new boiler I'll be putting in in about an hour from now? I guess the insurances and lawyers will be fighting this one out. My first 20 hour day of the season. FEELS GOOD! I'm going for coffee.

Brad White_3

Funny how

some folks jump to such conclusions. Of course you are not liable (Heck, you are a Hero!).

If the "friend" is a licensed plumber, and regardless if he did it for pay or as a favor, he would be liable under the "standard of care" rule. This applies if indeed he failed to set up the system properly and left it in a dangerous condition; that he was the last person to touch it, particularly in a professional way.

(I am not 100% clear on how the situation occurred- the system just called for heat and the boiler was still drained I assume.)

Bright side: The dear old lady now has a story to tell; ought to keep her bridge club entertained for months. Could get better at every telling, who knows?