Here is a new one on me.

Dave Stroman

Went to a house today where the lady was complaining of water hammer. She turned of the boiler, made sure no water was running anywhere in the house, but still could hear the pipes somewhere in the house go "bump, bump" about every 30 seconds or so. We could not find anything in the house that would cause this to happen.

Well, down the street they were tearing down a house and had a fire hose hooked the the fire hydrant to wet down the dust. They had the hose stretched across the road. Every time a car would come by, it would go "bump, bump" as the tires hit the hose. And now you know the rest of the story!

Dave in Denver

Mark Walnicki_2

So...

did you charge her? :-)

J.C.A._3

Dave, we call these .....

Stories from left field.

My tale of woe and discontent came from a fireplace yesterday. The homeowner said that it was too warm in the room when they could get the fireplace to run,but it wouldn't run any longer. They changed the batteries in the remote but it still wouldn't go.

As I walked in, I saw the pilot burning wonderfully but the puppy just wouldn't fire up. The receiver for the remote sits inside the lower grate of the fireplace, and I switched it to the "manual" setting and away she goes. I adjusted the fire to make it look real, showed the H.O. how that worked. She was greatful and I was ready to walk out the door when curiosity got the best of me. In turning the remote receiver over, I found a sliding door on the bottom that housed the batteries for the unit. Not having the manual for it was a hinderance,but changing the batteries in it made the unit work on/by the remote,

Lessons learned in a roundabout way, but still learned. Always keep learning! Your observations of the not so obvious, are what seperates the parts changer
from the TECTS (Thermal Environmental Comtrol Tecnicians, thanks to Mr. Bean!)

Great work! Glad you figured it out and were able to show the homeowner. A rare find with that ability to prove the theory. Chris

Jim Walls

nice work Dave

this just helps to prove the point that when troubleshooting ,,,,,,,you need an open mind
and as Dan would say, get out of the basement,,,,,,,,,,and in this case,waaaaayyyy out of the basement :-)
I will share this one with our service techs as a reminder ,,,Thanks for posting

GMcD

Another story

While not specifically related to hydronics, I was called in recently to troubleshoot an HVAC system design that wasn't performing. I do my usual walk-around, taking lots of pictures and temperature readings, thinking about all the complications that can go bad on a large commercial HVAC system. I check the location of the main room temperature and humidity sensors, yep, the occupants had put a computer monitor and printer station right under and beside the t'stat station.....The temperature coming off the top of the monitor was 45C (115F). They were complaining that they couldn't get the space warm enough in the current winter weather.....Always look for the obvious first, then worry about the details.

Mark Eatherton1

Similar story...

Had a lady customer once who kept calling me back because her heating system would not heat at NIGHT. Everytime I got there, everything was just fine. One evening she called to complain again, and I told her not to touch ANYTHING until I got there. When I arrived, I found a pole lamp parked right in front of her thermostat. It was on, and the radiant energy from the lamp was keeping the stat shut down... She told me she always turned the light on at night, and thats when the heating system would quit working. I advised her to find a new home for the lamp. Haven't heard back from her since...

Whodathunk...

ME

clammy

keep lookin

Went on a master bed no heat call first thing first 4 pumps about 8 zones all remote from the boiler room found circ relay was burnt out so i replaced it upon asking the ho where the t/stat was for the mb she replyed all the heat stat are digital programable type and the round t87 are for the alarm companies low temp alarms so upon nosing about i find 1 didgtal and 1 t87 on the second floor upon asking her to turn the t87 stat up she repleyed that the alarm co would be calling they didn't call that stat and room where not the master bed it was the maids quaters so why not give the maid a digital .The ho where living in the maids quaters as the master and left the real master suite empty .The real mb was probaly over 1000 to 1500 sq.ft. But image that you live some place and don,t even know what thermostat controls what i wish that was my hardest promblem of the year peace clammy

Bob Depew

Wild things

Had one that called me 5yrs after and the boiler was running away. room 85 and still going turned it off by the powerbefore I got there and worked fine. Month later same thing. This happened 2 time a year for the next 4 years. Finaly fiugured it out when they did there tree and put it up. Nail in the attic where they stored there tree lights when through the thermastat wire and only shored out when you put where in thr attic. Had fun on that one. Once power was removed then turned back on ok till the next time. Job was 25 min from home so they always turned it off.

rich pickering

Elderly gentleman called to complain his new furnace was noisy and had a smell. Went to his house, the furnace was working perfectly.Noticed that he had been oiling the motor, told him that there were no oil ports and if he kept adding oil, it might void the warranty.Told him to call me if it made any noise and I would come over right away.

But it only makes the noise about 3am.

????????????????????

We figured what was happening was he would wake up about 3am and could hear the furnace running because after a period of silence your hearing becomes more acute. Similar to hearing a clock ticking in the middle of the night. He would get up, oil the furnace, his hearing is now back to "normal", and the furnace is now normal. He was probably smelling his own feet.

As I'm trying to explain this, and he won't believe a word I'm saying, his wife is standing behind him rolling her eyes whenever he talks.

He never did belive us.

Boiler Guy

Burning smell

Had an elderly, sight impaired lady in a condo complain of a burning smell -- only at night. Of course we were always called during the day! Her family convinced her the smell was coming thru the ceiling vent outside her bedroom. Could not convince her this was only a return grill for the ceiling mounted A/C. Apparently this had been happening for a long time before I becam involved. However the main wall in her bedroom was discoloured grey behind the dresser and TV. Finally traced the source to a remote floor switch - installed by her son - to allow her to activate a bright halogen nite lamp by her bed. The switch had gotten wet when she spilled a glass of water on the carpet. The connections shorted out causing smoldering over an extended period of time. I removed the faulty switch and actually got her to feel the 3" round burn in the carpet and underlay. She still wasn't convinced until I was forced to get her family involved to see all the evidence. Thank God for concrete floors or the problem could have had dire consequences for many people.

Guy_5

hmmm

We once had an ongoing complaint of occasional no heat. When we arrived, the H/O would turn the switch on, and everything would be perfectly normal. Finally, when he called we told him not to touch anything. We found that the circulator would run backwards every so often. In the H/O s words- "this time that way go, that time , this way go"
That and a T-stat in the 3 PM sun will drive you bonkers.