City taking heat for CO fatality

Charles G.

Let's see: 13 years after a final inspection something goes wrong and you want to hang the inspector??? PLEASE...

Mark Hunt

Hmmmmmm


This story may have you thinking twice about municiple inspectors.

A man was killed, his wife poisoned in a home built in 1993. Several houses on the block had their heating systems shut down after this "issue" was discovered.

The utility had to inspect these systems as well before hanging a meter.

The contractor may very well end up in court over this.

I bet he doesn't have a good lawyer like the city or utlity.

Mark H

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jackchips_2

Where is

the implication that city inspectors are at fault here, Mark?

I read two articles and it only refers to "faulty wiring" and that there is an investigation.

Also what can cause such a high level of CO in the entire house? A disconnected flue?

Doesn't seem like enough information to indict anyone yet.

Jack

jp_2

like always

these stories do not make sense and do not add up.

too bad there is not an industry follow up technical person to set most of these stories straight.

Mark Hunt

Absolutely jp


For the record, I am not blaming the city. The local residents are.

My point about "thinking twice" about municiple inspectors was in relation to how thw story starts out and ends.

"The homes were built through the Troy Rehabilitation and Improvement Program in the early 1990s."

One house would probably have been forgotten about in a week. Because there were other houses found to have similar conditions, the matter will hang around a bit longer. A few years back, a similar housing project ran into problems when it was discovered that the wire used in the house was aluminum. Not a problem except all of the switches and outlets were "copper conductor only" AND the electricians used the same gauge wire as they would if copper were used. It was only after one of the houses burned to the ground that this was "discovered".

I have sent e-mails to reporters asking for more info....no responses yet.

Mark H






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Mark Hunt

I don't hang anyone Charles


I didn't write the story.

I didn't file a complaint.

I didn't go to the media.

The people that had their heating systems shut off did.

The people who's neighbor died did.

I just pointed out that this story makes it SOUND like the city has some responsibility here. That is all.

Mark H

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Robert O'Connor_12

Interesting spin?

Accusations are just that, but, must be supported in fact. There is a big difference in what you know and what you can prove. If the accusations were found to be factual then an extensive investigation should take place on every level to find the weak link to this chain and fix it. And I'd say for the accususors, if found out that they libeled the inspectors then their feet too should be held to the fire.

I'm not familiar with Troy and or how they issue their CO's and or who is actually doing the inspection. In many municipalities the inspection is called a "Zoning Compliance Inspection" , the real name for it is usually a CCO (Continued Certificate of Occupancy) and is carried out by a zoning compliance inspector. These inspectors usually do not posses a license such as would be possessed by a building, plumbing, elevator, fire or mechanical inspector and their job is primarily looking for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, railing, major obvious structural damage (major cracking of say a foundation). The move to require "licensed" inspectors to do these inspections is fraught with opposition for the property owners just don't want to pay the extra money for the ordinance adoption and obvious increased fees. Many times times a zoning compliance inspector finds something that "doesn't look right", they are suppose to report the findings to the Construction Official and subsequently the original CO is rescinded until the property owner is within compliance. This action by the zoning inspector usually triggers a requirement for a permit to fix the work and a formal inspection by the "real" inspector and more often then not the closing of the property is delayed, and sometimes even retro-active tax assessment are given before a property can close.

I'm curious to learn more about this case and who exactly the "NY Board of Fire Underwritters" are, and exactly what their jobs entail and what exactly are they inspecting.

>>>Tutunjian said, "Unless there is a need for code enforcement to go in there for a complaint, the City of Troy does not go in there and inspect heating systems and furnaces and homes on a regular basis. It's not what we do in the city."<<<

This is truly a travesty and I for one would also like to know who dropped the ball. My prayers go out to this family.



Robert O'Connor/NJ

Mark Hunt

Honestly


I do not have much hope that ANYTHING will be learned from this case.

How did "faulty wiring" cause this issue? Why did it take this long to manifest itself?

I just do not know and no-one will answer my questions.

I got 15 more CO stories tonight on my Google News Alert.

Wish I could say it was all good news. None of it was.

Mark H

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Mark Hunt

Update

The wife has now passed away as well.

A tiny bit more info here but not much more.

Sounds like somone by-passed a saftey switch.

Sad.

Mark H

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Mitch_6

What is sad from what I have watched on this site

is how fast the co threads die verse some other threads that just blow way off track.

Some threads helping or trying to help H.O. s do without us seems counter productive or even dangerous.

Even what I am seeing in the field from customers refusing to have equipment checked for co. to utilities turning equipment on after we shut it off.

I even have customers with safety hazards that should be fixed and they refuse, some are millionaires but they think it is all hype and not worth the bother.

It is starting to make me wonder?

Just My .02

Mitch S



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Chris_82

Perhaps now you will understand why Ralph Mayer was hanging around the local Home dump in Quincy MA. Doing his job!

jp_2

wake up call for manuf.

i also see this as a wake up call for manufacturers.

i well understand that any safety can be bypassed.

but within the logic of the controller there can be redundancies that monitor safeties , time out functions, etc... i see most systems as being far from as 'smart' as they could be.

yep, system will cost more but will be more safe....gee sounds like a government mandate, yuk!

jp_2

clearly manufacturers FAULT!!!!

for a dollar or so these people could still be alive!

all its takes is a little logic within the control board!

the control board "looks" for safety inputs/sensors/limits to cycle or go through an on/off sequence. Plain and simple.

before a start up, the blower switch should be off, after blower starts the switch should be on, not more complicated than that!

I did this all the time with large industrial machines so machine operators could bypass safeties.

Come On Now! kids toys come with more computer power than this!

yep, lets keep this thread going.

Bob Harper

Damn code copying has me pissed off!

I wrote a brilliant piece of prose to post here but these damn codes locked up and would not take it.

Dan, no offense but please remove this extremely annoying feature. Just not worth the hassle to post here with this crap.
Bob