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garden hose for gas line

keyote
keyote Member Posts: 659
someone who knows how has got to put up the picture in today's [ 2/9/13]  NY daily News, page 18 and the story its the absolute stupidest thing iv ever seen in 40 years of construction. this super of a condo tapped into a gas main before the meter with green garden hoses, ran them up above and across ceilings to other end of building then down into the drip leg of his hot water heater. how did he solve the problem of different thread standards? "masking tape"! they think he may have done this for several years. having just bought and begun to renovate a 100 year old townhouse in Brooklyn I can tell you this third world ingenuity is all to common in every trade often "licenced" contractors that are illiterate but by their certifications through corrupt third world civil employees. how can one believe someone who cant write any language or speak English very well passed licensing exams.

Comments

  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 6,831
    Hysterical and VERY SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    "Rome" is burning!!!!!! albeit slowly! Mad Dog
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 15,588
    Wow

    And here I shut off the supply to my NG Weber for fear of an animal chewing into the hose and causing a small leak during the night.  Apparently I'm just way over cautious.
    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • Bob Harper
    Bob Harper Member Posts: 1,034
    illegal gas piping?

    I find illegal insane stuff all the time. Enclosed are pics of a twin home in Philly where the slum lord replaced a gas WH. Note the copper water flex line that uses hose threads and washers. The vent connectors on both boilers were disconnected. The vent connector on the other WH was so taped together you could barely see the Swiss cheese rusted out pipe. The unlined chimney fell over in a high wind leaving this venting into the attic. I called the gas utility to shut off the entire building.

    I've seen them use PEX, electrical conduit, vacuum cleaner flex hose--you name it.
  • SWEI
    SWEI Member Posts: 7,356
    edited February 2013
    nice work

  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 6,831
    I've got a very large archive with TONS of illegal, shabby, and dangerous

    Installs. Mad Dog
  • bill_105
    bill_105 Member Posts: 429
    About the article

    This wasn't the greatest piece of investigative journalism. I'd like to see how is was hooked up at the meter.

    That way I could do it myself:)
  • MikeyB
    MikeyB Member Posts: 696
    Gas lines

    My Dad is a retired Inspector for the Housing and Preservation Dept for New York City, He once told me a story about a complaint about an apartment building not having heat or hot water, when he and his partner got to the building, they noticed a garden hose  rigged up to a stove and hanging out the window and it went to one of the apartmentds in the building next door... Ver scary....
  • pipeking
    pipeking Member Posts: 252
    SOME PEOPLE

    R SUCH HACKS, THAT HOSE DOESN'T EVEN HAVE ANY HANGERS ON IT!!
  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,476
    people do stupid things

    In the 1970's i was over my sisters apartment and she mentioned that the back hall was awful warm and had a funny smell. This was an old 3 family house and she was on the second floor. My brother in law and i went down to the cellar and found a garden hose running from the removed gas meter into one of the furnaces firebox, he was using a nozzle on the end of the hose to control the gas feed. It seems the guy on the third floor had done this because he couldn't afford the gas bill.



    i knew her landlord so I called him and the gas company and they called the police. The guy ended up in jail for fighting with the gas company and the cops. There were three families in that house that included 7 kids, it's a miracle no one was killed.



    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 6,831
    When I started in this trade i n 1986...................

    there were STILL a few supply houses in NYC that would NOT sell ANYTHING to ANYONE who was not asn employee of a Licensed Master plumber or legit heat outfit. Home Depot and PVC pipe, flex supplieset cetera have made plumbers of EVERYONE. Its a free for all out there...and the public suffers. Mad Dog
  • bill_105
    bill_105 Member Posts: 429
    Fine and dandy

    But what about the lawns and plants? What will they do? This was a garden hose!
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 15,588
    edited February 2013
    Black iron

    MadDog, As I've said on here before as a homeowner in AMERICA I installed all of my gas piping,water heater and steam boiler with appropriate permits. Afterwards it was all inspected by electrical and plumbing inspectors from the state of New Jersey and it all passed.



    Apparently you feel I should not even be allowed to buy black iron or galvanized pipe to install say, an air compressor.



    Just because there are people who will do anything to steal gas and electric or make horrible repairs to their home does not mean you should take away freedoms from the rest of us who follow the rules and do things safely and properly.



    As Bill said, this guy used a garden hose and masking tape. The only thing you're suggesting would do is make more people likely to try it due to not being able to buy the appropriate materials.



    My self and my family were almost killed after three professionals told me our boiler and flue were safe and working properly. Shortly after our carbon monoxide detector was triggered I learned we not only had an undersized chimney, but it was also plugged!



    Not all pro's are perfect and not all homeowners do deadly stupid things. Its kind of hard to make this argument in a thread showing a water heater hooked up with a garden hose as a fuel line, but what I say is true.
    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 6,831
    Chris J.......................................................

    First of all: Beautiful work! I would let you work in my house. However, you, my friend are the RARE exception to the rule. Also, lets be fair to the Plumbing/heating contractors, when you're doing this in your own house, it is a labor of love and source of pride, so we (me included) all tend to go overboard. When you are doing a boiler or worse yet, an oil-to-gas conversion per day, you cannot do such pretty work and pay the bills...ask me how I know......In my 27 years in the biz, I have seen FAR more shoddy/dangerous work by homeowners and general contractors (who feel entitled to do our work because they can buy the materials at the big box stores.) Yes, seen a few too many licensed contractors who do not properly train and supervise their men: THIS is usually the case in these instances. When I had my business, if it wasn't up to snuff it got ripped out and done over. If it weren't for PVC and flexible piping, VERY, VERY few people would buy or event rent a Ridgid 300 machine or a cast iron snap cutter. Change is inevitable: when Pex came out, I was skeptical, but you learn when and where to use it. Am I "old School" a :throwback,? YES! But I do embrace the certain things that cannot be denied: Pex, Mod Cons, et cetera. Once again, awesome job, but YOU are the RARE exception, not the rule. With great respect, Mad Dog
  • TonyS
    TonyS Member Posts: 849
    edited February 2013
    What you say is true Chris

    as long as your home is a detached single home. If you own it and it doesn't hurt anyone else you should be able to purposely light it up and roast marshmallows on it...who would care.

    The problem is with semis and fully attached homes, permits should be given only with proper insurance for the neighbors homes and also maybe signed affidavits from your immediate neighbors that state that its ok and they approve.
  • Mark Eatherton
    Mark Eatherton Member Posts: 5,853
    I hate to say this, but (with tongue firmly planted in cheek)...

    It's safer than CSST in a lightning storm...



    I agree with others. The advent of Home Cheapo and Howe Lowes can you goes has created a flourish of crazy stuff, fanned on by supposed experts working the isles of these fine stores. I've over heard conversations in these isles that caused the hair to stand up on the back of my neck, and have actually pulled the consumer aside and corrected the information doled out by "Eddie the Expert" wearing the orange smock of pride...



    I wonder what their legal billing runs per month based on issues they get thrown back at them...



    BTW, I suspect that something real close to the depicted pictures is what is causing some of the gas mains in Denver to have water in them... Some people ARE crazy.



    This guy was obviously a hack. If he'd have known what he was doing, he'd have used a 1/2" Female flanged hose bib and then used an automatic washing machine (double female) hose for the final connection and not needed the masking tape. Then, the Fire Department wouldn't have even realized there was an issue....



    Please note that most of this was said with tongue in cheek...



    ME
    It's not so much a case of "You got what you paid for", as it is a matter of "You DIDN'T get what you DIDN'T pay for, and you're NOT going to get what you thought you were in the way of comfort". Borrowed from Heatboy.
  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 6,831
    Chris.....you're not serious with that comment are you?

    I am "your-home-is-your-castle" guy like the rest of us. However, Plumbing, heating and fuel gas codes were developed for GOOD reason..."To protect the HEATH" (and safety) of the General Public. Just because your house is detached does not preclude you from causing harm to your neighbors. On Long Island and much of the Greater New York area, homes are close to eachother. The recent 110 home loss is Breezy Point is a perfect example. A fire that started in one house spread to all the others. Also within the last year there was a gas explosion in a house, caused by unlicensed, Unprofessional gas work. It did damage to neighboring houses. How about the first responders who could be hurt when these non-professionals do their thing? Working on heating equipment - especially - requires years of training, seminars, reading, and experience....do you think most "handy" guys are qualified to do this? Will they do a combustion analysis? Draft test? be able to adjust fuel-air ratio? Mad Dog
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    Well said

    Well said and brilliantly stated.

    One for the ages.
  • Bob Harper
    Bob Harper Member Posts: 1,034
    good work vs. hackmasters

    Some of the worst crimes I've seen were committed by "qualified licensed Pros" and passed the municipal inspections. Some of the best work I've seen has been by DIY'ers and unlicensed, "unqualified" pro- wannabe's that did not get a municipal inspection.



    Codes and stds. are for the public safety and welfare, not just for one occupant but all those who enter that structure now and in the future. Codes do not guarantee performance but society has ruled (since Hammurabi) that we must do *something*. That something is not always what's best, effective or remotely 'safe', whatever that word means but it is a start. I've seen horrible piping jobs that should have blown up the house but didn't and I've investigated fires where there was beautiful workmanship with everything sized and laid out to code but something still failed causing damages.



    CSST is a product that has been found to have certain potential defects and shortcomings. Some of these have supposedly been addressed by engineering, education and inspection. Time will tell. I have a list of other things like draft hoods I think are far more dangerous that should be banned because there is no way to make them reasonably safe from hazards under the conditions of use when operated by a reasonable and prudent person. Why do we still have draft hoods? Why don't draft hood equipped water heaters have ANY vent safety devices when a typical CAT I furnace has three yet they are allowed to be common vented, which defeats all three safeties on the furnace? Why do we install ionization "smoke alarms" that do not alert to the presence of smoke but only detect a free burning fire while we have photo sensors that do a very reliable job of sensing smoke, which btw is the most common form of unfriendly fires during the incipient stage? Why do we install alarms designed to protect against carbon monoxide death but do nothing to protect against carbon monoxide poisoning?



    You and I have the knowledge to make a difference, Now, it is up to us to either apply that knowledge in the most effective manner and do the most good for the most people or else we, too become part of the problem.
  • gennady
    gennady Member Posts: 839
    english

    "how can one believe someone who cant write any language or speak English very well passed licensing exams."





    Are you making statement that I should not be permitted install boilers? English is not my native language. I speak with strong accent. But I m the one who makes all these boiler work after people with perfect English screw up installations. Perfect English makes perfect boilers? Boiler in the picture made in Germany by non English speaking people and installed in New York by people with less then perfect English.
  • HDE
    HDE Member Posts: 225
    Read it wrong

    Gennady

    I don't think it was meant to offend you



    It was about how could someone that can't read or write English pass a license exam.



    It wasn't about you who can read OK, but write English better install equipment properly.
  • Mad Dog_2
    Mad Dog_2 Member Posts: 6,831
    Yes, Gennady....

    Your work is Beautiful. I think he was just venting. Not knowing the Language can be a problem on the construction site though. Keep up the nice work. Mad Dog
  • jonny88
    jonny88 Member Posts: 1,139
    c'mon gennady

    there is no way you did that work it must have been one of your English speaking employees(joking ok).I got to back you up here,the way I read that post I most definitely

    agree with you,I certainly did catch a few racial undertones.By the way to the poster in the town where I work the civil employees do not resemble anyone from a "third world" country although there is no shortage of corruption.My two cents.Beautiful work by the way....
This discussion has been closed.