water drip from nipple connection on steam main

gerry gill · November 2006

before worrying about it..and give him a phone call, you never know if the email gets thru or picked up by a spam blocker etc..

<A HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=360&Step=30">To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"</A>

Pete_24 · November 2006

I hired a great steam guy last winter to add the Gorton 2s on my 1-pipe steam mains (one per main). On my 3 inch main, I have since noticed a slight drip of water where the 3 inch. main connects to the new nipple that the pro installed before the new union. (I see this most often at the start of the steam cycle // can't remember if I see it at the end or not).

If you look at the close up, this is the left side bottom of where the new nipple connects to the Tee off the original main pipe. Ignore the additional messy pipe dope at the bottom, I shoved that in today just to see if it would help for the time being.

I have a few questions:

1. If the main is pitched properly, should condensate ever be sitting in it? I am a little concerned that the pitch is now slightly off on the main as a result of this new piece that was added - it may have been a 1/2 in. too short or something / thus impacting the pitch (I do hear a very slight water hammer only at the start of the steam cycle, but haven't been able to isolate its source). Unfortunately because of the unions, etc, I can't really get a level on the main to see if it's still pitching right.

2. If there is this slight water drip at the bottom where the Tee connects in to this nipple, I assume this is from one of a few things: pro nicked threads while removing old connection (he needed to cut out the old piece carefully with a sawzall), not enough teflon tape, not enough pipe dope, nipple isn't in tight enough, or is it possible there is another cause?

3. Given that the pro did this work last winter, but I hadn't really noticed this small drip back then (didn't pay close enough attention until I was able to replace the old boiler at the start of this heating season), would you expect the pro to fix his/her problem free of charge or would you charge someone to fix an accidental faulty installation job?

I did compensate the pro very fairly for his work because I wanted to hire someone who knew what they were doing. The pro is 30m away, so I realize it isn't very convenient or free for him to come back to probably do about 10m of work.

I did drop the pro an email on Friday, but have not received a reply as of yet. I am just wondering your thought on this leak / possible pitch problem on the main and if you, as a pro would stand behind your work or if you would expect the customer to pay for a visit to fix it.

Leo · November 2006

You make reference

You make reference to your "steam pro" who worked on the system last season. Then you state a new boiler was installed. Did your pro install the boiler? Did the installation impact the present situation? If you had no problems till the new system was installed I would call them first.

Leo

brucewo1b · November 2006

I agrre give him time but

3. Given that the pro did this work last winter, but I hadn't really noticed this small drip back then (didn't pay close enough attention until I was able to replace the old boiler at the start of this heating season), would you expect the pro to fix his/her problem free of charge or would you charge someone to fix an accidental faulty installation job?

Was itleaking befre install or did some one move something during install that moved that fitting?? Gray area to me.

Mike L · November 2006

condensate dripping

If I was the pro that installed the whatever it was and there was a problem with it I would absolutly stand behind my work,and I always do.However if I didn't get the replacement job I wouldn't be to quick to get back to you about a problem that showed up after the system was replaced,and to deal with a leaking pipe that was probably caused by someone elses work whether it is in an area that I worked on or not I probably would tell you to go pound sand or gladly come fix it for a fee.Time plus two way travel.Loyalty is a two way street.If someone else did the changeout then they should have fixed any assoiated problems or it's not a complete job,also if your shopping price tag you get what you pay for!

Long Beach Ed · November 2006

New

It's a new problem. Pay to have it fixed. You didn't buy a lifetime warranty, did you?

Long Beach Ed

Pete_24 · November 2006

Nope, I didn't buy a lifetime warranty, but the fact is that the work was done towards the middle / end of last heating season, so it's not like I've really had much run time with it. If it was done 2 years ago and now all of a sudden broke, I wouldn't even have thought about asking if it would be expected that someone who cares about their work would fix their error at no charge. I also paid a pretty large premium to have this guy do the work to install the vents on my mains because I trusted he would do a good job. Now I'm faced with paying even more money to have someone take it apart and fix it.

I don't really know if the problem was visible before or not. Unfortunately the leak is really tiny and it's not like you see water pouring out of the main. Even now I have trouble knowing if it's really happening.

The new boiler isn't anywhere near the end of the main and no work was done anywhere near there. The issue is specifically on the nipple installed by the original heating guy.

I hired a different Wallie to do the new boiler because the initial guy that did the vents prefers to work with Natural Gas and had a preference towards Peerless boilers. I wanted someone who worked more with Oil (we had no interest in NG) and someone who would install a WM boiler.

Boston · November 2006

2 years is unreasonable

period.

Adding in the fact that you did major work on the system, whther close by or not, with someone else.makes all bets off.

If it were a new house(at least in MA) a GC has to warranty the house for a year.

Whether the defects are carefully examined or not.

bob young · November 2006

unions

unions tend to loosen & leak with vibration. the gent that installed the boiler unintentioally disturbed the mains simply by working on them. if he was aware there was a union in line he shold have checked it when job was completed. last one working on system usually inherits full liability. a flange union might have been a better choice of connection. or welded threadolet.

Pete_24 · November 2006

Keep in mind, the leak isn't at the union, it's at the tee where the first pro connected it to the new nipple.

I get the point though, it's now my problem to deal with even though I paid top dollar for it to be done right the first time (by not hiring a knucklehead). I am confident it has nothing to do with the new boiler.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I will leave it up to 'pro' that installed it in the first place to see how he would like to make it right, realizing that he may not take responsibility for correcting his accidental mess up.

I believe you can learn a lot from how people deal with their mistakes. I have seen many pros here do much more than spend 10m fixing screwups on their dime because they take pride in doing quality work.

I believe the reason why us consumers are willing to pay more for the work of a 'pro' vs. a 'knucklehead' is because of the fact that real pros stand by their work while the knuckleheads skip town.

water drip from nipple connection on steam main

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