Shut gas off....Lanlord Pissed!!!

[Tech23]

So it seems every year there are a few that very upset when we find an old furnace running in a deadly condition.

One of our guys went to a rental and found the heat exchanger on an old furnace not only badly sooted up, but cracked as well. He shut the gas cock off, explained it to the tennants and then called the landlord who after threatening to sue us for frozen pipes hung up on him. After talking to her this morning and explaining things to her, she was still upset, but is allowing us to install a new furnace tomorrow.

It just kills me that homeowners do not take gas furnace safety serious and make us out to be the bad guys. She was more worried about frozen pipes than the safety of her tennants or the law suit from the family of her tennants that might have followed one or both of them getting sick, hurt or killed.

In my area city code requires us to turn the gas off to any furnace that poses dangers of fire hazzard and/or carbon monoxide. As much as I hate it, we really do have their best interests at heart.

So, my question is:
In your area, do you shut the gas off when you find them running and posing harmful or deadly threats?

[hvaclarry]

what part of kansas you from?

[mike3]

Thats an easy one-yes

[Tech23]

what part of kansas you from?

Wichita area

[pecmsg]

So it seems every year there are a few that very upset when we find an old furnace running in a deadly condition.

One of our guys went to a rental and found the heat exchanger on an old furnace not only badly sooted up, but cracked as well. He shut the gas cock off, explained it to the tennants and then called the landlord who after threatening to sue us for frozen pipes hung up on him. After talking to her this morning and explaining things to her, she was still upset, but is allowing us to install a new furnace tomorrow.

It just kills me that homeowners do not take gas furnace safety serious and make us out to be the bad guys. She was more worried about frozen pipes than the safety of her tennants or the law suit from the family of her tennants that might have followed one or both of them getting sick, hurt or killed.

In my area city code requires us to turn the gas off to any furnace that poses dangers of fire hazzard and/or carbon monoxide. As much as I hate it, we really do have their best interests at heart.

So, my question is:
In your area, do you shut the gas off when you find them running and posing harmful or deadly threats?

Screw the landlord.

Do you and your tech sleep well at night knowing you did the right thing? Yes.

Better safe then sorry.

[Tech23]

Screw the landlord.

Do you and your tech sleep well at night knowing you did the right thing? Yes.

Better safe then sorry.

Yes and very good point!

[hvaclarry]

I had a had a homeowner one time which was a grandpa and his two granddaughters were over there staying with him. it was cold outside and he had a crack, i explained to him what i had to do. He got mad stood by his granddaughters and said to me, " i sure hope you sleep well knowing my granddaughters will be cold" i stood up from putting the furnace back together, looked at him and said " as long as i know you and your granddaughters will wake up in the morning safe because i did my job right, i will sleep good" he didn't say anything after that..... some people just dont understand

[Tech23]

I had a had a homeowner one time which was a grandpa and his two granddaughters were over there staying with him. it was cold outside and he had a crack, i explained to him what i had to do. He got mad stood by his granddaughters and said to me, " i sure hope you sleep well knowing my granddaughters will be cold" i stood up from putting the furnace back together, looked at him and said " as long as i know you and your granddaughters will wake up in the morning safe because i did my job right, i will sleep good" he didn't say anything after that..... some people just dont understand

Yes, good story...sometimes their priorties are out of whack.

[local553]

i would shut it off no matter what code was put it on ticket and have it signed.

[martyinlincoln]

Deadly condition- don't even have to think about it. The gas to the furnace is shut off and disabled so they can't just turn it on when I leave.

[Tech23]

Yeah, we don't disable it, but do shut the gas off and have them sign ticket like "Local 553" said. Then if they do take their life into their own hands we are free and clear from responsibility.

[deux]

It seems the higher the monoxide level the more resistant the people are to having it shut down.

I had a reading once over 500ppm and had to call the fire dept to evacuate the building. No one would leave !??! After it aired out, I found the neg pressure issue and corrected it. No one would go back in. I swear monoxide makes people combative.

[Tech23]

It seems the higher the monoxide level the more resistant the people are to having it shut down.

I had a reading once over 500ppm and had to call the fire dept to evacuate the building. No one would leave !??! After it aired out, I found the neg pressure issue and corrected it. No one would go back in. I swear monoxide makes people combative.




Yes and unfortunately what so many do not understand is the fact that natural draft furnaces without rollout limits pose such a great fire hazard aside from the CO danger.

[ga-hvac-tech]

GA law requires us to shut off the gas... and I DO!!!

My approach is to explain to them they have two choices:

One is I will turn off the gas to the furnace... OR
I will call the gas co and they will remove the meter until a permitted and inspected repair is completed. (Not kidding, they WILL). Usually the HO (or LL) backs off.

One thing to remember is to do this politely and show respect for the customer. Yeah, they will fuss... they do not understand. It is our job as professionals to explain so they do understand. One thing a Pro can do is get the HO to 'google' carbon monoxide poisoning... and read up on it. They usually settle down when they realize I am not blowing smoke at them.

The important thing is to detail out what you found, what the danger is, and GET IT SIGNED!

[Tech23]

GA law requires us to shut off the gas... and I DO!!!

My approach is to explain to them they have two choices:

One is I will turn off the gas to the furnace... OR
I will call the gas co and they will remove the meter until a permitted and inspected repair is completed. (Not kidding, they WILL). Usually the HO (or LL) backs off.

One thing to remember is to do this politely and show respect for the customer. Yeah, they will fuss... they do not understand. It is our job as professionals to explain so they do understand. One thing a Pro can do is get the HO to 'google' carbon monoxide poisoning... and read up on it. They usually settle down when they realize I am not blowing smoke at them.

The important thing is to detail out what you found, what the danger is, and GET IT SIGNED!



Very good points about being polite and respectful...yes it is our job to educate the customer.

[mike3]

I don't know how many second opinion calls i have been and found a disconnect & cap problem. First thing out of their mouths "you can't do that". And that is after a dealer had been out and already advised them. And then you always have a call to inspect the hx and the h.o doesn't tell you they already know there is a crack. It becomes obvious in short while when the causally ask "do you see anything", well no its time to confront them, especially if you are having trouble finding anything. They always spill it.

[zw17]

I "lost" my company a pretty good account over something similar...

Went to a large church to do the fall maintenance on a Bryan boiler, old, like 40yrs old. Tore it down and cleaned it up, put it back together and went to fire it...

Before I continue, this thing was like 1.5million BTUH, not small, and had a wild pilot on one side of the burners and a baso switch safety pilot on the other side, no LWCO, no high limit, no double block and bleed, etc.. it was so old it was grandfathered past all the codes.

So I light the pilots and proceed with the one and only safety check, fire the boiler and ramp it up, satisfy the operator, it shuts off, let it sit for 10min and shut the pilot gas off, let it sit 5min and cause the operator to call for fire.... Gas, gas, and more gas comes pouring out of the burners with no pilot to light it. The Baso switch was failed closed telling the gas valve it had a good pilot. The switch was so old they discontinued making it 10yrs prior and Ohio code says once you put a replacement part in you must bring that machine up to code.

I tag the boiler and explain to the customer that I cannot turn it back on without bringing the entire boiler up to code. This didn't sit well with him and he literally came unglued and kicked me off his property. Turned into a huge fesaco but my service manager and VP of the company went to bat for me and backed my decision 100%. I felt fine because they ran a daycare out of the church that shared a common wall with the boiler room and that boiler was a ticking time bomb waiting to happen.

Less than a week later they hired our competitor to install two new boilers in place of the time bomb.

Such is life, I still sleep well. :angel:

[Tech23]

Zw17,

That is a good story, thanks for sharing.

[pauls heating &]

had a lawyer once called in about her office furnace...rotten egg smell,headaches..
found cracked hx...shut down...

then her call to the office...which my service mgr agreed w me...she insisted her 18 yr old furnace was only 3 yrs old...how clueless she was...even showed her the cracks..

she wanted me to let it run and poisen everybody....

[Some Dude]

Always shut them off and have them sign. Funny ,they either react with anger or resignation.
Probably because they have heard so many stories about companies ripping people off.
A few years ago we had a company going around scratching hx to make them
Look bad,that didn't worlnout For them,they made the news.
One customer had two bad hx on carrier package equipment. One rusted through completely. The other had several pin holes. Dummy me poked a screwdriver through one ignite rust holes to see how deep the thing was.
Despite the fact that there were several holes in thebthing and the other unit(same age) was completely destroyed. I still had to deal with the bbb , threats of lawsuit etc.
Now i take pics,record co levels and turn it off.

[SJProwler]

Never feel guilty about shutting off the unit or the gas if necessary. You're saving lives!

2 die from damaged vent pipe (http://www.fox28.com/Global/story.asp?S=13599319)

[ICanHas]

"inspection found cracked heat exchanger/flue gas leakage. Fuel supply turned off as required by municipal/state code xx.xxx" is what I would write up on work order. Let them sue and watch them get laughed out of court.

You will be liable for not turning it off for lack of due diligence.

[kenney t]

In mass we have to shut the gas off and disable it.
as far as pissing off the customer, who cares its our job.



i sleep with one eye open anyway.

[Tech23]

Appreciate the replies guys...nice to know it is not just my area.

[pecmsg]

Don’t let this happen to you.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E4DA1F3DF936A1575AC0A9609582 60&scp=2&sq=Cause%20of%20Death%20of%20Vitas%20Gerulaitis&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/keyword/gas-heater?scp=3&sq=Cause%20of%20Death%20of%20Vitas%20Gerulaitis&st=cse