# So a HVAC contractor walks into a bar



## cda (Nov 5, 2018)

Make that an office, and has a question

What should they do if they find a house with a unit putting out

1. Low levels of CO?

2. Medium levels of CO?

And the house owner does not want to fix it anytime soon??

And winter is strarting/heater time.


And a legitiment hvac company, not trying to make money, but maybe save lives and a day in court.


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## ICE (Nov 5, 2018)

Alert the gas company.  Any time I have to alert the gas company they are there in minutes.  Edison is nonchalant....the gas company is anal.  Of course I get name, rank and serial number which I suppose scares some people.  I like the gas company.  My bill is $12 this month.  I'll give'em a call if you want.


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## BLangley (Nov 6, 2018)

Maryland recently had a case on similar facts:

https://mdcourts.gov/data/opinions/cosa/2018/1719s16.pdf

https://www.macdonaldlawgroup.com/b...tractors-to-inspect-and-to-warn-of-pote.shtml

Sounds like they've warned and service was refused. Probably something they want to document explicitly with the owner's signatures. Also might be worth a call to their attorney to set a standard method. Certainly won't be the last owner to pick short-term wants and needs over their long-term health/life.


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## Keystone (Nov 6, 2018)

Great Post. Food for thought for all inspectors and contractors when encountering significant concerns.


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## steveray (Nov 6, 2018)

Was it a bar or a water column?


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## linnrg (Nov 6, 2018)

there have been contractors who write this up to gain extra work - I personally know one.  I had called him to do a service and his report stated CO levels.  I did not like his quote to do the repairs on an older boiler I had, so I called another contractor who came out and could not detect CO.  I also had a CO Detector in that room that never went off (neither contractor knew this).  Luckily for me I was able to get a energy grant and replaced that boiler with a high efficiency unit that no longer relies on natural draft.


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## cda (Nov 6, 2018)

linnrg said:


> there have been contractors who write this up to gain extra work - I personally know one.  I had called him to do a service and his report stated CO levels.  I did not like his quote to do the repairs on an older boiler I had, so I called another contractor who came out and could not detect CO.  I also had a CO Detector in that room that never went off (neither contractor knew this).  Luckily for me I was able to get a energy grant and replaced that boiler with a high efficiency unit that no longer relies on natural draft.





I understand the vultures

One debate is 

Where do you take the reading?

Near the heat exchanger ?

In the plenum?

In a room down the way, where the co level may have disapted ??


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## Gregg Harris (Dec 24, 2018)

readings should be taken at the appliance. C/O is created within 3/4 of an inch of the fossil fuel point of ignition. 

After the repair was made if a combustion analyzer was used it would have shown the high levels of C/O if it was present and directly related to the appliance. It would not have shown if the equipment was burning correctly and the bathroom fan was not on at the time. When the bathroom fan was turned on and blowing back towards the appliances is when a properly tuned piece of equipment would create C/O since the air to fuel ratio would be disrupted at the point of ignition.


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