Wednesday, May 04, 2005
As long as nothing breaks, part 2
I spent yesterday morning sweating out a visit by Superior Propane. A couple of weeks again, one of their guys came in to inspect the propane system. This has been mandated by the provincial government and has to be done every ten years (big brother is watching over you). It's a safety and liability thing. The system was gas-tight, but he still wasn't happy. I was afraid he was going to "red-tag" my furnace because of its age. It's still cold enough that we need the heat on.
Last week, I got a call about a follow-up appointment. The scheduler said they needed to work on the tank so I decided to find out what exactly was going on. The tank had already been replaced in 2001. The service manager explained that they needed swap out the tank because of a rusty valve. They also needed to install a shut-off valve at the house and inspect the furnace vent. He said they would send the same fellow back with a more experienced person to do the work.
They inspected the furnace vent which involved actually going up on the roof. It was OK, but it will have to be inspected on an annual basis now. The vent is completely external to the house which is the way it was done 25 years ago. This allows the exhaust to cool too quickly so it can pool in the house leading to carbon monoxide build-up. I really have to get a CO detector.
Next, the experienced guy started working on the shut-off. The regulator had to be replaced as well. He also had to install a vent. Now we have this green pipe (he didn't have any white rustproof paint on the truck) running under our bedroom window out of the back porch to an open spot in the corner of the house. The other one worked on the upstairs stove replacing the copper tubing connection with plastic (?!).
All of this took about three hours. They decided to not to replace the tank after all. I'll be getting the bill in the mail.
D.
Last week, I got a call about a follow-up appointment. The scheduler said they needed to work on the tank so I decided to find out what exactly was going on. The tank had already been replaced in 2001. The service manager explained that they needed swap out the tank because of a rusty valve. They also needed to install a shut-off valve at the house and inspect the furnace vent. He said they would send the same fellow back with a more experienced person to do the work.
They inspected the furnace vent which involved actually going up on the roof. It was OK, but it will have to be inspected on an annual basis now. The vent is completely external to the house which is the way it was done 25 years ago. This allows the exhaust to cool too quickly so it can pool in the house leading to carbon monoxide build-up. I really have to get a CO detector.
Next, the experienced guy started working on the shut-off. The regulator had to be replaced as well. He also had to install a vent. Now we have this green pipe (he didn't have any white rustproof paint on the truck) running under our bedroom window out of the back porch to an open spot in the corner of the house. The other one worked on the upstairs stove replacing the copper tubing connection with plastic (?!).
All of this took about three hours. They decided to not to replace the tank after all. I'll be getting the bill in the mail.
D.
