ProTech HVAC

Dear Representatives,

With 30 years in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) business and 22 of them in business, I write you with a request to please consider the reality of the lack of effective and universal code enforcement in New Hampshire.

In February you may have heard about the Hilton Garden Inn (in Portsmouth) carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning that sent 11 employees and guests to the hospital. At least 1 employee working in the laundry of the hotel across from the boiler room nearly died and was found unconscious on the floor. This incident occurred in a multi-million dollar building that was commissioned in 2006. In 2009, as a sales engineer for a mechanical contracting firm, I noticed several serious code violations relating to the installation of the gas-fired domestic water heaters that served the guest rooms, so I proposed a fix for some of the issues. Hilton management never accepted my proposal or my dire warnings of impending carbon monoxide poisoning of the buildings occupants. I allege that the City of Portsmouth code enforcement officials did not do their job of ensuring that the building was safe for its occupants and, therefore, is responsible for the CO poisoning. Please visit this site if you care to read my full story of the causes for the CO incident at Hilton Garden Inn: http://www.hvaccomplaints.com/forum/topic/the-hilton-garden-inn-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-why-it-happened

I can name potentially hundreds of buildings in the city of Portsmouth that have had the same neglect in code enforcement and protection of the unwitting public. As an expert witness I have seen code enforcement officials from NH towns who have allowed a myriad of flaws and potentially hazardous fossil fuel-burning appliance installations. One inspector allowed a gas furnace to be vented into a sewer pipe. Another inspector allowed a radiant floor heating system to be installed without any insulation below the concrete slab, thereby heating the earth around the outside of the building so all snow would melt and the owner experienced a $3,000 LPG bill for the month of March, then spent 6 years suing the contractor. I've seen an installer (a New Hampshire Fire Fighter) incorrectly install a wood pellet-fired furnace in the basement of a house only to emit carbon monoxide into the home nearly killing the family inside. I could go on.

There is no minimum code enforcement standard in New Hampshire and the public is suffering with their lives, their money and their time to deal with lawsuits in a state that is reducing the number of days citizens can have in Court. I was recently told that if you want to sue in Sullivan County Superior Court, then you will have to wait 6 years to get a court date. All the while, I was expert in one of the two court rooms in Sullivan Cty. Superior Court while the other room sat vacant the entire week and the judge hearing the case I was part of agreed to come out of retirement to hear the case.

In NH it has become a travesty for consumers of mechanical systems, namely heating appliances, for 3 reasons: the consumer is likely to get an installation that does not meet minimum safety codes and is almost guaranteed that a competent code enforcement official will not inspect the system for basic safety requirements, and they are likely to never get their day in court when the system fails. Meanwhile, because their system was either not designed correctly or was installed incorrectly, their fuel bills are enormous.

I know this is the Live Free or Die state and I also know that many are dying because of the lack of code enforcement. Where is the "live free" part that we are supposed to believe in? Free of code enforcement? Some of you may be thinking, "Ah, let the buyer beware, it serves them right if they're that stupid to hire such incompetence in the first place!" In my experience, most HVACR consumers are oblivious to the important details of a heating system, including a competently installed system that their lives may very well depend on, considering the alternative - an incorrectly installed system. I'll bet that maybe only 3 or 4 of you can name more than a few components in your own heating system. You and your constituents need protection from shoddy installers.

A few years ago you passed HB 1711 which became known as "Amelia's Law." This created a requirement for those installing and servicing gas-fired appliances to be licensed. While I think this law will have some positive effect, it is utterly useless if there are few qualified code enforcement officials to ensure that the installers are licensed and qualified and install gas-fired appliances in accordance with manufacturers' specifications, which usually defer to recognized codes. As it is now, New Hampshire is the Wild Wild West for those who would install and service fossil fuel appliances and fear no one, not the code enforcer, nor the Courts.

As an HVACR system designer, service technician, installer, inventor, consultant and expert witness, I am tired of competing against those who are not so competent and are willing to cut corners to make an extra dime and putting the public at risk of monetary and bodily injury and even death. It is very difficult to try to compete within New Hampshire's lax code enforcement environment.

I invite you all to consider a minimum code enforcement standard for New Hampshire, to protect the unwitting citizenry of this state and the business climate. In the case of Hilton Garden Inn, I allege the engineers of the building were first in line to make mistakes with system design, the installers perpetuated the mistakes and the code enforcement official sealed the fate of those 11 people who nearly lost their lives in February of 2009. Please, let "the buck stop" with you! You can ensure that your position of last in line does not continue this dangerous progression. I would love to work with you in development of a bill that will ensure that everyone lives free and doesn't die because of some improperly installed appliance.

I can be reached anytime for discussions on this issue.

Sincerely,

John Rocheleau
603-545-1282
P.O. Box 29
Portsmouth, NH 03802
www.thehvacguru.com
www.hvaccomplaints.com