ProTech HVAC

In August of 2005 I was asked by the buyer of a recently built house to evaluate the heating and cooling systems, which did not seem to be working. I obliged, and my evaluation of the systems turned up many issues. Among them, the furnace in the attic was vented into the sewer pipe; there were wall grilles installed in place of floor grilles, which their 2-year old managed to remove, then crawled into the duct; flexible duct was used in place of more rugged (and expensive) insulated metal duct, driving up fuel and electricity costs; the soft copper gas line was not adequately supported; a hole was chopped out of the inside of the blower compartment to provide air to the blower, given the return air duct was too small (the problem with that is attic air was drawn into the furnace then recirculated about the house); and the “central air” conditioning didn’t include the majority of components necessary for the system to provide cooling.

Amazingly, this sort of installation is all too common. Presently, New Hampshire has no enforceable license requirements of anyone in the HVACR trade. However, last year a law requiring tradesman who work with gas-fired equipment was passed and will be required in January of 2009, and enforced beginning in July, 2009. Unfortunately, it took the death of 5-year old Amelia Luhrman. (The article follows.)

OSSIPEE, N.H. — The parents of a young girl killed in a fiery explosion in Moultonboro were in court on Friday looking for answers in the death of their daughter.

Patrick Taft, 40, of Center Barnstead, N.H., was charged with reckless conduct and causing the explosion that killed Amelia Luhrman, 5, in May 2003. The Luhrman family was spending the Memorial Day weekend at their vacation home.Prosecutors said that Taft cut a gas pipe in the home but failed to cap the open line. Taft was doing renovation work at the home.According to a fire and explosion investigator, Taft violated the state’s fuel gas code by failing to take safety measures, including immediately notifying the Luhrman family.Defense attorneys said that Taft took the proper steps after he cut the gas line by shutting down the outside tank and telling his employer about the situation.”At that time, he explained the gas had been removed from the stove, and he shut the gas off at the tank and that I should let the Luhrmans know not to turn the gasoline on at the tank,” said Greg Brown, Taft’s employer. “I proceeded to call the Luhrmans.”Defense attorney said that it’s an unusual leap for prosecutors to criminalize what Taft did, but prosecutors said that Taft must have realized the potential danger if he reported it to his boss.The case is now in the hands of a judge who will decide if it was reckless conduct or an accident. - WMUR.com/new

http://www.wmur.com/news/4700929/detail.html

As you can see from that article, people can be killed by the careless and inexperienced acts of those working in the HVAC trade, and in my example above, venting a gas-fired furnace into a sewer vent pipe can cause carbon monoxide poisoning to the occupants of the home.

New Hampshire State law does ascribe to national and international codes, but it is up to local code enforcement officials to ensure the codes are followed. The problem with that scenario is many rural towns in NH do not have competent inspectors who understand the ramifications of inexperienced installers and service persons’ acts of negligence, not to mention know what even to look for during an inspection, if there was one.

With respect to the new home buyer’s situation, they realized that there were numerous other issues with the property, and were forced to sue the seller for fraud for not disclosing the defects at the time of sale. After nearly 3 years, and tens of thousands of dollars in legal and expert witness fees, the home buyer won his case. I was happy to serve as the HVAC expert witness, which helped cinch the case for the plaintiff.

For these reasons, I offer a “performance insurance policy” to building contractors, and homeowners. The way this works is, I will inspect the work of other HVAC contractors…before the building contractor or homeowner has paid the final invoice for the HVAC contractor’s work. That way I can ensure that the work gets done right even if there is no competent inspector on site to inspect it himself. (See ‘Performance Insurance Policy’ blog post.)

For more information about this case, see the Concord Monitor Article, “Couple Win Lawsuit Against Developer”, written by Monitor Staff Writer Annmarie Timmins, in my blog post.

Tags: 5-year old dies in gas explosion, No License Required in NH, Plaintiff wins lawsuit

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Expert Witness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.