Stupid guy ruins the water by fixing the furnace

[ShadowBall]

For a little bit, my mother was having issues with her furnace, (which also heats the water for the house). The furnace is in the garage and it was like 85 degrees in there, and the hot tap water was searing hot, so Mom called the guy who comes in once a year to clean the furnace to ask what the problem was.

I don't remember all of it...something about it was heating up and then re-heating for no reason, so Mom asked him to fix that and the overly hot water. This guy's father knew what he was doing, but the guy who does this now seems to be kind of a moron.

In short, by fixing the temperature of the furnace, the asshole made the hot water too cold and somehow fucked up the water pressure so that when both hot and cold faucets are on all the way, the water barely trickles. It takes 30-40 minutes to fill the tub for a bath, and the water's not even all that hot.

I'm wondering if the guy just screwed up because he's stupid or if he intentionally ruined something so Mom would call him back, take 5 minutes to fix the problem, and demand $100 for his "hour" of work.

He's also kind of nosy. When Mom was showing him to the garage - the only place he had to be - he was opening every single closed door on the way to the garage.

[Draco]

Sounds like he was casing the place.

[XCashier]

Is there someone you could report him to? He's incompetent at best.

[Kristev]

I'd call someone else to fix the hot water. He's up to something. And report him to the BBB.

[Sapphire Silk]

Is there someone you could report him to? He's incompetent at best.

If he is self employed or owns his own business, then not directly. If he owns a franchise, then you can call corporate of the franchise.

You can file complaints with the BBB, but they're largely toothless.

However, the state licensing board WILL get his attention . . . he needs that license to stay in business.

[PepperElf]

However, the state licensing board WILL get his attention . . . he needs that license to stay in business.

especially if you include how much he failed
and that he was being nosy and trying to snoop before doing the job... that right there may get him investigated i would hope

[dalesys]

However, the state licensing board WILL get his attention . . . he needs that license to stay in business.

If he even has a license. That was probably daddy's too.

[ShadowBall]

As far as I know, the business was family-owned and not a chain company. Daddy used to be the honcho, but he passed away a few months ago, and that's when Sonny Boy took over.

And from what I know, my mom's seeking services from a different heating/plumbing business because she doesn't feel like having to keep giving this moron $100 when a new problem will inevitably arise with the furnace or the water.

I didn't even know the water pressure had anything to do with the furnace or the water heater,and my mother thought it was the water pump buried underground in the yard. But I don't think it's a coincidence that the water began being fucked up right after this guy left.

Maybe it was an accident, maybe it was intentional. I have no idea. I want to see if there's anywhere online where others may have talked about this particular company once Sonny Boy took over.

[yeahwhatev]

The temperature on a hot water heater is controlled by a dial on the front, in most cases. Older units can have sediment on the bottom and need regular flushing to keep the pipes clean. What may have happened was that the thermometer needed cleaning or adjusting. Opening up the old unit without flushing the system can cause clogged pipes. Also, there can be feed valves into and out of a heating unit. Check them for tightness, they should be fully open.

[It's me]

There is probably some sort of proportioning valve that mixes cold water in with the hot to keep the temperature down. Seems likely it has been messed with....

[Shalom]

Sounds like you've got a tankless coil hot water system.

The place to go for help on any sort of heating system is http://www.heatinghelp.com/Forum . Read through some of the threads on the Main Wall and the water-heater sub-board (which is at http://www.heatinghelp.com/forum-cat...stic-Hot-Water ), and you'll learn more than you ever thought possible about heating systems. If you can't find an answer, post a question; there are helpful people there.

[kpzra]

There is usually a main shut off valve, it may not be open all the way which would give you low water pressure.

[Erin]

We've been in our house for 9yrs, and the kitchen sink has always had crappy water pressure. Our faucet wore out earlier this year (corroded itself to death) and so we had it replaced. Plumber that replaced it also replaced the shut-offs with quarter turn shut off valves.

First time I tried the faucet, I nearly drowned because so much water shot out of it. Plumber told us that the original shut offs probably werent open all the way.

Which would explain why it always took about 5 minutes to get any hot water out of the faucet and ten minutes or more to fill the sink, which isnt very big.

[Redbeard]

There is usually a main shut off valve, it may not be open all the way which would give you low water pressure.

Just what I was going to say.
It's most likely incompetence, but he could be angling for that beloved callback where you don't do any work but still bill the cust for the 1 hour minimum.

[ShadowBall]

I dunno, there's a pretty prominent hot water tank/heater in the garage. My mother is retarded when it comes to such things (she can't even figure out the circuit box when a fuse is blown), so she intends to get someone else to come here to look at it for a little less than what Moron Sonny Boy was charging.