# Boiler maintenance, combustion analysis



## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

We got a couple bids to do boiler maintenance in small apartment buildings..

My boss is being a cheap *******... he doesnt want to purchase a printer for the read outside of 
our combustion analyzer...

I told him before... if you want to do gas work in Ontario you got to play by the rules... and we have a governing body that will take my house away if something happens at one of the jobs I was at...

He thinks a boiler maintenance is a in and out process.. 

I'm ready just to say find someone else to do your half assed work... if you dont want to do the job properly by the book and proper documentation for when a flow switch or low water cut off freezes up and the boiler catches on fire.. that I'm responsible for then I'm not doing it.. period..

I've been planning a move but one of our guys went to school and I said to myself he was nice enough to employ me I'll wait till his other guy gets back before I disembark...

Oh well just upsets me that hes not worried about a lawsuit or anything bad happening like a printer isn't even a big purchase it's just the principal..

Nobody else is capable of doing the job so I think I got him by the balls there he just like to be a bully... I'm the boss... Sorry your not my boss... your my employer your replaceable too


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

You mentioned combustion, do you have your TSSA gas fitter and oil fitter tickets? TSSA doesn't fool around when I did my courses the first thing they thought us we are 100% responsible and the code clearly showed jail time. That was like 15-20 years ago.

I had a boss who didn't want to buy blades to skin the thermostat wires so we refused to skin them so he did them in the evening so save a couple dollars on blades.


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## Mark D (Nov 2, 2019)

[/QUOTE]
Thats a hard place to be in, I would hope that he would be the one liable if anything went bad.


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

Im liscenced to work on appliances up to 400k btu so G2... I do not have OBT(oil burner) but large majority of places here run on propane or NG... 

Nope the gas fitter is 100% liable can get a 50000 dollar fine and up to 2 years inprisonment.. 

The company can get up to I believe 5 million dollar fine and the owner can also be put in jail... 

I dont screw around at all buy the book...

I use manometer and combustion analyzer to dial in burners on every job.. I'm pretty cautious... 

I'd just like to be able to better document my combustion results..

My boss let's me keep our scrap so I'll just use that to buy it he said he didn't want to pay for it so... I'll get it myself.. I got a job last week with a significant amount of copper... so that helps

This all started last week because a guy from the utility company Enbridge called me asking about how to fire up a natural draft hot water tank... because I installed it mu phone number was on the tag..

I said it's a pilot you gotta get it lit and hold it for about 30 seconds thinking to myself how can this guy work for utility company...

Then he starts going wheres the tag for this furnace the combustion analysis data this that and the other... I said I document the reading of combustion analyzer on my invoice once the tank has sufficiently warmed up and hang my pressure test tag... 

oh that's not good enough you need to have print out... I know hes right a print out is definitely key to proving your case when your in front of a judge so from now on I'm going to just do the print out staple a copy on my tag... staple a copy to my pressure test tags... that I keep my own personal record of and that's that


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Venomthirst said:


> ...the gas fitter is 100% liable can get a 50000 dollar fine and up to 2 years imprisonment..





I don't know what the consequences are here but the liability is similar. At the end of the day you're the guy with the license and if you do something dangerous it's on you.


Often bosses make pretty bad decisions because they aren't in the field anymore and are trying to think about so many jobs they forget the details. Also, some are just stupid. 



Sometimes our guys have put their foot down and have refused to do something because it isn't correct and/or could be dangerous. Boy does that piss the boss off and they may try to send another guy but inevitably that guy will refuse too. After a couple guys say no the point usually gets across.


A couple years ago several of us were sent to change a boiler. The jacket insulation was all asbestos. We refused. That boss was pissed at first but calmed down. It helped that the home owner was understanding and agreed with us.








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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Either put your foot down and have him pay for the tools you need. If he's that stupid which I bet he is then buy the tools on your own but unknowingly he ends up paying for it. I would put the tool on his account and he'll find out in a month when he gets the bill or he may not even see it. While you are at it buy a good one.

If that isn't possible there are ways to get that thing paid. I got even many times with bosses who were acting like a bi tch. The easiest way and getting away with it without being a criminal is to take longer breaks each day and eventually that time off will pay for that tool. An extra 30 minutes each day will cost him a lot the end of the week.

There are other ways but it's not for public discussion.


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Here's another example we used on a cheap boss. Once he came up to us and said I'm not paying your travel time anymore to bring the van on the job site. He said I'm not paying you guys from 6:30 to 7 am to drive and I'm not paying your travel time back to the shop... I was a second year back then and my mechanic (my best mentor ever) said ok fine we'll be at the job site at 7 and YOU bring the cube van to us and then you can come and pick it up in at 3:30 and bring it back to your shop.

He got so pi$$ed because he would of needed a second guy and a 2nd vehicle to go and pick it up! :biggrin: Then he said I'll fire you. My mentor said no problem the apprentice(me) is going to quit if you fire me. My boss turned to me and said you are going to work with me from now on. I said no you fire him I quit. It was the end of that episode and he continued paying our time to drive his truck. My mentor always had him by the balls when he tried shenanigans. It was the same boss who skinned the wires at night. :vs_laugh::vs_laugh:


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tango said:


> Either put your foot down and have him pay for the tools you need. If he's that stupid which I bet he is then buy the tools on your own but unknowingly he ends up paying for it. I would put the tool on his account and he'll find out in a month when he gets the bill or he may not even see it. While you are at it buy a good one.





My bosses are pretty good with buying tools. The only stuff we are really required to have are the basic hand tools and an 18" and a 24". If a tool breaks they will replace it. I could pretty much charge any tool at the supply house or hardware store and with the simple explanation of mine broke they would be fine. But that level of trust seems to be very rare in the trades. Many guys who start working for us are very apprehensive at first. We are a very different company/area than the dog eat dog world most of you see.



The only real quarrel was a couple years ago when they bought all the install guys makita duffel bag tool kits because many of our corded tools were wearing out. Some of the service guys who inevitably get sent to do installs from time to time were pissed. In my case every single one of my cordless tools I paid for. 



Over the past couple years they have gotten the rest of the guys cordless stuff too if they asked for it. For some of the guys this worked out quite well because they already had some cordless stuff of a different brand so later on when they asked for it they got matching stuff. 



Now our supply house pushes milwaukee stuff which many of the guys prefer. I am not a makita fanboy but do have all makita stuff. I will say the milwaukee cordless hole hawg seems to be the best and I have long preffered dewalt drills. Makita used to be my favorite cordless drill but they really don't make them like they used to. My makita cordless sawzall is golden though. 











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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Tango said:


> Here's another example we used on a cheap boss. Once he came up to us and said I'm not paying your travel time anymore to bring the van on the job site. He said I'm not paying you guys from 6:30 to 7 am to drive and I'm not paying your travel time back to the shop... I was a second year back then and my mechanic (my best mentor ever) said ok fine we'll be at the job site at 7 and YOU bring the cube van to us and then you can come and pick it up in at 3:30 and bring it back to your shop.







For decades, like 80 years, the guys would get to the shop for 730 and hop in their vans. The only guys who drove their vans to work were on call that week and had taken their vans home. Well now like half our guys live more than 30mins away, not like the old days where we all were in the same town pretty much.


A couple years ago they decided that many of the guys would go direct to the job, mostly install guys but some service guys too. It made sense because often we would have calls 5 mins from a guy who lived 30+ minutes away. Instead of that guy driving 40 mins to the shop and then 40 mins to the customer he could just drive 5 mins from his house to the customer.


Of course big boss wanted the guys to leave their house the same time they used to but instead go straight to the jobsite. And of course the guys were like, we'll get to the job at 730 instead of the shop at 730.


We landed somewhere in the middle but pretty darn close to jobsite at 730. Most of the guys like it and now we are all used to it. Some of us like my self live so close to the shop we just go to the shop. Often the big install guys still go to the shop to grab parts.


The real fun is when a guy is on a big job, leaves his tools there because they say he is going back the next day, then the next day they tell him to come to the shop first that morning, once at the shop they tell him to go somewhere else, and then they freak when he says his tools are on the jobsite. 



Technically that is the offices fault but frankly these guys need to not leave their tools on the site even when they are told the night before things won't change and they are coming back. As a service guy I take tons of tool in and out of my van like 5 times a day.
















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