HELP paid contractor 3k to break my boiler

HELP paid contractor 3k to break my boiler

Rego Park, NY · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 2 votes

so we own a 3 story building, it had an old boiler that worked fine, the Tennant had to manually fill the boiler due to no water feeder.

Then we had issues with the electrical wiring to the boiler, so I brought in a contractor and I paid him 800 for 2 new electrical boxes in the basement, 575 to fix the boiler and a new pipe that had cracked. 900 for an automatic water feeder, transformer and Lowe water cut off. Also I paid them 400 for fixing parts on some steam radiators

The guys finish up and I pay them their money as everything works, a week later I notice that the radiators aren't heating but the main pipes that run up the wall are boiling hot. 

We look at the boiler and its burning hot. We call the contractor and he says he will come out and look tomorrow.

When he comes, the boiler is cracked, he said a build up of black sludge caused too much pressure in the system and that now I need a new boiler. 

This is not my fault as I paid 3k in total for him to fix everything and have it all running and surely the system should have been cleaned and some sort of pressure cut off should of been installed?

He is trying to make me fork out another 2500 to 3k for a new boiler, can I go after him for the money?

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Real Estate Agent · Bloomington, MN · Member since 2015 · 87 posts · 30 votes
9y

Sometimes s#%t happens. You fix one thing and it puts additional stresses on other components and they break. Unless you could find another contractor to explicitly say the previous one was negligent, you're probably out of luck taking them to small claims court.

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  • Real Estate Agent · Bloomington, MN · Member since 2015 · 87 posts · 30 votes
    9y

    Sometimes s#%t happens. You fix one thing and it puts additional stresses on other components and they break. Unless you could find another contractor to explicitly say the previous one was negligent, you're probably out of luck taking them to small claims court.

  • Real Estate Agent · Buena Park, CA · Member since 2016 · 743 posts · 424 votes
    9y
    You need to seek opinions from other professionals whom are familiar with this exact boiler system.Indeed you may be correct but,you need a strong professional opinion that you can present to a judge that proves he was negligent in his repairs.
  • Contractor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y
    Harry Wilson Did you pay him or tell him to clean the boiler before he did the job? His job is to fix the current issue as a rule of thumb, not anything else, it is not his fault that your boiler is dirty. When someone contracts me to add an electrical outlet, the minimum for "fulfilling" my contract does not include that I patch the holes that I made and painting them back, I added an outlet plain and simple. Of course I would never do that, but you get the point.
  • Rego Park, NY · Member since 2016 · 47 posts · 2 votes
    9y

    yes the whole system wasn't not working so they fixed the radiators, electrical system, serviced the boiler, added water feeders.

    I told them to have everything running well so I have no more problems without the boiler.

    They left without cleaning the pipes, or a safety cut off.

    The clogged pipes caused pressure to build and the boiler cracked. 

  • Farmington, MI · Member since 2017 · 16 posts · 7 votes
    9y

    I can see why you are frustrated Harry, since you told to him to fix it so that you have no problems with the boiler. But you need to review that statement again to understand its impossible. Surely it will have problems somewhere down the road, maybe in 1 year, maybe 10 years. Maybe to him fixing it so it doesn't have problems means that it work for a day and then you are on your own.

     I really blame the contractor since he should really explain that eventually everything breaks down. Not giving you this false feeling that everything is going to be fine. It reminds me when I was younger and looking for a used car. The salesman would say this is a great car, you won't have any problems. Then I would say ok great, can you put a two year warranty on it. Then they would say oh that will cost you 3k more lol.

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