Mmmmm.... toasty warm...
It's so very nice to have heat in the apartment. Okay, this is a bit of a tale, some of which some of you have heard.
When I moved into my current digs in May, I got natural gas service hooked up to my apartment, as that is the fuel of choice for its heater. This having been the first place I've lived with a gas boiler for which I have responsibility, I decided to hold off on getting it lit up until after I got an HVAC guy in to inspect the boiler and instruct me on whatever I should know, and it being May at the time, I didn't worry about it at the time.
So, a couple of weeks ago, it finally got chilly enough that I decided to get the heat turned on. So I called an HVAC place to send someone by, and was told that the soonest they could was last Wednesday (1 November). So, okay, guy comes over, inspects the boiler I was told went to my apartment. He was quite pleased with it, thought it was pretty good, went to light the pilot... and found no gas flow to it! We looked about, and found that there were two gas taps, one to each of the downstairs and upstairs boilers, and only one meter hooked up to one of them, which was not the boiler I was told was mine.
I called the gas company then, and later that morning, they sent a guy 'round, who confirmed what the HVAC guy and I had determined, but then asked... "how sure are you that this one really is your boiler?" And I had to admit that I didn't have a definitive answer for him. Thus, called up the landlord agency to ask, and was told that they'd have to send a guy to look and tell me. (The upstairs apartment, it turns out, instead has a heat pump -- which I'd never heard of until now -- which had apparently been installed by the tenants before them. Thus, the upstairs boiler goes unused.)
Thursday, said guy shows up, looks around, and confirms that yes, the boiler I was originally told was mine was right, and therefore the gas company had hooked up the meter to the wrong line. So I called the gas company to bitch at them, and they sent a guy on Friday to look about, re-confirm all of this, and switch which line the meter was on.
And so, today! Monday, 6 November, an HVAC guy came again to finish what the last one started... but lo! The pilot was already lit, apparently by the gas guy on Friday. How kind of him. At the HVAC guy's suggestion, I went back upstairs and cranked up the thermostat to see if the boiler would kick in. Returning to the basement, I got the report from the HVAC guy that a boiler had indeed clicked on... the other one. The one I was told was not mine. HVAC guy left, I got on the phone first to chew out the landlord agency (but had to leave a message), and then the gas company to spool out the whole story again and get a guy back out here to re-re-move the meter to the original, correct, tap.
This task, the gas-man did, and lit the pilot, for which he told me there'd be a charge on my bill. You can bet your ass that I'm gonna be taking that up with the landlord agency, especially after the guy that they sent called me back and said that he'd only come by to try and help out as a favor, but that he was not actually possessed of any particular definitive documentation or other knowledge with which he could've more readily given me the correct answer next week.
However, the radiators have finally started radiating, and I have heat in the apartment. This, at least, makes me happy. But goddamn, could I have used a lot less being jerked about.
When I moved into my current digs in May, I got natural gas service hooked up to my apartment, as that is the fuel of choice for its heater. This having been the first place I've lived with a gas boiler for which I have responsibility, I decided to hold off on getting it lit up until after I got an HVAC guy in to inspect the boiler and instruct me on whatever I should know, and it being May at the time, I didn't worry about it at the time.
So, a couple of weeks ago, it finally got chilly enough that I decided to get the heat turned on. So I called an HVAC place to send someone by, and was told that the soonest they could was last Wednesday (1 November). So, okay, guy comes over, inspects the boiler I was told went to my apartment. He was quite pleased with it, thought it was pretty good, went to light the pilot... and found no gas flow to it! We looked about, and found that there were two gas taps, one to each of the downstairs and upstairs boilers, and only one meter hooked up to one of them, which was not the boiler I was told was mine.
I called the gas company then, and later that morning, they sent a guy 'round, who confirmed what the HVAC guy and I had determined, but then asked... "how sure are you that this one really is your boiler?" And I had to admit that I didn't have a definitive answer for him. Thus, called up the landlord agency to ask, and was told that they'd have to send a guy to look and tell me. (The upstairs apartment, it turns out, instead has a heat pump -- which I'd never heard of until now -- which had apparently been installed by the tenants before them. Thus, the upstairs boiler goes unused.)
Thursday, said guy shows up, looks around, and confirms that yes, the boiler I was originally told was mine was right, and therefore the gas company had hooked up the meter to the wrong line. So I called the gas company to bitch at them, and they sent a guy on Friday to look about, re-confirm all of this, and switch which line the meter was on.
And so, today! Monday, 6 November, an HVAC guy came again to finish what the last one started... but lo! The pilot was already lit, apparently by the gas guy on Friday. How kind of him. At the HVAC guy's suggestion, I went back upstairs and cranked up the thermostat to see if the boiler would kick in. Returning to the basement, I got the report from the HVAC guy that a boiler had indeed clicked on... the other one. The one I was told was not mine. HVAC guy left, I got on the phone first to chew out the landlord agency (but had to leave a message), and then the gas company to spool out the whole story again and get a guy back out here to re-re-move the meter to the original, correct, tap.
This task, the gas-man did, and lit the pilot, for which he told me there'd be a charge on my bill. You can bet your ass that I'm gonna be taking that up with the landlord agency, especially after the guy that they sent called me back and said that he'd only come by to try and help out as a favor, but that he was not actually possessed of any particular definitive documentation or other knowledge with which he could've more readily given me the correct answer next week.
However, the radiators have finally started radiating, and I have heat in the apartment. This, at least, makes me happy. But goddamn, could I have used a lot less being jerked about.