coop shareholder - no cooking gas for over 7 months now!

Not if it’s just turned off at the valve behind the stove. If it’s shut off at the meter, then yes, new code procedure is that the line has to be tested by a licensed plumber and witnessed by DoB.

Master Plvmber

in Dept. of Buildings (DOB) 7 years and 10 months ago

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mikeyd91180 | 7 years and 11 months ago

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Hi All,

I purchased a coop in a walk up and found out that gas pipes in the kitchen had leaks. It is the coop’s responsibility to have the pipes fixed. the coop hired a plumbing company to set up new pipes…then the dept of building missed its inspection. i have been waiting for over 7 months now and still have no gas :(. What can i do now? I went out of patience totally! should i request to pay less maintenance to the coop since it is the coop’s responsibility to have the pipes fixed?

Thanks,

CC

angelique.m.west | 7 years and 11 months ago

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I would seek a meeting with the board president (and managing agent, if there is one) and make it clear that the situation is untenable and that if it isn’t fixed asap you will begin withholding your maintenance payments. I would not request to pay less. Why would the board agree with that? At the same time I would call the plumbing company and see if you can’t appeal to them. Alternatively you could tell the board if they do not take action by a certain date you intend to hire your own plumber and will deduct the cost from your maintenance. It sounds to me like this is a small co-op (with just a handful of units?) so beyond meeting with the president I would reach out to each member individually. Another strategy would be to consult an attorney. The lawyer could craft a letter to the board and threaten to sue or withhold maintenance. This is all about pressure. The squeaky wheel….

mozeeatupu | 7 years and 11 months ago

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Probably national grid or con ed also holding things up. If all the work is done, they still need to come, inspect and sign off. Building and DOB can’t do anything about that

resident2 | 7 years and 11 months ago

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The plumber has obviously dropped the ball. The co-op hired the plumber so you can either keep nagging the managing agent or the board member that hired the plumber or call the plumber yourself… often, until it is rescheduled.
From my experience when it is the City inspector that has missed the appointment , it is normally not that difficult or time consuming to get the follow up appointment. Unless it is the plumber that screwed up.

Master Plvmber | 7 years and 11 months ago

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I have no connection to this specific job whatsoever but aside from mozeeatupu, no one is considering what may very well be going on here. The City (DoB) has made it something close to impossible to have gas restored to a building or a single, or shared, riser once it has been turned off. Licensed Plumbers are no longer allowed to activate a gas line if it has been turned off to make any repairs or run new pipes or what have you. The only exception is when a local appliance shut-off valve (say a valve to shut a single cooking range or dryer or water heater, etc) is turned off to repair or replace the appliance, then a licensed plumber can turn the gas back on again right at that location only. A plumber cannot turn a gas meter valve back on once it’s been turned off. Running new pipes or shutting the risers to test for leaks means a full round of DoB filing and inspections. Once it reaches that point, it’s out of the plumber’s hands and he can go broke trying to meet the demands put on the job by one inspector after the next going forward until the gas is actually rest ored and this is happening at an untenable rate.
Since the gas explosion on 2nd Avenue and the one in Harlem, the city is at a loss with how to keep this from happening again and they’ve defaulted to a level of inspection and demands that are simply a moving target for which no plumber/architect/engineer can plan or anticipate. The gas situation in NYC is at unprecedented level of beuracracy all done under the guise of safety yet a vast majority of inspection failures we’re hearing of have little to do with safety and anything to do with inspectors not wanting to sign off on a job as being completed for reasons that are simply inexplicable, not Code, and oftentimes counterproductive. An inspector failing a job instead of authorizing gas service leaves him in a condition of non-liability. Meanwhile, the frustration this all brings is leading people to do crazy things to get around the legal/compliant processes required by the DoB and Con Ed. This is not getting better or leading us to a safer city. This is spiraling out of control to the point to where my partner and I have discussed no longer working on gas piping jobs in the City of New York since it is a nearly guaranteed loss for the company as well as being very problematic for the clients.
“Call(ing) the plumber yourself” may get you some satisfaction in terms of knowing where you are in the process but chances are pretty good he’s at much at a loss of when this will be resolved as you are.
Chances are also pretty darn good that he’s done anything but “dropped the ball”. Rather, he’s probably trying desperately to protect himself and the building against further job costs and filing fees.

I’m telling you. Gas piping in New York is a real problem right now. Simple oil-to-gas boiler conversions have been somewhat unaffected because that job always meant a full set of inspections and filings with brand new gas pipes/meters being installed, but the problems when dealing with existing gas pipes are new and incredibly difficult to navigate.
John Cataneo
Master Plumber, Lic #1784

rgh718 | 7 years and 10 months ago

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So in my house my gas to my stove is cut
off because my daughters don’t cook. Does that mean I will have a problem cutting it back on?