disconnecting gas dryer for repair
Our gas dryer needs to be repaired. The service company came yesterday with the new ordered part, but then stated they could not repair the dryer because their liability does not cover them disconnecting the vent or gas line from the dryer. Really annoyed because they didn’t tell me this beforehand. Is this standard? How have you handled this – do you have to hire a plumber to disconnect, then have the service person repair the machine, then hire the plumber again afterwards to reconnect it? I do not feel comfortable doing this myself. To make things more com
plicated, the service person recommended we switch to a flexible vent even though he acknowledged our rigid vent is excellent and better quality than any flexible one. He also said the gas line is too short. Does anyone have an opinion on this? TIA.
ps158
in General Discussion 4 years and 8 months ago
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stevecym | 4 years and 7 months ago
both of my grandfather’s would have thought nothing about doing this themselves. i would not either, i just worry about the consequences if something goes wrong and lawyers and insurance companies get involved. living in attached houses makes me careful because the neighbors always seem to know what i am up to just by the wrench they see in my hands or the tap on the wall between the houses.
shahnandersen
in General Discussion 4 years and 7 months ago
Perhaps a plumber might go into the stove and dryer installation business. They could order the appliance and have it delivered on their schedule. Disconnect the old and reconnect the new at the same time, just like they do with water heaters.
helen40
in General Discussion 4 years and 7 months ago
The law may be the law, but….
This is really easy for a homeowner with a modicum of skills and confidence to do. I did it on my own without even checking YouTube. I would only do if you have a working shut off valve and can make sure you have the right size connections. By far the hardest part was getting the vent reconnected.
I had not thought of the insurance liability question as discussed above. That might be a big impediment in the future. But to hire a plumber to literally turn a valve, disconnect a flexible connector and reconnect for anything like what I know it costs to get a plumber into your house is nuts.
ps158 | 4 years and 7 months ago
Thanks for the discussion everyone. I didn’t realize anyone replied – I thought I’d get an email letting me know if there was a response and haven’t checked in. Anyway, we were able to have the dryer repaired but only because we were able to unscrew the front panel ourselves and thus did not to move the dryer out / disconnect the vent and gas.. It was tough, because the screws were on the side of the panel and up against a wall, but we managed. The tech either didn’t realize or didn’t want to deal w/ that and that’s why he told us we’d need to move the dryer and disconnect the vent and gas – to have easier access to those screws. He had to come out for a second visit for the repair. Hope this post helps others.
stevecym | 4 years and 7 months ago
and putnamization, do you know why i become relucatant to do these things myself in my own house, never mind for customers. it seems like it might be an out for the insurance company if something goes wrong and they can prove an unlicensed person did something.
stevecym | 4 years and 7 months ago
the city writes these laws not only so unlicensed contractors don;t do these things, but also so we as homeowners don’t. in my house, yes, i would do this. but the law says no.
i just learned something last week. in suffolk county, someone can do electric work in their own house and then hire a UL inspector to inspect it. not here in NYC; too many attached houses. when there is a fire it involves the entire street.
Putnamdenizen | 4 years and 7 months ago
[or we can do it ourselves?]
JohnHancock | 4 years and 7 months ago
I’m assuming there’s a long waitlist these days to hook up a dryer or gas range?
lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 7 months ago
Only a Gas Qualified Journeyman working for a Licensed Master Plumber, or the LMP himself, can touch that Gas Valve behind the stove.
lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 7 months ago
Only a Gas Qualified Journeyman working for a Licensed Master Plumber, or the LMP himself, can touch that Gas Valve behind the stove.
someonecalleddob | 4 years and 7 months ago
Help me understand what I think I am reading. So a licensed plumber is now required to install a new gas range? Lets say I order a new range from Home Depot, and I want a new hose for my new range, a licensed plumber must complete that job? What if I decide to keep the old hose?
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 7 months ago
No Steve—it was in printed “boilerplate” that HD provided. However we DID buy the range from the rare knowledgeable HD employee—a friend of the salesman from whom we always used to buy our appliances at a long gone store on Nostrand Avenue. We would not otherwise have made a large purchase at HD.
stevecym | 4 years and 7 months ago
@bob: you hit the one in a million jackpot with that HD employee. i would have bought a lotto ticket that day. so that HD employee spoke the truth. most of the time i say “how do you know when someone in an orange apron is bs’ing you?” “his lips are moving”.
RobertGMarvin
in General Discussion 4 years and 8 months ago
That’s strange. I bought a gas range from HD a couple of years ago and they made it very clear that they didn’t do Insallations in NYC. That’s just as well—I wouldn’t have trusted them anyway.
stevecym | 4 years and 8 months ago
@arkady: complain to the dept of consumer affairs. the people on the phone should not be claiming this but then again, if you have to ask anyone in an orange apron anything, you are in trouble.
Arkady | 4 years and 8 months ago
I had the same thing w/ a dryer. I snail mailed HD saying that they shouldn’t claim that “installation is included” on their goods. They didn’t change it – even at the local stores when you speak w/ them on the phone.
stevecym | 4 years and 8 months ago
this change in the code. it is recent and it is certainly due to the buildings that have blown up in the city, most notably the one on 2nd ave which killed an innocent. years ago a lot of us (people like my parents and grandparents) touched things that we were not licensed to touch but we learned enough to do it safely (by talking to someone we knew or simply READING – for some people today, reading is an unknown concept) without hurting or killing someone and we knew and respected our own limits. the changes we are witnessing coincide with the “dumbing down” of the entire industry with people who some of us who work in it have looked at and literally wondered “how do these people tie their shoes in the morning”; they will tell a customer anything to get the job and will never say “no, i am not qualified” (i have had these “tradesmen” tell me they “do not stir paint” and that they “do not use primer”; they will claim that are experts at anything and when the money is put before them, they will claim they are experts at moving gas lines. if we did not have these idiots running around it would be a lot easier for a lot of us to work in this city (my job would be a lot easier) and the city would be able to worry a little less about all these code changes it is making and focus on running a government. the men who blew the building up on 2nd ave by st marks fit this class of people and no doubt, there are people reading this who would mistakenly hire them and put their families at risk.
i keep poking at this here because i want people – those who are a generation younger than me – to understand that things were not always this way and we do not have to accept it. we just have to make it harder for the miscrants to make a living and they will do something else, like sweep the street or flip burgers or actually set out to learn something not for the lure of money, but to simply learn how to do something really well and understand that the money will follow.
lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago
This is why all the Big Box Companies are re-evaluating their approach in New York City. It is a good thing in the end as it makes a more safe environment.
lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 8 months ago
This is why all the Big Box Companies are re-evaluating their approach in New York City. It is a good thing in the end as it makes a more safe environment.