How illegal was this gas condition?
I am on my co-op bosrd and found out that a few years ago the building manager worked with a contractor to hide an illegal gas repair from the board for months. During a project to replace our radiator pipes, a plumber noticed that a connection on the main gas line had a leak that was previously “fixed” by someone smearing a big wad of grease over the leak. Apparently that illegal fix occured a long time earlier.
The contractors told the manager about the grease-repair, and instead of telling the board the manager worked with this plumbing contractor to hide the condition for six months while they worked out a plan. Eventually the manager told the board that our gas main needed replacement, but never mentioned the leak. He had a pretty clever plan in mind to not repair anything but instead just install new pipes parallel to the old ones, and then bottle the building and do a rapid switchover from the old pipes to the new pipes in one day with DOB and ConEd to avoid a long gas outage. The plumber and manager were apparently working on this plan over those six months. Cl ever yes, but when I found out from our super that the manager hid this dangerous condition for months I became livid. The super got into a dispute with the manager and showed me evidence of this gas issue, which is pretty compelling.
Of course we need to fire the manager. That’s obvious. My question is: was it illegal of the manager or contractor to keep the gas running with that type of “grease” repair? Did they violate the law or was it just unethical to not tell us? Is there any agency that should be informed about this, assuming we have enough proof of what happened?
penny
in General Discussion 5 years and 3 months ago
41
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41 replies
hkapstein | 5 years and 3 months ago
If the gas was not included in the original job,, then that was a mistake. But amending the job to include gas does not seem like a problem because partial inspections are permitted.
sixyearsandcounting | 5 years and 3 months ago
Thanks all – the plumber’s expeditor managed to get them separated, so the plumbing could be self-certified while we wait for the gas inspection. Practically speaking, this means most of the job can move forward since the gas work is in a different place from the plumbing work. And urbandad – yes, the architect completely f**ked up by not requesting the gas work as part of the original plumbing job. This caused a three-week delay in the work. He’s an incompetent, disorganized, blowhard idiot who sent a millworker to measure the space for a custom vanity before the bathroom even had sheetrock on the walls (Millworker: “Uh, I can’t really do anything with this…”). If anyone ever recommends him on here I will push back very hard.
hkapstein | 5 years and 3 months ago
You can get this done. The confusion is that regular plumbing can be self certified by the plumber, but gas cannot be anymore. Just get an inspection done, and let them pass whatever is done and fail the stuff that isn’t done. As long as all the gas passes the on site inspection, your plumber can certify the other work if he wants to. Otherwise you can have it reinspected later. Your architect did nothing wrong here.
mozeeatupu | 5 years and 3 months ago
Well, has the inspection been requested? Have you checked on DOB NOW?
sixyearsandcounting | 5 years and 3 months ago
Or to put it another way, can we request a plumbing inspection and gas inspection separately?
sixyearsandcounting | 5 years and 3 months ago
Gennady, I believe you. The problem is that the gas work was filed as an amendment to the plumbing job and (so we are told) that means that an actual in-person inspection will happen, which is not the case with plumbing alone. Does this seem accurate to you?
ellenlourie | 5 years and 3 months ago
Plumbing inspections are done within 1-2 days when requested. They are ordered online by the plumber.
The fuel gas code did not change much. DOB just enforced it and changed some procedures.
sixyearsandcounting | 5 years and 3 months ago
Meanwhile we are still waiting for a plumbing and gas inspection to be scheduled for our renovation. The work was completed three weeks ago and the so-called “expeditor” doesn’t seem to be expediting this simple task. We own a 2-family and we (and our contractor) are the ones paying the price for this insanity. Our idiot architect filed the gas work as an amendment to the original plumbing work – not as a separate job – so now the bathroom can’t move forward until both inspections are completed.
hkapstein | 5 years and 3 months ago
Ok have a problem with it. But which is more dangerous, work done to code over the last 50 years, including older less stringent codes, or work by unlicensed folks, done without oversight or concern about code compliance. If you typically work on skyscrapers with 9 figure budgets, it may make sense to comply with the code. But if you need a gas leak repaired in a small building, and you get a quote for 10k from a plumber, but Bob can do it for 200 bucks, what do you think is gonna happen?
Guest User | 5 years and 3 months ago
somehow I have a problem with urban dad’s argument that it is too expensive to assure that gas work complies to code
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 3 months ago
We are spinning wheels in mud here guys:
1. Make laws to create a safer community
2. Doing things the right way is too difficult/expensive/inconvenient/cumbersome/insert other excuse/
3. Break the law
4. Cycle continues
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 3 months ago
We are spinning wheels in mud here guys:
1. Make laws to create a safer community
2. Doing things the right way is too difficult/expensive/inconvenient/cumbersome/insert other excuse/
3. Break the law
4. Cycle continues
Master Plvmber | 5 years and 3 months ago
Ah. Long time ago.
hkapstein | 5 years and 3 months ago
I’m talking about the coal gas they used to pump through these pipes.
Master Plvmber | 5 years and 3 months ago
I hear what you’re saying. But once again, check your math. A natural gas leak does not result in a “co” (carbon monoxide) poisoning. These are two different things.
hkapstein | 5 years and 3 months ago
You are taking this out of context. I’m not saying everyone should do their own gas work, I’m saying the city council is saying that with their policies, because it’s become impractical to do it legally, and I’m certain illegal gas work will increase. For minor repairs especially, it’s not difficult, but licensed plumbers are pretty much priced out because they would end up needed to re pipe the whole building just to change a valve in many cases. In the past a gas leak could kill you from co poisoning, gas is safer now but much more highly regulated.
Master Plvmber | 5 years and 3 months ago
> @Urbandad
> Where problems have occurred it’s usually due to really crazy work being done.
This is a very uninformed statement.
> @Urbandad
> Yes, everyone who owns or runs a building with gas should know how do a little gas work.
This one is dangerous.
> @Urbandad
> It’s actually not that difficult, just twisting pipes together.
And this one is funny.
Thanks for all these. You’ve established yourself as a person never to be taken seriously.
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 3 months ago
“A small gas leak poses almost no danger”
You can put your own liability on that, not mine or my families.
As far as the semantics of the law, you can bring that to the DOB or the elected congressman; can’t hate a cop for following the law. Gennady and I are just stating the law as written.
lkrshacmzcy | 5 years and 3 months ago
“A small gas leak poses almost no danger”
You can put your own liability on that, not mine or my families.
As far as the semantics of the law, you can bring that to the DOB or the elected congressman; can’t hate a cop for following the law. Gennady and I are just stating the law as written.