landlord nightmare

hi landlords and tenants, my tenants reported to me on sunday evening that their boiler was not providing hot water. the gas is fine, but the domestic hot is not coming. i tried a few things, but reached the limit of my capabilities. i called a few professionals and the soonest i can get someone in is thursday. what is an appropriate course of action / compensation for me to offer my tenants? thanks in advance!

workisfun

in Landlord 9 years and 11 months ago

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daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 11 months ago

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And remember people, there are more boiler and furnace shutdowns because the batteries need to be change in your programmable thermostat than for most any other reasons!!!!!

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 11 months ago

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Yes, I was just talking about DHW specifically because of the load issue that steam_man referred to. It should be a simple bypass. I suppose that heat is more important in the winter but showers seem to be a higher priority

steam_man | 9 years and 11 months ago

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No. DHW Priority is used to allow your storage tank to recover faster at the expense of space heat. It allows the boiler to keep up with demand based on the assumption that your home will hold its heat longer enough for a new batch of hot water to be cooked up before the occupants start sniffling. Perhaps I too misunderstood DIBS question. So if we go with your explanation then the answer is of course. It is a simple bypass. You valve off your DHW supply and open a valve feeding your tenant off a tee between the DHW tank feeding your apartment and the valve you would install before your apartment. Make sense?

workisfun | 9 years and 11 months ago

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SM – is that why DHW always takes priority over heat in a combo boiler? I took DIB’s question differently. Supposing that there could be a designs that makes my DHW a backup for the tenant’s unit.

steam_man | 9 years and 11 months ago

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dibs, What you described is standard in a well designed system. The piping scheme I utilize is called Primary-Secondary Piping. I won’t bore you with a description but it is basically a loop wherein all heat generating appliances are connected to the loop ahead of all the heat “drawing” items (ie radiators, water heater, washing machine, etc..) Look it up if you like. The only issue here is that if you lose a boiler you won’t have enough BTUs to maintain the load.

rh | 9 years and 11 months ago

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Sometimes, if my tenants are put out by something that doesn’t warrant monetary compensation, I give them a bottle of wine or two as a gesture.

workisfun | 9 years and 11 months ago

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That would be awesome. But how many times would it actually be needed, asks the new homeowner, who sees this at a too frequent rate of once/yr?

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 11 months ago

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This leads me to wonder and ask the plumbers here as well if anyone has ever designed in a separate feed when there are two separate boilers? That is, a feed line, with a shutoff valve, from each of the boilers into each of the other DHW supply lines that can be turned on in emergencies when one of the boilers isn’t working.

shahnandersen

in Landlord 9 years and 11 months ago

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No need to feel guilty, and no compensation is due. Your responsibility is to repair the boiler as quickly as possible and do what you reasonably can to minimize your tenants’ inconvenience. You seem to be doing both.

workisfun | 9 years and 11 months ago

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thanks arkady. we’re waiting for a part as well. hopefully replacing that part will solve the problem. i did offer our shower, but no takers…yet! good thing we’re not near the first of the month…i feel pretty guilty. thanks.

Arkady | 9 years and 11 months ago

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I offer my tenants the use of my shower & volunteer to let them stay w/ me. They’ve never taken me up on either & generally make do w/ showering at their gym. Usually I’ve resolved the issue in a matter of hours but once it went 4 days when I had to wait for a part.