#29 Is a clean and check more than a heat exchanger scrub?

Heating season is here!  Don't panic.  Dan and Greg shine a light on the components that keep your boiler running well.  A clean and check should include more than a speedy look at the heat exchanger.  How important is communication with the homeowner?  How do you set expectations for future repairs?  What components can be cleaned or repaired easily?  Who do I call for help?  The guys answer these questions and more. 

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Transcript

0:05
welcome to ask caleffi the podcast that
0:08
dives into real life problems that
0:10
plumbing and hvac technicians face in
0:12
the field we're your hosts from the
0:14
caleffi tech support team i'm greg tubbs
0:16
and i'm dan ferkus welcome we look
0:19
forward to sharing some stories from our
0:20
tech calls and using our background and
0:22
expertise to make your days a little
0:24
easier
0:29
hey there folks welcome back to another
0:32
episode of the ask caleffi podcast
0:36
how are we doing today dan we're doing
0:38
good yeah welcome back everybody glad
0:40
you joined us yeah you know uh you're
0:43
joining us on a crisp fall wisconsin day
0:46
here
0:47
it's in the air isn't it it is
0:48
definitely fall is in the air yeah it's
0:51
we're getting to that point in the year
0:53
where it's maintenance time it is yeah i
0:56
love this time of year well not from the
0:57
maintenance i like this bear
0:59
i like the crisp air and i like fall
1:02
yeah but the having to run around and do
1:04
the load of maintenance cause load of
1:06
maintenance calls it it can be rough it
1:08
can be but you know i mean we both came
1:11
from that that background of having to
1:14
go and do maintenance calls and
1:16
you know we would do both for steer
1:19
and right and hydronic
1:22
you know we'd have a pretty good
1:23
checklist of things to check off but
1:26
when it comes to hydronic i think
1:27
there's a lot of things overlooked there
1:29
is and you know and i mean you and i
1:31
were talking about it before this and
1:33
it's like you know you think of
1:35
preventative maintenance and it's going
1:37
out and doing cleaning check right you
1:39
know checking the combustion side you
1:40
know cleaning the combustion side you
1:43
know testing
1:44
the boiler itself right but boy there's
1:47
a lot of system or a lot of components
1:49
in your system
1:50
that really could use some attention as
1:52
well right the combustion side i mean
1:55
that's important too to keep that boiler
1:57
running tip top shape and make sure it's
2:00
safe and reliable right you don't want
2:02
any any weird things happening
2:05
while you're
2:06
in the in the throes of heating season
2:08
yeah right but i think the rest of the
2:10
system
2:11
the connections in the piping
2:14
some of the
2:15
uh components in the piping really kind
2:17
of
2:18
they get a blind eye turn to them yeah
2:21
and and a lot of those affect how the
2:23
boiler could perform i mean you can come
2:24
in and do a tune up and clean and check
2:26
on the boiler and the things running you
2:28
know top-notch and ready for the season
2:30
but then you have a component issue and
2:34
you know let's just say you know you
2:35
have a plug screen on your backflow
2:37
preventer because you know what you're
2:39
out doing maintenance and you didn't
2:40
take time to clean the screen in the
2:42
backflow preventer or
2:44
autofill
2:46
and now the unit purges some air out and
2:49
goes out on low pressure right
2:51
or
2:53
you know something as silly as a leaky
2:56
packing in a shutoff valve right you
2:59
know an isolation shutoff
3:01
and a lot of systems let's be honest
3:03
they've got shutoff valves that haven't
3:04
been touched in years right we've come
3:07
on those you know they're crusty they're
3:09
nasty looking you don't dare put a pipe
3:11
wrench on it you sure don't but you know
3:14
what what you should be doing
3:16
is bringing your customer down there and
3:18
showing them hey look
3:20
it's it's working you know it's doing
3:22
what it's supposed to do
3:24
but if i ever have to
3:25
shut this system down you're probably
3:27
going to experience a leak from this
3:29
nasty old
3:31
shut off valve right talk to them about
3:33
maybe replacing it or it's time to
3:35
exercise that valve and and see what
3:37
you're going to warn them ahead of time
3:39
hey i got to exercise this valve it may
3:41
or may not
3:43
close off it may start to leak and it
3:45
may continue to leak afterwards right
3:48
yeah absolutely
3:49
so be be real diligent about making your
3:52
customer aware of what's going on before
3:54
you go touching stuff because i don't
3:56
we've all been there you go touch one
3:58
valve that hasn't been exercised in 10
4:00
years and all of a sudden it's leaking
4:02
from the packing right and you can do
4:04
all you want to tighten that packing and
4:06
it still doesn't seal right right yeah
4:10
exactly
4:11
also a good time to clean your
4:12
separators yes
4:14
yeah i mean air dirt separators
4:17
hydraulic separators a lot of those will
4:20
have a purge point at the bottom if it's
4:21
not
4:22
not our sep four or four in one right
4:25
well even still the 548's got a point
4:27
where you can purge it off
4:30
looking at pump connections i mean
4:33
if a system you go and do a purge on a
4:35
system after doing maintenance
4:38
and say the customer keeps calling you
4:40
back because you have problems with air
4:43
in the system while the air vents not
4:44
doing its job
4:46
maybe it is doing its job but maybe one
4:48
of those gaskets in that pump flange
4:51
might be so dry that it's actually
4:52
allowing air to suck in it may hold
4:54
water back but air can get sucked in
4:57
past those dry old gaskets allowing air
4:59
to permeate the system you bet
5:03
zone valves your zone valves sit all
5:05
year they do good time to act to
5:08
turn each zone on individually watch the
5:10
zone valve open watch it close test your
5:12
end switches
5:13
make sure those are those are all
5:15
working properly make sure there's no
5:17
debris in the valve that it actually
5:18
closes off completely right i mean you
5:21
look at our zone valves you can actually
5:22
take the body apart get in and clean it
5:25
out if you need to or or do a rebuild on
5:27
it right
5:29
and speaking of rebuilds
5:31
we offer a lot of rebuild parts even for
5:33
air separators so you can get a new
5:35
cover and float hey if you can't get
5:37
that
5:38
chunk of debris out of the needle valve
5:40
in in an air vent you know like our 551
5:43
series in particular
5:45
if you can't get a chunk of debris out
5:47
of there we do offer a replacement cover
5:49
and float that's a good point that's a
5:51
good point to bring up and you can
5:52
always call us if you need a hand
5:54
getting a part number for that you can
5:56
explain what you have and we'll talk you
5:58
through cleaning it if you're not
6:00
comfortable doing that you know that's
6:02
another topic that i think about too you
6:05
know there's a lot of system components
6:07
and that get overlooked because maybe
6:09
guys aren't familiar with what they what
6:12
they are or what they do right well an
6:15
air vent i think is a huge offender
6:17
because hey if it leaks we'll just screw
6:19
the
6:21
the
6:22
the cover down right you know we'll
6:23
screw that purge cover down and the cap
6:26
and and it'll go away well stop oh the
6:29
leak will go the leak will go away but
6:31
you still
6:32
you know it's not venting the air out
6:33
right the air won't go away no certainly
6:35
won't so and then when the homeowner
6:37
decides to go down there because they're
6:39
hearing
6:40
air through the pipes
6:42
they open it up and all of a sudden it's
6:43
leaking then you're getting a return
6:45
service call right so well that's the
6:47
key when you're out doing maintenance
6:49
you know to take your time and address
6:51
all the components so that one you know
6:54
the customer doesn't have issues two you
6:56
don't have to have return visits because
6:58
i guarantee the minute you get a return
7:00
visit the customer is going to look at
7:02
you and say well i paid you to do
7:03
maintenance why am i having an issue you
7:05
were supposed to come out and do
7:06
maintenance and fix the problem and you
7:08
know now you're back right
7:11
and that's where
7:13
you can't you can't prevent that no you
7:15
can't prevent that yeah we know that i
7:16
mean
7:17
you think you got it licked and all of a
7:19
sudden there's
7:21
you're having a problem you know it's
7:23
just the way it is you can't control
7:24
when that pump fails or when that end
7:26
switch fails or
7:28
yeah
7:29
weird things no yeah it don't have a
7:31
crystal ball certainly don't
7:33
but
7:35
cleaning out an air vent it really isn't
7:37
that difficult
7:38
removing the top from that yeah you
7:40
gotta shut the system down yeah you
7:41
gotta
7:42
uh this all takes time it takes a bunch
7:45
of time and i would say if you know that
7:48
you're going to go
7:49
on
7:50
a boiler cleaning check
7:53
you're not just doing the boiler you're
7:54
doing the entire system
7:57
because if you don't it will bite you
7:59
absolutely well plan on spending more
8:02
than just an hour at that customer's
8:03
house
8:04
because you're probably going to have
8:06
half hour 45 minutes maybe even an hour
8:08
into just the boiler itself depending on
8:10
what you have to do
8:12
then you're going looking over the rest
8:14
of the system and if you find something
8:17
that's when you got to start digging and
8:18
start working to get it fixed right and
8:21
you know you think about you know going
8:23
out and you know spending an hour or
8:25
more than an hour in a customer's home i
8:27
mean obviously that you know there's a
8:28
cost to that right there's a cost to the
8:31
customer
8:32
for that so
8:33
you know taking the time to communicate
8:35
with the customer and walk through the
8:36
system with them and point out the
8:38
different components and and take the
8:41
steps to educate them
8:43
builds a ton of value
8:45
and they're going to call you back the
8:47
next year and you know what when you
8:48
come back the next year if you do the
8:50
entire system maintenance
8:52
it's going to be easier year after year
8:53
and you'll have less less time invested
8:57
right
8:58
well and
8:59
the other bummer too is like maybe this
9:01
is the first time you're ever going to
9:03
this customer's house because they had
9:05
you know another contractor in there
9:08
doing it and well that last guy only
9:10
spent a half hour that last guy only
9:11
spent an hour here
9:13
why is it taking you so long
9:15
well
9:16
look at all this stuff is i'm finding
9:19
you know right leaky shutoff valves and
9:22
an air vent that's leaking and an
9:24
expansion tank that maybe has a pinhole
9:27
or whatever you're going to find right
9:30
walk them through what you're finding as
9:32
you're finding it you know or do a
9:35
general assessment and then come back
9:37
and say hey you know i got some things i
9:39
need you to see
9:41
before i make any repairs or you know
9:45
let me make some suggestions here yeah
9:48
just communicating well and being
9:49
thorough and it's not about upselling i
9:52
mean
9:53
you and i both are are sensitive to that
9:55
it's not about going out there and
9:57
trying to upsell and
9:59
and
10:00
get somebody to do something maybe they
10:02
don't need to but it's about you know
10:04
educating the customer you know finding
10:07
the problems before they have become a
10:09
real problem and at least pointing them
10:11
out and going okay well you know you've
10:12
got some wear and tear here you've got
10:14
some issues here something to at least
10:17
put on your radar if i can replace it
10:19
today if you don't want to replace it
10:20
today at least know that
10:22
yeah you know that it's coming up yeah
10:24
you're mindful of the fact that this
10:26
could be a problem in the future so
10:29
you document it
10:31
valve here turn line over here whatever
10:34
it is you need to do to document it
10:37
have them sign off on it then they know
10:39
you made them aware right
10:41
so if they call back and say hey
10:43
you know
10:44
you guys didn't say tell me about this
10:46
or this is leaking
10:48
and then
10:49
the secretary can go into the records
10:51
and say well you know we did let you
10:52
know that a valve over here and such and
10:55
such date was
10:57
showing signs of wear or leaking or
10:59
whatever
11:00
the problem might have been
11:03
it's documented
11:04
you know and it's kind of in a world
11:06
we're in a world now where you have to
11:08
kind of you have to document you have to
11:10
i think customers appreciate you taking
11:12
the time to do that because most of them
11:14
do you know i think you and i yeah and
11:16
then everyone every customer is
11:17
different some of them just want you to
11:19
come out and handle it and they don't
11:20
care and other customers you know want
11:22
to know what's going on they want to
11:24
have a little understanding of what
11:26
their system is and what all the
11:28
components do so you know they
11:30
appreciate that you're thorough enough
11:31
to take the time and
11:33
and educate them on the system they have
11:36
i remember getting calls from customers
11:38
when they bought new homes you know
11:40
especially new homes with radiant
11:42
systems and you walk in and there's a
11:44
lot of zones and a lot of packs and a
11:46
lot of pipe and components and you know
11:48
this machine hanging on the wall and
11:50
they don't even know what it is right
11:52
it's a new home to them and in a
11:54
completely new and entirely different
11:56
heating system yeah exactly so they're
11:58
used to the furnace and the you know
12:00
connected to the duct and it blows warm
12:02
air and okay my house is warm but now i
12:04
have all these pipes and valves and
12:06
controls and you know it looks like the
12:08
space shuttle to yeah it does
12:11
it looks like cape canaveral's control
12:13
center there's all sorts of flashing
12:14
lights and cool things that make neat
12:16
noises right right so i think they
12:18
almost appreciate when you come in there
12:21
and you walk them through there and
12:22
educate them on the system they have you
12:24
know it builds a comfort level that hey
12:26
i got a guy in here who knows what he's
12:28
doing and he's taking the time and he's
12:30
patient enough with me as a homeowner to
12:32
educate me on what i have so at least
12:35
now i feel a little more comfortable
12:37
with it yeah and i think that it goes a
12:40
long way oh it goes a really long way
12:42
i've gotten more referrals from doing
12:45
a job that way
12:47
than
12:48
just kind of yup i've been here before i
12:51
know what this is do my job and hand him
12:54
a bill and go right
12:56
a lot of them my customers always
12:58
appreciated the fact that i'd take the
13:00
time yeah and yours did too absolutely
13:02
it's relational yeah everything in life
13:05
is yep
13:06
i'd rather have a good relationship with
13:08
those customers
13:09
than a bad one yeah well and then the
13:12
you know the
13:14
the other factor is if you do see a
13:16
component in the system that you know
13:18
maybe you're walking into a really old
13:20
system and and you haven't worked on
13:22
them before and you don't know what all
13:23
the components are
13:25
you know if you have the ability to take
13:27
a picture of it and you know you can
13:30
always call us and we always say pulling
13:31
a friend great
13:32
yeah phone a friend yeah phone a friend
13:35
and email them a picture because
13:37
pictures are worth a thousand words and
13:38
words sometimes aren't worth a whole lot
13:41
because right maybe we're not getting
13:43
the picture yeah exactly so i mean you
13:45
could take a picture of that component
13:46
you can email it in to our tech support
13:48
email and say hey you know what is this
13:50
what does it do you know do you have a
13:52
product similar to that if you have
13:54
questions
13:56
we're happy to take a look at it and
13:58
fire back i mean that's the one thing we
13:59
pride ourselves of here at caleffi is
14:02
excellence in education yeah we have so
14:04
many educational
14:06
material available
14:08
and
14:09
we're happy to help people yeah well and
14:12
we take pride in it we yeah we really
14:14
take pride in helping people out i i
14:16
know i feel better after
14:19
um being able to help people and and you
14:22
know they're relieved that
14:23
they know how it works or what to do to
14:26
make the repair right right
14:28
yeah so if you if you run into something
14:30
that you're unfamiliar with don't be
14:32
afraid to reach out um
14:34
you know ask us or ask somebody or look
14:37
on the local boards that are available
14:40
out there for for heating boards or
14:42
informational groups right there's
14:43
always someone out there yeah needing
14:44
help or or something yeah the key is
14:47
just take time and ask yeah somebody
14:49
will be there to help you and if you
14:50
don't like what they have to say then
14:52
move on to the next one right
14:55
well
14:56
yeah
14:57
here we are fall so
14:59
happy uh happy fall and good luck with
15:02
all those maintenance calls out there
15:04
guys and gals
15:06
thank you for tuning in if you ever need
15:08
help please feel free to contact our
15:10
tech support team anytime at
15:13
techsupport.us
15:15
caleppe.com
15:17
or call us during our business hours at
15:20
7 30 a.m to 4 30 p.m
15:23
central time
15:25
at 414-238-2360
15:33
[Music]