Case of the moving no heat call

This wasnt one of my projects but the story always stuck with me for the sheer ingenuity of it. In this case, there were intermittent no heat calls in a commercial building. One day, it was one radiator not heating and another the next day. It was extremely frustrating to troubleshoot. I think you would smile when you catch the cause.

[@irishmike4914]

Dang I was thinking T and T traps and tilt. Figured he kicked a few wedges out. Remember in this business you haven't seen it all!

[@lnk4328]

Had something similar involving a natural gas line but at least easier to troubleshoot as the problem was consistent. Two 1950's vintage high pressure steam boilers side by side with the original Ray burners. 2# gas, no regulators, just globe valves with the stems drilled and safety wired. 4" common gas pipe to a 3X3X4 bull head tee. The one boiler fired fine, the other would light the pilot but lock out on main flame ignition. All gas valves functioned properly. Determined that the gas company had just recently replaced the gas meter. The 3" meter's plastic dirt guard had not been removed and ended up in the bull head tee.

[@boilerroomdetective]

Oh that’s frustrating Can you believe it didn’t have regulators

[@vvegas9221]

had something similar happen to me on a chiller. A disgruntled installer who just got laid off, threw a large plastic carry out KFC bag filled with chicken bones & discarded styrofoam containers into the 2 1/2" return line. it took a few days before the unit shut down. I found all of it lodged in the strainer clean out. Problem solved !

[@boilerroomdetective]

Nice and you got a happy meal

[@ot5151]

Had a guy do that to me on a chiller condenser water loop only it was a few more than one pingpong ball. The balls would seal the top of the riser headed for the tower until you powered down the pumps. Yaa.. that was the early 90s or late 80s. Suprised to see it land here.

[@boilerroomdetective]

Wow there’s a lot of sneaky techs Good that you caught it