Mechanical Closets and Wall Hung Boilers

Mechanical Closets & Wall Hung Boilers

Is there a way to create better functionality between

the two?

Preface

This is a venting of my frustration and an offering of very simple changes that can be made in the design of both Wall Hung Boilers & Mechanical Closets.If people are being asked to spend thousands of dollars per month in rent and Condo expenses,

they deserve better.

Stating my case.

In our society these days there seems to be a vicious cycle of poorly designed wall hung boilers being installed in poorly designed mechanical closets.There’s no “ How would I design this if I were the one actually living here or the one actually working on this heating appliance” type of forethought and consideration.

Can we do better ?If making money, being a success and staying competitive in the Building Industry is a goal for: Wall Hung Boiler Manufacturers Builders Engineers Residential Drafting Experts HVAC Installers ( Including Plumbers &

Gasfitters ) You wouldn’t know it. Why ?

Because everything has to be thrown together and crammed into the tightest space available.

This is nonsense……..

We can do better.

Time to Slow Down in our society.

We’ve really got to slow down in our society – myself included. This relentless need to push ourselves so fast to come up with the Next-Big-Thing we need to close the deal and beat out the competition is coming with significant rippling costs.

Ironically, we’re doing it( Creating significant rippling costs )

to ourselves.

Well how can that be? How are we doing it to

ourselves?

The older I get, the more the reality is hitting home that my actions or lack thereof are having a rippling effect in our society. When I’m having a bad day and I take it out on someone else it may have a ripple effect.

SAY I LEAVE MY HOUSE WITH AN ATTITUDE

BECAUSE I SET A GOAL TO BE OUT THE DOOR BY

5:15AM BUT IT’S 5:40AM INSTEAD. I’M UPSET WITH

MYSELF BECAUSE I NEEDED TO PAY SOME BILLS

ONLINE BEFORE LEAVING FOR WORK INSTEAD OF

FOREGOING THAT EPISODE OF BLUE BLOODS THE

NIGHT BEFORE AND USING MY TIME WISELY.

Hypothetical Example #1

Like the shot of a gun I’m off to the races,

cursing myself for being late out the door and

now having to deal with the growing traffic

congestion. I get into the Diner and everything is

an issue. I treat the waitress at my local Diner

rudely and she may in turn forget to put

someone’s order in or give a guest the wrong

change.

That particular guest at the Diner might have a policy of one and done ( you screw up my order

and I’ll never show my face in here again). Maybe this particular guest leaves the Diner with such an attitude that they back up and hit another parked

vehicle. The Diner loses future business, the patron and another vehicle owner have vehicle

damage and all that ensues.

SAY YOU’RE AN ESTABLISHED EXECUTIVE AT A WELL RESPECTED MAJOR BANK IN THE

NORTHEAST OR

A REAL ESTATE OWNER WHO’S BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR 35 YEARS – HAS SEVERAL

SUBSTANTIALLY SUCCESSFUL OFFSHOOT REAL ESTATE COMPANIES AND YOU’RE

WORTH 10 FIGURES …EASY.

Hypothetical Example #2Truth be told – The Residents types of professions are the only hypotheticals here.

Now let’s say you buy a sprawling home in the rural suburbs or a high

priced Boutique Condominium downtown.

You’ve put in a long 10 hour day and just got home from a 90 minute

breakdown on the highway. All you want to do is relax, eat dinner and

unwind with your family.

THE PLUMBER HAS AN IDEA WHAT THE PROBLEM MIGHT BE EVEN BEFORE HIS VISIT AND HAS AN AH-HAH MOMENT WHEN HE SEES THE PRESSURE GAUGE.

You notice the heat isn’t working. “That’s strange – we just moved in here several months ago and the wall hung boiler wasn’t on the punch list of the realtor.” You call the local plumber who’s gotten good reviews online and, when you initially begin dealing with him, seems very knowledgeable and competent.

He takes some initial steps to restore the boiler but has

to order a part for the boiler he knows has a history of

failing. Unfortunately, there’s an additional issue with

getting space heat from the boiler that the plumber

doesn’t find out about until after the ordered part is

ready to be installed. Also, having to deal with parts on

the boiler that, once touched, need to be replaced is an

additional issue that must be dealt with.

To add insult to injury, access to the wall hung boiler is made difficult by these 2 very heavy fire rated sliding doors. The

plumber does his best to install the needed replacement parts without removing these 2 doors but unfortunately, the boiler was mounted in the middle of the mechanical

closet and the doors must be removed. Aggravated yet?

Imagine how the property owner or renter who is paying top dollar is feeling. The plumber’s image isn’t

looking good right about now.

What’s the solution?

So what’s the solution – wait until the plumber or heating professional gets it

right? Fire that person and spend hundreds of dollars more on another contractor? The

solution is to take these heavy sliding doors off, fix the boiler, go through the

major aggravation of hooking them back on their tracks and for the customer to

spend a solid hour or more restoring their living space that was disrupted by this

heating issue.

NOW THE RIPPLING EFFECT 1. The plumber / heating tech gets blacklisted by the customer.2. The poorly designed heating appliance continues to cause this tenant problems.3. The poorly designed Mechanical Closet continues to aggravate the next heating technician that comes by.4. The tenant gets fed up with the situation and moves.5. The real estate broker isn’t honest about the heating unit situation or overlooks mentioning it when the new tenant signs the dotted line.6. Another heating tech is called in to deal with the heating unit.7. The same aggravating issues need to be dealt with.

The cycle just keeps repeating itself over and over again.

When does it end?

How do we solve these issues and make life better for all of us?

“ You still haven’t explained the statement about how we’re

‘ Ironically, Doing it to ourselves’…..”

Simple:---The customer doesn’t give feedback to the heating tech, the real estate broker or property manager.---The heating tech doesn’t give feedback to the customer, the real estate broker or the manufacturer.---The property owner or real estate broker doesn’t give feedback to the builder.---The builder won’t change the way they’re putting their projects together without a change in the plans.---The certified and registered engineers won’t change the way they’re drawing up their plans without feedback from anyone else.…….And on and on and on this cycle goes!

There are solutions to these cycles of insanity!

Stephen R. Covey and I’m sure countless others have put it

simply…. It starts with the very basic step

of: Begin With The End in Mind

DESIGN THE HOME, APARTMENT OR CONDOMINIUM AS IF YOU ARE THE ONE WHO HAS TO LIVE THERE ….WITH ALL YOUR CLOTHES, BOXES, SHELVES, SEASONAL ITEMS ETC. DESIGN THE MECHANICAL CLOSET AS IF YOU ARE THE ONE WHO HAS TO TAKE DOWN ALL THOSE CLOTHES, BOXES, SHELVES AND SEASONAL ITEMS TO REMOVE THE 2 HEAVY FIRE RATED DOORS.DESIGN THE MECHANICAL CLOSET SO THE BOILER GETS PUT TO ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER SO NOBODY HAS TO REMOVE HEAVY SLIDING DOORS.

Put yourself in their shoes.

Lay out the mechanical closet so it is not required to go through a bedroom or walk-in closet. Design the boiler that gets installed into a mechanical closet with more than 2 inches of clearance in front of the heating appliance. About 2 feet should be required to swing a hinged control switch panel open and access replaceable switches and boards.

** The problem exists when boiler installers take the combustible clearances as Gospel without putting themselves in the shoes of the person doing the maintenance on the boiler.

Design these wall hung boilers so that if an expansion tank needs to be replaced, then the copper supply tube has an inline shut off valve with an integral drain. Design a wall hung boiler so that any screws used to assemble the cabinet don’t make contact with copper heat exchanger tubes etc. Dissimilar Metals- No good!

Design the positioning of an internal circulation pump so that when you need to access the pump supplied junction box for the wire connections, you’re not fighting the aluminum frame of the heating boiler. Design the complete wall hung boiler with off-the-shelf readily available parts. Having to wait days for parts is bad for business….. my business as well as your boiler sales.

Design the complete wall hung boiler with the technician in mind. This means -- when you no longer offer a Boiler for sale on the front of your website, give the average licensed & qualified technician easier access to manuals and parts. If you have a list of Wholesale Distributors, make sure they know they’re on the list. I called a wholesaler referred by the manufacturer but the wholesaler never heard of the manufacturer.

Begin with the end in mind … when designing the placement of Wall

Hung Boilers into Mechanical Closets.

Michael Gaffney – Boutique Real Estate & Light Commercial

Plumbing and Heating ProfessionalServing Eastern Ma. since 2008