Last week, we did a simple oil to gas steam boiler replacement. The customer (Mike) has been a family friend of my parents for more than 60 years. Mike’s grandfather built the house back in the 1920s. The home is currently occupied by Mike’s daughter and her two teenage grandchildren.

As scheduled, I arrived at the home at 7 a.m. I saw the lights were on and I rang the doorbell. No one answered, but I could hear someone talking. I knocked on the door three times and the daughter came to the front door in her pajamas. I mentioned we would need to shut off the steam boiler (with tankless coil for DHW), and drain it. She asked if she and her kids could take a quick shower. I agreed, but was confused on why they waited for me to arrive before they wanted to take showers? If it were me, I would have taken a shower the night before.

I went down to the basement and turned on the single pull chain light for the entire basement. I then set up three of our lights so we could work. After about a half hour, I noticed the DHW stopped flowing for a few minutes. I yelled upstairs and asked if I could turn off the DHW, they replied, “Yes.” I started draining the steam boiler and the tankless coil piping.

While waiting for the boiler to drain, I examined the wiring. There was a typical piece of conduit from the ceiling box to the front of the boiler. I opened the ceiling box only to find the canvas wires from the breaker panel disconnected and capped off with wire nuts. Then, I noticed the boiler was powered from a green extension cord that was plugged into the sump pump electrical outlet. Later that day, we spoke to Mike and learned someone must have used the extension cord to power the boiler temporarily after Hurricane Sandy (12 years ago). The next day, the electrician tested the original wires and utilized them after installing a new drop the boiler.

We almost always replace the near boiler piping, as most of the time, the last installer did not follow the manufacturer’s installation manual. This was one of those jobs. Before we removed the steam header, we checked the pitch on the two steam mains. They both were pitched properly — as a matter of fact, they had almost a half inch per foot of pitch. Unfortunately, the original installer (I assume it was Mike’s grandfather’s plumber) notched every joist in the basement for the steam mains. The 2x10 joists closest to the boiler were notched approximately 6 inches. The joists at the end of the mains were notched about 2 inches. I thought it was odd that a builder would hire a plumber that did this kind of destruction.

Unfortunately, I think it is against the code to have a breaker panel in a clothing closet.

The floor was made of cement and pitched away from the outside walls for the first few feet. This made leveling the new boiler and water heater tricky as the pitch was roughly one half inch per linear foot. Again, why would a builder hire a mason that would pitch the floor in this manner? There were no French drains and the floor certainly was not pitched to the sump pump. Why was the basement only 5-feet, 8-inches tall? Then I realized, maybe the basement was originally a dirt floor, and someone poured the concrete later? (Side note: my son and are convinced we could not live in this house like this, I am 6’2”, my son is 6’5”).

When we started to install the low boy gas water heater (short version), we realized that the chimney penetration was barely high enough. Again, we had to get creative with the boiler and water heater smoke pipe.

The new gas pipe trunk was not at all tricky, except we decided to replace a 30 foot section of steel gas pipe that appeared to be original to the house and was pitted badly.

This week, we helped another contractor install a few mini split units at a four family, four story house (all four tenants are family). The basement tenant apparently likes clothing and wigs. There were at least ten piles of new and used clothing from the floor to the ceiling in her “walk in” closet. We counted at least two dozen wigs (some on mannequin heads). Unfortunately, the breaker panels were in this closet. We asked the lady to empty part of her closet so the electrician could access the panel and run wires to the outside units. I am not exaggerating when I say you could fill three empty full size vans to the rim with these clothes.

The lady spent about two hours moving the piles of clothing along and the wigs. She then ran out of the house screaming. Apparently, there was a dead mouse under one of the piles. After regaining her composure, she spent another hour moving other piles. When I got there the next morning, you could still barely open the closet door. I spent another hour moving clothes and a few wigs so the electrician could at least see the panel. Unfortunately, I think it is against the code to have a breaker panel in a clothing closet.

Oddly, the rest of the basement apartment was relatively clean and organized. I kept on thinking of those clothes bins where you drop off your old clothes. This lady could make a small town happy with just one truckload full of clothing. I am not too familiar with wigs, but I have heard they can be expensive. This may have been the first (and last) time I relocate a stranger’s wig collection.