Bad Plumber or S.O.P. ?
 

I went through a national home improvement chain to have a new water heater installed. The old water heater worked but was past it's life expectancy, so I decided to replace it before it failed.

The contractor came out yesterday and started draining the old water heater. He realized he had to do extra work to bring it up to code, namely installing a power vent heater. I ok'ed the extra work and that's when he told me I would not have hot water until they finished.

He said he "spun out the regulator" and can't replace it. What he meant was he cut the thermocouple wire and spun out the regulator and the heater won't work without a thermocouple.

Why would you need to remove the regulator to drain the tank? I understand why he would need to cut the thermocouple wire to remove the regulator, by why does he need to remove the regulator?

I don't see why any of the controls of the existing hot water heater needed to be touched at all. I've replaced a number of hot water heaters and never destroyed the controls.
Why a power vent? Isn't there an existing non-powered vent?
Are you saying the contractor realized it was a multi day job, after arriving on site, then damaged the hot water heater and told you he couldn't finish it that day? He couldn't figure out it was a multi-day job before damaging the existing heater?
I don't think this plumber would be returning to my house. I think he is a scam artist. I don't see why you would need a power vent. He's damaged the heater so you don't have time to investigate the necessity of the additional work.

What's s.o.p.?--ok, now I get it. Standard Operating Procedure. No that is not standard operating procedure unless a scam artist is involved.

Standard Operating Procedure.

A power vent has to be installed because the existing exhaust duct work goes behind drywall, which is apparently a big no-no.

I am trying to determine if he destroyed the regulator on purpose or if that is part of the job.

Not a part of the job.
Under what circumstances does the vent go behind drywall? Most chimneys are behind drywall at some point.

In thirtysomething years, I have replaced dozens of water heaters and often there's so much sand in the bottom of the tank that the drain is completely plugged and the water only trickles out. In those situations, you have to make more holes to get all the water out. The thermostat on a gas heater is one of the openings that you can get to fairly easily to effect the draining.

It sounds like he was in a rush so, cutting the thermocouple to free it from the thermostat (so the thermo can be unscrewed out of the tank) would be easier than unscrewing it. Unfortunately, it's irreversible if you run into other problems.
Your plumber was headed the right way to complete that job but, shouldn't have subjected you to a loss of hot water because of his lack of planning/foresight.

(edit) That photo looks like he cut the gas line to the pilot, not the thermocouple. Also, the handle is missing from the drain so, there's a pretty good chance that drain is somehow screwed-up too.

Still, that's no excuse leaving you with a cold shower. These days, it seems that level of service (piss-poor) is becoming more and more common in the trades. One thing: in all the WH swaps I did, I NEVER left a customer w/o hot water and believe me, I had some pretty nasty swaps.

if the vent was legal when it was installed it should be legal now.

"existing non conforming use."

imho

tom w

I opened the drain last month to check for sediment and the water came out fast and hard. The drain works fine.

Thanks Tom. I was under that impression as well, but this guy acted like my house was going to burn down. Maybe the Chicago codes are stricter, I don't know.

Bad plumber, no donut.

Down here, any WH older than 4-5 years will easily have 6" of concrete-like sediment inside.

Another picture
 

He cut the pilot light gas tube and the thermocouple wire, even though both of those have threaded connections to the regulator.

Thanks to everyone for their opinions.

When it comes to chimneys that is the farthest thing from the truth. If any type of deterioration is found by anyone in the building trades or power company the system is "red tagged". No exceptions; that is the rule in Michigan.

deterioration is not a code compliance issue.

i believe what this guy was talking about was an upgrade to conform to today's codes (which i think was a bogus claim).

of course if it is deteriorated, it must be repaired. that just makes good sense.

tom w

Potential for carbon monoxicide leakage or fire is RED TAG period end of story.

I have seen people get red tagged for bad igniters, I have seen people call because of a water heater issue and get the furnace red tagged; I have seen vice versa.

If you change the water heater you have to change anything attached to it that is not compliant with current code.

In our jurisdiction, plumber's don't red tag anything, the utility company or building inspector does.
The question is whether there was a code violation or not. The simple fact that a vent is behind drywall can't violate a code in and of itself.

There is no grandfathering for safety issues via the National Fire Code; the plumber may not red tag a house or appliance but it is his responsibility to report it.