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TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATION TVMPA Newsletter November 16, 2003 Meeting November 19, 2003 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
A JOB WELL DONELast Saturday we finished the plumbing on the Capital Soccer clubhouse.
What a success story this project was for the 500 kid, Capital soccer organization! With no means other than donation, volunteer labor, and fund raisers, the club built a building that is worth in excess of $100,000.00
TVMPA was proud to be a part of this project as far as the donation of labor and expertise. Also included in the project was Consolidated Supply, Keller Supply, and Fiberglass Systems. Special thanks to Ed Howland, John Ward, and Dennis Butterfield for donation of labor on the project.
Just What Are Those Rascals Up To?*Representative Lee Gagner has promised to carry legislation that would replace the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) with the International Plumbing Code (IPC). Although the IPC crowd have been preparing groundwork for implementation of their code for years, this will be the first time they will have tried to push their code through with legislation.
*With the new water softener rough-in law taking effect in December, the Homebuilders Association has asked the Plumbing Board to delay the implementation of it until they can look it over. The law will take effect on schedule.
At TVMPA November 19 MINIMIZING YOUR LIABILITYThe National Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors Association (PHCC) and 58 other plumbing associations covering 43 states endorse Federated Insurance. This, because Federated goes the extra mile in offering solid risk management programs.
Our speaker, Mike Pennington, has given risk management presentations to over 500 association groups in his tenure in the Association Risk Management Services division of Federated.
He will be talking to us about minimizing your liability by taking some precautions. Mike will show Federated’s award winning video “Making The Tough Call” along with other materials that he will provide which will enable the business owner to implement their own fleet management programs
YEAR END BUSINESS TO SEE TOAt our November meeting we will have our yearly election. Please be there for this important meeting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there a meeting topic that you’d like to have brought in or do you know of a good one? Contact Gilbert Pond at 888-1973. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out our website at www.tvmpa.org
TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATION TVMPA Newsletter October 11, 2003 Meeting October 15, 2003 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
At TVMPA October 15
All You Have Always Wanted To Ask About State Taxes…
Our speaker for the October 15th TVMPA general meeting is Johnna Brock, Senior Tax Auditor for the State Of Idaho.
Johnna has worked for the State Tax Commission for over 13 years. In addition to here duties at the state, Johnna has been unselfishly volunteering in the VITA program, which helps low income families with their income taxes, and sharing educational information w/ groups, such as TVMPA.
Some of the topics that she may touch might be: Sales and use tax contractors, who are contractors, what is real property, types of contracts, what is use tax, use tax essentials, when is use tax due, when is use tax # required, materials supplied by another party, taxable purchase by contractors, exception certificates, when can exemptions purchases be made by contractors, contractors and the production exemption, when a contractor is also a retailer, 1% tax refund due to contractors as a result of the tax change in May. Questions and answers follow her presentation. Bring your bookkeeper to this meeting!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there a meeting topic that you’d like to have brought in or do you know of a good one? Contact Gilbert Pond at 888-1973. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out our website at www.tvmpa.org
TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATION TVMPA Newsletter September 12, 2003 Meeting September 17, 2003 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
At TVMPA September 17 Meeting:
THE PROPOSED BSU APPRENTICESHIP LAB Our speaker for the September 17th TVMPA general meeting is Betty Howland. She will be talking to us about the proposed plumbing lab for the apprenticeship program. This lab will give plumbers hands-on experience in many aspects of plumbing that they would not normally have an opportunity to experience.
The creation of the lab does not come without effort. Much has been done, but more is yet to come.
Bring your contractor buddies to this meeting. See what is planned, give some constructive input, and volunteer to help. We all benefit from better-trained apprentices, so let’s do our part to get the lab up and running in a timely manner!
A LOOK AT BSU PLUMBING APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM
Do you remember the good old days of plumbing apprentice class @ BSU? Actually, now that I think about it, maybe they weren’t really all that good. In fact, there was a lot of wasted and unproductive time for the students in those days.
But in the last 8 years there has been a constant effort, a steady pressure, to make the program into a positive and worthwhile experience for Idaho plumbing apprentices. BSU Outreach Program under Rosy Rosco had, at that time, created an Apprentice Advisory Committee. Members of the committee were Rick Garrett, Gilbert Pond, Ray Coon, Ed Howland, Ken Caulkins, and Bob Albrecht. Bob has moved from the area but the other members are still active on the committee.
Look at where we’ve come from, where we are, and where we’re going!
In the 60’s the apprenticeship school consisted of a single class of maybe 15 students. Today there are 7, with the possibly 8, classes, and there are a total of 180 students.
The curriculum outline was developed by the all volunteer BSU Apprenticeship Advisory Committee, with content coming from many sources, including material developed Ron Ginner, Ken Holt and others. It has been approved by the Idaho State Plumbing Department, State vocational education department, and the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training (a federal agency). The curriculum is constantly being updated as needed, to conform with our changing times. Currently, the code that we adhere to is the 2000 UPC, but the state has just adopted the 2003 UPC code. The classes will implement the 2003 UPC next year.
In the past, classes were spread from Boise to Meridian to Nampa. Today they are all located in Nampa.
This year the 2 first year instructors are Suzy Ulacky and Ed Howland w/ 67 students, 2nd instructor is Ed Howland w/ 39 students, 3rd year instructors are Ken Holt and Mark Holt with 33 students, 4th year instructors are Ron Ginner and Coy Rhoades with 40 students.
It is important that students and employers note some changes this year. There are no longer semesters in the program. It is a single 1 year block. This means that if a student does well in the first part of the year but slacks off in the latter part of the year, he could fail the entire year and be required to repeat the year. Attendance is a big factor for the apprentices. The class offers 156 hours of class time for the year. The minimum attendance is 144 hours. Any time less than 144 hours will require a repeat of the year. There is no makeup. We as employers need to make sure that we are not the reason for nonattendance!
Idaho State Plumbing Board Meeting In Northern IdahoThe State Plumbing Board has just met for their semiannual meeting in Post Falls. Ray Coon, a member of the board, will update us on what he says was a very productive meeting. Those who attend TVMPA this Wednesday will be among the most up to date plumbers in the State!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there a meeting topic that you’d like to have brought in or do you know of a good one? Contact Gilbert Pond at 888-1973. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
CAPITAL SOCCER’S NEW CLUBHOUSE
Conveniently located on Lake Hazel Road just West of Cloverdale is a new country looking building, red in color, at the edge of what looks to be a turf farm.
The building and the fields are the product of hard work of Joe Asavito, the Capital Soccer Club coordinator, parents of the 500 player soccer club, and a lot of generous businessmen in the community.
Among those who are contributing are the TVMPA, Keller Supply, Consolidated Supply, and Best Bath.
The plumbing groundwork and rough-in are now done. Those who would like to participate on the trim should contact President John Ward.
We’ll do a spotlight on Capital Soccer’s ambitious project when the it’s complete.
2003 SUMMERTIME SHINDIGThe Summertime Shindig was held in July at Eagle Island. We’ll have a report on the activity at the meeting.
Are you a manufacturer’s rep or a plumbing warehouse that has something new and unique to show off. Contact Gilbert Pond at 888-1973 to reserve time at the TVMPA general meetings.
Be sure to be at TVMPA next Wednesday the 17th at 7:00 P.M. and bring a friend! ………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Check out our website at www.tvmpa.org
TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATION TVMPA Newsletter April 12, 2003 Meeting April 16, 2003 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
At TVMPA April 16 Meeting:
MARKETING STRAGATEGIES:
Steve Amar and Rod Brady w/ Y2Marketing (www.y2marketing.com) will be our speakers on which strategies actually work and which ones are guaranteed to blow your budget, generate no business and leave you broke and embarrassed.
The landscape of business has changed over the last 5 to 20 years. Just being aggressive doesn’t cut it anymore. Sales skills alone aren’t enough. You’ve got to distinguish your business from the pack and lead prospects to say, ‘I would have to be an absolute fool to do business with anyone else but you’…regardless of price.
*Determine your customer’s value hierarchy with surveys. *Build a case for your business…just like an attorney would. *Create evidence for your case. *Integrate risk-lowering strategies. *Evaluations that challenge you to quantify and be specific. *Systematize your entire sales and marketing system so it works consistently, for anyone in the company. *Duplicate your passion and energy. *Get the Business and Make More Money!
This would be a good meeting to bring your wife or your partner to! Be sure to invite a friend too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our May TVMPA Guest Speaker will be the SBA (Small Business Administration) Possible topics: business ethics, loan types, their availability & requirements, writing business plans, business practices, working capital, credit policy, advertising and how to pay for it. If you see one there you’d like to see expanded, let Gilbert know! 888-1973. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Our April Guest Warehouse Representative: Jeremy Kroll from Consolidated Supply on Bradford White
Legislative Committee Report: SB 1133 which would create an Idaho HVAC Bureau passed with flying colors in the Idaho Legislature. The Northwest HVAC Association was instrumental in crafting and pushing the bill through. They were very effective in getting the job done and were relatively pleased with the results.
TVMPA legislative committee and board were concerned about the bill primarily because of the Idaho Association Of Building Officials’ influence on it. When the legislation was drafted it closely resembled the Idaho Plumbing Bureau’s framework and it still does. But a five man board representing the industry and citizens at large was expanded to seven so as to include city and county officials. We believe that these city and county officials will likely be pro ICBO and we are concerned about the growing influence of ICBO in Idaho.
From our discussions with some of the HVAC contractors after the House Business Committee meeting on the bill, they seem to have some of the same concerns that we do. But it seemed to them that there was a great deal of opposition to their bill and they felt that compromise was the only way that they would get this bill through.
It seems a shame that we were on opposing sides when we were so closely parallel in purpose. It would be well to get better acquainted with the Northwest HVAC Association and perhaps work in concert in some future issues.
Note from president I just want to thank those who worked on the Legislative Committee this year. This just goes to show that you can’t win them all! I think good will come out of the new HVAC bureau – Let’s just wish the best for them!
Hope you’all have been enjoying some of the nice weather we’ve been getting into. Kind of makes you want to get out and enjoy it! We’re going to give you the details of the TVMPA Golf Challenge coming up this spring! Don’t worry if you don’t play. (or don’t play good) I guarantee you’ll have a good time!
See you at the meeting!
John Ward President, TVMPA
THE MAN, THE LEGEND – DEFAMED
History must have held it’s breath that day in 1884 at the Health Exhibition in London. One can imagine the inventor’s subordinates gathered around, drained of emotion, brows furrowed. The room crackles with tension. Only Thomas Crapper himself, brimming with confidence, chain in hand and poised for the big test, seems ready to meet the challenge head-on.
Was there a countdown? We don’t know. But we do know that Crapper pulled the chain, and down went three wads of paper. Another chain-pull, and away went a sponge. Then four paper sheets that were stuck to the bowl with grease. And then, the mother of all flushes, 10 apples!
It was mankind’s greatest hygiene breakthrough, the high water mark of plumbing history. But the true, behind-the-scenes story of the flush toilet has been tossed in history’s garbage can. There was no Watson as there was for Bell, no flash in the sky like the one in the New Mexico desert that ushered in the Atomic Age, no invitation to the White House as there was for Edison.
Even more tragically, Thomas Crapper has been robbed of his good name. He has become the butt of jokes. His achievement has been lost in the lore of Latrinalia. The end result is that Thomas Crapper, the man who did more than any other to clear the air of the Western world, in danger of being forgotten. His place in posterity hangs by the barest of threads.
The moral of the story is this: Never attach your name to a plumbing invention. It could give you a crappy reputation!
There are those that say that Thomas Crapper is only a character in folklore. But there really was a Thomas Crapper. He was a real plumber turned inventor turned manufacturer who lived from 1836 to 1910. The best documentation on him is a book entitled “Flushed with Pride: The Story of Thomas Crapper,” by Wallace Reyburn (Prentice Hall, 1971), a slim, useful volume originally published in England, which unfortunately has been out of print for many years. It is amply illustrated with photographers of Crapper and his products.
This article and more was found on internet at: http://bridge.ecn.purdue.edu/piwc/w3-history/crapper/crapper-ecenbarger.html
Are you a manufacturer’s rep or a plumbing warehouse that has something new and unique to show off. Contact Gilbert Pond at 888-1973 or Dan Ediger at 922-0304 to reserve time at the TVMPA general meetings.
TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATION TVMPA Newsletter March 14, 2003 Meeting March 19, 2003 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us) We’re Going to End This Now! Last month at TVMPA, Bradley Harr, a senior environmental scientist from Summit Environmental Inc. talked to us about the rise of the “Mold Factor”. Many factors regarding the nature of molds, mold on the job, handling it, and treating it were discussed.
This month our guest will be Van Carlson, a Farmers insurance agent.
Van is going to give us a glimpse of what the insurance companies are going through with this problem, what they will require of us as far a treating leaks and documentation of our response.
Mold and water damage information is kept in a large database that is available to all insurance companies. If there is a mold problem in a home or business, you can’t hide it anymore. The mold or water damage can cause resale problems on the building. It will cause insurance problems. If it causes resale and insurance problems, it will cause legal problems.
We’ll talk about preferred insurance verses substandard insurance. The change in insurance implications can be huge if cleanup isn’t done properly. There is mold proactive documentation to do. Standardization of processes and checklists that fit the insurance industry requirements will be discussed.
(End of TVMPA mold class 2003)
Be sure to be at TVMPA next Wednesday the 19th at 7:00 P.M. and bring a friend! ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 2003 LEGISLATION WATCH TVMPA Legislation Committee SENATE BILL SB1133The sponsors of SB 1133 are promoting a new and separate bureau at the state for HVAC regulation.
*The sponsors wish to use funds from the plumbing bureau reserves to get this off of the ground. We wonder if it would be wise to tap into the rainy day fund of the plumbing bureau, considering the near collapse of the division in the 80s because of budget woes. Consider also, Idaho State’s current financial shortfalls. *Nampa Building Official Dennis Davis opposes this legislation but for a different reason. Says Davis, “It would create another state agency that is Industry Controlled to which we are steadfastly opposed”. In other words, Dennis Davis, chairman of the Idaho Association of Building Officials, speaking for the association on March 3, 2003, wants the regulation of rules completely out of the industry’s hands. They are not interested in “creating any industry controlled boards to adopt safety standards through their rule making process” It would appear that Davis and his group are confident that building officials are completely competent They will just take care of rules, regulation, schools, and administration of such without the need of any input from any industry. For a more comprehensive discussion on SB1133, go the TVMPA website and look under Hot Items This Week. There will be more discussion on the bill and instructions on how to get in touch with your senator to express your opinion. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. What’s new at the TVMPA website?? Two features are almost ready for the TVMPA website and will be displayed at the meeting. We’re hoping the programmer, Wayne Anderson will be available at the meeting to demonstrate and answer questions. These applications will be up and running this month.
*Help Wanted: A quick, easy and free service for plumbing contractors to advertise for help. *Job Wanted: A convenient and free location for plumbing journeymen and apprentices to advertise for work. This is a big deal!! It is a wonderful service to the industry and a goodwill gesture by this organization. We hope that the membership will be both active in using it and in promoting it!
You can view and test these applications now at: http://tvmpa.wayneandersen.com:8080/tvmpa There are more exciting developments that will soon be coming. Watch for them within the next month or two. Check out our website at www.tvmpa.org
Are you a manufacturer’s rep or a plumbing warehouse that has something new and unique to show off. Contact Gilbert Pond at 888-1973 or Dan Ediger at 922-0304 to reserve time at the TVMPA general meetings.
TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATIONTVMPA Newsletter February 14, 2003
Meeting February 19, 2003 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
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OLD MOLD IS GOLD!!
We are all aware of the growing concern over litigation on mold. Insurance companies are scared to death about the potential of lawsuits involving mold. ManyHave excluded mold from their policies. Some are offering extremely expensive riders to cover the problem.TVMPA is hosting discussion on mold. Our guest is Bradly Harr, a senior environmental scientist form the firm of Summit Environmental Inc.
Among other things, he will discuss the nature of the problem what we should do to be proactive against possible lawsuits and how to react if you do find yourself in a potential mold situation.
Please bring a guest to this timely and informative discussion. ………………………………………………………………………………………………
2003 LEGISLATION WATCH
Ray Coon, TVMPA Legislation Committee Chairman, has spotted a potentially damaging piece of legislation that is coming before the Senate next week. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED to make our legislators know that Senate Bill 1111 is bias and damaging to the industry.
We have prepared a discussion, quoting both the proposed legislation and the current Idaho plumbing law dealing with this bill. We are attaching that discussion and the Senate Commerce and Human Relations Committee names and phone numbers.
This is very damaging legislation. We believe it can be stopped by the industry letting the members of the committee know how we feel about it. Don’t leave it to someone else to make the calls!! ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
What’s new at the TVMPA website??
-This month we have added a listing of all of the plumbing contractors in the state of Idaho. www.tvmpa.org.office -We have also posted the TVMPA Articles of Incorporation and the TVMPA by Laws. www.tvmpa.org.office -We have board approval to fund work on a couple of new features. We are going to offer services to the entire trade as follow: *Help Wanted: A place for contractors to advertise for help. A free service to the industry as approved by the board. *Job Wanted: A place for plumbing journeymen and apprentices to advertise their services. A free service to the industry as approved by the board. *Bulletin Board: A place to bring plumbing issues and responses. A free service to the industry as approved by the board. *Labor Pool: A place for TVMPA member contractors to trade labor.
Look for these options this spring. Check out our website at www.tvmpa.org
TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATIONTVMPA Newsletter January 10, 2003
Meeting January 15, 2003 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some new faces here…….
Elections for TVMPA board and officers were held at the November meeting. The results are as follows:
Officers: President: John Ward (new Vice President: Dave Pera Secretary: Dennis Butterfield Treasurer: Marion Moody
Board Members: Gilbert Pond Ray Coon Ed Howland (new) Charles Parks Pat Batten Jim Paulen
We’re excited to have John and Ed come into the leadership of TVMPA. In talking with John I get the impression that he wants the organization to grow this year. Ed is our specialist with the apprenticeship program at Boise State. ………………………………………………………………………………………………
At our January meeting we will be organizing for 2003.
We have been doing the work of the TVMPA for 12 years now. Every year members take projects that they haven’t done before. Every year some of what we do has to be reinvented. That is – every year until this year.
We are suggesting that this year we create job description, complete with the ready information that is necessary to act as officer, board member or committee member. Then when the positions change hands, the learning curve will be greatly shortened and the expectations of the responsibilities will be quickly understood.
We can keep these job descriptions in the file cabinet at our cyberspace office. The internet offers us a place to put our valuable information where it is always findable, useable, and adjustable as needed. We’re not there yet but soon!
On a different note, we have some innovative labor projects in mind that we would like to show the membership. It will cost some money to do them so be sure to come and see. We need your yeas or nays. Check out our website at www.tvmpa.org
President’s Corner
Hidey Ho Fellow Plumbers, Welcome to the New Year of 2003. For those of you who don’t already know, I’ve been elected to the Presidential slot for TVMPA this year. I am excited about the many things that can be accomplished by our organization. I look forward to working with the other officers and members to attain a higher standard in our trade and in our everyday lives. I hope to see you and a guest that you plan to bring at our January 15th meeting. Remember, every member is on the membership committee. On a lighter note, this month’s meeting will not have a guest speaker, but instead I thought that everyone could speak and tell what they look for in our association. Where they see it going, where they would like to see it go and what we can do to see that we get there. So, everyone plan to be there and make it a go together.
John (Bubba) Ward
HOMETREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATIONTVMPA Newsletter November 15, 2002
Meeting November 20, 2002 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
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COMING SOON………
What was once considered an unsolvable safety hazard has now been solved… It will save lives and prevent untold future injuries Ann Brown, Chairman U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission
We are aware that plumbing code requires water heater stands to help prevent accidental ignition of flammable gas. But now, by federal mandate, water heater manufacturers are required to improve the water heater technology so that these explosions cannot happen.
Some manufacturers are still in development, some are ready now, but by July 1st of 2003 residential gas water heaters as we know them will no longer be sold.
Steve Roberts of Rocky Mountain Marketing will bring us up to speed on American Water Heater’s “Flame Guard” technology, available now in the Pro-line series. ……………………………………………………………………………………………… The Idaho State Plumbing Board met October 25, 2002 Two of the items that were discussed were: *Civil Penalties: allows for the enactment of civil penalties against unlicensed individuals or companies acting as a contractor, journeyman or apprentice, or specialty licensed contractor, journeyman or apprentice. (up to $1000.00 per citation) *Water Softener pending rule: would require the installation of a water treatment loop and drain on all one and two family residences. The softener industry has expressed their support of this rule Come to the meeting for more information
2003 Idaho State Plumbing Board Meeting Schedule February 21, 2003 to be held in MeridianMay 16, 2003 to be held in Meridian September 12, 2003 to be held in Northern Idaho November 14, 2003 to be held in Eastern Idaho
Checking out www.tvmpa.org This month we have added a listing of Idaho State Plumbing Bureau employees and Idaho State Plumbing Board members This can be found in the Idaho State web site but it can be found much easier here!
We ask that all active members of the association make a special effort to be in attendance at the November 20th meeting. We have special business to conduct.
TREASURE VALLEY MASTER PLUMBERS ASSOCIATIONTVMPA Newsletter October 11, 2002
Meeting October 16, 2002 @ Fiesta Guadalajara – 704 E. Fairview in Meridian at 7:00 P.M. (6:30 if you plan to have dinner with us)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Is A Taxing Situation!
Pete Skamser, Idaho State Director of the NFIB will be our guest speaker at the TVMPA October 16 meeting. He describes his topics as follows:
This year the legislature is facing $168 million shortfall in tax revenues when they return in January 2003. How did it happen? What will they do to “Fix” it?
The revenue shortfall is putting the legislature in a tough spot. They want to increase education funding. The dominant party in the legislature has taken a lot of heat over education funding - most of it undeserved. The single most importing thing the legislature does is fund education.
How can they address the shortfall? Raise sales tax. This could mean one percent or one and one-half percent added to the current sales tax rate. This is the down and dirty quick fix.
There is also some support for extending the sales tax to labor and services. This has an appeal because you could lower the overall sales tax rate - pleasing the public while cleverly covering up a huge tax increase. The problem with this is that labor and service bills go up by five percent, making bad people out of good service providers. The other problem is that small businesses are themselves high consumers of services - utilities, building and property maintenance, equipment repair, tax services, bookkeeping and so on forever.
Add to this the cheerful picture of the prospect of a fifty percent increase in unemployment insurance taxes and you have a session that could be very rough on businesses.
Clearly, there are issues for Idaho businessmen and citizens to be concerned about. This discussion will help us better understand the situation and what should be done about it.
WATER HEATER DEATH BY PRESSURE
In recent years, since municipalities have required meter yokes with check valves built into them, and since some have begun charging their systems to higher pressures, the factor of excessive pressure in the house water system has become quite evident. We’ve all seen water on the garage floor from relief valves seeping. But have you seen the water heater destroyed by thermal expansion?
This failure occurs when the concave bottom of the water heater is flattened by pressures of 500-600 lbs, caused by thermal expansion. The bottom of the gas water heater is connected to the top by means the flue, welded to the bottom and the to top. As the bottom flattens the flue will pull the top down with it, so we have the bottom, the flue and the top, all dropping several inches. As the bottom of the water heater flattens it disrupts the burner chamber. The flame will still burn, but not properly. It will send carbon monoxide out of the burner chamber, into the room.
Most of us have been unaware of this problem but as of just now, that is not the case for you readers. It’s fairly rare, and conditions have to be just right. But it happens enough that it needs to be a concern and a suitable prevention needs to be established INDUSTRY WIDE. Manufacturers consider it “installer error” and take no responsibility for anything regarding the problem.
We have always believed that the relief valves should take care of pressure situations and we have felt safe in relying on it for safety from dangerous pressure situations. But obviously, when the pressure reaches the kind of pressures we are talking about, the relief valve has failed to do what we have believed that it would do.
We have considered the expansion tank to be an aid in giving the pressure a place to go. But expansion tanks can waterlog, as we all know they do and then they’re useless.
This problem can happen to anyone. In our company we have seen it three times within the last 4 years.
It is potentially dangerous and being so, it brings upon our industry, certain moral obligations as well as the threat of lawsuit
We have taken the problem to the State Plumbing Bureau where Bob Rawlings and Rusty Boyer are looking at the problem. If anyone else has had experience with this problem, I believe that the State would like to hear more about it.at 334-3442
I know that I would. Please contact me, Dennis Butterfield, at 888-7555
Checking out WWW.TVMPA.ORG
When you open up the TVMPA website you see a respectable, noncluttered site. When you start opening it up, you’re going be impressed with the useful information you find there.
*The rolling banner across the top will catch your eye first. It will inform you of the next TVMPA meeting time and location *The visitor count registers the fact that far too few of us have been taking advantage of the web site so far. *The weather box below the visitor count indicates Boise weather as a default. But if you want to see the weather for Meridian, double click on the icon, enter the name of Meridian in the box. If you don’t specify Meridian, Idaho, you’ll discover that there are 8 Meridians in the USA. This tells me that I can check the weather anywhere in the country. This little site has lots of interesting things to look at and do. Do it yourself!
Those buttons on the left side of the home page have quite a lot of valuable information behind them. We’ll talk about the power behind them in future newsletters.
We just added the apprenticeship button this month. This page is valuable to apprentices as well as their responsible sponsors. In it you’ll find: Class locations, times, and instructors, the 4-year curriculum required books, materials, and how to get them, and next week, class rules. Everything you ever wanted to know about the apprentice program but were afraid to ask about.
We will be adding more features to the website for the next few months. Open up the TVMPA website and start playing with it, watch the progress! You’ll be impressed.
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