Hello,
I don't mean this to be a bitch. Just relating a recent experience w/a plumber that someone out there might benefit from. Recently had a gas line run to my kitchen. Guys did a pretty immaculate job digging the trench, all in all was an excellent install, except....
I had marked on the wall where I needed the outlet based on the install pdf of the range. I gave them a 4 inch x 6 inch rectangle to target. Shouldn't of been a big deal. Well when it came time to go from the riser through to the wall in order to make the location I needed some additional plumbing would have been necessary. Really just a couple of els and nipples. The guy kinda moaned about it and we looked at the pdf and he said that he didn't know what he could do since the riser was so high etc. etc. ...
and I let him off the hook (mistake) and let him install it straight through. The wording in the pdf was "suggested gas outlet location" not "definite gas outlet location" and I let it slide.
Well... the oven arrived and I was checking out the install and determined that where they installed the outlet was not going to work. I would have kept the oven away from the way by about 4 inches due to the way the stove is built.
Ok so I get him back and he gets the outlet to a suitable location and doesn't even have to put another hole in the exterior. Simple... so simple I wish he had just done it right the first time.
But it's not over. So a bit later I go ahead and complete the stove install, exchanging the cap he left w/a shutoff valve and attaching the flex connector from there to the stove. Some things are just too simple to screw up and that's one of them so I was pretty confident that the stove would light right off.
Nope. Turn the burner on, nothing. Let it go for a minute.. nothing. Put a lighter up next to it.. nothing. Go check the master gas valve, it's fine, go check the hot water heater, pilot is lit and it lights when I turn it up.
Ok.. undo the connection to the stove, check out the fittings and flexconnector and they are clean, put it all back together and light it up.. nothing.
So I'm thinking about this, ready to call the plumber back and have him check the pressure coming out of this new line, when I thought that just maybe the air he used to check the line for leaks hasn't been purged enough yet.
So I go turn on the burner and let it stay on for a while this time.... about 5 minutes and finally it lights.
And this guy wasn't a slacker, he's been a plumber for almost 20 years and the rest of the install was immaculate.
So the lessons I learned from all this are
homeowners: when you have a contractor, plumber whatever over and you need the job done in a certain way don't let them talk you out of it unless you are trying to have them do something dangerous or stupid. In this case I should have just prodded him to put the outlet where it was supposed to be according to the install pdf and shouldn't of accepted it elsewhere.
contractors: don't be lazy about stuff like that, if you need to charge a bit more just say so. Also you should mention things like "you might have to purge the air out of the line before the stove will light". Typical Harry Homeowner would have had the plumber back the next day and possibly the guy would have forgotten the test air (the original job was a month ago) and spent a while trying to diagnose a nonexistent problem.
ml