Who is liable for negligence of improper hestong?

[MHiley]

We rent an apartment and landlord had new furnace installed last fall. Paid propane gas every 2 weeks. This year, the landlord had someone look and no one checked to see we were blowing out all our heat from an open duct, at least 1 1/2 to 2 feet wide to 1 foot high into the basement toward dirt leading to outside. That's a huge opening! Ugh! Is the landlord liable? The company that installed the new furnace or the company we bought the propane gas from? Someone should have made sure the setup is correct. We wasted who knows how much money last year and two weeks this year just to heat dirt in the basement. Thank you in advance.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state?

How did you come to discover the open duct?

 

[MHiley]

What is the name of your state?

How did you come to discover the open duct?

We told our landlord the house is too cold and we thought maybe the new furnace was too small. She had the propane gas company come inspect the new furnace and they found the UNCOVERED duct end. Rhode Island

 

[MHiley]

We told our landlord the house is too cold and we thought maybe the new furnace was too small. She had the propane gas company come inspect the new furnace and they found the UNCOVERED duct end. Rhode Island

Improper heating system* typo

 

[quincy]

We told our landlord the house is too cold and we thought maybe the new furnace was too small. She had the propane gas company come inspect the new furnace and they found the UNCOVERED duct end. Rhode Island

First, the propane company would not be responsible for your increased use of fuel. You used what you used.

The furnace installer would appear to be the one responsible if the furnace was improperly installed. The landlord might be responsible for not checking to make sure the furnace was installed properly but might not have known what to look for.

It appears, however, that as soon as you recognized a problem with the heat and contacted your landlord, the landlord fixed the problem.

For that reason, and even if you could (with difficulty) be able to calculate your heat loss and the corresponding increased costs of propane due to this loss, the landlord appears to have a better legal action to pursue against the installer.

If the landlord decides to seek damages from the installer through a demand letter or by filing a lawsuit, perhaps he can include your increased costs in his lawsuit.

Improper heating system* typo

“Hestong” admittedly was a bit of a puzzler ... but it was easy to see what you meant after reading your post.

 

[MHiley]

Thank you for responding! Granted, we live in a 320 year End of duct - temporarily covered nowold, uninsulated house, just glad we won't be paying $600 every other week for gas. The open duct was literally a foot or two away from the foundation and aimed right at it, literally heating dirt, not even the basement.

 

[MHiley]

Thank you for responding! Granted, we live in a 320 year End of duct - temporarily covered nowold, uninsulated house, just glad we won't be paying $600 every other week for gas. The open duct was literally a foot or two away from the foundation and aimed right at it, literally heating dirt, not even the basement.

Sorry, new to this. Link of picture went into body of text. Thank you for your assistance!

 

[Zigner]

We told our landlord the house is too cold and we thought maybe the new furnace was too small. She had the propane gas company come inspect the new furnace and they found the UNCOVERED duct end. Rhode Island

That is exactly how it's supposed to work. You complain and the LL investigates and repairs. I don't see this being on the LL at all.

 

[MHiley]

That is exactly how it's supposed to work. You complain and the LL investigates and repairs. I don't see this being on the LL at all.

Understood but we told the LL last year it was 600 bucks every other week. The house WAS rented before by the nephew. They all would have known it was costing excessively but no matter. It was caught at the beginning of this year. LL finally decided to have the nee furnace looked at when my husband wrote down the times the heater kept turning on..every 10 to 15 minutes ugh

 

[MHiley]

New* furnace.
Just wished it was inspected when the work was done or when furnace first used

 

[Zigner]

Understood but we told the LL last year it was 600 bucks every other week. The house WAS rented before by the nephew. They all would have known it was costing excessively but no matter. It was caught at the beginning of this year. LL finally decided to have the nee furnace looked at when my husband wrote down the times the heater kept turning on..every 10 to 15 minutes ugh

And once you gave written notice, it was investigated and corrected.

 

[quincy]

Understood but we told the LL last year it was 600 bucks every other week. The house WAS rented before by the nephew. They all would have known it was costing excessively but no matter. It was caught at the beginning of this year. LL finally decided to have the nee furnace looked at when my husband wrote down the times the heater kept turning on..every 10 to 15 minutes ugh

If you were being billed and paying for fuel directly and not through the landlord, the landlord would only know of the $600 every other week through your telling him of the cost. And the landlord would have no way of knowing if you were overheating the house or if there was a furnace problem without you questioning the cost.

The landlord seems to have acted upon your complaint as he needed to. You can discuss with the landlord the possibility of being reimbursed for some of what you paid. I think the landlord has good reason to contact the furnace installer.

Good luck.

 

[MHiley]

If you were being billed and paying for fuel directly and not through the landlord, the landlord would only know of the $600 every other week through your telling him of the cost. And the landlord would have no way of knowing if you were overheating the house or if there was a furnace problem without you questioning the cost.

The landlord seems to have acted upon your complaint as he needed to. You can discuss with the landlord the possibility of being reimbursed for some of what you paid. I think the landlord has good reason to contact the furnace installer.

Good luck.

Thank you. We've been complaining since last year. They finally decided to check furnace.

 

[quincy]

Thank you. We've been complaining since last year. They finally decided to check furnace.

Ahh. So the landlord did not address your concerns promptly? I misunderstood.

It would still be difficult to accurately assess your damages. You could ask your landlord to reimburse you for excess heating costs paid because of the poorly-installed furnace but I don’t know how much success you will have.

Good luck.

 

[Zigner]

If the OP kept saying (Our heating is costing us a TON), then the LL may well have just blown it off as a whiny tenant who is not used to an old, uninsulated house. However, if the OP said "The heater isn't keeping the house warm", then the LL should have investigated. It sounds to me like the LL investigate once a complaint of lack of proper heating was made, not a complaint about the cost of heating.