Night School

Last night, I received a somewhat panicked call from the basement tenant of our single family home turned three-unit apartment building. The basement houses two 30-something brothers, as well as the hot water heater and boiler for the radiators. The boiler's pressure release valve was leaking an dripping, a lot, and they didn't know what to do. We had them put a crab pot under it to catch the drips, hung up, called the first floor tenant (who is in charge of the thermostat) and had him turn the heat off. I checked online as to what could be causing the leak, while Larry looked for the name of an HVAC company that we could have come out the next day.

I called the basement tenant back, and started talking with him about the possible issues that were causing the leak. I walked him through steps to check if it was an overflow tank that was too full (not the issue), then had him clear out the pressure release valve by opening it a few times and allowing the water to flush the line. And it worked! The leak completely stopped. After an hour, I had him call to let me know the update - still no leak. The tenant was happy to learn about the system and actually said "I love you as our landlord". And so, the Symms Hands-On Technician Night School was born. Sign up today!