One of my best Tenants sounded a little upset on that message so I called right back, asked the details, looked up the purchase receipt for the refrigerator (30 months old unfortunately), then planned to see it the next day. This was the second refrigerator that had done this at his apartment in the past 5 years. The first was still working fine in my cellar, as a spare when we cook a lot for the Holidays or parties.

Seemed fine to me. Cold enough for ice.  So I called my buddy Paul, THE Appliance guy. “I’m too busy. Put a half gallon of ice cream in the freezer and two quarts of milk in the refrigerator spread apart. Check it in a couple of days. Any problem and the milk should be bad.”

Couple of days later, the ice cream “Fenway fruity something” was solid and the milk smelled fresh. So I called Paul again who’s impossible to get unless you call three of his numbers, leave messages and just happen to run into him! “Only reason for this is the door was left open (check the leg adjustments to make sure it’s slightly pitched back to close by itself) or he had the steak jammed up against the defrost plate in the back.” It seems the sensor comes on to defrost that plate on a cycle and continues until it’s warm however with all that steak up against it, the defrost may have continued until it was all (steak and other frozen food) defrosted!

I called the Tenant, told him the Appliance guy had checked it out with only those two solutions. He admitted it probably was jammed against that plate but had thrown an impromptu party with his friends and the thawed steak. So no big deal. However I had better get to Paul with some Dunkin Donut gift cards and a little cash or I may not be able to track him down, the next time I need him!

Do you have a network of folks that are available to help you? Mike

I then tried the flapper repair kits from Eljer, SealMaster, Korky and WalRich. And two Plumbers, to no avail. Incidentally to test a toilet, place a dye pellet in the tank behind/above the seat base and see if it leaks into the bowl. Or you can shut off the supply below the toilet and see if the tank empties on it’s own. Caution sometimes these shut-offs will leak so have a wrench to tighten the valve packing should it leak.
Click – Tom the Plumber

We then successfuly replaced both toilets with a Kohler and an American Standard (because one toilet is a different size – 10″ which is the distance from the closet hold down bolts to the wall. Most toilets are 12″).

Both leaking toilets will be in the back of my pick-up for another day or two and unless someone can give me Eljer’s address to send them back to they’ll head for the dump! Mike

What do you do with that message? I called Tom the Plumber and asked him to come up the next day, I’d check it out myself and call him back.

Tom said: I don’t think so. There’s nothing that smells like gas that’s why they add that smell, so it won’t be mistaken. I’ll see you there in under an hour! If they smell it continuously have them call the gas company ASAP! If it’s just sporadic we can track it down, I’ll bring my sensor.

Tom met me there in under an hour. We went over the meters and pipes in the basement near where it would have drifted to the Lobby in question – Nada, Nunca! So I called my Tenant and asked him to come down and show us where it smelt. Then we showed him how we had gone over all the pipes and Tom had declared it safe. The caller then remembered there had been a small propane tank on the porch outside the first day they smelled it but not the second. A little weary I told him, Better to be safe than sorry. Call anytime.

By the way, know what happens when the Gas company does come out (24/7) for a gas smell? First they test all their pipes. They own the delivery lines to the meters, that’s the underground pipes from the main supply lines in the street that go into your basement and connect to the recording meters. You own the distribution network and appliances.

Simple – If they find a leak in their pipes they fix it right then. If they find a leak in your pipes, they shut off (lock out)the supply of gas, Red Tag it and you must have a licensed, insured gas fitter, fix the leaks, pressure test the network and have the City gas/plumbing inspector sign off on the work. The gas company then can be called/scheduled to unlock and turn the gas back on!

Big deal huh? We take it for granted but natural gas is dangerous and it does seem to have some regulations with our (and our Tenants) safety the main concern! Know anyone you can call 24/7 to help you out? Try Tom Hoyle 617-298-0231

Good luck investing! Mike