Who pays - tenant or landlord?

Question

James K. · Answer

I agree with the 2 gentlemen above, You're going to have to suck it up. Get it?? Ok, I'm sorry. The headache of trying to get her to pay is probably not work the $275.

Matt R. · Answer

Disclaimer: I am not a professional HVAC guy.

Check with your HVAC/furnace guy before doing this.  It sounds like @Shawn Underwood might be dealing with a newer 90+% efficient furnace; these often have air intakes from the outside of the house... usually something like a 3" or 4" piece of PVC pipe sticking through the side of the house. (The exhaust will be a similar piece of PVC pipe.)

The problem with putting a fine screen (like window screen) on these is that the combustion air blower in the furnace is usually sucking quite a bit of air through the intake pipe.  If you put a screen on the pipe, and it's cold out, moisture in the air can start to freeze when it hits the screen, which eventually will block the flow of air.  The furnace can tell that this is happening and safely shut down, but then you have no heat until you thaw out the screen and reset the furnace.

If the pipes come out really close to the ground, it may be possible to put some elbows and more pipe on them to move them further up, so they don't suck up stuff on the ground as readily.  You have to check the installation manual for the furnace for this; there is a limit to how many elbows and how long of a pipe you can use.

Some manufacturers have an outside vent cap (example:http://www.myhvacparts.com/store/media/products/ba... ) that has sort of a coarse screen or some bars over the pipe opening, but not so fine that they're likely to freeze.

There is another style, called a "concentric vent", that has one pipe running inside the other, so you only need one hole in the wall.  Usually there are a few bars that may keep huge things from being sucked in.  Example: https://www.nachi.org/forum/attachments/f20/45191d...

For either of these vent options, you probably want your HVAC/furnace guy to make sure they won't be too restrictive for your particular furnace.

Again, I don't do this for a living... this is just what I've gathered from having these furnaces installed on a couple of houses.  I am not affiliated with any companies mentioned.

Eric Black · Answer

Hi Shawn,

This is a tricky situation, especially if the bag came from outside which it sounds like it did. You are correct, you didn't put the baggie in the yard, but the tenant may not have either. It may have blown in from the neighbors or somewhere else. You can't prove that the tenant was "negligent" because 1 bag somehow got into the yard and sucked into the heater intake.

We all understand the type of tenant you are talking about, and while eat does eat into your profit, $275 isn't the worst repair cost so I would just eat it and politely remind the tenant that it's their responsibility to keep the yard and area around the heater intake clear and that if this happens again it will be at their cost.

Cheers!

Eric

Mike Hanneman · Answer

Tell the tenant this is a freebie this time but it's up to her in the future to make sure the vent is free of debris. $275 isn't worth the headache of what could come from this tenant.

Bryan O. · Answer

@Kelly N. is 100% correct. Put a grate of some sort on that intake so that doesn't happen again, pay for the repair, then let the tenant know that if there is every a blockage of that intake it will be their responsibility to pay because that is a result of them not maintaining the grounds.

Alexander Felice · Answer

on paper = they pay

in practice = you pay

Making them pay will sour the relationship and cost you more than $275 in the long run. Re-evaluate the long term cost at the time of next incident.

Kelly N. · Answer

It's a charge you should pay for, and then take steps to make it difficult for trash from the yard to get sucked into the intake again- some type of screen maybe?  I am having difficulty picturing how this system is laid out...

Joseph Catalano · Answer

That is a tough one.  I do not think I would go after the tenant on that one, you have no idea where the bag came from,  eat the $275

Who pays - tenant or landlord?

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