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 Gore Vidal Sounds Off on Solar Power CaperPosted on Jul 6, 2007
Note to public utility companies: Do not cross Gore Vidal. A week after representatives from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power came to his Hollywood Hills home to inspect (and then shut down) his newly installed solar power system, Vidal is still “on the grid,” unable to use solar until the system is fully re-inspected. As his fans would expect, the puissant author and tough customer has let fly with some strong words about the utility company, the state of California and the state of the country at large. Although the DWP insists that the shutdown was a safety-related standard procedure according to their protocol, and that there were some issues with the way in which his solar system was set up and activated, Vidal questions the use of said protocol and the motives behind it. Simply put, he tells Truthdig’s Associate Editor Kasia Anderson, “[utility companies] have no intention for anyone to use solar power so long as there’s a drop of oil anywhere in the world.” Kasia Anderson: Let’s just catch up here in terms of where things stand at this point in the saga. ... Gore Vidal: Well, in the saga of light and day and the dark of the moon ... exactly a year ago, there was a total blackout. I live in the Hollywood Hills, and the area around [my street] and other streets that go up from down below from the flats to the high mountaintop to help people cross over to the Valley—this is a street that people like to take to get from Hollywood, let’s say to San Fernando Valley, Burbank, and so on. That said, to my astonishment, I was, like everybody else, on the grid; I never questioned it, never thought about it. Next thing I know, for eight days we are without any power of any kind in the house, and some genius somewhere in the municipal divisions had managed to turn my telephone off. So, I had no telephone, no light, no nothing, and was forced, at enormous expense, to move with my godson, who is an expert—he’s part of the Green Party in France, where he lives, and he is not an American—I hope there was no resentment over that, but he was very helpful in just setting this thing up. A lot of people fled. I was one of them. For one thing, I was not about to have a stroke; there was no air conditioning or anything else. So, I went to a hotel and stayed there at a huge expense for 10 days, maybe longer. And every day they’d say, “Oh yes, we’re getting closer,” and, “Well, your buildings are too old!” Well, this house was built in the ’20s; that’s quite true. But why not tell me, the buyer of the house, when I bought it? Did anybody from Power and Water come by to say, “Well, you’d better check on such and such?” No, they didn’t. We did check on everything to make sure everything was OK. And so many people who had rented this house over many years had cheated everybody. We had one couple—he declared bankruptcy, she wisely did not, and she ended by owing us $45,000 in rent—doing nothing about light, anything else. I dare give no more examples of her bad citizenship, because the [Los Angeles Department of Water and Power] would immediately say, “She did it! She did it!” You know, they’re looking to blame somebody for the mess they made over here. The least they could do is transfer the fault elsewhere—well, they can’t. This was arbitrarily their own mess. So in due course, my godson the Green Party man had worked out how simple it would be, and he got hold of some very nice solar people out here, so we did everything by the book to install, just to transfer over from the grid, which uses up what’s left of the oil in the world, and simultaneously we went to work to collect as much sunlight as we could. We didn’t think there was a war against it. I should have known better—this is America!—that anybody could have grabbed this, whether it be a municipal department who could claim it was under them, and you must clear everything with them ... well, that’s power! That’s real power. And it’s not power in the sense we like to think of it, which is power for the people who pay for ... power! And should get it in return and not have it taken away from them on some spurious thing: “Well, you didn’t clear; we have eight members of the board, and you have to clear it with all eight and you didn’t.” And so we tried to, because we were told, after the initial installation had been made, that we must apply for inspection from the [DWP], which has invented a lot of rules which don’t exist anywhere in the Constitution, in the state of California’s laws, in any rulings by the state Assembly. The whole government has been thrown out by this one little bureau, sitting—cowering—over there in this great big building, and legislating our water, our power. “We have our rulings,” they say. Well, I’m sure you have; I’m sure you make 20 a day! And not necessarily the rulings of the citizens of the state of California. We’re not held by your rulings. We can be advised by them. We can be protected by them, and we know that’s what you care the most about: the well-being of the citizens of the state. You’re famous all over the world! California cares. The municipality of California cares! Actually, nobody cares about anything except keeping total control and making sure that people, outsiders (even though I’ve been an insider in this state since 1929), are not going to get away with anything. They’re not going to be independent of the grid. The grid is holy. It drinks water desperately, like somebody starving in Death Valley. And, I shouldn’t think we were to be taken seriously on an important matter like this, which involves everybody! Who owns the sun? Well, I don’t think a little department strung up in this vast bureaucratic maze of so many little departments (and big departments) has any particular rights. Anderson: So, just so that I understand the process, ... the contractor and your godson were aware of the procedures from the beginning and knew the DWP’s rules and [were] doing all the paperwork. As far as you knew, at the point of installation, you were good to go. Vidal: Oh yes. More than good to go; people had been walked through it to see whether everything was correct and so on. No complaints. I don’t have affidavits, but I probably could collect them. Anderson: And their initial complaint happened after they were finally made aware, last week, that it was installed and there hadn’t been an inspection. And their claim at that point was that it had been incorrectly and without permit ... [installed]? Vidal: My first prediction—I like to think of myself as an authority on bureaucracy—would be that it was improperly installed. They didn’t know one wire from the other, the inspectors who came, and that’s why they made such a mess. They tore out my elevator, which gets me up from the downstairs part—I’m a gimp—and that was an unpleasant thing to do, because I woke up the next morning ready to go downstairs, and the machine wasn’t working; they had somehow ripped out the insides of it. I have some electrical stuff in the bathroom, which I need, and they had torn that out! This is a clean sweep! And they were not going to admit it. So, I started to call up the solar people, and they said, well, this isn’t solar that you’re going on, and I said, well, it basically is. They’ve torn everything up, and it’s because it’s “incorrectly done.” None of the people they sent over to examine it knew how it worked. So, they just went merrily around ripping wires out of the ground and pulling them out of the walls, without being invited in. It was also invasion of privacy. And it was very daring, I thought. If we lived in a country of law, I’d have known exactly what to do: I’d bring charges. But we don’t. This is a country of cronies! “Heck of a job, Brownie!” I should have screamed from the housetops. “Heck of a job!” The worse the work is, the more highly it’s celebrated, and there’s a bit of skimming going on all the time, too. Otherwise, why are there so many of these little departments, you know? Making rules by which the public must live—but they don’t have to! That is really strange.
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By cosmicrose, May 14 at 10:00 am # Sorry Chuck The EC...It was recently brought to my attention that I was mistaken in my mileage from my place to Yellowstone. It is not more than 1500 miles but rather 1000 miles. I’m not good at guessing using my fingers to measure with on a scale of miles on a US wall map obviously. Please forgive my error. Its still a long way… cosmicly speaking… --<--<{@
By Ted Baumgart, October 1, 2007 at 3:03 pm # We know some of the best installers in solar voltaics and this situation should never have come up. I invite Gore Vidal to visit our house October 6th when our group has its yearly free Solar Open House. We’ve been solar for 15 years in one form and another and share our experience with all who are interested. Our arrays produce more than half our ‘juice’ in our very efficient home. We have so many trees that we split the system into 3 separate arrays to accomplish our needs; one with battery, the others ‘direct drive’, and none hooked up to the grid. See our non-profit Los Angeles voluteer group of solar homes more closely at http://web.mac.com/solar.amigos. Come on the tour, especially Mr. Vidal! We’d love to see you! My wife and I have always loved your worldly perspective. too bad you got double whammied by a crummy contractor AND bureaucrat. Ouch!
By Ian MacLeod, August 29, 2007 at 7:55 pm # I met a fellow about eight years ago here in Oregon who had started a solar power business; the power company drove him out of business. Their inspectors didn’t understand DC power - only AC. They actually thought the DC stuff was inherently unsafe! (The truth is just the opposite). They’re also obliged by law to buy back unused power, but they have a way around that, too: they say the power from a home system has to go through a VERY expensive type of regulator or something because it’s “dirty power” and pollutes their stuff! Amazing, isn’t it? I think people with problems like this need to start taking it to court, and have REAL experts with them; say, a university engineering professor. Meanwhile, them that’s got shall get...” Ian
By jQuest, August 28, 2007 at 4:53 pm # Utilities are at the same time both partners and enemies of renewable energy. The may explain their schizo behavior, but what Mr. Vidal fails to mention is that most likely, DPW has paid incentives to partially offset the cost of the PV array. Perhaps this gives DWP some right to impose their myriad of rules.
By Inference, August 14, 2007 at 4:09 am # In his old age the great poet Robert Frost (“Two roads diverged in the woods and I chose the road less traveled”) was asked by someone if he could give us more acumen before he departs and Frost replied: “I can tell you something very instructive in just three words - ‘Life goes on’.” You gave us three pages of Gore Vidal speaking but nothing of real significance. A little disappointing because Gore Vidal is such a rich gold mine - and the gold mine is only 30 minutes away from Santa Monica. To make up for you failure to “Truthdig” into his gold mind (and enlighten us as we surely deserve to be enlightened), you must go back and interview him again and give us some of the great stuff we warrant! Such as: “We are beyond law, which is not unusual for an empire; unfortunately we are also beyond common sense.” And: “There is not one human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”
By Todd Millions, August 7, 2007 at 3:11 pm # fwd too GV-You may want too consider a small battery bank,and load proitity system-then grid intertie. Secound-run highly insulated frides and freezers that need no power for 3 day stretches. Third-sell excess back to grid,which in summer should be just matching the peak,’I’m a moron and my architect ripped me off so I need air-conditioning’ load. If when its too hot-take a liter jug that has being frozen down out of freezer,wrap it in a towel and set it under your neck as you lie down. This may seem bothersome-but consider the load reductions further too what you already must have done-we are STILL harvesting the low hanging fruit here. May I also assure from personal experince that the look on a power company ceo - when you tell him to his face that you don’t need him or his crappy coal mafia makes the effort very worth it.
By twentyfivekwh, July 30, 2007 at 3:17 am # we put solar panels up and got them running on december first, in new york city. i have been in a fight ever since with our utility, Con Edison, who somehow cant read my meter. they kept sending bills with estimated totals. i would call and say i have solar, i’m making power (even in the dark winter days, on average 7kwhs a day, we use about 12.. now we’re up to 25kwh daily). they’d say, your meter is faulty, its running backwards. i’d say PRECISELY. they actually replaced my meter. this went on for months. now i have my very own personal rep for the utility, who is equally clueless about net metering. and, my bill includes a surcharge for RENEWABLE ENERGY! vidal has to be right. why cant i be billed (credited) by my utility properly after 7 months of arguing?? seems incredible that they would consciously want to thwart a 5 megawatt system but can they seriously be that incredibly incompetent?
By richard kobzey, July 29, 2007 at 12:42 am # The god of the Religious Reich owns the sun, silly! “HE” owns everything. Don’t you know this by now?
By JKoch, July 19, 2007 at 11:14 am # Any electrical work on a home can be a touchy matter. A rewiring or circuit upgrade requires a permit and a licensed electricians stamp, or else you may lose homeowners insurance or be unable to pass inspection when you sell the place. Installation of a solar system sounds like a fairly significant contract. Did the contractor fail to apply for a permit? Presumably, any reputable operator would have done several jobs like this before taking on a VIP’s home in Hollywood Hills. If the contractor was upright, the work would have passed, or else customers would have complained and got his license revoked. Ditto for plumbers, asbestos removers, dentists, and any other licenced activity. Did Gore neglect to obtain references for the contractor? Did he get a 2nd opinion from an engineer? Wouldn’t it have made sense to ask the electric utility or his own attorney? Were it my house, I certainly would have done that before running the risk of all the trouble he faces now.
By Polite_Society, July 16, 2007 at 11:35 pm # Welcome Home, Mr. Vidal! Welcome to a “front line” of incompetents staffing everything from JC Penney’s catalog sales division to the blue-jacketed, fearsome airport TSA. I don’t doubt for one minute that you, specifically, are being harassed; just think what might happen if Gore Vidal happily lived off the grid and published an essay about how well it’s going, how easily the transition was accomplished - why, you’d have the Californians who can still read up in arms demanding the same freedom to abandon the grid. We can’t have that! THEY can’t have that, and they won’t stand for it. So they’ll slowly grind you down with the same tactics with which they grind everyone down: scheduling (but never keeping) appointments that tie up YOUR entire day; sending utter morons to your home, with all the presumed authority of cops with a warrant; bouncing you hither and yon with unanswered phone calls and assurances (when you finally DO get to speak to a human being) that, whatever your problem/complaint/inquiry is about, some entity other than the one you called is responsible. (Haha, just thought of Lily Tomlin’s “Ernestine” character ‘calling’ you on Laugh-In!) This country IS sick, Mr. Vidal; where once upon a time we were served depraved indifference, now we are force-fed malicious meddling in every aspect of our lives. But you already knew that… you’ve been the sole champion warning us of horrors to come for decades. Alas, most of them have arrived.
By IncPen, July 16, 2007 at 12:18 pm # So… A nanny-state liberal finds out what it’s like to live in a world of his own imagining and finds out it’s not so great. I bet you still think Nationalized Hillary Healthcare® is a great idea. Right Gore?
By Alex Fraser, July 14, 2007 at 2:41 pm # I suppose that we shall have to suffer 60 years of the lame arguments presented here on the subject of solar power that we’ve had against universal health coverage. Mr. Gore, a great American, and a significant American novelist and essayist, has this snafu because the deregulated power companies have set up a plan which gives them profit from the greatest free source of power in the Universe—The SUN! Get wise you guys, or wear a hat. Unless you are invested in Utilities, your brains are becoming addled.
By Alex Fraser, July 14, 2007 at 2:41 pm # I suppose that we shall have to suffer 60 years of the lame arguments presented here on the subject of solar power that we’ve had against universal health coverage. Mr. Gore, a great American, and a significant American novelist and essayist, has this snafu because the deregulated power companies have set up a plan which gives them profit from the greatest free source of power in the Universe—The SUN! Get wise you guys, or wear a hat. Unless you are invested in Utilities, your brains are becoming addled.
By jim crawford, July 12, 2007 at 12:35 am # And three cheers for the Enron boys, who caused last year’s blackouts to begin with via their manipulations of electricity supplies and power grids, and out of which they made more multimillions, getting Schwarzenegger elected to boot by making everything look as though it were all Gray’s fault… Of course, Enron being one of Dumbya’s biggest contributors wouldn’t have anything to do with the subsequent fact that almost no repercussions have occurred because of the criminal behavior of this gang of thieves. But then the Bush family being the most successful and malevolent crime family ever in existence in either America or Saudi Arabia, one would expect no less from them. And since when is an eight day blackout not as good a reason as any to have a tantrum? The DWP was very lucky that they weren’t having Molotov cocktails thrown at their front doors. And the solar power company got the work inspected and approved and then the DWP came back and reinspected it? What sort of bull ship is that, Theseus might have asked. jim crawford
By Emil Lawton, July 11, 2007 at 11:03 pm # Sorry, Gore Vidal has a tantrum because he does not understand how things work. First, DWP is a municipal utility and NOT part of any capitalistic plot. The new commissioners are well known and proven environmentalists. Others have already described why uninspected installations may be a danger to others as swell as your property. There is not plot to drain every last bit of oil since the DWP has adopted a RPS or Renewable Portfolio Standard to have 20% of our energy be from renewables by 2020.
By Alex Fraser, July 11, 2007 at 12:57 pm # Sinister implications to one side, Gore, the power companies have to preserve their markets, or gain added profit from new ones. You don’t expect these Corporatists to give away power, do you? Sue the hell out of ‘em! Alex Fraser—Macresarf1
By Valley of the roses, July 11, 2007 at 11:17 am # Dear Mr. Vidal:
By Mariam Russell, July 11, 2007 at 10:56 am # BillC, Sugah, Mr Vidal was talkin ‘bout bureaucrats who have been instructed to cause as many problems for some parts of the public who are preceived as problematical, causing problems for the kind corporations who control our lives.
By Gloria Picchetti, July 11, 2007 at 7:42 am # I hope Gore Vidal’s solar power passes inspection ASAP. We need as much clean power as possible. I wish I could buy ton’s of stock in utilities just to vote against the board. If you can’t beat them, buy them.
By Sheriff John, July 11, 2007 at 6:22 am # There is nothing more frustrating than dealing with a bureaucracy. I have been and am, a recovering bureaucrat. Mr. Vidal will eventually achieve his goal. He is too well known and too unhappy to ignore. Having a voice through TruthDig won’t hurt either. He needs to be hooked up to the grid so he may sell poiwer back to DWP or reduce his grid bill. DWP may be a PITA but their charge is to protect all within their grid and see they have adequate power to run their home and businesses. This will all be resolved in 6 months, we can hope. Good luck Mr. Vidal, don’t give up. Sheriff John
By Bill Czechanski, July 11, 2007 at 5:41 am # I find this article lacking in detail, uninteresting and the ramblings of someone who doesn’t have the slightest idea about solar power or electricity. GV should stick to his literature and stay away from anything technical.
By Jonah, July 10, 2007 at 7:19 pm # Hey Cosmic Rose, I own some land just a little farther east of you (Okanogan Highlands). I really have to tell you how much I admire you and what I am sure you have worked hard to develop. It is my intention to one day accomplish something along the same lines. Extremely well done madam...and thank you (along with Chuck) for chiming in and educating many of those reading this interview. Maybe GV might even learn a thing or two. One can only hope… Cheers!
By Cosmic Rose, July 10, 2007 at 4:04 pm # To answer Middle American: A grid intertie system serves as BOTH a stand alone system and a grid connected system. You get the best of both worlds with such a system IF you have a battery bank back up and a DC disconnect. The batteries are one of the most costly parts of a stand alone system. If you have a grid intertie and the power goes out… you simply switch to stand alone power. I have friends that have this capacity that live in town. I don’t because I live quite a distance from any power lines in the middle of the North Cascades Wilderness by choice. I wanted to learn how to be self sufficient. You don’t have to live like a caveman in order to be able to afford a renewable energy system. don’t. Unfortunately most have no clue how to conserve unless forced to do so. My system ensures that I must prioritize my energy useage. Air conditioning is out of the question. That’s why my home is constructed of cordwood...is south facing… and has skylights to maximize passive energy capabilities. It is over 100 right now as I speak. I don’t even own a fan yet I’m comfortable as long as I don’t step outside… that is why I have a pool. There are incentives for both manufacturers and homeowners and if you are interested in looking into these visit DSIRE: The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy… the second link down on this page http://blowin_in_thewind.tripod.com/Links.html I include it due to the other valuable links on the page. To Chuck the electrical dude: The house WAS for sale but I took it off the market a while back after I realized the treasure I already had versus the nightmare I might be tempted to buy into. Not to worry… this area seems not to be affected by the so called real estate crash as most are running to the hills to extricate themselves from the RAT RACE. We are presently confronting over- development here since outlanders have discovered the area. I appreciate the compliments on my home. I’m more than 1500 miles from Yellowstone. Many of my neighbors that live in town who used to be completely off the grid… are now grid intertied because it is much more beneficial to be. This is a relatively NEW option and we apparently live under the law of the west here… which means there are far fewer laws. I am not without neighbors that I can visually see through the trees and I’m getting more all the time. I was actually supporting your statements when I said Gore Vidal could not have an off grid system for various reasons ... many being the ones you outline. There is obviously a great deal of mis-communication on Gore’s part in this interview because he doesn’t grasp the terminology of the technology. I’m ALL FOR supporting and perpetuating grid intertie systems as much as I am for living as self sufficiently as is
By Mariam Russell, July 9, 2007 at 6:36 pm # “The sun shines for everyone and cannot be blocked or controlled or destroyed,” said Luis Bérriz, director of CUBASOLAR (the Cuban Society for the Promotion of Renewable Energy Sources and Environmental Respect) to Granma International in 1999. Enrico Turrini, founding partner of EUROSOLAR and honorary member of CUBASOLAR, is convinced that within a few decades, Cuba could receive 100% of its electricity from solar energy. In conversation with this weekly, the Italian doctor also stated that these renewable energy sources could see a major development within the industry and tourism sectors on the island. Obviously they do not have the bureaucrats tutored to make things difficult.....or maybe, since California is the home of Bechtel, who tried to make the collection of rainwater illegal in Bolivia, they really do think the sun shines only for them.
By Chuck the Electrical Contractor, July 9, 2007 at 4:19 pm # To Cosmic Rose: I looked at your house, and it’s very nice! But too close to the Yellowstone Caldera for my taste. Good luck selling, too, as we are in the middle of real estate crash. May not affect you (hopefully, and I mean that) though, since your place is very specialized. What I said holds, though. You are completely off the grid because you are out in the sticks surrounded by trees, not other houses. I appreciate your technical understanding of your system, and your post was well-worded to help non-techies understand, but I repeat, MOST municipalities in California (where I hold my license)require homes within their boundaries to be hooked up to the grid. If it is not, the house can be condemned. These laws were made to protect neighborhoods from squatters. Now, Gore could Technically remove himself by installing the batteries and simply shutting off his main breaker. But he would have to leave the power drop hooked up and the meter in place. Besides, people who live in the city should WANT the grid return system. It pays for the equipment over time, and there’s no better feeling than sticking it to the man and making him pay YOU for a change! Besides, if everyone who could afford it put up an array that fed the grid, then offed their suv’s and bought something that got at least 30 mpg, we would be free of reliance on foreign oil, and then some. I read recently that if every home in America changed out just 5 standard bulbs for CF’s, we could quit importing oil. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ll bet it would be enough to quit buying it from Saudi Arabia.
By Cosmic Rose, July 9, 2007 at 10:33 am # The problem here is mis-communication and perhaps Gore Vidal not totally understanding the technology and or terminology he and others are using in this instance. I have lived off the grid utilizing solar and wind technology for the last decade. Solar systems were originally created for off the grid applications but recently they have evolved to included what is called a grid-intertie system. These are solar and wind systems that permit the end user to harness free energy sources to send power into the grid. The utility companies then basically purchase this power if it is in excess of what is being used by the end user. This is done by a process called Net Metering and it is quite technical in that the power systems that are grid connected MUST be to code using specific requirements. It is obvious that Gore Vidal doesn’t fully grasp that his system is NOT a stand alone off grid system. If it were… he would be receiving no incentive from the state or the federal government to install it. Any time you put your hand out to accept a government incentive (subsidy… assistance) you MUST adhere to major pain in the astrals rules and regulations that you would not otherwise have to deal with. If Vidal’s system were not a grid intertie system he also would not have to deal with all the red tape that comes with becoming your own power company basically. In essence a solar/wind system that is hooked up to the grid… is creating power and sending it into that grid to be disbursed. Why would the utilities try to keep this from happening when they need all the power supplies they can get? The issue is in how this system has been installed… what type of equipment is being used and if it has been installed to meet all requirements. For example a normal off grid inverter will not function properly in a grid intertie system. You must use a specific type of inverter for this set up. Some solar panels are not UL listed. You can use them for an off grid application but NOT with a grid intertie system. You need a battery bank to store excess power collected in an off grid application… you don’t with a grid intertie because the grid acts as your storage mechanism. There are too many variables to mention that would make installing an off grid system different than installing one that will be hooked up to the grid. I doubt that Vidal is running an elevator in an off grid system without needing a basement full of batteries and an entire roof full of panels… ok… so that might be a little exaggeration… but not much. Bureaucracy and red tape is a progressive pain in the astrals for anyone these days however there is a cure. DISCONNECT from it completely like I have and don’t imagine that the government is going to ever give you something without asking MORE in return. You’ll know when they are serious about the environment when they offer incentives for OFF GRID applications. You can see my home here…
By TJ, July 9, 2007 at 10:01 am # Perhaps Mr. Vidal’s better option would have been to completely remove the house from the grid ... tell the power company to take down their lines. Their only concievable reason for concern is that excess power was not properly connected to the grid. In other words, rather than cooperate by selling excess solar output to the state, if the state is going to be obstructionist, simply remove yourself from it. Then there is nothing there for the law and their rules to grab hold of.
By Chuck the Electrical Contractor, July 9, 2007 at 5:41 am # It was very difficult to see exactly what Mr. Vidal’s
By sejanus, July 8, 2007 at 3:15 pm # I live off Cahuenga and had a similar encounter with the DWP. I had to run the house main underground and the regulations specified that a 1/2 inch yellow nylon pull rope be used. Home Depot was out of yellow pull ropes that day so we used a blue and red one instead. DWP gigged the whole job. Apparently the color of the rope lying in the conduit was important. The pipe was open at both ends and I could have simply pulled a new rope through but they had us dig up the conduit and go through the whole inspection process again.
By raster44, July 8, 2007 at 2:15 pm # Funny how city inspectors will come in and not understand part of their job. I unstalled a gas fired on-demand water heater system about 20 years ago. I had a 50 gal quick return gas hot water but it seemed to fail after about six years for each one. After the second one went due to the hard water from our water treatment plant, even though I would drain the sediment from the bottom of the tank monthly. It would corrode the glass liner and cause it to leak. I had asked about the On-demand heater and the code officer said I needed to have it inspected after installation. OK, I installed the Unit, just connecting the gas and the vent and the hot and cold water pipes. Nothing leaked, it basically replaced the old hot water tank. Inspector came out and I explained how the heater worked and showed him the instructions about installation and he said I had to have a professional install it. I told him no one who I called installed these and as far as I knew, I was the one who was the professional as I had installed it. I had to get a plumber and have him come out and certify the unit installation before it could be inspected. He couldn’t inspect it without a tag from a qualified plumber. I got on the phone and called six local plumbers and they said that they didn’t install these units. He even talked to one of the plumbers on the phone as he knew him quite well. The city inspector made me go down in the basement and turn off the gas to the unit. He said to call him when it was certified by a plumber. After he left I went down and turned the gas back on and ran the hot water to actify the unit and check if it was working OK. Went upstairs and have never called the inspectors office or done anything to the unit and it has performed perfectly for the past 20 years. We have all the hot water we need at all times and I have checked the bleeder valve and no sediment is discharged from the unit.
By Felipe Garbanzo, July 8, 2007 at 1:59 pm # While we’re heaping abuse on one SoCal bureaucracy, let us not forget the LA City tax on the self employed, a sham if there ever was one. You cannot get a consistent answer out of this bureaucracy and if they decide you owe them money based on rules they make up every week, woe unto thee! |
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