Warning: that 'easy' Saturday job with the new construction fireplace turned into a 9-hour nightmare after I found the damper was welded shut

Spent four hours just trying to chisel it open with a pry bar and a hammer before I finally gave up and called the builder who said, 'oh yeah, they forgot to install that part,' so now I'm billing for time and parts I didn't plan for - has anyone else run into a factory defect that took way longer than it should have?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_palmer28d ago

Does that mean the damper was never supposed to be there in the first place?

cole_bailey8528d ago

Oh, not quite @grant_palmer. The damper was definitely supposed to be there from the factory. What I'm saying is the part number on it doesn't match what the service manual calls for. It's the right kind of part, just a different revision than what's listed. Someone probably swapped it during a previous repair job and used whatever they had on hand.