A customer's fireplace was smoking out their whole house for years

They called me in after another sweep said it was fine. I found the damper was installed upside down at the factory, so it never sealed. I flipped it over and the draft is perfect now. Has anyone else run into a factory defect like that on a new unit?

4 comments

4 Comments

scott.miles2mo ago

That's next level factory oops right there. Quality control must have been on a coffee break that day. Imagine paying for a new unit and the fix is just flipping a part over. Bet the customer is kicking themselves for not trying that years ago. At least it was a simple fix and not some crazy hidden flaw. Makes you wonder what else slips through like that.

patriciah512mo ago

Actually that's a damper issue, not a draft problem. The draft was fine, the damper just wasn't blocking it when closed. Still a wild factory mistake to make.

mark_price2mo ago

Honestly how does that even get past quality control? Tbh I'd be checking every single unit after that.

sarah_mason2mo ago

Yeah, but that's still a pretty big oversight (like, how do you miss that?).