13 Investigates checks on unlicensed plumbers
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13 Investigates went undercover to catch unlicensed plumbers who are breaking state law. We reveal how you could be putting your family at risk if you make the wrong call.
"Channel 13 News asked me for my license number," says Mike Poteet of ACM Electric Plumbing & Heating.
The state is asking for that number, too, because if you work as a plumber, you must pass a test to get a state license - it's the law.
The Indiana Association of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors says using unlicensed and improperly trained people can be dangerous and expensive. So the PHCC asked Channel 13 to help them catch an unlicensed plumber.
We placed two hidden cameras near the hot water heater in the garage and one facing the water heater. PHCC provided Dave Nance, a licensed, bonded and insured plumber for 17 years, to create the problem scenario on a water heater that was working perfectly.
"I've just taken the hose off and let this (water) drip on the floor," Nance said.
Source: WTHR
Woes come with being homeowner
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Not only did we have to buy expensive wire, but also a new switch
box for the barn as well - and this is to say nothing about paying
the digger.
Now we've come inside - one night when John got up to prepare for
bed, as he started down the hall he met water on the floor about to
come in the den. What a mess. The laundry room floor was covered
and anything that had been on the floor was wet, too. Water had
gone down the pipe, through the floor or something, and we had
puddles in the basement. Here it is bedtime for this elderly couple
and to be faced with a cleanup job. Again, what a mess. With towels
and mop we got the floor in livable condition again. The washer had
gone bonkers. Well, to add to the misery the dryer had been making
a funny noise and both had to be replaced.
A few weeks ago, a switch on the surface unit went bad and search
as we could a replacement was not to be found. The unit was
manufactured during the '70s, and they had quit making parts for
same. Ugh. OK we started looking at new surface units, or stoves as
John calls it, and would you believe we could not find one that fit
the hole in the countertop? We looked and looked and they were too
small or too large. Yes, we could have had the hole enlarged, but a
few years ago we had a little kitchen fire and the countertop was
cracked so we opted to buy a new top while we were at it. Our
countertops are Corian, and the company that put them in no longer
handle Corian. We really did want Corian because in the kitchen
fire we had we believe it saved the house.
Source: Times-Journal