New Britain herald., 1928-12-05
ROLL UP SLEEVES
ON HEATING CODE
Steamfttes and Council Com.
mittee Tackle Regulations

approximately 80 master and
Journeymen steamfitters and heat
Ing engineers attended the first
meeting of the ordinance committee
for the purpose Of discussing the
proposed heating code. at City Hail
last night, the session lasting from
: o'clock until 1l:e0.
Every point in the code prepared
by Deputy Building Inspector
Thomas B. Fay was gone into, item
by item. and consideration was also
given to code offered by Martin
j. Kelly and one presented by the
master steamttters. After the hear
ing, the committee decided to meet
next Tuesday evening at 1880 o'clock
to act on other matters referred by
the common council, and give as
much time as can be given to a
discussion of the code. In all prob
ability, two or more committee
meetings will be necessary before
another public meeting is held, the
plan being to prepare a code in
committee and then submit it to
the steamfitters for discussion be-
fore Offering it to the common
council for adoption as an ordinance.
Examinations and Licenses
One Of the important points dis
cussed at some length was the plan
for examining journeymen steam
filters and licensing them. Mr..
Kelly was strongly in favor of a H.
cense arrangement and others pres
ent agreed, but James T. OConnor
and Claude J. Leroux were opposed
to it. Mr.. Kelly objected to having
left with the building commission
the duty OF qualifying steamf1tters.
and others thought it advisable to
have an examining committee of
three or more men actively engaged
In the trade. Building Inspector A.
N. Rutherford said it was the In
tention of the building commission
to have an examining board. similar
to that which functions IN the mat
ter of plumbers licenses.
''Shoc Stringers''
Mr. Kelly declared that some
builders in this city have been
known to install heating systems al
though they were not qualified to
do the work. He also referred to
"shoe stringers' who take building
contracts and leave the sub-contrac-
tors unpaid while they step out with
their own profits. He struck out
against any requirement for having
blue prints submitted by heating
contractors and it was explained
that pencil sketches would be suff:-
Gent.
There was long discussion about
covering pipes leading from cellar
boilers some Of the steamfitters
contending that it would be improper
to attempt to compel property own
ers to have pipes covered if they
wished them uncovered. while
others felt there should be re-
quirement for covering. Mr. O'Con-
nor told of one local man who tore
the covering off the pipes and threw
1t in the rubbish pile because the
floors of his home were not warm
enough. Mr. OConnor also spoke
against hair felt covering. saying It
was antiquated. having been proven
"a fine place for rats to crawl up
through"
Identifying a Stcamfittcr
Gate valves. check valves, risers.
fiues. radiators. runouts. drips, feeds,
hangers, fittings. return lines and
dozens of other technical terms
were used in discussing the various
features of the code, and some diff
ferences Of opinion resulted. al
though none of d serious nature.
Mr.. Kelly and Inspector Fay had one
tilt which did not ruffle the feel
ings OF either for any length OF
time. and Mr.. O'Connor provided the
bulk of comedy, notably when Mr..
Kelly wanted to know how
journeyman steamfitter was to be
identified and Mr.. OConnor re-
piled: by q pair of dirty overalls
and dirty vest"