Frozen Heat Pipe - who is liable in this case? (Long!) (apartment, lease agreement)

[afredericks]

Hey all, I apologize for this being my first post - but I just found this forum in researching my predicament here. I am also sorry about the length.

Today repairs were conducted on my apartment for a burst pipe. The landlord is trying to make me foot the bill for it, citing improper usage of the heat system - the landlord's primary grounds being that we possess 3 tiny space heaters which unbalance the temperature of the air surrounding the thermostat - so the temperature was always reading higher than it should have been. While i have no factual evidence to support this, the space heaters were barely used (due to their innefectiveness) and never used in the room that houses the thermostat.

Knowing this, I am desperately searching for the actual cause of this problem.

Here are the details...

I am trying to be as objective and fact based as I can, though as you can understand my money is at stake so I might inadvertently appear bias.

Here are the facts:

3 days ago, i noticed the heater baseboard in the kitchen was not generating heat.

I informed the landlord that same day.

I, as the tenant, provide the heat (it is a well maintained, but very old oil furnace).

1 year ago the thermostat was replaced, and to the knowledge of the landlord and myself - never calibrated.

The oil has never fallen below the minimum (67.5 Gallons) as stipulated by the lease agreement.

Oil is used to heat the apartment, which to the best of my knowledge, was ample enough a temperature to keep the pipes from freezing. This can be substantiated by recorded measurements done by the oil company when delivering more oil - which indicate there was less oil in the tank than when the last delivery was made. I kept the thermostat between 65 and 72.

The gauge on the oil has been broken since i moved in, so there is no way to monitor the oil levels otherwise.

There is no stipulation on the amount of oil I am required to use every month, where I am expected to keep the thermostat nor is there any stipulation on what the air temperature should be in any room of the house.

A pipe froze in an area of the apartment (below the kitchen floor) where there is more than a 15 degree variance in temperature from the area where the thermostat which controls the heat is (right now it is 72 degrees in the thermostat area and 54 degrees in the kitchen).

The pipe has frozen in the same area in the past, resulting in the same set of damages.

The air temperature in the affected area (kitchen) is significantly different because it is insulated 1/3rd as well as the rest of the house - the open entrance of which is located about 20 feet from the thermostat.

I possess 3 minor space heaters (which I used sparingly in rooms other than the living room which contained the thermostat). These space heaters are cheap little things I got at k-mart for 20 dollars each, that seriously suck and as a result were barely used. That is subjective, though - and theres no evidence to confirm I used them as little as I did (nor is there evidence to suggest I used them enough to affect the temperature - other than her claim that my oil consumption is lower than it should be).

--

Some history,

Several months ago I had informed my landlord of my intent to purchase space heaters to supplement the heat in my home - she rightfully advised me to run the heat system as my primary source of heat.

She wrote me a letter to this affect.

This letter contained no specific written instruction or guidelines on what "Proper Usage" of the heating system is - only that I must use the oil furnace for my primary source of heat.

The letter did not prohibit the use of space heaters, and in no way was their use ever prohibited.

The landlord claims she did not know about them, but earlier on the phone she advised me she had seen a space heater box while she was going through our garbage some months ago which roused some concern that she did not act on - and last week she was in our apartment helping to clean a minor flood caused by a washer and drier malfunction - wherein we used said space heaters to help dry the floor.

Oil is burned at a rate of about 100 gallons (likely a very conservative estimate) about every 3 months, or at least that is the rate of delivery. It is a 4 room apartment with 1 room being kitchen addition that is 1/3rd as insulated as the rest of the apartment. With no stipulation on the amount of oil needing to be burned or way to monitor the oil levels, I am not sure if this is a "proper amount". I am just a 24 year old kid who has never had to deal with managing an oil heating system before.

Now my question is, who is liable to pay for the damages? Me or the landlord...

Thanks for reading this!! I greatly appreciate any feedback or advice.

[old_cold]

You didn't say where you are or what the outside temperatures have been.
Assuming someplace recently frigid, you might get your oil comany to give an opinion on the likelyhood of the pipes freezing in that location even if you kept the inside temp at a reasonable setting and never used sppace heaters.
A lot of the rest amounts to who i sgoing to believe who

[mathjak107]

if that pipe froze before and the landlord did nothing to insulate or put a pipe heater on it then its his own fault...... differences in air temperature are normal thru out an apartment... if you had the oven cooking something for 5 or 6 hours and a pipe froze in another room is that your fault? your heaters were still adding to the overall heat in the apartment


there was no negligence i can see on your behalf as long as you didnt pack the heaters around the thermostat

dont homes have fireplaces too in some rooms? imagine using your fireplace and instead of adding heat to the house you froze your pipes? makes no sense

with the baseboard in the kitchen out and you notifying the landlord thats his problem....

and yes im a landlord myself before we start a war here of us and them

[ShaneSA]

If the pipe froze previously, then it's the LL's problem. Steps should have been taken on the first freezing to prevent it from happening again.
Also, I understand parts of the country have had serious below freezing temperatures for days. Are you in this area?
If the heat was running and the apartment was kept at a comfortable temperature, then how did the pipe freeze?
Sounds like the LL did not do what is needed to prevent the freeze. The key of the matter remains, if it froze before, it should have been prevented a second time.
I am also a LL.

[afredericks]

Thank you all for the replies. Yes, the pipe was insulated. I believe that to the LL's knowledge she did everything she felt she had to do to prevent the pipe from freezing a second time. She is a responsible landlord. I live in New Jersey and yes - the temperatures last week (when the pipe did freeze) were below zero. The heat inside was comfortable. I had a space heater running on and off in my computer room where I was working, and the thermostat was also set to about 72 degrees. The thermostat is located in the living room. Another note about the thermostat, it was replaced last year - and it always reads 4 degrees under the desired temperature. For example, it is set to 72 degrees right now but the room temperature reads 68 degrees. It never seems to get within 4 degrees of the temperature it is set to. Does this indicate a problem with the thermostat's Heat Anticipator switch? Is it likely that it was improperly calibrated when the new one was installed? The LL explained that no callibration is required. I also purchased a room thermometer and placed it on the wall where the pipes froze, the air temperature is consistently 12 degrees cooler than the living room. (it is 68 in the living room now, the kitchen is at 54). The temperature outside is 22 degrees.

[old_cold]

We have left our northeast house vacant for the winter.
The suggested minimal setting is at 55.....alarm to go off at 45.
If pipes somewhere still freeze with the interior that warm, your landlord has overlooked something in her preventative measures

[mathjak107]

same here, we have a 2nd place in northeast pa... we set heat for 58 with a dial out at 45 on a monitor box....we hit windchill of minus 17 last week...no issues

[okaydorothy]

We are the same ; set the temp to 50 in the bathrooms. In the crawl space where all the pipes are, the thermometor is set to 40.

Crossing fingers but so far so good.

d

[GypsySoul22]

Our lease stipulates we must keep it on 55. (we are in VT).
I think if you have had this pipe freezing issue before and you kept your heat on 65- 72 then how can it be your problem?

The house is old and the landlord doesn't want to make repairs or invest enough to make it work. Most private landlords just want $$$ and do not want to make much effort. I find renting from a 'complex' much better!

Our last place was in the top of an old house (over 100 years old). Our electric bill in the heart of the winter was very high and the house had major problems (not insulated, just needed an overhaul) but the LL would not do it. The house was sold in February to another 'disinterested' party--for example (our back door was frozen then broke). The guy did NOTHING about it, though it was probably a fire hazard!

Now we live somewhere else and he can enjoy paying a big bill instead of updating!

Can you prove this happened previously?

[afredericks]

She told me it happened before.

She was very paranoid about the pipes freezing. She does not trust that i am running the heat because I only used about 120-150 gallons of oil in the past 3 months, but I didn't start cranking it up to 65-72 degrees until december.

She made it clear that i would be liable if the pipes froze because i did not run the heat enough, but I didnt sign anything to that effect. And I did run the heat at high settings in cold weather.

I did use a space heater every now and then to supplement the heat, but that was it. And its a crappy heater i bought at kmart for 20 bucks.

There is actually no way to know how much oil is in the tank at any given time because the gauge on the oil tank is broken, and she doesn't want to replace it.

I just get about 100 gallons delivered every 2 months or so and I haven't run out yet...

--

some updates...

She has repaired the damage and still expects me to pay for it (around 2000 dollars). But the conditions in that kitchen are unbearably cold and I am so afraid it will happen again and I will be out another 2 thousand dollars.

The heat baseboards are still freezing cold (but the heat pipes inside of them are sometimes warm) - the crawlspace beneath the kitchen is INCREDIBLY drafty. I found this out while work was being done on it, by putting my hand down there.

For a long time i was trying to figure out where the draft in the kitchen was coming from, and its coming up from the floors all around. But my landlord will deny that there are any problems at all, do absolutely nothing about it, and make some excuse about how the kitchen is facing the wrong side of the sun or something and thats why its so much colder.

The air temp is about 12 degrees cooler in the kitchen than in the living room currently. The kitchen entrance is about 20 feet from the living room thermostat.

I have no where else to turn but the internet