Schumacher v. Iron Fireman Manufacturing Co.

133 N.E.2d 801, 102 Ohio App. 347, 74 Ohio Law. Abs. 165, 2 Ohio Op. 2d 376, 1956 Ohio App. LEXIS 652
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 25, 1956
Docket23609
StatusPublished

This text of 133 N.E.2d 801 (Schumacher v. Iron Fireman Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schumacher v. Iron Fireman Manufacturing Co., 133 N.E.2d 801, 102 Ohio App. 347, 74 Ohio Law. Abs. 165, 2 Ohio Op. 2d 376, 1956 Ohio App. LEXIS 652 (Ohio Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

OPINION

By SKEEL, J:

This appeal comes to this Court on questions of law from a judgment entered on the verdict of a jury for the plaintiff, the action being for money only.

*167 The plaintiff, a heating contractor, alleges that he bought an FGF-120 Gas Furnace from the defendant. He further alleges that he sold the furnace to one Gunter and installed it in Mr. Gunter’s home, together with the necessary sheet metal piping or ducts and performed all of the other work necessary to provide a proper hot air heating system in the Gunter home, including connecting the fume outlet built into the furnace to the vent or chimney constructed by Gunter.

It is the claim of the plaintiff that when put in operation, the furnace emitted oily soot, dirt and vile and dangerous and noxious gas through the hot air registers, damaging the walls and furnishings of the Gunter home.

The petition alleges the defendant tried to adjust the operation of the furnace without success. The petition then asks damages in the amount of $741.00, which is alleged to be the cost of the furnace—$241.00, and the cost of the duet work and service of the plaintiff in making adjustments, totaling $500.00.

The evidence, not in dispute, establishes that the plaintiff, a heating contractor, fully cognizant of what he was buying, purchased the furnace by the manufacturer’s designation of FGF-120 Iron Fireman from the defendant. After the purchase, the plaintiff contracted with one, Dean Gunter, to install the heating system in a new home he was constructing, located at 563 Humiston Drive in Bay Village, Ohio, that the plaintiff showed Dean Gunter several furnaces and that he picked out the furnace above described. Dean Gunter testified that he was in the business of selling kitchen equipment and some furnace equipment. The plaintiff installed the furnace, together with all necessary hot air pipes, cold air drops and the like, and a mason sub-contractor of Gunter built the chimney according to specifications furnished by him and that the furnace was vented by a six inch galvanized pipe to this chimney. The furnace was installed “a little early because we got to the plastering stage” and the furnace was needed to dry the plaster. The installation was finished sometime in November, 1948. Thereafter, a hot water heater with a three inch vent and an incinerator with a six inch round metal vent were both vented to the same chimney.

The furnace was put into immediate operation, that is, before the owner moved in (which was in February, 1949), and within three weeks or a month there was a deposit of black oily soot on the plaster above the hot air registers and in other places about the house. This fact was noted both by Gunter and the plaintiff. The house was completed after noting this condition, the papering being put over the soot covered plaster.

After the owner moved in, he complained to the plaintiff about the continued emission of oily soot. He testified: “At that point, I asked if he (the plaintiff) would be good enough to replace the furnace or take it out and get something else.” This was in March or April of 1949. Thereafter, the defendant was contacted and a service man was sent out to the Gunter home who recommended, and there was subsequently installed, a cold air return on one side to take the place of one of the cold air drops. The owner then testified that the same condition continued. It is also clear that other heating men were called to make *168 changes in the furnace subsequent to the service call of the defendant and at some subsequent time (1953) a metal chimney six inches in diameter was installed and used exclusively to vent the furnace. The furnace unit as originally installed, with the exception of some renewed electrical controls, was still in use in the Gunter home upon the filing of this case on April 12, 1954, or five and one-half years after the first complaint was made that it did not operate properly.

The plaintiff testified that he put in the duct work at an expense of $400.00. There is no denial of the fact that the installation of the duct work was satisfactorily done and that it was and still is a necessary part of the heating system of the house. There is direct conflict as to whether there was a leak in the combustion chamber of the furnace. The plaintiff testified that he conducted a “Wintergreen” test which disclosed to him that there was a leak in the combustion chamber. He had testified previously that when the furnace was put in operation, he ran a COa test to be sure everything was all right and in answer to the question: “Was the furnace of the Gunter’s as installed by you and tested by you operating properly?” He answered: “Yes, it was.”

The defendant’s engineer, just shortly before this case came to trial, made an examination of the furnace combustion chamber for leaks with the light test and found no leaks. This evidence is given great support by the fact that the plaintiff did not replace the combustion chamber and it was still in use as originally installed three months before this trial.

Another serious conflict in the evidence has to do with, the sufficiency of the chimney as installed by Gunter. The plaintiff and other witnesses who testified in his behalf said the inside of such masonry chimney measured 6x8 inches and was without any obstructions when tested by the use of a mirror. They would not swear, however, that they made measurements to make sure of its size. The defendant produced two witnesses who testified that they measured the chimney and the measurements were 12 x 16 inches on the outside which with the flue lining would make it 3 x 7 inches on the inside and that by the use of a mirror, they could tell that the flue was partially blocked with plaster. These witnesses testified a 21 square inch flue opening was not sufficient to vent the furnace. It was testified that the furnace is provided with what is called a “draft converter or diverter” to safeguard against flue obstructions and down drafts; that when the venting of the furnace was changed from the masonry chimney to the metal chimney, the draft diverter was moved from one side of the furnace to the other and that on the ceiling above where it had been installed when vented to the masonry chimney, there was a large deposit of soot but that there was no discoloration of the ceiling above the place where it was located when the metal chimney of proper size was installed (1953), the witnesses having made the inspection before trial in 1955.

The defendant claims the following errors:

“1. The Court erred in overruling Defendant-Appellant’s Demurrer to the territorial jurisdiction of the Court;
“2. The Court erred in overruling Defendant-Appellant’s objection to the introduction of testimony on the ground that the Petition did not state a cause of action;
*169 “3. The Court erred In failing to grant Defendant-Appellant’s Motion for a Mistrial because of improper statements made by the PlaintiffAppellee in the presence of the jury;
“4. The Court erred in admitting testimony of conversations between Dean W. Gunter and Fred Fenker not in the presence of the Defendant-Appellant;
“5.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
133 N.E.2d 801, 102 Ohio App. 347, 74 Ohio Law. Abs. 165, 2 Ohio Op. 2d 376, 1956 Ohio App. LEXIS 652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schumacher-v-iron-fireman-manufacturing-co-ohioctapp-1956.