Calfone a gas replacement or repair in temporary rental, cost?

TehDeej

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I did something really bad. I left a stove burner on over night. The "calfone" (I think that's what you call it?) had a flame coming out of the space for lighting the pilot. It melted part of the front cover and left a nice scorch mark. It still works but I leave it off except for maybe once a day and I'm really not comfortable with that. It can't be safe.

It looks to be an older model. It does not have a gas tank. There is no hot water without it. The water get warm very fast when it is on. There is no model # on the outside.

Hopefully only the front panel will have to be replaced or at least it wont need to be completely replaced. Before I call the inmobilario, my questions are these.

How much might a replacement cost?

How much is hourly labor for something like this?

Is there anything else I should be thinking about?

I know these are great situations to get ripped off as a foreigner. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

D.J.
 
The calefon was on for too high for too long I gues. It didn't blow up, just overheated.

MAybe this time the photo will upload.
 

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Do a google search at Easy.com or mercardolibre for similar calafones.
Not sure about labor rates, but when I installed a split air conditioning a year ago it was 800 pesos for labor, this was for a whole day of work and involved a lot of pipes, climbing out of the building, etc
200-400 pesos seems like the correct range.
 
A Calefón was installed in my apt this April, the previous one died, the unit was $700 pesos, the labor $350. Three hours work. Your Calefón is ruined looking at the pics. Your landlord sure knows where to buy a Calefón and find an installer for cheap.
 
An average NEW calefón costs around $1400 pesos now. Also you can't just buy any kind, it has to be a certain kind depending on your apartment size and how much distance there is between the calefón, bathroom and kitchen faucets. AND you had better contract a "gasista matriculado" (licensed gas plumber) to install it. They work great, but new models can be complicated to install because they have built in carbon monoxide sensors that shut the gas flow off automatically if too much carbon monoxide accumulates in the room or around the exhaust pipe. Calefones have to be installed a certain distance AWAY from the stove / oven AND the ventilation pipe to the outside has to have certain angles to it to vent propertly. If you buy a used one, also buy it from a reputable place, these are not things to play around with, every now and then you hear on the news about someone being killed by one of these calefones that malfunctioned.
 
Montauk_Project said:
Do a google search at Easy.com or mercardolibre for similar calafones.
Not sure about labor rates, but when I installed a split air conditioning a year ago it was 800 pesos for labor, this was for a whole day of work and involved a lot of pipes, climbing out of the building, etc
.
it sounds very cheap if they were indeed climbing, hanging ropes from the roof of the building or something like that.
 
In the price range that some are mentioning here, I believe you could find the smallest size electric water heater, or a slightly used gas water heater. Perhaps an upgrade could be worthy of consideration.

That said, I don't see how it's really your fault that it melted like that. Seems more like a result of the gas pressure being too high or a fairly serious design flaw. Also, my 2 cents worth, if the face is plastic, it might not take that much to melt it, and the inside parts might still be as safe as they ever were.

The common wisdom here is not to leave anything gas left on here while unattended or while sleeping. I have noted the practice of turning off all shutoff valves in the house at night, for the kitchen stove, and even for all space heaters. The lack of quality or built in safety features of some such devices available in the market here might in fact warrant this seemingly paranoid practice.
 
That calefon looks like its at least 20 yrs old. This being said, I have never seen one that melted because it was on too long! This is not your fault. You should call your inmobiliaria/landlord and at the very least split the expense ( this could have been dangerous if a fire was set or if it exploded for both you and the property and eventually neighbors ). The brand of your calefon is fairly good. Now if you replace it make sure you meet all the new requirements to avoid trouble later ( they were mentioned above )
 
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