I called this company for a diagnostic call to my 2-unit bungalow in Whitby. The temperature in the lower unit was about 7 to 8 degrees lower than the rest of the home. It felt like the hot air was not getting pushed down to the lower unit.
The technician Mario (I believe) told me that he didn't know what the problem was but that I should buy a $6,000 Mitsubishi ductless heat pump to solve the problem. I asked if he could run any diagnostic tests to see why the heat was not getting pushed down to the lower unit and he said he would need to rip down my ceiling and most likely it would be inconclusive. Lovely I thought.
Before making any major purchases I decided to bring in another HVAC guy. He quickly explained all the issues and why a ductless heat pump would not be an ideal solution for the space. Everything was so logical and made so much sense. I could quickly tell who knew what they were talking about and who didn't.
Long story short, we upgraded the furnace motor, ran a few extra ducts straight from the furnace down by the baseboards (as the ducts should be low to the ground as hot air rises), and built in an industrial grade electric heater into the wall. This solution completely solved my problem and only cost me $1800.
Im so happy I didn't go with the option that this company recommended.
Sincerely,
Michael
- Approximate cost of services:
- $250.00
- Company Response
We strive to do our best assessment and offer solutions to HVAC problems. Mario is an experienced and skilled technician that offered multiple solutions to the reported problems. This is really an unfair assessment of Button’s as there seems to be some confusion as to the complaints and what our recommendations were. The original call was for the basement apartment that was too cold sometimes and very hot at other times. The only way a basement can get to 75 degrees in the winter is if the thermostat is set higher than normal as the basement is always the coldest part of the house. Michael wanted to find a resolution to fix both problems. Mario had also recommended running more ductwork in the basement. This would fix the too cold problem but this wouldn't fix the problem with the basement being too hot as the tenant upstairs needs to be comfortable as well and can’t turn the ac on in the winter. Mario recommended installing a lock on the thermostat so the tenants couldn't raise the temp higher than normal as it seemed like that was why the basement was getting way too hot in the winter. Additionally, we did recommended installing a ductless heat pump so if the upstairs tenant did turn the heat up higher than normal the basement tenant could turn the ac on and make herself comfortable. We would never recommend an industrial electric heater in a 1200 square foot bungalow. It uses a lot of energy and is possibly not even legal in a residential setting. The biggest reason Mario didn't recommend more heaters in the basement was because the basement tenant's major complaint was it got too hot in the basement all the time. Therefore, adding heat would not have helped that. Sounds like you may have part of your problem somewhat solved with another HVAC company but I think you will continue to have issues and hear the tenant complaints.