My story starts about five years ago when I bought my house. The furnace broke within the first three months there and I had to get a company in to replace it. I decided to go with Aire One as that is the company which which a friend of mine and his family had had a lot of luck, plus they were the cheapest quote. Aire One subcontracts out their work especially for boilers and it ended up going to a contractor named Jason Talbot. The first problem was during the install when he flooded the upstairs of the house during the furnace refill due to leaving the bleed valve open on the furthest away rad. The water poured all over my computer equipment and wood floors. Aire one told me that because it was subcontracted, they weren't responsible. Later the thermostat was wired backwards so when I went to use the air conditioner in the summer it didn't work. I had to fight with aire one in order to get the thing fixed. A few years have past and a month ago, my furnace quit. I called Tropical Htg and Cooling look at it because it was a serious problem. There was an electrical fire smell. The problem turned out to be that Aire One's subcontractor had wired the aquastat backwards and had not properly secured the ground wire. This caused sparks and some wire melting within the aquastat box. No only did Brian rewire this for me, he also explained to me how the furnace works, what the proper temperatures and pressures were and how to change them. Brian chose to rewire instead of replace because the furnace has been installed so close to the wall that it would require the removal of the furnace to get the aquastat box off which means thousands of dollars in repair costs.
The second problem that Brian found was with the pressure tank. It was leaking water and causing the pressure release tap to run water. Unfortunately that tap was installed on top of the furnace so the water runs out over the whole unit in the event of pressure problems. Brian replaced the tank which I suspect was not replaced by Aire One when they replaced the boiler. It was the old one from my old furnace. I guess they were trying to save some money on my install. Brian also replaced the overflow tap for me and made some recommendations about how to move the tap so that in the event of a pressure build up, it doesn't run water all over the furnace.
Brian also talked to me about all of the things he was doing and why so that I am more educated about the furnace and less over-whelmed when problems occur. I really appreciate the time and attention he gave me as my last experience they didn't tell me anything or leave me any manuals and didn't help me understand how it works so I will know when it is not working.
Sometimes the cheapest quote for the work turns out to be the most expensive, and although Tropical Htg and Cooling may not be the cheapest quote, but you could end up paying a lot more in the end with the cheapest quote. I would never again trust any company that subcontracts out work. And I WILL definitely be calling Tropical Htg and Cooling in the summer for my air conditioner replacement. I look forward to working with Brian again. He has some of the craziest yoga moves I have ever seen and can work on systems in the worst possible install configuratiosn.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $900.00