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Daily news for Seattle's Ballard neighborhood |
Anonymous
offlineUnregistered
Time to replace my gas furnace. Had a pretty "meh" experience with Pacific Oil and Heating, so I'm wondering if anyone feels strongly (good or bad) about furnace models and local installation contractors. Since this will be an ongoing relationship, I'd like to get it right.
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts, all!
RichY
offlineMember
should not be an ongoing relationship.
Get a good furnace that you can afford, get recommendations from Puget Sound Energy PSE.com (the gas co.) -on brands and installers and make sure they are licensed plumbers for the gas line.
Service is not as often as with an oil burner, learn what needs to be done, then when it needs to be done call someone, whoever has a special, they change techs so often that it really does not matter.
If you buy a new furnace it should be worry free for 2 - 4 years with a yearly cleaning and periodic filter changes.
The service is easy and safe – learn how to do it and save a bundle of money (also emergency repairs can be done by you – in most cases)
clamster
offlineMember
Evergreen Home Heating & Energy installed a gas water heater and did some furnace repairs for me a few months ago. They were easy to work with and seemed honest, fair and knowledgable. I had done a lot of research, reading through online reviews, etc. before I called them. For a furnace replacement, it's best to get at least 3 quotes, maybe 5. I think there's another thread on here about recommended furnace contractors so do a search for that also. Here is Evergreen's website: http://www.evergreenhomeheatingandenergy.com/index.html
Anonymous
offlineUnregistered
Thanks all. Getting three quotes and will report back. RichY, I appreciate your DIY sensibilities. I was going to just build a solar collector and try to install radiant heating...but there's only so much these two hands can get done in a day.
Sometimes, when it comes to matters that are sanity threatening, it's worth spilling some green into a hopefully worthy local business.
RichY
offlineMember
SC, not so much as a DIY, but to make sure the ones you are paying do it right, and little things like having an igniter as a spare (cost about $4-$9 online or local) emergency replacement $98.00 + $125 labor, most just have one screw and plug in - 10 min heat back on.
Good luck and watch them like a hawk - and really talk to the gas co.
Te
offlineMember
I had a pretty good experience with Paragon Heating. Very responsive and nice workers. I'm not very DIY so don't know about that aspect...
JoeInBallard
offlineMember
I bought my last one at sutter hearth, Good experience and they had all the parts I needed. I installed it myself, which was a fair amount of work since it was new a new installation. Replacing should be pretty straight forward for a DIY, or pretty cheap to have done.
geedub50@yahoo.com
offlineMember
Bassett Home Heating installed our gas furnace 10 years ago and remind me to service it every year with a postcard. I can't do these things myself, and appreciate the followup. They are reliable, local, family owned and most of all, I have confidence in them. John Bassett 206/362-3890.
Anonymous
offlineUnregistered
This was my day for all things furnace: had three bids booked to replace my furnace which stopped working 6 weeks ago. I expect to get some apples and oranges back, but at this early stage I'll say that I am glad that I called all three: Evergreen, Accurate, and Reed Wright. I have to say that Terry from Accurate blew my mind with his over the top customer service:
A little backstory required: Jan 6th I scheduled Pacific Heating to service (clean) my furnace. The technician declined to service it because he said it was so old that he was afraid it might not go back together. The heat exchanger was not cracked, the pilot was clicking a long time before furnace would fire. He left, but charged me $100 for the service call and said I could apply the money towards a new furnace when I got one. Five weeks later, the furnace stopped firing. Fan was blowing cold air constantly. I called Pacific because I don't know anything about furnaces and was looking for a little insight: should I be scheduling another service call, or a replacement call? They wouldn't discuss my situation with me (I was just hoping to maybe chat with the technician who came out, tell him what the symptoms were, and get his recommendation for a move forward plan). They simply said to me: if you want to schedule a service call, I can do that for you, but we won't discuss your situation over the phone.
And I stayed without heat for 6 weeks.
Today I devoted to getting 3 bids for a new furnace. Terry from Accurate Heating and Electrical came out and asked "Is your heat exchanger cracked?" I said I didn't think so. He opened it up and said,"Well, it needs to be cleaned. Mind if I clean it?" I hemmed (not wanting to pour money into an old 1988 over-the-hill furnace, and he said,"How about this: I clean it. If that doesn't fix your problem, you don't pay for anything. If it fixes your problem, you can pay me for my time." 15 minutes, a $6 part later, my furnace was working better than before. ALL IT NEEDED was to be cleaned, which is what I paid Pacific to come out and do, and they refused to do it (but again, still charged me.) Terry didn't even invoice me when he left. He said,"Run it a few days. I'll touch base with you later, and if it continues to work well for you, I'll send you a bill."
I'll still probably need a new furnace soon. But in the meantime, I HAVE HEAT again! And I can't recommend Accurate Heating and Electrical highly enough for his fantastic customer service. He might not have sold me a new furnace today, but I've got his number down as someone I trust in a pinch, hands down.
I called Pacific Heating to tell them about this experience and spent an infuriating hour on the phone with the owner who explained to me the constraints of being a family run business and that he was sorry I was disappointed, but that he couldn't do any better in the situation. Amazing lack of customer service. Really? I've been cold for 6 weeks, they denied me the service that I brought them out to perform, still charged me anyway, and think that explaining their cost model is supposed to make me feel better. UN-REAL.
I also really liked Bryan from Reed Wright. I appreciated that he offered practical solutions for my particular situation: didn't try to sell me a waterfront condo on Mars. But fixing my furnace on good faith? That's old school customer service the likes of which I didn't think existed anymore. Brilliant.
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