ComplaintsforKent Heating and Air Conditioning

• Initial Complaint

  12/01/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  my heat exchanger on my furnace went out oct 1. i checked up on installers in the area, and **** was in buisness since ****, had a lot of good reviews, so i called them. the company that put my last furnace in was out of buisness. the technician came out and said the furnace was done, so i set up an immediate appointment with the consultant to go over options. i decided to get a new rheem 80 percent furnace and the consultant said the price was **** all in. he said my other furnace was not up to specs and he would have to do some extra work to get it there. i called a couple friends that also do this type of work told them what he told me and they said it all checked out. so 3 days later they came out, installed it, and i wrote them a check for the full amount on the spot. a couple weeks later i started having problems with the pilot, the technician came out and said there was a defective part and they would replace it free of charge. he came out to do the work, then he called me and said theres a intake coil that controls both the furnace and air conditioner and it was filthy and it wasnt covered under warranty it would cost almost 700 dollars to clean. i told him the consultant went over the whole furnace and said it was good to go. he than told me it was possible he wouldnt be able to clean it, and i would have to buy a whole new air conditioning unit, in which they quoted me a price of ******************************************** another 692 dollars just to get my furnace to work properly, and it still might not work. so i called the consultant again and he said the coil was far down inside and he had no way of knowing it was so dirty. i said the technician saw it with the scope. i said i wouldnt have agreed to the installation if i had known this was going to happen. the consultant apoligized for not telling me, but obviously thats not helping my situation. so i decided to contact the bbb to see if theres something else that can be done.

  

  Business response

  12/01/2022

  Its unfortunate that this unforeseen and rare circumstance occurred, and it is a very difficult situation to avoid until a new furnace is installed.  It must be noted that the A-coil is NOT part of the furnace/heating system; it IS a component of an air conditioning system,and has air blowing through it both when the furnace or conditioning system operate.

  Prior to the furnace installation, we do not normally inspect the air conditioning evaporator A-coil that is located above the furnace inside the ductwork as the access to this is difficult, and the vast majority of homeowners would not pay a few hundred dollars just for this inspection where ******** would have to be cut open and he A-coil removed.  Furthermore, ****** air conditioning system utilizes the outdated **22 refrigerant (Freon),which was already being phased out in 1994.  When replacing an **22 air conditioning system, you cannot reuse an A-coil as it will contaminate the new **410A refrigerant used today (and being phased out in 2025).  ***** mentions the technician used a scope to inspect the A-coil; however, the technician used the scope to inspect the furnace heat exchanger, not the A-coil.  After paying a few hundred dollars, how would a homeowner feel if the removal and inspection of the A-coil wasnt necessary,as in the vast majority of cases we encounter?

  Therefore,what Kent ********************** and Air Conditioning does on all furnace installations,including ******************** installation, is we clean the coil with a brush and/or a brush attachment on a shop vacuum the best we can.  In ****** case, the air conditioning system is close to ***** years old in our estimation, and uses the **22 refrigerant aforementioned.  The A-coils back then were thick, and over the years substantial amounts of debris can build up in the tight space between the aluminum fins.  Almost 100% of the time, the above brush cleaning procedure works very effectively, and the procedure is part of the furnace replacement cost and not charged as an extra.
  
  The best way to clean the coil is with a chemical cleaner, which is an expensive process, and usually not a prudent purchasing decision on an air conditioning system component that is well past its normal lifespan of ***** years.  After all, would one put a new engine in a 20 year old car that is ***** and well past its best years?
  
  After the installation of the new furnace on October 4, 2022, we were called out to ****** residence on November 19, 2022, where our technician found a high temperature limit control tripped.  He reset it and ***** had heat in his residence.  Another technician came back on November 28, 2022, to replace the limit on a warranty no charge basis, and it was then that he noticed the temperature rise in the system indicated a blockage in the A-coil.  The technician recommended the cleaning of the existing A-coil since ***** didnt want to replace the 35+ year old air conditioning system at that time.
  
  If we would have chemically cleaned the coil at the time of the furnace installation, the price to do so would have been the same as the quote we gave ***** to do the work on or about November 29th.  The price to clean the coil for ***** was heavily discounted, and we even tacked on an additional 15% discount to satisfy him.  It must be noted that we will not give any warranty on the existing air conditioning system components or operation once the cleaning is done.  The reason for this is the age of the coil.  Its possible the walls of the copper tubing are very thin, and chemically cleaning this old of a coil could cause a refrigerant leak.  Also, the drain pan is made of metal, most likely, which is ***** and could develop a hole.  If that happens, the condensation the coil drain pan collects could leak on the new furnace and ruin some of the electrical components.
  
  Im not sure what else we can do, or could have done, to improve this situation,especially given the age of his air conditioning system.  We feel badly for ***** and at this time do not know what else we can do, or could have done.
  
  ***** has approved the cleaning of the coil, and is fully aware of the fact there is no warranty on his air conditioning system.

  Customer response

  12/07/2022

   Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

  
  

  Thank you.

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩