Business ProfileforNorth Pacific Mechanical

Name of Company: NORTH PACIFIC MECHANICAL. Fee for Residence Visit: $129. For: Furnace tune-up and inspection Invoice #: 2240929.I would like to share with you an incident I had with a company named NORTH PACIFIC MECHANICAL on Tuesday, February 20, 2024.On Monday, February 19, I called to schedule an appointment to rectify what I described as a "grindy bearing noise," and get "maybe a tune-up" of the furnace. The next day, the tech showed up, took a look at the running furnace, and asked me how long it had been since I had cleaned the filter. I replied, "over seven years." After taking the filter out and looking at it, his response was something to the effect, "well this is your primary problem, right here". Keeping the filter out, the still-running heater then started sounding and running (to my ear) much better than it had been previously. Previously, it had been turning itself on and off - that was no longer the case... it kept running continuously and smoothly. The tech then proceeded to look more closely at other components of the furnace. Several of them he found to be, according to him, something along the lines of dissatisfactory or worn or needing replacement. He named which parts and we discussed them. He then started talking about carbon monoxide, and told me that certain things that the heater was doing while he was observing (I couldn't say precisely what, something to do with the shape of the flame) were indications that carbon monoxide might be currently being produced. He told me that a "6" (on a standard meter) would indicate an automatic shut-down of the heater, and a "9" would mean something to the effect of "that's it, your done" - which I took to mean mortality. He then said that he was obligated by law to "red-tag" any appliance which was deemed unfit and/or unsafe for operation, and that his professional credential would be on the line if he didn't shut down any appliance which didn't meet (his?) standard of safety. He said that just to "cover his ass", he had to abide by that industry requirement. All of the previous is my paraphrase of the conversation; the gist of the conversation was not far from this paraphrase.We then went indoors (the heater is in the garage). He held his meter to two separate vents. After approximately 2 to 3 minutes - maybe more - of holding the meter at each vent, he reported readings of at one vent of "0" and of "3" at the other. (I never personally saw the readings). We then went back to the garage and continued to examine the heater. He said that he had no option but to "red-tag" it and said that he was disabling it, and pulled out a tag and affixed it to the heater. I objected, asking him on what grounds, specifically, he was taking this action - to which I never got a satisfactory answer. I asked, if a "3" on his meter was the highest reading that he had witnessed in the house, and if that that if a "6" was grounds for disabling the heater, then by what other criteria is this action informed? Again, I did not get an answer that was clear to me. He then asked me where the electric box was so that he could take photos. I refused to answer him and said I would not talk to him until I had contacted ** Natural and asked them about the nature of what was currently happening. While I was on hold with ** Natural, he disabled the heater from functioning (I do not know how), accessed the electric box and presumably took photos, and definitely threw the breaker switch to the heater off. So, while I was still on hold with ** Natural, the heater had been disabled in a way that I didn't understand and didn't know how to rectify. I finally got a representative on the phone from ** Natural and described the situation to them. While I was talking to them, I believe the technician tried to have me sign paperwork (which I did not do), and then he departed the property. I immediately scheduled an appointment with ** Natural to visit the property. Two technicians from ** Natural were at the property within 26 hours after the above-described event. They turned the gas back on, and ran the heater. The findings on the Notice of Hazardous/ Unsatisfactory Conditions report which they provided me were:"Air filter needs replace""Fan impeller needs cleaning""Exhaust vent needs to have 1" clearance from combustible"I asked the ** Natural technicians specifically, is there any reason to believe, given what youre looking at now, that there is a higher level of ** being produced than is safe? They said no. They did not red-tag the heater or disable it. I asked them if it was safe to continue running the heater in the state that it was in, and they said that, other than the above concerns not relating operation itself, they could find no reason why it shouldn't be. They left the property with the gas on and the heater ready to run.It should be plainly obvious from this description that North Pacific Mechanical is possibly blatantly and maliciously misguiding customers into believing that they are in danger. If not, the least that should be evident from this description is that they are tampering with personal property to a degree that is unfair, unjust, and perhaps illegal. I, for one, take issue with this company's professional practice. I would be surprised if others, too, haven't been victimized by them.