ComplaintsforBurnham Holdings, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/03/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  1/6/14 Bought Burnham Boiler.12/6/22 Fire Dept came to home due to "lethal levels of carbon monoxide" measuring 253 PPM, directly from 8 year old Burnham (which is serviced yearly).12/7/22 Two separate contractors look at boiler & both said needs to be replaced due to hole in iron block (neither had ever seen on 8yr boiler). Both said it's a defect. Called a *** boiler inspector- he never heard of 8yr boiler w this problem. 12/7/22 to 12/9/22 Spoke daily w ******* at Burnham, assured me supervisor would reach out very soon due to carbon monoxide issue, & she emailed info to super & ***********************. I never received response from anyone for 5 days. She also gave me number for dist. ***. *************** spoke to manger *************. He said dealing w carbon monoxide issue need to speak w ***********************. I called & left him a msg.12/12/22 *********************** returned call asked for pictures. 12/13/22 ***** Texted me issue is w high chloride H2O in NY. He said if I had replaced it w Burnham they may have helped me. I called him explained that my family had been removed from house w no heat & that I had been speaking w people at Burnham/***. ****** for days & at no time did anyone tell me this. He blamed my contractor for not replacing w Burnham- my contractor was trying to get us back in house after 3 days with no heat & keep pipes from freezing- used what he could get ******************* had still not responded. I spoke w ***** again that ********* said should be glad to get 8-9 years out of a Burnham.12/22/22 Spoke with VP ***************************. He repeated all that ****** said. He later left voice message after I asked about carbon monoxide & said "...I have no idea haven't seen any of the pictures or know what's there..."1/3/23 *************************** says it's H2O chloride problem in NY, MA, and MD cities. Blamed my contractor again. ***** laughed out loud at me on speaker w my wife when I said my family could have all died from carbon monoxide levels. Sent me attorney info. Zero accountability or care.

  Business response

  01/11/2023

  Dear *****************:
  
  Although no identification of the boilers model or serial number is mentioned in ****************** complaint, I believe after doing some research that the boiler involved in this matter was manufactured by US Boiler Company LLC.  The identifying serial number of this boiler is ********.  This office handles all insurance and legal matters for U. S.Boiler Company, LLC (U.S. Boiler), a wholly owned subsidiary of Burnham Holdings, Inc.
  
  The above-mentioned boiler is used in a steam application .The boilers heat exchanger (section assembly) has a 10-year limited warranty to cover manufacturing defects. All other components have a one-year limited warranty. The warranty is only valid to the original owner at the original place of installation. The warranty also states the owner is responsible for the cost of removing and reinstalling the defective part or its replacement and all labor and material connected therewith.
  
  U. S. Boiler refutes ****************** portrayal of the events in question. Safety and quality are priorities to the Burnham family of brands. According to the information provided in this complaint, the cause of this boilers premature failure is due to corrosion. Oxygen corrosion/erosion occurs when excess amounts of make-up water are added to a steam system. This make-up water carries dissolved oxygen and sodium chloride which attacks the cast iron and can ruin the cast iron sectional assembly. This type of failure is not uncommon with modern boilers installed in old steam systems. This is not a manufacturing defect and therefore is not covered under warranty. 
  
  If you have questions or need further explanation of the information described above, please feel free to contact me at ************. I can also be reached via email at **********@burnhamholdings.com.
  

  Sincerely,
  
  **************************
  Risk Manager
  Burnham Holdings, Inc, 
  Office *************
  

  Customer response

  01/12/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:This is the same form response that ***** has responded with to all similar complaints with Burnham boilers.  Her refuting my claims, in actuality prove this company's lack of care or concern for their customers as true- as I have fire department paper work showing the lethal levels of carbon monoxide that was detected coming form the Burnham boiler- which ***** actually states here they know is a common occurrence of these boilers rusting out in less than 10 years (however she still does not acknowledge the real human safety concern of carbon monoxide poisoning and serious sickness or death- and I'm sure for very good reason that detail continues to be left out in all conversations). I also had the ** of the company on speaker phone with witnesses listening when he laughed at me for saying that my family could have all died from the level of carbon monoxides in our house, when the fire department had my wife go wake up our children and remove them from the house.  I have also read in these complaints that some people have water filtration systems for all water coming into their home and still had this defect with their Burnham boiler.  My contractor forced me to keep the defective boiler in my garage for Burnham to come inspect, as their warranty states they will, and they never took that step.  They have used the same pre-determined "bad water in the entire north east" excuse and same form response, to answer all complaints in this area.  The new boiler my contractor installed has a 10 year warranty on the cast iron block, which is the exact part that has a hole in it on my 9 year old Burnahm boiler- that 3 contractors that looked at and said they had never seen on such a new boiler in their entire careers of working in this area with the same water.  We will now have to discuss further options with our attorney and use our social media outlets to hopefully save others on money, time and frustration in dealing with this companies "higher ups", and more importantly possibly save lives!   ***PLEASE BEWARE IF PURCHASING THROUGH THIS COMPANY- US BOILERS, BURNHAM BOILER-  CARBON MONOXIDE SAFETY HAZARD!!!
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************
  

• Initial Complaint

  04/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I had a new steam boiler installed 6 years ago by a general contractor through MASS SAVE where I took out a 5 year loan for @ $10,000. I paid said loan. The Burnham steam boiler was warranted for 10 years. The prior Burnham boiler was the original in the house over 50 years old. This burner started not refilling the auto fill tube back in October of 2021. I had my burner man come out and check it a few times. We thought there was a problem with the tube. I started noticing water under the boiler shortly after. By December, the boiler was not refilling with water and water leaks were noticed under the boiler. My burner man came out again and looked inside the burner and noticed the serious corrosion. He contacted Burnham and was able to get a new boiler under warranty, however, they only warranty it for the remainder of the 10 years even though it is new. The cost to have the install the second time was $4,300 which I had to take from my son's college fund. I contacted Chris M****y myself who offered me $500. I refused and said I would file a complaint if I did not receive the full amount.

  Business response

  06/02/2022

  To whom it may concern;
  
  **. ******’s warranty request was fulfilled to the full extent of the US Boiler warranty policy.  A replacement boiler block was supplied to her, at no charge, per the terms of the warranty.  The written warranty clearly states that labor charges incurred to remove or replace a unit is not covered under the warranty policy.  A goodwill allowance of $500 was offered to *** ****** to offset a portion of the labor costs, which she declined.

• Initial Complaint

  11/16/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am a General Contractor specializing in Designing and Building buildings for the ** ******************* specifically the **** We constructed our primary home and purchased a US Boiler Company (a subsidiary of Burnham Holdings) boiler called the K2. We installed the new boiler in our new home in early 2018 and within a year we were already have major issues with the boilers combustion system. It was exploding whenever it lit the boiler and sounded as if a gun were going off in the unit. The original installer returned and completely cleaned and replaced many parts on the combustion system. Within a year we were again experiencing failures of the unit. Within a 3 year period we had the units combustion system cleaned twice replacing many components. The most recent work cost $4,000 and they cut and completely dismantled many of the original Safety systems the unit was designed with. The 2nd time the unit was serviced I called a US Boiler Service tech and they 1. Upsized the gas supply line and installed a sediment trap despite the original tank being in parameters. 2. Replaced 2nd set of combustion electrodes 3. Cut and Capped flue sensor wire. 4. Disabled the outdoor Reset. 5. Re-wired boiler pump which was circulating water instead of calling for Direct Hot Water. 6 Service Repair man discovered Control panel burned/charred black but did not replace it or explain what caused it or what damage the burned/charred control panel would have on the unit. In summary, I have been a GC for over 15 years and have never experienced failures like this with a new unit. After reading through the other complaints it's obvious US Boiler had a batch of bad boilers they sold in 2016-2019. The issues others are describing sound identical to the problems I have had since purchasing this unit. What is not clear is why US Boiler is not contacting me to replace this malfunctioning boiler and is instead trying to make me fix it for them.

  Business response

  01/07/2022

  Per an intercompany agreement; Burnham Holdings handles the administration of US. Boiler Company ****** ("US Boiler") legal and insurance portfolio. 

  Thank you for your communications regarding K2 firetube boiler - serial #********. Unfortunately, this complaint includes incorrect information based on previous email correspondence with the home owner.
  
  U.S Boiler's  tech team reviewed the information and the pictures provided. The images clearly show evidence of improper installation/operation, which caused the multiple failures outlined by the most recent contractor. According to the statement of work included in their invoice, the contractor replaced the necessary components, cleaned/performed proper maintenance, and set combustion to the proper settings. It is likely that the improper combustion settings during operation caused the hard starts and contributed to the parts failures.
  
  Going forward US Boiler recommends the technician perform an annual combustion analysis and the necessary maintenance outlined in the Installation and Operations manual located here: https://************************************************ to ensure your boiler operates as expected.

  Laura H***** 

  Risk Manager 

  Burnham Holdings, Inc. 

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