ComplaintsforAmerican Heating and Cooling, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  01/28/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  on 1/24/2022 A service technician and an apprentice came to my residence for a scheduled service call. My furnace was not operating correctly as the time. The technician worked for a little while trying to diagnose the problem. After a bit, it was becoming clear he was struggling to figure out what was going on. He did point out that the flames going into the heat exchanger was dancing around a bit. He proceeded to take a video of the flames and send them to an apparent supervisor. He stepped outside to make a call, presumably to the supervisor. When he finished his call, he came back in and told me my heat exchanger was bad and said he needed to do a light test to confirm. He began disassembling my furnace. I told him to stop and his response was "I can't, I'm here and it's my job" His light test consisted of him shining a flashlight up and around the bottom plate of the compartment that housed the heat exchanger (not the heat exchanger itself). Because there was some light shining the the front panel of the furnace, (again, not the heat exchanger) he determined the heat exchanger was cracked and my furnace was a danger and would need to be replaced. When he left, my furnace was left in pieces on my basement floor and I was left with no heat overnight when the temperatures were only going to be in the teens. The service technician did not follow any type of "red-tag" protocol. No paperwork was done. I didn't even receive and invoice. He told me how much I owed him, took a check and left. The following day another person came by to supposedly take photos of the furnace but I did not see him take any. He asked me to sign a form consenting to have a new unit installed. I told him I didn't have the money. He sent me to the company website to apply for a credit card to cover the cost. When I was denied the card, I called him to let him know and never heard from them again. On the afternoon of 1/25/2022, I called another company to put it back together and repair proper

  

  Business response

  02/03/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2022/01/31) */ On 1/25/22 we were called out for a no heat call. Upon arrival our service tech found the customer's furnace not functioning. The roll out switch,( which is a safety switch in the burner compartment designed to detect and prevent furnace operation if there is a crack in the heat exchanger) was tripped. After we reset the switch, it continued to trip after the furnace was operated for a few minutes. We also removed the blower and performed a light test(We shine light on the blower side of the heat exchanger, if light can be seen in the burner compartment then the heat exchanger does have a crack in it which allows the light to shine through). Both the limit and the light test demonstrated that the heat exchanger had cracks which would allow carbon monoxide into the living space. The technician at that time tried to show the home owner how he came to that conclusion but the home owner did not want to see. The home owner became very upset and started shouting profanities towards our techs. Our tech was instructed by the home owner to not reassemble the furnace and to immediately leave the residence. A comfort specialist was sent out to give a quote for a new furnace the following day. We were informed by the home owner that they were denied financing. We stand behind our service technician's findings. The homeowner has stated that she had another HVAC company re-assemble the unit and they reported that they left it running. It should be noted that another HVAC company had worked on the system recently before our arrival also and that the homeowner was not satisfied with their diagnosis either. We always keep our customers health and safety in mind and we are concerned about the continued unsafe operation of this very old furnace. As we do warranty our work and the customer is unsatisfied we will of course refund the cost of the service call regardless of the outcome. Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2022/02/01) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Please see supporting documentation. Rollout switch was not tripping. It was the high limit switch. Document also confirms the heat exchanger was inspected correctly and was found to have no cracks or holes. There are may reasons a high limit switch can trip and one of them is poor circulation due to the coils above the heat exchanger being clogged with dirt, which is what was cleaned along with the burners (also can cause flames to jump around a little). And I did see what the tech did as far as a light test but had to ask the tech to step aside twice so I could see it. Shining a light at the heat exchanger is not a light test. The light should have been shined into the heat exchanger as was done by the company that cleaned the unit and used a digital carbon monoxide meter to test for carbon monoxide and it registered zero after sitting directly in front of the vent for 15 - 20 minutes. Also, the only reason I became upset was because the tech began mouthing off to me and would not stop after I told him several times. I did however ask them to leave but it was prior to the furnace being completely dismantled and I never told him not to put everything back together. He just started picking his things up to leave after he came back in from being on the phone and gave me a verbal quote of $3200. The quote I was given the following day was higher. Just an FYI, the last two times somebody worked on my furnace it was American Heating and Cooling that worked on it. Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2022/02/02) */ We at American Heating and Cooling apologize that the homeowner is not satisfied or is unhappy with the service performed on 1/25/22. We stand behind our technicians findings that it was the cracked heat exchanger causing the rollout switch to trip ( which has to be manually reset) and not the high limit switch. We will be sending a full refund for the service call in question. "unfortunately we were asked to leave before we were able to finish our diagnosis and had no opportunity check other items like airflow. It is very possible that the high limit would also trip if the system would run long enough, but that was not the case as the rollout switch would not let the system operate long enough for it to happen. The rollout switch tripping is not associated with airflow issues, it will only trip as a result of flame rollout in the burner compartment which is a direct result of a crack in the heat exchanger."

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