Return-Path: Received: from MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa27302; 26 Mar 96 11:34:54 EST Received: from localhost by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa01368; 26 Mar 96 11:34 EST To: bovik@MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU Reply-to: Dennis Grinberg Subject: heating companies for a new boiler Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 11:34:31 -0500 Message-ID: <1366.827858071@MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU> From: Dennis Grinberg I posted the following to the bboard. >We need a new furnace for a steam system and Bovik's suggestions are >fairly old. Can anyone recommend (for or against) any heating >contractors? > >Results will be forwarded to Bovik. This is what happened: We had Stahl coming out for an estimate before I read the opinion about Stahl that follows. Their appointment was for Thursday. I made appointments with L.J. Comer for Friday and Wahl for Monday. Stahl recommended a much more powerful furnace than the one I had, 200,000 btu input versus 144,000. The new one would also probably be a lot more efficient than the old one. I (and a friend who deals with steam heat) thought it would be overkill but the salesman insisted. He said that he wanted to do a CO test that day as he smelled some trace elements that often come with CO leaks. (Our boiler was leaking steam.) He told me that there would be no charge for the test. Later on that day he called me with a report of elevated CO levels. He turned the boiler onto pilot. My wife and I called 911 and they came and tested the CO levels and their results were similar to Stahl's. Not life threatening over the short-term, but still high. Our furnace was tagged by the gas company and we were without heat. It was cold but not freezing. I called Comer and told them the situation. The owner said that he would come out that evening to give an estimate. He came and recommended a smaller boiler than the one Stahl recommended and came out cheaper in his bid (even taking the boiler size into consideration). He said that it could be installed the next day. (Stahl said it could be installed in one or two days.) I called Stahl and told them that we would be going with a different bid. The salesman seemed quite surprised, asked about the other bid, and said that we should go with a 200,000 btu boiler. A few minutes later, the head of the company called me. He sounded very angry and was extremely impolite. "This man saved your life and you are going to buy a boiler from someone else? You should have told us about the lower bid and we would have lowered our bid..." It took Comer two days to install the boiler rather than the one day the owner said it would take. They were also missing a part so I had to manually feed water for a week (no big deal) until the part came in. On Saturday I received a bill for CO testing our house. I wrote to Stahl informing them that they must have made an error as we were told that there would be no charge. I'll post further updates if there are any. PS When making the appointment with Wahl I was told that it would take a couple of hours as he would be doing heat-loss calculations. Stahl did very rough estimates (it took him 5 minutes) and Comer did even fewer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from SYMPHONY.MC.CS.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa12995; 11 Mar 96 16:38 EST To: dennis@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Re: Furnace replacement Newsgroups: cmu.cs.general In-Reply-To: <4i243o$p3i@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon Cc: Bcc: Date: Mon, 11 Mar 96 16:37:23 EST From: lowekamp+@SYMPHONY.MC.CS.CMU.EDU Sender: lowekamp+@SYMPHONY.MC.CS.CMU.EDU In article <4i243o$p3i@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> you write: >We need a new furnace for a steam system and Bovik's suggestions are >fairly old. Can anyone recommend (for or against) any heating >contractors? I've used Bartolomeo Plumbing for my house. They seem very reasonably priced and do good work. Make sure you get the installers to look at your chimney. I don't know if you would need to get it lined for a steam system, but I've heard horror stories from people who've had high efficiency systems installed without getting the chimney lined. Bruce -- Bruce Lowekamp lowekamp@cs.cmu.edu Carnegie Mellon Computer Science (412)268-7673 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~lowekamp/home.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from ALECTRO.SOAR.CS.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa13035; 11 Mar 96 16:45 EST From: Erik Altmann Date: Mon, 11 Mar 96 16:44:44 EST To: Dennis Grinberg In-reply-to: dennis@cs.cmu.edu's message of 11 Mar 1996 20:57:28 GMT Subject: Furnace replacement Sender: altmann+@alectro.soar.cs.cmu.edu We use an independent plumber to do our furnace work as well. He's a little hard to schedule, but I keep going back. Syl Metzger, 856-6282 I usually call 8-9pm, when he's likely to be home. Erik. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from EDRC.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa14327; 12 Mar 96 4:55 EST Received: from ANDREW.CMU.EDU by EDRC.CMU.EDU id aa11213; 12 Mar 96 4:53:57 EST Received: (from postman@localhost) by andrew.cmu.edu (8.7.4/8.7.3) id EAA11184 for Dennis.Grinberg@cs.cmu.edu; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 04:53:53 -0500 Received: via switchmail; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 04:53:51 -0500 (EST) Received: from po6.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 04:52:00 -0500 (EST) Received: from crab.psy.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Mon, 11 Mar 1996 16:38:43 -0500 (EST) Received: from BatMail.robin.v2.14.CUILIB.3.45.SNAP.NOT.LINKED.crab.psy.cmu.edu.sun4c.411 via MS.5.6.crab.psy.cmu.edu.sun4c_411; Mon, 11 Mar 1996 16:38:42 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1996 16:38:42 -0500 (EST) From: Nigel Goddard To: Dennis.Grinberg@cs.cmu.edu (Dennis Grinberg) Subject: Re: Furnace replacement In-Reply-To: <4i243o$p3i@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> References: <4i243o$p3i@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> We have most recently used Wahl heating and cooling (John Wahl) and have been very happy. He was recommended by our house inspector (Rodney Harkenss) who is excellent. Nigel -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from RI.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa14460; 12 Mar 96 8:39 EST Received: from PO8.ANDREW.CMU.EDU by RI.CMU.EDU id aa10007; 12 Mar 96 8:38:47 EST Received: (from postman@localhost) by po8.andrew.cmu.edu (8.7.4/8.7.3) id IAA02373 for Dennis.Grinberg@cs.cmu.edu; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:38:42 -0500 Received: via switchmail; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:38:41 -0500 (EST) Received: from unix13.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:37:50 -0500 (EST) Received: from unix13.andrew.cmu.edu via qmail ID ; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:37:49 -0500 (EST) Received: from mms.4.60.Jan.26.1995.18.43.47.sun4c.411.EzMail.2.0.CUILIB.3.45.SNAP.NOT.LINKED.unix13.andrew.cmu.edu.sun4c.411 via MS.5.6.unix13.andrew.cmu.edu.sun4c_411; Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:37:49 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <8lFLsh600YUpQ2238z@andrew.cmu.edu> Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 08:37:49 -0500 (EST) From: "Robert L. Armitage" To: Dennis.Grinberg@cs.cmu.edu (Dennis Grinberg) Subject: Re: Furnace replacement Cc: In-Reply-To: <4i243o$p3i@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> References: <4i243o$p3i@cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu> HIGHLY Recommend Ardmore Heating, Plumbing and Cooling. I worked for a summer with Bob Reisch (owner) and he is not out to get rich by gouging his customers. (A firm believer that a satisfied customer is a customer for life!) 793-2898 Bob works out of his home (no unnecessary expenses to pass on to you!) so you'll more than likely get his answering machine. Leave him a message. He's a good guy, and does honest work. -- Buz... Rob Armitage Carnegie Mellon University buz+@cmu.edu or: ra1d@andrew.cmu.edu or: .....!{ucbvax,harvard}!andrew.cmu.edu!ra1d+ "Diplomacy: The art of saying NICE DOGGY until you can find a rock." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa14561; 12 Mar 96 9:50 EST Received: from MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU by MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa24166; 12 Mar 96 9:49:44 EST To: dennis@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Furnace replacement Date: Tue, 12 Mar 96 09:49:42 EST From: Chris McGlone We had an incredibly bad experience with Bowlin a couple of years ago. They came in a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than Schultheis for the same model Carrier high-efficiency gas furnace. They showed up several hours late, did incredibly shoddy work, and took forever. The borough building inspector looked at the duct work and said it looked like a high school shop project. When they re-installed the air conditioning condenser, they didn't level the drip tray so that when we ran the air conditioner the condensation overflowed and ran down through the furnace and onto the floor. Plus, little annoyances like not re-lighting the pilot light on the water heater. The owner had apparently been sick and his wife had been running the scheduling, which allegedly explained their lateness and lack of organization. When the owner came out, after our refusal to pay, he looked at the duct work and was horrified enough to made the crew take it out and do it over again. They gave us an additional year's warranty, due to the water having run through the furnace (we talked to Carrier and they didn't think it would be a big problem). In summary, I think the owner is basically decent, but his crew leaves a lot to be desired. We did have them do maintenance on the furnace (no one else will write a maintenance contract on a new furnace, since it's still in warranty) and that went OK. Chris McGlone -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 10:48-EST From: Anonymous To: Dennis Grinberg Subject: Re: Furnace replacement In-Reply-To: Dennis Grinberg's bboard message of 11-Mar-96 16:03 Do not use M.Stahl unless you like lies and going to court. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from RHODOPE.ABLE.CS.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa14656; 12 Mar 96 11:17 EST To: Dennis Grinberg In-reply-to: dennis@cs.cmu.edu's message of 11 Mar 1996 20:57:28 GMT Subject: Furnace replacement From: bmonroe@rhodope.able.cs.cmu.edu Date: Tue, 12 Mar 96 11:17:06 EST Sender: bmonroe@rhodope.able.cs.cmu.edu Source-Info: Sender is really bmonroe@rhodope.able.cs.cmu.edu We need a new furnace for a steam system and Bovik's suggestions are fairly old. Can anyone recommend (for or against) any heating contractors? Results will be forwarded to Bovik. Thanks, -- Dennis Grinberg dennis@cs.cmu.edu ... ------------------------------- Dennis -- I had Regis Dunn replace my furnace and install a central A/C about 2 years ago. He works for a commercial HVAC company by day and moonlights doing residental work in the evenings and on weekends. He did good work at a much lower price than the other quotes I got. Effectively, I got the furnace and ac for a slightly higher price than what the others quoted for the furnace alone. He tends to be very busy, and I'm not entirely sure that he's doing it anymore, but it's probably worth giving him a call. The last phone number I have for him is 331-1057. -- Bob Monroe -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from CADMUS.RESDOC.CS.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa14669; 12 Mar 96 11:39 EST Received: from CADMUS.RESDOC.CS.CMU.EDU by CADMUS.RESDOC.CS.CMU.EDU id aa08105; 12 Mar 96 11:39:08 EST To: dennis@cs.cmu.edu cc: dale@H.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Boiler. Date: Tue, 12 Mar 96 11:38:50 EST Message-ID: <8103.826648730@CADMUS.RESDOC.CS.CMU.EDU> From: Dale_James@CADMUS.RESDOC.CS.CMU.EDU Dennis- We just got a new boiler for a hot water system (are you sure you have steam?). We contracted the job out to Dennis Marion Plumbing of Tarentum. It took forever to get him out, but the job was *done* in a day. Anyway, his phone number is 224-2281. He also did some other plumbing work while he was there the same day. We are very happy with his price, and only slightly less happy with his service (you really have to be persistent leaving messages, or he might never get back to you). His price was just about the best around. Good luck! --Dale -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from AMULET1.AMULET.CS.CMU.EDU by MISSING.LINK.CS.CMU.EDU id aa14761; 12 Mar 96 12:53 EST Received: from localhost.cs.cmu.edu by amulet1.amulet.cs.cmu.edu id aa05080; 12 Mar 96 12:52 EST To: dennis@cs.cmu.edu From: bam+@cs.cmu.edu Reply-to: Brad.Myers@cs.cmu.edu Subject: Furnace replacement Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 12:52:28 -0500 Message-ID: <5078.826653148@amulet1.amulet.cs.cmu.edu> Sender: Brad_Myers@amulet1.amulet.cs.cmu.edu We have been fairly happy with Kesco Mechanical, but we have only needed some small repairs and routine maintenance. Brad Myers