Ray Blom Plumbing Inc

Trent from Ray Blom was the only plumber who would work on my 11 year old water heater. Everyone else told me to replace the entire thing, but the tank has no leaks and is fine. He came out two days in a row, including New Years Eve to try different parts that are no longer made but he had in his shop. Saved my holiday with 15 guests here and now I should get a few more years of use. Called in advance to tell me his timing and was very reasonable.

I bought an AO Smith 50 gallon hot water heater about two months ago and during this period there has been an occasional loud single “bang” or explosion coming from the unit, similar to the noise when one slams a door very hard. I contacted AO Smith customer service and they referred me to Ray Blom as an authorized AO Smith repair facility and gave me a labor authorization number since the hot water heater was only 2 months old and was under warranty. Ray responded immediately and he said he knew what the problem was and would have to order the replacement part which should take a day or so. I gave Ray the model number and serial number of the water heater. When the replacement burner arrived, Trent, Ray’s son, came to replace the defective burner unit. After disconnecting the pilot and gas lines from the burner unit to get accesses to the burner assembly, Trent noticed AO Smith had sent the wrong part. There are evidently two burner configurations; a short version and a long version. I decided to have AO Smith ship the correct burner unit UPS ground instead of next day air at a significant cost savings. The pilot and gas lines of the original unit were hooked up and Trent checked out its operation. Fortunately, there was an explosion again which confirmed the problem, but unfortunately, the “bang” or explosion happened when Trent’s face was next to the gas control valve. Trent said this is not good and he would locate and drive to get the correct replacement burner unit and not have to wait for a UPS next day air or ground shipment. About two hours later Trent returned with the correct burner, installed it, checked out its operation and everything appeared to be working as it should be. However, several days later a low frequency vibration occurred when the burner was ignited and it lasted about 40 seconds. It was a strong vibration. It sounded like a ship’s fog horn. The low frequency vibration was recorded on a cell phone to document the vibration. We notified Ray Blom about the low frequency vibration problem, and after he spoke to AO Smith technical department, he ordered a replacement spring/bracket to correct vibration. Trent came with an preformed aluminum bracket (1/2” x 7” long) sent from AO Smith and taped it in place to support the far end of the burner. Vibration problem appears to be fixed. However, whether the bracket will remain taped for many years is questionable since the high heat from the burner may affect and degrade the adhesive on the tape. I really appreciate the extra effort Trent made to get the water heater operational the same day and to follow up with AO Smith technical support to fix the vibration problem. As they say, he went the extra mile…it was actually much more than a mile to get the replacement burner. It is hard to find this attitude these days. I offered Trent something to show my appreciation and he smiled and said no thank you. So, Ray Blom is on the top of my list when I need a plumbing service.

Ray Blom snaked out my blocked sewer within 15 minutes of arrival and charged a fair price. Called ahead with ETA and arrived on time. Gave me good tips on avoiding clogs in the future - unlike previous company who tried to scare me into a whole new sewer line at $6000. Would hire him again.