Tri City Heating & Air Conditioning Inc.

Description of Work: .

Description of Work: They have done several things for me. Furnace repair.

Description of Work: Furnace Fiasco Just before purchasing our home, we had a professional HVAC person from Tri City HVAC inspect the furnace to ensure it was in working order and had no cracks in the heat exchanger. He also tested the AC. They both passed with flying colors. The furnace was 17 years old and I was concerned that it may be in need of replacement. In late February, we had an energy audit performed through the city of Loveland. It was a real eye opener. Many improvements were needed to help stop air infiltration into the home through the outer walls and ceilings. The auditor told us that the furnace had an unsatisfactory level of CO in the flu. I believe the number was 50 ppm. Side note: if you have not had a professional energy audit done through your city or Utility Company, please consider it worth every penny. I called for a furnace tune-up by Swan Heating and Air thinking it must just need adjustment. Their technician, Peter, came in and within a few minutes had located several obvious cracks in the heat exchanger. I was shown the degradation and it was major. Peter pronounced the system unsafe and left it turned off. Because it was not dispersing CO into the house, I turned the furnace back on because the outside temperature was near 0. I immediately called Red Line Heating and Air since our home owner’s warranty with Blue Ribbon requires their professional to make a call before determining if repair or replacement is in order. Kim from Redline came out and could not locate a single crack using his camera. One thing I noted in this process is that Peter from Swan had a new smaller camera that could be articulated to see the cracks on the heat exchanger. Kim had a much larger camera that could not be articulated. The difference was obvious. Kim called Peter and talked with him about what he used and what he saw. He then condemned the furnace. Needless to say, at about this point, I was not a happy camper. I paid a professional to inspect my furnace so that I could avoid this very costly replacement. After cooling off, I called the original inspector at Tri City and told him what had happened. He categorically denied there was anything wrong with the furnace and insinuated that it was not a valid failure/find. It seemed he was blaming someone else. I then proceeded in contacting 5 local companies to submit bids for a furnace replacement. I asked Swan, Red Line, Fort Collins Heating and Air, Northern Colorado Air, and one other to submit bids. After due diligence, I chose, Fort Collins Heating and Air. Their bid was fair and thorough, competitive, and I connected with Glen Frank, the owner, personally. I checked out Angie’s list and other ratings in the area during this process. I was very impressed by the Lennox line offered by NCA but because of serviceability chose a more common brand, Bryant. I ended up with a 97+ % efficient unit with a DC variable fan. The unit comes with a full control thermostat for heat, air and humidity. After making this decision, I contacted Tri City again and asked them to consider their response to this situation. Darin called back and asked to inspect the unit the day of installation after it was removed from our basement and stated that he would refund our inspection money if the unit was defective. That day, Darin from Tri City arrived and took the remaining hardware loose from the frame and popped the heat exchanger out. There were at least four large cracks in the heat exchanger right where Peter from Swan said they were located. My response to this was “this is the reason I had you, the professional, come and inspect the HVAC systems, to avoid this costly mistake”. He assured me that he would refund the amount we paid for the inspection. We have yet to see that refund over a month later. Based on all this information, I would never recommend Tri City for any HVAC related work. I proceeded to call all those involved in the bidding process and let them know of my decision. I spoke with Tim at Swan’s and complimented him on the training and professionalism of his crew. They are well trained and equipped and I would highly recommend Swan’s for any HVAC work. The installation was scheduled and performed on the day planned. Glen Frank, the owner, personally came back to inspect all work done and to assure everything is up and running and properly installed by his technicians. We immediately noticed an unusual fan noise. What I would call a high pitched whine. They returned 3 more times to make adjustments until the noise stopped entirely. We run the system on low fan speed at all times to keep the humidity constant in the house. It is not at all noticeable or audible. I am VERY impressed by Fort Collins Heating and Air’s diligent efforts to MAKE IT ALL RIGHT. The city of Loveland permit inspector spent quite a long time in our utility room and after inspecting talked with me. His comment was “this is a very clean, professional, installation”. I agree.

Description of Work: Our A/C wasn't working, and we hired Tri City to come out and fix it. They also performed maintainence.

Description of Work: Replaced disconnect, dual capactior, and connector for Lennox Air conditioner that went out. They also added around 1 pound of refrigerant.