Home Defense

After investigating and speaking with other contractors,including Kip, about the high humidity in our basement and the need to remove it during the summer months when it is highest, we were told that an ERV system would work to remove the humidity from our basement as well as improve air flow. We requested and received numerous quotes and decided to hire HomeDefense both due to how we were initially treated and his price. Kip and his son (Zeth) came to install the system on August 26, 2011. Work seemed to go well for the first part of the day, but then Kip and his son cut through some electric wires which powered our upstairs ceiling fans, which they then had to repair. They started up the ERV system, explained how it worked and left for the day. A few hours later we noticed that the air inside our basement increased in humidity and the actual percent jumped about 5%. There was also an awful smell in the basement that was never there before. We called Kip immediately and were advised to turn off the system and he would come back to repair the unit. It took him a little over a week (9/2/2011) to come back to repair the system. He said that somehow some control buttons on the ERV system were tripped during installation and that caused the issue we were experiencing. He rebalanced the system, reset the controls and explained how to monitor the humidity. At first he had explained that he would stop by in the morning to reset the system and then he would come back later in the day to see how it was working. He arrived much later than he said he was going to (due to traffic and water damage from hurricane Irene). Thus - he just checked the system as stated above and left for the day. We turned off the dehumidifier and let the unit run as stated. My husband and I left to go to our son's soccer game around 4:00 pm - when we left the humidity in our basement was 72% and when we came back about 2.5 hours later the humidity had jumped to 78% and the horrible odor was back again. We immediately turned off the system and called Kip. We also turned the dehumidifier back on. Note - We have two sections of our basement (one finished and one unfinished). The unfinished porttion of the basement never decreased humidity at all during operation of the ERV unit. We continue tp run a dehumidifier in the finished portion to control humidity. Kip stated that he would need to come back again and try to get the system balanced correctly. He mentioned that he would get the tech people from Canada to also come down and help figure out why the system was increasing the humidity so much. After numerous emails and phone calls to Kip - and getting no or limited response from him...we felt that having the ERV system removed would be the best course of action. We explained to Kip that we did not think this system was working the way he described that it would for us and suggested that he come and remove it. We offered some compensation for his time and labor - but explained that we would need the bulk of our money refunded because the unit was not functioning as he had told us it would. We also have to repair our home due to the fact that Kip had to put in vents that lead to the outside so we have holes in the siding of our house. He has since been unresponsive and basically has said that he will not work with us at all. He will not return emails or phone calls and has back pedaled about what he told us the unit would do for us. We contacted the manufacturer - who explained that the unit in question would not function the way it was explained to us - but that it would move air around the house. We need the system to work to remove moisture in the summer when it is very high humidity outside and inside. The manufacturer explained that even though air is moving, if it is more humid outside than in, then it will not remove moisture - which is the whole reason we bought this system in the first place. I also contacted Kip's supplier, who also explained that if he had known what we needed, he would have suggested a different system for us (basically a high efficiency dehumidifier) and that sometimes things go wrong and Kip should be honorable and remove the system for us. Unfortunately, it seems that Kip is back pedaling and telling both his supplier and the manufacturer that we have issues in our home that we do not (like standing water- which we do not ~ our bulkhead leaks just around the door and we had just had a hurricane come through). He also is stating that the unit is working just fine - but it is not doing anything for us except making the problem worse. We also tested to see what would happen if we just turned off the dehumidifier for the day without the ERV system running - the humidity in our basement never went up! The unit may have run for a total of 12-14 hours and has been turned off since Kip's second visit on 9/2/2011. UPDATE - Many of this provider's statements are incorrect. 1. We have a sump pump and it runs and keeps our basement free of water.. 2. Because of the sump pump, we do not have standing water in our basement except on rare occasions when we have lengthy periods of rain (ie: Hurricane Irene) and then it is only in the immediate area around the bulkhead door. There is currently NO water in our basement at all even with the rain we had this past weekend. 3. Because of the hurricane and heavy rains this summer, we had a couple of water damaged boxes by the bulkhead door, and I removed those boxes in the presence of this provider. 4. We purchased a dehumidifier which has lowered the humidity by over 10% in a matter of 2 days. 5. We spoke directly to the supplier and he stated that he asked the contractor to help us out by removing the unit and offering us a refund. The contractor refused and told us he would do nothing to help us. The supplier then told us that he would no longer be recommending this contractor. 6. The contractor explained that we should have seen a change within hours (rather than the days and weeks he mentions in his letter). he was correct - we saw a marked change in both the air quality (now smelly and gross) and the humidity (now 6% higher than it was before the unit was put in). 7. The manufacturer did offer for us to try the HRV core - but the contractor had already talked us out of this prior to purchasing the ERV core. 8. No one, not even the contractor, can prove that this unit is actually functioning correctly. 9. The contractor did not speak with his supplier until I contacted the supplier directly first. 10. The compromise offer by the contractor actually benefited the contractor only and did not address the fact that we would be without a system or any monetary recompense at all.