Sila Heating, Cooling and Plumbing

Technician came on time and was able to access HVAC condensers on the roof. I've had companies come out who aren't able to get a ladder up there. Everything checked out okay because the systems are fairly new. But he did suggest that I keep an eye on the water heater because of its age.

John was professional and helpful. He got us interested in looking for energy rebates for our home. I do think the new boiler price was on the high end compared to some other estimates I received.

Let me say that Chris Avalos is a terrific representative of Silas. He did so much more than just provide an estimate for a new HVAC system. He followed up and worked with me on a product that was the most affordable Lennox (Category A product, like Carrier and Trane) that suited my needs. He listened and ensured that he could get a furnace that could also be installed in different positions depending on how we might do future renovations for our rental property. I got three estimates and created a spreadsheet of the items offered by each. On a Saturday afternoon (no less), Chris spent an hour with me on the phone as we stepped through all of the items to see which ones would be covered by Sila - and explained to me things I wasn't sure about. I was truly impressed with his dedication. If this were our primary residence, I would have selected Sila and Lennox. However, it was a rental property and we decided to go with a Bryant (Category B brand of Carrier) as the Category B brand from Lennox (Aire Flo) was contractor grade and didn't seem to provide good reviews during my internet surfing. Otherwise, Chris was absolutely outstanding and I would certainly recommend giving him a call to see what he might provide for you.

They were great. We have actually used them again since.

I am a real estate agent and have already referred several of my clients to Sila. The high velocity systems are perfectly suited to use in historic homes, because they don't require major ductwork or bulkheads that damage the integrity of the home. After researching solutions for our air conditioning and heating needs in a 120-year-old row house, we decided to go with the high velocity system from Sila. They came out and gave us an estimate and were incredibly pleasant and professional, in stark contrast to some of the other companies we spoke with who didn't seem to want our business. Installing the high-velocity unit would allow us to remove large bulkheads from our home and raise the ceilings back up to their original height, which was important to us. They scheduled the work in a timely manner, and spent about 4 days installing the system. The workers were meticulous about their work and cleaned up after themselves every day before they left. The system is working incredibly well, and our entire home has been a consistent, cool temperature all summer for the first time since we moved in 7 years ago.

It was easy. It worked fine. They were good at explaining what the problem was and what they were trying to fix.

The service technician Joey checked the unit out and found a part that had been replaced by me was wired wrong and he corrected it.

Overall - A. Experience was very good. Technician (Jose) came on time in proper Sila attire/uniform. He introduced and verified what he is doing today prior to starting the work. He took about 1.5 hours to complete the entire job. He looked at both systems (Furnace & Heat Pump). He did some primary cleaning around in the system and also checked the connections, pressure, etc. He also went and looked at the 2 outside units that I have. After completing the work, he gave me a report and told me that system is working fine and no corrections are needed. He recommended 2 things (but did not try to sell). 1). EZ Trap for attic 2). Humidifier. I googled the need for the recommended items and it seems both of them are very valid recommendations. Typically Sila's pricing are higher than what I listed here but I got a repeat customer discount card at my home, which gave me pricing of $59 per system (if completed in August). I couldn't find anyone cheaper than that for 2 system cleaning.

I purchased a furnace tune-up as an Angie's List deal and was pleased with the service provided by Joey. He was punctual, friendly and careful. I particularly liked that he made two recommendations for my 1959 burner, but indicated that they were not urgent so that I didn't feel pressured to commit to anything expensive. I was interested in an estimate for a new burner so I could put the two fixes in context, and John was able to come out later that day. He has provided two options that I am considering. I had a problem with my hot water heater (after very poor service from James A. Wheat & Sons) so I called Sila Heating. Joey came out and installed a new expansion tank at the price quote and put a cap on the faucet that had been leaking at no extra charge. I plan to have Sila Heating back to either do the two upgrades to my old burner or to install a new burner. I would not hesitate to recommend the company to a friend or neighbor.

SILA came to check my old hot water boiler. They ended up replacing it with a new boiler. They showed up on time and completed the whole job in one day. They brought a 3 man team to install the boiler. They refilled the system and bled all the radiators. Everything went great and I'd gladly use them for future work. Highly recommended.

The high velocity AC system was installed in mid 2013. Exactly one year and a month later, in the middle of a warm week the system stopped working. I called the service line and left a message for "emergency service". No one called me back. The next day I took time of work, called them again at which point someone was sent over. They informed me that there was a hole in coil. They repaired the hole. The system worked for another month and then stopped working yesterday. I called them again and they sent someone in the evening. I was informed that the patch they did was not sufficient and they also had most probably had put in excess freon which caused the system to stop working (this was what the technician told me). The technician told me that they would have to replace the coil. I called the office next day (since no one got back to me in the morning), and got through to Johnathon who informed me that the coil would take a week to be custom made (really?) and so the system will be repaired in approximately 2 weeks. Yes, so for the next couple of weeks, in the middle of summer I will have to move my dogs and baby to a hotel if it get unbearable. They have offered to bring me window units for me to install in the house. The bottom line is if I spend $26,500 I expect to have a unit that is not going to blow up in one year ! I had a simmilar unit installed by another company in Baltimore which has been running for 7 years without any problems. I believe Sila should have replaced this unit, without trying to replace these defective parts. I will NEVER recomend this company to anyone. Additionally I had planned to put AC in the basement unit of my house and I will make sure to use another more trustworthy company, and not Sila.

Honestly identified the problem and quickly fixed it.

My AC failed after about 20 years of service. These guys showed up on time the day after I called them. They evaluated my needs and had a rep' out that evening. The job was scheduled only 2 days later-- on a Saturday after a Friday holiday! They arrived on time again and had things up and running by shortly after noon. I have never been more pleased with this kind of work. Nice people who keep their promises. This was a quick and easy major upgrade to my home environment.

I compared several providers but liked this one the best.

They did a maintenance check on our small office/town house heat pump. The technician arrived on time and checked everything out. There were no problems.

The serviceperson was knowledgeable, friendly, and thorough. He took me outside to see my a/c unit and witness all the debris that got in it over the winter. He also hosed it out. He was efficient, in and out within an hour or so - and I appreciated that because so many repair people do not know where Mt. Rainier (my town) is. However, at the end of the visit, he gave me a very hard sell for replacing my unit. He wrote out a menu of various service options, all of which were in the thousands of dollars. I just opted for the basic, Angie's List, $89.00 annual service. I know he's right that eventually my unit will die, but I couldn't afford to replace it at the time, so will wait until that happens. He was pleasant with my rejection of the offers, but I did have to stand firm.

Cool at last! We bought a home constructed in 1921. Previous owners had installed window units, which we loud, worked inconsistently and ran up our electric bills. We met a team of Sila professionals at the Washington Home and Design Show, and made an appointment with Brentin Cottrell. He was on time, professional and courteous, and he provided us with a handful of options - traditional, high-efficiency ductless and mini-splits. We opted for high-efficiency ductless. Installation took about a week, and our home remained shockingly clean throughout the installation process. The install team maintained Sila's level of professionalism throughout. Today, our home is cool inside on the hottest day. In fact, because their system dries the air, we can set the thermostat to 73 (as opposed to 68 with window units) and feel perfectly comfortable. This increases our cost savings by about 50 percent monthly on our electric bill. And that noise everyone says accompanies these high-efficiency ductless systems? Comparable to conventional Central AC. We also have Sila on a maintenance plan. They service our new AC system (which they installed), as well as the heating system (which was in place when we bought the home). I sell real estate, and recommend Sila - and Brentin - to anyone looking for expert AC installation.

Great job! Very helpful in ensuring HVAC was running smoothly with no issues!

That one was fine. That was great. They set it up promptly. That gentleman was wonderful all the way around. He told me there was nothing wrong. My husband had just died and I didn’t know where the filter went, and he showed me how to put the filter in. He took the old filter out, and I had a back-up filter with me and he put it in for me. Then he took it out and he made me put it in. So, he was wonderful. He was very helpful. He was an older gentleman and he was very professional. He called almost immediately and we set up a date, and he was there at the time. I don’t have any funny noise in my furnace and it worked fine all of last year. If I had anything wrong, I would probably call him again because I know who I like. I will probably get him again this fall for the furnace.

The experience was great with them. They seemed knowledgeable, but the price is a bit high.

SILA is awesome. We really can't recommend them highly enough. My husband and I have said multiple times over the course of the whole ordeal that SILA really made spending a painful amount of money a lot less painful because they are so professional, courteous and knowledgeable. They really explain what your options are and what you are getting for different price points so you know you are getting a great product. Our situation wasn't easy -- one unit on the roof of a 4 story townhouse and another outside that needed to be moved to a different spot. there were a lot of old house issues with putting in the new units and they knew exactly what to do. Everyone who came to work in our house was incredibly polite and professional and they really took care to protect our floors as they were doing all the work. You can't go wrong with them.

They were very courteous. I emailed back and they requested I call in to schedule an appointment. When I called, it became evident that I had misread exactly what it was that the Deal provided. In sum, there was nothing wrong with the service, the company, or the deal itself, I was just not in need of the service I purchased.

I was able to get the company to send out installers, who told me the installation would need to be somewhat different than the salesperson said. The installers seemed great. They encouraged me to give them a deposit so that I could reserve a date, which I did. I told them I still had questions and had not decided for sure, but they told me that I had time to decide and could cancel for a full refund. So I was put on the calendar. I began arranging my life so that I'd be out of the house as much as possible during the installation. I reviewed the contract and went over the new specs I had received verbally from the installers with the HVAC consultant I had hired for my AC and heating system renovations. I sent my proposed changes to the salesperson over a month before my installation date. Sila proposed using Space Pak. We researched the system and my consultant said Space Pak has a very good zoning system, so you can have controls separately on different floors. Given that I had a heating issue in my house, this would be very valuable to me. The AC high velocity system could include a heat pump heat and I could use it as a supplement only on the floor where my heat has issues. So I asked them to install the zoning system, and asked for more specification on other items in the contract they had sent me (as advised by my consultant). The salesperson said he would talk to my consultant about the zoning system but never did. I had reserved a date for the installation with the company, and the salesperson threatened me that if I did not sign the contract as is (he wasn't getting back to me on the specifications my consultant has advised me to ask for) then they'd take me off the schedule. I waited two weeks and he never got back to me. I called DC office manager repeatedly, but they would simply say "we'll call the [salesperson's name]." I was amazed that there was no one in charge that had any authority to manage the business and decide on contracts, or (as with other HVAC companies) talk with me to try to create a solution for my house. Instead, the salesperson was the entire face of the company. I probably called the DC office three times asking for something to move forward, and I'd be promised a return call but nothing. At one point, the office manager told me the salesperson was also the "project manager." However, that person was not technically knowledgeable (at least was unable to deal with my technical questions), so it was unsettling that no one with adequate technical knowledge was working with me. I do not know why the manager of the DC location doesn't provide any oversight over the sales team. or "project manager" team. I got a hurried email from the salesperson a little over two weeks from my installation date telling me "HE" didn't feel comfortable with the zoning system. I must admit I was surprised that the salesperson makes such decisions for the company. Nevertheless, I could see this was a company I could not work with. I had made plans, as I said, based on this installation date. I liked the installers. But I could not get past the salesperson to work with the company! I tried to reach the salesperson to at least get my deposit back. I left him a message and told him he still had my deposit, expressed my unhappiness and indicated I would try to file a complaint but hear nothing. Finally, I called the company HQ in Philadelphia and again I was promised someone would get back to me. It has been over a week and no further response there as well. This company has had good ratings on Angie's LIst, but I must conclude that if you have a cookie cutter job they'll be fine, but any need to ask questions or probe below the surface is met with a blank stare, so to speak. On top of all this, they still have my deposit - I have asked both the DC and the Philadelphia HQ for the money and (more important) some explanation of why I was treated so poorly., I held off on this review hoping they would do something to make up for this disaster, but they have not.

Overall we are pleased with our new air conditioning system. When the workers came to do the work, they worked very diligently and were incredibly conscientious about cleaning up after themselves. The only thing that was problematic is that when the estimator/scheduler came to first visit with us, he took a look at our electrical panel and told us with a high level of confidence that we looked to be fine and would not need more "juice". Turns out that when the installers came they immediately noted that we would need a "heavy up" which resulted in us spending extra money and time getting an electrician in to take care of that. The same estimator/scheduler called several times during the installation week (that typically takes 3 or 4 days) trying to change the days that our installers would come or the team that would come that day and I got the sense that our project was not as much a priority as I imagined it to be for the money it was costing us. We had the system installed in the fall so did not get to use it until now (this spring/summer). We are really happy with the way it not only cools, but also dehumidifies our home. So overall we are very happy with our new AC and our neighbors have already followed suit and had the same system installed in their house after hearing how happy we were. But I advise all to make sure you have enough "juice" for the system to prevent unwelcomed surprises.

They did a fine job as far as I can tell.