NORTH MACOMB HEATING & COOLING

This is a couple of years old, yet now that I?d a member of Angie?s list I feel it?s important to share. In my humble opinion, I feel they were only trying to push a new furnace. Their diagnostic procedures were questionable at best, and possibly fraudulent. In my opinion, they?re con men. Most homeowners can easily be misled and taken advantage of as they have no heating experience nor do they research their problems. I, on the other hand, have a bit more knowledge than the average homeowner. In addition to the lack of professional skills displayed, their furnace prices were way out of line. If you?d like the full story read on. In January 2011 North Macomb Mechanical & Electrical, also doing business as North Macomb Heating & Cooling, dispatched a technician to my residence to repair my Bryant high efficiency furnace. My furnace was having difficulty firing up and displayed the trouble code 31. For those with no experience, a modern furnace uses an electronic control module, just like your automobile. It therefore has the ability to display trouble codes when it detects a problem. 31 indicates a problem with the induction circuit / pressure switch. A beat up Chevy pick-up arrives with a brand new furnace in the back. The technician performed a couple of visual checks. He looked at the flame in the furnace and claimed it didn?t continually flow straight back. He claimed that this could indicate a cracked heat exchanger (pricey and dangerous stuff). With the unit off he looked into the heat exchanger and pointed out some surface rust on a few areas. He claimed this also was an indication it was time to replace the furnace. With the unit running he applied pressure to the circuit board to slightly flex it. The furnace would hick-up when pressure was applied. I was told I needed a new circuit board, cost around $400. This sounds like the going rate for this repair. I was then quoted a price of $3,800 for a replacement furnace. Bryant / Carrier lost a class action suite for secondary heat exchanger problems. My unit made me eligible for a rebate on a new Bryant. My serviceman knew nothing about it. Actually, he didn?t know the difference between a solenoid and a capacitor on the induction motor! I decided I?d better do my homework before making a decision. First pricing: I called Air Conditioning Engineers in Utica for a comparison price. Same furnace installed $3,140. That?s $660 cheaper! Plus they were knowledgeable about the class action rebate and would handle all the paper work giving an additional $600 credit. That makes the price $2540. Yes, price is an issue, but it gets worse! I happen to have a friend who is the HVAC professor at Macomb Community College. I spoke with him and his entire class on my diagnosis. Let me share with you what I learned 1. You don?t just look at the flame to determine if the heart exchanger is cracked. There are more quantitative, professional methods. Any HVAC outlet sells a spray used to detect heat exchanger issues. The cost $15, enough to do several dozen furnaces. The test takes only a couple of minutes and I feel if you have a bit of mechanical aptitude, you too could do it. Considering I paid $95 for their diagnostic fees, you?d expect a more professional inspection. Sure enough, my exchanger was fine. Also, the light surface rust meant nothing. I even brought in a mpeg (movie) of my combustion to the college and it was deemed fine. 2. I?ve been aware for years that the Bryant / Carrier furnaces were noted for circuit board issues. I?ve also researched that when they fail they can generate false codes. I also learned that flexing the board is not the best way to test them as flexing can cause damage in it?s self. The best way is to substitute a known good board. Now I did not watch every move the tech made, but I later discovered that the fuse was removed and when reinstalled, it was not placed in it?s socket on one end, but instead, only made contact on it?s side. Positioned this way, flexing the board would certainly cause an interruption in power. How did it get this way, as I certainly did not touch it? It makes me wonder. What did I do? I checked all possibilities for setting the trouble code and was lead to the conclusion that the board was indeed bad. The tech could have easily checked the induction motor current draw, switch continuity and the system?s pressure but he chose to ignore that. The board goes for around $200 on the Internet. I purchased one for $75 on Ebay. It worked fine for several more years. ` It?s sad when you feel you?re being taken advantage of. It?s my belief that it happens with other contractors also. I went through a similar situation with another company with my A/C. Little did he know, but I also have a manifold gauge set to check system pressures and mine showed completely different results than his. My ?about to fail? compressor has been fine for several years! Good luck out there!

I THOUGHT THE MAN WHO CAME OUT WAS VERY COURTEOUS. HE WAS SORRY HE HAD TO CHARGE ME SO MUCH FOR FIXING SUCH A MINOR PROBLEM. HE GAVE ME AN EXTRA FUSE IN CASE I EVER HAD THE SAME PROBLEM.