Fire & Ice HVAC, Inc.

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When our furnace went out in mid-January, we arranged to have it checked by another company we found on Angie?s List. During the inspection we were told that the compressor was bad and would need replacing ? at a cost of more than $2,250. We contacted 4-5 other Angie?s List companies for estimates as well, but settled on Fire and Ice. The first thing that impressed us was that when we called Fire & Ice for a second opinion, Kal came the same day. Kal verified the initial assessment, and knowing that we were surviving on emergency heat, arranged for repairs to take place two days later. He ordered the parts (at a 20% discount!) and his team arrived as scheduled. Unfortunately, during disassembly of the old unit, technicians discovered that the fan motor and internal air-handler coil would also need replacing (discoveries the other company missed during their inspection and assessment of our system). Kal immediately walked us through our options for repairs and/or replacement, explaining the financial and warranty/guarantee pros and cons of each scenario. In the end, Kal was able to provide us with a whole new heat pump and air handler, brand new with a better warranty than the old unit had, and at a cost only fractionally more than the repairs would have been. This was on 31 January, and on 1 February Kal and his team were able to fit us in (on a Saturday!) and install our new system. A week later, Kal stopped by to check on our system and answer any questions we might have. We can?t thank Fire & Ice enough; before installation we set the thermostat at 72 degrees, and now it stays on 66. The new system is so much more efficient, the house is warmer and our electric bill is lower. Thanks again Fire and Ice.

That went well. They're very professional. It took a lot of time to explain their estimate and other alternatives for reduced cost.

Our furnace was installed 10 years ago by a major local contractor. They did a horrible job. We have had several HVAC companies look at the work over the years and they all were amazed that such a big company would do such shoddy work. We used Fire & Ice to repair this work and even though it took them much longer than they had originally estimated (due to the original contractor cementing in portions of the furnace that should not have been). Kal kept to the estimate of two hours when it took him 8! Kal of Fire & Ice is a true professional. We have used him for all of our air conditioning and heating for the past 18 months and are thrilled to have him service our home.

These guys are the real deal! My Heat Pump system was failing and I didn't want to go through the winter and into the summer and be faced with emergency replacement. I solicited proposals from 5 recommended contractors, several of whom were listed on Angie's list. With one exception, bids were similar in cost but had different brands in their proposals. I also consulted Consumer Reports® and the BBB plus scanned the web for other local comments. My initial contact was with with Kal Davis (Operations Director and Master Technician). Kal's presentation to me was throughly professional and competitive. I am a retired engineer and tend toward tech talk: Kal was up to the task. He was informed about the product, installation ramifications and did not run down other brands to promote his own. The proposal was clearly stated, with model numbers called out (I am a stickler for that information) so that I could perform a proper evaluation against all proposals presented. I had immediately rejected a potential supplier who did not provide this information. On installation day, the 2 man crew arrived on time and immediately set to work removing the old components. The crew was knowledgeable, competent and personable. Kal arrived later on to inspect progress and supervise the commissioning of the system. Without exception, Kal and his crew answered all of my questions, provided driving lessons on the new digital thermostat and did not depart until they were certain that I was satisfied with the installation. This morning it is snowing outside and the temperature is dropping like a stone. The system is operating flawlessly and the temperature is even throughout the house.

2 stories here.. Story 1..Water Leaking..After 4 months of being in the new house, water started leaking from the attic AC unit. We had a company (Lets call them "PAR") which showed up under the 2-10 warranty look at this and after 5 visits they were unable to even diagnose the issue but sold us $300 worth of solutions which did nothing. In fact there was ceiling damage in my child's bedroom caused by a larger leak 4 days after their first misdiagnosis and service. We fired them and insisted 2-10 send us someone else. 2-10 sent another company (Let's call them company "NIC") who correctly diagnosed that the issue was that the attic unit needed to be leveled, wanted to charge $360 and claimed it was not under warranty. We looked back at the inspection maintenance which was done before settlement and found a receipt from yet a third company ("ST") which stated explicitly that they have leveled this unit. They refused to come out or even return phone calls (I guess since we mentioned the leak had caused ceiling damage). At that point the urgency of the issue was over since it was no longer warm weather. Story 2.. The mystery of the blown fuses. Our fuses for the attic heat pump (same unit that had been leveled) in the house we bought in April started blowing when the cold weather hit. We had company NIC come in under our 2-10 warranty, since we knew in the past they at least could come up with a diagnosis and they claimed that our wet switch was not installed properly causing the external heat pump not to come on and for the emergency heat to go on unnecessarily. Furthermore they said that the emergency heat panel was installed using a wire that was too small and a new wire would have to be run throughout the house or install a new emergency heating panel with a lower current requirement. They quoted $200 to fix the wet switch (cuts the unit off if there is a water problem) and $1500-2000 to fix the fuses blowing. We called company "PAR" claimed that the wet switch was installed correctly and stated that the external .Of course PAR in the past had a record of complete incompetence with us so of course we did not assume either company was correct. Hearing contradictory stories from these 2 companies, I asked Fire and Ice to come in because they had been recommended to me as providing cost effective solutions and being highly knowledgable. In about 15 min and for a service charge of $89, the technician, Kal, determined the wet switch was wired correctly and that the external heat pump was coming on when it should. The wire to the unit was indeed too small to power the 2 heating panels, but since there were 2 panels and one was enough to heat the upstairs, all that was required was to disconnect the second panel or trip its breaker. He did this in 10 min and now our heating works without the possibility of waking up cold in the middle of the night because of a blown fuse. He also explained that running a new wire would not have solved the problem because the main electric panel to the house would not have handled the 90 Amp requirement on a 60 amp breaker. The $1500 solution of replacing the panel was completely unnecessary and the $2000 solution of running a new wire would not have even worked. The proof is in the pudding, the guys who solved the problem as an included in the $89 to come up and take a look are clearly much more honest than the ones who come up with $1500-2000 fixes. Fire and Ice during the same visit also offered to level the AC for $150, whereas the company "NI" wanted $360 and the company "PA" had sold us on $300 of solutions which did not solve the water issue at all (including installing the wet switch). They need a second technician to do this, so we have scheduled the service after the holidays since it wont be an issue until warm weather is back and AC is needed. So we basically had horrible experiences with 3 other HVAC companies during 9 visits (2 under the 2-10 warranty company) not able to diagnose, solve or offering very expensive and unnecessary solutions before we started with Fire and Ice. Fire and Ice gave us the basically free solution to a potentially $1500 problem and is less than half the cost for the same solution as the competitor and a lower cost solution to a water problem which the other companies took literally visits before it was diagnosed. Fire and Ice and Kal were just a breath of fresh air from an industry which I am learning seems to be riddled with a culture of incompetence and fraud.

Had a hybrid hot water heater installed. Price was excellent. The old heater was 23 years old and would not drain. The workers had to remove it full of water. They also had to go back to HD to get a few parts. They didn't complaints and the work was done on time. Edit: Kali came out and addressed all of my (minor) concerns. A+ all around.

He found the problem and fixed my furnace. He also gave me suggestions for the cold season since my furnace is old. He showed up on time. Even before he stepped in my home, he put on shoe protectors. He was very informative and extremely courteous. I will be highly recommeding them to anyone I know.

When we contacted Kal Davis because we had no hot water. He called and made arrangements to come the very next day. He came ontime and corrected the problem promptly. He replaced the circulating pump for the hot water heater which had burned out. Mr. Davis is a true gentleman and we have total confidence in his work.

We are very pleased with the service and the products that we received from Fire & Ice. We were so pleased with the responsiveness to our problem at home that we had them replace the units at our investment property. When it first turned cold, we thought our pilot light was out. Rather, it was the computer control of our system. The owner of Fire & Ice took the time to explain exactly what was wrong, what it would take to fix it, and then discussed that the fix may be a waste of money because of the limited remaining life of our system. He shopped several brands of systems, giving us choices as to price, quality, warranty. The replacement was done quickly. All debris was cleaned up and removed. No high pressure sales; just good information to help us make the best decision. And best of all -- this house has never been so comfortable -- no cycles of hot and then cold, just continually comfortable! Knowledgeable professionals that did conscientious work

I've used Fire and Ice multiple times for parts repairs to full HVAC replacement. They are highly professional, courteous, and a pleasure to work with from their reception to Kal. I enthusiastically recommend them for any HVAC needs!

Highly recommended without reservation. I was extremely pleased with my experience with this company. An unexpected plumbing repair required the removal and reinstallation of some basement ductwork in my 1950s-era home, on short notice and in close coordination with the plumber. Fire & Ice could not have been more responsive, professional, and willing to do what was needed to work the emergency call into their busy schedule, get the job done quickly, coordinate with the plumber, and work around my work schedule. The crew did a great job, taking care to do as little damage to walls and ceilings as possible, and they had good suggestions when reinstalling the ducts to make it easier to remove them if that should ever be necessary again in the future. They were responsive, courteous, prompt, professional, very fairly priced, and very kind ? a characteristic that is deeply appreciated when dealing with an unexpected emergency. I also had them install an air return in the basement, and I was very pleased with that work as well. I definitely will call on them again.

Fair and honest communication, job completed as anticipated, system works well. Came out to replace related filtering system at no extra cost. Kal Davis will do you right. Glad to recommend!

Perfect! Mr. Davis and his staff we very professional, arrived on time, and more importantly took their time installing the new 2 ton A/C unit and coil. I had several estimates and theirs was the most reasonable. I would use them again and would recommend them without hesitation.

We live in a small home built in 1940 and the HVAC was over 20 years old when we moved in (and had been poorly serviced). Our basement was also freezing. We contacted Fire and Ice and decided on a 16 SEER unit for efficiency with a heat pump. We replaced our water heater which was of similar age. We also had a ton of problems with our ductwork and we also wanted our HVAC moved to make room for a potential attic renovation someday; the slightly over 9K price included all of that, and we also got a discount for being teachers. Kal made sure to note all of the specific ductwork they would fix on our estimate. Kal was very responsive via phone, and pretty much bent over backward to make sure that we chose Fire & Ice. We were impressed with his customer service. My one major complaint is that they started the work on a Friday, during a heat wave at the end of July. I was worried our new AC would not be up and running by the end of the day, but Kal assured me it would likely be fine. Lo and behold, he called mid-day and said his men were getting ill and could not finish the job since they were working from our attic which was brutal. I understood this and initially said fine, but when it sank in that we would be out of AC all weekend and would have to relocate with a small child, I called back and complained. Kal immediately said he would work it out and the men came back on Saturday to get us some form of AC working. So that is the only thing that went wrong, but they did rectify it. I would NOT recommend having any work started on a Friday, though. In the end, the work had to stretch out over 4-5 days because men called in sick, or there were other jobs that went longer than expected, etc., which got very tiring, but at the same time we wanted the work to be done properly. They were open to hearing what we said and fixed things that we noticed weren't quite right, which did cause the job to stretch on longer than expected (i.e., a duct became disconnected and all of the cool air was venting into our attic, for example, and we wanted a return filter facing a different direction for cosmetic reasons). I do wish the work could have been done more quickly and in less small chunks, but Kal kept us updated with the times to expect them as the days went along, so at least we did have good communication and knew what to expect the day of. Ultimately, the job was a big one given the age of our home and wonky ductwork, and things didn't go quite as smoothly as promised, but in the end it was done well and that is what matters. I do feel like the time of year (i.e., extreme heat) impacted their work significantly, so if I were to do it again I would probably get the work completed in the Spring or Fall. But all in all, we felt we received great customer service. We are happy with the difference in our home re: heating and cooling. It is also QUIET and our bills are cheaper. We will be using them for maintenance service as well since they installed the unit.

Kal was very patient will all my questions, and walked me through the process and showed me what would be done.

Immediately after the new Lennox heat pump was installed, insulation began blowing out of the vents. Not just a small amount either, but enough that one of the bedrooms upstairs was covered an inch deep in insulation. When my daugher called, instead of coming out to fix the problem, Fire & Ice installation person Kal Davidson told her to cover the vent covers with cheese cloth. The insulation continued to blow for 8 months. The ductwork was not installed properly (should have put vents on exterior walls in this older home)instead using the old ductwork from a 25+ year old A/C system. *The former heat was produced by oil furnace/radiant heat. I came back to Virginia from Colorado to meet with the company to get the situation resolved and they informed me that new venting was not needed (as he later told the owners - "she doesn't know what she's talking about - exterior wall vents is a Colorado thing") but if we insisted, it would cost us an additional $700. They also had installed a control panel that had been discontinued and was not working either (we were told that by the installer who actually put it in). This had to be replaced and I asked the installer if he knew it had been discontinued why he installed it in the first place - no response. I finally agreed to pay the additional money to get the job completed (after 9 months of their stalling and excuses) They were to add an additional air intake vent, two heat vents and move others to more efficient locations. I had to go back to Colorado so I was not present when they came to complete the work. But I have pictures of the complete MESS they made of the job and the house and the system is NOT working properly. When the final payment of $453 was withheld becaue they had not completed the work as agreed, they threatened my daughter with a lien against the house, even though she told them the work had not been completed, the intake vent wasn't working, the heat was 19 degrees lower in the first level of the home than the second and the heat pump was now making horrible noises while NOT heating. They did NOT care. They demanded the money - so she paid them to protect her credit, writing on the check that the work was STILL not done. The installer was not certified by the state and lied to both the owners (who know absolutely NOTHING about heating/cooling business) and have not educated themselves about their own company. My daughter is now having to use space heaters to keep warm. This company is irresponsible, unprofessional and untrained. Do NOT use them! Their only interest is in collecting the money and if you have a problem, you are on your own. We have filed a complaint with the BBB and the Virginia Board of Contractors as well. Disgracefully incompetent.

This entire project went smoothly, and I couldn't have asked for more. The company offered a competitive and fair quote, was responsive with communication and paperwork, and completed the work on time and as promised. The installers were extremely courteous and professional. They went above and beyond in fixing a few other problems identified during installation. I could tell that they pride themselves on offering strong customer service and ensuring that the client is happy at the end of the day. I plan to use them for future HVAC needs and would strongly recommend them when trustworthiness and integrity matter.

Over all, every aspect of the sale and installation were excellent. Fire and Ice have closely monitored the aforementioned compressor noise. They have consulted with the Bryant engineers on the source of the noise. The source cannot be isolated to a specific cause so Fire and Ice has decided to replace the outside unit in total. The system when operating should make essentially no noise from the outside unit, mine was making a low vibration sound that was still much quieter than my old system. Fire and Ice has been judicious in the monitoring of the new system and had themselves recommended a replacement. The replacement system should be in before winter. This new system basically will heat via heat pump, really heat, down into the low teens before it requires supplemental heat from the gas furnace. The thermostat is the heart of the system it will keep the temperature within about a tenth of a degree of the set temperature. The thermostat takes in the existing humidity, outside air temperature and air pressure to determine the system operation. The house temperature thus far has been much more stable than with the previous system and the new system doesn't seem to operate as long or hard as the old one. My wife and I are extremely happy with the new system and the professional service provided by fire and Ice. They are an excellent company to do business with. We have worked with Brennan's and CFS in the past for a number of years and Fire and Ice provides far better support.

It was a great experience. I spoke with Kali several times on the phone and sent him an estimate from another company detailing the problem. The other company (Kropp Metcalf) gave me a $1,500 estimate and said it would take 8 hours to complete. Fire & Ice HVAC (Kali) fixed it in 2 hours and charged me $500. Enough said!

It was great. There was no charge because it was under warranty. The technicians knew exactly what they were doing. It was very prompt and courteous service. They were right there and they were on time. I will absolutely use them again.

On Friday evening, I came home to find that my A/C unit had stopped cooling. It took a few hours to realize that the outside motor was not working. I put in a call to my Homeowner's warranty service and then the Derecho of 2012 hit. So, not having A/C with my dad and two year old in the house was not the priority come Saturday morning. We spent the day at the mall and when we came home the power was back and the house was still a balmy 85+ degrees...the thermostat tops out at 85. The contractor still had not called to set up an appointment so I started checking online for options. Then I remembered my Angie's list membership, logged on and ran a search. I picked Fire & Ice out of the list and gave them a call. It was at least 9pm when I left a message and their office called back within an hour to set up a time to come out the next day, Sunday. Kal came by on Saturday, within the range given and went right to work. It took him no time to figure out the problem, explain to me what the solution is and got it done. He also explained what my options were and made recommendations. Even though we have a bandaid solution and I'll have to afford a new HVAC, the unit is working great. When I'm ready to replace the unit, I will be calling Fire and Ice.

It went very well. We will be using them again.

My heating system was old and not functioning properly. I decided that I should replace it before winter. I contacted Fire and Ice at the advise of a friend. They came out and checked out the system that I currently had. The made recommendations about what system would work for me, gave me a quote for the replacement cost. They returned 3 days later and replaced the unit.

My furnance wasn't heating properly. I contacted Fire and Ice.The rep stated he would have someone to my house in the AM. Sure enought, the repairman arrived as stated. He diagnosed the heating issue and repaired the issue.