Northwest Hydronic Heating Inc

I initially called NW Hydronics on 7/29/13 and left a message that I was looking for an estimate on re-piping my home. (I have defective pipes, one of which has burst. Since this type of pipe has been recalled, I need to replace all of it. It's a big, hairy, expensive job. Ugh.) It took two days to hear back from anyone, but on 7/31 Jeff Thirloway called me. I described what my issue is and what I need done. I asked specifically if this was something that they do; he said something to the effect of and quot;Yeah, we've done a couple.and quot; There are many, MANY homes in my community that either need these recalled pipes removed, or that have had them removed, so I was trying to get a sense of if NW Hydronics had done any, and if they were, in fact, qualified for the job. Jeff seemed to indicate that they had, and so we went ahead and scheduled a time for him to come to my home to get the info he needed to work up an estimate. As further background, I have a hydronic heating system; the pipes that need to be replaced are for that system. NW Hydronic's website says that their and quot;specialties include installation, maintenance and repair for heating, hydronic systems, radiant heating and coolingand quot; among others. The website continues and quot;We do it all from initial conversions and designing, to complete retrofitting.and quot; I note this because clearly they claim to provide exactly the sort of service for exactly the kind of system I have. Jeff came to the house on 8/7; the appointment was at 4:30. My boyfriend was home, since I get off work at 4:30. I was home by 4:45, but Jeff had come and gone in that time. My boyfriend said he was only there for about 10 or 15 minutes. A rep from another company that had given me an estimate prior to this, had spent 30-40 minutes checking everything out. So Jeff's visit seemed somewhat perfunctory. And it didn't allow me the opportunity to ask him any questions such as what kind of pipe do you use, is there a warranty, etc. I waited to hear back from him, and finally I left him a voice mail 6 days later, on 8/13, asking when I might get his estimate. He didn't even have the courtesy to call me back, which, in this instance, would have been the prodessional thing to do. Instead, he emailed me that I should go with another company with more experience in this type of job. I have a couple of issues with this experience, the main one being that I tried to do the appropriate screening when I made my initial call, SPECIFICALLY asking if they'd done this before. And he said yes. So everything that happened afterward was a waste of my time. And the lack of follow up was pretty upsetting, given how urgent this issue is for me (my entire heating system is shut down right now); making me wait 6 days, and having to call him, just to have him say, in effect, and quot;not interestedand quot; just struck me as poor/unprofessional service.

Initial contact with one of the owners was good, the bid arrived quickly, the plan sensible for my small house and fairly priced. The contract stated that the boiler would be 96% AFUE which would qualify me for an $800 PSE credit. When I submitted the paperwork to PSE they rejected my application saying that the unit that was installed was only 91% efficient (and that is substantiated in large print on the side of the unit). I contacted the owner about this discrepancy, he spoke to the manufacturer, and they said there had been some changes in the unit and that between them, they would reimburse me for the $800 misrepresented. That was last fall and I haven't seen my money yet or heard from him. The first day of work, I was required to schedule both a plumber and an electrician at a particular time. They were both on time, but the NW Hydronics crew was just over an hour late with no phone calls to communicate that they were running late. I had to pay the electrician and plumber for standing around for an hour, but NW Hydronics was honorable and did reimburse me for that. After that first day, the crew was pretty punctual and great at communicating. Cris, the installer does excellent work and is a great guy. Any negatives in this review is directed at the management, not him or the actual system. The new system included a beautiful and SMALL boiler that heats my water on-demand and 4 beautiful European Buderus radiators on the main floor plus a thing called a Toester under the kitchen sink cabinet since there's no room in there for a radiator. The Toester is a small radiator with a fan and vent that heats at your feet. The radiators are wonderful and can be controlled individually and at the thermostat. The copper tubing work is beautiful and the whole thing is a work of art. It wasn't until September/October that I got to test drive the heating system. I've had a chance now to see the trend in my gas bills and they are significantly lower. I couldn't believe my last gas bill -- for Apr/May was $14!!! The one thing I wasn't expecting is the noise. Now, of course, my old 65% efficient gas octopus blowing dust all over the place was pretty noisy, but this is a different kind of noise I'm not used to of water gurgling through the radiators and the fan in the Toester is very noisy. I'm used to it now, but have to turn the system off at night so the gurgling and fan doesn't wake me up. The only thing I don't like about the on-demand water is the water that gets wasted waiting that half-minute for it to heat up. The farther away from the system, like in my bathroom, the longer it takes and can use a couple gallons waiting. All in all I love my new system and a beautiful job was done and I recommend this company with the advisory that communication with the management may be slow and you should research the AFUE of equipment on your contract if you're hoping for some kind of energy rebates or credit.

They were really efficient and their service was excellent. They called me back to schedule the appointment. The technician was clean, professional, and knowledgeable. He showed up on time and has great customer service.

Poorly. They wasted our time and now we're forced to find another repair service on short order.

There was no charge for the quote. He seemed to have a pretty profound understanding of the requirements for a radiant floor heating system. I'd say he was knowledgeable. I'd also say he is not very reliable so far, he does not respond to emails in a timely fashion - you can wait sometimes a week or two for answers. The same thing for voice mails. It takes a couple of days for him to come back and the quote he promised me for the following week I didn't get until I called him 2 weeks later and then a couple of days after that. I understand they are super busy but it did not leave a good impression with me.

The system is very energy efficient. They are very knowledgeable and don't overcharge. They make themselves available promptly for any sort of problem. I just think they are great. They come and go with some regularity. The first time I had them out was in 1994 or 1995. They do all my work for me. I will continue to use this company.

I've used them a number of times over the past 20 years. It went very well. They get back to me quickly and their quotes are always right on. They get the work done on time. They are very good. I would most definitely use them again.

They were very timely and they ran into a couple of unexpected issues with the house but resolved them quickly. They were pleasant people to work with. They came and did an annual cleaning. We were having some trouble with our thermostat but it turns out it was a user error, Jeff taught us how to program it for no additional charge.