OT - importance of home service calls

[Amberle3]

Just thought I'd post this here as a message/lesson to others.

Yesterday I decided it was time to have our air conditioner checked out and ready for the summer season. The heating/cooling/plumbing company we use has an online request form - filled it out, had a call 10 minutes later and the service guy was here by 9am today.

A short while ago he called me into the utility room and told me that I have a gas leak. "Just a little one". No wonder I've been feeling kinda crappy lately (fatigued and headachy).

We had planned on getting the furnace replaced in the fall, I guess we're doing it now instead.

We have the furnace checked every fall, and it was fine the last time it was checked. Just old. The service guy says that it probably hasn't been leaking for all that long.

So if you've been feeling a little "under the weather" for a while and have an older furnace, think about getting it checked out.

 

[cabmom]

I can totally relate to this. We had an oil furnace and converted to gas last June. What a difference it made in our bill alone for heating.

Just a word of caution! I would have a couple of different service companies come in and check it out. There was a news type show that did research on air conditioning companies that would tell you, you had problems that weren't really there. Buyer Beware!

 

[Amberle3]

Oh I quite believe it. We've been using this company for almost 2 years now, and have been quite satisfied with them. We had been using a different company, but they were bought out by a larger big-name company and the service level went down the toilet. I mean seriously bad. It was so bad that despite the fact that we had a prepaid service agreement with them we ditched them and found our current company.

I have no doubt that the furnace is leaking or needs replacement. The house was built in the 40's and this is apparently still the original furnace! We bought the house about 10 years ago, and knew then that it was going to need replacing sooner or later. I'm surprised that it's lasted this long. The thing is huge, and frankly I'm looking forward to reclaiming some of the space it's taking up.

I was just kind of hoping it would hold out long enough that we could replace it BEFORE it started falling apart on us.