Barbara Y.
01/11/2014 12:00:00 SA
This company ran a condensate pipe across a dining room ceiling to an outside wall--totally against code. The furnace installation guide warns NOT to do this. You are never to run a condensation pipe into unconditioned space. Freezing pipes cause serious property damage. Condensate is supposed to be piped into the plumbing drain. They installed the HVAC and plumbing in my Highlands home during a total renovation by the prior owner. In January 2010, 2 days after I closed on my newly renovated home when the temperature dropped below freezing, there was a big leak in my new beautiful dining room. Onsite came out and corrected the installation (a $50 condensation pump kit was all that was needed to pipe the condensate into the plumbing drain), but they ignored my request to assume responsibility for the $1,600 in water damages to my dining room. (I had been told their work was warranted.) They ignored my 10 page letter, photos, and documentation of their error.
When I spoke to their office manager about the damage, she claimed that the remodelers ordered them to vent the pipe in that improper manner--an excuse that insults anyone's intelligence. The remodelers confirmed they did no such thing (they were relying on the plumbers to do their job properly), and a plumber is not allowed to violate codes just because an ignorant home owner told him to. But anyone with a basic knowledge of plumbing knows you don't vent a pipe with water in it to an outside hole, which will freeze, back up, and cause the homeowner great expense.
They also improperly hooked up the dishwasher, which they did come out to repair, but why do sloppy work to begin with? Then, 3 years into my new home, one of my kitchen sinks was leaking because the trap and underneath lines were not properly hooked up to the drain. I have done a lot of remodeling myself and have never had a sink start leaking within 3 years of installation. It was an easy fix, but another indication of sloppy initial work.