Furnace Repair & Service

The installation did not go smoothly; it took four visits by the technician. The contract called for the installation of a "sealed filter cabinet" and the technician installed no cabinet, merely a slot in the return air plenum which the air filter slid into. A technician returned and installed a filter cabinet, but it was too tall, so the technician placed two 2 by 4s to raise the furnace. This made the supply air plenum touch some cold water pipes. The technician was not able to understand the manual to set the DIP switches for the fan airflow, but I was able to assist him. The building inspector failed the installation, because of problems with the flue brackets and the supply air vent. A technician came back to fix those problems, and also switched the filter cabinet to the other side, which allowed the furnace to drop down the so the water pipe was not touching the plenum. To avoid having to install new wiring and piping to the condensate pump, the technician installed the pump about 6 inches above the floor, hanging off the side of the furnace by a couple of sheet metal screws. Having seen so many problems, I checked the installation carefully, and found that the hole from the knock\-out for the condensate pipe had not been filled in when the filter cabinet was move from one side to the other, so combustion gases could leak into the fan compartment. I also noticed that there was no gasket on the condensate pipe, and that there was no bushing on the knockout where the 110 volt wires entered the furnace (which would have allowed the sharp metal edge to cut into the insulation on the wiring). It would have been a comedy of errors if it had been amusing. Finally, the installation was to the inspector's satisfaction, and to mine. But it was not a happy experience; I was very disappointed.