So a few weeks ago our furnace goes off on safety.....I hit the reset, it fires up and good to go! Now we have not had it serviced since we bought the house 4 years ago and I am talking a complete maintenance! I have changed the filter, strainer and nozzle regularly but we needed a complete service so I find a company on Yellow pages.com and the ad reads "Licensed and Insured"......looks reputable?? Or so I thought??? I had made an appointment for this past Monday afternoon. As luck would have it Monday morning the furnace shuts down again so I figure....what luck the guy is coming today anyway so we are all set! The guy shows up and immediately I am suspicious....young guy, truck is not marked......I think maybe check for his oil burner license but I (stupidly) give him the benefit of the doubt and he starts the service! So I am across the basement keeping an eye on him for the first sign of trouble. I say to him....."You are going to change the nozzle, pump strainer and the tank filter right?"......he says....."oh we don't do the nozzle and the strainer"????? Meanwhile he is changing the oil filter (or so I thought) so I walk over to the tank and see that he has taken off my brand new B-4 filter unit and replaced it with a %$%$%$%$ty General model????? I say to him....."that B-4 was brand new and it only needed a new filter....I want that one put back on!!!" I continue on by saying..."Your boss is charging me $225 for a complete service, vac the chamber, clean the heat exchange and flu pipe, nozzle, strainer and filter change......thats alot of money condidering you are not doing anything? Are you licensed to work on furnaces?" He replies...."Yup!"....."Oh...no but I am a licensed plumber!"
I reply....."Do me a favor......pack up your crap (insert different word) and get the @#$% out of here and tell your F'in boss if he has a problem to give me a call!!!!" So the kid splits and its about 4:00 and I still have no heat so I run to the supply store for a filter, nozzle and strainer and there happens to be a guy there who is licensed and comes recommended by the heating supply shop (I know them there as I bought all my stock from them for 10 years) so I figure....ok and he agrees to follow me to my house and take care of it! He sets ahead to finish the job, goes to fire up the furnace and it is smoking like a bastard!!! The idiot had cycled so much oil into the chamber by repeatedly hitting the reset button that it was smouldering and it was saturated with oil!!!!
So he has to open it up, pull the chamber out and inspect to find it is just that...soaked with oil so we decide to be safe we should buy a new combustion chamber for $300 and clean the oil out of the rest of the lining and such....so its 9:00pm and we have to wait until morning to pick up a new chamber. I ask the guy to call me first thing in the am and let me know that he got one? So I am waiting....waiting....10:00am no call so I call him! He says he is on his way and will be there in about an hour and a half! Fair enough see you then! 12:30..........1:00.......1:30....still no show so he finally calls at 2:00!!! He says "Oh I got a no-heat call and my girlfriend had a car accident and blah, blah, blah (I think oh here we go with the lame excuses like many service men do when they are behind the 8 ball and can't just give you the straight poop!). So he says....."I am on my way there right now"......I am thinking "ok.....see you in a few"! 2:30.......3:00..........4:00............4:45..... ...I am pissed off!!!! I call him and I say "Whats up?".....he says "I am just entering Hanover I will be there shortly".......5:00...........5:30......(now Hanover does not take 45 minutes to cross)........6:00............6:15 he gets there and I am ready to tear him a new a$$ and send him on his way and he is all apologies and such and I ask him...."Did you pick up a new combustion chamber?"..........he says....."I couldn't find one as they will take a few days to order and have delivered but we will just clean everything out and burn the oil from the chamber with a piece of lit paper" (its a trick to eliminate some of the saturation without having a fire in the furnace and minimize any risk of such). :OK...good enough I say lets do it...saves me $300 then lets do it!" Well......we remove the chamber fire it outside and as we are bringing it back in.....it crumbles into a half dozen pieces!!!!!
By this time I am fit to be friggin tied....its 8:30 pm and still no heat, its 10 degrees outside and we are faced with trying to scare up a new chamber or have one overnighted if need be to put it in on Christmas Eve day....and we have family coming that night for a party!!!!
Continued below!
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