September 16, 2010

Dear Jerre and Associates,

I wanted to take this time to let you know how pleased Jim and I are with the commitment that you and Earthlinked have made to correct and properly reinstall our Geothermal system.

The dedication and time commitment that was made by both Jim and Harry while working on the system was nothing less the superior. Jim having to be away from his family shows dedication to us and we truly appreciate the time he spent in Pennsylvania. 

The system is working perfectly, as we have actually had the opportunity to run both cooling and heating in the past 2 and half weeks. We believe that it is running quieter then before.

If testimonials are ever needed by a customer you can certainly contact us.

Kind regards,

Jim and Mary Jane

Stephen Kessler
1247 Old Ford Rd
Huntingdon Valley Pa 19006

Replaced outside compressor for Earthlinked Geothermal HVAC units, extensive reprogramming of indoor unit in attic and replacement of existing thermostats with programmable units tied into existing oil heat emergency backup.

This is the story of a remarkable contractor. If you can't read the whole thing, the summary is: use this guy!!

In 2004 I replaced my existing central air with an Earthlinked Geothermal Unit for $22,000 including drilling for the ground loops, compressor and new air handler in the attic. The install was done by Hoffman Mechanical out of Mechanicsburg, Pa. I installed it as I anticipated the price of fuel oil going way up and wanted to be ahead of the game ( and be a bit environmentally conscious). It provided air conditioning more efficiently than my central air and provided heat in winter using no fuel oil. The system worked well for about 4 years.

In 2009 I began experiencing a lack of cool air and began adding Freon about every 6 months. Eventually my local HVAC Company told me it was leaking too much and that the problem was a compression fitting that needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, no shut off valves had been installed around the fitting, so the entire ground loop had to be evacuated, the fitting changed and 42 pounds of new freon replaced - all at a cost of about $2,200.  About 1 month later the system stopped working altogether - the compressor would not start.

My local company was not Earth Link certified and did not feel they could work on it. I went onto Earthlinked's site and left some voice messages for the regional sales manager with no response, so I looked up a local contractor on their web site and found Harry Morgan of Comfort Tech Heating and Air Conditioning in Wyomissing, Pa. (About 1 hour away from me).  I called Harry and got him on the first call.  I explained the problem and made an appointment for him to come down to check out the problem. Even though he was coming from far away, the appointment was within about 1 week and worked around my schedule.

When he came down, it didn't take long for him to figure out the compressor had burned out. This was unusual, he said, and he could only speculate that water had gotten into the unit during the previous work. At no time did I feel he was scamming me. He discussed the various options, sought out new and used replacement compressors, gave me a range of prices and explained the work required. After doing some research on my own and calling other contractors and even Earthlinked, it turned out that replacing the compressor -which was 6 months out of warrantee- would be around $6,000 but replacing the entire unit (which now includes isolation valves so that if any part needs repair the entire Freon charge does not have to be replaced!) would cost about $10,000 but come with 1) a new 5 year warrantee and 2) a $3,000 federal tax credit!

As, I am in the 30% tax bracket, the tax credit offsets about ....wait for it...$10,000 of income!! It took several weeks for the new unit to be shipped to Comfort Tech. He came down a day or 2 later and spent the entire day installing the unit which worked fine. Harry also told me that as I was using it for both heating and cooling I could qualify for the electric heating rate from my local utility which will save significantly on my electric bill.

Now comes the part that, though frustrating, really makes this contractor stand out from the rest. After a few days, the unit began to stop cooling. Over the phone, Harry talked me through some diagnostics and we determined the hi-pressure switch within the unit was repeated tripping and shutting the unit down. Harry said he would come down and fix it. He came down a day or two later, spent all day adjusting the pressures and it was working. Unfortunately, the same thing started happening the next day. Over the next 3 weeks or so Harry made 4 round trips from his home and spent 4-6 hours each time working on the system ALL WITH NO CHARGE. He said "I told you I would get it working and I will.”

At this point you might say maybe he screwed up the install and felt obligated to get it working. Not the case here! He began backtracking the pressures and electrical connections from the unit up into the attic. There we found (I spent some time with him) Hoffman Mechanical had done the most Rube Goldberg mess of an install possible - jumping some connections and not using the factory directing wiring diagram at all. Diagnosing and fixing the problem involved, replacing control boxes, the chip in the air handler (which burned out when the control box was wired correctly for the first time) and hours and hours of time in the hot attic. In addition, fresh wiring was run from the unit outside to the unit inside. The only charge during all this time was $169 which was Harry's cost for the new control unit in the attic.

Throughout the process Harry was polite, focused and systematic about finding the problem. Several times after thinking we had worked it out, Harry called the next day to see if the unit was operating well. The last trip he brought with him the design engineer from Earthlinked to explain the problem he had fixed and recheck all the system pressures, program the thermostats and recheck the emergency back-up heat. This trip also was at no charge to me. It is a real pleasure to be able to recommend Harry Morgan and Comfort Tech Heating and Air Conditioning on Angie's List. I think contractors with integrity are special finds. At no time did Harry make me feel as though I was pestering him or a nuisance just because my problem was difficult and recurring. I would absolutely recommend him for large HVAC jobs or smaller ones. Please note: there is a website named Comfort Tech but this is NOT his. Forget the name - it's Harry Morgan you want. He is the company.