AUTOMATIC COMFORT SYSTEMS

I didn't know I needed a part replaced. Hopefully my cooling costs will reduce this summer.

unknown

Excellent advice. Price-checked them with some retired a/c guys I know and discovered they were a bargain.   They scheduled and completed the job very quickly.

In my first season with the boiler in my new home, I found that the pilot light was going out about every two weeks. John and Matt worked with me to resolve the problem. They first tried the more common (and cheaper) solutions, making adjustments and replacing the thermocouple. Matt taught me how to relight the pilot when it goes out and told me that if the cheaper options did not work, a new gas valve might be needed. I was skeptical since it appeared that the boiler had a fairly new gas valve, but he explained that it might need a different kind of gas valve. He explained that some boilers need a "step opening" valve that lets a smaller amount of gas through at first and then opens fully. A valve that opens fully right away might occasionally blow out the pilot light. This certainly sounded like the situation I was encountering. We continued to monitor the situation. They also noted that pilot burner was not the right one for this type of boiler, which could also contribute to the problem. When the pilot light went out again, I agreed to have both the gas valve and the pilot burner replaced as we had been discussing. The pilot light has not gone out since and the boiler has continued to work properly (almost two months later). Although it took several service calls, I found that these two did meticulous work and explained their reasoning carefully in terms I could understand. They took care to recommend expensive repairs only when necessary.

I called Automatic Comfort Systems for a second opinion and estimate after another HVAC company (see my other reports on Angie?s List) had concluded that my boiler was not safe to operate due to carbon monoxide and recommended that a furnace system be installed instead. John, the owner, came out to provide a furnace estimate the same day that I called. However, upon learning about the carbon monoxide situation, he commented that IF there was such a carbon monoxide problem, the cause was dirty burners in the boiler. Thus, the burners simply needed to be cleaned, although he advised that it might take up to two hours to do this properly. I called his office immediately for a tune-up appointment. This was their busy time, and they could not fit me in for about two weeks. For the tune-up appointment, the technician Matt came out, started my boiler, and checked for carbon monoxide (none found). I noticed that he was equipped with brushes of different sizes. He turned the boiler off and proceeded to take the boiler apart, including removing the burners for cleaning. At one point he proudly showed me some of the soot that he was brushing out of a part of the boiler somewhere above where the burners had been. He also noticed that the burners had been installed backward (apparently this is difficult to detect). Once he called John to verify and get some extra information about how to proceed with part of the job. He put the boiler back together, started it up again, and checked for carbon monoxide a second time (none found). Before he left, he also installed a missing drop tube on the temperature relief valve at my request.

This contractor has done several jobs for my clients and is my first choice for my own home. I couldn't ask for a better company.

John, the owner, is a straightforward guy with good ideas for how to trim costs without sacrificing performance. Everyone in this outfit, from the office staff to the installers, are friendly and professional. The work was just completed today, so it's too early to judge the reliability of the workmanship, but we felt very comfortable placing what was for us a HUGE chunk of money into the hands of this company.