Sila Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electrical

They did the tune up on the furnace. I had 7 zones in my home and as soon as the employee showed up, he mentioned that he was not going to do all the zones and only clean the heating unit. He gave me feedback and told me that it was already pretty clean. He then left the door off from the heating unit and he didn’t check or test any of the zones. I had a boiler right next to the furnace and he did not check that either; two months after he left, the boiler leaked all over the basement - he should have caught the rusted part on the boiler and that would have prevented the leak.

At 10AM on a Saturday on a 90 deg day in July I called Sila, among others, desperate for someone to fix my broken AC. At 10:30 they called back and by 12:30 PM the unit was working again. John, the serviceman, was courteous, explained everything he did and worked quickly. He even wore booties on his shoes to keep my floor clean! I really couldn't have asked for anything more.

The replacement components were installed successfully and tested in one day, making the system available during hot July weather when we needed it. The prior installation was a UNICO system sold by Alliance of Boston in 2006. The system ran fairly well for about 5 years, however, in 2011, the condensate drain line which was incorrectly installed, froze, leaking onto a bedroom ceiling. This was replaced with a shorter and properly pitched drain by Kerivan-Lane. Annual maintenance by SILA was begun in May of 2012, and ran successfully for that summer. In 2013, the unit was not performing on startup. Repairs by SILA required replacing the condenser fan motor, dual capacitors, start kit/relay and refurbishing the condensate trap with flood protection in the attic. The brazing of a leak on the high side connection to the compressor, nitrogen test, evacuation to 500 microns, and recharge with R-22 refrigerant cost $1934. Startup checks by SILA in June of 2014 revealed the refrigerant had leaked out to 3-4 lb out of 10 lb required. Availability of R-22 was extremely limited. SILA recommended a newer system based on R-410, available, and less costly. Their recommendation was accepted and the new components installed 7/7/2014. It has been running satisfactorily since.

I had a number of questions for Craig as I wasn't happy with the initial installment (by another company) and really unhappy with the with follow up services. Craig was the opposite. He was polite and new his stuff and gave me great advice. We will continue to use Sila.

See above I am not sure why sila receives such good reviews here but maybe the work performed was for routine issues or installing new and costly systems when it was required. I do not recommend that you contact this company unless you have a very common and obvious " vanilla" problem They are probably fine for those situations based on other reviews I was very discouraged and frustrated by my experience with sila

1. The dispatcher simply gave us the standard service charges (which were already on the high end) and did not explain that there is a different change for an annual AC maintenance service call. 2. The service man just checked the freon levels which were low and without doing anything else recommended we replace the entire indoor/outdoor units. He stated that the unit is too old (It is an old unit.) and the R22 freon replacement costs to be too high to do anything else. He ball parked this job to be a minimum $10k. He made it sound like the R22 freon to be really scarce and we needed to change to a newer system. 3. We called another repair service who re-charged the system with R22 freon along with a sealant which may get us another year without replacing the whole system. 4. The second repair man said we can replace the indoor OR the outdoor component. He said that there are still options with the R22 refrigerant. All in all, the Sila guy seems to be not forthcoming re: my options. Will not be calling the company again.

Sila installed a high velocity mini duct system in my home. I chose them after speaking with friends and neighbors and reading reviews online. From my very first call they were very professional. They were on time for all appointments. From start to finish the work was completed in four days, with minimal disruption in the house. All of the workmen were extremely neat and courteous. The system is working great and I would highly recommend Sila.

They were very good, the service and pretty much everything. I had no complaints. I think the price was okay. I'm very happy with them.

Everyone I spoke to at Sila was pleasant and professional. The technician who did the install could not have been better -- fast, efficient, friendly. The disappointing part was that we were responding to an Angie's List coupon offer of $779, which supposedly included installatoin. But when a Sila guy checked our water heater after we purchased the deal, we were told that our installation was "nonstandard." It looked like any other water heater hookup to me (though I'm no expert). Anyway that pushed the price up close to $1100. We wouldn't have signed up for the the coupon deal if we'd known the installation wasn't really included. For what it's worth, here's something else we learned about replacing a water heater: If you buy a water heater from Home Depot or the like with the intention of hiring a plumber to install it, you'll be hard pressed to find a plumber who'll agree to the job. Six or eight plumbers said no, they only install this or that brand and you have to buy it from them. We ended up returning the unit to Home Depot and starting from scratch.

I purchased the water heater. When they came out, they couldn’t do the work because I lived in a town home and there were a lot of issues. It wasn’t the right size water heater and other issues. They were fabulous and very honest about that. They were very accommodating to my schedule and good with phone calls. They offered to use the money towards something else, but I had it refunded. I had done another deal with them previously where they cleaned my water heater and fixed a toilet and they were great, showed up on time, and followed up. They have always been easy to work with.

When I called because my AC was not working they were polite and quick on the phone. They were able to get someone out to my house that afternoon which was great because it is summer. I was worried about the fee to have them out and then a cost for each additional 30 min, but the guy was able to figure it out in about 10 min. It turns out I likely need a new system. Someone separate from the sales department had to come out to give me a quote on that. He called at first and asked if he could come earlier, when I explained I was busy he sighed and said he would have to cancel his dentist appointment.... While fine, he was not much more professional than that when at my house. Not a big deal, but there are a lot of companies in the area and I can probably find someone a little more professional. Or a company with fewer parts.

I scheduled routine HVAC maintenance. They gave me a three hour window (9-12). A little after 12 I got a call and was told the technician would arrive "no later than 12:45." At 1:15 they called and said he'd arrive within a half an hour. Apparently he'd run into some air conditioners that weren't working properly -- which, if I were an HVAC company and it's June, I might actually expect. At 2 I called and was told the technician was just about to leave from another location. I asked for a discount, and the manager said he could take off $20, which would have put it at $149. I said if he could cut it down to $100 I'd do it, but he then said he wasn't authorized to make discounts. Interesting. I'm not sure why these folks have such good reviews, but I've also never actually seen them do any work. Maybe if they bother to show up they can be competent, despite charging more than just about anybody, but I suspect the good reviews here have made them complacent. I'd highly suggest going with a more reliable company. Do not waste your time with these fools.

Came home to a flooded basement from a leaking water heater at the end of its life. I started researching tankless water heaters online, thinking maybe that would spare us from future floods, but didn't have time to do that much research. Called Silas among other places, and they are the only place where someone always answers the phone, so that was a plus. I asked about tankless and they said, for a charge, they could send someone out to look to see if it made sense. I asked to speak with someone first about it on the phone, to avoid paying someone $150 just to tell me "because you have such-and-such a kind of house, tankless is not going to work", and they said someone would call back in the next day or 2. Later I became worried that after shutting off the water supply, maybe the gas or electric heating elements might make the system unsafe. One of the smaller company plumbers (who answered his cell on vacation), took the time to tell me to turn off a switch on the front of the system. But when I couldn't find a switch, I figured I should get someone to come immediately to make the system safe. So I called Sila back, knowing I would get someone, and explained I wanted to make sure the system was safe in the short run while I researched options for what type of water heater to buy next. They didn't offer to help me over the phone, but said they would just send a guy out in a few hours, at something like $90 for the first 15 minutes and then $180/hr beyond that (I could be off by a few dollars, but that's the ballpark). I assumed there was a serious safety issue that would justify the expense, that I couldn't handle myself. John came (he had helped us before with a furnace issue), and just unplugged the water heater from the electrical outlet! That's all that was necessary for the system to become safe. Now why someone at Sila couldn't have taken 2 seconds on the phone to tell me that is beyond me. To have them come and pull a plug out of an outlet cost $134. John is clearly very smart, sophisticated, and detailed in his understanding of these systems, yet he struggles to explain the big picture pros and cons without going into a level of detail that you'd need an advanced degree to understand. Both times he came to the house, he looked at the problem and started by saying "well if the homeowner had only done x, y, or z, you wouldn't be in this situation". That, combined with having Sila's quotes for everything sound so suspiciously high, made it hard to trust that the recommendations were balanced and not over the top. He kept arguing that a heat-pump exchanging water heater (HPWH) was optimal for efficiency and that he and all his friends have one, that it's the future of water heating, but neglected to tell me until the last minute that here would be additional electrical work required, for which someone else would have to come give me an estimate, and for which it would add $200-$1000 most likely. Ultimately, he left me an estimate for a 50-gallon Bradford-White hot water heater with a floodmaster device, for $3450 installed. Luckily I reached another local plumber (see my reviews), who was much more balanced in his approach, and showed up the next morning. He installed a 50-gallon Bradford-White water heater with a flood master for $2000. So by not going with Sila, I saved $1450, for the same product and I assume the same service (it's a standard heater with standard setup). I only wish I had thought twice before letting Sila come to my house and charge $134 for pulling out a plug and giving me advice I couldn't understand!

Cleaning went as usual burner worked well all winter. Thing that turned me off was the price of the service and the hard up sell on a replacing a pump that really wasn't needed. They know what they are doing but next time I'll shop around.

the plumber was very professional in his attitude and approach to the work. He performed some minor tuning, gave me a few tips on things to watch for, and pronounced the system in good condition. Did not try to sell me extra work that was apparently not needed.

I hired Sila via a coupon to come out and inspect my central air conditioning system. Having just purchased the house I was fairly certain that the ac unit was dead. And it was. But I was very impressed with the technician from Sila and how much effort he put in to trying to get it working even though we both knew it was a lost cause. In fact I was so impressed that I had them give me a proposal for a new AC unit and matching furnace. Sila is a very well run professional company who I would not hesitate to do business with in the future.

Service was completed as expected

Scheduling much better than other providers where I would have had to wait weeks or another month for servicing. Flexible scheduling. Technician on time and informative. Would definitely use again.

Peter did a thorough job reviewing all of the AC components. He was able to explain what was going on in the various systems. Afterwards, he provided a list of issues thay may need to be addressed. i liked that he was not pressuring me into making changes that were not completely necessary at this time. Hence, I would call themagain.to do this service.

Good service, professional technician. Only negative is that there was some sort of mix-up with the assigned technician, running late on another job, and no one informed me that they would be sending someone else at a later time. I had to call to find this out. Other than that I would recommend them.

Sila came out a few hours after I called them, they updated me on the status of the repair person and they were able to ID and fix the issue within 20 minutes. The repair guy was great, very friendly and professional - top notch. What's not to like? Well, the 20-minute job cost 370 dollars. I did some quick google searches and the capacitor cost is about $25-50. I'm not going to complain (my 2nd and 3rd floor AC is now working) and overall I give them an A, but man, these guys must do some serious business. Would I use them again? Sure. But I may think twice about work I could do vs. work I want a pro out to handle.

Work was done on time, right to quote and they were very clean and courteous. Would highly recommended them.

Discovered A/C wasn't blowing though I could hear the condenser working on the first hot day this year. Called in the morning and they were extremely accommodating about sending someone at a time that was convenient to us. John arrived promptly at 4:00 PM and diagnosed the problem right away. Originally, he was going to come back but ended up picking up the parts that evening and completing the job. He just finished up at 8:00 pm and we are going to be able to sleep in a cool house that night.

There is a basic fee just to have the company come out and look at the furnace. After diagnosing the issue with the furnace (leaking condensation tray), and being charging for labor, we decided to just buy the part and replace it ourselves since it would have been another visit to get the part installed. It was an inexpensive part to buy, and there were instructions that came with the tray. It literally took 15 minutes to fix. I think it was still worth it to have the problem correctly diagnosed, but it would have been way more costly to have them come back out for another visit and replace the tray than to just order it ourselves and install it. We would have used another company (the one that installed the furnace), but because we didn't use their pricy "annual maintenance service," they wouldn't uphold the warranty on the furnace.

Prompt and attentive service. Would recommend using them again.