Aquaviva Plumbing & Heating

We had AC problem so we called Mike. He sent a guy name Edwin or whatever, the guy said we had a leak so the refrigerant was leaking plus fan motor was not working. He charged us $1300 for the repair and refilling the refrigerant. 3.5 months later we had the same issue again. This time we had another company take a look, and they said we had NO REFRIGERANT in our AC unit that Mike's company had supposedly repaired. We contacted Mike to see if he'll own his work and repair the problem since it was not done properly yet charged us over a thousand dollars. Him being typical,in summary, said it's another problem, will not do anything and told us we just want free work. BE AWARE: this guy DOES NOT take responsibility for his work nor his words!

The work was good and the price was all right. I wouldn't' recommend him because it took too long. I wouldn't hire him for any other work. The price was reasonable. He didn't discuss anything. I reviewed him on the internet and it showed good. It was very freezing cold. He was not responsive like another company. I'm not happy. He started the work at 9 am and finished at 11 am. It was a big project and he finished in a couple of hours. He should have spent more time. He didn't explain to me what he was doing. I had to call him back in a couple of days. The inspector hasn't come and I wonder how much they will pick up. If it passes inspection, I would be very happy. He was always delaying and postponing. Everything was abrupt.

This is a follow-up to work done on 3/18/12. It's been getting cold lately so I've had to use my boiler which was installed. So I noticed several rooms in my house were not getting heated. So I went out and replaced all the air valves (even the one Main Vents valves) . With no avail, the rooms were still not getting heated. I called a licensed plumber, and he infomred that the piping was not done correctly. It was barely done good enough to get by but that I would always hear the clanking everytime the boiler starts because the return were not installed properly. But most importantly, the boiler was undersized. I had a 160 btu unit before and Mike Installed a 150btu unit. Initially I had asked why he would install a smaller unit, and he said the new ones are more powerful than the older ones. Anyways, I didn't know any better. He said the next size up would be $500 more but that I really didn't need it.

So far as we can see he did a perfectly good job. Their price was very good.

Summary: Buyer beware with this guy. Make sure permits are received before work starts. Make sure you don't pay until all permits and inspections pass township approval. Ask Mike what exactly is he going to do and how before they start. He likes to cut corners. Details: I wanted to replace my furnace and water heater because they were old. They were in working condition but I wanted to be proactive and change them out. I had Michael Lopez from Aqua Viva Plumbing come out and he gave me a quote to replace both. It was an average quote. He stated he would get me a 50 gal Rheem water heater - shorter and wider one (which would he would put on blocks). And then he would replace my existing Peerless furnace (that was over 35 years old and still working) with a "Williamson" by Weil McClain. Now, since I don't know much about furnaces I thought I was getting a Weil McClain and the model of the furnace was Williamson. On installation day (now mind you the install date was delayed about a week) they were late. They said they would be there by 8:30 and showed up closer to 10... Mike's favorite thing is I'll get there tomorrow or 2 days from today. They were only able to do the water heater. They installed an AO Smith (the taller one) and they didn't put it on blocks as he mentioned he would. What bothered me the most was that no apology or acknowledgement was made of the change to the agreement. I had to bring it up to him. He was so proud to show me how they made the connections and how he connected the ground wires. When I looked at the installation I noticed the copper fitting were stripped. They used a plumbing wrench and stripped the copper connector. No apology for that. (Pictures will be attached). While his helper was installing the water heater I asked Mike to get a permit and he sort of blew me off.. I'll get it don't worry. Mind you he wasn't doing much than just watching his helper do all the work. He could have gone to Borough Hall which is 3 blocks away to get the permit. The following day, they came back with the furnace. They were late. I saw the furnace box and it was a Williamson furnace. Not a Weil McClain. I told them, this is not a Weil McClain. They told me it was the same thing. That Weil McClain bought out Williamson and they are the same. Just like a Honda and a Acura.. Same company. Same car. So right there I knew I was getting the shaft. So I gave them the benefit of the doubt. My original furnace had 2 pipes from the furnace feeding my steam system. I saw they were installing the new furnace with only a single pipe. I immediately brought this up to the helper and he said this is the new way they do it since the new furnace is more efficient. What do I know.. I said Ok but I still had my doubts. In my mind more pipes = more steam flow = heat up house faster. After a few hours I went back down and then I saw the copper connectors on the new furnace was stripped as well. Really sloppy work. (Picture will be attached). When everything was connected, and we turned on the furnace the heat was not being distributed evenly. Mike said it was because the radiator valves had to be adjusted. But wait.. it was working just fine before the new furnace. He said he would come back the next day to adjust the valves. I told him I wanted to have 2 pipes going from the furnace to the pipes as it was originally. He said it wasn't necessary. It was a valve adjustment issue. I couldn't sleep that night. I knew that Michael was trying to get over on me. I called him in the am and told him I wanted him to install it with 2 pipes (parallel flow). He said no. He would tee off the existing connection. It would be the same thing. I told him NO!!! Please install as before. He said he couldn't because that would void the warranty. That if he did that the Williamson warranty would be invalid. I told him he was full of it. I asked him to show me where it says that the 2 pipe install would void the warranty and he had the balls to say, show me where it says that it won't. This guy is a piece of work. Now, the furnace came with 2 holes to have 2 pipes come out of the furnace. It would support parallel flow. He was just too lazy to do it right the first time and when I called him out on his workmanship and set-up he wouldn't do it right. Just trying to snow me. After the install, I told him what about the permits? He said he would get to it. I had to call the town to see what the procedures were and they said the job should not have started without a permit. Unless it was an emergency. This wasn't an emergency. I told them that and then I told Mike. He finally went to town hall and got the permit. I had to follow up with him to put the permit in. It's like babysitting. On inspection day, the plumbing piece passed inspection but the electrical didn't because 2 reasons: 1) he didn't have an licensed electrician sign the permit. 2) he used the incorrect grounding wire on the water heater. (Mind you he was so proud of this grounding wire). He told me “Well maybe it's not the right one but I've been doing it like this for a very long time and it passes in other towns. I have a very large reel of this cable that I always use". Then he gets all serious and says, I guess I have to get a licensed electrician and pay him. And then he looks at me like I was going to say" No Mike. I’ll take care of it.. You haven't shafted me enough..." It's been over a month now I'm still waiting for him to put in the electrical permit and replace the grounding wire. Every time I reach out to him he say he'll do it tomorrow or in a few days. I'm fed up with this guy and I just want to warn every one of his shady work ethics. Shady..Shady... Stay away....