Mountain Air Heating & Cooling

unknown

unknown

First of all, I believe the owner of this company wanted to do the right thing with regard to this project. Unfortunately, he did not have competent personnel to calculate the required load for the project and perform the installation. His technicians were unresponsive with regard to accomplishing the work on time and what orignially was supposed to have been completed in two weeks was stretched out over a much longer period. The following are issues that occurred during this project:
1) The required load for my home was underestimated by 2 tons. This was significant because the house is relatively small by modern standards. I questioned the original estimate and was told by the company owner that the service manager thought it was valid. I also questioned the service manager directly when he was performing the estimate. I asked him specifically if he had factored in the thermal effect of the tall windows, glass doors, and the high vaulted ceiling covered by a metal roof. He essentially ignored what I was asking him and said he was taking the measurements. After the installation was complete, it was clear that the equipment that was installed was not sufficient to carry the load. I requested a review by a factory representative. That review was performed and my suspicion was confirmed. This resulted in an effort to mitigate the mistake that had been made and there were no good options for me at that point. I ended up having to pay for an additional 2 ton unit, labor to install it, and ended up having a triple zoned house instead of a dual zoned one.
2) Two of the units were improperly installed according to the manufacturers specifications. Specifically, risers designed to mitigate icing conditions around the units were not attached at the time of installation.
3) The inside air handlers were placed too close to the intakes creating excessive noise inside. The squirrel cages are within 2-3 feet of the intake grille.
4) The installing techinicians--which included the service manager--damaged the house structurally by cutting out most of a two by six stud to install a return vent. This caused me to bring in another contractor to reinforce the damaged stud. The job required that the stud be scabbed and that the drywall surrounding the area be removed and reinstalled.
5) Plugs requied to seal off the inside units where ond of the lines enters the unit were left off. I found them in a bag months later.
6) The installing technicians failed to install a filter in the upper unit. I discovered this after noticing debris in the upper level of the house.
My experience with this company was very frustrating and cost significantly more than the original estimate. The technicians lacked interpersonal skills and were unresponsive when I asked questions. The company owner did his best to work with me, but was unable to control and direct the activities of his technicians in a positive way.
It is with some trepidation that I put these comments on here. I liked the company's owner and, as mentioned above, believe he was sincere in his efforts. My only reason in posting this is so that people will know to question these technicians if they are performing this kind of installation in the future. Hopefully, their skills will have improved.

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It had it flaws. Management was great and helpful. Parts were sketchy. Price was just about ballpark. It's an excellent company and communication works well. You will always be well informed. Don't be afraid to give them a call. If only they had A- on Angie's list it would work well.

Although Mountain Air is primarily a HVAC operation they also do plumbing. Their plumber replaced an existing whole house filter with a larger unit that he mounted on the wall. He did this because the new filter was quite a bit heavier and he felt that it required a sturdier installation. He had to re-route the water line and make 4 or 5 welds. He explained why he did certain things and made some good recommendations.

Overall it went very well and I was very pleased with how quick it was resolved.

Workers arrived when they said and perfomed all tasks professionally and skillfully. Technicians were very courteous and explained the issues well.

They were very efficient and timely. They managed to get the job done over the phone and we had no complaint. The price was a little bit high.

Called Monday morning after having cooling problem all weekend. It didn't help that the outside temp was 104 degrees! Called Mountain Air Heating and Cooling to set up service call. They were very busy but would try to fit me in. By 2pm they had been to the house and installed an new condensate pump and checked freon and at a very reasonable rate. Workers were very polite and did not leave any messes for me to clean up.