3.4K views
11 comments

Bought a $30,000 Geothermal system in 2010. I paid and had my HVAC unit serviced every six months at a cost of $140 per visit.

A valve (TVX) broke making the unit useless. The installer/servicing company informed me that there is a limited "allowance" for this repair. I called WaterFurnace, the Regional VP, coperate headquarters and no one wants too stand behind the product. WaterFurnace only paid part of the repairs leaving me wiht a huge bill!

(I thought a ten year warranty, which sounded good, would cover the product. Don't you???) Stay away from this company!

Location: Boyertown, Pennsylvania

Do You Have Something To Say ?
Write a review

Comments

chat-icon

Please avoid publishing any personal information and promotional content

You will be automatically registered on our site. Username and password will be sent to you via email.
Post Comment
Guest

Do not buy from WF. I installed my unit in 2009 and since then I have come to know the repairmen by name--almost like family now.

My contractor is good and I have no complaints about them. The unit, however, is either poorly designed or poorly manufactured. Either way, the cost for the numerous repairs I have had to have done have offset most of the energy savings. The ten year warranty did cover the first pump that went out after 6 years, but now I am looking at a new pump and probably a new compressor too.

I am considering getting prices for other units and replacing this one, rather than continuing to pay for repairs for this cash-sucking black hole. It may be that no matter what unit I buy it will be poorly made. It seems most businesses manufacturers are more concerned with churn than their customers. It seems like they all make their products such that they have a short life-span to bleed money out of their customers in the future.

I hope I am wrong about this, but I am certain about WF--they have profited greatly by selling me replacement parts for my machine which I paid a great deal of money for. Stay away from this company.

Guest

WaterFurnace offers a 10 year parts warranty and a 5 year Labor allowance. That means they give you x-amount of dollars for different repairs.

If the labor allowance is up then there is no longer money granted to offset the costs.

Try finding another HVAC manufacturer with a better deal. You will find some with the same offer but none better.

Guest

I am having a similar experience... Their Customer Service is bereft of any responsibility for their customers....My Hydro Delta system in another property has worked without issues for 17 years. I think a class action suit is in order

Guest

My experience is not about the quality of WaterFurnace equipment. I admitted they do make the best equipment.

After 8 years, my WaterFurnace heat pumps have worked flawlessly.

My criticism of WaterFurnace is that they failed to step in and help me with my problem with the dealer, which WaterFurnace recognized but they refused to help me resolve the matter quickly, which easily could have been done.

Guest

im sure you paid for labor i have dealt with water furnace for years and never had a issue. besides if you buy a car and a few years later is the dealership going to fix it for free. the parts might be covered or the labor but unless you purchased the extra coverage its not going to be.

Guest

Use a reputable dealer and you shouldn't have a problem

Guest

Mr. Thomas Huntington,

I purchased a New Home on November 28th, 2003 which came with a Natural Gas water heater & furnace in it. At the time I had been told Great things about WaterFurnace geo-thermal units, so I decided to install a 5" Well, remove the

less than a year old natural gas furnace and replace it with a Super Efficient WaterFurnace.

I am starting to believe that with the extra time and large electric bills caused by My Super-Efficient WaterFurnace that I may have made a mistake, and this is Why...

I purchased and had installed My FIRST New WaterFurnace (S/N UG1420) on June 12th, 2004. After only four months, My new WaterFurnace unit went into Lock-Out. Poorman's Heating & Cooling came out on October 19th, 2004 and needed to recharge the R-410A. The leak was so small that no point of escape was found.

The WaterFurnace appeared to be operating fine until July of 2005 when the unit went into Lock-Out. Poorman's was contacted and R-410A added again, with no point of escape found.

Then on December 16th, 2005 the unit again went into Lock-Out and needed the R-410A recharged.

In the fall of 2006 after the unit went into Lock-Out I contacted WaterFurnace directly about the problems that I was having with this product. After a Rep from WaterFurnace and Poorman's met us at our home, the 30+ pin hole leaks were found in the coil that the return air flows through into the WaterFurnace.

After a meeting with David Waterman at the WaterFurnace Office/Factory, WaterFurnace decided that the air coil in the self contained geo-thermal unit was defective and

should never have leaked any R-410A through a non-moving part such as the air coil.

On November 17th, 2006 the entire unit was replaced under warranty with S/N WK2108.

Now I am having the similar problems with my SECOND WaterFurnace.

Please Help, after having TWO units that leak R-410, what does it take to get a reliable unit?

Thank-You.

Below is the chain of events of the two units (S/N UG1420 & WK2108) that have failed.

Here is the chain of events with Our First WaterFurnace...

06/12/2004 - First New WaterFurnace Installed. S/N: UG1420

Then after only 4 Months...

10/19/2004 - R-410A needed to be added, the leak was so small that no escape point was found.

Then after 9 more Months...

July 2005 - Unit went into Lock-Out and Poorman's was contacted, R-410A added again, with no point of escape found.

Then after 5 more Months...

12/16/2005 - Unit went into Lock-Out and needed R-410A added again.

Fall 2006 - Unit went into Lock-Out I contacted WaterFurnace directly about the problems that I was having. After WaterFurnace Technician and Poorman's met at my home, the 30+ pin hole leaks were found in the return air coil.

11/17/2006 - After a meeting with David Waterman at the WaterFurnace Office/Factory, WaterFurnace agreed that the air coil in the self contained geo-thermal unit was defective and should never have leaked any R-410A through a non-moving part such as the air coil. On November 17th, 2006 the unit was replaced.

Here is the chain of events with Our second WaterFurnace... S/N: WK2108

11/17/2006 - Old defective WaterFurnace removed and a New replacement unit was installed.

07/04/2009 - Went into high pressure lock-out for the FIRST time this year in AC mode. Turned power off at breakers, cleaned the air filter, turned breakers back on and the WaterFurnace operated after cleaning filter.

(filter was not very dirty)

08/27/2009 - Went into high pressure lock-out for the SECOND time this year in AC mode. Turned power off at breakers, cleaned the air filter, turned back on and the WaterFurnace operated after cleaning filter.

09/02/2009 - Went into high pressure lock-out for the THIRD time in AC mode at 9:00 PM. Turned power off at breakers, turned back on and the WaterFurnace operated.

09/02/2009 - Went into high pressure lock-out for the FORTH time in AC mode at 10:00 PM. Turned power off at breakers, turned back on and the WaterFurnace operated.

11/28/2009 - Went into lock-out in HEAT mode and the WATER FLOW indicator is flashing. The unit will now only operate in the EMERGENCY HEAT MODE.

11/30/2009 - DISCONNECTED water going out after the stage one and stage two water valves and connected a temporary hose to each valve that then dumped the waste water into sump pit. RESET Water Furnace and it started up in stage one for about 30 seconds with water flowing out of stage one valve at about 6 to 8 gallons a minute. Then it shut down and went into stage two for about 30 seconds with both valves 1 & 2 open flowing a total of 9 to 12 gallons a minute out. The unit then shut down and went into lock-out mode and the WATER FLOW indicator is now flashing and the unit will now only operate in the EMERGENCY HEAT MODE.

12/07/2009 - Poorman's added R-410A to the "sealed system" and unit now operating in stage 1 & 2 without going into lock-out and is no longer activating the expensive EMERGENCY HEAT MODE. The WaterFurnace may now be ok, but I hope this isn't going to be like My FIRST WaterFurnace unit.

01/06/2010 - WaterFurnace went into lock-out in heat mode and the WATER FLOW indicator is flashing. The unit will now only operate in the EMERGENCY HEAT MODE. Reset unit, will call Poorman's.

01/07/2010 - Water Furnace went into lock-out over-night the in heat mode and the WATER FLOW indicator is now flashing. The unit will now only operate in the EMERGENCY HEAT MODE.

01/08/2010 - Unit needed 1/2 pound of R410a added to return unit to specified in/out air temps. Waterfurnace unit working fine after adding R-410a.

07/20/2010 - Unit needed 1 pound of R410a added to return unit to specified in/out air temps. Waterfurnace unit working fine after adding R-410a.

12/08/2010 - Unit needed 1 pound of R410a added to return unit to specified in/out air temps. Waterfurnace unit working fine after adding R-410a.

06/24/2011 - Unit needed 1 pound of R410a added to return unit to specified in/out air temps. Waterfurnace unit working fine after adding R-410a.

01/02/2012 - Unit needed 2 pounds of R410a added to return unit to specified in/out air temps. Waterfurnace unit working fine after adding R-410a.

07/04/2012 - Unit needed 1.6 pounds of R410a added to return unit to specified in/out air temps. Waterfurnace unit working fine after adding R-410a.

09/08/2012 - Talked to Jill Miller at REMC event at Memorial Coliseum on 9/8/2012 and she said that the E-series units had bad coils from 3 manufacturers and that after two units failing, that WaterFurnace knows the problem and will stand behind thier product. Jill told me to contact Nicole at 478-**** to resolve this problem.

09/10/2012 - At 12:15 PM I contacted Nicole at WF and she said that she remembers me talking to David Waterman about this problem, and that my unit is out-of-warranty and that I will need to contact a local WaterFurnace dealer to resolve my problem. I asked Nicole to contact Jill Miller and see if there is any thing that can be done in warranty since both units failed within the first five year warranty (June 2004 - July 2009)

12/11/2012 - The air in/out only has a 15 degree difference, unit needs R-410 again.

Still not getting support....

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-602013

By law an HVAC can only put refrigerant back into the system one time before having to make a repair. Obviously the service company dropped the ball on finding the leak.

There is always a way to find a leak. And the coils are the most common place to have a leak. That's where the heat exchange happens so there is a lot of expansion and constriction in the copper tubing. The entire HVAC industry had issues with leaking coils when everyone started switching to R-410A.

WaterFurnace, and many other HVAC manufacturers, took massive financial hits replacing these coils. And unlike many other companies, WF did not limit customers the number of coils that could be replace.

If a coil leaked they replaced it no questions asked as long as it was during the warranty period. They have now remedied this problem and I have not had to change out any of the new coils.

Guest

Mr. Anonymous from Boyerstown, PA,

Your equipment came standard with a 10 year parts and labor allowance warranty. Should a part within the unit fail, this warranty provides the replacement part at no charge, as well as a labor allowance to the contractor.

The labor allowance for all repairs to our units is a set flat fee. We use industry accepted flat rate times and an average hourly rate for all repairs. The rate we pay does not vary from on contractor to the next. If the amount provided does not cover the contractorรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs normal fee, or if it takes longer on a particular repair than the flat fee allows, the contractor makes the decision about whether or not he will pass through the cost to the consumer. The contractor is independently owned and operated, and not under our control.

According to our records, we provided the replacement part at no charge, as well as a labor allowance to your contractor to offset their charges. At this time, WaterFurnace has honored the terms and conditions of our published warranty. If you feel the invoice is unfair, we would, again, suggest contacting your contractor to discuss their charges.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-511408

waterfurnace

the contractor or the dealer that you sell these units too, SHOULD be under your control , otherwise you just have one entity after another passing the buck on issues and problems with no one taking responsibility and ultimately costing the end user.

waterfurnace should be vigilant in checking out anyone who applies for a dealership via waterfurnace and make certain that these dealers have waterfurnace trained technicians working and installing these units.

the end user......the customer.....should feel more than comfortable contacting water furnace and asking for help if they have problems with DEALERS SELLING WATER FURNACE.........

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-781823

My Dealer is great..The equipment is faulty. Water Furnace has put its dealers in a spot.

Waterfurnace Reviews

  1. 14 reviews
  2. 10 reviews
  3. 2 reviews
  4. 2 reviews
  5. 8 reviews
Waterfurnace reviews