My house is growing cold, please hope me!
January 27, 2012 2:02 PM Subscribe
Seattle: *urgent* need for a plumbing/heating maintenance today or this weekend for the in-floor heating of my townhome. Haven't had heat since apparently Wednesday night, and the company that installed it is non-responsive to my repeated calls.
My townhome has in-floor heating throughout the house, but the heating isn't apparently working since Wednesday night; it seemed a touch chilly when I was going to bed, but when I woke up on Thursday and it was cold, I knew something was wrong.
The heater and pump seem to be fine in their closet on the ground level- I can hear the pump whir, and the pipes are hot (although one temperature gage hanging off the system shows the arrow at 70, the far left) and the hot water is working in the bathrooms... but the floors are cold, and the place is about 59/60 degrees and dropping. Luckily I have a gas fireplace that I'm leaving on (probably at great cost) pretty much 24/7, which is valiantly keeping the main floor at 68 although the bedroom floors are still very cold.
This home is new- 2 years old- and the in-floor heating was apparently provided by Jane's Company out of Mukilteo (http://www.janescompany.com). However, their service is atrocious: I called Thursday early afternoon and got through to the service department and was told they were full for the day, but they'd call me back in a short while to see about an appointment for Friday. They never did, although I called back later in the afternoon only to be told they were busy and would I like to leave a VM. No dice there, so I called around 11am today and once again got sent to VM by the receptionist. Called back at 1 and not even a receptionist, just a "We're all in a company wide staff meeting" message. I can't even get hold of them enough to schedule a day for an appointment.
So as an upshot, the company that installed it is useless to me, and I need to have someone who can investigate this preferably today or at least this weekend. I've tried a place a co-worker recommended that his uncle owned, but even they're busy till at least Tuesday morning (I'll use them as a last resort, as I don't really want this to still be an issue on Tuesday).
Where do I turn? I'd pay more for emergency attention.
My townhome has in-floor heating throughout the house, but the heating isn't apparently working since Wednesday night; it seemed a touch chilly when I was going to bed, but when I woke up on Thursday and it was cold, I knew something was wrong.
The heater and pump seem to be fine in their closet on the ground level- I can hear the pump whir, and the pipes are hot (although one temperature gage hanging off the system shows the arrow at 70, the far left) and the hot water is working in the bathrooms... but the floors are cold, and the place is about 59/60 degrees and dropping. Luckily I have a gas fireplace that I'm leaving on (probably at great cost) pretty much 24/7, which is valiantly keeping the main floor at 68 although the bedroom floors are still very cold.
This home is new- 2 years old- and the in-floor heating was apparently provided by Jane's Company out of Mukilteo (http://www.janescompany.com). However, their service is atrocious: I called Thursday early afternoon and got through to the service department and was told they were full for the day, but they'd call me back in a short while to see about an appointment for Friday. They never did, although I called back later in the afternoon only to be told they were busy and would I like to leave a VM. No dice there, so I called around 11am today and once again got sent to VM by the receptionist. Called back at 1 and not even a receptionist, just a "We're all in a company wide staff meeting" message. I can't even get hold of them enough to schedule a day for an appointment.
So as an upshot, the company that installed it is useless to me, and I need to have someone who can investigate this preferably today or at least this weekend. I've tried a place a co-worker recommended that his uncle owned, but even they're busy till at least Tuesday morning (I'll use them as a last resort, as I don't really want this to still be an issue on Tuesday).
Where do I turn? I'd pay more for emergency attention.
Response by poster: Actually, since I was exploring other resources a co-worker pointed me to someone on the hill who just installed their in-floor heating and highly recommended them. Got an appointment, so I think I'm okay!
posted by hincandenza at 3:15 PM on January 27, 2012
posted by hincandenza at 3:15 PM on January 27, 2012
Best answer: Whoops- the company was Good Services plumbing; they're coming by on Saturday so if they're good I'll post a follow up just for completeness' sake.
posted by hincandenza at 3:16 PM on January 27, 2012
posted by hincandenza at 3:16 PM on January 27, 2012
Are you still under warranty with Jane's Company? I'd take to FB and possibly twitter and rattle their cage.
posted by cyndigo at 3:38 PM on January 27, 2012
posted by cyndigo at 3:38 PM on January 27, 2012
I'd take it to the AG's office, myself, if still under warranty.
posted by bearwife at 4:03 PM on January 27, 2012
posted by bearwife at 4:03 PM on January 27, 2012
I've had good luck with Greenwood Heating coming out quickly.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:50 PM on January 27, 2012
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:50 PM on January 27, 2012
Oh, never mind. You don't need me. Sigh.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:51 PM on January 27, 2012
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:51 PM on January 27, 2012
Response by poster: Well, thanks for the recommend, but as it happened it was just a stuck pump, which I thought was running but really wasn't. Seems it kinda hung up and was working sporadically at best, and that apparently there's a ~yearly task to bleed out the air from the system, and I hadn't done so in 2+ years. Easy fix, and everything was nice and toasty from that point on.
Oh, and the warranty was only on the first year, like the rest of the house, so Jane's owed me nothing in particular- they were just really crummy about responding. They finally did call at 5pm on Friday... after I'd already engaged Good Services.
posted by hincandenza at 4:45 PM on January 29, 2012
Oh, and the warranty was only on the first year, like the rest of the house, so Jane's owed me nothing in particular- they were just really crummy about responding. They finally did call at 5pm on Friday... after I'd already engaged Good Services.
posted by hincandenza at 4:45 PM on January 29, 2012
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I have this one, and though it emits a chemical smell that can't possibly good for anyone, it will heat a cool room in 20 minutes.
posted by cnc at 2:39 PM on January 27, 2012