Bales Mechanical Inc

Bales Mechanical installed central air and heat into the new home I purchased. From the day I moved in I had an intermittent cycling problem when heating. The gas furnace would start to run, then stop after about 5 to 7 minutes of running. As soon as it stopped running, it would start the cycle again. It would cycle as many as 8 times an hour. The warranty covered parts, but only had one year on the labor.





I contacted Bales Mechanical and inquired as to the cost of repairs now the unit was past the first year. I was told about the hourly rate and travel/service charges and that if it wasn’t fixed on the first visit, as long as it was the same problem there wouldn’t be another travel/service charge. Within a few hours they sent Jeff to repair the problem. Jeff said the cycling was normally caused by a dirty flame sensor. Jeff didn’t have a new flame sensor on his truck, so he cleaned the dirty one. Jeff said normally the flame sensor or the circuit board were the only things that could cause the furnace to cycle. I was charged $85.00 travel/service charge and $20.00 for 15 minutes for cleaning the sensor. I was given a 10% discount because Bales worked for the developer. I paid the $94.50 bill.



The cleaning didn’t work, the furnace continued to cycle. I contacted Bales Mechanical again and they would send Jeff back. I again asked about the travel/service charge and if Jeff had the parts on his truck. I was told he did. Jeff showed up a short time later with a new circuit board which was under warranty at no cost. Jeff replaced the circuit board in about 15 minutes and said if that didn’t work, the only thing would be to replace the flame sensor with a new one. I was given a bill for $80 minus the 10%. When I questioned the bill, I was told $40 was for driving time to get to my house. Not wanting to argue with Jeff , I paid the $72.00 bill.



That didn’t fix the problem, the cycling continued. I contacted Bales Mechanical again and asked for a new flame sensor. I was told they didn’t have any in stock and would have to pick one up at their supplier. I asked if they could put it in the mail as I didn’t want to pay for another travel/service charge as it was very easy to replace the flame sensor. I questioned the driving time charge on the last bill. I was told that was normal and wasn’t a travel/service charge. Later that day the flame sensor was dropped off at my doorstep with a bill for the flame sensor (PARTS under warranty) of $19.85. I installed the flame sensor. I again contacted Bales Mechanical and questioned the bill for the flame sensor and was told that wasn’t covered under the warranty. I paid the bill.



The furnace continued to cycle, I called Bales mechanical and they said they would send Jeff out again.

The next morning Jeff arrived on time and began looking at the unit. The circuit board had a self diagnostic light on it which I didn’t know about and was indicating there was a problem with the drain system of the unit. Jeff then started looking at the drain plumbing and found where the drain system had not been installed properly and the water was backing up causing the moisture sensor to shut down the furnace. With the thermostat telling the furnace it hasn’t reached the set temperature it would start immediately running again. Then the moisture sensor would shut the furnace off again. Each cycle getting the house a little warmer, so after several cycles it would get to the set temperature. The intermittent problem was caused with higher humidity.



The problem from the start was because the furnace/air conditioning system was not installed correctly.



This is why I feel I should receive a refund for the payments I made, the furnace was doing what it was suppose to do, The INSTALLATION was not done properly.