Thank you, Advanced Plumbing

Yes, I am really thanking Advanced Plumbing.  Because of the lesson I learned with them back in 2009 (and thanks to my smart mom) I was saved from being taken in for $3000 by Right Now Heating and Air: the Advanced Plumbing of the furnace world.

It was the week before Christmas.  They were offering a $39 season tune-up.  Since we moved here two years ago and haven't ever serviced the furnace, I thought I'd give it a go, especially at that price.  Well, he called me out to look at the camera snake with him.  He points it at something and says, "What does that look like to you?"  I say, "A crack."  He says, "That's what it looks like to me too."  I felt a little weird about that exchange, because why didn't he just say "I've found a crack"?  It made me feel like he was covering his behind so if there was a question later he could say "SHE said it was a crack, not me."  But it DID look like a crack, so I trusted him.  He asked me if I'd heard about the Marine who died of carbon monoxide poisoning last year--I had.  He said that ever since then regulation in the area had been really strict and they had bought a camera for each of the trucks.  He then said that whenever they find a crack they have to have someone from the American Gas Association come out and verify it.  Great.  He made me sign a paper that basically says that our technician advised us to turn off the furnace and stop using it and that if we die it isn't their fault.  Well, I didn't want my family to die, so I set up the appointment for after Christmas, figuring I'd deal with whatever he found.  I mean, if this impartial inspector says I have a problem--hey, I've gotta fix it. 

So yesterday a guy came out, only he's not from the AGA, he's from Right Now again.  And he checks a few things and then launches into a sales presentation.  And I start to feel like I've done this all before.  Because I have.  Advanced Plumbing tried to do the same thing to us to the tune of $14,000 and a new sewer line that we really didn't need.  So I listened to what he has to say and he said he could repair our heat exchange and two other parts that "are operating slightly out of recommended guidelines, so that means they will eventually fail" for just over $1000, or we could get a whole new furnace for $3500.  He recommends we get the new furnace because ours is 10 years old "and they are only made to last 10-15 years, so you'll just keep dumping money into it and then have to replace it anyway."
Keep in mind that our furnace was functioning fine and that the parts he said "will eventually fail" are just drawing half-an-amp more power than operating guidelines suggest.  So they aren't even failing, just being less efficient.  Really, my only concern here was that if there really is a crack in the heat exchange and it's going to kill us with carbon monoxide, I want to fix it.  And his presentation seemed sound and the prices were not too bad, so I was really leaning toward replacing the whole unit with this guy.  It made me a little ill because we are trying to save up for a van this summer since all three kids are crammed in the back seat and it is driving us nuts.  Plus, we are still paying off major hospital bills.  But if it's about our safety, I'll do it.  I was going to do it.

BUT

Thanks to Advanced Plumbing, I just can't quite trust what the first person tells me.  Before I spend that much money I want a second opinion.  The salesman was not happy about that.  He is so smooth, he tries everything to get us to sign right then and there.  He even knocks down the price to $2900 and throws in a "$600 solar attic fan" for free.  (I happen to know that solar attic fans cost less than $200.)  But of course his offer is only good until the end of the day, for some nebulous reason that doesn't make any sense, about him knowing right where the furnace is in the warehouse and how later he wouldn't know so he couldn't give a discount???  Firmly and politely we tell him that we need time to think it over and want a second opinion.  He tries several more things and finally asks that we "make it fair" by not mentioning to the next guy that anyone was there.  That makes sense to me.  I know that sometime people will trash-talk their competitors so I agree.

We get someone to come out that very day so we can still get the deal if we decide to.  Even though my tale right now has the bitterness of hindsight, at the time I was still convinced we were getting a new furnace and was only double checking because I knew it was a good idea.  I fully expected to have Right Now's findings corroborated and have a new furnace the next day.  We told the guy that we just wanted a tune up.  He took everything apart and cleaned it and said it looked great.  "What about the heat exchange? Weren't there cracks in it?"  He was surprised.  He didn't have a camera, but he had looked at it and also run the visual and auditory tests of the flame that would signal a crack.  So of course I had to explain that someone had come before and found cracks and that we wanted a second opinion.  He asked which company it was and I said "I'd rather not say."  So he opened it up again and went completely over it.  And he showed me the flame tests and that it was not behaving like it had a crack.  He said sometimes other companies will show you a seam and tell you it was a crack.

Now I was going crazy.  Had it been a crack?  Why didn't I ask if the new guy had a camera before he came out?  Was I going to have to get a third opinion?  How I wish I could just bring the first guy back and let the two technicians argue about what they saw, haha!  Wouldn't that be awesome?  Finally, the new guy finished up.  He said the other parts that the first guy had said were going to fail were fine, just dirty.  He cleaned them and said they would work fine.  Then he said that he wouldn't charge me (which was so nice, considering all the work he did!)  He advised me to put the money toward having a new guy come with a camera, since it was worrying me so much.

Instead, I did some more reading online and found that even if my heat exchange IS cracked, the way the furnace blows makes sure that all of the carbon monoxide would go out through the roof.  It can't blow backward into the house.

So I decided to use the money for more carbon monoxide detectors (we already have one) and to just forget it.  I was so stressed about calling the Right Now guy back so Nathan did it.

Now I feel like I have $3000 extra, haha!  When our tax return comes I will be able to use it for our van!