I signed up for a service contract with John Waters for our heating and cooling for preventative maintenance to hopefully avoid costly repairs on our 7 year old system. The service staff have been very courteous and professional. However, there have been two incidents which are very disconcerting. First water got in our draft inducer and the motor had to be replaced. The repair was made quickly and I thought thoroughly. There was an obstruction in the drain line that went undiagnosed so the same issue happened again. Alone, this issue is pretty minor and could have happened to anyone. However, during our summer inspection the tech said that he was unable to check the coolant levels due to it having rained earlier. I expressed concerns that it hadn't been checked since we owned the house and that I was concerned with efficiency. I was reassured that there was no reason to believe that the levels would be low so not to be concerned. Despite my best judgement I deferred to the expertise of the tech. Two months later the furnace froze solid and the main control board was fried. The system was 3lbs low on coolant and the repairs cost me $500. It was during these repairs the the obstruction in the draft inducer drain line was found. I'm still not sure if the draft inducer motor is going to function properly this winter and just have to wait and see. I felt like purchasing the service contract would help avoid expensive repairs that can happen when preventative maintenance isn't performed. Checking coolant levels seems like basic preventative maintenance for an AC system. The owner responded to an initial inquiry I made into whether these issues were the result of negligence saying he would investigate. It's been six weeks and there have been no further replies to my inquiries.
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