Business ProfileforGeisel Heating and Air Conditioning & Plumbing

In early Dec. 2022, my old 12 SEER rated heat pump failed.  I contracted with Geisel Heating for the sum of $14,004 for a replacement heating system.  A deposit of $2804 was given on 12/5/22.  I specified to the salesman, Eric Chaney, that I wanted a standard air filter in the unit.

The installation of a 4 ton Carrier heat pump was completed on 12/9/22 and a check for $12,200 was given to the technician which was deposited in a Geisel account immediately in that minute.

The only thing I can say about the installation is that the house is warm.  The power usage, nuisance noise and dust in the house has been a nightmare ever since.  This is the 4th heat pump installed in this house since my wife and I built it in 1980 and I have never had these problems with the other units (Rheem, Trane and Luxaire).  These are my complaints:

The air filter size is not a standard size.  It is a washable filter measuring 20” x 21.5”.  This is not a standard size filter and not available, not even on the web.  I usually use a Merv 8 filter to keep dust down due to my allergies.  The dust levels on the flat surfaces are becoming intolerable; I am constantly dusting.

A technician was out on Jan. 19th and told me he would have to check with his manager about changing out the filter.  No action to date.

The heat pump ran with an annoying high frequency sound.  This noise kept me from watching TV in my family room-the heat pump is just outside this room.  They sent a guy out on Feb. 2nd who put some insulation on where the heat pump copper pipes were attached to the house.  This cut down the noise from very noisy to 74 decibels at the unit.

After a manager’s visited on Feb. 17th, Geisel sent another technician out on Feb. 23rd.  This tech spent all day installing a big ugly muffler on the outside unit and reran the copper plumbing.  This finally fixed the noise problem and reduced the noise by the heat pump to 64 decibels.

My biggest complaint is that the unit on any cold day has variable power consumption for a given high temp.  I have a thermostat that tells me how many hours the heat pump and resistance heaters are on.  For a given daily high, the KWH/day used can vary from ~85KWH/day to 160+ KWH/day. (See attachment Excel sheet KWH.da vs on time.)

The old unit, on its last legs, was a 12 SEER unit.  This Carrier unit is supposed to be a 16 SEER 
rated heat pump.  I have yet to see any reduction in my electric bills to date.  I took a CEI electric usage review and their estimated of $144/mo. in electric bills is nothing like bills I have received so far.  Average bill for 2023 is S278/mo. to date. (See Analyze Usage pdf.)  

CEI provides a usage report for the past 13 months.  It shows average daily high temperature and KWK used.  (See CEI average use data.png.)  There is virtually no difference in power consumption for a unit that is rated to use 33.3% less energy.

I had the good fortune insuring my heating system.  When I submitted my claim, I was told by my insurance company that I had over paid for the heat pump installation by $2000.  The work was pretty extensive requiring an additional electrical panel.  My insurance company has told me to get a detailed bill from Geisel and they would reconsider my claim.  I have sent repeated phone messages and emails to the Eric Chaney asking for a man and materials quote for my job and have been totally ignored to date.

I believe there is something wrong with this heat pump and have asked repeatedly to have a technician come out on a cold day with an amp tong tester to measure the amps that the heat pump is using.  I have had a conversation with the Geisel manager who says he is checking with the Carrier people about my heat pump.  It has been 3 weeks since I initiated my complaint with him.  Soon it will be another month of another high electric bill.  I am being totally ignored or at least not communicated with.

These are the reasons for my reporting Geisel heating to the BBB.

Thomas Ameen