Was looking at getting a AC + furnace combo and went through a ton of quotes from all the companies you might think to go to. Of all, Empower looked to offer the most and the fairest price. The sales person was super helpful, attentive, patient and noted that there is no reason to get a new humidifier from Empower as I already had a new one and they would just install it free when they do the furnace. I thought that was great and super helpful. As well he sweetened the deal with a carrier rebate of $800 which was great. The other reason we decided to go with them was that they were a certified Carrier installer which should have some weight to it.
Fast forward to installation day. They started off with the removal of the old equipment. All good so far.
Next up they moved to get the new AC installed. I had the old AC mounted on the wall and I preferred to have the new one done in the same way. Finding out that they had to put new brackets in, they noted that it might not hold. That should have been a red flag, but they proceeded to make the holes in the brick and place anchors in. None of the anchors held and ultimately after 3 holes all no good, I had to do with the pad on the ground. I now had 3 unnecessary holes in the brick in addition to the old ones. They should just not offer a mounting service when they are not equipped to do so.
Moving to the furnace installation. There was A TON of issues placing in the new coil. The older installation was CLEAN with cutouts made precisely and cleanly. Now imagine the exact opposite of that and that is what happened. Instead of making the duct wider, so that it can fit nicely, then cutting out holes where required, they kept the old holes, cut up the duct so that it stuck out to fit the new coil. It was horrendous. This was going to be the way it was going to stay and up to the standards of the installation had I not stopped them, and demanded they redo it. A new sheet was placed with new cutouts but they were barely accurate and had to be adjusted and bent to fit again. Looks better and covered by tape, but very disappointing from a Carrier certified installer.
The intake and exhaust piping is mostly ok but done geometrically incorrect on one join so its barely fitting and holding on. I fully expect this to fall apart at this joint as some point.
The cleanup was relatively fine, the walls were damaged where they were working inside and the washer scratched and scuffed. Outside they did not fill any of the holes and used bright white caulking for any gaps where the pipes went through. Where they drilled for the new intake pipe, they didn't clean up the area, fill with foam and caulk it. What they did was leave all the lose grout and brick there and just fill it with white caulking, on red brick. There were gaps and holes where I had to rip it apart and do it properly myself.
I have spoken with Empower about the issues and we both agree that installation should be done better and that this helps anyone looking to get it in the future get a better experience.
