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A Saskatchewan father says his family was left scrambling for heat weeks before Christmas after his furnace company failed to provide all options to fix a dangerous breakdown.
He says the decision that ultimately cost him thousands of dollars was made based on information he was given at the time — which he later learned was incomplete.
Chad Doell said his furnace began rumbling in the middle of December, as temperatures dropped below -30 C. A service technician with AquaTemp inspected his furnace at his home in Hague, Sask., about 30 kilometres north of Saskatoon.
“[The technician] let us know that the heat exchanger had catastrophically failed. It had five large breaks in it, which was quite extreme,” he said, adding the technician warned that the furnace was likely leaking carbon monoxide and had to be shut off immediately.
Doell has four young children at home, including a nine-month-old baby.
With no heat, the family relied on electric and radiant space heaters throughout their 100-year-old house.
“It was an uncomfortable situation, and I was never quite sure that my kids’ rooms would be warm enough in the morning,” Doell said.
That was never meant to be a long-term solution, he said.
The service provider AquaTemp contacted Carrier Enterprise — the Canadian distributor responsible for supplying parts — and was told the heat exchanger wasn’t available locally, Doell said.
He was told it would take three to four weeks to arrive from the United States — despite being under a 20-year extended warranty, he said.
“I can’t wait four weeks. [It] makes me wonder, why do you offer a 20-year warranty on the part you don’t have available?”
Cracked heat exchangers are treated as emergencies under gas regulations, said Shaun Jakeway, an HVAC contractor and owner of Mr. Climate HVAC and Plumbing Services in Prince Albert.
Chad Doell shows the new furnace he had to install after Carrier failed to provide all options to fix a dangerous breakdown.
“If we find a cracked heat exchanger, we’re supposed to put a red tag on it and lock the system out,” he said. “The severity of the issue can cause death.”
Considering this and the frigid temperatures, Doell felt he had no choice but to replace the furnace entirely.
He chose another brand that could supply and install a new unit within days.
The cost was nearly $10,000, paid entirely out of pocket.
Doell said it was a “huge blow” to his family because the situation should have amounted to a straightforward warranty repair worth a few hundred dollars — not a full replacement that would require dipping into savings.
Before moving forward, he tried to contact the manufacturer directly but was unable to reach customer service outside regular business hours — a point of concern for families facing emergency situations, he said.
Company says faster service was available
CBC reached out to Carrier Enterprise, which has since said the replacement heat exchanger was available at a U.S. factory warehouse at the time of Doell’s breakdown and that expedited shipping options — for an added fee — would have delivered the part in two to three business days.
Doell said that option was never communicated to him while he was making urgent decisions to protect his family.
“Whoever took the call at the parts desk didn’t do their due diligence,” he said. “And it cost me $10,000.”
He said the delay, initially blamed on supply-chain issues, stings more now.
“That was a little easier for me to understand than a clerical mistake,” Doell said. “It’s almost more frustrating now, that this could have been so easily avoided.”
AquaTemp has begun to lay the groundwork for Doell to submit a reimbursement claim for his costly expenditure on the new furnace. Doell said he has yet to hear if he will get any of his money back.
He’s sharing his experience so others don’t face the same situation, he said.
“I wish there were some word of caution I could give to other people. These errors can cost people a lot of money, especially when you need to make a snap decision in the middle of winter. I just sincerely hope other people don’t have to deal with this sort of problem.”
