SMO No Mo
Southern Maryland Oil (SMO) Repair Crew Nightmare
1st Visit in Jan 07
This story is a prime example of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”!
Our oil burning furnace has worked flawlessly for 3 yrs. So I decide it’s likely do for a failure, so I call SMO to come and do their thing to keep it running good for the future. I assume this is likely less expensive and less stressful than an Emergency call in the future, or failing during cold while we are away!
The two men arrive on the appointed day and I tell them it has been running just fine, but as of 3 yrs now, it may need to be cleaned and looked at. I tell them before they started I would like them to save the wonder burner jets (pulled for replacement) as they worked so well so long. I wanted to examine them to see why they last so long!
I visit the crew of two sent while working in the basement and ask them about the jets. The one I talked to at first says the jets removed are in the truck & will he get them!
He is doing a major splice of a cut power cord for their vacuum cleaner! Next he says he has no extension cord to reach our house outlet. I come with a cheater adapter (allows a 3 pronged plug to go into a two holed out let in the lamp socket) and offer of a power cord. He accepts a cheater plug (2 to 3 pins and no ground protection in the basement) from me rather than the extension cord also offered. The cheater plug now will not provide the ground protection on this just spliced unproven cord!!!
Next, as they were leaving I was told he was leaving a new jet rather that the replaced jet I had asked! So where are my replaced jets? He asked me to turn up the heat for a check & then they leave. No real confidence in this crew by me!!
My wife & I smell fumes from day one after they did the cleaning. My wife also says she saw black smoke out of chimney, but figured it was normal!
Post inspection reveals The 1st repair crew had moved the exhaust piping & did not back fill the holes where self tapping screws were in place (likely a source of venting exhaust gasses?)
2nd Visit Feb 07 (Emergency Call 8 days after 1st visit)
The furnace fails to fire during a very cold day & I have to make an emergency call to SMO. The house was into the low 60s and temperature was falling. A single (1) repair man comes out at 3AM. I explain about the previous cleaning 8 days ago. The emergency repair man that came in the middle of the night seems very knowledgeable. He first tries to start the burner at the furnace control area & it fails to stay running. He next pushes the red start button & then hits the High Voltage (HV) unit which immediately shuts everything down. He first says it’s the HV box & taps it so it cuts off the furnace during the start up cycle. He keeps hitting the HV box during the start up cycle that makes the start up stop! He continues to repeat telling me the HV unit was bad. I tell him I am not convinced it’s bad from what he did, says & my past use! We keep this dialog up until he finds the cleaning crew had closed off the air inlet in a rotated device that adjusts air inlet to the burner. The furnace fires up good, but shut downs until he cleans the electric eye (looks for light of a burner flame) of soot from running rich so long! So, now I tap the HV box, wow, no cut off !!! I ask him if there is a mercury switch inside? He does not respond to that question. He now says the HV box is really OK! Could this be one of the tricks that repairmen learn to get a replaceable item on a service call?
I remembered SMO had also replaced my HV unit a few yrs back----Hmmmm
My wife tells me she had seen black smoke coming out of chimney a few days before, but did not tell me as she thought it was normal! The lack of air to the furnace burner area had made much black smoke & carbon black inside the burner area until the sensor was so covered it shut down after 8 days! The air filter for the house air was also caked with black soot. This cause is not fully understood, unless the 1st crew had allowed the soot into the air plenum during their vacuum cleaning effort.
Black Soot
Other evidence found: Black soot filled air filter. One month on new filter shows no sign of black! Bedroom TV screen face also covered with black particles, not normal dust! Assumption is the air filter was contaminated during cleaning of furnace. Remember SMO vacuum was out of operation for a while or all during cleaning operation. Best guess is they might have opened the air plenum line area. We are still getting a short puff or fumes during first on of each heating cycle. This might solve why getting a good furnace reading & still leaving air supply throttled down (black smoke) when leaving.
If the vacuum was not operating, they could have taken the reading & then finished cleaning after that resulted in moving the air intake control!
Lingering Questions
* So, now the question is, are the fumes still lingering at start up. The fumes were not there before SMO visits.
* Are we breathing these black particles still in the house?
* Why did the 1st crew leave the air inlet closed?
* Did SMO crew really replace the jets?
Summary
* The furnace still is putting out an initial puff of fumes at each start up.
* I expect to have to move our Carbon Monoxide detector to our living area rather that top of basement stairs.
* SMO sent a bill for both 1st cleaning & maintenance & the emergency repair. I expect not to pay the Emergency bill as:
(1) Their 1st crew caused the air inlet rotor to be closed, not open!
(2) Their written Warrantee of all labor for 30 days should be in effect
* We have had good service response & oil delivery for the last 15 yrs from SMO, but it’s likely going to be a new Oil company now over this fight!
There was a problem a few yrs back however, when there was some debris in the oil that SMO blamed on our oil tank. It cost money to clean the filter, tank & such. A few weeks later during that period the neighbors that also used SMO at that time got to talking and found out they had gone through the same thing! So we assume, it was likely SMO oil delivery that had the contamination problem. Further checking with other oil users resulted in a consensus that it was likely also other oil companies as well.
SMO how has acquired Gott Fuel Oil division & likely some of their repair crew. Possibly not the best! The area manager has responded by phone, but so far we have only talked on the phone.
