Heater question from GMAIL account

[Admin]

Hi,

I live in a townhouse in, Lansdale, Pa. I bought a WeatherKingAcclaim II in early, 2000. Shortly thereafter, I needed to replace the thermostat which was replaced with a LUX digital. Last year, the temperature would show 68 degrees in the house, but the heater would not click on. A heater guy came (friend) and just dusted off the pilot. It then worked fine.
Once again, the heater is not getting the message from the digital LUX. The batteries are new and when I manually press the button to raise the heat, the heater responds and goes on. I just had a local heating company look at the heater. The first thing they said was, "Weatherking is crap and we never heard of it." "You may need to replace it"! He said there was not one reason to clean it as there was no place TO clean it. Secondly, he said that it may be the starter which they could replace for XXX.XX! The fact that he was uncertain is the reason I am writing.
First of all, I am single and work so much that the heater has not been used as much as it would if there were fifteen people living here. Most importantly, these charges are outrageous for such a new heater.
I wanted to call the local contractor who originally installed it, but here is the deal on that. When they came a few years ago to install the LUX thermostat, they charged me XXX.XX to do that. When I began telling my friends about it, they said to call LUX and find out the price about the thermostat as that was kind of high.
When I called LUX, they told me it was worth only XX.XX. They felt so badly that they were really nice and sent me a free one! They suggested I call the contractor and get my money back. So, you might be able to see why I am a little hesitant to call them.
I really need some help on this. My fear is that now I have a total lemon of a heater for which no one has a clue as to what is wrong. Secondly, I wrote to Rheem as it appears there aren't Weatherking Acclaim Heaters anymore. This thing sounds like a 747 jumbo jet in this town house! Possibly, they were left overs of some kind(the contractor in Lansdale who installed it is the largest one in the area).
What is tough about all of this is that people don't know what they are doing but are supposed to know more than I do and I don't think there is a whole lot of integrity going around.
Can you help?

Betsy

[air2spare]

The hard fact of the matter is that you are going to have to ask friends and family of a known reputable A/C contractor who can come out and address your issues.

good luck

[beenthere]

The original installing contractor is probaly a flat rate company. So their fee also included labor. Lux has no idea what that company needs to charge, so Lux should keep their opinion about price to themselves. (Bet Lux didn't offer to come out and install that stat for that price.)

If you want the heater fixed right. Call the installing company, and pay their fees.

Your only other option may be to replace the unit, if you don't want to call them again.

Sorry to hear abouot your dilema.

[key]

Call a pro..maybe someone from this forum lives near you.

[lolson]

why keep installing LUX, i got tired of warrantying them so i changed manufactures

[geodude]

We have a lot of service calls generated by this brand of thermostat. They (from my experience) are low quality. But they are low priced too! The relays on the stat board fail. The big box building store sells them cheaper then I can buy them from my wholesaler! The pricing on the installing co.thermostat included drive time and labor as well.( I'm assuming) ask around to find who can refer you to a good company THEY have used. Refferals are the best way to find a good contracter (most of the time!) Any contractor who openly bashes another company or brand is usaully insecure or just a jerk. AVOID this contractor! All brands have their quirks, and I would rather have the lowest quality equipment installed by a well trained tech then a top shelf brand installed by a knuckle dragging hack artist! The equipment is usaully only as good as the the guy who installed it!

[heatpumpguru]

We handle up there 610-544-4884

[betsy marple]

Okay...get this. I was told the starter/igniter would require replacement for over 800 bucks from the company in lansdale i called last week.
Another heating guy came over last night. He said no way..there wasn't even an igniter. It was dusty and he vacuumed it so there was a better connection. He took out a small rectangle of metal and showed me a spider cocoon which he cleaned out.
The heater is working fine now.
Dedication....curiousity...that is what it took. He is on his own but used to be the top guy at one of the big places here in town. They lost a charm when he left:)