Lb Heating & Air Conditioning

My home is heated with cast iron rads, except for an addition were "slaint fin" aluminum radiator coils were installed by a previous owner. I was not happy about the amount of heat radiating from them. I called the heating company to come out and see if they could: 1) be replaced with cast iron radiators, or 2) how much it would cost to run the aluminum rads on a separate system, or 3) If the slaint fin aluminum rads could individually be temperature controlled via thermostats. I wanted to know which would be the best solution and approximate estimates. I called L B explaining these things and that I wanted someone to come and diagnose which would be the best option for my house.
The plumber they sent to my house first told me that if he worked on anything in the system he would legally need me to test my boiler afterwards. It was a legal requirement so I agreed. He then requested me to crank the heat for the whole house. After which he grabbed a shut of valve and fully opened it by slightly turning it counterclockwise. Eventually because I had cranked the heat to 32C all of the slaint fin rads started heating up and the addition was a nice temperature. His final suggestion was that I just crank the heat all winter to accomodate the one room. Naturally I thought this was outrageous because it would cost me a fortune in heating and make the rest of the house way too hott and uncomfortable.
When I inquired about an estimate to change the system to cast iron rads, he told me he didn't know anything about those systems. He could not provide me with a quote and told me his boss might be able to help me and to phone and try speaking to him directly.
When I asked about controlling the slaint fin rads on a separate zone, he claimed it would be thousands of dollars to install the system. When I inquired about running the slaint fin rads on a separate thermostat... he mentioned that there was a way to make them continuously run and by-pass the cast iron system, by re-arranging some electrical in the boiler. I did not think this would be a good long term solution because there would be no control over the temperature. He said he would be able to do the "electrical re-arranging" when he came back to do the manditory CO2 test on my boiler. He claimed it would be a simple job but he didn't have time to do it today.
I was a little shocked because he hadn't acutally done any work to my system. He claimed that because he had opened the valve I now had to get a CO2 boiler test done.
I found this very shaddy. I could have played with my shut off valves and cranked the heating in my house myself. The whole point of having someone come by was to get some estimates. But I mean really he could have asked me to turn the knob and saved me a "manditory boiler test".
Needless to say, I ended up going with another company to come and clean my boiler and do the CO2 boiler test.
So basically this "quote that never happened" ended up costing me $150 plus the cost of getting my boiler cleaned and tested.. another $150. A rip off.

- I stand by all of my previous statements. The water valve wasn't shut, it was open 80% of the way. Like turning off/on a faucet I could have easily done this and saved $150. It was winter and if there was "no heat" in the room the pipes would have burst. The temperature just wasn't adequately warm enough to be comfortable. After cranking the heat to 32C it was hard to tell if opening the valve had made a difference.. because the whole house was boiling hot. Needless to say they did not solve any problems but created more by requiring me to get my boiler tested. I agree that if actual work had been done by law I should be safe and get my system tested. But all they did was twist 1 valve.. (again) which I could have done myself. I did get another professional company to fix the problem by installing larger sized slaint fin rads in the room.

We looked at installing a new boiler and some rads. Ted is very passionate about his work and provided us all the information we needed to make a good decision at a fair price. His team came in on time and did the job well.

This season when i tried to use my ductless A/C Heat Pump, i found that the system would trip the circuit breaker after running for a couple of hours. I initially called another company to service it. That company wanted to increase the breaker from 20 Amps to 30. I wasn't comfortable with that assessment and asked that they find the root cause. They were unable to truly diagnose the problem and chalked it up to a bad compressor. I was suspicious of this diagnoses too, so i paid them for the service call and called LB Heating and Air Conditioning to give me a second opinion. On his first visit James determined the problem to be a broken electrical wire feeding one of the indoor units. We arranged for him to come back and fix it, which he did. He was always punctual, reliable and honest. Everything now works perfectly, and James showed us the piece of wire that he had replaced, it was charred and clearly had been arcing, so i am relieved i didn't go with the first suggestion of increasing the breaker, as the potential for a fire would have been a lot higher.

I just had a new natural gas furnace installed. Ted, who came down to provide me with the quote had an immense knowledge of boilers and there installation making others seem poor by comparison. He recommended the Viessmen boiler which is working great. The attention to detail was great, they were focused on aesthetics and function. They completed the job in a day starting at 7am and not leaving till after 9pm, making sure the job was complete. They were not the cheapest of the companies I had quote but the knowledge and great service made them the best choice.

L & B has provided us with excellent customer service for over a decade, installing and maintaining the furnace and air conditioning and providing timely repair services as needed. Ted and his team are friendly and reliable. I would have no hesitation recommending the company to others.