Undersized heater

[dmstrmac1]

What is the name of your state California I am 54 years old on SSI Disabled and I need to have both hips replaced, Back in November of 05 the heater in my home started giving me problems. A friend told me about an organization called community action. A county sponsored program that helps low income families. I contacted them, and they replaced my heater. They contracted the job to Artic Aire the in the beginning of 06. The first month of using the heater my electric bill hit 1600.00 , my summer bills ranged from 90 to 140 depending on how much I ran the swamp cooler. I called Artic Aire and told you that something has to be wrong. They came out and checked it out and said it was OK. That it had to be the meter. I contacted PG&E it took a year of me complaining before they came out and checked the meter, To say that the meter was fine. The first winter with the new heater because of the high electric cost I had to get on the balance payment plan that PG&E offers. That starts out reasonable low but over time becomes very unaffordable for someone in my income bracket. After a while my monthly bills were around nine hundred dollars. That was the average,The actual cost were a thousand dollars and more in the winter months four and five months a year for the last three and a half winters. with a couple of months one being like I said earlier 1138.00 and once at 1498.00 dollars. Those were snow months. And that was setting the thermostat during the day at 68 and 55 while sleeping. Buy the end of winter being on the balance payment plan I owed PG&E in rears of over 3500.00 dollars that I had to pay off before the next winter. So that I could start over again with the astronomical electric bills all over again. This past DEC I got fed up stared checking around I contacted the manufacture of the heater that was installed, it is a Coleman EB10B The old one being a Coleman 6806A852. The manufacture informed me that the new heater that was installed was 160% smaller than the old heater, and that Artic Aire should have never put a heater that size in a home the size of mine.Artic Aire being the professionals in the business of heating should have known better. The old heater had a 25 KW heat strips. And the new heater had a 10 KW heat strips. Coleman (STYLE CREST) informed me that there was no way that the new heater that was installed could heat my house, that it would have to run continuously, and it does. Community Action Has agreed to replace my heater again and apologized, Steve Guthrie Community Action said he was very sorry and that they wished that he had paid better attention to what was being installed by Artic Aire.I have spent well over 13000.00 dollars on energy cost for the winter months over the last three and a half years(fourteen winter months). I have tried to heat with Kerosene but last year when that went to around five dollars a gallon I couldn't afford it either. This winter Jan Feb and March setting the thermostat at 68 during the day and 50 or less at night none of those month were under 1000 dollars. April was only because the weather improved a little. There were nights I turned the heater off completely, and water left out on the kitchen counter froze. I spoke to the installation manager at Artic Aire Bryan on 06/01/09 and explained about my PG&E cost he acted like they were going to help me and said that he had to talk to his boss and said he would call me back the next day. He didn't call me back and after a number of attempts to get him back on the phone with excuses after excuse of him just leaving, and leaving my phone number over and over for him to call me, and being told that he would call me. And him never getting back in touch with me. On 06/06/09 I had to overdraw my bank account to the tune of 1036.00 to pay my monthly PG&E bill. .Now I have learned that the heater they installed wasn't installed to code being that the heat strips are on the same breaker as the fan motor. One breaker for the entire system as well as no permits for the instalation.I have lived in this home for over twenty years and have never had electric bills this high untill after this heater was installed . PG&E has sent me years of old bills to prove that the heater is the only reason for such a dramatic change in my energy cost. I have had three and a half years to compile my evidence ,and I have a pile.This program was setup to help people not put them in debt. Royal Hawkley for Artic Aire took my old PG&E bills after telling me they would work with me to try to help .After a couple of weeks of them looking my bills over he came to my house and told me that he didn't feel right giving me any money because they figure that my winter bills should be a thousand dollars a month anyway Even though I have lived here over twenty years and never had a bill as high as I do now due to the heater they installed. And he admitted that the heater is to small and can't heat my home. Bottom line they installed a heater in my home that cant heat my house . Can I sue them for Punitive damages To recovver my losses?

Thank You
David Ramey

[racer72]

Can I sue them for Punitive damages To recovver my losses?

Simple answer, no.

[dmstrmac1]

You have to much time on your hands or if 72 is your age maybe you don't over 11000 posts.It's not our fault your 72

[racer72]

I'll give you the $3 answer instead of the 50 cent answer then. Punitive damages are only awarded when compensatory damages are deemed inadequate to make the plaintiff whole again. You don't state you have any plans to sue for any damages other than punitive damages. You can't do that. So the answer to your question is no. Simple, huh?

Also, that has to be the lamest retalitory post I have ever received. Guess this is what we should expect from a twit like you. Try Google next time, you won't appear to be such a moron next time. BTW, I am far from 72 years old.

[Banned_Princess]

Maybe I'd be interested in reading if it didn't look like a huge mess of unrelated details.

Why are people opposed to paragraphs? never mind the white space needed, at least cut it up into paragraphs.

[Rexlan]

Originally Posted by dmstrmac1

You have to much time on your hands or if 72 is your age maybe you don't over 11000 posts.It's not our fault your 72

What kind of lame ass crap are you peddling?

Your opening statement ... I'm on on SSI Disabled and I need to have both hips replaced .... so what does that have to do with the heater?

You should be thankful that there is a system in place to help you instead of looking for a free desert to go with your free lunch.

You live on the social system, got free most everything and a free HVAC system. Now you bitching because you have to pay for the power to run it? Get real.

The size of the heater is irrelevant to the amount of energy it uses to keep you home to a happy temp. Only an idiot would try to use Kerosene as a cheaper alternative to electric which is 100% efficient.

10Kw, while it is probably too small, uses precisely 10KW when it is on. 25KW uses precisely 2.5 times that amount when it is on. So if your unit runs 20 hours a day now then the 25KW unit will still run 8 hours in the same period using the same amount of energy.

Any now you want punitive damages ... money .... for more Kerosene probably!

[Ultranothing]

Another old person complaining about their thermostat!

Your opening statement ... I'm on on SSI Disabled and I need to have both hips replaced .... so what does that have to do with the heater?

The OP is simply trying to paint a picture for the reader in an attempt to garner sympathy and a desirable response. Duh.

You should be thankful that there is a system in place to help you instead of looking for a free desert to go with your free lunch.

Okay, but $1400 for an electric bill when the thermostat is set that low?

[dmstrmac1]

My old heater had 25 KW heat strips the new one has 10 kw strips.The Thermostat was set at 68 during the day and at 55 at night. and the heater still wouldn't cycle off,at night. And the company that installed the heater got paid for it they didn't do it for free. Community action paid them. I worked all my life and I paid my taxes. I am not on SSI. I am collecting my ss disiability that I paid for working as a tool and die machinist. Working for 3M. I didn;t want to look a gift horse in mouth. But the professional heat and cooling company installed a heater according to the manufacture of the heater (Coleman) that was only capable of heating a travel trailer.

[dmstrmac1]

I did try lowering my cost by burning KEROSENE but thats allmost 5 bucks a gallon now your a f------ idiot you have no idea what your talking about.

[Rexlan]

Originally Posted by dmstrmac1

I did try lowering my cost by burning KEROSENE but thats allmost 5 bucks a gallon now your a f------ idiot you have no idea what your talking about.

That was my point ...LOL. You don't seem to understand that the cost of a BTU of kerosene is about 2x that of electricity and half again that of oil!. So to save money you tried to use kerosene - brilliant.

Why not just buy your own heater of choice?

Who pays for your electricity?