K & J Comfort

My family contracted with K&J Comfort to install a wood furnace and to tie it into our existing ductwork with a propane furnace. This investment was supposed to be something that made our family feel safe and warm, instead we were put into a situation that had the potential to burn down our family home.
Total installation took 19 days and the installation commenced 39 days after the initial deposit was paid. The installation process took longer because we had several days of the company showing up late and/or not at all. Additionally, we received excuses for the time delay ranging from responding to emergencies and waiting on parts(which had been in the original quote 39 days before). We were able to utilize the furnace for 18 days at which time I determined it was back-feeding into the existing furnace and creating a dangerous situation. This was determined by the filter losing all structural integrity and almost igniting in the cold air return of the other furnace. It took K&J Comfort 16 days to come back to the residence to indeed find out that the furnaces were back-feeding each other. At this point I reached out to the manufacturer and found out this furnace was designed as a standalone system and could not run in conjunction with another furnace. In fact, there were manufacturer stickers warning against this, which inexplicably had been removed from the front of my stove. K&J Comfort originally said he would make it right. I tried to get him to recoup at least half of the cost, but I was told that he lost money on the job and that it was as much my fault because I had the same access to the wood furnace documentation as him. I hired a professional to install a wood furnace and did not expect to have to research the mechanics of how the professional installation was to work, and I did not expect to have to monitor their performance with the installation. After weeks of go around between myself and K&J Comfort, I was left with a brand-new furnace that we could not use without jeopardizing a threat of disaster in my family’s home.
From the manufacturer’s installation manual, I discovered these apparent code violations after the fact:
o Single wall stovepipe must be 18” from a combustible, the furnace was placed at 7 1/2” from the wall.
o INSTALLATION: Not to be connected to ductwork that is still connected to another furnace. This was connected to another furnace.
o Plenum must have 6” of clearance to combustible, this install had 3” clearance with the main propane line to the entire house running above the plenum reducing that to 2 ½” at that point.
o Take offs must have 6” of clearance from the furnace out 6’. In this case the main support beam was in direct contact with the duct at 4’5”.
If you choose to go with this Company, I wish you and your family luck, but my advice would be to continue to keep looking. I would be willing to discuss my experiences with anyone at any time.

Kevin came and diagnosed our AC problem. He asked for $623 up front for the part needed to correct our issue. I didn't think much of it until he asked that the check be made out to him personally instead of the company. As I was writing the check I asked why? He said it was a small job, and he was just going to do it on the side. My mistake. That was in April of 2019. Many phone calls and texts later, and we still have never heard a word back. DO NOT hire this company for ANYTHING!! See you in court Kevin.................

Buyer Beware. For large jobs make sure you get a written contract up front and research the type of equipment needed. Kevin asked for a deposit upfront. 3 days after giving him the deposit check he contacted us and asked us to call the bank Manager at *** and verify that he could cash the check we gave him. We should have canceled then – what kind of business needs to have customers verify that a business should be allowed could cash a check from a customer? Kevin marketed us by telling us he would provide us the A/C equipment required at his cost only to find out from the local supplier that we were charged almost 3 times the cost. We also paid him almost $700 for a condenser which he never provided. Some of the installed ductwork was not sealed properly and we had to make other arrangements to ensure proper sealing. We asked for, and were promised an invoice, multiple times but never received one. We only received a partial estimate 18 days after we had given him a deposit. We were charged sales tax for a Capital Improvement project. We provided him with a completed Capital Improvement form and he refused to refund the sales tax. As a result we have alerted the NYS Dept of Taxation – Sales Tax Audit Bureau. I noted that there is a quote on the Google Search indicating K&J Comfort is ***e (***) certificated - but not listed on currently updated ***’s listing of certified EPA 608 Technicians. The nearest listed *** certified technicians in the North Country is in Vermont and some are in the Albany Area. Note this company is also listed as K&J Comfort Inc (other than Corp).

We hired K&J Comfort as they sounded like they knew what they were doing. First he shows up and never once used bootys or drop cloths in our home. He failed to read the addition drawing correctly and quoted the wrong size duct work. After realizing this a month later he tries to put the cost on us for his mistake. He was also not knowledgeable on local code, so after the inspector told him the duct work had to be wrapped, again he says the cost is on us. He never shut off the main water line and cut into the line which in turn flooded our finished basement causing $15,000 in damage. Again this was our fault due to “the valve failing.” To top this all off he didn’t even stop working to suck up the water. Every time Kevin left my house we had to follow behind him cleaning up his mess. This is the most unprofessional company I have ever dealt with. When he “finished” (only a portion of what was discussed) we had to find someone else to move vents, and redo our return air he never installed. The new master bedroom and bath hardly have any air flowing due to the ducts not being sized properly and no return air installed. After further investigation he did not wrap the duct work seams in tape so we are loosing a bunch of air. This job is not satisfactory. He did not measure our vanity correctly for the rough in plumbing. this caused us to have to put two large holes in our $900 vanity.