We have been living a nightmare due to the overwhelming incompetence and negligence of our builder First View Homes and their heating contractor.

We upgraded to a high efficiency furnace for our new home. When Enbridge came to inspect the furnace and water heater, neither one would start and they were red tagged as not passed. The Barrie city inspector without doing an occupancy inspection signed off and issued an occupancy permit anyway which was obviously a health and safety violation of the building code. So because of this incompetent inspector we had to take possession of a home with untested gas appliances.

Enbridge was scheduled to return but was contacted by the contractor who cancelled the re-inspection. When the heating contractor finally got the furnace and water heater operating they failed to shut the systems down and contact Enbridge to inspect as required by the Ontario Energy Act. Instead they removed the red tag and illegally activated both the furnace and the hot water heater that were never passed. Later that year when the furnace was required for heating we found that the 100,000 btu furnace had a slight intermittent gas leak. A technician stated it was our water heater purging the gas on its cycle. We had not ever heard of that before and believe it was an excuse not to find the leak. We also found that the furnace could not properly heat our home and on cold days we could get a maximum of only 60 F on the main floor and as low as 50 F on the second floor.

When we complained, our idiot builder said to turn the heat up. I told him the thermostat was set at 68 F and since it was a single stage furnace it was running flat out 24/7 as it could never satisfy the thermostat setting. He would do nothing so we called the heating contractor. After several visits by different techs, nobody could find the problem. I kept saying that the plenum was barely warm which should have told them something was wrong. We even contacted the furnace manufacturer for help but they would not send their troubleshooter and the negligent contractor who could not assess the problem never asked them for help. So we froze for the winter wasting incredible amounts of gas, using electric heaters and our gas fireplace to try and get some heat. We again tried to get the furnace manufacturer out for the second winter as it was so very obvious that the contractor was incompetent and a waste of our time. The furnace manufacturer still resisted giving us any help and once again we are forced to freeze for a second winter. We should note that we also put this deficiency on our 1-Year home warranty claim which was denied without even an investigation by the most builder biased Tarion claim rep. we have ever seen.

We finally convince the furnace manufacturer to come and meet with the contractor but it is now April and the furnace is shutdown so we start it up. The furnace manufacturer tech once at the furnace found and corrected the problem in a minute. The gas pressure was only set at 1 inch but the furnace required 3.5 inches of pressure for proper operation. A simple to detect and correct problem was missed by the heating contractor over and over. We were advised that any half way competent tech would only have to view the burner flame through the sight glass to realize the problem. It was estimated that our 100,000 btu furnace was only operating at about 40,000 btu for the two winters. As you may imagine we suffered many cold and flu related illnesses with our immune systems stressed out with the continuous cold temperatures we had to endure. For all the negligence, there was an offer to replace the existing furnace. To try and recoup some of the wasted energy costs we paid for, we received their best high eff. two stage variable speed furnace.

Well you would think all would be good from now on. Not with this contractor. They came to replace the furnace later that June. When they finished, they test fired to ensure the furnace is starting and then the system is shut down. The good thing we noticed is that the intermittent gas leak we had for two years supposedly from the water heater, was gone after the new furnace was installed. It was the old furnace leaking all along and we were fortunate that it did not get worse over that time. Later in October we started the furnace up. Shortly after that we start getting unexplained headaches and nausea which was uncommon. This went on for a month until I am down in my workshop one day while the furnace was operating. I detected an odour smelling like exhaust fumes. I removed the furnace cover and find that the exhaust vent pipe had completely detached from the blower, sitting about 4 inches up and offset from the blowerm opening. As you can imagine the furnace was spewing carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, hydrocarbons, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other kinds or particulates. It was now obvious what was causing the illness. Of course had Enbridge actually been called to inspect the furnace and hot water heater in the first place none of this nightmare would have happened.

I tried to pull the pipe back on the blower but there was far to much tension on the ABS pipe as it was bending over the natural gas pipe. It became very obvious that when the furnace was replaced the old furnace had a higher exhaust blower position than the new one. Instead of adding some abs pipe the negligent installers literally forced the pipe down so hard and barely got it on, then tightened a gear clamp. The exhaust pipe obviously came off from the heat and vibration on the first cycle. I called for service and I explained to the tech what the installers had done. He couldn't believe it and even he tried to put the pipe back on and could not even come close. The service tech, to get the vent to have the proper run and seat properly on the blower had to add 6 inches of pipe. This took which took all of a couple of minutes to do and ensure we had proper venting.

What kind off contractor risks the health of people for the sake of adding some pipe when it was obvious it was required for a safe installation. We were fortunate that this happened while the temperatures were mild and the furnace was running in low stage and infrequently. Had this pipe let go in the dead of winter with the furnace operating in high stage and very frequently the outcome could have been far more serious. We could have suffered major carbon monoxide poisoning or worst case, death. There was absolutely no reason for the negligence of this contractor from day one.

Our problems are still not over and we want to mention further negligence from the contractor. The furnace was finally operating as it should, which is to say putting out the btu's it is supposed to and safely this time. We then noticed that with the system balanced as well as possible, we were getting temperature variances of up to 8 F degrees colder on the second floor than the main floor and thermostat setting. We again put the deficiency on our 2-Year home warranty claim along with our gas fireplace that has continued to cause fumes throughout the house. This new claim rep did have the heating system investigated but unbelievably denied what we feel could be a serious venting problem with the fireplace. This is despite the fact that she smelled the fumes while 50 feet from the fireplace and it is improper operation of the gas fireplace according to the manufacturer. Given the track record of this contractor in our house we believe it is negligent not to investigate a problem with a gas appliance.

As far as the overall heating system, we found out that after we had greatly customized the floor plan and added 300 sq. ft., the contractor did not design a new system to work with the new layout. They instead went the cheap route and took the standard plan and tried to make it work. After it was assessed, it was determined the complete duct system was a mess. Two of the three return air vents on the second floor are not even tied into the system as they placed them over door openings on the main floor which obviously dead ended in the ceiling. This caused poor air circulation and stale air. It was determined also that there should have been 2 more returns installed on the second floor for adequate air circulation and improve the problem of the cold areas. They found 2 supply air's missing, tons of leaks in both hot and cold air ducts, over sized ducts to the main floor and undersized ducts to the second floor. There are undersized dampers in ducts and a host of other problems in the layout and installation of this heating system to list. This will cost thousands of dollars to correct and the liability is to the builder as they are ultimately responsible for their trades.

We have owned about ten homes over time and have never encountered any heating system problems with any of them until this house. When others have heard about this they are completely dumbfounded that even a fraction of the problems we have had could even occur. Our health was affected greatly and we were put at serious risk of severe injury and worst case even death. Even today we are still exposed to a fireplace that is not functioning properly with no help from consumer protection that we should be entitled to.