Comfort Technology

Recently (2017) while thinking about retrofitting radiant heating under my floors, I quickly thought of Barry Cullen, who did work at my house in 2010.

History: Every few years, over about a 20-year period, my basement would flood, destroying my hot water heaters and washers and dryers. I had to shell out about $4,500 with each flood--about $45k over 20 years. After a really bad flood in March 2010, I decided I needed to think differently. I decided to move everything out of my basement. My options were limited because I own a small colonial in West Roxbury and use oil for heat and propane for my stove and hot water. Plus, I was a single female then living on a modest salary. I did have a home equity line of credit, thankfully. (Plus, I took advantage of a MassSave program and a Federal tax credit for home energy improvements under the Obama administration.)

I did tons of research and decided to install a Rinnai tankless water heater in my back office on my first floor. The plan was to convert the room into my new laundry room. I already had 2 custom, free standing cabinets in that room that I had designed myself and had built about ten years earlier. They were basically 7 foot tall wardrobes. I wanted to put the tankless water heater in one of the cabinets to hide the plumbing and place a new stacked washer and dryer set between the two cabinets.

Now, I found a lot of companies that could install tankless water heaters, but all of the other contractors were arrogant men and spoke to me like they thought women were stupid and annoying. One guy from Eastern Propane told me that the only option was to hang the unit on the wall in the center of the wall. Period. He refused to place it in the cabinet. He was a complete d*ck head.

Then a guy at a plumbing supply house suggested Comfort Technology. Barry and his team were AWESOME! They had no problem with me doing some of the prep work myself (to save on paying a carpenter). I sawed out the back and side of one of the wardrobes and secured it to the wall. (I did a lot more prep work than that, but explaining it would take a lot more time.) The water heater now resides in one of the cabinets.

Barry is an excellent communicator. His team was warm and friendly, and neat and tidy--and they really knew their stuff.

On top of not having to worry about the possibility that a March rainstorm might cause more financial damage, and on top of having a pretty little laundry room on the first floor of my home, my propane bills have dropped significantly!! The tankless hot water heater is amazing.

The reason that I'm only now leaving a review for Comfort Technology is that (1) I procrastinated, and (2) I was really floored to see a less flattering review when I looked Barry up to see if he does radiant floor heating (my latest project idea). I am happy to share photos of my laundry room project and before and after propane bills with anyone else thinking about converting to a tankless water heater. Thank you, Theresa Gaignard. (I never use my gmail. Creative people will be able to find me using my full name. Thanks and good luck with your projects, too!)

Barry was extremely nice and professional during the time our house was being built. He went above and beyond to help us with problems. However, he overlooked the dryer vent during the project. When it was pointed out to him, he said he would return to make things right. I felt trust and respect.He told us to purchase the dryer and he would install it himself and cut the vent. After 3 calls over several weeks after that, there is still no reply. Now I have a dryer I can’t use sitting in my basement, and the walls are closed. How much will it cost to hire someone to vent the dryer?
Very disappointed and hurt, never mind the additional cost we will incur.

Barry and his crew has been great to deal with. They installed in a Unico high velocity system and my wife and I can’t be happier with the install and the product selection. They were also very helpful in addressing my indoor air quality issues.

Very disappointing. Comfort Technology installed my burner a few years ago. I developed a problem with the burner recently and tried multiple times to obtain service. Made 3+ phone calls and left messages. No one ever called back. :(