Sila Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical

Rob, from Sila, did the annual AC system servicing today. He explained the various elements of the system clearly, identified areas of possible concern, completed necessary tasks efficiently, and made the visit a very professional and positive one.

Of course, my furnace stopped working on a cold Sunday. After many tries, I could not get a return call from any repair service. Until I called this company. They promptly answered all of my questions about their service including costs, and scheduled for the next morning at 7am. The next day was a holiday, and snowing pretty hard. But the HVAC service person, Guy, arrived on time. He inspected the furnace, which unfortunately was out of date, required hard to obtain parts and would be expensive to repair. I decided to to replace the old furnace. Guy explained all of our options, re-inspected to furnace and our cellar, checked prices and rebates. After making our decision, Sila came the next day at 7am with a full crew to replace and install the new furnace. I must commend this company for their swift and professional response by the emergency HVAC servicer Guy; the staff for being available and answering my call on a Sunday morning, and the next day furnace replacement crew.

Guy from Sila took a deep dive into our very old and complex heating system. He restored water pressure, fixed a leak, and flushed the system. He also went around bleeding radiators and got some to work that I have never seen work! Great job of investigation and repair.

Guy, the service technician, was on time, professional and completed the replacement of our pressure expansion tank promptly. What more could you ask for? I have been using Sila for years and they never let me down.

Service was great as always. It was very easy to book the appointment and the technician answered all of my questions. He was also nice enough to install a new air filter for free, even though the company changed policy and stopped providing those for free (which I wasn't informed about).

Can't say enough positive things about Sila! The tech was on time, professional, and extremely thorough. And they are very competitively priced! Recommend without hesitation.

SILA performed the annual maintenance on my very old boiler. I had known for a while that I would have to replace it eventually, and it turned out that it was emitting too much carbon monoxide, so it wasn’t safe. SILA came first thing the next day to install a new “combo” system – a high-efficiency system with a water heater as part of the system, vented out the side of the house. It was a big job. The Foreman, Bob Skinner, was clear and explained what I should expect. The installation team – Ying Chen, Jose Cirino, and Joe Dixon (there were some other people too the first day, but I don’t have all their names) – were respectful, professional, non-judgmental about my messy house, and really good at explaining things and not talking down to me. The administrative office part of things has also been terrifically helpful, including Jodie who will be helping me apply for a rebate. As part of this installation, SILA will be coming in a few days to make sure that everything works to my satisfaction, which is a nice check. I couldn’t be happier with the work and the service.

Our heater stopped working at the end of the workweek; we called Sila & they were able to have someone at our place Saturday morning to fix it. The engineer Michael was really easy to work with - personable, friendly, clear when explaining the HVAC issue. He was able to identify the problem very quickly, find the part that was needed, and get our heater up & running again by early afternoon. We appreciated the swiftness with which he dealt with the problem & his helpful & personable demeanor. All-around good experience with Sila; would recommend.

Sila should be called "SILA THE RIPOFF COMPANY." My Lennox furnace (from 2014) failed during the record cold snap on 2/5/2023. I called Sila and said it was a Lennox, and what parts were working (fan, electronic ignition) and what weren't (no flame, no heat). Sila's phone rep explained that for weekend service just having a technician come to the house would cost $375, plus $90 per half-hour after that to fix anything. Steep, yes, but they told me they had a fully stocked truck so the parts would be available. It was very cold out! so I let them come. After about 10 minutes in the basement, the service tech informed me that the gas valve on my furnace was dead and needed to be replaced. "So you have it on the truck, right?" "No, Lennox parts have to be special ordered. We can't contact their warehouse until Monday morning." Then he asked for payment of $375. I pointed out that the truck was supposed to be "fully stocked" and that I had told the person on the phone that I had a Lennox furnace. If Lennox parts are not carried on the truck I could have waited until Monday morning for a regular service call at $125 instead of the weekend price of $375. Nope! He insisted on full payment "based on listening to a tape of the call." But that's not all, folks! He quoted me $1,150 for parts and labor ON TOP OF THE WEEKEND CHARGE of $375. He told me that price before he left. Then he called me again on Sunday to verify $1,150 and ask me if I'd like to schedule it? And then Sila sent me 2 follow up emails trying to schedule the work. No plumber has EVER tried so hard to rip me off. Once was enough. No thanks. My regular plumber charges $100 for a housecall and does not deceive his customers. He had me send him a cellphone pic of my furnace, and of the model and SN of the gas valve. He verified with Lennox that it was under warranty (10 year warranty, we're 9 years in.... so the part was free). SILA THE RIPOFF COMPANY didn't bother to ask about warranty coverage, so were they planning to charge me for the part that was free? Once the part arrived, my plumber was able to put it in, in under 30 minutes. He charged me $100 for the housecall and $80 for his time which ALSO included fixing a leaky sink in the same visit. So, let's recap. My plumber charged a grand total of $180, for a visit which included not only fixing my furnace with a FREE part because he bothered to check the warranty coverage, but also included fixing a leaky sink. SILA THE RIPOFF company charged me $375 for a weekend housecall when they KNEW I had a Lennox furnace, they KNEW they didn't carry Lennox parts on their truck, and they KNEW they were going to try to get me to pay them for ANOTHER housecall plus parts and labor... and their PLAN was to charge me $1,150 on top of the first call. For a grand total of (they hoped) $1,525 for 2 visits which would have totaled under 45 minutes total time spent in the house. Versus $180 total from my honest regular-guy plumber who also fixed something else during his visit. DON'T USE SILA. DON'T LET YOUR FRIENDS USE SILA. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Francisco arrived on time and was working very hard all day long to complete installation of A/C and furnace in one day. He was professional, knowledgeable and polite. I would definitely recommend him and his company Sila, although they are quite pricey, but high quality choice.
I also have to add that 2 weeks after installation I had a visit from Sila for system tuneup. John did incredible job, he spent 4 hours adjusting system to run flawlessly and quietly.
Finally, 2 more weeks later, master plumber David came to our place to make sure that new installation will pass a city inspection. So, it was incredible level of service at all steps that made me forget how expensive is everything these days.