Wilsons Home Heating

In 2023 we had a Lennox Heat Pump installed through the Greener Homes Initiative.

It started really well and it appeared that Wilson's was the only company to do a Manual J Calculation to right size our system.

However, everything since the install day (October 5-6 2023) has been a nightmare.

It was not articulated to us that we would need to run new electrical wire in order to complete the installation. The electrician sent from 1st Electric came hours after the initial crew came, and drilled upwards of 11 holes through my entire basement to run the wire. A drywaller who came to repair this would comment on how bad the electrician messed the place up.

The installation was done incorrectly, as my state-of-the-art Lennox Inverter system was not configured for staging, so it operated the same as the 12 year old single stage system we were removing.
The install team seemed to just operate on rails and did not think for themselves, removing an existing thermostat wire to pull a wire with fewer connectors...

The problems continued, as following the installation, I kept getting condensate leaks, as their installation messed up the existing condensation draining from my Heat Pump Hot Water Heater. After several service calls, they finally installed an electric pump to isolate the condensate from the Lennox, and pump it outside.

Fast forward to the winter, and I notice that aux heat is on all the time. I called in to inquire why this would be, as this new system is supposed to fine to at least -20C before electric heat would need to kick in.

The technician who came (Nick, Feb 9 2024) advised that the inverter board needed replacement, and that he suggested my S40 thermostat be replaced as well, due to slowness and other errors he saw on it.

My friend, who has the exact same system, installed at a similar time, with the exact same problems had another technician (Alex) diagnose his system with the same problem.

Some weeks later, when the parts arrived, a new technician arrived to install it (Scott, March 1 2024). This technician indicated that the board was likely not defective, and there is a setting that "fixes this exact problem". Evidently this was a "Heating Factor" setting which is often set too high, causing the over-current issues. I asked why this would be installed this way, and I could not get a straight answer. In the end, the technician changed the setting and left without replacing any hardware.

A few weeks later, I notice my aux heat is still engaging, and I'm still riddled with notifications on the system of failures. I engage support again, and they send a new technician (Chris, March 20) to come replace the board, but he does not replace the thermostat.

Today, March 26th 2024 - I receive an alert email from Lennox indicating my system has lost connection to the Heat Pump, since 5am this morning, and is running on aux heat since. On my thermostat I have multiple errors and notifications, and "Service Urgent" alerts.

The Lennox SL25XPV-036 | CBA38MV-036 system we had installed so far is not impressing us. Our power bills have been insane, and far exceed the bills we had when we had less insulation and our 12 year old Single Stage Goodman heat pump. It appears, through the words of the technicians who have been here, that the installation was absolutely botched with settings not being correct, and none of the technicians seem to even agree with eachother on what the problems are. For months this system has not run properly, and 20k later, we see nothing but problems.

I would absolutely NOT recommend Lennox or Wilsons as a service provider based on our experience. My issues were evidently escalted to management, and the installation team engaged, but I have yet to hear any real explanations or solutions.

Today is March 30th 2024, and at 9:45am it's 4 degrees outside, and my aux heat is running. The notifications on my system indicate another inverter overcurrent failure.

This "state of the art inverter heat pump" is costing me more than the 12 year old single stage Goodman it replaced, as it seems to need to use electric heat backup even when it's above freezing outside.