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This profile includes reviews for Americool Heating and A/C LLC's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Americool Heating and A/C LLC

  21822 Old Highway 99 SW Centralia, WA 98531-9649

  
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  Americool Heating and A/C LLC

  PO Box 880 Rochester, WA 98579

  

Review Details

• Review fromRyan F

  Date: 05/13/2025

  1 star

  Ryan F

  Date: 05/13/2025

  We hired AmeriCool to install the **** system in our new build in *******. When placing the heat pump, they opted for convenience instead of paying attention to the design of the home. Whereas the plans called for a unit which exhausted upward, they opted to install a unit which exhausted out the side -- and pointed that right at our front door/porch and directly across several thousand dollars worth of landscaping that had already been installed (unit placement was one of the last install items). Flash forward to winter. Though the weather was typical PNW -- rainy but above freezing -- the heat pump's frigid exhaust created an ever-thickening layer of ice on the concrete porch and steps just outside the front door and along the paver walkway leading to the driveway. Also, the exhaust desiccated several of our plants. We contacted the manufacturer who stated we could build a 4' high cedar slat fence 2' in front of the unit to redirect the exhaust, but this ultimately failed because the unit was tucked into a corner nook between the garage and home. The redirected exhaust built up an ice sheet under the unit and 10' up the adjacent gutter until the ice pushed the unit over on its side. Americool's response: "It happens and you're not under warranty." We worked with another company on a solution which we ultimately performed ourselves -- a wind baffle coupled with gapping the fence slats, a tray under the unit with underground piping to our storm drain, installation of an outlet and placing a plug-in deicing rod in the tray to keep the condensate drainage liquid so it can drain away. On a new build! They could have located the unit anywhere! Or better yet just installed the upward-exhausting unit called for in the plans. Just avoid these fools.

  Americool Heating and A/C LLC

  Date: 05/15/2025

  We are extremely sorry you are experiencing these issues. That being said, we are not the ones to blame. First off, we were not hired by the homeowner, we were hired by the builder. We had zero interaction with the homeowner until the project was nearly 100% complete. Secondly, we do not determine the heat pump location, nor do we decide the heat pump model to be installed. The builder chose the heat pump location at the time of conception, and the homeowner approved it as well prior to construction. As for the heat pump model/type, the side discharge style of unit is what all builders have had to switch to in order to meet the energy code requirements. Furthermore, we had zero service calls for this system during the first two years of operation. In fact, our first call from this customer was in February of this year, asking us to send someone out to level the heat pump. We let him know that we'd be happy to help, but that the work would be billable, since the system was out of the labor warranty period, and that we only offer heat pump leveling during the first year of operation. This is because we have no control over the surface we set our unit on, so we rely on the builder and/or homeowner to provide a compacted surface to slow down/reduce settling. Lastly, we would have never recommended building a solid fence in front of the unit, and I highly doubt the manufacturer would have made this recommendation either. There are some other inconsistencies I could go into detail about, but I feel I have already made my point. I guess the one thing I can say is had I known that the homeowner would be planting thousands of dollars of delicate plants that would be damaged by subfreezing temperatures directly in front of our heat pump, I might have recommended against it. Feel free to reach out should you need anything!

  Ryan F

  Date: 05/16/2025

  When doing one of these reviews, never post your photos or give full details until after the contractor responds. Inevitably, they will craft a story that fits around what you have posted, as AmeriCool has done here, then you can sweep in with the rest of the info and impeach their character. The plants were installed during the rough-in phase -- 10 months BEFORE AmeriCool installed the outdoor unit in late summer 2023. Due to construction delays, the certificate of occupancy was not issued until April 2024. So the first winter the unit was only used to keep the home at 50F for construction. The icing occurred, the ********** manual stated obstructions could be placed 20" in front, 14" to the right, and 4" to the left. We confirmed this directly with **********, and installed a 4' high fence just around the unit to redirect the exhaust. It was built at a diagonal to not just block but rather redirect. Things were fine the first winter after that. However, when heating to 68F the following winter, the unit tipped due to ice build up from the unit's condensate running underneath the foam pad AmeriCool installed -- there was no issue with ground subsidence. Per another **** company, though the fence far exceeded the required clearances, it was the swirling of exhaust air in that nook that lowered the temps enough to ice that much. So, yes, the fence is the issue but the fence was only built to stop the exhaust from icing the front porch due to bad placement. To reiterate this, the unit is 10' from the concrete front porch -- poured before AmeriCool was hired -- blowing directly across the porch. Of course that was going to lead to constant ice, and **********'s installation manual mentions this with regard to choosing a proper install location. I'm not convinced AmeriCool read that manual. Now, until install, we expected an upright unit as per the building plans (which also advise the HVAC installer to vet the install location) -- and we suspect AmeriCool only figured out the flaw on the day of installation and just let it go. It was AmeriCool's job to identify during the rough in phase that they would need a horizontal unit and that it would not work in that location so the rough in could be routed to one of many potential alternative locations. Finally, the plants are a fir tree, cranberries, and winter jasmine -- all cold hardy down to negative 40F. They are not fragile -- the issue is the constantly blowing winds from the unit, which desiccate the needles/leaves. Without the exhaust being redirected, there could be no plants along the entire front of this home. Again, the ********** installation manual directly speaks about this. Future customers, read what this company did just within this review. This is not someone you want to hire. Photos are worth ***** words, and they are posted at common review sites.

  Americool Heating and A/C LLC

  Date: 05/19/2025

  By "construction delays", I assume this was because of potential legal action with other contractors working on this project? That's right, we weren't the only contractor on this project having issues with you. I'm not going to continue to go back and forth with you. Everything I stated was factual based on the information I had available to me when responding to your review. If you continue to harass my company on review platforms and social media sites, I will have no choice but to pursue legal action. 

  Ryan F

  Date: 05/19/2025

  AmeriCool has posted the following at a different review site regarding this review: "At this point you've given me enough information that I feel I would have a strong case in court against you. If you continue to pursue this witch ****, I will have no choice but to take legal action." They seem incapable of understanding their error, much less taking responsibility for it. I would look forward to collecting attorney's fees on such a frivolous suit (I hold a paralegal degree from **, in addition to a Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine, so I am very confident in my position). Potential customers should analyze how ********************** mishandled our install and negatively responded to our feedback when determining whether to hire such a company. How are they likely to treat you?

  Ryan F

  Date: 05/21/2025

  Final Comment: You do not seem to grasp your error, which means you are likely to repeat it. You were the **** expert -- it was your job to identify that the install location would not work, especially since you opted to switch from an upright unit to a side exhaust unit -- even if that choice was in order to comply with updated code, as you have stated. This situation could have been avoided during the rough in by choosing a different location, but you said nothing. Either you failed to recognize the issue, felt too intimidated to bring it up to other contractors, or simply did not care. Any of those possibilities should be weighed by future customers. Using legal threats to silence dissent suggests there are other negative experiences not reflected in the review record if this is your practice. I will not be silent. Yes, our excavator did have to pay $47k in damages after 1.) inexplicably digging out an 8' crawl space, adding $20,000 to the foundation concrete cost, 2.) failing to install the perimeter drains we paid for, requiring us to have it done after the fact by another contractor for an additional 18k, 3.) stealing the rock off our driveway to compact the foundation, requiring us to replace it, and 4.) using too small a diameter pipe to connect the septic he installed to our home per code, among other items. Two other similar disputes were resolved amicably and will not be mentioned in this forum. MANY other contractors did an excellent job and received very positive reviews accordingly. Your work was subpar, and people should know. And the way you reacted to criticism is also something they should know. I hope you take the criticism to heart and make changes, but it sounds like you won't. I am very confident in my position and equally unconcerned about your legal threats.

  Americool Heating and A/C LLC

  Date: 05/22/2025

  Believe me when I say that we do make plenty of mistakes, which we have no problem owning up to and making things right. In this case, I don't feel that we are responsible for your issues.

  Here are the FACTS:

  -You either chose or agreed to the heat pump location when designing the home. Americool had no involvement in this part of the process. 

  -The plans did show a traditional style heat pump, but that was meant to show the location of the unit, not call out a specific make/model that should be installed. I quoted a high end ********** 11 HSPF side discharge heat pump system, which was needed to meet the energy codes. This was prior to the start of construction, so you had plenty of time to look at other heat pump options or decide on a different location.

  -According to the plans that I was provided, the wall that the unit is on is 18' from your steps, which places the edge of the unit around 16' away from your steps. This should have provided plenty of room to eliminate any issues associated with icing on your steps/walkway. If you chose to reroute your steps and walkway differently than what was shown on the plans, that is on you. 

  -You used basic guidelines from the installation manual to determine the proper clearance from obstructions, and built a solid fence enclosing the unit on all four sides. Little did you know, those guidelines give you minimum clearance when only one side is obstructed. If you were to look in the actual service manual, you would have seen that you aren't allowed to obstruct the discharge side of the unit if the other three sides are obstructed as well. We were not involved in the decision to build a fence around the unit, completely enclosing it, which ultimately lead to the unit having multiple issues.

  -In one of the photos you provided you can clearly see that your downspout is plugged, as there as a waterfall of ice running down the wall around said downspout. This is the same downspout that drains the gutter running over to your front porch. If icing is of your steps/sidewalk is an issue, perhaps it is due to your downspout being plugged?

   

  We install thousands of heat pump systems a year all throughout ****************, and these types of situations are rare. If there is one thing I've learned over the 27 years I've been in **** is there are some people you just can't make happy. Regardless of who is at fault, we will continue to strive for better, and we will use these situations as a learning tool to help us be more prepared in the future.