Recommendation for gas fireplace and water heater repair

Does anyone have a recommendation for a person or company that can troubleshoot a gas fireplace and a gas hot water heater? My go-to company who I have been recommending to people for years now has a policy where they charge $145 PER APPLIANCE to just come out and look- doesn't include parts
or repairs. Needless to say I am looking for a replacement company. Thanks!

 

I've had good results with Wacker Plumbing, http://www.wackerplumbing.com/, 703-450-5565. They repaired our hot water heater when others just wanted to sell us a new one. I'm not sure about the gas fireplace but I know they do gas work; our hot water heater is gas and we had a problem with our gas stovetop and they repaired that.

 

I think Wacker has a trip charge too - but I think they credit it back to the repair if you use them.

 

I would recommend that you call around and ask questions of several places to see what they do and how they charge. i'm just suggesting that one of the places you call is Wacker. My experiences with them were better than others I tried to use.

They were willing to repair my water heater, others wanted to sell me a new one (or in one case, didn't show up or return calls). When the heater finally failed, Wacker 's price was less than the others I checked. Wacker uses a time and materials approach to repairs but give a fixed price for a new water heater.

As I remember it, for repairs, Wacker charged a minimum amount to come out; I think this was a travel fee and a minimum time charge. If they can fix the problem in that call, you pay the trip fee, the time needed (if more than the minimum time is needed), and parts. If they have to come back, you pay the initial minimum fee at the time of the first visit and then the time and materials when they return (no additional trip fees). I found this scary but when it was all over, I felt the price I paid for the repair was reasonable. When the heater started to fail again (quite a bit later), they sent someone over to look at it with no charge. This led to a new heater and they had the best cost. Throughout, I found them reasonable to work with and I felt they cared about me as a customer.

Note: We have two HVAC systems in our house. Due to some odd circumstances, I have service contracts on them with different HVAC contractors. These are HVAC and plumbing contractors. They were where I got the additional (higher) water heater quotes, being an existing customer didn't seem to make a difference with them.

The cost of travel (trip fees) will be in the charges somewhere. As far as I can tell, some will charge it up front, some will add (or hide) it to the cost of the work, and some do both.

 

Thanks for the info. I was just shocked when my go-to place wanted to charge $145 per appliance to come out and look. And we had also offered a gas cooktop hookup- so just a for them to show up would have been $435. Insane. Needless to say I will never use them again for anything...

We actually got the fireplace working ourselves, just needed some major cleaning on the wires. If we can't get the water heater working I will definitely call Wacker. Thanks for the detailed info!

 

I had my water heater replaced by Modern Mechanical and would not recommend them. PM if you want the details, but the cost was the least of our problems......

 

I've had problems finding someone to service my gas fireplace. Last year I called three companies. Two failed to show up to their appointments. The third showed up, discovered that it needed a new pilot assembly, and said he would be back in two weeks with the part. Four weeks later I realized he hadn't returned and called him. No reply. After several weeks of calls and no response I gave up on him.

This year I called a new place and the results are great. Amazing Flame. They came as scheduled, did the work, had the part in-stock on their vehicle! They charge $189 for a visit, and that includes cleaning all the parts. Usually a cleaning is all a gas fireplace needs. The new pilot assembly was $175 (part + tax & install). I'm happy with that.