Damn you, Direct Energy!

[crankcall]

Take it to them if you put it at the curb you will have to pay for it, and they will send collection agencies after you. Don't make your life any more difficult than it has to be.

This is the sensible advice here, they have a diligent collections group, get it out of your life without letting them in.

I dont understand why anybody that planned to live in a house more than 5years would rent any appliance, payback on average water heater/ water softner/ furnace is 4-5 years. Sure they offer no charge service, most of this stuff runs over 5 years without needing service. You can be assured the companies selling contracts are in it for profit not for savings for you.

 

[mxs]

OP, you bought the house with the water heater .... if you didn't want it, you should have made the previous owner, to get out of the water heater contract and have one installed by yourself. otherwise, you will have to pay 75 bucks which to me is pretty low compared to others and would not be worth my time to argue about.

 

[oilycreek]

Reading comprehension is not your friend...i said i got the exact same furnace as what DE sells....so unless their furnaces are not CSA approved, then neither is mine. EDIT* Just double checked and yes, the model number is CSA approved.

So when Enbridge keeps calling me to scare me with potential skyrocketing gas prices to lock me into a gas contract i should tell them to STFU cuz some guy on the internet says that they they dont do that?!

Now if thats a marketer representing himself as an Enbridge employee, we got ourselves a much bigger problem.

\It doesn't matter if Direct Energy sells it here, some are not approved in Canada if sold in the states, plus you lose your warranty. Yours happens to be CSA, now what colour is the vent pipe, it better be 636. You talk so much ****, yet you know nothing. It's stupidity like yours that gives us a bad name. You take the time to research furnaces, but are to lazy to research gas marketers, so you just blame Enbridge.

[h=3]What Enbridge Doesn’t Do[/h]Enbridge Gas Distribution does not provide the following services and does not authorize any other companies to provide them on our behalf:

• Sell, rent or service water heaters
• Sell, rent, install or service natural gas furnaces, stoves, fireplaces, pool heaters, barbecues or other appliances
• Sell environmental initiatives such as carbon credits
• Finance contracts for energy services
• Sell natural gas supply contracts

Now STFU if you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[oilycreek]

This is the sensible advice here, they have a diligent collections group, get it out of your life without letting them in.

I dont understand why anybody that planned to live in a house more than 5years would rent any appliance, payback on average water heater/ water softner/ furnace is 4-5 years. Sure they offer no charge service, most of this stuff runs over 5 years without needing service. You can be assured the companies selling contracts are in it for profit not for savings for you.

I did exactly what I told the OP to do, and they picked it up free of charge. I also PM'ed the op advice on making them decide to pick it up free. Their choice would be keep spending money on service calls every couple weeks, or take the tank away.

 

[Gary]

This is the sensible advice here, they have a diligent collections group, get it out of your life without letting them in.

I dont understand why anybody that planned to live in a house more than 5years would rent any appliance, payback on average water heater/ water softner/ furnace is 4-5 years. Sure they offer no charge service, most of this stuff runs over 5 years without needing service. You can be assured the companies selling contracts are in it for profit not for savings for you.

I realize I'm the 'minority', but in 16 yrs, I'm on my 3rd (rental) hot water heater, including one complete rebuild about 5 months ago.
Two of my tanks developed major leaks, both of them oozing water out the top - they replaced them right away.
The dude that rebuilt / replaced all the 'guts' did so because the heater would not hold the water at the set temperature - it would run cold, if left unused for 6hrs, or longer = cold showers in the morning, unless I got up very early, and ran the hot water tap for 5 minutes.......... that got tiring.
Certainly, I could haul the broken units up and down my ricketty old stairs, from my ancient basement, but I'd rather let someone else bust their nuts doing it.
I could also do all the required plumbing. I'd rather let a gas fitter muck with the gas lines however.
I'm VERY satisfied renting my hwh, and will never buy one. I don't know how much I've saved, but it would be substancial, if I had to hire a gas fitter, and or plumbers every time.
Furnaces on the other hand, seem to have a longer lifespan. Mine was installed in 1962, and is still running just fine (knock on wood), with very minimal maintainance.

 

[Red_Liner740]

Again Oilycreek strikes with his ****ing ignorance. What does the colour of the pipe have to do with the actual furnace?! The contractor installing the furnace is obligated to do so with the CSA approved material and methods. If you are insinuating that the contractor doesnt know what hes doing simply because he is not Enbridge employee that speaks to me about you and the rest of the Elitist enbridge employees.

Yes the pipe is 636, which is required for all high efficency furnaces due to the moisture build up. Unlike you i broaden my horizons by looking at all the venues and research myself all the necessary requirements for the work that needs to be done.

It just seems to me that you're ****** off that someone went out of their way to save money?

Regarding Enbridge....How am i talking out of my *** if i get a phone call and they represent themselves as Enbridge gas?!?! Fine, ENBRIDGE DOESNT SELL GAS, but just for a ****ing minute think that maybe someone is calling me in their name? Whether they are legit or not, i dont know!

You got anything else to add? Maybe my electrical wiring is not up to snuff for the furnace?

\It doesn't matter if Direct Energy sells it here, some are not approved in Canada if sold in the states, plus you lose your warranty. Yours happens to be CSA, now what colour is the vent pipe, it better be 636. You talk so much ****, yet you know nothing. It's stupidity like yours that gives us a bad name. You take the time to research furnaces, but are to lazy to research gas marketers, so you just blame Enbridge.

What Enbridge Doesn’t Do

Enbridge Gas Distribution does not provide the following services and does not authorize any other companies to provide them on our behalf:

• Sell, rent or service water heaters
• Sell, rent, install or service natural gas furnaces, stoves, fireplaces, pool heaters, barbecues or other appliances
• Sell environmental initiatives such as carbon credits
• Finance contracts for energy services
• Sell natural gas supply contracts

Now STFU if you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[oilycreek]

Again Oilycreek strikes with his ****ing ignorance. What does the colour of the pipe have to do with the actual furnace?! The contractor installing the furnace is obligated to do so with the CSA approved material and methods. If you are insinuating that the contractor doesnt know what hes doing simply because he is not Enbridge employee that speaks to me about you and the rest of the Elitist enbridge employees.

Yes the pipe is 636, which is required for all high efficency furnaces due to the moisture build up. Unlike you i broaden my horizons by looking at all the venues and research myself all the necessary requirements for the work that needs to be done.

It just seems to me that you're ****** off that someone went out of their way to save money?

Regarding Enbridge....How am i talking out of my *** if i get a phone call and they represent themselves as Enbridge gas?!?! Fine, ENBRIDGE DOESNT SELL GAS, but just for a ****ing minute think that maybe someone is calling me in their name? Whether they are legit or not, i dont know!

You got anything else to add? Maybe my electrical wiring is not up to snuff for the furnace?

It has nothing to do with someone saving money, it has everything to do with you attacking me, when you don't know what you're talking about, I asked the guy a question, and gave him some info about Enbridge, and you decided you're a know it all.You're accusing Enbridge of doing something they don't do. I am not insinuating anything, but I issue A and B tags on a daily basis, including guys not doing installs properly. Maybe you should put the same effort into researching gas marketers, as you did in your furnace. If they are actually saying they are Enbridge, then you should report them to Enbridge, but I am betting they are saying Ambridge, or aimbridge, which is the most common scam to get ppl to sign contracts. It's ignorance like yours that gives us a bad name. I am always explaining to ppl that Enbridge doesn't sigh contracts, and that Enbridge and Direct Energy are different companies, the difference is they don't say **** about me like you did.
And the colour has everything to do with it, 636 is normally white, but recently there is a dark gray colour. Black, cream, light gray ect isn't 636.
Were any of your appliances connected with CSST, if so 75% of the installs get B tagged because guys can't read installation instructions.

 

[Bigevildoer]

you say it came with a rental, did you sign a contract for it? supposedly my heater is a rental but i've never paid a bill for it (i think it got lost in the transaction.

Had the same thing with Reliance 10 years ago. Bought a new place, they installed the heater... 2.5 years later, I had a problem with the heater, never received a bill before that. Then suddenly they want me to pay all the back rental fee... never happened... told them I was willing to pay current month's fees, but would not pay more due to their clerical errors.

 

[CruisnGrrl]

Had the same thing with Reliance 10 years ago. Bought a new place, they installed the heater... 2.5 years later, I had a problem with the heater, never received a bill before that. Then suddenly they want me to pay all the back rental fee... never happened... told them I was willing to pay current month's fees, but would not pay more due to their clerical errors.

If i had a problem with a rental that I never paid a dime for (like the one in my basement) it would quietly be replaced with one I purchased, there is no contract for the appliance in my purchase agreement for the house.

at 15 dollars a month that's 180 a year. Home depot has an electric (i have electric) 60 gallon 9 year warranty tank for 469 (6 years is 10$ less, may as well pay an extra 3.33 per year).... if it fails in warranty they fix it, if it fails out of warranty buy a new one, you're saving 130 dollars a year by owning...

home depot has a 12 year warranty on a gas 60 gallon for 800 (bowmanville), works out to 66$ a year, just over a third of what you're paying now for what ever tank you have, and there is no guarantee that it will require replacing after 12 years (unless you really have ****** water).

 

[raginduck]

It has nothing to do with someone saving money, it has everything to do with you attacking me, when you don't know what you're talking about, I asked the guy a question, and gave him some info about Enbridge, and you decided you're a know it all.You're accusing Enbridge of doing something they don't do. I am not insinuating anything, but I issue A and B tags on a daily basis, including guys not doing installs properly. Maybe you should put the same effort into researching gas marketers, as you did in your furnace. If they are actually saying they are Enbridge, then you should report them to Enbridge, but I am betting they are saying Ambridge, or aimbridge, which is the most common scam to get ppl to sign contracts. It's ignorance like yours that gives us a bad name. I am always explaining to ppl that Enbridge doesn't sigh contracts, and that Enbridge and Direct Energy are different companies, the difference is they don't say **** about me like you did.
And the colour has everything to do with it, 636 is normally white, but recently there is a dark gray colour. Black, cream, light gray ect isn't 636.
Were any of your appliances connected with CSST, if so 75% of the installs get B tagged because guys can't read installation instructions.

Enbridge does collect the rental fees on for the third party.
Who comes after a person if they decide not to pay due to feeling they were scammed into a contract?

 

[crankcall]

I bought a house with a rental water heater, furnace and water softener. The furnace was red flagged (crack in heat exchanger) and we bought a new one. The water softener got taken out and replaced with one I bought, the water heater got taken out two years later when it developed a leak and replaced with purchased unit. I havent done the actual arithmetic but we are at least a few grand ahead, over the last 16yrs.
Not that my bank account looks any better.....

 

[Freestyle72]

god damn I hate those water heater bastards too...

Maybe I should look into changing mine. I wanna get one of those inline ones without the tank. Heard they save pretty good money.

 

[oilycreek]

god damn I hate those water heater bastards too...

Maybe I should look into changing mine. I wanna get one of those inline ones without the tank. Heard they save pretty good money.

You mean an on demand water heater lol. They are good if you're a heavy user, you won't noticed a difference in your bill if not, and they cost a few thousand.

 

[oilycreek]

Enbridge does collect the rental fees on for the third party.
Who comes after a person if they decide not to pay due to feeling they were scammed into a contract?

Enbridge collects for Direct Energy, it was a part of the deal when Direct Energy purchased Enbridge home services, and as far as I understand that deal is over now, but I believe Enbridge charges the companies to collect for them. I have a meeting tomorrow with Enbridge, I will see if i can find out what happens if someone refuses to pay the water heater rental, I don't think Enbridge will do anything, as long as you're paying for your gas.

 

[crankcall]

My next one here will be tankless on demand, we have one in our other place . Savings can be as much as 40% and you dont have to be a big user. It was 2k and installation was done by a friend ( he said it was about a 800 dollar job) venting can be tricky so it can always position where you want it.
Its electronic ignition so no pilot light burning all the time, your not heating the same 60 gallons all day/night, digital thermo is very accurate so you get the temp water you want, takes up no floor space. They use more gas when running than a conventional, but they aren't running all day when you at work. Worth every penny to install one here.

 

[Red_Liner740]

i was looking at the waterless systems but the water in my area is very mineral so it would eat the insides and the waterless are a lot more finicky about the type of water going through than tanks. Besides, i got my tank for a steal. $450 for a brand new tank WITH a 1000W portable generator. both brand new. so the tank came out to be less than 300....

I was talking to some guys in the industry about installing an upgraded thermostat on the tank that can lower the temperature during the day but everyone said not to bother. That the new tanks are so efficient that it will fire only once, maaaybe twice during the entire day.

And now the biggest kicker. 1500 square feet house, the water tank, furnace and dryer are gas. furnace was off up until a few weeks ago. Two ppl houselhold. shower gets used daily x2 plus the drier is run multiple times on the weekend. My monthly bill comes out to be 45 dollars WITH the 15 dollar rental. So 30 dollar in gas...so now you're thinking...hey 30 to 40% better efficiency means about $10 savings right? wrong! Once i broke the bill down, i only actually used $3.41 in gas. the rest were delivery charge, this surcharge that surcharge, and the biggest part of the bill?!? $19 customer fee...

So here i am, thinking about spending thousands of dollars on a more energy efficient system of heating my water when in 30 days of use i actually spend only 3.41 cents in gas usage....WHATS THE POINT?! 30% better efficiency would net me a dollar and change savings!?!?! sure the delivery charge and all that other jazz is based on usage. but even all that stuff added up still came up to less than $20.

If you really wanna save on gas bills, you have to look at your furnace, your ducting, and be willing to lower the thermostat a degree or two. THATS where the huge savings are.

I'm actually looking forward to the next bill to see what the difference in gas usage is going to be with the furnace now running.

 

[RockerGuy]

Anybody know if we have to clean the tanks of our water heater? I think mine's might be older than some ppl on this forum

 

[crankcall]

I'm not sure there is a way to clean the tanks on water heaters, as they age and fill with sediment they become less efficient, and since they fill with deposits they hold less water so they empty faster. At a point they should just be changed out.
We have very hard water in Milton where i live so it goes through a softener first before the heater, but when we pulled the last heater it was all two guys and a cart could lift to get it out of the house.

 

[vic_himself]

Lol most of the service techs are goofs, alot of times they make recommendations without verifying the issue. I know this because I too am an HVAC service tech (not for direct energy). But hey everyone needs to make money so unless you want to pay for it do it yourself.

 

[fastar1]

You mean an on demand water heater lol. They are good if you're a heavy user, you won't noticed a difference in your bill if not, and they cost a few thousand.

I think you meant to say a "light user", as the hot water sits in the tank cooling down for longer than it does for a heavy user. Either way, the tankless option costs less to operate as you only heat the water you use, nothing more.