A recurring area of complaints and problems that customers have had about their geothermal systems installed by Achieve Renewable Energy LLC has been ducting. As detailed below, the problems that customers had with ducting included (use the links to jump to each topic):
- Ducting installed without the required permit or inspection.
- Unbalanced and inadequate ducting.
- Violating the ground source heat pump manufacturer’s installation instructions regarding ducting.
- Failing to insulate and seal ducting or check it for leakages.
Achieve Renewable Energy LLC failed to get the required permit or have the required inspection done to install ducting in our home
Months after Achieve Renewable Energy LLC finished installation of the geothermal system in our home, I happened to check with our town Building Department. And I discovered that though Achieve Renewable Energy LLC stated in our signed contract and email messages that they would handle the permits for the project, they did not in fact do that. The Building Commissioner explained that a permit was required for them to install the ducting, which they did not even apply for.
The Building Commissioner took swift corrective action and sent Achieve Renewable Energy LLC the below cease and desist letter applicable to their work in town.
Soon thereafter, the Building Commissioner met with Achieve Renewable Energy LLC and its ducting subcontractor about the illicit ducting work. The Building Commissioner issued the below letter specifying the double fee penalty he had the subcontractor pay.
The Building Commissioner had Achieve Renewable Energy LLC provide him a Manual J calculation of my home’s heating load, which was supposed to have been done as part of the permit process before the installation. When Achieve Renewable Energy LLC provided him a Manual J calculation, that revealed yet more problems. In the below email exchange, the Building Commissioner rejected the first Manual J report that Achieve Renewable Energy LLC provided as being inaccurate for my house.
Under oath in his later deposition, the Building Commissioner explained that a Manual J analysis is a mathematical analysis of the building structure to determine the required heat loads or cooling loads. And in his opinion, the accurate determination of the heating load of a particular home is essential to the proper design of a home’s heating and cooling system. He stated that a Manual J analysis is important “So that you size your systems according to the structure you’re putting them in.” (Pages 18 through 20 of the below deposition transcript. Though as is common in deposition transcripts, I believe there are a few typographical and wording errors in this one. But from what I recall of the deposition, the transcript was mostly accurate.)
Unbalanced and inadequate ducting
On page 33 of the deposition transcript, the Building Commissioner stated that he believes the volume, design and placement of ducting is critical to the performance of a home’s central heating and cooling system. Regarding that, the two independent ducting technicians I had examine the ducting determined that Achieve Renewable Energy LLC left my geothermal system with only about half as much return air ducting capacity as supply air ducting. They explained to me that discrepancy would strain the system and result in performance problems. Our town Building Commissioner also testified in his deposition that insufficient return air ducting like the two ducting technicians documented “would starve the unit of the air flow which would result in lowered efficiency and lowered comfort” and “could burn out the fan because of the restrictions.”
Violating the heat pump manufacturer’s installation manual’s instructions regarding ducting
WaterFurnace was the manufacturer of the ground source heat pump that Achieve Renewable Energy LLC installed for my home’s geothermal system. And WaterFurnace’s installation manual for that product stated that “Application of the unit to uninsulated duct work in an unconditioned space is not recommended as the unit’s performance will be adversely affected.” Yet Achieve Renewable Energy LLC connected the unit to uninsulated ducting in my unconditioned (i.e. unheated) basement. And as you can see in the below excerpt from his deposition transcript, the director of Achieve Renewable Energy LLC, Lawrence “Larry” Lessard, testified under oath that he believes it is fair for him to do that to me as their customer. Mind you, Achieve Renewable Energy LLC did not inform me that they intended to violate the manufacturer’s installation manual. I only found out that they disregarded the installation manual long after the project.
Leaving ducting uninsulated and unsealed and failing to check it for leakage
In his deposition, the Building Commissioner stated that code requires that ducting in unconditioned (i.e. unheated) spaces be insulated. And he confirmed that Achieve Renewable Energy LLC left at least some of the ducting in my home’s basement uninsulated:
Achieve Renewable Energy LLC did not seal the ducting for my geothermal system they installed, so I did that after I found out they did not. Ironically, after I complained about the performance problems of the system, Achieve Renewable Energy LLC blamed leaky ducting—that they never tested for leakage.
When another customer complained about performance problems with the geothermal system that Achieve Renewable Energy LLC installed, they sent in a third party “energy auditor”. And in the below excerpt from his report, the auditor noted “The duct leakage was very high and significant portion of that leakage is to an unconditioned attic.”
In his deposition regarding Achieve Renewable Energy LLC’s installation of a geothermal system in his home years prior, a different customer testified about a variety of deficiencies of the ducting, including improper design and lack of sealing (pages 30 through 40 of the below transcript).