Rumskey Construction

This has been the worst experience with a service company that I have had in a long time, if not ever. Please think twice before using Rumskey Construction in Jacobsburg for anything! Below is our horrific experience.



We have a American Water Heater 40 Gallon 6 Year Energy Star 6th Sense Tall Gas Water Heater (Model ND40T62-403) that was purchased on 5/25/2012. Purchased a 5 year Extended Protection Plan at the same time, parts and labor.



Problem: After 18 months the water would either be cold all the time, barely warm, or would be hot for about 10 minutes then it would be hours of cold water with no heat at all.



Warranty place found someone local to come and do the work: Rumskey Construction from Jacobsburg, OH.



On 2/8/2014 Rumskey Construction called to schedule a visit. They then called to cancel saying that they don’t work for Lowe’s. We explained that American Water Heater (AWH) was handling this and not Lowe’s. Rumskey called AMH and they told Rumskey to come fix the issue and that AWH would pay the labor; parts are already here at the house waiting to be installed (a new thermostat and a new damper system.



Rumskey came the next day (2/9/14), spent 5-10 minutes looking at the water heater then said he would have to call AMH back to get the work approved; would call the next day



On 2/22/14 we still hadn’t heard anything so we called Rumskey back. They told us that we had the wrong venting style, and that AMH didn’t approve the payment for replacing the system.



Called AWH and they stated that we needed a powered vent rather than a damper as a damper requires the venting to go out the roof and we have ours venting out the side. Rumskey had diagnosed this as the problem: venting horizontally through wall with no powered vent so fumes are coming back and smothering the flame.



Point of fact: we do NOT have it venting out the side, it is venting through a chimney (has for more than 30 years with the boiler and the old water heater). Rumskey didn’t check how it was actually venting. He saw the vent pipe go into a brick section of the wall (set out a bit from the rest of the wall) and assumed it was venting out the side. Didn’t go outside to check, didn’t ask me about it (I was with him the whole time), just assumed.



5:50 pm Spoke with Rumskey and was told “since it’s not venting out the side, and is venting into a chimney then the chimney must be clogged since there are fumes coming back into the water heating unit and that is the problem.” I asked how that conclusion was reached since there were no fume tests performed. He never used any instruments other than a flashlight. No fumes tests, nothing. (Also, this unit has a fume back flow detection system and it never went off). The person on the phone has no idea how Otto came to that conclusion other than “personal experience in these matters.” I requested Otto to give me a call to discuss the situation. The lady I spoke with said she would have Otto call by Monday.



While waiting I performed two smoke tests at the entrance of the ventilation hole into the chimney (pulled the water heater vent pipe, lit a piece of paper on fire, blew it out to smoke heavily and held it about 1-2 inches away from the hole). The first test was without the boiler running, second test was with the boiler running at full capacity. Both had strong draw and pulled the smoke up without issue



Because Otto is a “licensed and insured professional” I had to prove to AWH that his diagnosis was wrong: photos and video.



Luckily I was able to fix the problem myself under the direction of AWH (Jonathan Baldau) by replacing the damper on the top of the water heater.



Tried calling Rumskey a few times to let them know the results, they never answer their phone. I leave a message, they don’t call back. It is now 3/13/14.