Sometimes a new generation takes over a company . . . and runs it into the ground.
Current operators are clearly willing to cut corners when they think no one is looking.
** TL/DR pinched drain lines, leaking exhaust lines, furnaces drowning in condensation, filter ports blocked by gas supply line, missing covers hanging open, sucking in crawlspace air, hanging, exposed electrical wires . . . belligerent management (Rob Fritz) **
We purchased a home in December 2025. Included in the sale were two brand new Trane furnaces with a 10-year parts warranty and one-year labor warranty from the installer, Lovingood Heating Co. They were paid $11,500 for the work. The furnaces were installed in November 2025. Unfortunately, the day we move in ran the furnaces for a few hours, we ran into problems. After a few days we discovered that BOTH new furnaces accumulate large amounts of condensation after a week or two. This is not about frozen condensation at the end of the exhaust lines in very cold weather. It's about condensation backing up around the inducer motors. The units can be made operational again by crawling under the house, removing the covers from the units, and draining off about a cup or more of water from around the inducer housing. Not something that should happen under normal operating conditions. And certainly not something that I should have to do ever week or two in the winter.
Having to continually drain the inducer housing is not the only problem. There are plenty of other signs that the installation was performed by someone who was either cutting corners or inexperienced. Apparently the installers didn't bring enough materials with them (like flexible hose and joint sealant), and so instead of doing things right they just . . . did things. They *bent* the iron gas supply line to make it reach one of the units. Works great - if you don't mind permanently blocking the port where the air filter belongs. There is literally no way to insert or remove an air filter the way this thing is rigged. On that same unit the drip line was too short as installed (again because the installers apparently didn't bring enough drain hose with them), so the drip line was pinched, causing condensate to back up and the units to lock up. On December 16 Lovingood sent out a tech out to extend the drip line, so now it isn't pinched. But the underlying problem--excessive condensation buildup---was not addressed. Since the before the new year I have been trying to get them to come out to correct the install or at least explain to me why it's not their problem.
When I finally got Rob Fritz on the phone yesterday, he said he was "just hired to install the furnaces, not to fix anything." That's fine, I'm not the one that hired him in the first place--I certainly would not have--but I did inherit his sloppy work -- and his bad attitude.
If you're going to hire Lovingood to install a furnace for you, you'd better buy a couple of space heaters for when their junk breaks down and they can't (or won't) fix it. read more
