Does anyone have experience with Absolute Mechanical in Brooklyn for oil to gas heating conversion? Thanks.

This past June, our inefficient, high-maintenance and unreliable 25-year-old oil-burning boiler finally bit the dust.  Our 5-story, 7-unit building made the decision to convert to natural gas, mainly because it is better for the environment and costs less than traditional heating oil, and we asked four Con Edison approved contractors for quotes. After getting a lackluster response from the other contractors, Absolute Mechanical, a family-run business based in Brooklyn, was the only company that answered us immediately and with such enthusiasm and knowledge about boilers and all things heat-related.  They offered to give us a tour of their most recent installation and we had an estimate within the week.   By July, Absolute Mechanical’s plumbers began the installation of our high efficiency gas boiler, indirect water heater and new gas line and meter to the boiler.  It took two months to install the new systems and to remove the existing risers and piping in all 7 apartments. Having plumbers in my personal space, cutting holes in my ceilings and drilling holes into my floors for new piping, for the entire summer was, surprisingly, a pleasure. The plumbers were all trustworthy, kind, considerate, clean and helpful with all things boiler and non-boiler related.    On the administrative side, Absolute Mechanical’s office staff was equally patient and helpful when it came to scheduling inspections, paperwork for Con Edison rebates and arranging third-party contracts and contacts with construction workers to repair our ceilings and to remove our old oil tank.  Even after they received our final payment, Gennady and his crew have been back weekly (sometimes staying until 10pm) to tinker with the system until every tenant in the building is happy with their heat.   It’s now January and 20 degrees, and for the first time ever, my apartment is always incredibly comfortable! The heat is constant and ambient, there is no rattling or banging or steam coming from the radiators and the new copper piping in the apartments is beautiful. Our basement, sans oil tank and bulky old boiler, has never looked better.  Plus, every Con Edison employee and New York City building inspector that has seen the installation rave about how innovative and progressive our new system is and how impressed they are with Absolute Mechanical’s workmanship.   It’s too soon to determine how much we will save on our monthly heating bills (our first gas bill since the installation was $137), but our monthly average for oil over the last 5 years was $631 for 194 gallons/month and at the rate for oil, $4/gallon that would be $772/month.     In any case, I’m so glad we decided to convert and that we went with Absolute Mechanical.  I would certainly recommend them to anyone who wanted to replace their boiler and convert to gas.

Yes, I did.  They converted my old oil system to a high efficiency gas system.  They are top notch.  The system is now installed and operational in my five story brownstone.  The owner of Absolute Mechanical (AM) is Gennady Tsakh.  He is extremely intelligent, knowledgeable about heating physics, mechanics, and technology, and eager to share his knowledge with his customers and potential customers.  He educated me about a whole different approach to heating a house than I had ever heard about before, though it seems to be common in Europe.    Boiler operation is based on the outside temperature, rather than an interior thermostat.  The system constantly puts out heat to compensate for heat loss from the house – and the system water temperature is lower than it would be if heat were provided on and off and on and off, based on an interior thermostat.  So, under this “outdoor thermal reset” system, the house temperature is kept constant, and hopefully comfortable, rather than fluctuating under a conventional temperature control system between being too warm when the heat is on, and too cold just before the interior thermostat would turn the furnace on again.  Although I was initially skeptical about not having a conventional interior thermostat to control the heat, the idea made a lot of sense to me, once I thought about it.  I could tell the first day the system was operational that what was good in theory would be very good in practice.   Gennady goes out of his way to do thing right, and then some.    One example: About a month before work was to start, but after I signed the contract, my old oil furnace stopped working.  Absolute Mechanical got that old boiler operational at no charge to me.   Another example: When the system was recently put into operation, I noticed a sound that was resonating through the house.  Gennady isolated the source, determined the cause – the particular configuration of the circulation pumps – and will be changing the pumps next week.    Members of the crew at Absolute Mechanical are extremely capable, knowledgeable, and alert.  One example:  His foreman, Anatoli, happened to notice that some old piping for domestic cold water was leaking.  Gennady and he determined that the pipe was anodized steel, not copper, and that the leak could result in a burst pipe at any time.  They replaced that pipe during the system conversion and installation, and prevented what could have been a badly flooded basement.   The installation layout, including boiler placement, indirect hot water heater placement, piping, and the like, is neat and orderly – a big change from the tangled maze of piping in my old system.   Bottom line, I’m glad I decided to have Absolute do my oil to gas conversion.  They did a great job, and I’m looking forward to more comfortable heating at a significantly lower cost this winter.

bkfrank – did you end up using them?  I am looking at them as well.  Thanks.

I used Absolute Mechanical to do an oil to gas/steam to water conversion last fall (Oct 2010). They installed a Freewatt CoGen plant in my Queens residence which is a gas-powered Honda MCHP engine,  supplementary boiler and indirect water heater that produces both electicity and heat. The system is net-metered so that excess electricity generated by the Honda engine is fed back to the grid (if my house doesn’t use it).
They did an amazing job! Not only is the equipment efficient, reliable, and redundant (not to mention beautiful —  plumbing is a work of art!), but the team of people who did the work were probably the most knowledgeable HVAC team I have ever come across.
All of the engineers/plumbers/electricians were respectful of my space and family, organized and tidy, not to mention they were remarkably fast considering the complexity of work they completed. Absolute Mechanical is the kind of contractor that will be there when they say they will be there and measure 3 times before they make a first cut – precision oriented. I highly recommend them for ANY HVAC work since they know how to appropriately size equipment and install it (even in old houses like mine, a 100yr old Tudor).
I searched for an engineering team like this for about 3-4 months before I came across them. NO ONE compared. After speaking to atleast 4 of their references, I heard the same words…reliable, remarkable, knowledgeable, more-than-satisfied.
I can’t say enough good things about them. They give you good advice and they complete what they start for a fair price.

I’ve never heard of them, but it looks like they’re at least licensed and insured: http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/LicenseTypeServlet?vlfirst=Y