TESTIMONIALS
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43. "We've had Triple Crown Plumbing and Heating do a number of large jobs in our home over the last 6 years and have been very impressed with their work. When we had them in for the dormer and extension back then, they pretty much repiped most of our house, doing a beautiful job on the PVC waste piping and the copper water lines. They installed valves and cleanout plugs everywhere so that maintenance would be easy and less costly. They added 3 bathrooms all with radiant heat under the tile. We used very high-tech faucets and some state-of-the-art fixtures and they were installed perfectly....Till this day.! In our kitchen, they installed radiant heat under the wood floors which many had told us would be impossible and that it would crack the wood floors. That was 6 years ago - no problems. They installed a Twyford's Farm sink and pot filler in our custom kitchen that we get alot of compliments on.

Last winter, our old oil boiler died during a cold snap. Matthew and Albert sat down with me and offered us some choices of equipment. We decided to go with a superior system that would improve comfort and cut our fuel bills. Later that week, they installed a Buderus
G-215 oil boiler and The Logamatic Outdoor Reset Control (ODR). The new boiler was much smaller and quiet. To our untrained eyes, their workmanship looked excellent.
Other local plumbers that we have had in for small repairs also took notice of the excellent job they did. One of them, looking at the boiler piping said: 'Now This! is how plumbing should look.'

Matt has been very responsive and helpful when we have needed him. We feel that we are getting the best job and workmanship when we use Triple Crown. When it is critical is gets done right, we don't need to think twice. We are happy to recommend Triple Crown
without reservations.

Scott and Melissa Hames - Port Washington, New York

44.
Several years ago, I was doing major construction on my home, which included recessing the old steam radiators. During the job, my boiler died and I had the on-site plumber replace it. Big Mistake!! Almost immediately, the pipes started to clank loudly and water was constantly spurting from the valves in several second floor radiators. After more than a month of troubleshooting, the original plumber still could not resolve the problem. I was lucky enough to find Triple Crown after researching about steam heat on the internet. Matt and his crew came to the house, assessed the situation, and it was obvious that he understood how steam heating systems work. He was honest with me about the errors that had occurred in replacing the system and came up with several solutions that would solve my problems. Triple Crown then had to re-pipe the boiler, re-pitch several radiators and change improper valves. It took several trips to completely solve all the noises and water problems, but they did it. I cannot say enough nice things about how professional and thorough the guys were even when it must have seemed that I was hearing things or imagining the various noises that were coming out of the heating system. I would highly recommend them to anyone. And let's not forget the friendly and cooperative office staff who called back when they said they would, let me know if the workmen were running late, and could give me fairly accurate times of arrival so I didn't have to sit home all day waiting for the plumber to arrive. Triple Crown is still a company that knows what Customer Service is all about.

Fran Secondo

45.
My house is about 100 years old, and despite my having engaged many plumbers and heating specialists, my steam heating system hasn’t worked properly in the past 20 years. The problem was further compounded by the original lead pipes throughout which were were corroded and clogged, badly needing replacement. In desperation, I scoured the internet. I contacted Dan Holohan, the author of “We Got Steam Heat,” and probably the worlds’ most knowledgeable person on steam heating systems. He dedicated the book to Matt and recommended him to do the job.

Matt came promptly, did an assessment, and gave me an estimate. He seemed to know exactly what he was looking at, but having been burned numerous times in the past by plumbers who “repaired” the system but fixed nothing, I was dubious. I asked a million questions and we emailed back and forth about 40 times. I’m sure I win the award for world’s most annoying potential client.

When the work finally began, it was apparent that I was not dealing with your average plumber or heating specialist. Not since my days working as a VP on Wall Street have I seen projects managed this professionally with a clear project plan, critical pathing, and finely detailed daily goals and deliverables. Matt and his associates arrived punctually and worked in a very focused manner. They were polite, professional, creative, and extremely knowledgeable in the art and science of plumbing and heating. Another very wonderful attribute of Triple Crown is that their work is amazingly clean and considerate – minimizing the amount of damage to my home. They took the time to plan and route the piping in ways that did not destroy the integrity of the moldings and original materials that make my home special to me. The work was done on time and within budget.

Now on the other side of this project, in a house that is actually warm in the winter, I feel very lucky and grateful to have found Matt Sweeney and Triple Crown plumbing and heating. I recommend him with highest accolades to anyone who has a challenging heating or plumbing issue and values quality work and worksmanship.

Susan Davis-Stemp

CONSULTING PROJECTS

46.
"I hired Matt Sweeney to be the steam heating consultant for my home and would recommend him absolutely. Since new, residential steam heating systems have not been installed for decades, there is a lack of true steam expertise in the marketplace. Many profess to be experts, but most are clueless and can easily convince you otherwise if you are not informed. After spending some time with Matt, I quickly was able to spot the less gifted steam "experts." Unfortunately, I had to get quotes from a dozen installers until I came across a few good ones. Given the distance and the scope of work I needed done, Matt would serve as my consultant and help me with a plan to sort through the bids.

Matt analyzed the system - and its inherent problems, spec'd out the size of the new boiler, suggested brands, and reviewed the bids. We had recently moved in to a home with a boiler that had failed in less than 13 years. We didn't want to revisit this problem, again. Matt was most helpful in detecting factors in the system that contributed to this boiler's short life. Matt came when he said he would and went beyond the call of duty in responding to my numerous phone calls and emails as the job progressed. He takes great pride in his work and knowledge of heating and it was a pleasure working with him.

I recommend that you hire Matt as your consultant to steer you through the jungle of misinformed steam vendors and so-called experts. He'll save you time, money, and shield you from aggravation. And, your steam system will finally heat the way it was meant to, evenly!"

Glenn Kaufman
Town of Irvington
Westechester, N.Y.

47.
Summer 2006
Dear Matt:
My name is Dexter Kenfield and I am the President of a 120-Unit Cooperative Apartment building that overlooks the Hudson River in Riverdale New York. The Building is managed by Bonnie Crest Management. This 7 story building has steam heat throughout the units, with each unit averaging between 7-10 radiators. After reading Dan Holohan's Lost Art of Steam Heating and We Got Steam Heat, spending some time on Mr. Holohan's Website, Heatinghelp.com, and speaking to him personally, you have emerged as the man who can help us. Currently, the system is running at a pressure in excess of 5 p.s.i., has very poor steam distribution and is very unbalanced. Some coop owners are freezing while others open the windows in the dead of winter. Although this is a very large complex, the fuel oil bills are A lot higher than similar buildings managed by Bonnie Crest. It hasn't been easy, but I have managed to convince the other board members that we need someone really GOOD?someone who REALLY knows steam, Clearly, you do!

THE DAY AFTER THE CONSULTATION: Matthew, Thank you for your help yesterday. Everyone was tremendously impressed with your experience, demeanor, and professionalism. You stayed until all questions were answered and the doubters were throughly convinced of your findings and recommendations. We have fowarded the recommendations to the contractor who will be making the corrections to the system and I will keep you posted on the results.

DURING THE HEATING SEASON THAT YEAR: We continue to get positive feedback on the improvements that you had suggested and were implemented. We still have a long way to go, but our residents really appreciate it and can see/feel the improvements.

JUNE 2008 ? ANNUAL BOARD MEETING: Upon review, we found two interesting things to note:

1) Our fuel oil CONSUMPTION was down 20% from prior heating seasons. 2) Fuel EXPENDITURES were up 30% due to the oil markets going haywire. Like everyone else, this messed up our budget projections, but we will get by. Although the weather was a bit warmer I personally believe 80% or more of this fuel usage was thanks to your recommendations. Besides the savings of oil, the residents are much more comfortable, so complaints are down. Change comes slowly around here, so we have still not implemented all of your recommendations, but they can only help lower our fuel usage. Thank you, Matt."

Dexter Kenfield, President

48.
Matt is as good as they say!

We purchased our first home in June 2006, a 76 year old Tudor in Westchester County, NY. One of the conditions of the purchase was that the sellers would convert the heating systems from oil to gas and install a brand new Dunkirk boiler to replace the aged steam boiler for the original part of the house, and the smaller hydronic boiler for the newer part of the house. Since we were effectively purchasing the new systems, I asked the old owners if I could speak with the heating contractor so that we could better understand what he was doing and so that we could possibly upgrade anything he was installing to make it more efficient.

We were new to the community and had never owned a home before and the heating contractor came highly recommended from the real estate broker as well as having worked in the town for almost 30 years. He assured us that the system that he was installing, a Dunkirk 8 chamber steam boiler with a flat panel Bell and Gossett heat exchanger was a terrific way to go. This would allow us to only have one boiler to run and maintain and the hydronic system would run using the excess heat capacity of the hot water in the new steam system. He also told us that there was no more efficient steam boiler (81% or so), and that there was nothing that we could do to make the system run more efficiently or upgrade it -- we would have terrific heat and be thrilled with the system in the fall and winter! He told us that his 1 year warrantly would transfer to us as the new owners as well. We couldn't have been more excited to get a new heating system.

We moved in during the warm months and didn't need to run our heating system until mid October. When we first turned the system on, several of the rooms with steam seemed quite cool and the hydronic pipes never seemed to warm up very well either. We contacted the heating contractor who installed it, and he came over and told us that he needed to clean the system. After he left, that night the heat still didn't work adequately. When we spoke with him the next day, he told me that he we would likely have to replace one of the hydronic system's circulators since it was failing and not included in his warranty. I didn't really understand all of this and was a bit annoyed but agreed to it. The next day we still had problems with the heat. This time he said that he had never wanted to put in the flat panel heat exchanger and that he was coaxed into it by the old owner and by the heating supply house, but that he never wanted to do it. When I told him that he had never told me any of this when we spoke that past spring, he got nasty and told me that we were not his real customers and that he didn't remember making any sort of promises about his system or transferring his warranty to us. I told him that regardless of what he remembered or not, that the new system was not producing enough heat and that we were greatly displeased. He told us that he'd come over again on Monday but that he wasn't sure if there was anything more that could be done.

Thus began my research to resolve this issue. First I contacted my building engineer who recommended that I get in touch with Dan Holohan, a man he had heard speak at a conference about steam heat. Independently, I found the Heating Help.com website. When I wrote to Dan, he recommended that I post my issue(s) on The Wall Forum and see what kind of advice I would receive from the professionals around the country. Upon posting photos of our units and the installation, I got numerous passionate responses from heating experts from around the country telling me that the person who installed my unit was completely incompetent. The unit had not been installed correctly (didn't follow any of the near unit piping in the installation manual -no Hartford loop or equalizer, etc.) and he used copper piping instead of black steel. Additionally, there seemed to be a great amount of disagreement about whether or not it made sense to use a flat panel heat exchanger at all, or to just use 2 boilers and keep the systems separate.

When I mentioned all of this to the heating contractor, he came up with every excuse in the book....from "we used to use steel piping, but copper is up to code in New York City", to "we were only hired to install the new boiler, not make the heat work properly", to "the installation manual is only one way to install it -- you don't need to follow it, particularly if you are using a wet return" to "I had nothing to do with the sizing of the steam boiler, it was chosen by my heating supply house". I really felt lost and angry at him since he wasn't coming up with any solutions to our problems and was being very defensive. I contacted Dan Holohan who told me that he no longer didn't consulting work but that Matt "Mad Dog" Sweeney lived in my area and would be excellent at helping me resolve this issue.

When I first contacted Matt, we exchanged emails and he arrived at our house within a few days. I was surprised by how young he was since I had started to find out that steam was a lost art and only a few people were truly knowledgeable about it. Matt quickly dispelled any doubt that I had when he assured me that he had been doing this for many years, had learned from the best, and told me that if we followed his carefully prescribed approach to resolving problems, he could resolve our situation. While I found his fee to be a bit expensive, I felt that you get what you pay for...he was an expert in his field and he had assured me that he would get our problem fixed if we stuck to his plan.

What we learned was that we not only needed to repipe the near piping for system, but that the boiler was grossly oversized for the steam radiation measurements for our house. Additionally, the flat panel heat exchanger had to be removed, and we could either use a larger heat exchanger, or separate the system into 2 independent systems -- one steam and one hydronic. When I told our heating contractor that we had consulted with this expert recommended by Dan Holohan, his ego was quite bruised. For weeks, I had to negotiate between him the heating supply house (who wanted nothing to do with me since I was not their direct customer, but rather our heating engineer was) in order to get them to return the oversized boiler and for our contractor to redo his installation. Matt was there 100% of the time to help support and advise me in the very difficult negotiation. We came very close to litigation with the heating contractor since he truly didn't want to take full responsibility to correct this. Matt even spoke with our contractor and walked him through the plan of how to correct our situation. In the meantime, I read Dan Holohan's "We've Got Steam Heat" as well as referenced "The Lost Art of Steam Heat". It was a GRUELLING negotation for weeks while I spoke with other heating contractors, Dunkirk engineers, the flat panel manufacturer's engineers and sales people, other consultants on www.heatinghelp.com, etc. Matt was invaluable. He was steadfast in his approach and determined that we would need to replace the boiler, redo the piping, preferably split the heating into 2 independent systems, and replace the main steam valves as well as on the valves on the radiators. Also we must flush the system for hours and hours once it was installed correctly using only black steel pipes for the header.

Eventually, our heating contractor relented. I agreed to pay him only for the additional labor costs for the black steel piping as well as for the new hydronic boiler and the cost of its installation.

I could not have done it without Matt. I wish I could have even hired Matt and Triple Crown to just redo the whole job for me, but Matt even assured me that my contractor seemed to do very good and "clean" work, he just didn't know much about the nuances and idiosyncracies of steam, which is very common these days. Matt guided me the whole way through, including through the nailbiting business negotiations that often were extremely sensitive issues related to the contractor's ego and business reputation. Had Matt not been involved, I very easily could have ended up in either a vicious ugly lawsuit, or

Matt is a man who knows steam systems better than anyone. I have learned that VERY few people really know steam heat and that you need to work with someone who truly knows about it, appreciates its benefits and isn't afraid to invest the time and money to reap its rewards. Matt is a man of such distinction. He is uncompromising in his attention to detail and deserves the honorable reputation that he has established. If you going to work with steam heat, there is no reason to compromise its comfort. Matt can make your system work the way it was intended to . You don't need to compromise and live with cold rooms, banging, etc. Contact Matt. He's well worth it! Thanks Matt!

Michael G.
Westchester County, New York

49.
"Updating our heating system in our kitchen was a simple plan. All that was required was to change the existing baseboard heat that was steam-forced to two radiators. After having in four different plumbers who altered, changed, removed loop seals, drained and cut existing pipes, the steam system STILL did not work properly. In addition, the steam heat now banged like a local band in the grade school auditorium!
Not knowing where to turn, or whom to trust, we searched the internet and found a website called Heatinghelp.com. Matt Sweeney and Triple Crown Plumbing and Heating have an ad there, and they claimed to specialize in steam heat and difficult problems like mine. Matt came out and evaluated the situation and then explained how he was going to solve the problem. I had my doubts due to past experiences. But, when Matt arrived, he proved to be a man of his word. Not only did he fix the ongoing problem, but our steam system works better now than before. I believe that Triple Crown is the way to go.

I only wish I had found the company before all the other so-called plumbers had wasted my time and money."

G.Graffeo, Yonkers, N.Y. 

50.

Dear Matt:

I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for installing a new Buderus G-215 Oil heating system in our home last fall. During the course of the winter, there is no question we saved upwards of $1000.00 in heating costs because of this new system. As you know, I was initially reluctant to spend the extra money to invest in this state-of-the-art system. However, you were very persuasive and I am happy I did listen to you. In addition to this savings, I would like to express a much belated Thank You to you and your staff for your incredible professionalism and work ethic while installing this in our home.

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