Title: Office Manager Been at company since: 1989 Role (or Roles since start): started as a CSR Interests/about me: I have 5 grandchildren & 2 great-grandchildren who keep me busy following their activities. Hobbies: love to travel, and read.
Mark Gagnon
Title: President Been at company since: 1989 Role (or Roles since start): Started out making deliveries, working with Techs etc in 1989. Became President upon my fathers passing unexpectedly in 1991. Interests/about me: Married with three children. Enjoy the outdoors. (fishing, hunting, skiing etc) Active in several community organizations. Two time Rotary Club President, founding member of Marshwood Education Foundation, Maine Energy Marketers Executive Board, South Berwick Building Committee, Coached youth soccer when kids were little.
Scott Hemingway
Title: Sales Manager Been at company since: July 2004 Role (or Roles since start): Develop builder and contractor networking programs, commercial projects, customer retention and LP Gas sales. Interests/about me: Married w/ 2 adult children and 5 grandchildren. Enjoy family time, golf, hunting and watching the New England Patriots and the Red Sox.
Mark Leach
Title: Director of Operations Been at company since: 1977 Role (or Roles since start): Driver, Service Tech, Sales & Operations / Safety - Training Interests/about me: my family, member of the South Berwick Fire Dept. since 1975, Safety trainer for Propane Gas Assoc. of New England, providing training for first responders throughout New England.
Mike Place
Title: Equipment Sales Been at company since: 2007 Role (or Roles since start): Started here as an Oil and Propane Service Tech/Installer. Learned Air Conditioning service and installations. Then moved into sales. Interests/about me: Spending time with the family, being outdoors, and camping.
Kent Davis
Started in the business by wearing the uniforms, painting oil and propane tanks, and threading pipe for his Dad and Grandmother in the late 70’s. He has learned the difference between working for a family owned business and a family operated business. Just because a family owns a business doesn’t mean they take care of their customers like they are family. That is one of main reasons Kent has worked for the Gagnon Family since 2006. The Gagnon’s both treat their employees and customers like extended family and operate their business with the same vision. Kent’s number one role is customer retention as he considers it an honor to visit with our current customers and sign up new folks and serve them with the best products in the industry matched with excellent support and service. Kent’s longevity in the industry equips him with a vantage point of seeing what works and what doesn’t from a management perspective, a technician’s view, and from our customer’s standpoint. Kent is our heating oil salesman and focuses too, on liquid oil sales and protecting our customers with oil pricing. Kent’s family has been born and bred in Eliot and they all have a special affection for the Seacoast area. Kent considers it a privilege to be able to work in his “homeland” every day of the week. Kent and his wife live in Eliot, serve their local church in Eliot, and find joy in helping local residents by serving Kittery’s Fuel and More Board, Incorporator of Kennebunk Savings, and State of Maine and Eastern Region Advent Christian Association of Churches.
Dan Richardson
Title: Service Manager Lifelong Eliot resident and graduate of Marshwood High School. Two adult sons, Shawn and Patrick. Has been in the industry, primarily on the service and installation side, since starting at Davis Oil while still in high school. Enjoys a round of golf and spending time at his families camp. Coached youth basketball for many years. Member of the South Berwick Rod and Gun Club and former member of the Eliot Fire Dept.
We are certainly relieved to have put 2020 behind us and are ready to begin a new year. We can only hope for better things to come in 2021.
As we continue to face unprecedented challenges, we remain fully committed to your comfort and safety as our crews and support staff work hard to address your concerns. Our technicians, who are qualified to work on systems of all makes and models, are here to keep your home comfort equipment in good condition.
We’re also doing all we can to keep you and our team safe (social distancing, face masks, sanitizing the area where we work in your home, etc.). Please do your part by following all recommended CDC-recommended safety measures as well. Visit PGagnon.com to read more about our COVID-19 service protocols.
We know these are tough times. The good news is we’ve experienced national emergencies before and no matter what, we make it through, just as we will now. As we move through winter, please know that we are here for you. If you have a heating issue, we are always on call, and we want to hear from you.
We look forward to better days ahead.
Warmly, Mark Gagnon, President
If your heating system stops working this winter, here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot before calling for service.
Check your tank — if you’re out of fuel, contact us right away for a delivery and system restart. (You can avoid run-outs signing up for automatic delivery.)
Set the unit’s switches to “on” or “start.”
Check for a tripped breaker or a blown fuse, on the circuit that powers your system.
Set your thermostat for 5° warmer than the current room temperature, and on the “heat” or “warm” setting.
If none of these suggestions do the trick — or if you are not comfortable trying on your own, please call us and we will be happy to help you.
Do you want to earn some bonus bucks? Enter our new contest! Just read this newsletter and answer the questions on our contest page to enter. All entries received by 5/18/21 with the correct answers will be entered into a drawing for a $500 gift card. Three winners will be selected!
No purchase necessary. A purchase will not increase chance of winning. See contest page for details.
When you post a review on Google, ReviewBuzz or Facebook between now and 3/31/21 we’ll enter you into a drawing where one winner will receive 100 gallons of free fuel! See “The Word on the Block” to read a recent review!
Cold weather can bring many challenges, from dry skin to uneven heat or even no heat at all. Here are some solutions.
No heat? Check your power first!
If your heat stops working and you’ve made sure it is related to your house only — not a wide-scale power outage — your next step should be to check to see if the power switches to your boiler or furnace have been accidentally turned off.
If your circuit breakers or fuses are all on, look at the power switch located on the side of the heating system or on a wall nearby. Farther away, often at the top of the basement stairs, there is an emergency switch with a red cover plate that is labeled. It can be easy to switch it off by mistake, thinking it is the light switch for the basement. If your circuit breaker continues to “trip,” be sure to call for service, as this could be a sign of a serious problem.
Thermostat check
Make sure your thermostat is set above room temperature and to HEAT. Check to see if you need new batteries too. Remember, it is the thermostat’s job to send a signal to your boiler or furnace to call for heat. But this signal may be interrupted if the wiring of the thermostat has begun to deteriorate or if dust is building up inside.
Time for a reset
If you still have no heat and know you are not out of fuel, press the reset button on the oil burner.
The button is a safety control that shuts the burner down if a problem is detected. Do not push it more than once. Repeatedly pushing this button may cause damage.
If you have a modern gas system, there also should be a reset button that should be pushed once only.
If you have an older gas system, check to see if the pilot light has gone out.
Pay attention to your system
Be sure to change or clean the air filter on a regular basis if you have a warm-air furnace. A filter clogged with dust compromises efficiency and can cause your furnace to shut down.
For steam boilers, check the water gauge periodically. Low water levels are a leading cause of boiler shutdowns. Steam boilers should also be “flushed” when the water in the gauge looks rusty. Talk with us if you’re not familiar with this procedure.
For hot water boilers, make sure the water level of the boiler is at half-full. The boiler’s automatic filling system, controlled by the pressure-reducing valve, should maintain the proper water level at 12 to 15 psi (pound-force per square inch) of pressure. If there isn’t a pressure-reducing valve, manually feed the boiler by opening up the water feed valve until the boiler pressure reaches 12 psi.
Don’t run out!
There is no way of knowing if COVID-19 will impact our deliveries in the coming months. So it is especially critical that you are on automatic delivery so you don’t have to call every time you need more fuel.
If you are already on automatic delivery and your usage patterns have changed, (you are working from home and keep the heat on longer; or you’ve moved to a second home and aren’t using as much, etc.), please let us know.
Call us to find out how we can improve your comfort
If you’d like help with issues like a noisy system or uneven heat, give us a call!
You can always expect a fast and courteous response from us whenever you need help. We think that’s one of the most important differences between utility companies and local heating fuel companies like us.
Utilities think more about numbers than about people, in large part because they are monopolies that are more focused on financial and operational aspects than on customer service. As a local company, we are here for you!
Although the electric appliances in your home don’t produce emissions, the plant that generates the electricity probably does. Those plants, many of them coal-fired, are among the largest sources of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States.
Contrast that to heating oil. Because of the industry’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions, today’s heating oil burns more cleanly, with lower emissions. Consumers also benefit from better heating efficiency and easier maintenance, since highly refined, renewable and ultra-low-sulfur Bioheat® fuel creates fewer deposits on heat exchangers.
As Bioheat® fuel becomes more widely used in the coming years, home heating oil will move closer and closer to becoming a carbonneutral fuel. With this increasingly clean supply, the industry can continue to name heating oil as a leader in America’s clean energy evolution as we remain committed to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050.
Needless to say, we’re living in strange times. And while the pandemic has led to a wave of panic buying and unexpected shortages, our heating oil and propane supplies both remain where they should be. At P. Gagnon & Son, we maintain secure storage facilities and work with trusted suppliers. We’ll always have enough fuel on hand, and we’re proud to offer you that peace of mind.
Customer feedback is the best possible way for us to know if we’re meeting your expectations. If you feel we’ve gone above and beyond, we’d love to know! We also appreciate hearing when we’re falling short, as it helps us to improve. Reviews on our Facebook page, on ReviewBuzz or on Google are great ways to let others know that we offer great value and service. Here is a recent review we’re quite proud of:
“I recently had trouble with my hot air furnace. I called P. Gagnon at 8:30 a.m. to schedule a technician to evaluate my problem. At 10 a.m. the tech arrived. He tested the functions and determined that the burner motor had a short circuit. Lucky for me, he had a replacement in his truck, replaced the motor, tested the system and had it working by noon. Since I purchased the service protection plan, the repair and parts were done for no charge. This is what I consider fantastic service.” — Michael B.
