Heat pump advice

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WoodyThemMilkMan

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#281310 10-Feb-2021 11:06

Hi all

During our heat pump service we have found that the refrigerant is low. We have a multiroom outdoor unit connecting to 2 indoor units in 2 bedrooms. The heat pump is ~7 years old so is outside warranty. The advice from the technician was that we could re-gas/replace the refrigerant but finding the leak and repairing would be tricky due to being a multi room unit. Instead their advice is to replace with a like for like multi + 2 heat pumps, or to replace with two outdoor units and two indoor units.

This didn't sit well with me as both the outdoor and indoor units were operating fine. Surely fixing the leak and re-gassing can't be that expensive... can it? I can't tell if the technician was being really honest in saying that the costs can climb quickly when dealing with multis, or if they were trying to upsell me.

Just looking for some advice from someone with a bit more knowledge with these things that doesn't have a vested interest.

freitasm

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#2650904 10-Feb-2021 11:08

Is this something that would be covered by house insurance (assuming you have one and assuming you could prove there was an accident involved that cause it to "break")?

Batman

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#2650907 10-Feb-2021 11:11

I suggest you call another technician to see if they can find the leak. If every tech in town says they can't then you got your answer.

WoodyThemMilkMan

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#2650909 10-Feb-2021 11:12

I wouldn't think so. I expect it would be counted as wear and tear, as we aren't aware of any one event that could've let to the leak.

WoodyThemMilkMan

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#2650911 10-Feb-2021 11:14

Batman: I suggest you call another technician to see if they can find the leak. If every tech in town says they can't then you got your answer.

Yeah this is probably the answer. I guess it's hard to know who to trust. Someone might say they can fix it then it ends up costing double what they quoted.

lxsw20

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#2650924 10-Feb-2021 11:39

Agree on the second opinion. The low gas thing has been used as an excuse for unneeded services before, and you said yourself they are working fine.

Heat pump servicing company fined $75,000 over scam

BlinkyBill

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#2650927 10-Feb-2021 11:44

WoodyThemMilkMan:

Batman: I suggest you call another technician to see if they can find the leak. If every tech in town says they can't then you got your answer.

Yeah this is probably the answer. I guess it's hard to know who to trust. Someone might say they can fix it then it ends up costing double what they quoted.

If you disclosed your general location, you could probably get a recommendation. I can recommend one in Otago if required.

WoodyThemMilkMan

35 posts

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#2650935 10-Feb-2021 11:58

I'm in Christchurch if anyone has recommendations.

Will start looking around for second opinions then. Thanks guys