Carrier unit condenser out - ac co. trying to sell svce contract

9 years ago

I have two Carrier units that are 5 ton 15 seer. I think they are 2010 units and were installed around dec 2010 or early 2011. I had a lot of issues with the co. installing them. Anyway, 3-4 yrs later, the compressor is out on one of them. Of course, as always, it happens on a holiday. And I live in AZ. The ac co. has been out a couple times to fix things on the units. Now they are trying to sell me a 14005 yr service contract. I told them that was ridiculous. They said my warranty covers the parts, labor, etc. for 10 yrs but since I have had no maintenance records on the units, carrier wont replace anything under the warranty. If I buy this contract, they will tell Carrier I have a maintenance contract. This all sounds VERY fishy to me.

I called another ac co. who said this is not true and that carrier will cover their warranty obligation regardless. The only question is whether the labor is covered by carrier or the ac co. I do not remember and my receipts are all buried somewhere in boxes. The ac co cant access the records until monday, but they said I do have 10/10/10 coverage, they just dont know if it's from them or Carrier.

Does anyone know if Carrier offers warranty coverage for labor? Is this true about the maintenance issues? What this ac co is doing sounds underhanded to me.

This post was edited by rockybird on Fri, Jul 4, 14 at 18:49

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Comments (5)

cuffs054
9 years ago
If your 2013 units were installed in 2010, you need a new flux capacitor.
rockybird
Original Author
9 years ago
LOL I Just edited it - 2010 units...
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Rayball
9 years ago
My understanding is that Carrier will sell 10 year warranties that include labor, I have heard many people reference this on this site. Pricing is in the $1200-$1400 range depending on the product. Just make sure its the Carrier warranty.
mike_home
9 years ago
Carrier equipment comes with a 10 year parts equipment provided the installer registers the equipment at the time of the installation. If he does not, then it may only be a 5 year warranty.

In 2010 it was possible to buy a 10 year labor warranty directly from Carrier. I am not 100% sure, but I believe only Carrier Factory Authorized Dealers are paid the labor charges for the labor warranty.

If you can't find the paper work, you should be able to call Carrier and give them the serial numbers of the condensers. The warranty should be in their records.

You don't need a service contract. You should do period maintenance in order to prove the equipment is being maintained in case their is a dispute with Carrier.

How big is your house? I know temperatures in Arizona can easily hit the low 100s, but 10 tons of cooling is still a lot. Have an evaluation done of the duct work. My suspicion is the duct work is too small and may have caused the compressor to fail prematurely. Most houses don't have duct work large enough for one 5 ton unit. Duct work for two 5 tons units would be an impressive installation.
rockybird
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for your help.

I had another ac co. come out and look at it and they said it was the compressor. He was skeptical and had heard bad things about this same co. He came out at no charge (but I tipped him).

I found the receipt. It says 10 yrs parts and labor. I guess the question is whether it is the ac co. warranty for labor or Carrier's warranty.

The house is 3900 sq. ft. It has an underground return system. I know there were two units here when I bought the house in 2010. The ductwork seems pretty big, maybe over 1.5 ft. wide in areas? The underground return ductwork is around 1.5 ft. wide.

The house is running off one ac now. It cannot keep the whole house cool. One side of the house is 74 and the other side is 84, Is there anything I can do to maximize the air cooling on the warmer side?

Thank you again for your advice.