[Rwil]

Repair company replaced stuck Thermostatic Expansion Valve unit would not heat. Replacement valve broke open some how losing all freon. Unit ran for a week in moderate weather before I turned on emergency heat as it was not heating house. Value replaced again now unit is very noisy and does not heat well. Tell me what I need to say to repair company as the repair man asked me how long unit had run without freon and it may have damaged compressor?

[hvac1000]

The repair company that replaced the valve is responsible. If the valve they replaced broke and let the refrigerant out then they should accept responsibility and take care of the situation. If the compressor is now noisy it is a good possibility that the loss of refrigerant caused the problem especially if the unit has no low pressure cutoff. Tell the truth since you have no option on that issue. Tell them you called them as soon as you noticed the unit not working properly.

Now with that being said there is always two sides to a story and we have only heard yours. This is one of those catch 22 issues where the service company probably does not want to replace the compressor since it is old and well worn before they did the repair. In other words they do not want to accept the responsibility for your compressor being old and well used. On the other hand you feel that they should fix your unit since you feel that is the part did not break or leak your unit would be working with no problem. This is not a good situation to be in for either party to the problem.

Solution? Talk with the owner of the company that did the work and see exactly what there approach is going to be in regards to the repair. If you are not happy with the results from them stop the presses and rethink the situation. The best solution might be to get a new unit at a good price. In other words the company can make you whole and not loose much real money in the process by giving you a good discount on a new system. Note I said system that is both the inside unit and outside unit since on a replacement heat pump outside unit now has to be matched to the inside unit and that can only be done by replacing both the inside and outside unit as a matching set.

In order to prevent yourself from getting taken advantage of get two estimates from different HVAC companies on a basic replacement system without all the fancy do dads so you can compare the prices and make sure the original company is giving you a good deal to make up for your loss on the repair of your original unit.

In the past I have been involved in negotiations of this nature as a arbitrator locally and in most cases this works. Now you will have to be able to spend some more money because you are not going to get a new system for free but if it all works well you will end up with a new system for a great price and will not be left unhappy. The company that did your original service work will see no profit on your job but they will have a happy customer that will not go around town and tell everyone what a rotten company they are.