Pool heat pump - annual service needed? Unit leaked pool water and now rusted out

[Pins]

Hi all,

I have an Evo-heat heat pump located in Australia. I have had it just on three years and now the unit has totally failed. It's a expensive 27kW 3 phase unit. The techs said the unit failed because;

1 - the coupling to the water pipes was not properly installed so pool water ended up leaking into the inside of the unit and onto the heat exchanger and other bits,
2 - They said the unit had not been set up properly by the installer and a drain plug in the bottom had not been removed. This meant that with the regular water entering, the unit could not drain fast enough and the parts were sitting in chlorinated water.

The installer is saying that I am to blame for this as I have not had annual services on the heat pump. I didn't recall any material highlighting that annual servicing was required.

I am interested to know whether it's just me, or does everyone else out there have there heat pump serviced annually even if it all seems to be working fine?

 

[revitup]

No one has looked at my Hayward HP in 4+ years. Had no indication that would be a requirement, no issues with it.

 

[ajw22]

Most heat pumps do not need annual service. Yours did since maybe the service tech would have found and corrected the installation errors.

Annual service can find small problems and repair them before they become big problems.

Annual service is like an insurance policy. You spend money on something you may not need that year.

 

[1poolman1]

Hi all,

I have an Evo-heat heat pump located in Australia. I have had it just on three years and now the unit has totally failed. It's a expensive 27kW 3 phase unit. The techs said the unit failed because;

1 - the coupling to the water pipes was not properly installed so pool water ended up leaking into the inside of the unit and onto the heat exchanger and other bits,
2 - They said the unit had not been set up properly by the installer and a drain plug in the bottom had not been removed. This meant that with the regular water entering, the unit could not drain fast enough and the parts were sitting in chlorinated water.

The installer is saying that I am to blame for this as I have not had annual services on the heat pump. I didn't recall any material highlighting that annual servicing was required.

I am interested to know whether it's just me, or does everyone else out there have there heat pump serviced annually even if it all seems to be working fine?

From an EVOHeat manual:

DO I NEED TO GET MY UNIT SERVICED?It is recommended that you get your EvoHeat unit serviced every two years by your local certified air conditioning or refrigeration technician. If your unit is located in a coastal area, more frequent maintenance may be necessary. During the service, they will check the operational pressures of the refrigeration system and give the unit and fins a good clean to ensure maximum performance.

Italics added.

 

[Pins]

Most heat pumps do not need annual service. Yours did since maybe the service tech would have found and corrected the installation errors.

Annual service can find small problems and repair them before they become big problems.

Annual service is like an insurance policy. You spend money on something you may not need that year.

Funny thing is that when I did detect the leak, it took a few weeks for the technician to attend. At that time the unit was working fine. He never even twigged that the leak could be causing damage inside the unit. It was AFTER the technician fixed the leak that the unit failed. So even their own technician did not expect such a water leak would cause a catastrophic failure.

 

[Pins]

From an EVOHeat manual:

DO I NEED TO GET MY UNIT SERVICED?It is recommended that you get your EvoHeat unit serviced every two years by your local certified air conditioning or refrigeration technician. If your unit is located in a coastal area, more frequent maintenance may be necessary. During the service, they will check the operational pressures of the refrigeration system and give the unit and fins a good clean to ensure maximum performance.

Italics added.

The scope of this still would not have picked up at catastrophic failures impending. Beware buyers of heat pumps, understand where the chlorinated water goes in the event there is a leak in the water connections. It should be prevented from damaging key components.