Climatemaster TXV

[Gildersleeve]

I swear here lately Ive been changing txv's left and right in Climatemaster equipment. (air handlers condenser's package all of them). Its too a point where it really makes me wonder if it isn't industry wide or just me. For example...heat mode sky high hp and my suction tanks off like theres a liquid line restriction. Faults out on FP1 low water temp. With everything else checking out (7 degree water split, good fan, clean filters) its hard to not peg bad txv. Ive found one case only where I had a 5 degree difference on the sides of a filter dryer and that was the issue. Is there something im missing or could there be a production issue?

[epmiller]

What model ClimateMaster and when was it mfgd? They had a string of bad Sporlan TXVs around 2008. What's your superheat in cooling? It's always too high with the bad ones I've had. I do like their documentation. We have 40 some units, 40 of which are within that wet ballast TXV time frame. We have replaced the power head on at least 1/3 of them and a couple more are on the way.

The sad part of the story is that the original dealer/installer told us that after they were out of warranty there was nothing to do and we had to eat the replacement costs. When I took over maintenance of the systems I found ClimateMaster's technical bulletin on how to get credit for the faulty TXVs. Unfortunately the original installer didn't keep the correct info so that I could jump through the hoops to get the credit, and even with the ones I did submit correctly I never heard anything out of ClimateMaster. I cannot recommend that company at this time but good luck.

[2141]

I have had two recently that have had bad txvs. Actually one was today who's his why I found this post. Both of them had really high super heat and really high subcool. I had a low temp rise but everything else fell within specs of the book. Client wasn't real happy with his $800 electric bills all winter long but just now decided to call.

[rpkilgor]

We just had two bad ones in a couple water to water units. Both were seemed okay on start-up, but a couple months later, exactly as everyone else has described.

[travisemme]

Homeowner here, my 1 year old climate master water to water unit has had its txv valve replaced 4 times. Local contractors are all saying same things. Someone please start a class action lawsuit so I can join it and get my money back!

[Bergy]

If it's been four of the same repairs, you may want to check into the "Lemon Laws" in your area.

[newlyn]

Homeowner here, my 1 year old climate master water to water unit has had its txv valve replaced 4 times. Local contractors are all saying same things. Someone please start a class action lawsuit so I can join it and get my money back!

http://www.chimicles.com/thermostati...defect-lawsuit

[travisemme]

Perfect! Thanks for the heads up newlyn. Just an FYI, my state had no lemon laws that apply to things other than cars.. I forwarded it to the local hvac company as well since they had several customers with recurring txv issues.

[balefulstare]

Wow, all this sounds sooo familiar. About 90% of the CM heat pumps I've installed in the past 4 years have had txv issues, many replaced multiple times. Manufacturer told me it was a known issue but only affected units made in 08-09 and that I shouldn't be having the same problems with newer units however... I got out of doing new installs and Never found out the root cause of the problems; bad run of txv's? Incorrect purge during manufacturing? Anyone know?

[rpkilgor]

We just had quite a few water to water heat pumps with similar issues. Climatemaster said there is a known issue with an oil additive in some of Copland's compressors, reacts somehow causing a restriction. The recommended fix is an additive (approved by Copland we are told) that will break up whatever buildup is causing the restriction.

[wlcoleman1]

that build up is a coating that reacted with the oil. the additive is supposed to dissolve it. We have had the same issue here. My boss told me "time will tell"

[Max cooling]

We also have been replacing TXV's at a very high rate this past year or so. After researching this topic Emerson / Copeland seemed to have added a rust inhibitor to their oil causing a coagulation at the TXV. (Only coming out now) Years ago (2009ish) we replaced thousands of power heads contracted by CM and local sales rep. No one can explain why these valves are now failing again but, this additive (A/C ReNew) has more that one advantage so to me it's a no brainer. Improve efficiency, quite noisy units/compressor, etc. seems well worth it! We will continue to search, test options, etc. if anyone finds or gets anymore info please PM. Thanks for reading, Chris

[BlueWRXPride]

I have a Tranquility 22 unit that was installed about 3 months ago. We have had some VERY cold weather lately, and I found my system couldn't keep up with heating the house. I called the installer and they sent their tech over who decided I have a bad TXV. I got another call this morning and he told me that the factory recommended trying some additive (which I assume is what is talked about above) before they replace the valve. They still ordered replacement valve which will be here in about a week.

Is anyone surprised to see this issue pop up on a new system?

[buford]

No but this TXV problem has been known for a while, I wonder if copeland would approve this additive before the TXV mess. they should pay for all the repairs contractors and owners have had to cover!!

[BlueWRXPride]

So if they put in this additive, is there any way for me to definitively tell that the problem is completely fixed and working at 100%? Or should they replace the TXV anyway?

[buford]

You would think the drier would catch the junk,to me, putting in more stuff, that should not be needed in a normal system to try to get rid of this junk is wrong. The stuff is still in the system along with the magic fix,what is the long term results? Are they going to warranty anything down the road?

[BlueWRXPride]

I would assume that the standard 5 year warranty still applies, and since this unit is about 3 months old, that's a good amount of time to try it out. The tech was at my house for an hour last night after he put in the additive to see if it was working. He didn't see an immediate improvement, but he wasn't sure how long it was supposed to take for it to take effect. I do think that it is working better though for now. They're going to wait the week for the part to come in, at which point he'll check the pressures again to see if the fix worked. And if it's not perfect, then they'll just put the new valve in.

He did say it was unusual to see this problem in a water to air unit. He's seen it not too infrequently on water to water units. But this is the first time the factory told him to try this additive, all times prior he just replaced the valve.

[Rhinohead]

I got about 3 weeks on the additive, and had to go back and replace txv

[BlueWRXPride]

Well it has been about a month and a half so far, and the additive does seem to be working. I'll be keeping an eye on it and will post back if it goes bad again.

[newlyn]

Ordinarily the additive would void the warranty. I wonder what the long terms effects are going to be.