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Lennox Heat Pump XP15

14K views 34 replies 6 participants last post by  FrankL 
#1 ·
Greetings. I have a nice Lennox air source heat pump (XP15) that is my primary heat source in winter and beautiful air conditioning in the summer. When I got the system installed it was quite expensive and one of the things that was often mentioned was the fantastic warranty it came with.

Ok...but then after it was installed they said and here si the sservice plan that costs this much per year. I felt a bit like a fish with the hook in the mouth...however, I signed the thing and went on. It was time for the service appointment and I had the dude come & do his thing. Everything was fine.

Prior to the second year I get a notice all politely telling the customers that the service plans have changed and here are the new prices. Well, I was a bit cheezed off at that, figuring that the cost of the mid level service plan would be about $1700+ in their pocket after 10 years. I'm thinking "highway robbery" but I am also thinking that it is a high tech unit that requires service.

Anyway, with this in mind the service guy comes for the second annual service session and he is there for about 5 minutes and he says "everything is fine". I am thinking "how could he check anything at all in that short amount of time?" So I ask him if he did a couple of things and he says "Well, I could..." and goes back out.

Well, on the service reminder they mention Merv 10 Air Filter and Merv 16 Air Filter. I don't think they changed any filters either time. Is the service thing just a scam for the company to keep revenue rolling in or what? If there are actually filters to change I'd like to do it myself but the manual for the XP15 says nothing about any filters.

People...I am calling upon your vast pool of knowledge. Send me wisdom!!
 
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#2 ·
the air filter is where the air enters the air handler/furnace. It is a VERY VERY good quality unit and you need to complain to the "dudes" service manager and get a proper tech out. if they don't have one then call Lennox's 1-800# on their page and let them know what their dealer is up to. the extended warranty is a good idea but only as good as the tech who services it. Lennox is VERY concerned about their reputation ( I work for one of their dealers ). give the dude's co. a 2nd chance B4 going over his head. the condensor coil/outdoor coil is VERY tight and fine and needs proper cleaning by someone with experience on how to remove the covers w/o damaging them or creating rattles later and cleanng the coil properly once a yr. Lennox owns the co. that supplies the service plan/warranty and they are VERY interested in customer satisfaction.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply. The plan is $189.00 plus tax per year. Does that seem reasonable? As I said, I didn't have as much an issue until the guy seemed to do nothing and said "I'm done". That, and I have heard other people say that they had their units for years and never did anything to them.

So, you say that the coils should be cleaned but there are no filters, right?
 
#4 ·
the filter is the primary air filter that filters the air coming back from your house into the air handler/fan unit that the heat pump cooling coil sits in. everyone has a air filter. merv 10 or 16 is just the rating on how tight or dense it is and how effective it is. merv 16 is HEPA grade/high eff particulate type filter. the outdoor coil MUST be properly cleaned once a yr or it will overheat in the summer and lose efficiency in the winter. talk to dudes manager and see what his attitude is. they should have a decent looking checklist of what they do. that is the normal TLC price. people run their cars w/o doing maintenance and that does not make them work properly or last longer. plug up the radiator on your car and see how long it lasts. same thing with the outdoor coil on the heat pump.
 
#10 ·
the outdoor coil MUST be properly cleaned once a yr or it will overheat in the summer and lose efficiency in the winter.
I called the person who books the service calls and handles the service plans and when I casually mentioned "next week is supposed to be mild so it will be good for the guy who cleans the coil"

She stated "They don't clean the coil. If the coil needs to be cleaned that would be extra but the coil shouldn't get that way."

So...when you are saying 'coil' are you talking about the massive part that looks like a car's radiator?
 
#6 ·
Filter will be at the furnace or air handler. So far as the service contract it's a personal call. I think they're a good deal when the equipment is cleaned and checked correctly.They also keep that big bold print on the top of the warranty page- failure to maintain equipment voids the warranty- out of play. Little things like a weak capacitor or an expansion valve not metering correctly cost a lot in excess energy usage and puts a huge strain on the heat pump so it doesn't last nearly as long. There's no way to do a good clean and check in 5 minutes though. Call the service manager and talk about your concerns, they might throw a couple in for free.
 
#7 ·
Arrggh. It bugs me when a customer buys the cadillac and gets a donkey to service it. :furious: That was a over $6000 unit and DESERVES some proper respect and service, not like some el cheapo unit.

My Boss has a few bootprints from unhappy customers going over his head to Lennox so they are definitely interested in what their dealers are doing.:thumbsup:
 
#11 · (Edited)
yes. sounds like they don't intend to or do a good job with that plan if they are charging extra for that etc. time to find another reputable lennox dealer. even if you complain to lennox and they do come out I would not trust them now as they may be bitter and sabotage something. depends where you live also. some contractors in some areas charge extra for everything and some are more honest and include everything in one price. depends on what the locals do. they all may be doing the same thing and charging extra. you may want to ask what they do when you hire them or for a checklist to be e-mailed to you. I would still let lennox know their dealers are not cleaning the condensor coil or even offering to do it. that will cause them warranty problems down the road and $$.
 
#13 ·
That's the way that I think too...get them in trouble and they will want to 'get even'.

The phone person could be thinking indoor coil. Outdoor coil needs washed at least twice a year. Indoor coil hardly ever gets dirty if you keep the furnace filters changed. If they charge extra for washing the outdoor coil then- run forest run- comes to mind.
I don't know...it seems to me like they are telling me that 'they just come out and check to see if it is working properly' and don't do any cleaning at all.

I don't think they EVER CLEAN any outdoor coil.

They were supposed to come today...I took 3 hours off of work - that is $75 to me so the 'service' just went up $75 by my accounting. The fact that I am going to pay them $189+ tax just to have them do nothing really chaps me.

Guys...it's just a big radiator is it not? Couldn't I just clean it with a pressure washer on low setting?
 
#14 · (Edited)
NO, NO, NO. DO NOT ever use a pressure washer on any ac unit. It will collapse the fins and wreck the coil. If you are careful you can remove the covers from outside of that coil and clean it yourself. Need to brush the dirt off with a soft brush first and then spray it with a garden hose. Not as easy as it sounds with those units as the doors have a hook arrangement on the left side of the grill and you sort of have to lift them up and then down and catch the hook in place properly or they won't go back on properly. There are also some black plastic strips which keep them from vibrating. If they fall off then glue them back on first. Incredibly quiet unit but all those steps need to be taken or it may vibrate. That info may be in the owners or install manual that came with it.
 
#17 · (Edited)
That is a VERY fine tightly spaced coil and needs the covers removed. Spraying it from the outside with the covers on will gum up the dirt onto the coil like a wet sheet of newspaper. You need to get a lot closer than spraying from the top will allow.
 
#18 ·
Ok. Thanks. Not something I am about to do this winter anyway but in the spring I will be thinking about it. The outside coil has never been cleaned and I had the unit installed in June 2008.

I don't know what to do about the 'service' thing. I may just tell them to forget about it when they call back to reschedule the appointment that they did not make today...they didn't call from the office to acknowledge that they did not make it either.
 
#19 ·
You can remove the covers and DIY as long as you carefully see how they are installed and put them back on the same way. If you lose a couple of those plastic strips don't worry about it as 98% of the time the covers are engineered to fit so tight they won't vibrate anyway.
 
#20 ·
So, in my ongoing saga...they never even called to acknowledge that they missed the appointment. I am quite disgusted with them.

There are 2 other dealers in the area which I will be doing business with from now on. I do still have a problem though. I want to know what Lennox requires/recommends their dealers to do in the annual maintenance of the XP-15 in order to keep the warranty valid. I'd like to go in with my eyes wide open this time instead of going in blind. I am glad that they did a great job on the installation but it is unfortunate that they can't run an honest service end. Class me as completely disgruntled in that regard.

To complicate matters, Lennox doesn't have an email address. I'd like to send them an email and have them send me the information that I require. I can call them, but then I wait a minimum of ten minutes to see if the operator can tell me anything. Does anyone have that information other than 'off the top of their head'?
 
#21 ·
So, in my ongoing saga...they never even called to acknowledge that they missed the appointment. I am quite disgusted with them.

There are 2 other dealers in the area which I will be doing business with from now on. I do still have a problem though. I want to know what Lennox requires/recommends their dealers to do in the annual maintenance of the XP-15 in order to keep the warranty valid. I'd like to go in with my eyes wide open this time instead of going in blind. I am glad that they did a great job on the installation but it is unfortunate that they can't run an honest service end. Class me as completely disgruntled in that regard.

To complicate matters, Lennox doesn't have an email address. I'd like to send them an email and have them send me the information that I require. I can call them, but then I wait a minimum of ten minutes to see if the operator can tell me anything. Does anyone have that information other than 'off the top of their head'?
1 800 4 lennox , trust me.......they will want to talk too you
 
#27 ·
Oh, I see...page 25 in mine...thanks for that!!

*Inspect and clean the outdoor and indoor coils. The outdoor coil may be flushed with a water hose.*

With that being the #1 thing mentioned in the manual, I am going to talk to the other dealers in the area and see if they follow the recommended maintenance list. I have a complete loss of faith in the company that I was dealing with - that cannot be bought back.
 
#28 ·
Great product but the dealer is azz dumb as dirt.:laughing:

Maybe the company changed hands and the new owner is letting it slip or go to pot. I have seen that when the sons take over from the father/owner.
 
#29 ·
So, I spoke to another dealer in the area who does service and they seemed shocked that the other dealer's techs don't clean the outside coil.

I went through my scenario with the service advisor and everything seems like it will be fine...here's the kicker - the missed appointment on December 22nd has not been acknowledged by the company who installed and with which I was getting 'serviced' by.

Yeah, I have a new definition for 'service' by THAT company.
 
#33 ·
Thanks Marty. I filled out an online comment outlining what happened and sent it to them yesterday...I didn't get a reply or call today either but I am not surprised. I think that someone might contact me in the coming days unless, as you have eluded to, that apathy is rampant.
 
#34 ·
Hello everyone I have a question regarding this exact heat pump. Mine just died a couple of days ago and after some troubleshooting of my own I found an exploded 'run capacitor' at the back of the heat pump.

I'm having a little trouble identifying it so I can shop around for a replacement. The failure of the capacitors chassis took out the labels.

Does anyone know much about this? Perhaps what the part number is on the capacitor and where I can buy one from?

I'm located in Maple Ridge, BC

Thanks in advance
 
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