What kind of warranty do I get on AC repairs?

Andrew Jones
Oct 06, 2023
Troubleshooting

There are normally three types of warranty involved with your air conditioner:

System warranty – provided by the manufacturer of the air conditioner
Parts warranty – provided by the part manufacturer
Labour Workmanship warranty – provided by the company who has installed your air conditioner or who has carried out the repair to your air conditioner

What isn’t covered by your System or Part’s warranty?

The manufacturer’s warranty will cover anything caused by an inherent fault in the design or manufactue of the air conditioner. It will not cover anything caused by lack of maintenance or an external cause. Below is a list of things which are typically not covered under a system warranty:

anything caused by a lack of maintenance – such as blocked filters, blocked drain or a blocked outdoor coil
anything caused by vermin – such as a PC Board failure caused by a gecko on the board
anything caused by external factors – like lightning strikes, the outdoor unit being flooded, or power supply issues
issues that have arisen when you attempted to carry out repairs on the system yourself

System Warranty

All manufacturer’s offer a warranty on their new air conditioners. These warranties are typically comprehensive warranties covering all parts and labour for a 5 year period from the date of installation of the system.

If you need to use your manufacturer’s warranty then the first place to start is with the person who sold you the system – they will be able to put you in touch with the manufacturer or their warranty agent.

In some cases the system installation company will also be a warranty agent for the manufacturer. This is a question worth asking when deciding which company you will use to carry out your system installation – as not all installation companies are warranty agents.

Larger commercial systems have different warranty coverage to domestic systems. Often these systems have parts only warranties and their warranty period is often only 2 years.

Third Party Controller Warranty

Many people choose to install third party controllers with their ducted air conditioners – such as Polyaire’s Air Touch 5 controller or Advantage Air’s My Air controller. These controllers similar to the system’s come with 5 year parts warranties – but they do not always cover labour.

Diagnosis and Repair process

When your air conditioner stops working the typical process that would be encountered is:

Your air conditioner stops working and you call a service provider
A technician attends at your property and diagnoses the fault
The technician either repairs the system (with materials he has on hand) or gathers the required information needed to determine the parts required to repair the system
The service provider provides a quote to repair the air conditioner
You accept the quote and the service provider acquires the parts necessary to repair the system
A technician attends to carry out the quoted repairs

At this point the system should be working and 49 times out of 50 that is that.

Repair Warranties

Unfortunately in some cases the repair of an air conditioner fails some time after it has been carried out. When this occurs the best course of action is to call the company who has carried out the repairs and they will determine whether the cause of the new faults is:

a defective part
defective workmanship; or
a new fault.

If it is a new fault then that would not be covered under a repair warranty.

Manufacturer’s Parts Warranty

Almost all part manufacturer’s – whether they are original equipment manufacturers (OEM) or a third party equipment supplier – provide a 12 month parts only warranty on any parts they supply.

This means should your repaired air conditioner stop working within 12 months of a defective part being installed the manufacturer will supply a replacement part at no cost. However, the manufacturer will not normally cover under their warranty the labour to diagnose the faulty part nor the labour to install the replacement part covered under warranty.

Workmanship Warranty

Most service and repair companies offer a 12 month warranty on any work they have carried out. This means if a fault occurs as a result of the work carried out by your service provider – then the service provider will return and rectify the work under their warranty.

New fault

Occasionally a new fault may emerge in the air conditioning system which is unrelated to the initial repair and which does not give rise to a warranty claim.

In this case neither the manufacturer nor the installer will be accountable for an air conditioner warranty claim.

Learn more about common issues people have with air conditioners

Not sure why your air conditioning isn’t performing like before? The problem could be caused by something simple, like a dirty air filter, or a more complex issue, such as a refrigerant leak. After years of troubleshooting AC issues, we’ve found these to be the most common culprits behind poor cooling performance.

What are most air conditioner breakdowns caused by?

When an AC unit stops cooling properly or shuts down entirely, the cause is often one of several well-known issues. Whether it’s due to neglected maintenance, aging parts, or an unexpected failure, here are the top reasons why air conditioners break down.

There are many more reasons your air conditioner may not be working, and our first step with any repair job is to diagnose the issue with an initial inspection.

Get a free quote on air conditioning repairs in Brisbane

When your air conditioner isn’t running as efficiently as it should, it can lead to higher energy costs and reduced comfort. Instead of dealing with poor performance, consider reaching out for air conditioning repairs in Brisbane. We provide free quotes to help you get started.

Protect your warranty with proper servicing

Many manufacturer warranties require correct installation, regular servicing and evidence that faults were handled by licensed technicians.

Book air conditioning servicing to keep maintenance records up to date.
Use licensed AC repairs in Brisbane when a system fault needs diagnosis.
Choose professional installation for new systems with correct commissioning and warranty setup.

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