Sadly, I can no longer recommend Fujitsu due to their unacceptable support and warranty policies. A home’s heating system is a capital expenditure. That is, it’s considered a long term investment in your home. Typically, you figure that it will last 15-20 years with some cost for maintenance. And generally, that’s conservative. How many of you still have heating systems in your homes from the 1970’s or 80’s? In general, these systems are very durable. Unfortunately, with the Fujitsu mini-split heat pump, this has not been the case. I originally purchased a model 12-RLS in June of 2009. The system worked great and I was very happy with its efficiency and performance so I gave it a glowing review. In November of 2011, our neighborhood experience a huge power surge that blew out all three of my Fujitsu units. This is not Fujitsu’s fault as the surge killed electronics in a broad area. I mention it because the units were totally replaced just two years ago. Recently, in November of 2013, one of my units stopped heating.

I thought it was due to the cold, humid weather we were having and waited to see how it would behave in subsequent weeks. On December 10th of 2013, I concluded that the system was truly malfunctioning and scheduled a service call. My local installer came out, acknowledged that it wasn’t working, and left. On January 2nd of 2014, another technician came to diagnose the system. During their visit, they found that the evaporator coils were leaking and one of the temperature sensors was malfunctioning. The prognosis was not good – this would require replacing the entire indoor unit. But since the unit was only two years old, I figured that replacement would be covered by the factory. On January 28th of 2014, after two months with a non-functional heat pump in my living room, the owner of the company that installed the system contacted me, quite upset. He noted that Fujitsu had been mistaken. The model 12RLS was an old model that only had a two year warranty and my warranty had just expired.

Not only that, but they no longer make replacement parts for that model (remember, this was the latest and greatest in 2009) so I would have to purchase an entirely new system. This would cost me about $4,000 with installation, removal of the old system etc. Frankly, this is insane. The warranty statement on the unit does in fact say that it covers parts for only 2 years. Since my unit failed a few weeks after the two year period, they legally did not have to cover it. cost to replace furnace and ac unitBut had I known that they wouldn’t even have parts to repair the unit that I expected to own for 15+ years, I never would have purchased the Fujitsu 12RLS in the first place.affordable air conditioner units Any reputable manufacturer would stand behind their product better than this. wall mounted ac units

If I, who has some of the top search results for my positive reviews of the Fujitsu 12RLS , can’t get them to stand by their warranty that expired just days before the unit failed, then an ordinary consumer has no chance of getting support from them. I have to say, I am utterly disappointed by Fujitsu. So now I have to basically throw away a several thousand dollar heat pump. I will save this old unit for parts in case the others fail. Cost per year of operation: $837.65Cost per year: $373 Based on these numbers, I would have been better off buying a much less expensive system that was reliable but inefficient. So what’s the point of buying the high efficiency Fujitsu system?Imagine you get home from a hard day of work, only to realize…your air conditioner isn’t working. Your home is hot and muggy, and you’re a sweaty mess already!This is a common scenario when summer hits and the air conditioner overheats. When it overheats, it will trip the circuit breaker—and continue to do so until you fix the problem.

Here are 3 common reasons why this happens, and what you can do about them.The air filter is the safety net that protects your air conditioner from dirt and pollutants. But when it’s covered in dirt, it goes from friend to foe.A dirty air filter blocks airflow in your home’s air ducts, forcing your air conditioner to run longer—and harder— to cool your home. This will continue until:You don’t want either, right?Solution: Change the air filter once a month. Out of air filters? Here’s our guide to choosing the right air conditioner air filter.Condenser coils are refrigerant filled tubes running through your air conditioner’s outside unit.  If these coils are dirty, then your air conditioner runs longer, causing the air conditioner to overheat.Here’s why: Your standard split A/C unit has 2 parts: the outside unit and the inside unit. The inside unit uses refrigerant to absorb the heat in your indoor air to cool it down. That hot liquid refrigerant flows to the outside unit where the refrigerant dumps the heat out into the world.

But if dirt covers the coils, the refrigerant can’t release the heat easily because dirt is an insulator. Basically, it’s like if you were wearing a sweater on a hot day. Your body would want to release the heat, but the wool would prevent the heat from leaving (talk about overheating!). So now the refrigerant can’t absorb more heat from your air, causing your air conditioner to blow out lukewarm air. Your air conditioner will keep running until it overheats because it can’t reach your thermostat temperature setting.Solution: Clean your outside unit using a special coil cleaning spray. Or call a professional to do it for you as part of a standard air conditioner maintenance visit.Similar to problem #2, not having enough refrigerant will also cause your air conditioner to constantly run, leading to it overheat.Solution: Look out for the signs of low refrigerant:If you’ve noticed these signs, then you’re low on refrigerant. If you’re low on refrigerant then you also have a refrigerant leak because refrigerant is never “used up” like gas in a car.