Disappointed in solar hot water service

[robdav]

Has anyone else had issues with Quantum and their Solar hot water units? These are a heat pump unit that attracts the solar rebate.

The compressor on ours stopped the other day, a couple of months before the end of the warranty period thank goodness. It transpired that the unit has been operating flat out for who knows how long to compensate for an incompletely gassed and/or leaking unit from manufacture.

Quantum accused us of being poor guardians of the unit in not noticing that the fan and compressor were operating more than normal. "What is normal" was my response, having had no prior experience with these units before. When you build your own home and install a new hot water service you don't have a benchmark or previous power consumption figures.

Anyway the Quantum service manager decided that he would, generously extend the warranty for six months. We asked for two years, to compensate for the abnormal wear and tear on the compressor and other "moving parts", not to mention the extra power used over this period. The service manager said that we were lucky to be getting the six months (four months of which we wouldn't be home anyway), seeing that in their view we were the cause of their products failure through not being able to form an opinion as to what is normal operation. Consequently I told him to put his six months "where the sun don't shine".

Upon reflection, I believe these heat pump type units are unduly complex compared to the roof mounted panel type. And I and my wife are far to technically incompetent to be entrusted with its long term welfare according to Quantum.

[bluegum30]

cant say i blame you for feeling peeved with them, :~ had you touched anything they would have dropped the lid on you .lloyd.

[Woodlee]

I'd be talking to consumer affairs to get some advice on the matter.
They may have a database on the company with similar complaints .
Doesn't cost anything to get advice from them, and they may be able to put some pressure in the right place to get a positive result .
Kev.

[Lignin]

Have a Solar-Hart which is A1, BUT, in summer my pump runs almost constantly (I'm on rainwater) to keep the water at a safe temperature (72 deg C, I think).When it was first installed, the overflow vented to the ground, pumpig piping hot water onto the garden!!I promptly re'-routed it back into the tank
I have enquired of Solar-Hart as to the wisdom of turning the pump off and letting the thing boil, but, if you can get a shrug of the shoulders over the phone, I got one.
All they could come up with was some sort of blind for sunny days.
Does anyone have any ideas/solutions??.:B:B

[burraboy]

We've run a Quantum system for 10 years and my mother has has one for well over that. There have been small problems in that time but they were fixed courteously and quickly and we recommend them as a result of our experience. At the time of installation we were worried about the efficacy of panel type solar collectors because of the frosts we get (-12C quite often) and these units have taken those conditions in their stride. It sounds like the problem you have is more with the manager than the unit, a pity because they are good units (in our humble opinions).
I have heard of another new unit being installed ungassed altogether so perhaps that is something they need to look at.

[Mr Brush]

We installed a newer model of Quantum water heater 4 years ago when the house was built - the heater doesn't have a roof panel at all, and is completely self-contained. If you take the covers off, you just find a huge fan, air filter and compressor built-on to the top of a fairly standard water tank. Not exactly rocket science.

No problems whatsoever in 4 years, and it does everything they claim in terms of saving electricity. Ours runs briefly whenever hot water is used, but usually for no more than 5-10 mins. After the morning showers (biggest hot water use for us), it probably runs for about an hour in summer (when the ambient air is warmer), and no more than a couple of hours even in the depths of winter. We are in NSW Southern Highlands, so it does get a bit cool on winter mornings.

Knowing how these things work (which was why I bought it), I'm afraid I would have suspected something was wrong if the compressor was running most of the time. It isn't as if you can't hear it ! If your fridge compressor ran flat out continuously wouldn't you think something was up with it?

Quantum clearly supplied a defective product, and it wouldn't cost them much (at the real parts costs) to make the customer happy again. They do have a point though concerning user care IMHO. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where you'd probably get a completely different response depending on who answered the phone at Quantum.....:-

[robdav]

Generally speaking those things that require a compressor such as fridges, aircon, and the like are very reliable these days. I have an Engal 12volt fridge that is still going strong after bouncing around for most of its life in the back of my 4x4. I purchased this fridge 27 years ago.
As a consequence of faulty workmanship my Quantum hot water service has had to work excessively hard for the last 21 months to compensate for this fault. All we wanted from Quantum was a realistic extension to the warranty period, I though one year would have been reasonable (even though I asked for two), to see if the compressors integrity had been compromised. It obviously has because they would not agree to this extension.
I believe people need to know those companies that will not stand behind their products, and try to blame the consumer for their products failure. And try to blame us they certainly did!