So I had Fujitsu ductless installed about 2 months ago by a Fujitsu Elite Contractor. A few days ago the unit wouldn’t turn on and gave me an “A1 – Discharge Temp Error” code. Called the company back, and this is where things became interesting/frustrating.
Long story short, the tech first told me the reason why I am low on refrigerant is something to do with switching from cooling to heating, and the precharged amount was not enough. A few minutes later, the tech found both “service adapters” were left on the valves and questioned if I or someone else tried to tamper with the system. He now believes it is because of that I had refrigerant leaked out. On the paperwork, he wrote he added half a pound of “freon”. He did not use a scale and only hooked up a gauge – “been doing this for 20 years I know how much I am adding”. He supposedly added the refrigerant while the system is running (while I went into the house to turn on the system). Toward the end, the tech removed the service ports, and as he unscrews the service ports out, I saw a bit of refrigerant leak out – I questioned him on this and his response was “that’s why we over-charged it a bit”.
From my research, I know what this tech did is not the official/proper way by not weighing in the charge… but I accept that there may be shortcuts in every trade and it may just be good enough. However the entire encounter, with the accusation that I had somehow added a “service adapter”, left plenty of bad taste in my mouth, and frankly I no longer trust this company (at least this tech).
So my question is, assuming the unit will work from now on, how much efficiency do I lose by not having the proper level of refrigerant? Should I hire another company to come to check on the system and properly weight-in the refrigerant?
Thanks in advance!