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Warranties, registration, and what actually voids them
Almost every system sold carries a warranty almost nobody reads. This page is about what it covers, what it does not, and the two deadlines that decide most of it.
Four things that are generally true, before the detail.
One: a manufacturer warranty covers parts, not labour. A compressor replaced under warranty still means a day of work, refrigerant, and sometimes access equipment. That bill is real and it surprises people, which is why “ten-year warranty” and “free repair” are not the same sentence.
Two: the headline term usually depends on registration. Most manufacturers offer a longer parts term if the equipment is registered within a window after installation — commonly sixty or ninety days. Miss it and the term generally drops to a shorter default. It is free and it is silent: nobody writes to tell you it lapsed.
Three: labour cover is a separate thing. Where it exists it usually comes from the installing contractor rather than the manufacturer, for a shorter period, and it is worth knowing which you have.
Four: we will not read your document for you. Terms differ by manufacturer, by model and by year, and the wording governs. We will look up your equipment, tell you what we find and point you at the document. Anything more specific than that from a contractor is a guess.
Pick what has happened and who installed it. Everything below is written out in full.
This is the situation people find hardest, and it is worth being clear about what changes and what does not.
What does not change: the manufacturer’s parts warranty. It attaches to the equipment, not to the company that fitted it. If the unit is registered and within term, the part is still owed, and any qualified contractor can make the claim. You do not have to find the original installer to get a covered part.
What does change: labour. If the installer offered a labour warranty, that was a promise from a company that no longer exists, and there is generally nothing to claim against. Any labour cover sold separately by a third party is a different matter and depends on that contract.
What to do, in order. Find the model and serial numbers — they are on the rating plate on each unit. Find out whether the equipment was ever registered, which the manufacturer can usually tell you from the serial number. Establish the installation date from any paperwork, a permit record, or the manufacture date coded into the serial. Then you know where you stand.
And one thing we will do. We will make a manufacturer claim on equipment we did not install, and we will not charge you extra for the administration of it. Some contractors will not touch somebody else’s installation at all; that is their right and it is not our policy.
It has just been installed
You are in the only window that matters, and it is short.
Register it now. Not this month — now. The window is commonly sixty or ninety days and it usually decides whether you have the headline term or a shorter default. It is free. If the installing contractor says they will do it, ask for the confirmation, because “we always do it” and “it was done” are different statements.
Then put four things in one place: the model and serial numbers of every unit, the installation date, the registration confirmation, and the permit. That folder is the whole of your position if anything ever goes wrong.
And ask one question: what labour cover is included, from whom, and for how long? It is a different thing from the manufacturer’s parts warranty and it is the part that costs money at a failure.
Ten minutes now. Nothing else on this page is as cheap.
Something has failed
Before you agree to a repair, establish whether you should be paying for the part.
Ask for the model and serial numbers and the failed component. Any contractor has these in front of them. With them, the manufacturer can usually confirm the registration status and the term in a phone call.
Expect to pay for labour even when the part is covered. That is what a parts warranty means. What you should not do is pay for a compressor, a coil or a board that the manufacturer owes you, and it happens more often than it should — sometimes because nobody checked.
One thing to watch for. If a contractor proposes replacing the whole system rather than the failed part on equipment that is still in parts warranty, ask them to put the reason in writing. Sometimes it is entirely correct. It is also the situation where a replacement is easiest to sell and hardest to question.
And get the failed part’s details recorded whatever you decide. If the same thing fails twice, that history is what makes the second conversation different.
You do not know what cover you have
Very common, entirely fixable, and worth doing on a quiet afternoon rather than during a failure.
Start at the rating plate. Every unit carries model and serial numbers, usually on a plate on the casing or inside an access panel. Photograph them. The serial number generally encodes the manufacture date, which gives you a floor for the equipment’s age even when nobody knows the installation date.
Then ask the manufacturer. Most will tell an owner the registration status and the applicable term from the serial number. This is a short call and it is the single most useful thing on this page for somebody in your position.
Then look for a permit record. Your city or county keeps them, and a permit gives you a reliable installation date and often the installing contractor’s name. That is frequently how people find out who fitted a system nobody remembers.
What you will probably find: that the equipment is in term for parts, that nobody registered it so the term is the shorter default, and that there is no labour cover. That is an ordinary outcome and it is far better to know it now.
You bought the house with it
Two questions, and the second one has a deadline you may not know about.
Is the warranty transferable? Many manufacturers allow a remaining parts warranty to pass to a subsequent owner. Some do it automatically, some require a transfer to be registered, some apply a shorter term to the new owner, and some do not transfer at all. It depends entirely on the manufacturer and the model.
And is there a window? Where a transfer has to be registered, it frequently has to happen within a short period after the sale — commonly thirty or ninety days. This is the deadline people miss, because nobody at a property closing mentions air conditioning.
So: find the serial numbers and ring the manufacturer. If you have recently moved, do it this week rather than this year.
Separately, and worth knowing: any builder warranty on a newer house is a different thing again, with its own terms and its own clock. And a home warranty policy sold at the sale is a third thing, which is an insurance product rather than a manufacturer warranty and covers whatever its own document says.
A claim has been refused
Find out which of three reasons it was, because they are not equally final.
Out of term, or not registered. The most common and the least arguable. If the equipment is past its term, or on the shorter unregistered default and past that, there is generally nothing to appeal. Worth confirming the dates yourself rather than accepting a summary.
Not a covered failure. Warranties cover defects in the equipment. Damage from something external — a power surge, a flood, an animal, physical damage — is usually excluded and may be an insurance question instead. That is a different claim to a different party and it is worth asking about.
Installation or maintenance. The one that is sometimes contestable. Manufacturers can decline where a failure is attributed to how the equipment was installed or how it has been looked after — a charge that was wrong, airflow far outside the rating, a filter never changed. If that is the stated reason, ask for it in writing and ask what specifically was found. A general assertion is not the same as a finding.
And if the reason is installation, that points at the installing contractor rather than at you, which is a different conversation and may still be a live one if they are trading.
A contractor still trading
The best position, because both halves of the cover are still reachable.
Go to them first for anything in the first few years. They hold the installation records, they will usually have registered the equipment, and if there is labour cover it is theirs. Even where you would rather use somebody else, it is worth letting them look at it if a warranty is in play — a labour warranty generally does not survive another contractor doing the work.
One thing to ask for now, before you need it: a copy of the registration confirmation and a statement of what labour cover you have and until when. In writing, by email.
The builder, with the house
Then there are potentially three separate things running, with three clocks.
The manufacturer’s parts warranty, which is the equipment’s and usually the longest. Check whether it was registered; on builder installations it frequently was, because the subcontractor does it in bulk, but it is worth confirming.
The builder’s own warranty, which covers workmanship and the delivery systems for its own periods, and which is a contract with the builder rather than with anybody else.
And the installing subcontractor, who may offer labour cover but whose relationship is with the builder rather than with you.
Which means the route matters. In the early years, a problem that looks like workmanship usually goes to the builder’s warranty department rather than direct to a contractor, and going direct can waste the entitlement. Put it in writing and keep the date.
Somebody no longer in business
See the note above, which is the substance of it: the parts warranty survives, the labour warranty does not, and any qualified contractor can make the manufacturer claim.
The practical addition is about evidence. Without the installer you may have no installation date and no registration confirmation, and both can usually be reconstructed — the manufacturer from the serial number, the date from a permit record. It is an afternoon of work and it is worth doing before you need it rather than during a failure in August.
Nobody knows, or it was not a contractor
Two different situations with one common answer: start from the equipment rather than from the history.
If nobody knows who installed it, the serial numbers and a permit search will usually reconstruct enough. The manufacturer can tell you the registration status and term; the permit record gives you a date and often a name.
If it was not installed by a licensed contractor, that is worth understanding rather than worrying about. Many manufacturers state that their warranty requires installation by a qualified or licensed installer, and a claim can be declined on that basis. Separately, unpermitted work of any kind surfaces at sale. Neither is a crisis and both are better known than assumed.
What we will do is look at what is there, tell you what we find, and tell you plainly if we think the installation itself needs attention — which is a mechanical question rather than a paperwork one, and more important than either.
Do this next
Register it today and ask for the confirmation in writing. Then put the model and serial numbers, the installation date, the registration and the permit in one folder. Ten minutes, and it is the whole of your position later.
Do this next
Before agreeing to anything, ask whether the failed part is in warranty. Expect to pay labour either way. And if a full replacement is proposed on equipment still in parts term, ask for the reason in writing.
Do this next
Photograph the rating plates and ring the manufacturer with the serial numbers. They can usually tell you the registration status and the term. It is one short call and it settles the whole question.
Do this next
Ask the manufacturer whether the warranty transfers and whether there is a deadline. If you moved recently, this week. It is the deadline nobody mentions at a closing.
Do this next
Get the stated reason in writing and find out which of the three it is. Out of term is final. Excluded damage may be an insurance claim. Installation or maintenance is the one where a specific finding can be asked for.
Where this points at us
We register equipment we install, inside the window, as part of the job — and we send you the confirmation rather than telling you it was done.
We check warranty status before quoting a part, including on systems somebody else installed, and we will tell you when you should not be paying us for a component.
We will make a manufacturer claim on somebody else’s installation without charging extra for the administration.
What we will not do is promise that a claim will be paid, summarise your warranty document as though we had read it, or tell you a system needs replacing when the failed part is still covered. If we ever recommend a replacement over a covered repair, it will be in writing with the reason.
The ten-minute record
A visit, every unit’s model and serial numbers recorded, the warranty position established where it can be, and a written document you can keep with the house. It is the thing most houses here do not have.