Parts unavailability

nicholas bonham-carter

We have a Luxaire/York rooftop unit, only 3 years old on which the blower motor has failed. The replacement part-still under warranty will not be back in stock for at least 10 days.
Is that now the norm for modern manufacturers to let such an important part be out of stock, or is it only Luxaire/York?
Should we ever use equipment from them again?—NBC

Intplm.

Sadly,it has become the norm. I get the "week to ten days" speech all to often. So much so that I say it before they do when ordering a part.

retiredguy

Many, many years ago, when I was still doing residential HVAC service, I had a similar experience with a condenser fan motor. The supplier said that a replacement was about 2 weeks away. I improvised; I got a 120 volt fan motor That was about the same RPM and HP and installed it in that unit. I ran the fan motor using 1 leg of the 230 volt power and the ground wire. It was not code but it worked. My only other option would have been to power that fan motor from a 120 volt receptacle and let the fan run 24/7. The home owner was well pleased since it was the hottest days of the year. There is always a way to keep the customer happy.

gerry gill

Yes, sometimes I feel more like a supply house than a plumber, stocking things the supply house don’t.

Intplm.

Just this week I called and was told that a part that I needed would be in, in a few weeks!!?

I called around to other suppliers and found the same part that I could get this Wednesday. Sometimes making a lot of phone calls gets you what you want. This is a real problem around our entire industry.

gennady

I don’t even bother to call supply houses anymore. Waste of time.

Steamhead

Burnham/US boiler just pulled that maneuver on us, with an IQ control board for an ES-23 we installed a number of years ago. Fortunately Supplyhouse.com had it and it's on the way.

Obviously, with this abysmal level of service, we won't be installing boilers with this system any more, especially now that HydroStat/AquaSmart type controls have become common now.

Jamie Hall

It's not just boilers. It's pretty much everything. Oddly enough, it's easier for me to get parts (when I need them, which is rarely) for my antique tractors than it is to get them for the new one...

The Steam Whisperer

As an example of this problem, Two of the biggest boiler manufacturer's close down for 1 to 2 weeks at new years...Weil McLain and Hydrotherm. So if you need a part for a boiler that went down between Christmas and New Years, its about a 3 week wait. I had a customer that got stuck in that situation due to a $50.00 part. Fortunately they had a small hot air furnace in a small addition that kept the home above 40F during the large number of near zero degree days while waiting for the part. There is no longer any contractor parts support anymore.

nicholas bonham-carter

This becomes even more critical in the case of modcons, and all their proprietary parts.
Yet another good reason to use two smaller boilers, instead of one bigger one.--NBC

EBEBRATT-Ed

@nicholas bonham-carter

Sadly that's the way it is. That's one reason to buy the "popular most-used brands" better chance of getting parts.

And as you correctly said mod cons are the worst for parts. They are all proprietary parts.

A good reason to sell "old style" boilers

The Steam Whisperer

Yep, we jumped in early in the modcon game and were fortunate that the TT 110's were pretty reliable. However, as time went on and bigger models were introduced reliability went down and repair costs up. We only install cast iron now for hot water. It is also one of the reasons we decided to do mostly steam.... many of the same parts no matter which boiler you're working on.

mikeg2015

Total BS that for at least the warranty period the distributors don’t stock most all parts. I haven’t had this issue with Rheem residential units at least.

It’s one reason I spent extra on my own home and pit in an indirect on my steam boiler instead of a tankless. It’s going to be a PITA install because there aren’t dedicated 1” taps.

Plus on tankless, I didn’t like my options for vent locations and chimney is too big for standard tank heater to vent into. But no hot water over a proprietary sensor or switch just sucks. The boiler uses off the shelf universal controller we always have one in on the shelf 5 minutes from my house.

Solid_Fuel_Man

It goes with having all of one's eggs in the same basket. Refrigeration, unfortunately, is usually like that. Heating shouldn't be.

Those who have multiple heat sources avoid emergency parts needs.

I just figure it as part of the reduced fuel usage of high efficiency equipment.

Low efficiency equipment is cheaper and easier to fix and parts are generally pretty universal. But you pay for more fuel.

Take your pick.