Voidance of warranty due to alteration of original settings?

Dear everyone!

I own a Tecalor 5.5 Eco, which I recently handed over for maintenance so that the promised 5-year warranty would be granted.

I was already looking forward to asking the questions that neither the operating manual nor the installers could answer two years ago when I took over the system. Unfortunately, the installers did not use the time to further educate themselves. They still set up the system as the manufacturer suggests. The gentlemen installers then confronted me by saying that I am not allowed to adjust anything on the system. They said they would report my "tampering" to the boss. Promptly, a handwritten note from the boss was added to the invoice stating that my adjustments voided the warranty.

What are your experiences? The manufacturer (not the maintenance company) had given me instructions by phone about a year ago on how I could optimize the system. The operating manuals from Tecalor each contain the phrase "individualization of settings" four times.

In the warranty conditions, I read that the entire system must come from Tecalor in its essential parts. Otherwise, there is nothing about the user and their behavior in the terms.

I will contact the manufacturer and present the problem. I will also ask the maintenance company on what grounds they refuse a warranty service.

I would also like to hear your opinions or, even better, experiences in parallel. Possibly, owners of Stiebel Eltron devices could comment on this as well, since the companies are related.

By the way, I have already tried to find an alternative company to take over the maintenance in advance. That did not work, as there are hardly any companies specialized in the Tecalor brand.

Best regards

First of all, there is absolutely nothing, I emphasize absolutely nothing(!), wrong with technicians setting up a system according to the suggestions or specifications of the manufacturer. The technicians do not know your individual needs, and here the customer seems to be more of a know-it-all type and acts like that towards the technicians... I wouldn’t feel like adjusting anything beyond the standard for them either.

Basically, it is always the case that in the event of a warranty claim, the cause of the damage is examined. And if it turns out that an incorrect or not recommended setting caused the damage or drastically shortened the lifespan of the component, then such a warranty is quite gladly denied. It is therefore important to have something in writing that the customer or layperson is really allowed to change these parameters and always stay within the recommended range.

That is why the note "Kunde fummelt selbst an Anlage herum" in this wording is certainly a bit harsh, but not unusual. If I notice that a customer is tampering with "our" settings, it is noted internally and the customer is kindly informed that in case of damage, we may not be able to provide a warranty, because, for example, he has overtightened the controller or, in the worst case (by accident), disabled warning and fault limits.

I would also like to hear your opinion, or even better, your experiences in parallel.

Basically, you can set everything in your system as you see fit. All possible settings are specified by the manufacturer and are therefore not warranty-damaging.
Regardless of that, heating technicians like to set the system according to the usual 08/15 standards because a) they have no clue and b) they do not know your personal needs or the necessities of your particular house.

And if it turns out that an incorrect or not recommended setting caused the damage or drastically shortened the lifespan of the component

... then it is more normal wear and tear than a warranty case. Only that the wear was pushed by the user in this way. Settings that are possible and not prohibited according to the manual do not affect the warranty or guarantee.

Therefore, the note "Customer fiddles with the system himself" is certainly somewhat drastic in this formulation, but not unusual.

No, that is something that is absolutely not acceptable. Or does your car workshop also write in the service book "Customer always drives at full throttle. Warranty is therefore denied!"? It is a 1:1 comparison.

Switches warning and fault limits off.

That is something else. But heating curves, flow rate, hysteresis and the like are completely normal settings (I hope that the OP does not go into the deepest possibilities of the technician settings and mess things up) that every user can, may, and also should make without restrictions.

The death of a compressor due to an incorrectly set heating curve is not wear and tear but a defect.

The same applies to your example.
If the driver always drives in first gear on the highway, it is also not in accordance with the manufacturer's intentions.

However, to what extent you can adjust everything in the normal menu, I don’t know for Tecalor. For Alpha Inotec, for example, you cannot access the technician level where you can cause damage without the password.



I would skillfully show your technicians the door; there are plenty who know your heat pump very well.
Unfortunately, I cannot recommend any sites, otherwise I would get kicked out here.

The death of a compressor due to an incorrectly set heating curve is not wear and tear but a defect.

You really have to go pretty deep to set the heat pump so badly. We’ve already had completely oversized HPs here, where the compressor had lived its life in 8 years (something under 100,000 starts). And that is wear and tear when the service life is destroyed by the wrong curve. Accelerated wear and tear – there is no warranty for that. In this respect, the topic is done in such discussions.

Uih!
First of all, I thank you for your detailed assessments of the situation and will comment on it tomorrow.
But already in advance, let me reveal the following:
I never come across as arrogant or know-it-all, even if I know better. I prefer to drop the discussion when I realize that my interlocutor has no interest in my knowledge. That leads to the same result, although achievable faster.

I have only changed settings whose effects I was aware of. The heating curve is not one of them.

See you then