Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Air Con SRK50EEC1 (dead after 2 years) & lying Engineer in Hong Kong and set a trap for me.
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My Mitsubishi Heavy Industries SRK50EEC1 has died after just two years. It is blowing intermittent warm and cold air on the left side of the unit intermittently and warm air on the right.
While under a three‑year warranty, I called Mitsubishi and an engineer came.
He put it down to dust and dirt as the cause and told me to get it professionally cleaned. If it doesn’t revert to normal, get it cleaned again, and if that doesn’t work, top up the refrigerant.
So here are the symptoms I noticed when the engineer came:
- Internal rust – The right side of the unit was showing visible rust. This isn’t normal for a two‑year‑old unit.
- Low running pressure – PSI was only 100–120 when on (he claimed 140).
- Low static pressure – PSI was 140–150 when off (he claimed 180). At 26–28 °C ambient, R32 systems should be 240–260 PSI.
- HKD$3,000 fee demand – He said checking refrigerant costs HKD$3,000, even though the readings were clearly below spec (a leak is a mechanical issue, the readings already say this, why should I pay HKD$3000?).
- Intermittent windy noise – He blamed dust, but dust doesn’t cause intermittent airflow. This is more consistent with evaporator coil icing from low refrigerant.
- One‑sided cooling – Left side blows cold, right side warm. He blamed dust, but this is classic low refrigerant behavior (coil freezing on one side, starving the other).
- Admission of a top‑up – He said if cleaning twice doesn’t work, I should top up refrigerant. But refrigerant is a closed system — topping up means there’s a leak.
- Dismissive hotline conduct – When I called back, the operator admitted refrigerant doesn’t get “used up,” but still refused to acknowledge a leak.
My conclusion: This is a mechanical defect under warranty, not “dust.” Refrigerant pressure is objectively low, rust is visible, and the symptoms match a leak. Yet Mitsubishi Hong Kong is trying to push me into paying HKD$3,000 or hiring third‑party cleaners — which would void my warranty.
Mitsubishi, you need to do better than this. Your Engineer is clearly lying about my air conditioner, my previous unit also from your company lasted eight years.
This is of course typical of engineers in Hong Kong, they try to pass on the problem to someone else.