When to switch off and wait
Turn the unit off at the switch or breaker, and don't keep restarting it, if it smells of burning, trips the power more than once, or water is dripping from the indoor unit. Mitsubishi Electric says to stop using the air conditioner and contact your dealer in each of those cases. Never open the outdoor unit or touch the refrigerant pipes.
Why repairs come up in Adelaide
Heat runs
From 3 to 17 March 2008, Adelaide recorded 15 straight days of 35 degrees or more. A run like that keeps a system near full load for days on end, which is when a part that was already struggling tends to fail.
The hottest days
The city's record is 47.7 degrees, on 24 January 2019. ActronAir says cooling capacity drops above 35 degrees, so on a day like that even a healthy unit may not reach the temperature you set.
Storms and blackouts
On 28 September 2016, tornadoes and supercell gusts of up to 260 km/h brought down transmission towers and blacked out the whole state. When the power returns after an outage, Mitsubishi Electric says a unit won't run for about 3 minutes while it protects itself.
Salt in the beachside suburbs
Outdoor units close to the gulf take a beating from salt air on their coils, pipe joints and fixings. If a coastal unit is failing there, ask whether a repair will last or whether replacement is the better spend.
Check these before you book
Mitsubishi Electric's own list: is the set temperature sensible, is the fan on a high setting, are the filters clean, is anything blocking the indoor or outdoor unit, and is a door or window open? A ventilation fan or a gas cooktop running in the room adds to the load too.
If it won't start at all, check the breaker is on and that no timer or sleep setting is active. Our not cooling guide goes through the rest of the safe checks.
What makes a repair bigger or smaller
A blocked drain, a failed fan motor or a faulty sensor is usually a single visit. A refrigerant leak is a bigger job, because the leak has to be found and fixed before any gas goes back in. An older system can also need parts that take time to arrive.
Warranty comes first. If the unit is still covered, the brand may decide who repairs it, so read the warranty before anyone opens a panel. The national air conditioning repairs page explains how that works.
In a heat run, waiting is the real problem. Book early in the day, have the model number and any error code ready, and say whether it's cooling weakly or not at all. That helps the technician bring the right parts.
Questions to ask before you say yes
- Is this fault covered by the manufacturer's warranty, and can you do warranty work for this brand?
- If it's a refrigerant leak, how will you find it, and will it be fixed before any regas?
- Do you hold a full RAC01 licence?
- Is the part on hand in Adelaide, or does it need ordering?
- At this unit's age, would you repair it or replace it?
What we'd do
What we'd do
If the unit's still under warranty, we'd ring the brand first. If it isn't, and the fault is a fan, a drain or a sensor, we'd have it repaired. An older system that's leaking refrigerant and has failed mid heat run is the one where we'd ask for a replacement quote at the same visit, so you're not caught out twice in one summer.
Tell us what's happening and your postcode. Licence-checked technicians near you who repair your type of system will see the job, and your details go only to the one who takes it. If no Adelaide technician takes the repair within 48 hours, technicians elsewhere in South Australia may see it too. More on heating and cooling across the city is on our Adelaide page.
