Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - Trane TXV's on backorder

Have any of you contractors out there heard if Trane's TXV's for the outdoor unit are on backorder? My second TXV has gone bad - when my new HVAC tech called in the order today, he was told that there must have been a bad batch of TXV's come out recently because a lot of people have been ordering them and that they are now on backorder. Could this be a regional thing or would it be a nationwide backorder?

By the time I get my system heating properly, it will be springtime here in coastal NC...good Lord please let my AC work properly...

Thanks!

Im pretty sure Trane doesnt manufacture their own txvs. Ive never even had to wait on an R-12 valve. Somethings wrong.

This is the second time I've had to wait a few days (at least - don't know how long this time yet) on a TXV - but the guy I'm using now seems very straight up - he gave me a 20-minute tutorial on hvac systems and explained to me how he knew it was the TXV. The valve was frozen when we went to look at it - he took a bulb on the end of it and applied it to the hot line coming in to the system - the bulb sent signal to the valve and the heat pump started normal operation and the valve thawed - pressures in the gauges changed significantly during this operation. What happens to mine is, as it gets colder outside, the problem in the valve is more pronounced so it only pulls down to a vacuum shutting off the outdoor unit when it is cold (approx <45) outside. He also let me feel the hot going in to the drier and comng out of the drier - then the hot going into the TXV and the cold coming out - indicating the restriction.

In a nutshell, that is how the service call went - and he had called that the TXV was going bad the previous time he was here but it wasn't failed yet - so he couldn't get me a new one under warranty just yet.

I don't have any reason to suspect this guy might not be straight with me, but would certainly like to hear any speculation you may have just so I know what to be on the lookout for. You think maybe he just has other pressing matters and this is a way to buy himself some time or something worse? And you don't have to speculate anything if you don't want to.

Thanks again...

Had my new TXV installed last Wednesday - this is a new tech, great guy/tech from what I can tell - he dumped all my refrigerant, pulled vacuum, put in new refrigerant to make sure it was all the same kind and that it was free of contaminants, installed the new TXV and dryer - as of this morning, no more outdoor unit. He suspects TXV again - he just did a startup on a new Trane 3 ton unit last Friday (same size I have) - same problem - bad TXV. Apparently, Trane has issued 3 different part numbers for this piece. He said this indicates a backorder could be coming. I have placed phone calls to Trane in our local distribution house and also the regional. This new tech is charging me for service calls, but not parts - my big question is, if Trane issues a recall, will they go back and reimburse me for the service calls on the part?? Don't worry, I have every invoice...

I had this unit installed Thanksgiving week - so here in coastal NC, winter is almost over. And I have gone through the whole season without a properly working heat pump. And I know that there aren't really any questions in this post - more a way for me to keep those of you who have been following since November posted on the situation and see if any of this sounds suspicious or similar to what you are seeing out there. Thanks for listening...

Hard luck Ric. Its possible that they got a bad lot of txvs. I was talking with a Trane engineer a few years back about a bad component in their ground source heat pumps when he laughed and said,"You know, we just kept buying cheaper and cheaper parts to keep the cost down until we found one that doesnt work." Only problem is that it takes you and me to figure out what the weak parts are. As for the recall, usually labor is not covered. Brace yourself. Good luck.