Inspectors often won't check air conditioner in winter
Q. We bought our home three months ago. The sellers had inherited the house and were unaware of any problems, so we depended on our home inspector to find all the defects. Due to cold weather on the day of the inspection, he was unable to test the air conditioner, explaining that doing so could damage the system. When summer arrived, we tried the system for the first time and were unhappily surprised when it did not produce cold air. We called a heating and cooling contractor who said the king valve was loose. All the coolant had drained out, and we paid over $500 to have it fixed and recharged. The contractor said the home inspector should have noticed the loose valve because it was very obvious. When we called our home inspector, he denied any responsibility and said the valve was fine when he inspected the house. That means the valve became loose all by itself, which makes no sense. What do you think about this?
A. A loose king valve on an air conditioning compressor is an unusual condition. In fact, most home inspectors are unlikely to encounter this problem in the course of an entire career. Therefore, the tightness of a king valve it is not something a home inspector is be likely to check. To complicate the issue further, king valves are often located inside the casing of the A/C appliance. Since home inspectors do not remove compressor casings, a valve that is inside would not be seen by a home inspector. Therefore, your home inspector may not be at fault for not having seen the problem. Aside from this, there is another important consideration.
Your home inspector did not test the air conditioning system because of cold weather at the time of the inspection. It is commonly accepted within the home inspection profession that air conditioning systems should not be tested in weather that is colder the 60 degree, as this could damage the equipment. However, HVAC contractors know that operating an A/C unit during cold weather is not harmful if the system was run for a brief time only. Trusting this advice, some home inspectors test A/C systems during winter weather, running them for less that five minutes without ill effects. It is unfortunate that your inspector did not do this.
One of the unfortunate aspects of home inspections is that some defects of one kind or another are usually missed. This is because home inspections are performed by people, who by nature are inclined to be imperfect. Some home inspectors miss defects because of inexperience or incompetence. But defects are also missed by the most qualified inspectors. An inspector who finds 98 percent of the defects in a home would get an A grade on a final exam, but that still leaves 2 percent of the defects unreported, and that may be all one can reasonably expect from a responsible home inspector.
• To write to Barry Stone, visit him on the web at www.housedetective.com, or write AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 94301.
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