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HVAC Inspection

The Heating and Cooling System (or HVAC) is the most expensive appliance in your home. It is the appliance that keeps you warm in the Winter and cool in the Summer. It is also the most often improperly designed and installed appliance in your home!

According to TN State Law and numerous Home Inspection Association Standards of Practice, testing of the HVAC system consists of turning on the equipment at the thermostat for the season which the inspection was conducted in, to see if it "runs".

It is a violation of the Montréal Protocol for a Home Inspector to handle ozone-depleting refrigerants without certification. Therefore, home inspectors without certification and a background in HVAC cannot perform this test.

Standards of Practice of all Home Inspection Associations and Tennessee State Law does not require a home inspector to evaluate the capacity of HVAC systems.

Air conditioners are not required to be run when the outdoor air temperature is below 60/65 °F.

We temporarily modify the HVAC equipment so it can be operated in these cold ambient temperatures. Though this test can not determine capacity of the equipment (due to the lack of heat load on the equipment), all the major components can be verified as being in operating condition.

Under most circumstances, home inspectors measure the air temperature entering the return grill and exiting the supply air grill. If there is not a 17/20° dry bulb temperature split, they will refer you to an HVAC contractor for further evaluation which will result in additional inspection fees. In most cases, the equipment will require servicing/cleaning before the HVAC contractor will evaluate the equipment.

Evaluation using dry bulb temperature splits is totally worthless in determining equipment performance. Additional information must be collected with specialized test equipment and psychometric evaluation performed to determine if the equipment is operating properly.

Opening equipment panels, other than service panels accessible by the homeowner is not required of home inspectors.

  • HVAC equipment is the single most expensive appliance in the home.
  • It is the most common improperly installed appliance.
  • It is the appliance that is in most need of repair/maintenance. 
  • Most important, it is the appliance that keeps you and your family "comfortable"!

Can you afford not to have this equipment fully evaluated?

We recommend you consider a complete evaluation and system performance check by a Mechanical Contractor or an HVAC Certified Home Inspector.

Ask for our 26 point HVAC analysis. We utilize state-of-the-art computerized equipment and though we  do not have a crystal ball (mechanical equipment can fail at any time) our diagnostic process will provide a condition assessment of the equipment and his performance at the time of inspection.

Don't buy a house in the cool weather and not have it run when summertime comes along!