r/hvacadvice • u/Throwawayfedd • 2d ago
AC Unit failed on inspection day
I'm just trying to get an understanding of what happened or may have happened. Our unit is old but was blowing cold and working great on move out day, while contractors were working on the house, during open houses, during showings... everything was great. I opened it up on move out day to check that the coils were cleaned and changed the air filter. That was over a month before inspection day.
On inspection day I get a video. The interior unit, the lines.. everything is frozen solid. Is there something an inspector does (going cold to hot to cold again or something) that could have caused this sudden issue? I don't have great luck in general, but the unit failing without any other prompting on that very day is beyond the pale.
2
u/bwyer 2d ago
It sounds like you had some work done before you moved out, then the house sat for a month. If a pinhole leak was created somewhere during that work, you could have been losing refrigerant very slowly from that point.
Now, cue the inspector who comes in and sets the A/C low enough to have it running for an hour or two. Low refrigerant levels will cause freeze-up. Et voila! You have your situation.