HVAC question

[d-dave]

So we are selling our home, it's 10 years old.  Our buyers inspector came in last week and they recommended removing the rust from the ends of the AC coils.  The blades are clean and clear, but the ends of the coils are rusty.  Our AC tech (who installed the unit in the home 10 years ago) said he wouldn't touch it.  Scrapping the rust off would more than likely cause the coils to fail sooner rather than later.

Has anyone ever done that?  All the HVAC folks I've spoken to think it's a bad idea.  For a 10 year old system, as long as it's working (which it is quite well), and the blades are clean, there's not a whole lot they can do. 

[Ja Rhule]

Tell em to get a different inspector.

[Doyle]

I wouldn't touch it.  If they back out over something minor like that they were just looking for a reason to back out.  I just bought a 10 year old house and the inspector recommended a lot of minor things. I wasn't expecting the sellers to hand me a house in mint condition.  

[TheAmericanDream]

If you go in scraping that off the coils you could very easily put a hole in the coil. If that happens you will always have a freon leak.  I would leave it. At 10 years old the unit is at half of its lifespan. 

[Jimmy]

On units that age and older a little rust is normal. Go to scraping it and you more than likely will cause minute pinhole leaks which will fug the unit and air handler all to hell. 

[Khyber53]

I would offer the potential buyer a rebate of $250 on the purchase of the house so that they could have the scraping done if they so chose. I would also make sure in no uncertain terms, though, that you have been advised not to do it.

You come off being the good guy either way there.

 

[SmokinwithWilly]

Your buyers inspector wants you to damage the coils so his clients get new ones. He works for them, not you.

[PandaPancake]

7 hours ago, SmokinwithWilly said:

Your buyers inspector wants you to damage the coils so his clients get new ones. He works for them, not you.

I wouldn't go that far but the inspector is looking at the buyer's best interest and to identify future problems. 

[d-dave]

Thank you for all of your input!  It has been extremely helpful to verify what my feelings were as we as those of other HVAC companies.

We're not going to set our buyer up for a fast failure and we're not going to put in a new unit. Our agent said they had not heard great things about this inspector.

They can take the system as it has been maintained by the company that installed it for the past decade. Or if they want to back out, they better hurry becuase by Friday their due diligence ends!

[thefuzz]

DO NOT TOUCH IT.

 

They are just looking for ways to bring you back to the negotiation table.  You start messing with it, they back out anyway, now you may need extensive work, or a new system.  

 

They want the house as much as you want to sell it.

[Paa Langfart]

Tell them the house goes as is.  Period.  They can scrape all the rust they want after they close on it.

[Zaximus]

7 minutes ago, Paa Langfart said:

Tell them the house goes as is.  Period.  They can scrape all the rust they want after they close on it.

No one buys a house "as is" unless it's a foreclosure though.   They would completely stupid NOT to hire an inspector and as far as they know, he knows what he's talking about, so it's not really their fault either.

Khyber had the best idea, and one that is used pretty often in negotiations for many things, just pay $250 of closing costs or something and they can do it themselves if they want.    

[Paa Langfart]

Quote

No one buys a house "as is" unless it's a foreclosure though.

Odd I sold my first house as is got my full asking price and made a small fortune on it at that.  Maybe you should try another realtor. ?

[Zaximus]

2 minutes ago, Paa Langfart said:

Odd I sold my first house as is got my full asking price and made a small fortune on it at that.  Maybe you should try another realtor. ?

The people who bought your house had a bad realtor if they let them buy it without an inspection.    Sadly, there are quite a bit of them out there.