HVAC under warranty failed and damaged home - legal questions
June 10, 2022 8:33 AM Subscribe
This is a legal question rather than an HVAC question. Last year, we purchased a new residential secondary HVAC unit for the second floor in our home. It is a major brand. An authorized installer performed the labor and warrantied their work. HVAC has a 10 year warranty. It has had three major, but different failures over the past year. Each time, the installer has come out and fixed the issue under warranty.
Yesterday we returned home from a few days away to discover that the HVAC had again failed, with the overflow switch failing to prevent overflow. Water was pouring out of the attic through the bedroom ceiling below.
We turned off the AC. Used the shopvac to vacuum out 30 gallons of water from the overflow pan and attic floor. Called the HVAC installer this morning to come out and diagnose the issue. They put us on the emergency list to be visited today.
Question: I feel that HVAC Major Brand bears responsibility for damage to our home (attic floor, bedroom ceiling, bedroom floor). The unit has had clear and documented problems since it was installed. But it may cost more than it's worth to try to fight that battle. Any advice on starting this request to be compensated for home damage?
Insurance would pay, I'm sure, but I'd rather try path number 1 first. This is in the US in NC.
Yesterday we returned home from a few days away to discover that the HVAC had again failed, with the overflow switch failing to prevent overflow. Water was pouring out of the attic through the bedroom ceiling below.
We turned off the AC. Used the shopvac to vacuum out 30 gallons of water from the overflow pan and attic floor. Called the HVAC installer this morning to come out and diagnose the issue. They put us on the emergency list to be visited today.
Question: I feel that HVAC Major Brand bears responsibility for damage to our home (attic floor, bedroom ceiling, bedroom floor). The unit has had clear and documented problems since it was installed. But it may cost more than it's worth to try to fight that battle. Any advice on starting this request to be compensated for home damage?
Insurance would pay, I'm sure, but I'd rather try path number 1 first. This is in the US in NC.
Overflow switch? Most AC's have a big pan to collect condensation if the primary drain fails and a manual secondary drain outside your home so you will see it pouring. My secondary is 1/2" pipe. So yeah, I'd charge them for repairs. How is your primary drain failing on a brand new AC? They do get clogged with bacteria, that's pretty common, but that usually takes a long time, ie: you just have to clean them like once a year.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:48 AM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:48 AM on June 10, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you file an insurance claim, your insurance company will almost certainly attempt to subrogate the repair costs to the manufacturer and/or installer. I’d let them foot the legal bills.
posted by outfielder at 8:54 AM on June 10, 2022 [18 favorites]
posted by outfielder at 8:54 AM on June 10, 2022 [18 favorites]
Call your homeowners insurance and get them going on it! I think that's the only path here.
posted by amanda at 9:22 AM on June 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by amanda at 9:22 AM on June 10, 2022 [4 favorites]
The "downside" of calling in your homeowner's insurance is your rates may rise, but it may be worth it if they get a crew out to thoroughly dry out your place and mitigate any potential mold damage due to soaking several days, plus other potential damages, not to mention their lawyer is probably bigger than any locals you may find. ;)
posted by kschang at 10:41 AM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kschang at 10:41 AM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
The_Vegetables is correct. All air conditioning units produce condensate (water) and it's up to the installer to make sure that water is properly drained or routed away from the unit and out of the house. You wouldn't sue Whirlpool because the washing machine drain hose was left lying on the floor, would you?
The installer is responsible for the drain setup and that's who you should be talking to about repairs. In the meantime it sounds like whatever pump that should be handling the overflow pan has failed, or maybe isn't plugged in. You might be able to get the system working while you wait for a fix.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:40 PM on June 10, 2022
The installer is responsible for the drain setup and that's who you should be talking to about repairs. In the meantime it sounds like whatever pump that should be handling the overflow pan has failed, or maybe isn't plugged in. You might be able to get the system working while you wait for a fix.
posted by JoeZydeco at 2:40 PM on June 10, 2022
Also recommending contacting your homeowner's insurance and letting them deal with it. Document everything, especially receipts for costs. It's hard to say if your rates will rise or not, though based on experience I would lean toward "probably not", especially if you've had the policy for a while and don't have a history of making claims. You always have the option of shopping for a new insurer if needed. I would absolutely get your insurer working on this, though, and see if they'll get a remediation team out to properly take care of the water damage. If you're worried about a slight bump in your rates, wait til you see what mold remediation costs. And, IANAL, but if you had the opportunity to call them now, and do something about it, and didn't... well, I wouldn't bet on them covering any problems down the road that result from this.
posted by xedrik at 5:04 PM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by xedrik at 5:04 PM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
Take a close look at the manufacturer’s warranty. It will probably have a section that says they are not responsible for any damage as a result of the unit failing. I’m not saying you (or your insurance company) can’t force the issue, but it will be an uphill battle, due to the stated warranty.
Question...Is the overflow switch (and pan) part of the actual AC/air-handler factory hardware? In the setup I have in my house, the overflow switch is something the installer added to the overflow pan. It didn’t come with the factory HVAC unit itself. If that turns out to be the case, it’s the installer who is potentially on the hook for damages, not the manufacturer. In my experience, an HVAC system failing to drain properly is almost always an issue with how the drainage system was put in by the installer. It’s probably something as simple as someone doing a shitty job wiring it properly into the system.
All that said, it’s usually on the homeowner to keep the drain line cleared so that water doesn’t back up. As with most things dealing with homes, culpability can sometimes be difficult to nail down.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:12 AM on June 11, 2022
Question...Is the overflow switch (and pan) part of the actual AC/air-handler factory hardware? In the setup I have in my house, the overflow switch is something the installer added to the overflow pan. It didn’t come with the factory HVAC unit itself. If that turns out to be the case, it’s the installer who is potentially on the hook for damages, not the manufacturer. In my experience, an HVAC system failing to drain properly is almost always an issue with how the drainage system was put in by the installer. It’s probably something as simple as someone doing a shitty job wiring it properly into the system.
All that said, it’s usually on the homeowner to keep the drain line cleared so that water doesn’t back up. As with most things dealing with homes, culpability can sometimes be difficult to nail down.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:12 AM on June 11, 2022
Just to put your mind at ease: we made a MAJOR home insurance claim and our insurance did go up, by about $20 a year. We were worried because we always hear how much your insurance will go up, but it turns out that it wasn’t a big deal. Even if it had gone up $100 a year that still would have been cheaper than even an hour of a lawyer’s time. (And shopping around we could get a lower rate back down to where we were, but it was *so easy* to deal with this insurance company we’re happy to pay a very small premium to stay with them.)
You have been paying for home owners insurance for a reason. Let them use their lawyers to deal with this.
posted by Bottlecap at 1:16 PM on June 11, 2022
You have been paying for home owners insurance for a reason. Let them use their lawyers to deal with this.
posted by Bottlecap at 1:16 PM on June 11, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
(a) Document the damage as thoroughly as possible, and save receipts for eg shopvac rental.
(b) Google "Magnuson-Moss Act."
posted by praemunire at 8:46 AM on June 10, 2022