What you should know about flood damaged mechanical HVAC equipment
The Air Conditioning Division of East River Energy cautions residents of areas hit by flooding that its heating, ventilating and air conditioning units which were subjected to flooding need prompt inspection, cleaning and replacement of units and/or components.
Flooding or submersion of the units can lead to corrosive build up and possible blockage of safety features within the units and its controls. Consumers whose units have been subjected to flooding are recommended to immediately contact a qualified, licensed service contractor. It is the Air Conditioning Division’s recommendation that any unit subjected to flooding should be replaced and scrapped to avoid an unreasonable risk of injury or harm.
This is just a reminder that any equipment that has been subjected to flooding should be handled as a homeowner’s insurance claim and the equipment replaced, and not repaired as a warranty claim or standard service call. In the short term the equipment may run, but over time, wiring harnesses and other components may have long term issues and degradation including but not limited to corrosion, bearing failure, or, flame rectification.
This may be difficult for contractors to explain to end users, but it is worse when a dealer invoices a customer for hundreds of dollars and gets a unit “running,” only to have the unit fail to operate reliably two or three months later when a homeowners insurance claim is no longer an option and replacement is required to resolve ongoing issues.