In the early 1990’s, I bought a home in south Florida and did the usual routine of hiring a Home Inspection company. Home Inspectors are worth every penny and among the many items they examine, will check the heating and cooling operation of the air conditioning units – air temperatures and general condition of the unit. You should confirm in advance the Inspector will open up air handler to check the condition of the blower fan, evaporator coils, drain pan, etc. The Home Inspector that I hired back then didn’t open up the air handler and I wasn’t knowledgeable enough back then to ask about it.
When buying that home in south Florida, I made the expensive mistake of not hiring an air conditioning technician to open up and inspect the air handler before I purchased that home in south Florida. Rather, I hired an A/C company to check the unit after I closed the deal and was moving into the home. When the A/C technician opened up the air handler he called me over and said the unit had never been serviced and was a mess. The evaporator coils were covered with mold, heavily rusted and leaking refrigerant. I had the A/C company replace the entire air handler that very day to the tune of $1,700.00.
This is the attic air handler in my current home.

Attic Air Handler - Furnace and Air Conditioner Evaporator Unit
Having learned my $$$ lesson, I always hired a Home Inspector and a HVAC technician to inspect a new home and the HVAC system.
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Sun, Jun 28, 2009
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