I am looking to purchase a house which is currently winterized but want to do a full test on the water lines, especially since there appears to be some patched water damage. Do I need to find and contact a home inspector which “specializes” in homes which are winterized or do all inspectors work with winterized homes? I’m considering not only whether someone can work on a winterized home, but how good and experienced they are with them.
Plumbers test new lines with a compressed air tank and a gage that will show whether the pipes are leaking. If you can’t find an inspector who can do this ask a plumber.
Air testing is maybe better than nothing but not by much. I inspect a lot of winterized homes for the HUD 203K program and a good plumber doesn’t need to do an air test.
While your at it if the furnace is high efficiency you could have frozen moisture in the heat exchanger, high rate of failure from compromised exchanger possible.
Get a professional inspector with experience, many inspectors can give you an educated guess so expect comments like “have plumbing/ heating certified by professional/ licensed contractors.” What they mean is “might be an issue.”