Leaking ice maker AFTER testing

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61-30.809 Standards of Practice, Household Appliances

(1) The inspector shall inspect household appliances for normal operation – using normal operating controls to activate a primary function.

(2) The inspector shall describe the type of household appliance.
(3) The inspector is not required to:
(a) Activate any system or appliance that is shut down, disconnected, or otherwise rendered

inoperable;
(b) Operate or evaluate any system, component or appliance that does not respond to normal user

controls;
(c) Operate any gas appliance that requires the manual lighting of a pilot light or burner device; (d) Operate any system, appliance or feature that requires the use of special codes, keys,

combinations, or devices or where user manual reference is required;
(e) Operate any system, component, or appliance where in the opinion of the inspector, damage

may occur;
(f) Determine thermostat(s) calibration, adequacy of heating elements, operate or evaluate self

cleaning cycles, door seals, indicator lights, timers, clocks or timed features, defrost cycles or frost free features, or other specialist feature as it applies to the appliance device;

(g) Determine leakage from microwaves ovens;
(h) Determine the presence or operation of back draft damper devices in exhaust devices; (i) Move any appliance;
(j) Confirm operation of every control or feature of a system or appliance.

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Interesting, I would be concerned as a HI what my responsibilities are. Cool thing, I could do my laundry while at work.

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Maryland spells it out:

B. A home inspector is not required to inspect:
(1) Paint, wallpaper, and other finish treatments;
(2) Carpeting;
(3) Window treatments;
(4) Central vacuum systems;
(5) Household appliances; or
(6) Recreational facilities. § 09.36.07.11

InterNACHI says:
IV. The inspector is not required to:
A. inspect paint, wallpaper, window treatments or finish treatments.
B. inspect floor coverings or carpeting.
C. inspect central vacuum systems.
D. inspect for safety glazing.
E. inspect security systems or components.
F. evaluate the fastening of islands, countertops, cabinets, sink tops or fixtures.
G. move furniture, stored items, or any coverings, such as carpets or rugs, in order to inspect the concealed floor structure.
H. move suspended-ceiling tiles.
I. inspect or move any household appliances.
J. inspect or operate equipment housed in the garage, except as otherwise noted.

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I, like a few others have stated, only open the fridge and do a IR thermal to see if temps are in “normal” range. I don’t operate exterior ice/water dispensers and note it my reports with a simple disclaimer. If there are issues with them, and the client wants to know why they were not tested, I will explain the reason to them at that time.

And not to bash the OP by any means, I would never try to “fix” a problem. Take a picture and move on.

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why would anybody take on that liability??? no water from the dispenser, well maybe the valve is turned off behind the refrigerator that has not been moved in 10 Years…now You damage the kitchen floor trying to pull that thing out…Many refrigerators here are going with the seller and are their property , I don’t inspect their luggage either… if the buyer informs me that the stove and refrigerator convey with the sale I will make sure the fridge is cold and the stove gets hot but tell them that could certainly change before they move in. appliances rarely give out a warning before they break…

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Just because the SOP, or the state regulations say “Not required” doesn’t mean that you can not inspect some or all of those things. I see it as a responsibility to my client (usually the buyer) to help protect them with knowledge of the current condition of what he (or she as the case may be) is buying…and that includes the major appliances that are being sold with the home. This is just my opinion and the way I treat my clients. I believe this is even more important when working with a young first-time home buyers that usually knows nothing. So do I test the ice maker for them…yes I do, and I will continue to do so. Because doing it and knowing that it works as designed, is a lot better than hiding behind the SOP and them finding out it doesn’t work and then them shaming me on-line because I didn’t stick a glass under the dispenser. Anyway…thanks for the feed back.

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You missed the point…I wasn’t trying to FIX the problem. I was trying to prevent the water from leaking on the 6" Brazilian Cherry floors or damaging the solid wood cabinets. There was NO ONE there to do it other than me.

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I do not think JJ said that, he said what he does which is a cursory inspection. I suspect his experience had taught him to go at it cautiously.

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but it sounds like You created the problem …was the icemaker leaking on the floor before You played with it?

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I started out not testing/inspecting appliances, but then started to do it after so many clients asked me about the appliances during the walk-through. I have a bunch of disclaimers though, including any fridge door “features.” Some of these newer fridges take too much time to sit and decipher all the digital settings, lol. In addition, I found myself in vacant houses with nothing to dispense into several times. So I said enough of that, especially since I don’t usually know at the time if the appliances are even staying.

In a related note, maybe “full appliance inspection and testing” would be a good add-on service? If they purchase the add-on, at least you know the appliances are staying and can get paid to do a more thorough examination.

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That right there would be enough for me, if I were you, to rethink my normal practice of inspecting and/or testing non built-in appliance, unless required by your state.

With that description you are lucky you didn’t cause thousands of dollars of damage.

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Yup, for me no refrigerators or laundry machines. Stoves, range hoods, built-in microwaves, dishwashers, disposals, trash compactors yes…but only normal controls and not all cycles.

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actually he may have …that floor may still swell…

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I used to take a cat for testing the compactors…Im no longer allowed to own cats…

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I do not see the problem
image

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I didn’t either actually…some stupid rule the county came up with…

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You have received alot of criticism here, some much more harsh than necessary…
I happen to be like you, I prefer to check the ice maker, dispenser, dishwasher, microwave, etc for the client. I do alot of inspections for clients site-unseen. How are they going to know about a faulty appliance before they move in? And then guess who gets the bad review no matter what the SOP says??

But I appreciate the discussion, because now I will be more diligent about checking the internal components first.

In your defense, this isn’t something that is typically thought of until something like this happens. So to those who gave you a hard time, I wonder what THEY did before they realized they should change their inspection process?

This forum is a great learning tool for everybody

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Laundry machines is hit or miss for me… I prefer not to, because I am not going to stand there watching it. If I do decide to run it, I let it run for a few minutes and then switch it to drain while I can stand there watching.

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I agree somewhat Daniel, I think most of the criticism comes from pulling a frozen “solid block of ice” hopper out and dumping it into the sink. There could have been a few reasons that water was on the floor prior to doing that and leaving it as it was, may have been better than the later results. What do we know now, except to check internal components prior to exterior if you want to that extra step for your clients.

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Could do this… lol https://fb.watch/egmsurkxjn/

If you can’t open, this guy turned his dead cat into a drone

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Even did an ostrich

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