Evidence pack checklist for an AC or electrical failure
What this page tells you: what to record after an AC or electrical failure, and how we organise it.
A checklist for owners, and for experts who want to know what we can provide (see evidence held). Goal: one folder that an insurer, builder or independent lab can use without searching through messages.
Always capture
- Nameplates: compressors, inverters, reactors, transformers (photo plus a typed table).
- Insulation and winding tests: phase to phase and phase to earth; meter model, date and who tested.
- Thermal images: with the load (%) and the ambient temperature stated.
- Alarm screens and logs: photos of codes with timestamps (check the controller clock).
- Fluids: a sealed glycol/water sample; a plan for compressor oil samples.
- Location: damp areas, nearby seawater piping, strainer photos.
- Chain of custody: removed parts labelled, listed and stored under the owner’s control.
Avoid
- Trading in or scrapping failed parts while the cause is open.
- Relying on service summaries alone; ask for the job cards.
- Emails without measurements.
Also useful in this case
- Isolation transformer: nameplate, design temperature rise and a thermal image at known load.
- Bonding continuity and DC leakage checks before removing the plant.
- Phase-sequence check on pumps.
How we file it
One dated folder per visit, with an index listing each file and what it shows.
Why this matters for a machinery failure
With a complex plant such as a three-module chiller, several faults can appear over months, and parts are often replaced before anyone records what failed first. An organised pack lets an independent engineer test each possible cause against the record instead of relying on memory. It also helps every party, including the builder, the equipment manufacturer and the insurer, to work from the same facts. Start the pack at the first fault, not after a total failure.