> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.1nspect.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Aging Equipment Flagging

# Aging Equipment Flagging

The Aging Equipment Flagging workflow is the platform's way of **automatically surfacing equipment-near-end-of-service-life** during inspection capture. When an inspector photographs a label plate and uses the System Info Tag tool, the platform extracts the manufacture date and — if the equipment is past its typical service life — surfaces a toast warning at save time.

This isn't a separate feature you turn on; it's a **cross-cutting behavior** that emerges from System Info Tag + the platform's equipment knowledge base. This article documents the flow so inspectors and operators know what to expect.

***

## When it triggers

Aging equipment flagging activates when **all** of these are true:

1. The inspector captures a photo with a recognizable equipment label (HVAC nameplate, water heater plate, panel sticker, etc.)
2. The inspector taps the **ℹ️ Sys Info** button on the [Capture Screen](/1nspect/inspector/capture-screen)
3. The AI extracts a manufacture date or year via `extract-metadata-photo` (3 IT)
4. The extracted age exceeds the platform's typical-service-life threshold for that equipment type
5. The inspector taps **Save + New** or **Save + Finish**

If any of those fail (no Sys Info tap, OCR fails to find a date, equipment type is unknown), no flag is raised.

***

## What the inspector sees

\[SCREENSHOT: aging-equipment-toast.png — mobile, the Capture Screen at save time showing a small toast at the top: "⏰ Aging Equipment Detected — Water heater is 14 years old. Typical service life is 8–12 years. Recommend evaluating replacement timing."]

A toast notification appears at the top of the screen after Save. Format:

> **⏰ Aging Equipment Detected**
> \[Equipment type] is \[N] years old. Typical service life is \[low]–\[high] years. Recommend evaluating replacement timing.

The toast auto-dismisses after a few seconds; the inspector can also tap-to-dismiss.

**Importantly:** the toast does **not** automatically add anything to the finding. It's a soft prompt — the inspector decides whether to:

* Add a deficiency narrative about the aging (manual edit)
* Set the rating to `D` (Deficient) for safety-of-life issues
* Note the age in the field note for office follow-up
* Ignore (genuinely aged-but-functional equipment doesn't always need flagging)

***

## What the office sees

When the finding syncs to the cloud, the equipment age data is stored on the finding's `informationalFieldData`:

```
{
  "manufacturer": "Rheem",
  "model": "G50-50",
  "manufactureDate": "2010-06",
  "ageYears": 14,
  "typicalServiceLifeYears": [8, 12],
  "agingFlag": true
}
```

This data is available in the [Inspection Reviewer](/1nspect/admin-operator/inspection-reviewer) for the operator to reference. It also feeds:

* The **executive summary** if the finding is flagged for the summary
* The **AI Draft** narrative generator (the AI uses the age data to write a contextually-appropriate narrative)
* The **SPO** generator (aging equipment factors into the System Performance Opinion)

***

## How equipment types are recognized

The OCR + AI extraction looks for:

| Equipment                   | Recognized labels                                                                |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Water heater**            | Tank brand + model + manufacture date code                                       |
| **Furnace**                 | Carrier / Lennox / Trane / etc. nameplate                                        |
| **AC condenser**            | Outdoor unit nameplate                                                           |
| **AC air handler**          | Indoor unit data tag                                                             |
| **Electrical panel**        | Federal Pacific / Zinsco / Square D / GE / etc. + date stamps                    |
| **Roof shingles** (limited) | Manufacturer's stamp on the shingle back — rarely OCR-able from inspector photos |

Some are easier than others. Water heater plates are typically clear; electrical panel age stickers are sometimes hand-written and harder to OCR.

For unrecognized equipment, Sys Info either:

* Falls back to text-only extraction (1 IT) if the caption mentions the year
* Returns no data — no flag fires

***

## Service life benchmarks used

The platform's "typical service life" data is from industry-standard sources (InterNACHI Standard Operating Procedure, manufacturer guidance, ASHI reference data). Sample values:

| Equipment                       | Low (years) | High (years) | Aging threshold                     |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| Water heater (tank)             | 8           | 12           | ≥ 10 yrs                            |
| Water heater (tankless)         | 15          | 20           | ≥ 15 yrs                            |
| Furnace (gas, atmospheric)      | 15          | 20           | ≥ 18 yrs                            |
| Furnace (gas, condensing)       | 18          | 25           | ≥ 20 yrs                            |
| AC condenser                    | 12          | 17           | ≥ 14 yrs                            |
| AC air handler                  | 15          | 20           | ≥ 17 yrs                            |
| Electrical panel (FPE / Zinsco) | —           | —            | Always flag (legacy safety concern) |
| Asphalt shingles                | 20          | 30           | ≥ 22 yrs                            |
| Roof underlayment               | 20          | 25           | ≥ 20 yrs                            |

These thresholds aren't configurable per-tenant currently — they're platform defaults. A future enhancement may allow per-tenant overrides for regional climate adjustments.

***

## The "always flag" case — Federal Pacific & Zinsco panels

Two legacy electrical panel brands (Federal Pacific Electric / FPE and Zinsco) are flagged **regardless of age** because of well-documented safety defects. The toast wording adjusts:

> **⏰ Safety Concern — Aging Panel**
> Federal Pacific panels are widely known to have circuit-breaker reliability issues. Recommend replacement evaluation by a licensed electrician.

This applies even if the panel was installed last year (rare but possible — refurbished panels still bear the FPE brand).

***

## Disabling aging flags (rare)

There's no UI toggle to disable aging-equipment flagging at the tenant level. The flag is benign — it surfaces information; the inspector decides what to do with it. If an inspector doesn't want the toast, they can simply not use Sys Info on that finding — the rest of the capture proceeds normally.

For future enhancement requests (per-tenant config, per-equipment-type toggles), file a support request.

***

## How it integrates with the Warranty Engine

The Warranty Engine surfaces inspections approaching 11-month warranty deadlines on new-construction orders. Aging Equipment Flagging is the inspector's-end-of-the-stick for older properties — flagging equipment that's nearing end-of-life regardless of warranty status.

The two are independent:

| Feature                      | Trigger                                                   | Audience                    |
| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- |
| **Warranty Engine**          | Inspection completed 11 months ago + new construction     | Office (dashboard pipeline) |
| **Aging Equipment Flagging** | Sys Info reveals equipment is past service-life threshold | Inspector at capture time   |

Both contribute to recurring revenue: Warranty Engine produces 11-month warranty inspections; Aging Equipment Flagging produces re-inspection-recommended findings that can drive future booking.

***

## Best practices for inspectors

* **Always photograph the label** on water heaters, furnaces, AC condensers, and panels. Sys Info needs a clear shot.
* **Speak the data into the caption** before tapping Sys Info — if the OCR fails, the text-fallback uses the caption.
* **Don't assume the toast is a verdict.** Look at the equipment yourself; functional 18-year-old equipment is sometimes still serviceable.
* **For panel inspections**, photograph the panel cover sticker AND the inside breaker labels. The FPE / Zinsco flag fires from either.

***

## Best practices for operators

* **Watch for aging-flag concentration** — if many of your inspections in a neighborhood flag aging water heaters, the report's executive summary can lean into preventive maintenance recommendations
* **Use aging data in your follow-up emails** — *"Your water heater is approaching end-of-service-life. Here's what we recommend planning for..."*
* **Build narrative library entries** for common aging scenarios (e.g. *"Water heater is X years old. Typical service life is 8–12 years. Recommend planning for replacement within the next \[N] months..."*) — see [Narrative Collections](/1nspect/admin-operator/intelligence-hub/narrative-collections)

***

## Related articles

* [AI During Capture → Sys Info](/1nspect/inspector/ai-during-capture) — the inspector-side flow
* [AI Features Guide](/1nspect/features/ai-features) — the IT cost reference
* [Inspection Reviewer](/1nspect/admin-operator/inspection-reviewer) — where aging-flag data appears for the office
* [Templates Overview](/1nspect/admin-operator/templates/overview) — informational fields the aging data feeds into