Trying to figure out this weird brick wall crack

[red quantom]

I am looking at this brick wall on a ranch house that is about 35 ft long and faces west, and I am puzzled by a crack that opened up at the bottom by about a quarter inch. Usually when I see damage like this, it means the concrete slab foundation underneath has cracked, but in this case the slab is totally fine. I know long commercial walls often have control joints to handle movement so that makes me wonder if this long residential wall should have had one too.

The crack started right where the refrigerant pipes for a five-ton heat pump go through the wall so I am trying to figure out if those pipes combined with the sun beating down on the west wall could have caused this. Also, when I looked in the attic, I noticed the foam covering the refrigerant pipes was gapping, which was causing drips below them and exposing the copper lines. Could the combination of movement or heat on the pipe penetration and the long, sun-baked wall be the reason for the brick cracking here? I wonder.

 

[last goodbye]

A long brick wall without control joints can crack as it expands from heat and walls facing west in strong afternoon sun are especially likely to do this. The wall can shift enough to leave a gap at the bottom and the mix of heat, wall length, and the pipe going through it probably explains what you’re noticing.