For many home repair and renovations, all you need for DIY, or Do It Yourself, is YouTube and a helpful salesperson at the home improvement or hardware store. Painting, replacing light bulbs, and fixing a leaky or running toilet are well within most homeowners’ abilities and they usually can be accomplished with a minimum of trouble and frustration. Some homeowners may feel confident replacing ceiling fans and kitchen faucets.
However, when it comes to HVAC installation or repairs, DIY is a very different story. Installing or a repairing an HVAC system improperly can lead to substantial home damage and serious endangerment of your family’s health and wellbeing. Maertin Heating and Cooling is here to explain why.
Problem 1 – Removal
An old furnace can’t just be unplugged and a new one just plugged in. Just pulling out the old unit is fraught with potential problems. Gas and electric lines need to be shut off and sealed in some cases. Depending upon where a furnace sits and the space needed to move it out, the unit may need to be cut or ground into pieces, requiring special tools and personal protective equipment. Untrained demolition of an old furnace can result in structural damage to the home, CO2 poisoning and other injuries.
Problem 2 – Purchasing a New Furnace or Replacement Parts
The best quality furnace manufacturers don’t sell their products to the general public, making it difficult for a homeowner to get a high-quality model that will last. American Standard and Trane will sell their units and replacement parts only to professional, recognized installers to avoid liability, return and refund costs. When you use a professional HVAC company to replace or repair your furnace, you get a better, longer-lasting product than anything you can find at big box home improvement stores – and a much better warranty.
Problem 3 – Custom Fitting Electric, Ductwork and Parts
A new furnace will almost positively, and absolutely be a different size than the old one, as furnaces are constantly redesigned to work more efficiently. That means adjusting electric and gas lines and ductwork to make sure the furnace is safely installed, preventing leaks and electrical shorts that endanger home and family. Cutting, shaping and installing ductwork can leave an amateur with bone-deep gashes from the razor-sharp edges. Simply leaving the incompatible ductwork in place means a furnace will run much less efficiently, wasting energy dollars. Repairs of older furnaces often require precise retrofitting of new replacement parts. Only a highly trained, certified HVAC installer has the knowledge to take care of all these components.
Problem 4 – Specialized Tools
Installation and repairs also require industry- and task-specific equipment, tools that are a very expensive investment.
Problem 5 – Time
When a new furnace or repairs are needed, it’s typically an urgent situation. Unless a DIYer has a crew of helpers readily available and can drop regular responsibilities at a moment’s notice, a home may be very cold and uncomfortable for days, leaving open the possibility of freezing and burst pipes causing long-lasting damage to the home.
Problem 6 – Warranty
When a furnace is not installed or repairs made by a professional, there is no labor warranty to fall back on. Often, if the furnace or parts were not installed by approved technicians, the manufacturer will refuse to honor a warranty, leaving a homeowner on the hook for possibly thousands in repair and retrofitting costs.
Solution – Use only a professional HVAC company to install and repair your furnace!
When you need a new furnace, or repairs to your existing furnace, it’s best to log out of YouTube and login to maertinheating.com, or call us at 708-479-9350. We will send highly trained, certified technicians who will properly diagnose your system, make professional recommendations and get the work done quickly, safely and efficiently, saving you money, time and peace of mind keeping your family and home healthy and sound.
Remember, we are still here to serve you, as we are an essential business!
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