When It Comes to Your Furnace, Leave Repairs and
DIY furnace repair has the potential to put your appliance, your property, and your health in danger. Calling a furnace pro can help you avoid these pitfalls and get an optimally working furnace at the same time.
When something in your home is broken, wanting to fix it yourself is a natural impulse. Tackling home projects on your own gives you a wonderful sense of ownership, self sufficiency, and pride in a job well done. Desiring these things, however, is not a good enough reason to take on a task that is beyond your capability. Take a faulty furnace, for example. Unless you're a professional furnace expert, you probably don't have the skills, familiarity, or tools to safely and successfully tackle this type of repair or service work. Read on to find out some of the dangers associated with DIY furnace repairs, and to learn how hiring a professional appliance repairs pro can benefit you and your home in the long run.
Issues with your furnace can manifest in many different ways, including when the:
Furnace does not turn on
System doesn't emit enough heat
Blowers won't turn off
Cycles are too frequent
Ignition or pilot lights are defective
Furnace loud noises (e.g. squeals or rumbles)
Thermostat is broken
Some of these symptoms are fairly straightforward. If your furnace isn't emitting enough heat, for example, you'll probably notice. The next question is, though, do you have any idea why it's not emitting enough heat? Unless you're sure what the problem is and what the underlying causes are, you'll be best served by leaving these furnace issues to a pro.
If you embark on a furnace repair mission on your own, you will end up putting yourself, your furnace, and your home in danger. Tinkering with an electric furnace can lead to electric shocks. Going under the hood of a gas furnace can lead to gas leaks. Furnace professionals know what these dangers are, how to avoid them, and how to identify and deal with them if they do occur. The average homeowner simply doesn't have this knowledge.
If you're considering DIY furnace service, you should also consider if that's the best course of action for the overall health of your heating system. You might feel confident that you can handle repairing or servicing this appliance, but what happens when something unexpected occurs; or when you find a much bigger problem than you anticipated? What if you, without knowing it, make a mistake in your repair efforts? The best-case scenario is that you won't be able to fix the problem that you went in to deal with. The worst-case scenario is that you inadvertently cause additional damage to your furnace.
Because your furnace is connected by ducts to the rest of your home, and because it's such a large appliance, making mistakes when working on a furnace can also potentially cause far-reaching damage to your property. Don't court disaster. Call on your local heating and air conditioning service expert for help with a faulty furnace. These professionals know the ins and outs of heating and cooling systems, they know the dangers of furnace service work, and they know how to safely and effectively perform repair work to make sure you stay warm throughout the cold weather.
If you have a DIY impulse when your furnace starts acting up, remember the dangers to your person, your furnace, and your property. Then, sit back, pick up the phone, and leave the major appliance repair work to the pros.