Replacing a natural gas furnace can cost anywhere from about $2,000 all the way up to almost $6,000 on average. It could also cost a whole lot more than that if you have a big home that requires a larger furnace than usual.
For this reason alone, you should not attempt to do DIY furnace work at any point in time. If you happen to make a mistake and break your furnace, you could end up having to pay thousands of dollars to replace it.
This is just one of the many reasons why doing DIY furnace work should be a big no-no in your house. Let’s take a look at some of the other reasons why you should call on a professional for help as opposed to trying to tackle furnace repairs on your own.
1. You Could Get Very Sick or Seriously Injured
The internet has made some homeowners feel like they can take on DIY furnace projects without a problem. It’s easy enough to pull up DIY furnace videos on YouTube that show how to make certain repairs to a home’s heating system.
What these videos don’t show, though, are the illnesses and injuries that people often have to deal with when they try to fix their furnaces themselves.
When you’re in the process of trying to fix your home’s furnace, you could allow carbon monoxide and other toxic gases to enter your home. These gases can cause you and your family to get sick and, in some cases, they can even kill you.
You could also injure yourself on one of the many parts inside of a furnace if you don’t know what you’re doing. It’s not worth risking your health or the health of your family members to save a few bucks.
A residential heating company can fix your furnace the right way without putting anyone’s life into jeopardy.
2. You Could Cause a Fire
There are more than 350,000 fires that take place inside American homes every year. These fires result in more than 2,600 deaths, more than 11,200 injuries, and almost $7 billion worth of property damage.
The vast majority of these fires start in the kitchen while people are cooking. But according to the National Fire Protection Association, about 14% of them can be tied to faulty heating equipment in homes.
If you attempt to do DIY furnace work in your home, there is a chance that it could lead to a fire. You might not put a part in properly while making a repair and cause a fire to start in your furnace and spread to other parts of your home.
This won’t be an issue when you hire the pros to inspect, maintain, and repair your furnace. An experienced furnace installer will know how to make repairs without putting your home at risk. The chances of a fire starting in or around your furnace will be much lower than they would be otherwise.
3. You Could Lose the Coverage Your Homeowners Insurance Policy Provides
To keep your homeowners insurance policy intact, you need to make sure that you’re inspecting and maintaining the equipment found in your home. If you’re not doing this, you could lose the insurance coverage you need on your home.
If a fire were to start in your home today and the furnace was determined to be the cause of it, your homeowners insurance company would want to see proof that shows you did everything possible to maintain your furnace. If they were to discover you were maintaining it yourself, you could have a huge problem on your hands.
4. You Could Make It Difficult to Sell Your House Later
You might not be thinking about selling your home anytime soon. But at some point down the line, you’re going to want to do it—and you’re going to want to get top dollar for it.
But this could be an issue if you’ve been doing DIY furnace work all along. Potential buyers are going to want to see that things like your HVAC system are in great shape, and they might not be if you’ve been using YouTube videos to maintain them.
You might scare a lot of buyers off when they see what you’ve done with your furnace. You might also fetch much lower offers for your home than you would like because of your furnace situation.
This is yet another problem that you won’t have to worry about when you hire HVAC professionals to work on your furnace.
5. You Could Make It Impossible to Sleep at Night
Studies have shown that about 27% of people have trouble falling asleep almost every night. Additionally, they’ve shown that almost 70% of people have trouble falling asleep at least once a week.
This has turned America into a very sleep-deprived nation! People aren’t getting enough sleep day in and day out, and they’re paying the price for it.
If you struggle to sleep most nights, it could be because you’re worried about your house and everything in it. It’s not easy to drift off to sleep when you hear your furnace making funny sounds and you’re dreading trying to get it to stop.
You can start sleeping better at night by hiring heating professionals to work on your furnace. You’ll get more peace of mind than you would by doing DIY furnace work on your own.
DIY Furnace Repairs Are Never a Good Idea
The furnace in your home is one of the most important parts of it. It keeps your home comfortable when the temperature drops in the wintertime. It also prevents plumbing pipes from freezing.
If you ever experience any issues with your furnace, you might be tempted to pull out your toolbox and work on it. But DIY furnace work sounds like a much better idea than it actually is.
You could hurt yourself, start a fire, or bring down the value of your home by trying to work on your furnace. It’s why you should bring HVAC professionals on board to get the job done for you.
Read our blog to find out about some of the home improvement projects you can do on your own if you want.
Leave a Reply