There are many guides online that explain the steps homeowners should take to complete a do-it-yourself annual oil furnace cleaning in your home. These seem very informative and make the process look quite easy. In reality, it is not that difficult, but to do it right, a professional is needed. Any professional will tell you that DIY HVAC is never a good idea.
Sure, you want to save money, and when the internet tells you something is simple, you want to go that route. However, annual maintenance on anything as important as a furnace should be left to professionals. This will ensure the longevity of your furnace, and it will also give you peace of mind because you will be confident that your home, possessions, pets, and family are absolutely safe.
Read on to learn more about why you should leave your annual oil furnace cleaning to the experts. After reading this post, you will understand why hiring a professional to complete this task is actually the best choice you can make.
DIY Can Be Great
There are so many benefits to doing things yourself. You may be a DIY king or queen and love being the one responsible for repairing and maintaining so many things in your home.
Doing and building things on your own will make you proud and gives you the confidence to believe that you can conquer anything that comes your way. You learn new skills in the process and you exude self-reliance. Your friends and neighbors will respect you immensely if you prove that you can successfully handle the obstacles of homeownership on your own.
In many cases, DIY will also save you money. Some providers of household services charge far more than makes sense for the service they offer. A repair that takes only a few minutes can cost hundreds of dollars, and you’ll feel like you wasted your hard-earned money if you pay someone to do something you could have just learned to do yourself.
However, doing things yourself does not always save money. Sometimes in an attempt to fix something on your own, you end up damaging it further. If you try something as ambitious as installing your own plumbing or put an addition on your house and fail, you may have to pay a professional to remove the mistakes you made before he or she can begin new work – and that can cost you big bucks.
There are several home repair and maintenance areas in which you should leave the work to the professionals. One that most people can agree on is electrical work. The risk of injury or mistakes is just too high.
Another that people don’t think about, though, is anything having to do with your furnace. DIY HVAC is risky, and when it comes to maintenance, it’s best to call someone who knows for sure what he or she is doing.
Why You Shouldn’t DIY HVAC
There are a number of reasons that DIV HVAC is a bad idea. Most of them result in dangerous issues that will, in the end, cost you far more than a professional inspection will cost you. Read on to learn some of the very convincing reasons you should hire a professional to perform maintenance on your oil furnace each year.
HVAC is Complicated
Residential HVAC systems are complex systems. They contain many different components. Many are old and outdated; others are new with advanced technology. People who work in this field have many years of education and training in this realm, and they are learning new things about new systems on the job as well.
HVAC systems bring together a number of different things and it is necessary for HVAC professionals to know a lot about each of them. A furnace may include gas, electricity, and refrigerant, and each brand and style has different ventilation requirements, too. Unless you are extremely well-versed in each of these realms, it’s likely that an HVAC professional knows much more about your furnace than you do.
DIY HVAC Can Be a Fire Hazard
Furnaces contain a number of flammable substances. Because you are not a certified HVAC professional, you can make small mistakes that can turn into big fire hazards. Faulty wiring and damaged gas lines can lead to a house fire that may result in you losing everything. Is it worth it?
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Is No Joke
Every heating system presents the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning because carbon monoxide is a byproduct of fuel-burning processes. It is odorless and colorless and it can kill any living things in your home before you even know it. This alone is reason enough to leave furnace maintenance to the professionals.
DIY Efforts Can Void a Warranty
Many furnace warranties require maintenance to be performed by a professional for all of the above reasons. If you do your own repairs and maintenance, it will likely be very obvious. If and when you need repairs that are far beyond your skill level, a professional may tell you that the warranty is null and void, and you may spend a great deal of money paying for repairs on something that would have been covered.
DIY Can Void Homeowner’s Insurance, Too
If you’re responsible enough to obtain and keep if your homeowner’s insurance policy, you should go the next step and follow its requirements, too. Most homeowner’s policies state that regular inspection and maintenance of furnaces should be done by a professional. If you do it yourself and have a fire or other incident, you will likely not be covered by your homeowner’s policy when you need it most.
Hire a Professional for HVAC Maintenance
The bottom line is that hiring a professional to do your oil furnace maintenance is the best decision you can make. A DIY HVAC job isn’t.
Our HVAC technicians have years of experience and get the job done right. Our cost for a yearly furnace service contract with Sperr’s is just $325 and that includes a furnace cleaning, annual burner service tune-up, and complimentary burner service calls. It also includes peace of mind, and that’s priceless.
Give us a call today. We can’t wait to serve you.