When something goes wrong with your furnace, especially if it happens during a cold snap, you want it dealt with right away. Scheduling an appointment at some time in the future is frustrating and inconvenient. Paying for emergency repairs when there’s an urgent heating failure on a weekend or holiday can be overwhelming.
If you’re generally a handy person, and enjoy doing projects and fixing things around the house, you might start to wonder: Is it possible to perform furnace repairs yourself?
No! We’ll explain why, but we’ll also tell you how you can troubleshoot. You might not need repairs at all!
The Dangers of DIY
Furnaces are designed with professional maintenance and repair in mind. It requires specialized tools and a lengthy period of training to be able to accurately diagnose and quickly resolve furnace problems. Even the handiest homeowners would struggle with this process, meaning that repairs could take a very long time.
Cost is also a concern! Purchasing one new component after another when you’re not sure what’s wrong can add up to a significant expense. Having to call in a professional anyway, once you’ve spent a lot of time and money attempting repairs yourself, is likely. This means you’ve only added to the expense.
But the most important reason to avoid DIY furnace repairs is safety. Amateur work on an electric furnace risks immediate electrocution or fire, and imperfect electrical connections can create a heightened risk of fire in the future. Amateur work on a gas furnace risks immediate explosion, slow gas leaks leading to explosion risk in the future, or carbon monoxide poisoning.
How to Troubleshoot Your Furnace
There are some things you can check before deciding you need repairs. You might be able to completely resolve your furnace problem, no repairs necessary!
- The Electrical Panel: Your home’s electrical panel or circuit breaker box should be your first stop if your furnace simply isn’t turning on. If it has tripped a circuit breaker, you can reset it. If the furnace frequently trips the circuit breaker, you do need repairs, but if this is a one-time occurrence, congratulations! You’ve fixed the problem yourself.
- The Air Filter: A clogged air filter can cause a lot of different furnace problems. You should be changing the filter once a month during the winter, when the furnace is in near-constant use. A thick blanket of dust can cause overheating, short cycling, uneven heat distribution, and more. A filter change is easy and inexpensive and might be all your furnace requires.
- The Thermostat: Maybe nothing’s wrong with your furnace at all. Check your thermostat! An accidental elbow switching it to “off” or “cool” or an unintentional change to vacation programming could have occurred. It might even be as simple as batteries needing to be replaced.
Next Steps
If you’ve gone through this checklist and your furnace is still not working properly, it’s time for furnace repair in Alpharetta, GA. A highly-trained technician can resolve your problem without delay, and most importantly, without risking your safety.
Reach out to Wall Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. to make an appointment.