2 Reasons You Should Avoid Making Any Repairs Yourself On Your Home's Gas Furnace

With the coming cold weather, you may have decided to go ahead and fire up your home's gas furnace. While doing so, you may have found a problem with the pilot light or starter, or you may have found that the blower fan is not working quite right.

After investigation, you may feel that the furnace needs only minor repairs and are thinking about doing them yourself. However, there are a couple of reasons why you should forego this idea, and instead, have a professional take care of fixing the furnace for you. 

1.  You May Damage the Gas Lines, Increasing the Risks of Fire and Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

One reason why you should forget about repairing your own gas furnace is that you may cause more damage than already exists. If you inadvertently move or break a gas line, for example, you could cause major issues in your home.

If the lines are disturbed and come loose, there is an increased risk of fire as the gas collects in and around the furnace. If enough of the gas collects, a small spark from the burner could cause a fire or even an explosion.

Also, if you move the gas lines enough to throw the air to gas mixture off-balance, carbon monoxide will be released into the air as the gas burns off. This would then expose your household to the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. A professional would be able to recognize any disturbance in the lines and correct the problem.

2.  You Most Likely Will Void the Warranty and/or Lose Your Homeowner's Insurance

Another reason why you should leave the repair of your furnace to the professionals is that doing it yourself could cause problems with the warranty and/or your homeowner's insurance. Within the warranty, it typically states that only someone certified should work on the furnace.

Also, if you worked on your furnace and a fire occurs and your homeowner's insurance company finds out, they may not pay for the damages. There is also a possibility that they could cancel your policy.

Even if you believe that you could perform the needed repair yourself easily and quickly, you should reconsider doing so. If you do attempt to fix the gas furnace, you run the risk of causing a fire and exposing your household to carbon monoxide as well as voiding the warranty and losing your homeowner's insurance. Instead of attempting to do the job yourself, leave it to the professionals, and contact an HVAC contractor near you that offers furnace repair service to have them do it for you.