Why Do It Yourself Furnace Maintenance Could Be Risky for Your Home

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Technician replacing an air filter in a furnace

You may know that regular furnace maintenance is important to keeping your heater running efficiently. Many people may be tempted to handle the work on their own, but it is nearly always best to rely on our professional furnace maintenance services in Spring, TX, for this task. Attempting do-it-yourself furnace maintenance can lead to multiple unintended consequences.

Learn more about why you should limit your DIY furnace maintenance to tasks like filter replacement.

Why Is DIY Maintenance So Dangerous?

It’s no secret that maintenance can be expensive. You know it’s needed, though, and so you try to save a quick buck by taking care of it yourself. How hard could it be, right?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of hazards that come with DIY furnace maintenance. Some of the most common include the following.

1. You May Not Have the Tools or Knowledge to Do Things Correctly

Furnaces are complex pieces of machinery that rely on a lot of different moving parts to function correctly. If you don’t know how all of these work, you could run into trouble.

Say, for example, you’re trying to figure out how to clean a furnace. You’ve never done this before, so you decide to consult the internet. Unfortunately, if you don’t find advice online about your exact model and brand of furnace, you could make a dangerous error that leaves the furnace worse off than when you started.

A lack of knowledge isn’t the only thing that could cause a hazard; many people don’t have the tools to perform full maintenance, either. For example, your DIY furnace maintenance work probably won’t involve running a diagnostic test because you won’t have the right tools. This means you could miss a part that’s close to failing.

Skipping key aspects of maintaining a furnace because you don’t have the right tools or know-how could put your furnace in jeopardy of a breakdown. Not only does this mean you might not get enough heat, but it could lead to problems like gas leaks, fires, and more.

2. Your Furnace May Not Get the Tune-Ups It Needs To Function Efficiently

Improper furnace maintenance may not always cause your system to break down entirely, but it can still affect its efficiency. For example, say you fail to do a thermostat calibration. The furnace may use more energy than it should because of an issue with the thermostat. This problem drives up your energy bills and may cost you more money compared to hiring our professionals from the start.

3. You Might Face More Costly Breakdowns in the Future

Do-it-yourself furnace maintenance can hurt your wallet as much as your home. Should you make an error while working on the furnace yourself, you could end up costing yourself more money in the long run. Poor maintenance could lead to expensive repairs or might shorten the lifespan of the system, necessitating replacement.

4. Your Furnace May Not Start After Sitting Idle

Because the Spring, TX, area doesn’t experience cold temperatures very often, you may not run your furnace much. Even in winter, low temperatures in southeast Texas rarely hit the freezing mark.

When your furnace sits idle for several days, maintenance services are even more important. If you make an error during do-it-yourself furnace maintenance, you might leave the system unable to respond after sitting idle.

Trust Us to Provide You With the Service You Need

Don’t struggle with DIY maintenance; let the professionals handle the work for you. We can assist with everything, including:

  • Blower cleaning
  • Flame sensor cleaning
  • Pilot light checks
  • Belt inspections

We understand that some people consider performing do-it-yourself furnace maintenance because they want to save on the cost of hiring professionals. Our heating service professionals offer upfront pricing on our maintenance services. If we find a part that needs replacement or repair, we’ll give you a transparent cost estimate for the work.

Trust Crew Heating & Cooling for Furnace Maintenance in Spring, TX

The best way to ensure excellent performance from your heating system is through our furnace maintenance services. When our heating professionals visit your property annually, we will inspect the system, looking for signs of energy inefficiency. If you notice signs of a loud furnace or short cycling, reach out to us right away for maintenance or repair help.

Relying on do-it-yourself furnace maintenance could end up causing more problems for the furnace than you solve. Reach out to Crew Heating & Cooling today for more information on our maintenance work or to set up an appointment.