Why Electrical HVAC Repairs Should Be Left to the Pros

DIY Nightmares Don’t Have to Happen

We’ll cut to the chase: some HVAC upgrades and even repairs can be done quite easily as a do-it-yourself project. Who doesn’t enjoy changing an air filter? Okay, so maybe we’re getting carried away, but you know what we mean.

However, there are some things best left to the pros, full stop. That list includes HVAC electrical repairs. We’ve heard too many stories and encountered genuinely scary situations ourselves in the course of more than 50 years of serving customers across the Southland to ever feel differently about it.  Consider the following comments, all shared in a DIY horror story thread from a popular online forum for HVAC professionals.

HVAC Electrical Repairs Red Flag:  A Furnace That Won’t Ignite

“One of the most dangerous things is when an old furnace in a crawlspace won’t ignite. Especially propane… it is heavier than air, and a lot of older units are in a pit dug in the crawlspace.”

“A spark is all it takes… a blower relay, spark igniter… that’s all stuff that can kick on without warning.”

HVAC Electrical Repair Red Flag: Gas

“…[my neighbor] decided to open the tap on a gas valve to get a reading while the equipment was in heating mode. The open burners were approx 6″ from the gas valve…..

Well,  the RTU produced quite a sizable fireball.”

“I helped a friend set up a residential split system. After I set and brazed the condenser, he went inside to do the furnace. While he did that, he asked me to set up nitrogen outside for a pressure test. So, while he is brazing inside, I proceed to hook his gauges up to the system…

…All of his hoses had low-loss fittings crimped on the ends, and he had gas in the manifold. It was only connected for an instant, but anyone who has experienced this will tell you that it only takes one whiff. Mean stuff.”

HVAC Electrical Repairs Red Flag: A Final Analysis

“[HVAC electrical repairs are]… an intricate system of controlling and manipulating the movement of electrons. A process you have to conceptualize in your mind, just to have the necessary foundation to build layers of systems, devices, codes, and instrumentation to make the moving electrons visible. That system is predicted on wrangling an invisible force that can kill or burn. The electrons are a force of nature so when there is a flaw in the containment, they find it. 

Then there are arc flashes. In them copper expands 67,000 times its size and produces the highest heat known to occur on Earth 35,000F. For perspective the surface of the sun is 9,000F. Arc flashes emit blast pressure waves that carry in them molten metal shrapnel….the possibility is very real to be a few feet away from a hot bomb where you breathe in vaporized copper, are impaled by molten copper, on fire, and your brain just got rocked….”

The bottom line?

Stay safe. Indoor comfort shouldn’t be dangerous. If your HVAC system has an electrical problem, call a professional today.

 

Only the HVAC professionals at Air-Tro have been keeping California comfortable since 1969! Call the experts now: (626) 357-3535