Written by Daniel Walker, Walker Company Heating & Air (303) 386-4082
More and more we hearing that you can repair anything yourself by just watching a video on the Internet. The real question is: what are the dangers, if any, of making repairs after watching a short video? I’m here to tell you that fixing your own HVAC equipment can be life threatening. A quick search on the Internet will show more fires, injuries, explosions and deaths associated with improperly repaired or serviced HVAC equipment than we could count for this article. Although a video may be able to help you identify what is wrong with your equipment, it takes many years of experience and special tools to identify why a failure occurred or how to correctly install new components and know the repair is safe.
Out of all of the construction trades HVAC takes the most training and on the job experience to become a licensed master. In the state of Colorado, these are the years of proven field experience needed to become a master:
- Plumber: requires four full time working years to become a journeyman and one more year to be a master.
- Electrician: requires four full time working years to become a journeyman and one more year of planning, layout, and supervision to be a master.
- Carpenter: requires less than one full time working year to be a journeyman and no master license exists.
- HVAC: requires four full time working years to become a journeyman and four more of planning, layout, and supervision to become a master.
HVAC: requires four full time working years to become a journeyman and four more of planning, layout, and supervision to become a master.
Why are the requirements so high to become a master of HVAC? To become a master you need to have extensive knowledge of all of the above listed trades in addition to HVAC. It takes years to be able to perform the duties of the heating and air business in a safe and effective way. No one can learn this work from a short video or even a year-long apprenticeship.
The fact is, if heating and air equipment is not properly installed, repaired and serviced, you could loose everything. People are killed or sickened from carbon monoxide poisoning, asphyxiated from leaking refrigerant, water heaters and furnaces exploding or catching fire, electrical fires, or electrocution from improperly connected circuits. I always say, “let a professional do a professional job”. Performing work that you are not knowledgeable about could cost you a lot more than the couple of hundred dollars that a professional would charge.