Is DIY HVAC Repair Worth It?

Just Do It? You might want to wait for a professional HVAC Technician.  We have a customer who wants to do his own repairs and buys his parts from us. I normally don’t sell parts to customers, but in this case I try to help him and his family by cutting costs and saving him some money. This time I sold him a condenser fan motor and capacitor to replace his failing motor that is squealing due to bad bearings. He has replaced a motor before so this shouldn’t be a big deal.
I get an email that says he dropped the motor on the compressor copper line and hopes it’s okay and what do I do with this red wire. So this time it didn’t work out and he may have damaged the new motor and copper line. We are scheduled to come out and make the repair, but he has spent the night without air conditioning and is now “worse for wear”.
So how did this “cost saving favor” work out? Not so good. It cost him a nights sleep, a service call to the home for two issues instead of the bad motor.  This job will now cost more if he did damage the motor or copper line. A qualified technician can make a correct and timely repair to the air conditioner, then check the status and function. The system may need cleaning, or have a weak capacitor, be low on refrigerant, have an overheated wire connector, etc.
Leave the DYI to cable TV shows and allow a qualified HVAC company do what it does best, service and repair. So next time you consider a DYI….Just Don’t Do It. Call Air Max at 601-939-0015 and mention this blog for $25.00 off your service call.