[big sky hvac]

Had two service calls a couple of days ago, same thing happened at both of them. Customer's thought they could fix their own furnaces. The first guy had come into our shop in the morning and purchased some pressure switches for his furnace. Later that afternoon I get the call to go and look at the furnace. I show up, check the operation and found the ignitor was bad. The LED's on the circuit board told me what the problem was. Not sure why the customer thought it was the pressure switches, but he wasn't even close.(guess he has some spare pressure switches for his furnace, because they go out all the time) Later that same day, I show up at a different house to find the secondary side of the trasformer was bad. After talking to the customer, I found out they had replaced the thermostat hoping to fix it.(because as we all know, it's always the thermostat) The point I'm trying to make is that some of you think we,(the pros) are giving you a hard time by telling you to :callpro: when you're having problems. Yes, some of you may be mechanically inclined, but if you don't know the basic methods of troubleshooting, you're probably not going to fix it yourself. Both of these examples show how these customers actually spent more money trying to fix it themselves, than it would have cost to just have a pro come out first. Just some food for thought.

 

[BaldLoonie]

DIY stat changers are good for biz. Especially heat pump owners. They do like to fry transformers.

But the best illustration happened in Indy about 10 years ago. Local firm has a tech out on a Saturday and tells the HO the service switch on the side of the furnace is bad. HO chases tech away, says he'll fix himself. Wife wonders why it is taking so long, goes down the basement with its damp floor finds him dead, electrocuted. Sad story.

 

[big sky hvac]

That is a very sad story.

 

[TxTurbo]

Nominate for sticky!

 

[aintitfun]

The first guy had come into our shop in the morning and purchased some pressure switches for his furnace.


What are you doing selling him pressure switches to put in himself? Sounds like liability to me.

 

[Codyt]

Don't worry. Wellhome will soon all the HVAC supply houses. Only Wellhome employees will be able to buy supplies.

 

[Chuck]

The first guy had come into our shop in the morning and purchased some pressure switches for his furnace.


What are you doing selling him pressure switches to put in himself? Sounds like liability to me.

Agree with this thread.

The liability issue is blown way out of proportion. Home depot or any hardware store will sell anyone electrical supplies, does not make them liable if the buyer hurts himself with them.

BTW Cody what is Wellhome?

 

[Codyt]

BTW Cody what is Wellhome?

Wellhome is a sales company.

Its product is "turn key home improvement". It acts as CG for work it subs out to its list of home improvement/HVAC companies.

The goal of Wellhome is to have all residential energy qualification work performed solely by BPI certified people, to the exclusion of resnet and any other previously acceptable qualifications a state might have had.

In addition, after successfully limiting the HVAC and home improvement contractors to those who are BPI certified, its goal is to prevent the sale of residential properties until they have been energy-qualified by BPI certified contractors.

All first level energy rebate amounts in NJ (currently $1500) are paid directly to Wellhome, not homeowners. They will test their own work to see if it qualifies for the rebate. They do not warrant that their work when completed will be satisfactory to qualify for any rebates. The homeowner, of course, is responsible to Wellhome financially regardless of whether the work qualifies.

The homeowner has to purchase home improvement packages from Wellhome. At this point Wellhome may not be able to restrict trade sufficiently that there is no option to have anyone else do the work. However, Wellhome is the retesting entity which determines if the work was "energystar" adequate.

 

[dk21]

Amen to this. I fix computers for a living and most people clearly lack the thought process necessary to accurately identify a problem.

 

[yellowirenut]

Amen to this. I fix computers for a living and most people clearly lack the thought process necessary to pick up a phone and ask for assistance.

fixed for accuracy.

100% of the techs out there have called someone for knowledge or assistance. DYI's need to realize that its not a weakness to call, its a technical advantage.

 

[EugeneTheJeep]

The first guy had come into our shop in the morning and purchased some pressure switches for his furnace.


What are you doing selling him pressure switches to put in himself? Sounds like liability to me.

Agreed, no one gets our parts, unless they are paying us to put them in.

 

[Senior Tech]

Amen to this. I fix computers for a living and most people clearly lack the thought process necessary to accurately identify a problem.

I know how to fix mine, it's a two step fail proof plan.

#1 Reboot

#2 If reboot does not work, throw unit out window, proceed to nearest computer sales outlet, purchase new computer.

Anyone wanna buy 38 slightly damaged....err...I mean slightly used computers.

 

[cturman]

Make sure you do the following or you might get hurt.

Don't cut your own grass.
Clean your own house.
Fix your own car.
Fix anything in your house.
Leave the couch for any reason.

You can buy the wrong part 3-4 times and still be less than a service call. If you get the right part the service tech never hears about it. You only hear about the ones where they got the wrong part.

 

[Chuck]

I don't understand all the homeowners that have a problem with this site's No DIY policy.

Their is no law against attempting to fix your own stuff, its just that we won't help you fix your furnace or a/c. Thats all, do it if you want, its your money and your liability. But if you want advice on how to do it just go somewhere else.

Is that so hard to understand?

 

[beenthere]

Agree with this thread.

The liability issue is blown way out of proportion. Home depot or any hardware store will sell anyone electrical supplies, does not make them liable if the buyer hurts himself with them.

BTW Cody what is Wellhome?

And all those stores have high liability insurance because they sell said items.

 

[beenthere]

You can buy the wrong part 3-4 times and still be less than a service call. If you get the right part the service tech never hears about it. You only hear about the ones where they got the wrong part.

There have been a lot of post from home owners/DIYers about how they fixed it themselves the first try, with the right part the first time.

 

[bmathews]

Make sure you do the following or you might get hurt.

Don't cut your own grass.
Clean your own house.
Fix your own car.
Fix anything in your house.
Leave the couch for any reason.

You can buy the wrong part 3-4 times and still be less than a service call. If you get the right part the service tech never hears about it. You only hear about the ones where they got the wrong part.

I really don't care if somebody tries to fix their own stuff. I make more money off those who screw it up than not. It's your car, a/c, yard, whatever. I won't help somebody fix something or sell parts to somebody. Not because I'm greedy or want your money. But because you can hurt yourself or really screw something up. Then blame it on me and want me to pay to fix your screwup or your injury. I'm my choice, just as it's yours to fix or try to fix your stuff. The thing that irritates me, is that everybody complains about price. Granted, there are some overpriced people out there. But that is your option to use them or not. But you have to charge enough to make a living. For myself and my helper to show up. In labor costs alone, no profit. It is $100. Period. The company still has to make money, we need to put gas in the truck, buy insurance in case we burn your house down and save a little for a rainy day.

 

[skippedover]

Quite frankly, I have absolutely no objection to any "do it yourself" project that is clearly visible. However I do have 2 issues with DIY. The first is in the term. The operative word is "Yourself". That means you have the parts (easily purchased), tools (easily purchased but may involve considerable expense) the knowledge (any fully qualified tech has spent months or years in tech schools, continuing education, etc.) and the skills to do the job "Yourself". The problem comes into play when the DIY finds one or more of those necessary parts of the process missing and reaches out to a professional to supply the missing component. In a majority of cases, the needed components are either or both knowledge and/or skill. That to me is my intellectual property, for which I've spent countless thousands of dollars and many, many, many, years accumulating. So yes, that's the major part of the repair. Not the part, not even the tools but the knowledge and skill required. For that a person will pay handsomely.

The second issue I have with the DIYer who does 'hidden' work. That is, things like plumbing, wiring, framing, insulating and other seemingly 'simple' work done normally by apes. Certainly if these 'apes' can do it, the average, simple DIYer can also do it. And if he/she can't, well, it'll all be covered by sheetrock and hidden from view anyway. I've experienced plumbing systems with either illegal or no vent systems at all. I've seen forbidden drain types used. I've seen electrical boxes hidden in walls and ceilings, improper wire sizes and the wrong wire nuts used on connections. I've seen insulation installed in a manner that will clearly deteriorate in a period of time, I've seen roof shingles installed so that within a few years leaks are invevitable, if not right away. All in the name of cheating a tradesman out of what is imagined to be money donated to his retirement fund and having no value to the purchaser whatsoever.

Unfortunately, these homes where the work has been done are most freuqently sold to some unsuspecting new owner, who finds out only long after the seller has disappeared, that the work that looks so good on the surface is now facing substantial costs to be made proper by knowledgable professionals.

So go ahead, do it yourself. But please, if you're smart enough to do it yourself, then you don't need to ask any pro for any advice, knowledge or tools. After all, you can do it yourself.

 

[clocert]

I don't understand why so much talk around the subject of DIYer's on this forum. Knowing this is not a DIY/Homeowner site, if you are a DIYer, you should not even be here. On the other hand, this forum should not allow non-professionals to be registered here to begin with. There are many A/C DIY sites on the web, some of them are pretty good, your DIY questions are welcome there, Since their forum holders/moderators are all professionals, so most time your question will be answered by a professional anyway.

 

[Brian GC]

So go ahead, do it yourself. But please, if you're smart enough to do it yourself, then you don't need to ask any pro for any advice, knowledge or tools. After all, you can do it yourself.

So then you are saying the HVAC techs out there should not call their bosses for advice, knowledge or tools either?

Everyone asks for advice at one time or another, your complaint is that you want to be paid for it… it is that simple, just go ahead and say it. Stop bagging on DIYers, you probably are one of them at one point or another, just not in HVAC.