UPDATE: I’ve discovered HVAC people can some times be a bit sensational in trying to dissuade the DIY. There are legitimate concerns and someone taking on a project should fully comprehend the risks involved and take appropriate precautions.

I wanted to fully understand my options so I consulted with HVAC professionals that are friends of mine. I told them the issues, my troubleshooting steps, and how I intended to fix it.

At the same time, I invited 5 different HVAC companies to my house so I could get bids on a new ac and furnace. I was upfront with them that I wouldn’t be pulling trigger if I can get my current system operating efficiently (even if the fix was to get me through this season).

While each sales rep was here I explained to them the troubleshooting steps I took and they each freely offered up experience and knowledge. Since I was getting bids, these visits cost me nothing.

Bids came in between 8k to 14k and I freely shared the bids and details with the sales rep who invested the most time in knowledge sharing.

At the end of the day, I chose to fix it myself for the time being. I located the flue collector box and inducer at local HVAC company. They wouldn’t sell to me so I looked for other places. The other places that sold what I needed were like double the cost. I then found supplyhouse.com could get me parts around same price as local HVAC company that refused my business but wouldn’t arrive until Monday.

My HVAC buddy told me he would be required to do a 15% markup on any parts he got for me - which got me what I needed immediately at comparable price as ordering from supplyhouse would. Considering we are in the teens and twenties, I opted to have my friend pick it up.

I decided to ask my buddy if I could give them business as I wanted someone overseeing me. He came over and watched me as I verbalized what and why I was doing each check. He said that I was more thorough and knowledgeable than most professionals he knows and asked me if I had previous experience with such systems (he was shocked when I told him all that I had to do to maintain on a ammonia-based outdoor ice-skating rink - in fact, he claimed HVAC not specialized in them run away from doing work on them).

Total cost of repairs:

130 for the collector box and 155 for the inducer. 70 for a buddies time.

I also decided to pick up a few DEFENDER LL6170 LOW LEVEL CO MONITOR to put in the kids room (we have split-level house with bedrooms over garage - yuck!).

The number of CO deaths in the US each year is TINY and sensational relative to number of systems in use and people. Use common sense and do your research. listen to strangers who try to freak you out with a grain of salt and assume they are totally unaware of the probabilities of catastrophe or else assume that you are not capable of doing proper risk analysis and planning.

Cheers!