Hey guys wanted to do a video. I was talking to a gentleman the other day and we kind of started out. He said: hey, listen, i'm not your average cus, i'm not an i'm, not the average homeowner that you come across, i'm a little more of a diyer. I uh.

I consider myself a little handier than the average bear and i and i've been looking at these systems online and i actually found a local supply house. You know he even told me he said look. I saw your video on buying stuff online, so i'm not going to do that. All the pitfalls on buying heating and air equipment online by the way, if you've never seen.

One of my videos hit that subscribe button for hvac tips in the industry, but that video i'll put put it up here, uh that video in particular. I go through all the reasons why it's not necessarily a good idea to buy hvac equipment online, so check that out. If you haven't seen that. But as i started talking to this guy, i you know we kind of went back and forth on a few things and if, if you are watching this video, if you've come across this video - and you consider yourself one of those types of folks you're, a diy Kind of guy you, you know you could kind of figure out some things and you may might be a little sharper than the average homeowner i'm going to go through a few things.

There are people that do what i do that are career guys, like they've, been doing this for years and they haven't mastered things that i've gone through. So i'm gon na go through five things that if you have not mastered them, it might not be the best idea to do your own heating and air installation, okay, and so before. You turn this video off. If you're a diyer watch this video.

This is the one watch this video till the end, because i'm going to go through all five and explain to you some of these things, i'm not just going to throw them out there, i'm going to explain them to you and this particular guy, i'm talking about. After we had a conversation, i think it was probably a good 10 15 minute conversation, and i explained some of these things that i'm going to explain to you on this video to him. Let me first say this: 80 of the installation is cookie cutter sticking a square or a rectangle into where an old rectangle was. You know just setting the unit in place and the outdoor unit just setting that unit in place, making sure clearances and all that good stuff.

That would be 80 of the insulation. It's the other 20 that i'm going to go through, and i even told him. I said: look if you, if you do get the equipment and you do set it in place, the other 20. You need to find a heating and air guy.

That knows what he's doing to do the other 20, and so, by the end of this conversation, we went through everything and this particular guy said you know after you've kind of gone through everything. Maybe it's not the best thing. Maybe it's not the best idea. For me to do my own installation, i bump into guys all the time you know engineers, especially folks that are engineers they always think.

Well, i'm an engineer, i'm a little smarter than the average customer and by the way that that might be true. But i think what you'll see is i'm gon na again, i'm gon na go through these things and if you, unless you're a master at these things, maybe you shouldn't be doing your own installs. In fact, i did a whole series of videos on bad installations. By actual heating and air companies - okay i'll put that right here, and so, if you check out that series, that's all the no-no's, that's all the bad things when you do an installation.

So, let's go through them, the five things that you should know or master before you do a heating and air installation if you're a diy-er number one heat load, calculations and i've been harping on this. If you've watched any of my other videos, you've heard me say this a ton, it's probably one of the things that people fall short on the most and, if you're getting quotes you're having different companies come in your home. I always tell folks that reach out to me, hey make sure you get a heat load calculation done, especially if that house has never had a heating and air system before and you're, not even sure if the old system was necessarily sized right or worked right. Maybe you just bought the home and you're, not really even sure.

If it ever worked, right and you're just getting quotes, get a heat load calculation done, even if you have to pay for it. Okay, even if you have to pay somebody to do a proper heat load calculation - and i don't mean one of these rule of thumbs - calculations - that they throw together in a couple minutes - i mean a proper heat load calculation and make sure that system is going to Work right for that particular home. There are parts of the country where this is a gigantic deal. There's really it's a big deal everywhere, but there's parts of the country that, if you don't do a proper heat load calculation, you could have huge huge issues.

You could have mold mildew all kinds of things that happen in your house, so heat load calculation. The second thing i would say that you should master before you do your own heating and air installation, and that is brazing techniques, and what i mean by that is you know, i'm not saying take a class on welding, i'm talking about guys that do that are Good at brazing, i don't even think i'm as good at brazing as some of my employees. I've got guys that i'm blessed to even employ them and they're really good. It's an art right and the other thing we see is improper brazing techniques in our industry.

We'll see folks do brazing and they won't even flow in inert gas, and if you don't know why you should flow an inert gas. Well then, maybe it might not be a good idea for you to be doing your own heating and air installation flowing in the inert gas flowing nitrogen, some sort of inert gas in there, while you're brazing and then good brazing techniques making sure you're protecting the things You need to protect and making a good braised joint, that's going to last the lifetime of the equipment. I remember years ago i talked to a homeowner and she said: well you know my healing and air guy that i've used for years told me it's normal for a system to leak a little refrigerant out every year to have to add a little bit every year. That's normal and i i asked them a simple question: if that's normal, then wouldn't you think there's a leak where's that refrigerant going right so in case you've ever been told that that is not normal.

You should not have to add refrigerant every year unless there's an issue now as years go by and if you have somebody that's constantly connecting gauges and disconnecting gauges. There is a chance that, after a while after a couple years, you might need to add a little just a little bit of refrigerant to get it back up and get a perfect sub cool measurement. But i would say that someone telling you every season, especially if every spring and every fall you're having to add a lit. You know, add two three pounds of refrigerant: that's not normal.

Okay, that's something you need to get repaired, especially with refrigerant pricing. These days is getting higher and higher. The third thing, i think that you should master before you do a heating and air insulation, and that is airflow, and what i mean by that is. Yes, you can pull an old system out of a hole and set the new one in the hole, but there are certain things that you should do that: help airflow or at least stop inhibiting it and also there's a such thing.

As setting the airflow properly when you install it so a lot of systems, especially today, there are a lot of systems that you have to tell the system. What you want the airflow to be now as time goes on we're seeing higher end systems that in the future, become the norm or even the lower end system, and as that time goes on, those systems can actually read your own home and they're communicating technology and Things like that setting the air flow is not as big of a deal, but if you're only doing a 14, 15, 16 seer or even 17 seer system ecm motor, some sort of something where you have to set the air flow, whether you're moving the dip switches On the board - or you might be just simply moving the wires on the motor something you're going to have to do to set the air airflow and if you don't know how to do that, you might not want to be doing diy on this and i'll say This too, while we're on airflow static pressures, if you don't understand anything about static pressure. So if your stick, your probes in there check your static check, make sure the air flows correct, making sure there's nothing wrong there and also, if you don't know how to properly size, duct work right, because just because you pulled an old system out and put one Right back in place newer systems, especially with 410a versus r22. I used to be back in the r22 days.

A lot of guys will tell you. R22 was very forgiving, i mean by gosh. You could just slap just about anything in and you dial in the refrigerator old-timers used to call it. Beer can cold right.

You grab that bigger line and it's cold to the touch like a can of beer, and if you got that going, it's going to cool the home right. Those days are over uh. Air flow is a big deal, static pressures and the size of the ductwork mean way more now than they did back then, okay, if that duct work is too small. If the returns are too small or even the supply is too small.

Imagine if you had to go the rest of your life with half of your mouth covered and you have to breathe the rest of your life that way, that's what you're doing to that heating and air system. If you don't know how to properly size ductwork. The fourth thing i think you should master before you do any sort of heating and air install, and that is gas pressures, and this goes for heating and air. Guys, too, you wouldn't believe how many heating and air guys i i've met that don't even own a manometer or even know what it is, which is crazy to me.

That tells me that if they are installing furnaces they're, not installing them properly and if you're a diy homeowner and you don't have a manometer and you don't know how to set things properly, you can have the gas pressures too low and have a soothing problem. Have issues with performance or if they're too high, i have literally seen burners blow holes through heat exchangers and i don't mean like blow through it like a gun, but if it's too high and there that flames going up in that heat exchanger further than it's designed To do it's going to cause problems and i've seen them blow holes or melt holes through that first bend in the heat exchanger and i've seen that more than once - and i know i'm going to get a comment, if i, if there's a heating and air guy, That sees this and he's like i've, never seen that. Well, maybe you haven't been doing it long enough. I get comments all the time on some of my videos, guys will be like well.

I've never seen that. Well, maybe you need to do this a little longer and you will see it. I did. I did a video a while back on batteries and thermostats, and i described some of the problems that folks can have if those batteries start to get low - and i literally had a guy say: i've been doing this for so many years and i've never had that Happen and i'm like well, maybe you need to keep doing it anyway and then.

Finally, the fifth thing: i think you should master before you do a heating and air installation, and that is the almighty, refrigerant levels, uh again back in the r22 days, if you could dial it in, if you could just get it somewhat to where those can't that That thing was cooling, uh you'd be fine right it would, it would operate, maybe not as good as it should, but it would operate again with 410a and some of the refrigerants out there. Now that is not the case. You have to almost get it dialed. In perfectly, you can be 10 to 15 psi too high or 10 to 15 psi too low, and that system will have issues and again, this is one of those things that i've talked to even i've even talked to heating and air guys that have been doing This a while, and they still don't know how to do a proper sub cool or super heat measurement.

In fact, i will even tell you that manufacturers there are manufacturers. We just went to a class last week where the manufacturers are now doing away with sub cool measurements they're coming out with, i don't want to say dummy proof, but just ways to charge systems to where folks don't even have to do a sub core super heat. They don't even want you to do that because of whatever reason, but in my brain that just means that you know they're trying to make it to where even guys that don't know how to do certain things still can get that system to operate properly. So that's the five things i've got a few honorable mentions before you click on the next video carbon monoxide, i've seen pictures of folks doing flu pipes improperly using the wrong kind of materials not doing the connections properly and things like that carbon monoxide's, a big one.

I've told folks a hundred times, even if you've had that furnace for years. If you have a gas burning appliance in your home, do not go to sleep tonight. Without a carbon monoxide detector in your home, you can go to walmart, you can go to lowe's. You can go to anywhere just about and get a carbon monoxide detector tonight and make sure you get one tonight before you go to bed carbon monoxide's, a silent killer.

You will go to sleep and not wake up if you have a problem in your home. Another honorable mention would be gas line sizing if you don't know how to properly size the gas line going to that appliance. It may not be the size of the old unit, now you've replaced the furnace and that size needs to be a different size. For one reason or another, maybe it needs to be bigger, maybe you know, maybe it needs more volume or more gas being sent to that appliance and again, if you don't know how to do that, you might want to get a pro in there ohm's law.

If you don't know ohm's law and then finally, gas combustion, if you don't understand combustion and intake air fresh air things like that again, these are all things that guys that do what i do a lot of them. It takes them years to master these things. There's a reason why you can't just go to just anywhere and you can't just go to a grocery store and buy a heating and air system, there's a reason why i think certain things are in place, because if you don't do certain things right, you can have A huge problem you're going to burn your house down with your family inside of it because you were trying to save a buck just go ahead and call pro the money. You would save you're going to end up eating that in utility costs or other issues, not to mention the safety issues.

Just because you tried to be a diy er and do it yourself if you're, trying to save money, get multiple quotes, make sure you're being taken care of make sure you're getting fair prices. I would dare say a lot of customers might not even go with the cheapest quote: they're going to go with the quote of the company that impresses them. That shows them that they know what they're doing they've got a track record of happy customers, and they don't want just the cheapest guy in their house. They want it done right.

It's a huge safety issue and utility issues. If these things that i just went through are not right, you could have big problems, big big utility bills, just because you didn't have it sized right or you tried to do it yourself. All that said, if you're in the market for a heating and air system and you're not in virginia you're, not in the middle peninsula or the northern neck, which is griffin, air's coverage area, but you're in the market for a heating and air system before you spend Thousands check out my website new hvac guide, dot com, i'll put a link to it down in the notes, but i've put so much information on that website. I've got a whole page called no nose.

I've put my favorite heating and air brands. I didn't just put my favorite heating and air brands, but i told you why they're my favorite brands and why i don't like other brands. I've just put so much information on there. So before you spend thousands check out that website and then the other thing is, if you are in our cover jar, if you're in griffin airs coverage area you're in the middle peninsula, williamsburg somewhere on the middle peninsula or you're in the northern neck, we'd love to Earn your business we'll give you a free estimate and the best warranty in the area 12 year, parts and labor warranty give us a call today and we would love to earn your business all that said, thanks for watching hit that subscribe button, we'll see you next Time you.