Regulations and Safety Considerations
There are tons of regulations out there to keep consumers safe. More, even, than most of us know. They're designed to ensure that only qualified people do some things, when safety is a concern. Sometimes, though, they can backfire in unexpected ways. Here's an example:
Like most people in Minnesota, I have a furnace in my basement as part of my central heating and air conditioning system. A little over a week ago, it started to refuse to fire up sometimes when the thermostat sent a call for heat to it. I understand furnaces thoroughly, even though I'm not an HVAC technician. I'm a guy who studies systems I own, just out of curiosity.
So, I investigated the problem, following the standard methods of diagnosing faults in furnaces, and referring to the manual for my furnace. The problem was a simple one, really. There's a safety switch that is operated by measuring the vacuum created by a fan that initiates the draft process for the combustion chamber. On my furnace, it was intermittently not functioning. Intermittently. When it didn't send the right signal to the furnace's control board, the furnace wouldn't continue the ignition process.
It's a simple switch, with two wires and a hose that goes to the draft inducer fan. Replacing it is a matter of less than five minutes. The switch costs about $50, which is too much for such a simple device, but there it is. Here's the problem: In Minnesota, places that sell parts for furnaces cannot sell those parts to anyone other than a licensed HVAC company or technician. I understand that. People who don't understand furnaces shouldn't try to fix them. But, I do understand them. So, what to do?
Now, it's easy to locate the needed part on the Internet, and there are people who will sell that part to anyone. So, I found the correct part, through a Google search, using the furnace's model number and serial number. The only problem is that it takes time to get a part shipped from, say, Georgia, to my home. The weatherman was predicting cold down to -20 degrees, just two days later.
I ordered the switch and paid extra for 2-day delivery. I also determined that the old switch worked most of the time, failing only occasionally. As it turned out, banging on the side of the furnace with the flat of my hand jarred the switch enough for it to make the proper contact when it didn't work. So, I decided to deal with it until the new switch arrived.
The alternative was a call to an HVAC company to get a technician there to replace the switch. I called. The estimate for the job was $400, including the service call, the part (priced at $200 for profit's sake), and installation. Now I could have paid that, but what about people who could not? There are some ways to bypass that switch, but not safely, since it's part of the furnace's safety systems. Sadly, people who cannot afford $400 for the repair face Hobson's Choice, even if they know what's wrong and how to replace that simple component. Often, they find a way to bypass it, and risk serious problems.
Anyhow, the switch arrived. I installed it, and the furnace is back in normal operation, safely providing heat to my house. I didn't have the HVAC company come out. I did it myself. But, I wonder how many people in this cold state face such a dilemma and can't afford the repair. What do they do? Even if they understand furnaces and know what to do, they can't buy the part in Minnesota. It's partly a safety thing and partly a means of protecting the HVAC business.
Sorry for the long post, but it's an interesting dilemma, and is duplicated in many ways with other things. People can't afford to get things fixed, so they often do things that are unsafe, just to stay warm or whatever. I'm not sure what the solution is, but here's what I think: If a person can identify a defective part in such a system and knows how to replace it, that part should be available for purchase. If the part wasn't defective and a new one got installed, no harm is done. If the part is unavailable, though, the person might decide to try to bypass a safety system if that person could not afford to hire a professional to replace it. Then, there is a real risk.
Thanks for reading, if you've gotten this far...
