When we decided to convert from an oil burning furnace to a gas one my husband said that he wanted to install the new lines himself.
We knew that we needed to hire someone to remove the old oil tank and dispose of it due to environmental regulation but because he knew the basics of plumbing he figured it would be easy for him to run the new gas lines for the new HVAC unit.
My concern was knowing if there was a leak in the lines and how we would protect ourselves from the possibility of a fire or even an explosion if there was. Messing with anything to do with natural gas is a dangerous thing if you don’t know what you’re doing and ensuring that the joints are properly sealed is important. I tried to convince him to call the HVAC dealer and see if they had a plumber that they worked with that could do the job instead. He said he wanted to at least attempt the job himself first but that he wouldn’t actually turn the gas on until the people were there to install the new unit. Switching to gas made sense because we already have other gas appliances and this would eliminate the extra cost of heating oil. The new gas furnace is supposed to be far more efficient than our old oil one as well and I’m looking forward to having the extra money in the bank instead of paying it out to another utility company. I really hope that my husband is very careful when it comes to laying the gas lines or the new furnace but I would still like to have his work inspected by a professional prior to attempting to light the new unit.
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