Derek ColeGM, Simmons One Hour Heating & Air · AI HVAC Answers

DIY HVAC: What You CAN and CAN'T Do! #shorts

15 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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0:46

In this short video, HVAC professional Derek Cole outlines which maintenance tasks homeowners can safely perform on their HVAC system and which should be left to qualified technicians. He recommends simple checks such as inspecting the air filter and verifying the circuit breaker, and explains that coil cleaning can be done safely if the power is turned off. He strongly advises against opening the unit to take amp‑draw readings on motors or compressors, because those diagnostics require live electricity and pose a serious risk of injury.

Chapters

You can do a few things. I would recommend you doing a few things yourself, things like checking the filter or checking the breaker, make sure that's proper. As far as getting inside of the unit, I would stay away from that because on the maintenance, not only do we clean coils, we open the unit up, check the amp draws on the motor, the compressor, get all the readings on the electrical, check all the connections. I don't think I would be comfortable with you doing that kind of work, mainly because when that happens, it is live power. Now, when we clean the coils and things like that, we turn the power off, but to get your amp readings on these different motors and compressors, you have to have power. So I don't want you to get hurt in any kind of way.