Any Hvac Experts in the House???

[Jean DeVries]

Hey all!

If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it.

Our furnace is wonky. About a month ago, it just stopped responding to the thermostat. I noticed when it was 58 degrees for three days in a row in our house, and cranking the thermostat up to like 80 didn't help. It would go on and off when it wanted to, instead of when the thermostat commanded it so. (Kind of not convenient when we cranked it up to the aforementioned 80, then went to sleep all bundled up because we figured the durned thing was broken, only to wake up in the middle of the night sweating to death because it decided to work....)

I figured it was the thermostat, so I installed a new one. (All by myself...I felt like a she-ra!) Consequently, now I have to match the paint color in the living room of the house I bought where no one left paint behind, but that's a different story.

It seems to come on and go off more often now, but it needs a few warm ups first. It comes on, the blower runs for like 10 seconds, then the whole she-bang shuts down. About 5 minutes later, it tries again...same thing. It will do this three or four times, then finally come on and stay on. I joke that it needs a running start....

The first time it did it, I was downstairs in the cold, dark furnace room (the light in there is broken) cheering it on. I simply can't keep that up, however, because 1) I have to work, and 2) I'm scared of the dark.

Has anyone ever had their furnace do the same thing? What was it? How much did it cost to fix it?

Homeownership is kind of a drag.....in the last week we've not only dealt with the furnace, but last night we ran across a vole in our garage. I made my sister get out of the car and shoo it out because, 1) I hate beady-eyed four-legged rodents, and 2) I'm scared of the dark. Today there were a few construction projects to ensure that it didn't come back in the garage. I'm just hoping all of the little vole-ttes got out from behind our walls so that our laundry room doesn't take on that icky rotting rodent smell....

Enough. Thanks for the furnace advice!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Well, as long as you don't mind two legged, beady eyed roden...er...Chefers...Gas? It sounds to me like it hasn't been cleaned tuned up in awhile. My old oil burner used to act like that if the points weren't cleaned and adjusted - but gas is a different type of unit.I hate to say it, but you're probably going to have to call in an expert. You just bought this place, right? Instead of calling the HVAC guy, I'd be calling the real estate broker and reaming him a new one until he takes care of it.

 

[Jean DeVries]

We did just buy this place, however, we bought it from the bank, so we're kind of ewed-scrayed on that.

Besides, I think it worked fine when we bought it. It's only started acting up in the last month or so.

Or maybe it hasn't worked right. I don't know anymore.....

 

[Jules711]

HVAC is what my DH does but he's sleeping, as I should be. I don't think it's too much to just get it checked over. Just call different places and call during normal hours since even if they are available 24 hours, it's more expensive at odd hours usually. You should be able to call, explain the issue and see what they expect to charge. If they can't give you an estimate, call someone else. Good luck!!

 

[MissChef]

Hey all!

If anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it.

Our furnace is wonky. About a month ago, it just stopped responding to the thermostat. I noticed when it was 58 degrees for three days in a row in our house, and cranking the thermostat up to like 80 didn't help. It would go on and off when it wanted to, instead of when the thermostat commanded it so. (Kind of not convenient when we cranked it up to the aforementioned 80, then went to sleep all bundled up because we figured the durned thing was broken, only to wake up in the middle of the night sweating to death because it decided to work....)

I figured it was the thermostat, so I installed a new one. (All by myself...I felt like a she-ra!) Consequently, now I have to match the paint color in the living room of the house I bought where no one left paint behind, but that's a different story.

It seems to come on and go off more often now, but it needs a few warm ups first. It comes on, the blower runs for like 10 seconds, then the whole she-bang shuts down. About 5 minutes later, it tries again...same thing. It will do this three or four times, then finally come on and stay on. I joke that it needs a running start....

The first time it did it, I was downstairs in the cold, dark furnace room (the light in there is broken) cheering it on. I simply can't keep that up, however, because 1) I have to work, and 2) I'm scared of the dark.

Has anyone ever had their furnace do the same thing? What was it? How much did it cost to fix it?

Homeownership is kind of a drag.....in the last week we've not only dealt with the furnace, but last night we ran across a vole in our garage. I made my sister get out of the car and shoo it out because, 1) I hate beady-eyed four-legged rodents, and 2) I'm scared of the dark. Today there were a few construction projects to ensure that it didn't come back in the garage. I'm just hoping all of the little vole-ttes got out from behind our walls so that our laundry room doesn't take on that icky rotting rodent smell....

Enough. Thanks for the furnace advice!

I don't have any advice, but.....you are so feaking funny!!!! Your unique words and funny way of looking at things amuze me more than you'll know!! I'm over here ROTFLMBO! You would be a hoot to hang around! :thumbup:
Good luck Jean!

 

[pampchefrhondab]

Can't help you w/the furnace. I need a new one myself I've been told after having mine serviced last fall. That is what we are putting our tax rebate toward - the extra one we are getting in May. The good news is I thought I would need a new AC unit, but the guy said it was better then the ones on the market today.

As far as rodents, you need to get a cat! They will take care of them for you!

 

[chefjeanine]

Gas? It sounds to me like it hasn't been cleaned/tuned up in awhile. My old oil burner used to act like that if the points weren't cleaned and adjusted - but gas is a different type of unit.

That would be my guess too. I do have a gas furnace. You probably will have to call in the professionals, but have you changed the filter? This will cause it stop working.

 

[Jean DeVries]

I don't have any advice, but.....you are so feaking funny!!!! Your unique words and funny way of looking at things amuze me more than you'll know!! I'm over here ROTFLMBO! You would be a hoot to hang around! :thumbup:
Good luck Jean!

Thank you. Humor is my defense mechanism against the monsters that live in the dark

 

[Jean DeVries]

OK, so after adequate procrastination, and waiting for a friend of the family who is an HVAC guy to show up (which, he never did), and crawling out from under the covers to a 54 degree house this morning, we bit the bullet and called in a random, qualified stranger to look at our furnace.

Good thing for us, he wasn't afraid of the dark.

Originally he tried to blame it on our thermostat. Try again, sayeth my sister, who was home at the time, for she knew her she-ra sister had installed it just like the little bookie thingie that came with it said to. So he tested the thermostat, and found, that indeed, it was working correctly.

Then proceeded to the basement, where he discovered a cracked ignitor. (To which my cynical, jaded, non-trusting self asked my sister, "Were you watching him? Was it cracked before he took it out ?") That still didn't fix the problem entirely, so he resorted to the centuries old, tried-but-true, man solution to everything:

He jiggled the wires.

Viola! Furnace comes on! So now he thinks we might have a bad circuit board. And that's between $200-$300 dollars, he doesn't have one on him, and it will cost us $30 to have him go pick one up.

Huh? I have to pay you to go pick up a part for us? Maybe I'm naieve, but it would seem like if you're a furnace guy, putting parts to fix furnaces on your truck would be the obvious solution. I understand there are hundreds of kinds of furnaces, and hundreds of kinds of circuit boards, but it would seem that one could ask what kind we have before coming out and putting all possible parts on the truck at the time, or at the very least, hide that charge in the service call so I don't know any better instead of making me peeved that you're charging me to go pick up a part. That's how they do it at the car dealership...I've never had a charge on my car invoice for "Fee to have the little NAPA guy with the cute hat on his truck drive the part over here." They just roll into some exorbitant hourly rate

Besides, I'd like something more than "I think" this is the problem before I spend $300 to fix something.

So, we sent him on his merry way with the almost $300 to fix the ignitor and the loose power switch, and will either seek a second opinion on the circuit board, or just jiggle the wires ourselves for a few months until it gets warm enough and we can save up for a new circuit board.

Unless we find out that the circuit board also controls the A/C...then it's getting fixed pronto. I'll sell plasma or something....

 

[chefann]

If the circuit board is in the furnace, then it doesn't control the A/C - that's a separate unit. I hope the ignitor and wire-jiggle works for you until the weather warms up and you can save your pennies for a new circuit board. Of course, you can always have a show that you designate as your "furnace show." Serve hot, hot food and ice cold drinks.

 

[janetupnorth]

Jean - I missed this thread the first time around...sorry...Your story is EXACTLY ours from a few years ago...ignitor, circuit board, jiggling wires, new thermostat.The bad news is that after doing all that and replacing the board at about $200-$300, a few winters later on a Saturday the furnace gave up the ghost...in February, in VERY cold weather. I had my kids - ages 3 1/2 and 2 months at the time bundled in their snowsuits in the house (we didn't have a wood stove at the time). We'd go in the bathroom periodically and warm them with the blowdryer while the guy was working on installing our new furnace...So, good luck and start saving NOW for a new furnace!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

If the circuit board is in the furnace, then it doesn't control the A/C - that's a separate unit. I hope the ignitor and wire-jiggle works for you until the weather warms up and you can save your pennies for a new circuit board.

Of course, you can always have a show that you designate as your "furnace show." Serve hot, hot food and ice cold drinks.

That could cause a heated discussion.

 

[ShanaSmith]

I'll add the plus side to the new unit. We had to replace ours last year. Eventhough they had to come our 13 times to get it to work correctly. (yes I said 13 times!) It has been sooooo great. Our house gets warm really quickly now and our bill is about 1/2 of what it was before!

 

[katie0128]

The first winter we moved into our current house, the furnace quit working a few times. Thank goodness we had a home warranty! $50 service call and no other charges. At closing, the sellers paid for the first year and we have paid for 3 years since (about $1600 total), but I have had over $1300 worth of work done on my furnace, $150 on my dishwasher, $300 on plumbing and over $100 on my stove, but I've only paid about $200 of it... the rest was covered by the warranty.