Our Friend the Furnance
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:57 am
We have heat! I know, so what and what am I talking about?
Almost 3 weeks ago our furnance threw a code and shut down. Being one that is both cheap and think that I can fix anything I rolled up my sleeves put an a stocking hat (it was 14° out) and broke out the 20 year old furnance manual.
Based on the code the over temp limiter had tripped. I double checked the filter, purged the condensate trap, tested various circuits and slapped it back together. After running for about an hour it shut down again.
During my testing I had identified an over limit switch that was bad, I had ordered it from Amazon and on delivery installed the new switch. Power on and all looked good but all was not well. Using my infrared thermometer I discovered that the external surface of the fire box was way too hot. Worse yet, the new over limit switch was not tripping. I broke out the white flag, cried uncle and shut off the gas and circuit breaker.
1 week (7 days of 20° or below weather) after the furnace died I called our service company. Unfortunately they were booked up a week out so we made appointment and broke out a couple/3 space heaters. One was placed in the bathroom, one in the pantry and the other in my office where all the pets, the wife and I set up shop. For me the acclamation to our 3,200 sf icebox wasn't bad but my wife isn't quite as adaptable so the wait for the repair person was a long one.
After a chilly wait for our service appointment the day was finally upon us. We eagerly escorted him to the basement where our fire breathing friend lived. The service guy said something about a dinosaur but I corrected him; it was a dragon, a fire breathing dragon not a dinosaur...
After hooking up an array of meters and test equipment we fired up the beast. Almost immediately the carbon monoxide detector goes bonkers and tells us to disconnect and leave the area. Long story short he condemned my furnace and basement. It turned out the both the primary and secondary heat exchanger had burned through and the combustion gasses were being distributed throughout the house and basement.
We ended up having to order a new furnance. There was a mfg recall for the secondary heat exchanger so the the replacement cost was offset a bit. Three weeks after our fire breathing dragon went silent we have heat!
I think that the average person takes home heating for granted. As we did, we all change the filter with the season but don't give it much thought beyond that. After 3 weeks of sub-freezing weather we have a new appreciation for our scaled friend in the basement.
A quick note:
If you smell any odd odors or you notice that the performance of your central heating system isn't what it should be, shut it down and make a service appointment. In our case if we had continued to run the furnace it is likely that I wouldn't be typing this. The carbon monoxide levels in the basement and house were so high that they were life threatening. The dogs crates are in the basement, we were very lucky that we caught the problem when we did.
I think that an annual heating system check-up is less that a hundred bucks; spend the money and make sure your family is safe!
Almost 3 weeks ago our furnance threw a code and shut down. Being one that is both cheap and think that I can fix anything I rolled up my sleeves put an a stocking hat (it was 14° out) and broke out the 20 year old furnance manual.
Based on the code the over temp limiter had tripped. I double checked the filter, purged the condensate trap, tested various circuits and slapped it back together. After running for about an hour it shut down again.
During my testing I had identified an over limit switch that was bad, I had ordered it from Amazon and on delivery installed the new switch. Power on and all looked good but all was not well. Using my infrared thermometer I discovered that the external surface of the fire box was way too hot. Worse yet, the new over limit switch was not tripping. I broke out the white flag, cried uncle and shut off the gas and circuit breaker.
1 week (7 days of 20° or below weather) after the furnace died I called our service company. Unfortunately they were booked up a week out so we made appointment and broke out a couple/3 space heaters. One was placed in the bathroom, one in the pantry and the other in my office where all the pets, the wife and I set up shop. For me the acclamation to our 3,200 sf icebox wasn't bad but my wife isn't quite as adaptable so the wait for the repair person was a long one.
After a chilly wait for our service appointment the day was finally upon us. We eagerly escorted him to the basement where our fire breathing friend lived. The service guy said something about a dinosaur but I corrected him; it was a dragon, a fire breathing dragon not a dinosaur...
After hooking up an array of meters and test equipment we fired up the beast. Almost immediately the carbon monoxide detector goes bonkers and tells us to disconnect and leave the area. Long story short he condemned my furnace and basement. It turned out the both the primary and secondary heat exchanger had burned through and the combustion gasses were being distributed throughout the house and basement.
We ended up having to order a new furnance. There was a mfg recall for the secondary heat exchanger so the the replacement cost was offset a bit. Three weeks after our fire breathing dragon went silent we have heat!
I think that the average person takes home heating for granted. As we did, we all change the filter with the season but don't give it much thought beyond that. After 3 weeks of sub-freezing weather we have a new appreciation for our scaled friend in the basement.
A quick note:
If you smell any odd odors or you notice that the performance of your central heating system isn't what it should be, shut it down and make a service appointment. In our case if we had continued to run the furnace it is likely that I wouldn't be typing this. The carbon monoxide levels in the basement and house were so high that they were life threatening. The dogs crates are in the basement, we were very lucky that we caught the problem when we did.
I think that an annual heating system check-up is less that a hundred bucks; spend the money and make sure your family is safe!