The Bad, the Good, and Whatever

Gene L

Sometime Monday night, my furnace went down.  The fan was still working, but it was cold in the house; at first I thought just that it was a very cold morning (which it was).  Then I discovered there was no heat coming from the registers.  That is the Bad.  The Good is I have a friend and his son who are in the HUAC business.  I called them and about in 1 hour, they were at my house.  They initially thought it was a thermacouple but that turned out to be not the case.  It was a gas valve and the part has to be ordered.  So I am without heat except for my fireplace and a space heater. The Good is  yesterday, it was a tolerable 55 degree day and today it's 66, a wonderful day. So I can tolerate not having heat for as long as it stays pretty.  Which is good...Tuesday I took a shower in the morning and stepped out of the shower to about 37 degrees.  It was so cold it shivered my pod.

Spk

I'm glad you're getting your heater fixed. I've had the furnace go on the fritz on occasion, you gotta inspect them once in awhile before it gets cold. Keep a 1500 watt space heater in the bathroom for those unexpected mornings. ⛄

Gene L

My furnace is from 1988 and this is the first time its given a problem.

Spk

Seems like it was overdue for some maintenance. Good furnace.

Zee

It was in the low 20s for most of last week. 

We have yet to turn on our heat this year. 

Gene L

I like it warm.  My old body needs heat.  

bklysen

That is no fun, I agree. I spent 2 1/2 days here last December with no power to drive a furnace, so I can relate.
We usually have the furnace looked at once/year to hopefully avoid that - last guy who looked at ours said they're good for ~20 years, tops - so I'm thinking you were fortunate to get as much life out of out yours as you did. 
And yeah, that space heater can save your bacon but I'd still rather not feel like I'm living in a cave. Glad you survived it with a bit of sanity left...

Wambli Ska

We love a cold house.  Thermostat is set from 66-68 depending on the day.  But stepping out of a shower to 37° is not fun.  Glad they can fix it for you.  A new system is expensive!

Jay

Christmas Eve several years ago at around 7PM my heater went down. Turned out to be the thermocouple, luckily. The hardware store was closing at 8PM that evening for Christmas. It set off a mad dash, trying to get there before they closed and get a new thermocouple, or I'd have to wait a couple days. Got it done.

I'm fine with it being pretty chilly in my house. But it's not insulated well and is drafty as heck and I don't have a fireplace. I usually keep it set at 60 at night, 65-68 when I'm up and moving around and use a good bit of propane just to keep it at that. I keep a space heater in the bathroom to reduce the after-shower chill effect.

Diver43

Zee said:

It was in the low 20s for most of last week. 

We have yet to turn on our heat this year. 

That is pretty cold for no heat.  Have a large fireplace or wood stove? 

Jermanator

The blower motor in the furnace at the office croaked yesterday. I was lucky enough to figure out what it was and get the part before the supply house closed for the weekend. Considering it is supposed to drop to -1 tomorrow night, that is a good thing.

Elk creek

You guys crack me up!  Growing up in a house that used “gravity heat” and a wood burner I always thought that sweaters and long handles were the norm inside a house in the winter. Not uncommon to wake up with hoar frost on the window sills and really cold days on the blankets! 

Gene L

I had wood heat in the house I built...it was work, but the basement kept the house comfortable and the lower story floor warm.  It was a small house but efficient. I'm pleased with gas heat now. 

Jermanator

Elk creek said:

You guys crack me up!  Growing up in a house that used “gravity heat” and a wood burner I always thought that sweaters and long handles were the norm inside a house in the winter. Not uncommon to wake up with hoar frost on the window sills and really cold days on the blankets! 

That is basically what I had at the office without a working blower motor. Thermostat would call for heat, kick on for a bit, then shut down once it sensed the blower wasn't running. The heat it produced during that time rose through the vents and that was all I had.

The other option was to blow out all the water from the lines and winterize all the sewer traps and let it freeze.