....and it's going down to 6 above with a 15 MPH wind. That ain't right. This is getting real old. What a winter. At least we doddged the bullet on this storm and didn't get any of that nasty white stuff. Oh yeah, our furnace just went out, too. Repairman on the way, supposedly. sounds like the blower motor just went out Fired up the woodburner in the basement, have another upstairs, and a lot of wood. I really don't need this crap. May just move out the diesel and move into the new garage. It's nice in there. Fridge is full, just need to get a TV out there.
The move to the garage sounds like a plan..take the TV with ya. Butt:moonu: (couldn't resist)..what about using the bathroom? Got one in there? Setting that dam clock ahead will take me weeks to get used to. No not the light change just that dam hour....mmmmmmmm....mebbe more beer will do it!!!:beers2:
We sure did get a break here in MI. Instead the folks to the south got what they said we were supposed to get. Devon
Somehow made it through the weekend without the furnace. Kept the two woodburners stoked up and actually was kinda toasty in here......but not in the bathrooms. Yeeee....hawwww......:eek2: Got down to 59 in here the first night with just the lower level stove, much better last night with both...only got down to 64. Getting up every 2 hours to add gopher wood is no fun, though. Supposed to get it fixed today. That'd be nice. $134 into it so far only to find out the plastic blower wheel cracked and was rubbing. Lord knows how much more it'll cost for the new motor, wheel and housing assembly today. Did save a lot of natural gas, though.
Went through this a couple weeks back on a five year old furnace. The service call was $118.00, a little crummy 1/3 horse "Extracter" motor was $234.00. Since it was 12 deg out I had no choice, my wood burner won't keep the house warm at that point. Are we havin' fun yet?:rant:
Just got off the phone with the repair company. Mine is also an "extractor" motor that went bad (wheel broke), rubbed through housing. Unfortunately my furnace is 20 years old and no one stock that part anymore. They contacted the manufacturer and plan to overnight it from Waco, Texas. But it's $400, so that puts the total at $534. Can't get the house over 62 degrees now with both wood stoves cooking. This has really gotten old. Have to stuff the stoves every 2 hours because running them wide open really eats up the wood. Just another reason we love living in this godforsaken state. o No:
Dave, you probably know this, but with a furnace that old, it may make more sense to just replace it with something more efficient. I know the initial outlay will be more, but after time, it will repay itself with lower monthly heating/cooling bills. I went through this like 8 years ago when I lived in IN and my house was on the market. Furnace went out and I found out it was like 27 years old. Had to bend over and buy a new furnace, but I saw the benefits damn near immediately in my monthly bills.
I usually have my yearly "dicking around" that I have to do with my furnace. Usually happens in the early part of the season tho. I had an igniter and a pressure switch go bad in mine around Christmas. Replaced both myself. Save a TON and I mean a TON of money when you can do it yourself. Luckily my HVAC buddy diagnosed the pressure switch, so I just had to find a new one and install. Igniters I keep "in inventory" because my POS eats them like they're coming out of a Pez dispenser. Heating and cooling guys literally have you by the gonads this time of year. You pay for a minimum service call charge and then you can simply assume the position :moonu: when they tell you the cost of the parts ..........
I went through the furnace ordeal a couple of weeks ago -- when the temps every day were single-digits. The service guy was friendly as can be but not too bright. On his third return trip, he finally replaced the part I told him to the first time. :rant: That finally fixed it. In the mean time, I had figured out that if I cut power to the furnace entirely (throw the breaker) and let it sit that way for a couple hours, it would start right up when I re-applied power. So I'd heat the place to 76, then let it drop down to 66 before starting again. Dave, if you want to keep b!tching about this Winter Wonderland of a state (as in: I WONDER why I live here), why not start a pothole thread? I assume your crop this year on the east side of the state is as bad as it is over here.
Potholes? We fight that every day. This furnace is a high efficiency very expensive furnace. 94% (of what I don't know) efficient, supposedly. It doesn't require a chimney as it has this extractor system that blows the exhaust out a 2 inch PVC pipe. It's that extractor motor that's the problem. I agree you can save a lot fixing them yourself.....if you understand the control logic . I found this part from an on line place . $382 plus shipping. That's pretty close to the $400. Casey: My Modine Hot Dawg garage heater also eats up those ignitor plates. I've replaced them twice. 2nd one lasted 5 minutes. Not too cheap to replace along with the central air unit. I'd never live to see the savings of a new one at this point. Oh well, I have a lot of wood to burn up, getting old. Hopefully, my daughter and son-in-law will wise up and move out of state to somewhere warm. They're looking. Then my wife will consider moving out ourselves....and I'm gone in a flash. :beer
If you get a small place down south I'll be happy to keep that black thing for you! Just 'till you want it understand!! :laugh:
The days are numbered on that black car. I think it knows it and has been obstinate. Hopefully they'll get that part and get it in tomorrow. This getting up every 2 hours to feed these stoves after 3 days is really old. I slept through the last one, now I get to relight both of them. One's going now, haven't ventured downstairs yet. Pretty scary when big companies like Rheem decide to stop stocking their unique parts on older major capital items like furnaces. That's not so bad if you use someone else's standard designs as there's some interchangeability. Wonder if there's a furnace junkyard in the hills of Tennessee somewhere? Up to 62 in here, actually got it to 65 yesterday.
We have heat! Backordered exhaust fan finally came in. Maybe even get some sleep tonight! Sure burned a lot of firewood in the two stoves over the last 4 days. I don't own a gun, but will buy one or more if any F'in tree hugger ever tries to stop me from using my woodburning stoves. 12 gauge pumps make a great deterrent sound when racking them.
Sounds like you have a Rheem drum style heat exchanger furnace. there was a recall on some of those a while back but it's no longer in effect. if it is the drum furnace you better pray the control board doesnt go out or you will be buying a new furnace. Rheem will barely admit they ever made that furnace.
The 12 gage will make more interesting noises when you pull that little arm under the barrels. Usually makes enough noise to convince the member of the Gore army, or the Environmental swat team to modify his behavior. If you aim correctly he will cease any kind of behavior.
Sure hope not. Lasted 20 years so far, longer than my last 3 Carriers did in other houses. Replaced one of those circuit boards in one of them 3 times. Hillbilly neighbor has a small cannon that fires 12 gauge shotgun shells. Every time we fire up one of the louder hot rods, he takes that as a challenge to make more noise than us and fires that thing. I guess to him, noise is noise.
Well.... Did you get any sleep last night or did you automatically walk to the furnace and try and stoke it???? Good luck with the furnace for the rest of the winter.
No, slept with the innocence of a baby all night....just like normal. :laugh: :laugh: Dog was wondering why he didn't get his snacks every two hours all night. Snowing again, warming up today, though, and will be changing to rain. The way this winter's going, the basement will flood next. Highly likely when the ground is still frozen. If you've seen my back yard you'll understand. With the slope to the walkout, think of a funnel with the sliding door at the bottom. Previous owner had it happen every year. Hasn't happened since we moved in 4 years ago (knock on wood). Has a lot to do with not filling the low area with snow from the driveway all winter. Brilliant. I not only push the snow from the driveway away from that area, I also keep the whole back yard plowed out. Big area. Going to try to plow out the snow today before the rain starts. Bought a new snow blower attachment for the big tractor for next year. I'll be ready. :bglasses:
