It is a lovely 7*F out there this morning. And, of course, the furnace stopped working sometime overnight. Brr.. It was 60 in here when I got up at 7:15 this morning. I initially thought that maybe the system just hadn't shifted yet. We've got a programmable thermostat and I'm not sure when V has it set to kick in for the day on the weekends. But, no, it just isn't working.
I woke V and rolled him out of bed. We've tried resetting it, we replaced the batteries in the thermostat, he has done all the diagnostics he can do. We've got a 'low pressure valve fault' whatever that means.
So, we've got a call in to the local heating place. V left a message but we haven't heard back. I'm sure that this won't be a cheap visit.
I baked some muffins for breakfast to fire up the oven. I've been thinking that I need to bake some holiday cookies- maybe today is the day....
........................................
It's just noon and we've got heat. Woo Hoo!!
Originally, the repair guy thought that we would need a new induction motor (think $$$$$$) but it turned out that we didn't. Whew! It seems that somehow the condensation outflow pipe had gotten clogged and water had backed up to the valve, triggering the fault that kept the system from firing. So, no parts needed. But one thing, V found and downloaded the service manual for this furnace model so hopefully we'll be better able to trouble shoot in the future.
Now, back to cookies!!
No better way to heat up the house than to fire up the oven :)
ReplyDeleteHope your heating problems get sorted soon...
Oh no.....a good day to bake Christmas cookies. ALL DAY! :-) Hope it gets fixed fast.
ReplyDeleteWe returned from a day in the big city early evening last night and although there were still red hot coals in the wood stove, it was 60 degrees in here, too. (Call me a wimp, but I don't like to stoke the stove as much as we can when we're gone all day. I'll deal with a cool house rather than take a chance with wood heating.) At any rate, a cool house is a dang good excuse to drop everything else and get some Christmas cookies baked. (Then hide them, of course.)
ReplyDelete7 degrees wow! It is finally getting colder here, was 38 this morning, yay! I hope your heating issues get resolved quickly and without expense!
ReplyDeleteDani- the first thing I did was fire up the oven and make muffins for breakfast.
ReplyDeletedr momi- I needed an 'excuse' to bake cookies!!!
Mama Pea- I can understand that. I'll be baking but I'm not sure about the hiding them- the children will find them no matter what. I usually save a few back for Christmas but let them have at it with the rest.
Erin- Ooo, 38. That may be our high for the week.
Judy
What a relief! Glad you got the heat back on for alot less!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear it was an easy fix! We just got a new furnace this week--we knew it was coming (very old) but of course it ended up falling apart over thanksgiving weekend argh! We had to milk a dying blower for a week, and there was LOTS of baking since we could only run it once or twice a day :) Very happy to have a new (and more efficient) furnace now that the weather is really getting cold.
ReplyDeleteSixty degrees is pretty good. Our house is often that in the mornings. Our furnace hasn't worked for several years now. We use electric heaters with the propane stove as a back up. If it doesn't drop down in the teens at night we can normally stay pretty comfortable (we like it cool at night anyway) and turn off the heaters at night so it is cool every morning.
ReplyDeleteIf I was you I would get some back up heat for that furnace. You just never know when you will need it. I think I pretty much have a back up for most emergency situations now. You know, even if the "freezer is full" it is not worth a crap if the power goes out, lol.
Yikes, cold day to have no heat. 60 is better than 58 - so glad it wasn't anything horrible. If you pour clorox through it everyonce in a while it will stay clear. Get clogged with dust. That happeded to us one time. What kind of cookies are you making?? I'd like 2 please, maybe 3 and some cold milk...debbie
ReplyDeleteWow! BRR. Why do furnaces do that when it is that cold out? Don't they know that that is the time to be on their best behavior and do their job? Silly things. :)
ReplyDeleteWe've just recently been through that twice. Now I know what to do if it happens again. I think. Ours just goes out when we have big gusty winds. Which is unusual here. But has already happened at least twice this winter.
I am glad that it is fixed and you are warm and cozy. Take care, Janet W
Author- We'll have to pay a service call fee but at least no $500 part!
ReplyDeletes- Ugh. This furnace is only 10 years old but we've already had to have it serviced twice in the two and a half years we've been here.
Becky- we've been looking into installing a wood stove. The problem is that there is no really good place to put it. I dream of an addition with a fireplace with a bread oven but that is only in my dreams. We're fortunate that we insulated the house heavily so it holds heat pretty well. Even before I started baking, we were able to hold the temp at 62 with only some oil lamps.
Debbie- we made some candycane cookies. They're tasty but they wouldn't travel well or I'd send you a couple ;)
Snowgirl- twice so far! EEK. We once lived in this old house with this ancient furnace that used to put itself out regularly. Glad you figured yours out. is there any way you could put up some kind of baffle so the wind isn't a problem?
Judy
Judy,
ReplyDeleteA woodstove was #1 priority when we bought our foreclosure farm last winter. We installed it this summer and it was the best investment we made so far.
We only keep our propane furnace set at 55 degrees, and by morning it has usually kicked in because the fire has been out so long.
I will say yesterday was bad - was it super windy over by you too? We can't use the wood stove when it's really windy like yesterday, the smoke blows back into the house. We were cold! Furnace set to 55 like normal, even with 3 layers on I was a bit miserable & we were all cranky.
Luckily today the high winds were gone, got the stove rolling, it's in the low 60s in here and wonderful. Amazing what a difference the wood stove makes.
Our farmhouse is 3 stories in the new addition, and unfortunately that was the best place to put the stove. We went out the wall, and up the outside of the house (which now we learn our insurance company doesn't like... need to find a new carrier). Anyway, the stainless steel chimney pipe cost more than the darn stove! :-)
It's worth the investment, though, and it's so nice in the dreary dark of fall/winter.
Penny