I wrote about my whoas on MPSIMS, but need some practical advise, hopefully a fellow Doper has some experience.
The heater (FAG, that’s forced air gas for those of you that don’t know) is a Rheem system, installed sometime in the mid 80’s. Last year the squirrel cage went out, got fixed, things were dandy.
Thursday morning I woke up to no heat. At first I thought it was the thermostat, changed batteries, still no change. I put the fan on, but that didn’t even work. I reset the circuit at the fuse box, still no change.
There is an on/off switch on the unit located near the gas line, I assume for the gas line? But opening up the unit nothing seems to be as simple (for me anyway) as the innards of a computer.
Since it’s a gas heater, I hate to mess with much.
And to think that in the 1800’s all they had were fireplaces and coal…we are so lucky until it fails!
(BTW, I can’t call a heating contractor till the landlord gets back in town Monday Night…I am not going to spend a dime unless I have his approval.)
You probably shouldn’t mess with anything in the heater yourself. Gas heaters are not rocket science, but the consequences of an error can be disastrous.
He’s the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor, shouting ‘All Gods are Bastards!’
Had something similar happen to our gas (Heil) furnace this year. We have a Honeywell computerized thermostat on our system and whenever we would try to use the furnace the LEDs would flash momentarily then go out. The temperature readout was also unresponsive when we tried to raise or lower the temperature (the digits wouldn’t increment or decrement). Tried changing batteries with no luck.
Luckily, my father-in-law is friends with some great heating and cooling guys. They finally tracked down the problem to the thermostat itself. I would’ve thought that the solid state thermostats would be more durable than the old fashioned rotary thermostats, but that’s not necessarily the case.
One thing that the repairman told us to check out was an LED that was on the bottom of the furnace door. Some relatively new furnaces have this. It will look like a little sight glass near the bottom of the furnace access door. Find it and see if it is flashing. If it is flashing instead of staying on make note of the sequence of flashes–like morse code. The furnace door may have a list of error codes posted on it. Match the sequence you see with one of the codes listed. This will tell you the probable failing component. When you call your repair person, tell them what this diagnostic code revealed–it will cut down on the time they need to repair the problem.
Good luck!
“It’s only common sense,
There are no accidents 'round here.”
I had the same problem a couple of tears ago. It turned out to be a broken wire @ one of the merc switches in the thermostat. Check out all the connections there, and make sure the pilot is lit. Beyond that, I have to agree w/ SingleDad, if you don’t have any experience or training w/ gas heating, don’t try it yourself (a gas leak/explosion can ruin your whole afternoon).
I did get a hold of a local heating company, the guy was very nice and walked me through some things.
We found out that the fuse on the system itself is blown, after a fun electrical shock, I will be heading into Home Depot tomorrow to pick a couple up.
(call me silly but I haven’t had an electrical shock like that in many many years it was ((call me ultra strange)) kinda fun but nothing I would recommend to anyone for any reason, it went straight to the cordless phone too, my ear felt it stronger than anything and have an ear ache ever since.)
I have since turned off the circuit to the heater till I install a new fuse, then the task is to get electricity to it. Then to turn the thermostat as low as I can, light the pilot light (that scares the crap out of me) then hopefully get the baby up and running.
Even though I am a smoker I can smell natural gas like a hound dog can smell tracks in a forest so if I feel something is wrong it will be ended — and I will have the heater guy on the phone the entire time.
Anyhow, the moral of this story is, before you freak out and pay $80.00 to have someone simply look at it, you might try a phone call to see if you can (if you are of the mechanical type like me) fix it easily…I will keep you updated to my heating repairs.
DISCLAIMER: If you aren’t familiar with mechanics I don’t recommend messing around with it. Also, having a shock like I had can cause some people serious heart problems.
I work on computers, have worked on cars and am not afraid to tinker (with an expert’s guidance) with things otherwise dangerous. So don’t do it unless you are confident, otherwise mechanically inclined or plain stupid.
the thermostat just closes a circuit. find the connections for the thermostat in the furnace and short it and see if that starts the furnace. if it does, the problem is in the thermostat or wiring, if it doesn’t, the problem is on the side of the furnace
sailor, thanks…I took out the fuse and the heating guy is pretty sure that’s the problem.
I will find out tomorrow if that’s the case. It’s sounded very much like a lightbulb (with a lot more twang to it) to verify that the fuse blew.
If that doesn’t work then I will have to wait till Tuesday to get the sucker fixed by a professional.
Call it “techchick’s ride to learning more about the things around her” I don’t like the fact that this happened one bit, but I enjoy the learning experience and if I have a chance to remember this for the future, then I am one step ahead of self reliance.
If it were my house right now, I would have to place the heater fix till a more appropriate financial time.
You might also call the utility co. that supplies the gas. Talk to them about lighting the pilot - they might even send someone out to do it fo you, if you explain the circs. This heating guy let you get a shock, after all.
Fuses are easy, just look at it & you can tell if it works. Easy
Take the thermostat down. It only has two wires on it, connect them & see if you then get heat, if you do, its the thermostat. Easy.
By the way, I don’t suggest anyone ever mess with the equipment they don’t own unless they have prior approval. You can get sued big time & collect nothing if it blows up in your face.
Ok…first…is the pilot light lit? If yes,check the thermocouple.They are cheap and easy to replace.I’ve found this is the major cause of gas furnace problems. If the fan won’t run in the “on” or manual setting it could be a thermostat problem…IE broken wire…burned out 24volt transformer…((all the batteries do is power the clock and hold stored setpoints)).
also,some thermostats have a built in timer…if your furnace starts and shuts off it will activate an “anti short cycle” timer…usually 5-15 minutes to protect your fan motor or airconditioning compressor.
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