Tonight low of 34 deg F..........

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nootrac22

Well-Known Member
VIP
and my furnace died:(.It's hot water base board. Well not the whole furnace, just the expansion tank. It has a pressurized bladder in it which also keeps water in the system (it's where the water line comes in). It'll run me about 100 for the part, but because the system was running without water in it, thus not generating heat and running (not burning oil thank god) continuously, I now have to replace a circulator at a cost of about 70. Thank god there are 5 fridays this month, and that I have a kerosene heater.
 
Heh, I own several space heaters because my furnace went out a couple of years ago. Shipping on the replacement furnace was over two weeks, so I went to wal-mart and bought a bunch of little space heaters. One per room.. Worked great, raped me on the electric bill, lol.

And waking up in a room that was baking at about 110 degrees was fun. They are adjustable. Freezing fucking cold or broil. One or the other.
 
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Could have been worse, 10 deg outside and the pipes freeze.

Kerosene heaters always worked the best for me. 5 gallons usually gets you around 8 hours....enough to get through the night. Works in places with no elec too, like the garage. :)

errr edit, not 5 gallons, I think it was a gallon.
 
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turn the oven on and leave the door open. that's what we always did back in the day.
 
made it through the night. The heater kept the place warm. Will call some one to come have a look at it, but they don't open till 9am. So I'll just sit at work and try to avoid having to leave early, as I have 8hrs OT this week. That will pay for the repairs to the furnace. Also this is the second time in 3 years this thing has broke on me, and I do get it serviced every year. Time to talk with the repair man about what kinda shape this thing is in, and what replacement options are available. If I do have to replace it I'm looking at natural gas. It's my understanding that the gas company will run the line from the street to the meter to the furnace for free.
 
turn the oven on and leave the door open. that's what we always did back in the day.

back in your poor days...

Thats why I love living in a small city and my company having 3-4 heating/cooling companies as clients. We never have more than 1-2 day service. If the furnace died at some point in the day, we'd have it back by that night.
 
service usually isn't the issue. i can get someone out to my place within 2 hours.
but if it's a random part they have to order, there's really nothing they can do about it.
 
meeting the guy at 3:30 to see what's going on. I think I know what the problem is, I just don't want to mess around with it this time of year. I'll let the professional come have a look and pay, but have some peace of mind.
 
service usually isn't the issue. i can get someone out to my place within 2 hours.
but if it's a random part they have to order, there's really nothing they can do about it.

Thats the problem, how is a place that sells furnaces not going to have a 'random part' for a furnace they sell and service? Sounds like lackluster heating/cooling businesses in your neck of the woods. Thats like my company not having any digital phones to at least temporarily replace a phone that got damaged within that business day.
 
you have much experience in the HVAC industry?
any idea how many manufacturers, and how many models there are?
just because they sell furnaces doesn't mean they sold you your furnace, or that they stock every little thing inside that can cause you an outage
 
:werd:

and getting a replacement furnace in there is a bit more involved than swapping out a phone
 
So when you buy a furnace from one company do you call another to get it serviced? lol

99% of the companies here will tag theirs with their logo, name, number, etc. Mine was, (say it was bought from Home depot or lowes) wouldn't you generally let them know what type and model you have when you call for service? I mean I can understand if they didn't sell you the furnace and they don't have that specific part because they don't carry that line of product...

I mean, sounds reasonable to me, when a client of ours calls for service and we're not sure what kind of phone system they have we generally ask... if they're worth two shits as a service company they'd do the same.

But that's just me and my common sense. Maybe the previous owners of the house sucked and threw away all the paperwork for the furnace they bought and you inherited, I guess I lucked out on that part.
 
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i bought a house with a furnace in it.

I Have NO idea who installed it.... probably the builders or a sub-contractor.

who should i call?
 
Usually you would call the people who deliver your oil as they have service techs who work for them. Last time i had a problem with mine thats what i did
 
well, right... I have a service contract with my oil peeps.

My point is that i'm pretty sure if i called the builder of my house (who ever that may be) at 3am for a part for a furnace, he'd pretty much tell me to go F myself.
 
if you were to break a motor mount on your civic and go to the HONDA dealer to get a new one, chances are they would need to order it and get it to you in a day or two... this is not unreasonable... stocking every part of every vehicle that Honda makes or has made is simply not feasible for them... now you look at a HVAC company that sells and maintains multiple brands and models and expect them to have every part of every unit that they sell or service on hand ready to go at the drop of a hat???
 
well, right... I have a service contract with my oil peeps.

My point is that i'm pretty sure if i called the builder of my house (who ever that may be) at 3am for a part for a furnace, he'd pretty much tell me to go F myself.

Call your oil people then. I'm pretty sure, just like with any other service company, there is a 24 hour emergency line with a tech on call.
 
if you were to break a motor mount on your civic and go to the HONDA dealer to get a new one, chances are they would need to order it and get it to you in a day or two... this is not unreasonable... stocking every part of every vehicle that Honda makes or has made is simply not feasible for them... now you look at a HVAC company that sells and maintains multiple brands and models and expect them to have every part of every unit that they sell or service on hand ready to go at the drop of a hat???

I would expect Honda to carry 99% of essential parts on hand or within 2 or 3 of any dealership in a given state which could be delivered within the day.

I'm sure if I tried to get a new mirror they wouldn't have it stocked, but a motor mount with the interchangability of all these hondas you don't think they'd have one? Had you said Autozone, i'd believe it.

A company that sells furnaces should have all essential parts in stock, at least during the winter months. I can't imagine that a place that sells Brand A wouldn't have parts for Brand A in stock as much as possible depending on service records from the past.
 
you have too optimistic of an outlook on these places :)
 
its just not plausible that any particular hvac company is going to have every part in stock for 3, 4 or more decades worth of models
my brother does hvac and i've been on service calls
you show up and they need an eye for a miller hot air system thats 35 years old, its just generally not the type of thing you keep on your shelves

fuck em, if the customer needs it fixed that bad they just sell em a new boiler
 
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