Woke up this morning to no heat in the house. Our furnace stopped working at some point overnight so the house was at 45 degrees at 7:30am. Spent all morning calling different heating companies to come look at it. Had one come, and the tech tells us a bunch of stuff was broken, wanted $1600+ to repair and suggested we may want to consider a new furnace anyway. To be fair, we do need a new furnace, the one we have is not big enough for the square footage of the house we have. But it was a low priority and not urgent.
This place wants $6k-$8k for a new one.
I get a second company to come over and look at it. This guy (Jose) tells me yes, the motor is definitely shot but the other stuff is fine. He tells me he thinks the other guy wasn't being honest. Anyway, we decide to go with Company B but it takes the guy a while to find a place that he can order the part from. Because you know, the previous owners went so cheap a generic brand name is too brand name for what we've got.
So I'm out $300 already for the two different service calls plus it'll be another $900ish for the part, installation etc. Fortunately, the part is being overnighted and Jose is able to come back tomorrow to repair it. Luckily we do have three space heaters in the house already and he loaned us another 2 for the night.
It just sucks, I've already got an issue with my car that is being checked out Friday and I'm sensing won't be cheap and now this. After we just got done shelling out money for H's car repairs. Happy Freaking New Year!
Ugh. What an awful day. I'm sorry! Is your house a tolerable temperature now? Be careful with the space heaters. I've heard/read some horror stories about them.
If you want to escape to a warm bar/restaurant for a little while sometime this week, let me know!
Thanks guys! It wasn't too awful last night. I stayed at work til about 6pm then went to a Barre class so I got home around quarter to 8. Made myself a hot meal Clicked on the space heaters which I put in various rooms based on the suggestion of my dad and curled up on the couch with my winter coat and mittens til H got home. I had put a space heater in our bedroom and shut the door hoping that would help heat it and it did help out. We kept it running overnight so our room wasn't so bad. We also kept the space heater in the basement running but turned the others off when we went to bed. This morning the thermostat showed that the house had only dropped to 41 degrees overnight so that is reassuring.
Now I'm at the office just waiting for the call to tell me the part is in and then I can head home so the repair can be made.
Oh and thanks RockNVoll for the tip with the car repair! I'll be sure to ask as I at least have AAA.
I am so sorry elfinia7, that sucks. Please watch/be careful of the temp dropping too low in your house overall. Our pipes froze and then burst in college and it was not pretty.
So an update in the continuing saga. The motor part came in and the tech (Jose) came to the house yesterday afternoon. I drove home from work to meet him. He was able to install it in maybe 20 minutes. The furnace was working. He ran some tests on the motor and warm air was definitely coming through the grates. So success right?! Well, not so fast. When I left that afternoon to go back to work at 3pm, the house was at 40 degrees. When H got home around 6 the house was only at 44 dgrees even though it was set to be 65. Ok, so maybe it's going to take longer then originally thought. I get home at 7:30pm and the house is still 44 degrees. We don't get it, warm air is coming through but the furnace keeps shutting off.
By 8pm and no change I call the heating company's emergency line. They have our original tech come back out (or he offered, I'm not sure as he wasn't the tech on call that night). Gets to the house at 9 and is there til about 11pm all to end up telling us that there's an issue with the gas valve in the furnace (we have gas heat) in which the valve keep shutting itself off which is why the house isn't heating. No gas, no heat. So he's trying to see if he can fix it himself but no such luck. We need to replace it. He's really apologetic, promises that he will get us the part tomorrow whether he has to go to several stores to do so.
However, he did have to turn the furnace off last night as he didn't want to risk burning out the new motor so it was another night with space heaters in the bedroom for us. The house was at 40 degrees this morning. Good news, he's got the part and is headed to the house as I type this to install it. H is home as he has today off. He's currently having breakfast in the downstairs bathroom as it's the warmest room in the house (we put a space heater in it and shut the door).
It is pretty giggle worthy with him in the bathroom eating breakfast. So a bit of money later, the second part has been installed and things seem to be working fine. H had to go out for some errands, so we'll see how warm the house is when he gets back.
Oh no, this sounds so awful in this weather! Our power went out for 24 hours in the winter due to snow a few years ago and I think our house got down to 50 and I was miserable! So glad it is fixed and I hope the house was roasty toasty when you got home!
Exciting news, the house got up to 58 degrees last night! Who knew that could be so thrilling? lol Even when it was running "properly" it struggled to get the house warm in these temps so we know we need to get a new furnace. But if we can just make it through the winter and then buy one in the summer that would be ideal. There's still a clanking sound going on so the tech is coming back again today but at least the house is warmer.
So a final conclusion to this super fun story. We had to buy a new furnace and it was installed today. It was decided on Friday that when the tech came back once more (clanking still happening) he found that there was a crack in the flame coil causing a backdraft against the flame. This could create carbon monoxide and have it blown into the house. This was something that there was no repair for.
So it was definitely chilly over the weekend but thank god for space heaters. :-). And limited time at home. :-)
Oh, that sucks. But at least you know it is fixed for good now. I hope you didn't spend too much on the repair since you ultimately ended up replacing it anyway. And I hope your house is now at a nice, roasty toasty temperature!
Post by donthasslethehoff on Jan 14, 2015 9:58:41 GMT -5
Ugh, elfinia7. We had our furnace die on us 2 years ago...literally the week I went back to work after maternity leave. It sucked. Glad your house is warm, though