Yes, Jack, I'll take "fun with gas burners" for $100.00......

[dkn1997]

So it starts yesterday with the call from wife yesterday.  "it's 65 in the house and it's going down, not up"  so I leave work early, come home and sure enough, the burner is not fireing.  Natural gas furnace.  So I get out my multimeter and find that the blower that aids in exhaust is getting power, but no worky!!!  and a little electrical stinky too...suppose it gave up the ghoste after 12 years.

So I call the local, guy in medford (3 miles from me).  He finds the part number but he is out!  says to call their other store in hicksville (30 miles away)  it's 4:15 and no way I am making it to hicksville by 5 when they close.  So I ask hicksville  if I can pay for it with CC over the phone and he can leave it in the showroom (open late)  "no, I cannot take orders over the phone"   F me!!!  I end up going to local guy, paying for it at the counter, then he calls hicksville and they then agree to leave it out for me.   

suffices to say that by 7:15 I am cooking again, but what a pain in the ass!!!

The upside is that the part costs $168.00.  If I would have called someone, we would be talking at least 4-500 for them to come, troubleshoot, and get part.  definately not something he would have had on the truck  and I don't think they would have drove 2 extra hours in rush hour for me. 

That's how I justify spending money on charger parts.  I just saved the house at least 300.00, so If I want to go out and buy $100.00 worth of crap for the car, I won't feel so bad....

[PocketThunder]

D'oh!!

I had the same deal with my dryer one time.


Should of told the wife to put on a couple sweaters.....  or better yet tell her you'll be home soon and you can make some heat of your own...

[4402tuff4u]

I think I know exactly what unit you are talking about. Is it a Honeywell main panel thingie? I replaced my last year. That thingie is the module that all the wires go into and activate the igniter and the pilot I believe. Good thing you got it working. I bought mine in Amityville, NY @ Irwing Plumbing supply and paid $ 130.00.

[Afflyer]

Amityville, NY

[4402tuff4u]

Yeah, my sister when to school with the Defeo guy who murdered his family. I used to live there in Amityville, now I live one town over. I graduated from Amityville H.S.   That's a gorgeous haunted (BS) house by the way!!

[greenpigs]

That's a gorgeous hunted (BS) house by the way!!

They stock it with deer or something?

[dkn1997]

I think I know exactly what unit you are talking about. Is it a Honeywell main panel thingie? I replaced my last year. That thingie is the module that all the wires go into and activate the igniter and the pilot I believe. Good thing you got it working. I bought mine in Amityville, NY @ Irwing Plumbing supply and paid $ 130.00.

actually, what you are describing is  the ignition control.  it  controls the ignition sequence to fire the burners.  It is actually pretty amazing in that it switches both 24v and 110v current.   I replaced the combustion blower itself.  it's a big squirrel cage fan that induces the draft.  all gas heaters labelled "high efficiency" have one.  you cannot run the burner without it because there is a vacuum switch in the safety loop that won't power up the igintion sequence unless the combustion blower creates a vacuum in the chamber.

I got lucky in that I used to repair gas pool heaters for a living and a home gas furnace is very very similar. 

[kab69440]

Yeah, my sister when to school with the Defeo guy who murdered his family. I used to live there in Amityville, now I live one town over. I graduated from Amityville H.S.   That's a gorgeous hunted (BS) house by the way!!

My Mother and Step-Father live in a home near identical to the Amityville house. From the outside appearance to the interior layout, it is eerily similar. And the mechanics do seem to have a mind of their own, at times...

[PocketThunder]

Yeah, my sister when to school with the Defeo guy who murdered his family. I used to live there in Amityville, now I live one town over. I graduated from Amityville H.S.   That's a gorgeous hunted (BS) house by the way!!

My Mother and Step-Father live in a home near identical to the Amityville house. From the outside appearance to the interior layout, it is eerily similar. And the mechanics do seem to have a mind of their own, at times...

What is the Amityville House?  a movie?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078767/

[kab69440]

Yeah, PT. The house from "The Amityville Horror"

[Charger_Fan]

That's how I justify spending money on charger parts.   I just saved the house at least 300.00, so If I want to go out and buy $100.00 worth of crap for the car, I won't feel so bad....

As long as your wife feels the same, you've got it made.

That is good that you were able to fix it yourself, though.

[dkn1997]

As long as your wife feels the same, you've got it made.

Yeah, that WOULD be good.  I justfy speding money on the charger that way, but it doesn't mean she buys it....

then there was today, I was using some penetrating spray trying to whack the pin out of the bottom of the steering column.  she really was not buying that when the smell got into the house.

[451-74Charger]

Local A/C and heating co "fixed" the A/C for the previous owner, just before i bought the house, well, to fix the A/C...they disconnected the 24v supply, the heating 110v and about 1/2 the other wires. When it went cold, we had NO heat over Christmas our first year, had to run the open fire just to get ANY. well.... i worked out the problem and fixed it all up (its a 2 stage system with A/C and heat (electric)). gotta love those guaranteed return visit engineers !!

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

I pay Keyspan for their heating system service contract......... $160 a year.

Get a free tune up once a year.   The contract has paid for itself numerous times when my gas valve went out, thermo limiter etc.

Every time it happened on a Sunday.....no mus no fuss.......

[dkn1997]

I pay Keyspan for their heating system service contract......... $160 a year.

Get a free tune up once a year.   The contract has paid for itself numerous times when my gas valve went out, thermo limiter etc.

Every time it happened on a Sunday.....no mus no fuss.......

I used to call lilco when I moved in 8 years ago.  They came and fixed stuff for parts cost only, no labor.  The guy who did the work told me that they were not doing it for much longer because of the kespan/lipa takeover and that I would have to call a private company.  I guess what he meant was that they would not come unless you had the contract.

I did not know keyspan did that.  Overall, in 8 years, I replaced 3 hot surface ignitors (about 50$each and this blower $168)  so I am bucks ahead.  If this was an oil burner, I would be getting the service contract.  The reality is that the Gas burner is easy for me to fix and as far as tuneups, gas furnaces rarely need them.  They burn very clean and unless it's outside (like a pool heater) they don't normally get spider webs and crap in the runners.

I yank the burner tray about once every couple of years and shop vac it out, that's about it.

thanks for the heads up 6t9, I really did not know they still offered that service.  If it came down to it, I would rather have keyspan fix my burner because their guys are way more likely to check gas pressure than a private hvac company.