Household HVAC

[JApol]

For you knowledgeable persons on this subject. I need some help.

I am currently deployed with the navy in the middle of an ocean and my heater has crapped out and my wife is not to happy about it.

We put a $500 bandaid on it last week hoping it would fix it for the winter. It lasted 3 days.

So, now we are shopping for a new furnace.

The furnace is 13+ years old so it is due to be replaced. I do not want to go overboard with this as we are selling the home this spring.

I have been able to do some looking online but it is slower than dial up and this site is sometimes painful to visit.



For those of you who are in the Virginia Beach area, who have you used and will you do business with them again? Why?



For those who have replaced their furnace, who have you gone with? Are you happy with it? why?



I am hoping to stay with a gas furnace.



Thanks for your help.

 

[BigRedRam]

First, Thanks for being in the military.



Second we need a few questions answerd.



What did the $500 band aid consist of? Is the work under warenty? if no, why not?



Does the heat exchanger have a carbon monoxide leak into the house? Was it checked?



What are the symptoms?



Does the fan run?



Does the burner run?



Some brands have a heat exchanger warrenty longer than 20 years.



If it is anything other than the heat exchanger, you should be able to fix it for under $200



Dont consider anything but gas. The opperating cost is approximatly 3 times higher to heat with electricity.



PM me with the company name, technitions name, phone number, invoice number, complaint listed and work compleated with itemized charges. I will be surprised if the tech does not return with an apology.

 

[Dieselnut59]

I agree to stay with gas. I have a "Dual fuel" system and love it. It is a heat pump (for air conditioning and cool winter days) and a gas furnace (for the really cold days). You cannot beat gas heat. It could be something as simple as a bad flame ignitor. These things have LOTS of safety devices and every one of them mush work before it will light/run.

 

[mgoncalves]

If it is anything other than the heat exchanger, you should be able to fix it for under $200

You have got to be kidding.

 

[JApol]

It is a gas furnace at least 16 years old. Actuall install date is unknown

I have not found a carbon monoxide detector other than what I have installed after i bought the house.

The problem is the gas will not light. It uses a glow plug type ignition so there is not a pilot light burning all the time. When that glow plug lights up it is about as bright as a 60 watt bulb so it is very visible when it comes on. She says that it will not come on at all.

We had this problem last winter once. I could not get the ignitor to come on. Since the ignitor would not come on the gas wouldn't come on so I could not light it manually. So, of course when the HVAC guy shows up to look at it the furnace fired right up with no issues. Figures right? It worked fine the next 3 months.

It is now doing the same thing. The work that was done last week I believe was a new ignition system.



I will ask my wife what exactly was chaged for $500.



I have no intention of going to electric heat.

 

[Dieselnut59]

That is the way most of the newer ones do. My gas range (the oven part) and my clothes dryer work the same way. BUT, if the furnace has a powered blower to vent out the exhaust fumes, it must first "sense" that it is operating before it will light. Make sure the vent is not stopped up, so the fan can evacuate the exhaust gases. I would also have they guy then check the fan itself. If it is seized, it will tell the ignitor not to light. If the ignitor itself is bad, of course it will not light. The ignitor is a cheap part and I would say could be one of the most likely problems. There is a computer board (on my dual fuel system anyway) that regulates everything too. It is comprised of several chinese relays soldered onto a printed circuit board. If any of the chinese relays (weakest link) fail, the system will not light off. I know my dual fuel system is more complex because it has to regulate when to run the heat pump part versus the gas furnace part, but the furnace portion is very similar to yours.

Silly thought, but do you have any other gas appliances in your house? If not, and you fire up the furnace for the first time, the gas regulator could be "sticking". Just another thought to check. Good luck!

 

[JApol]

I do have other gas appliances in the house. I have a gas water heater that works fine.

UPDATE. The $500 ignitor failed 2 days after install. A new one will be installed by a differant compay tomarrow for ~$200, That is a little high but it covers the service call a couple of days ago.

The orginial company swears up and down that the part is a $600 part. get real.



BRR you will have a PM shortly.

 

[mgoncalves]

Yeah, $500 for a service call to replace an ignitor is pretty steep.

 

[Skydiver]

Thanks for your service to our country JApol.

I too use all gas. My home has one 240 volt breaker for the central unit.

My dryer igniter once failed and the thing still glowed bright red. A current sensor must detect a certain amount of amps draw before the circuit board will open the gas valve. My faulty igniter still had enough resistance to glow , but not enough to satisfy the circuit board. On a quick search I found igniters for less the $75.

A gas furnace as you know has to go through a ventilation sequence before it will start. There are limit switches on the service panels to prevent the gas from flowing if a service door is open. Had that problem as well.

Wish I was closer to help y'all out.