Into the Furnace!!

Its been an interesting month. About 3 or 4 weeks ago we woke up to no heat in the house. The power had gone out during the night and it was cold cold cold.

Eventually the power came back on, but still no heat! Oh, the furnace would kick on, and stay on, but it only blew out cold air. Not so pleasant!

So, we called Covenant Heating & Cooling and they came right over. He fixed a faulty gas valve that wasn't clicking open and we had heat again within 2 hours. It cost around $300. Not too bad.

Then, last week, I wake up to the furnace running, blowing cold air, again! DRAT! So, I call, explain the problem, nope, the valve is getting power, but it isn't getting the signal to kick open. A bad limiting switch. Of course it worked when the guy was there, but he didn't charge us to check it out, just to call them when we needed it fixed.

Well, 2 days later, its got fixed. And we woke up the NEXT morning to the same problem. They sent a guy out. Hmm. The switch is good, the valve is good, the thermo-coupling is good....hmm.
Well, the problem is a wire on the circuit board that someone "repaired" once upon a time by resoldering it into place. Badly. So its all corroded and not allowing the right resistance through, which means the limiting switch doesn't think it needs to close a circuit, which means the gas valve doesn't kick open.

Well, this furnace is about 60 years old and a "new" circuit board would just be silly. It would cost about 1/3 as much as a new system and we'd still have an old furnace.

The repair guy wired a 3 amp fuse into the system instead of the limiting switch, closing the circuit and allowing it to kick open the gas valve. I've had to replace the fuse 2 times now. Each morning it seems to blow the fuse, I go down, put another one in, and presto, it works!

Monday we are getting a new furnace. A nice 95% efficiency Coleman. Its getting installed for $2200 or so. Why so cheap? Because they gave us credit for all the previous repairs! They are giving us about $500 credit for the prior repairs.

Thank the Lord! I had been wanting to hold off until spring or summer to replace the furnace, but the issues we'd been having were just too much. The fuses are just a temporary fix, and I don't really like the blower running and running for hours if it blows in the middle of the night.

I highly reccommend Covenant for the Pekin area. They have been courteous, friendly, honest, and more than fair. I'll give an added update after the furnace is put in, but I've just been so thankful for how its all gone.

The best part is, we have enough money saved to pay for over half in cash. And the rest will be paid off in just a few short months! YAY!