It's 10F out before windchill, and I have no heat, exactly how do I "clean" my furnace?
Last winter my furnace started to do this ticking thing, where it wouldn’t ignite. (I assume.) I had a repairman come twice, and he said that it needed to be cleaned out. He said it was collecting all of the dust from the cellar and it was stuffing up the furnace. He told my husband to get in there with the shopvac and clean it out when it happens.
Well, my husband is at work for another 2 hours, and I’m sitting here freezing my butt off. I haven’t had heat for about an hour now, maybe a little bit longer. I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to clean in there. It looks clean to me.
He’d like me to wait until he can take a look at it before we call the repairman again, assuming it is the same problem we had last year. In the meanwhile.. I’m cold. I would like to take a look at it myself. Are there removable parts in there that I should be taking out to vacuum around?
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13 Answers
If I were you I’d get into a nice zero degree sleeping bag and wait for help.
The ticking sound is your electronic pilot light ignitor which attempts to light the furnance when your furnace cycles on.Look to see if the pilot light is alight when you hear this ticking sound.If you see the pilot light and the ignitor is still ticking,this means the thermo coupler is not sensing the flame.Turn off the electrical switch at the furnace and attempt to clean the approximately 1.5” long pencil-shaped thermo coupler where you saw the pilot light.Use some scotchbrite or steel wool to clean the metal that is the thermo coupler.This should allow it to recognize the pilot light being on.Don’t forget to turn the switch back on after you are done :)
If it’s 10°F then it’s time to bite the bullet and call the professional out. You don’t have a lot of time to fool around and learn as you go at that temperature. Without heat inside the home, and that temperature outside, it won’t be long before your nearest-to-an-outside-wall water line freezes at that point, and after that the rest of it will surely follow. It won’t be too long after that before the pipe bursts, and then when you get heat back, you won’t have water, because you’ll have to shut it off to fix the burst pipe. (And most likely a wall, too.)
No, your window for ‘playing’ with this thing closed about a month ago.
Or you could just wait and ‘hope for the best’ and glare at your husband when my prediction pans out.
The way to justify it is: “insurance”. If you call the repairman now, then he’ll fix the thing – and be responsible if it isn’t fixed, which is also worth a lot if he and his company are reputable – and it will cost you an arm and half a leg, because it’s night and you’re not the only people calling him. (And it may take him longer to get to you than your husband, anyway, but at least this puts you on the schedule.)
If you don’t call, then you’ll wait (and continue to get colder, and worry) for your husband, and he will do an apprenticeship during the night until he gives up or breaks something, and then when you finally call the pro, he won’t get to you until noon tomorrow.
Good luck with @lucillelucillelucille‘s advice. It may work; we’ll hope for the best. At this kind of temperature I pass on the do-it-yourself stuff.
@TheOnlyNeffie Both is what I would do, if you get it working you can always call the repairman back and cancel. Or if you have good signal, maybe the repairman will talk you through it on the phone.
it is good to have a space heater for times like those, about 40 bucks at Chinamart.
Also, open your water taps, just a bit. Running water takes longer to freeze than standing water, and the cost of the extra water is cheap in comparison to fixing the plumbing.
Alright, repairman is here, water is running… I think we’re in the clear.
Thanks very much.
Great, now before he leaves, ask him to show you how to clean it. Then you can do it next fall and save some grief.
@WestRiverrat thanks, my husband is down there with him now, so there isn’t really room for me. But I told him to pay attention! :)
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