Furnance Repair One O One
“If desperate times call for desperate measures, then I'm free to act as desperately as I wish.”
― Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire
That is precisely how we felt when on a reasonably cold day in March when the furnace in Sylvia refused to turn on even with the thermostat set at 90...
Sylvia had a unique set of thermostats on the living room wall.. as in two identical ones within inches of each other. The top one was the one that was supposed to work but the previous owners had warned that it was sometimes difficult to get it turned on.. well I had found the difficult and woke up to a chilly 51 degrees!
So, not really knowing diddly about thermostats I pulled off the cap, got the model number and a general view of what it looked like inside and off I went to Valu Home Center at the crack of stupidity... that's 7 AM.
Sue joined me about an hour later and thanks to her know how the new thermostat was installed within minutes.. Surprise!! IT WORKED...
Our enthusiasm was very short lived as later that day.. once again "Ol Grumpy" ( what I started calling the furnace) refused to kick on.. So.. plan B?
A little research determined that the little green flashing light on the control panel was really a code for what was wrong.. so within a few minutes we determined that a 2 flash meant a problem with something called a Pressure Switch .. which looks like the picture below
Now, first off this is NOT something furnace repair people keep in stock.. so it would have to be ordered and then the repair "scheduled" and all of that sounded like many cold days and nights to Sue and I.
Searching the Internet we found and downloaded the repair manual for this furnace.. Part number in hand we went in search of someone on line who had it in stock and could ship it immediately. It didn't take long to find Mobile Home Solutions . Part ordered with priority shipping !! YEAH!! Cost under $40.00!!
Now, two women with no really background in furnace repair.. were about to embark on removing and replacing a "Pressure Control Switch"... it was back to the manual and online research while we waited the 48 hours for the new part to arrive.
IT'S HERE!! and it looks like this:
Time to test Sue's technical skills ...
Removing the old one was easy just two screws and unplugging the two hoses.. Installing the new one in the space we had required switching the mounting bracket so it would line up with the connections for the tubing..
Power off.. gas off ... screwdriver ready.. she went to work. I was in charge of the flashlight.
Five minutes later the new one was where the old one had been and we were ready to hit the breaker and turn on the gas.. Breaker on.. gas on.. and WHOOSH.. pilot lights and "Ol Grumpy" kicks in!
Heat!!! Glorious Heat! And two very excited, newly ordained "furnace repair women"!
Ol Grumpy has been renamed "Furnace" and has functioned beautifully..
The second thermostat has been removed from the wall leaving a beautiful three inch wide hole behind which.. I'm proud to say has been filled and Spackled by yours truly... newly ordained " hole patch person" !
