2.5 days fun days without a working furnace with temps in the teens outside ...

[GovtMule]

Might just be the cause of that “what the Hell is that smell”

 

[Coeus]

Brilliant

Might just be the cause of that “what the Hell is that smell”

 

[Coeus]

My wife is traveling and the hotel she is staying at has had no hot water for 2 days

 

[Scoop]

Based on the condition of the components in this furnace, it's clear that the previous owner had/did absolutely nothing relative to preventative maintenance, annual or otherwise, to this furnace (or anything else, it seems) over the 15 years they lived here. Then again, when I was told they never once had the septic tank emptied during that same decade and a half, this does not surprise me.

What is really baffling is that they went absolutely over the top with the build - everything from wrapping nearly every inch of HVAC duct with reflective blanket to fiberglass and spray foam insulation to 2x CAT5e and 2x coax in every room to Viking appliances and 8' solid oak doors and tray ceilings everywhere, but they couldn't do just a little bit of PM? Yikes.

 

[GovtMule]

Or keep flying rodents out…

 

[Scoop]

Or keep flying rodents out…

LOL. Yes, but those damn bats can get through even the smallest of openings.

 

[ChadD]

LOL. Yes, but those can get through even the smallest of openings.

TWSS


🤘😎#NTC

 

[ToddACimer]

Based on the condition of the components in this furnace, it's clear that the previous owner had/did absolutely nothing relative to preventative maintenance, annual or otherwise, to this furnace (or anything else, it seems) over the 15 years they lived here. Then again, when I was told they never once had the septic tank emptied during that same decade and a half, this does not surprise me.

What is really baffling is that they went absolutely over the top with the build - everything from wrapping nearly every inch of HVAC duct with reflective blanket to fiberglass and spray foam insulation to 2x CAT5e and 2x coax in every room to Viking appliances and 8' solid oak doors and tray ceilings everywhere, but they couldn't do just a little bit of PM? Yikes.

Maintenance isnt in the payment. This is the typical house-poor way of living

 

[JMynes]

I’ve removed a bat from a blast tube during my time as an oil burner tech. He was pretty dried up. Roasted squirrels and birds in the chimney clean out are pretty common, too.
My buddy rescued a live duck from his chimney clean out. His dogs were raising hell, and when he opened the clean out door, out popped a duck. It must have landed on the chimney and fallen in.

 

[Smitty335]

I’ve removed a bat from a blast tube during my time as an oil burner tech. He was pretty dried up. Roasted squirrels and birds in the chimney clean out are pretty common, too.
My buddy rescued a live duck from his chimney clean out. His dogs were raising hell, and when he opened the clean out door, out popped a duck. It must have landed on the chimney and fallen in.

I retrieved a decayed rabbit out of a customers dryer vent, she had maggots in her dryer.

 

[JMynes]

I retrieved a decayed rabbit out of a customers dryer vent, she had maggots in her dryer.

That’s just nasty.

 

[JenElio]

That’s just nasty.

TWSS....

 

[Scoop]

I’ve removed a bat from a blast tube during my time as an oil burner tech. He was pretty dried up. Roasted squirrels and birds in the chimney clean out are pretty common, too.
My buddy rescued a live duck from his chimney clean out. His dogs were raising hell, and when he opened the clean out door, out popped a duck. It must have landed on the chimney and fallen in.

The local utility company built a dedicated substation for our plant when we built it ~10 years ago. Before they could fence it in, a raccoon got in there. Let's just say "extra crispy" doesn't even begin to describe the carcass. I'll try to dig up the picture.

 

[Mopower58]

I like our warmer climate and gas logs with a remote. No bats,rust,mice,lizards,birds,nests, our female cat loves to hunt.

 

[Russ989]

Based on the condition of the components in this furnace, it's clear that the previous owner had/did absolutely nothing relative to preventative maintenance, annual or otherwise, to this furnace (or anything else, it seems) over the 15 years they lived here. Then again, when I was told they never once had the septic tank emptied during that same decade and a half, this does not surprise me.

What is really baffling is that they went absolutely over the top with the build - everything from wrapping nearly every inch of HVAC duct with reflective blanket to fiberglass and spray foam insulation to 2x CAT5e and 2x coax in every room to Viking appliances and 8' solid oak doors and tray ceilings everywhere, but they couldn't do just a little bit of PM? Yikes.

Most people overlook and even refuse to do preventive maintenance on HVAC equipment, makes me no difference, I’ll get that money and some more when it breaks at an inconvenient time. 😜

 

[trigger]

Few of us riding in my truck heading to a side job early one Sat morning. Bird swooped down in front of the truck on the drive, they usually make it, this one didn't and I knew I got him. Got to the job, unloading the truck, turns out it was a bat and laid out perfectly across the headlight. I'm sure @JenElio remembers... 😁
Nomo

 

[Smitty335]

Replaced:

Primary heat exchanger (Carrier/Bryant doesn't sell a complete unit, just the individual exchanger cells and all the other parts, so it had to be built by hand first).
Secondary heat exchanger, which was the root cause of the failure, and was the 2nd time it's been replaced in this house (per old paperwork I found).
Draft inducer motor assembly.
All five burner tubes.
Almost every ancillary part (e.g., rollout sensor, pressure switch, igniter, etc.).

IIRC, we were able to reuse the flame sensor, LGPS switch, gas regulator, and the main blower fan/motor assembly. LOL.

On the bright side, with the exception of the blower motor, the entire 18+ year old HE furnace from this house we just bought 2.5 years ago is now 0 days old.

Extra points for anyone who points out and identifies something that doesn't belong in any furnace (it is in one of these pictures):

View attachment 378645 View attachment 378649 View attachment 378640 View attachment 378641 View attachment 378647 View attachment 378650 View attachment 378644 View attachment 378648
View attachment 378642 View attachment 378643

After you got back together, just for poops and giggles did you put a Manometer on the gas supply pressure at the furnace to check WC at high fire? I see cast iron Venturi like this a lot in pool heaters from lack of gas supply.

 

[Scoop]

After you got back together, just for poops and giggles did you put a Manometer on the gas supply pressure at the furnace to check WC at high fire? I see cast iron Venturi like this a lot in pool heaters from lack of gas supply.

I didn't, but I believe one of the various post-rebuild tests the HVAC technician ran was to check the gas supply pressure. This furnace does have a LGPS, so if the supply LG pressure were to drop too low, it would shut the furnace down (it's tied into the standard pressure switch). I am pretty sure he did. He was actually here for several hours after it was reassembled, running various tests and conversing with other techs on the phone. He was very anal (nohomo) that this was running correctly.

EDIT: I now do recall him actually adjusting the LG pressure to help get the post-combustion oxygen level to the preferred 10% for my unit, and he was checking it at various stages of operation.

The root cause of all this was most certainly the poorly designed secondary HX that failed. As previously mentioned, it resulted in a class-action lawsuit and Carrier/Bryant agreed to replace them for everyone at no cost. The burners were in the condition they were because the previous owner had ZERO PM done over the course of ~15 years.

To be clear, the HVAC tech built the primary HX and replaced it and the secondary HX. I had done everything else (replaced burner tubes, draft inducer fan/motor assembly, pressure switch, and rollout sensor, etc.) prior to his arrival.

While I had a very good idea of what needed to be done (the two HX were all that were left that had NOT been replaced), I'm certainly not qualified nor experienced enough to do what he did. Further, I did not have the proper tools to do things like measure post-combustion oxygen volume (which could most certainly be affected by a mis-built HX) or check LG pressures.

I like to do lots of repairs myself and can do quite a bit more (with confidence) than the average homeowner. But when it comes to certain things that I know are well out of my comfort zone, I leave those up to the fellas who have been doing it for a living.

 

[Russ989]

I didn't, but I believe one of the various post-rebuild tests the HVAC technician ran was to check the gas supply pressure. This furnace does have a LGPS, so if the supply LG pressure were to drop too low, it would shut the furnace down (it's tied into the standard pressure switch). I am pretty sure he did. He was actually here for several hours after it was reassembled, running various tests and conversing with other techs on the phone. He was very anal (nohomo) that this was running correctly.

EDIT: I now do recall him actually adjusting the LG pressure to help get the post-combustion oxygen level to the preferred 10% for my unit, and he was checking it at various stages of operation.

The root cause of all this was most certainly the poorly designed secondary HX that failed. As previously mentioned, it resulted in a class-action lawsuit and Carrier/Bryant agreed to replace them for everyone at no cost. The burners were in the condition they were because the previous owner had ZERO PM done over the course of ~15 years.

To be clear, the HVAC tech built the primary HX and replaced it and the secondary HX. I had done everything else (replaced burner tubes, draft inducer fan/motor assembly, pressure switch, and rollout sensor, etc.) prior to his arrival.

While I had a very good idea of what needed to be done (the two HX were all that were left that had NOT been replaced), I'm certainly not qualified nor experienced enough to do what he did. Further, I did not have the proper tools to do things like measure post-combustion oxygen volume (which could most certainly be affected by a mis-built HX) or check LG pressures.

I like to do lots of repairs myself and can do quite a bit more (with confidence) than the average homeowner. But when it comes to certain things that I know are well out of my comfort zone, I leave those up to the fellas who have been doing it for a living.

Gas supply pressures should be checked every year. The spring inside the valve will weaken over time leading to an under fire scenario which is no good for the heat exchanger.

 

[toddvdh]

I would imagine under fire is a big cause of carbon monoxide also.