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QUESTION:I am having difficulties with my furnace and I thought I'd run the
symptoms by you guys and see if anything pops in your mind.
It's a gas furnace.
When we first moved in 3 years ago, when you first turned the heat on,
there would be a strong smell for about 3 to 5 minutes.. and it would
go away. The land lord said it was normal. It didnt' smell like gas,
more like, i'm guessng heating oil or something. I don't really know
what it smelled like. I just know what gas leaks smell like and that
wasn't it.
So that was just a normal part of heating for 3 years.
This year.. the heat smell coming into the rooms smells like
something was burning.. like a strong smoky odor filled the house
and the smoke detector went off. I immediately turned the furnace off
because it was evident that was the source. I inspected the whole
house.
after the house cleared out, either the same day or the next day
I turned on the heater again to run some tests.. it didnt' smoke as
bad as before.. but i sensed a light smoke odor.. then it seemed to
get a little heavier, so out of concern I turned it off.
When I turned it off, actuall visible smoke came out of the vents.
Also the heat would not come back on. So I went down stairs to
inspect the furnace. One thing I noticed is that the circuit breaker
and flipped, thus preventing the furnace blower motor? from coming on.
While I was down there, I was afraid maybe one of the wires was
shorted out, so I moved them around a little. I didn't notice any
shorts.
One other symptom i noticed was that the heater blower would only
come on for 20 second increments. It would come on, blow for 20
seconds and cut out.. maybe 20 or 30 seconds (or a min?) then come
back on and blow another 20 seconds. I noticed that when i was in the
basement doing laundry.
also note that the household temperature no longer can reach over 72
indicated degrees at the thermostat control, even if we have it set to
90 or how ever high it will go. . We replaced the furnace filter
(properly) at the first sign of unusual odor i'd say a week or 2
ago.
Basicly the problem seems like the heater blower motor isnt' coming on
for very long if at all. Before we could feel like a heated wind
coming from the vents now all I feel is more like a trickle heat
coming from the vents. A couple of the rooms are so cold I had to buy
a small portable electric heater.
I'm wondering does this sound like the blower unit (technical name
is?) is going bad? Or maybe some thermostat or controller for it is
in there going bad?
Any advice diagnostic type of advice would be appreciated. I would
atleast hope to learn what the possible (and probably) causes coudl be
before I have a repair man come to diagnose it.. and if it's not too
complicated maybe I will consider doing it myself, after all I do work
on cars and my motorcycles, and know the general safety precautions to
take working with the furnace and gas appliances, as I have lit them
many times. I'm just hoping now someoen's experience can atleast
give me an indication of what's wrong?
ANSWER: Call your local gas company or licensed heating and air conditioning
contractor IMMEDIATELY. The gas company may diagnose for free, a licensed
contractor knows what he's doing and doesnt need to get help from a website.
When you run the furnace without a working blower, you're essentially operating
the furnace on the safety limit switch, and in the process damaging and
destroying the heat exchanger. For all you know, the heat exchanger has already
developed a major leak.
If you dont want to burn your house down and or asphixiate you and your entire
family, call for service immediately.
Granted, you may be quite the handyman, stick with what you do know and leave
furnaces to professionals.
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