In my house, the heater basically stops working every year and my dad put some like “bandaid” solution over it with manipulating some wiring, idk what they do. But like, every year, the heater would stop working like several times throughout the winter and constanly needs to be fixed. But this year it just stopped working completely. Like I google it and those heaters are like $2000 to $2500 brand new, so yea, I get it, parents want to save money, but like, having the heat stop few times a year feels like living in a developing country tbh 😓. So now I’m basically just relying on those portable heater things to stay warm, and my cat is feeling too cold so she’s staying in bedrooms most of the time because its where the portable heaters are at, when she normally just wanders the entire house.
Its like common if like the heater is like super like old
Like
It’s normal for mine, but mine is old and in need of replacing (25 year old, but life expectancy averages 15-20 years). Basically something needs to be replaced every year, but I’m the only one living here and I can generally fix it myself (and I have separate heating in my family room so I don’t just lose all heat). I’ve been trying to save up for a replacement but the prices are obscene and we’re probably about to lose federal incentives so it’s just getting harder to afford.
Interesting turn this year where I hired someone instead of doing it myself. It was actually cheap, and something I wouldn’t have thought of
No, it’s not common. If your heater is old and needs replacing, then it’s expected.
A lot of people don’t even run their heaters unless necessary, though. I only run mine in the morning.
Down here we just have heat pump systems, often without any dedicated heating elements. So in the summer they work by displacing heat out of the house, and in winter are doing the opposite. But can’t work to get the house actually warm if it’s freezing outside, just warmer than outside. And in summer, can’t make it cold inside, but again, makes it colder than outside. It’s enough for most days of the year.
Anyway - these units need twice annual maintenance, plus regular repairs, devices that heat or cool just have to work so hard so much of the time. You can’t neglect that maintenance. Either hire someone or learn how to do it, because it has to be done.
Make sure that any exit ventilation isn’t frozen over for the heater. My heater used to do a similar thing and I always thought the heater was broken, but it was actually as simple as the output pipe freezing over due to condensation build up which caused the heater to turn off automatically. Fixing this involves me installing a electrically warmed pipe extender before heavy snow or ice conditions.
They quit working when they’re not properly maintained. That’s all there is to it.
We were in a similar position, but just poor as heck, and a couple of times every winter I was down in the basement trying to get the heat fixed again. It was always little things. Bearing starting to fail, shaft keys getting loose and pulleys spinning, thermocouples failing. The units were 20+ years old. They were inefficient AF and really needed to go.
Now? We make sure to have the HVAC serviced yearly. It’s a couple hundred bucks. I travel a lot for work and it’s down to 20°F at night. Can’t have this stuff failing on the fam while I’m away. I can’t remember the last time it failed.
What they’re saving in maintenance they’re probably losing in efficiency. They’ll be able to carry the units only so far until one inevitably fails, irreparably, on a holiday weekend and it will cost a fortune for the weekend/emergency service rate to get someone to come by and repair or replace it. Worse yet if it fails while everyone is away and now you’ve got frozen pipes and water damage.
My house has two furnaces: one gas (methane, or city gas) which I only use for water heating (showers, etc) and one wood pellet. They both warm up water in the heaters circuit, and can be used at the same way.
The gas one is more expensive to run (400€/month), but require zero maintenance, except some predictive maintenance like cleaning filters once a year in summertime.
The wood pellet one is way cheaper to operate (1.5k€/year, for 9 months of operation) but require weekly cleaning and daily fuel loading. Also for this one once a year maintenance is mandatory, deep cleaning, replacing some perishable parts and so on.
So, yes, every furnace require periodical maintenance to operate properly, and should work just fine for 10 or even 20 years if you are careful and do the proper maintenance.
During the time when I grew up in my parents house, the heat failed exactly once, and there the heating system has to be replaced. It didn’t fail before, it didn’t fail after. It didn’t have any short term “hiccups”, ever. So to answer your question: Once in like 20 years.
Since I’m living on my own, I’ve had trouble starting the very old gas stove for the apartment twice, and each time at the beginning of the heating season. Once it’s running, it just works. The thing is 60ish years old btw. and technicians refuse to touch it for fear of liability. Basically works fine since I cleaned it properly the last time it refused to start.
Heating should be reliable, and it usually just is. What you’re describing is not normal. I don’t even know anyone who has recurring issues with their heat.
Most furnace problems can be fixed by cleaning the flame sensor, which is like 5 minutes to do. It would be like $150+ to have someone come out, check for continuity, clean with a $10 tool, and check again.
I think a lot of people are too intimidated by not wanting to overcome their ignorance and possibly make things worse to even begin learning simple tasks that can save them loads of cash.
For me to call a professional means me deciding that a professional is cheaper than me buying specialized tools that I will rarely use again.
About five years ago the exhaust fan on my furnace started making noise. It sounded like a bearing issue, so I figured out the correct replacement part, ordered it and installed it myself.
It cost a little under $200 all told. I know that the service call would have been at least $500.
So many of the things we own are made of generic parts that you can buy off of amazon for less than the cost of getting a guy to come look at it.
Or thermal couple.
This was the issue the one time we lost heat. Now the service is company replaces it every year regardless - it’s a low cost part that can bring the whole system down.
Btw, it’s “thermocouple” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermocouple
Haha yes you’re right
In 20 years I think our heater has actually broken once. We’ve had little things that needed fixing, but it still worked. If every year I’d have an issue where the heater stops working I’d have replaced it a long time ago. Either your dads fixes aren’t very good, or your heater is just fucked.
I had a fuck ass boiler where the pump would get stuck from not running in the warmer months, the sediments would still and the pump wouldn’t move. So in the fall when it came time to use it I always had to whack it with a 2x4 and a hammer to get it to spin again. Could be similar.
Probably something dumb like your case. We lived without heat for 2 years. Working in the closet with a buddy led me to screwing the breaker box to the stud properly. Never tripped again. No idea why.
Yeah — I eventually learned to fix some things myself because when it does break, the repair people tell me it’ll be 2-3 weeks, but in the meantime it’s cold.
Every year I have to hound the landlord to get the heater working again, so I guess. Though yours sounds more like a technical issue
That’s not normal. Not trying to sound harsh but most likely your dad doesn’t know what he’s doing / has no money to properly maintain or fix/replace the heating system you’re using now. Not sure what type of system you guys use but generally speaking well maintained heating systems do need some maintenance every year to keep them running efficiently. Usually the household does that sort of work in the fall/early winter.
Or maybe your dad is such a penny pincher that they think $2500 or the $ for proper yearly maintenance is more money vs using space heaters. That kind of thinking is a bit silly since usually the electric bills you accumulate year over year running space heaters in every room adds up to way more than just fixing the heating system properly.
I had a similar problem. Mine was a gas heater. The little fan (induction motor?) shit out. AC guy who was always good to us and honest came out and sprayed WD-40 on it and said it’ll get you through the year, which it did, but it failed after that. He said it would be $800 to replace but I didn’t have it. Found a replacement on Amazon for $45 and watched a YouTube tutorial and fixed it no problem. Check that if it sounds like your problem and you’re handy or someone you know is. Saved me $750 and I never had an issue again.
That little fan is what brings fresh air into the system because gas or whatever so if it fails the system will shut down because of safety.
The induction fan induces air to move out the exhaust before the combustion starts, so exhaust gas is ensured to exit the right direction.
If the furnace thinks the induction motor isn’t running or there isn’t a slight vacuum in the chamber right before the induction fan then it won’t light for safety reasons.
I’m my case it was a loose wire on the pressure sensor. Cost me a couple hours to figure out and a paper clip to fix. Been fine for 3 years since now.
