BRRR!!!

It's getting cold out there, hopefully not inside your house. If so it is time to start thinking about what you are going to do about it. If you have a gas furnace you can call your utility provider and they should come and start it up without charge. If there are any serious issues they will alert you then you can decide whether to call a service company or to try to fix it yourself.
Most times a good cleaning will go a long way. Opening up the combustion chamber on an older furnace and cleaning it out with a shop vacuum does not take a technician. You can check for loose or burnt and corroded wires. Look for any evidence that the heat from combustion is where it is not supposed to be. If it is you can look for any obvious issues with your venting (rusty or perforated vent pipes or blocked or disconnected vents) if you do not see anything obvious you will probably want to call a pro here because you may have a failed heat exchanger and this could lead to cobustion product getting into your home.
If you have an electric system you will want to shut the power off and check every!! electrical connection inside the unit. Electric heat by it's very nature (wires getting hot) generates heat on the wires. This is made worse by loose or corroded connections which generate more heat. If you are successful DO It Yourselfer there are many places to get help if you have specific problems. Here are just a few,
http://forum.doityourself.com/forumdisplay.php?f=129
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/hvac/
http://www.bobvila.com/wwwboard/wwwboard.html
http://www.howtorepairairconditioners.com/homeowner-cries/fans-hvac-variable-speed-unit-furnace.html

I just turned on the heat for the first time and my furnace won't light

Questioner: Steve
Category: Heating, Air Conditioning, Fridge, HVAC
Private: No

Subject: ignition problem - Goodman GMNT100-4 furnace
Question: QUESTION: Hi Mike - I stumbled across this site while trouble shooting my Goodman GMNT100-4 furnace and thought I would give it a try. This is a used furnace that I had installed in my workshop (professional install) - it has been in place for almost 2 years without any issue. It is also fueled by Propane.

When the thermostat trips, it turns on the furnace as normal . The blower motor kicks in (draft motor?). The ignitor begins to glow a short time after this, and then the gas valve supplies gas. This is where things start to go wrong. There are 5 "burners" / tubes. The first one with the ignitor begins to burn the propane, but the other 4 tubes never begin to burn.

I pulled the front cover so I could watch the circuit board and after it cycles a few times, it shuts down and the indicator light blinks once indicating failed ignition (yeap, it failed to ignite properly). Listed problems include gas pressure and ignitor. The ignitor is new.

I did check the obvious and the propane tank (500 gallon) is 40 percent full. I did not check pressure post regulator as I have no easy way to do that currently.

Am I looking at a propane regulator problem or is it possible it is the gas valve itself? Any other thoughts?

This problem started gradually and now it will not ignite fully at all.

Ideas?

ANSWER: Your igniter is definitely not bad as it is getting hot. So move to the next problem you are not getting complete ignition, the possible causes are obviously improper fuel pressure ( you need to be able to check this to properly diagnose), Restricted fuel delivery (plugged orifices, screens or strainers), too much or too little combustion air (bad heat exchanger). So where do we go from here, first because you do not have any pressure diagnostic equipment you can theorize about fuel pressure but without knowing that is just a rabbit hole and has to be saved for last. So that leaves you with restriction or improper combustion air. We need to recognize that we are talking about issues of safety first so with resriction you can easily take off all the burner orifices and get a torch cleaning kit or fine wire and make sure everything is clear then move to combustion air. Because your system is not shutting down on your draft motor or pressure switch it is not likely that you have a bad fan or blockage so that leads me to a possible bad heat exchanger. Make sure your indoor fan is not running while the furnace is trying to light. If it is not then cobustion air is probably not an issue. If it is and when you make sure the fan is shut off the furnace lights ok then that is a red flag for heat exchanger issues and you need to get a new furnace. If none of this advice works you need to get proper pressure testing equipment and make sure your fuel pressure matches the design parameters on the information plate of your furnace. I know that is a lot of information but that is just some of the things you have to consider when you are working on this equipment.

Heating start up problems

JANITROL DEPENDABLE NINETY TWO FURNACE-HELP!!!!!!!! PLEASE?
I moved into a house that needed a (bit of work) this past march 08...the house has a Janitrol dependable ninety two furnace. (Model number-GMN080-4)

when I first fired it up ran great...used it clear up to june 08'...and then I just turned the theromostat down and turned off the fan and forgot all about it ....nerver turned the gas off or the main power..didn't think I needed to.

yesterday I went down in the basement, checked everything out, visually everything looked ok, gas was on, power at switch was on, so I came back upstairs tured on the fan and raised the temp level to about 75.....I heard the fan kick on, however no heat.

I went back down and started fiddling around..nothing...I called a friend who works for a heating company....he installs systems...(not a service tech) he noticed that there was a little red flashing light....the light was blicking three times .....according to the troubleshooting guide on the inside panel this indicated that

pressure switch failure to close..and sugessted to check venter pressure switch vent blockage

so we took the pressure switch off..checked for blockage..replaced it....tried to fire furnace....it seemed to take off normally....only this time the ignitor came on , glowing orange....but the gas valve never opened....(note:on my pressure switch..there are only two orange wires ...one on the common, and one on a prong marked no)

my friend went back to his place of work and found a switch on another unit from an old job, that looked basically the same and brought it back.....on this switch it had three wires...male prongs marked c, nc, and no.....we hooked it up and tried again...this time the fan kicked on, then we heard some clicking as the ignitor came on, then the gas valve opened and poof...we had heat...yeah!!!!!.....so I thought.

he left, then I left for diner, when I came back....the fan was running...but no heat, and the house was cool, so I knew it had not run very long after I left...I went back downstairs...tried to get to fire...nothing.

however I was playing with the pressure switch.....I pulled the wire on the common post....it took off like it should....again short lived..so I switched the wires around on the switch since there is no distinctive markings to signify which was which(there both orange).....anyway again same as above it fired but briefly......

tonight we messed with it again..only this time we got the three blicks code...pulled the vent tube..it was clear...the fan was blowing strong.....
got it to take off..only this time the ignitor would come on but the gas valve never did open......and we got no heat...we got nothing...if any one is familiar with this brand of furnace..and can understand what may be happening..i need your help before it gets to cold....thank you.


Wow a lot of info for a change I appreciate that. Anyway it sounds like you have a problem with the way your pressure switch is working but the trick is you have a 90 plus furnace and there are a lot of things that can make a pressure switch fail to close on a 90 plus. You need to make sure the drainage system is clear as water in the heat exchanger will cause the symptoms you describe. also you need to make sure the venting is clear all the way to the outside of the house. Then you need to check the draft inducer to make sure it is running properly and the blower wheel is intact, I know that is a lot to think about but if it was easy everyone would do it.
no were the tube goes into the induction motor take a wire and clear the trash thats in there blocking also check flue pipe make sure you dont have a birds nest in there you are on the right track but you need to make sure it has a way to vent.

No Air In Here

We have a Rheem air conditioner, and we just moved in about two months ago. Earlier this week, we noticed that while we set our thermostat on about 76, it has not changed the temperature in our home, which remains about 88 degrees. I checked the thermostat, and it's fine. I changed the air filter, and turned the electricity at the circuit breaker on and off, like the thermostat's website suggested. It's not cooling our house, and I'm at a loss as to what to do now. Is there anything else I can do to fix the problem, or do I need to call in a professional repair firm? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


You need to go outside and see if the outdoor unit is running, check the breakers or fuses. If you feel comfortable tell me what you find otherwise call a reputable company for service. There are many possibilities but I need more information to help. It could be as simple as a loose wire or as complex as a pc board bad.

Mexican Air

Q.
HelpThisGirl We have a York window A/C 12000 btu 220 volt
model Y7USC12-6R , yes mexican model, we are in a mexican resort town trying to fix this

The 2 bushings for the motor are bad.
We can not access the screws or bolts to remove the fan and blower to remove the motor because the condenser coil and evaporator coil are flush up against the fan and blower, and both are in a housing.
looks pretty much like this
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/...dow-unit-1.jpg

I have 2 questions
1) Can just the bushings be replaced on the motor ? new motor is almost as much as a new a/c

2) How do we get the coils out of the way to get to the fan screws or bolts to remove them. Can we bend the tubes or do the tubes need to be cut ? We would like to take the motor out ourselves. Can't seem to get a repair person to come out in this town:

any help you can give this girl would be greatly appreciated
thank you in advance

A.
If you cut those lines you will find out that was a bad idea so don't do it. take all the screws out of the coil enclosure and gently pull the coils out of the way being careful not bend the tubing too sharply or it will fold and it is all over. Then you will be able to acces whatever set screw or other holding device holds th blade in place. Mark the shaft with a sharpie or scratch all where the blade is placed before you remove the blade and blower wheel so you do not have to remember. Now remove the motor, you can replace the bushings or bearings whatever the case may be and that is the only cost effective way to make this repair because when you buy a new motor and factor in your time smart money buys a new unit, as a matter of fact many would say smart money buys a new unit anyway but if you have the time and the tools and you are in a mexican resort town, why not?

Changing Filters is important, but...

Changed filter but A/C won't run

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The digital thermostat said to change the filter and the A/C would not run. So I turned the dial to "filter" which turns the thermostat off, changed the filter, then set it back to "run." It still says "change filter" and still will not run. I cut off the power supply to the thermostat hoping it would reset and would work again, but that didn't work. I'm not sure what else to do. The thermostat still works, and the A/C ran just fine prior to the "change filter" indication on the thermostat. Please help!


Air Conditioning Problems

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The "Change Filter" function on your thermostat is just a timer, it has nothing to do with the operation of your system. You may have a battery operated thermostat that will still operate when the unit has no power, so start from scratch.
Check your breakers then go to your furnace switch or disconnect, then proceed to your control circuitry (fuse on PC board or trasformer there are several different things to check but do not be distracted by the change filter light.

Frustrated Homeowner asks for help

Originally Posted by parkave
Hello mike I need your help.

My central air inside and outside is running but the air is not cold.When the outside unit come on you can feel the heat above the fan but after 2 minutes the sound is very low and no heat above the fan. A tech told me he thinks the compressor is good but the pipe from the compressor outside is clogged and he needs to empty it of freon,cut the pipe and clear the line.He said if its not that he think a line in the air handler is blocked. Please do you think this could be the problem if not what do you think.

Thanks.
It is entirely possible that you do have a restriction in the refrigerant circuit. If that is the case you should have high head pressure with high subcooling and low suction pressure with high superheat.
You may want to throw these terms out when you are talking to your service person and see what kind of response you get.
Good Morning Mike,
I think you are 100% right because he was having a lot of problem while trying to charge the system.He retrieve all the freon,then he used nitrogen to find a leak and blow out the line, but when he was replacing the freon I notice he was having a problem because he use a bucket of water and a lot of ice and after that the air from the ducts were warm and he said it would get cold after a while. It never so I turn it off.

Hope this shed a little more info and thanks but kinly let me know your professional advice .

parkave
If this person works for a large reputable company then call their office, describe the situation and ask for another tech. If they are a good company this will red flag them and they will send out a "call back guy"
this is a very experienced tech who is used to cleaning up other peoples messes.
If as you described the person at your house was using ice water he must not have been adding refrigerant he must have been trying to recover without a recovery machine.
If the company won't send someone else then you may have to just call another company and take your lumps it is very unfortunate but depending on the part of the country you are in there are a whole bunch of people in this business who have not been properly trained.
Mike,

I thank you very much for your professional help and valuable time. I have a new tech coming tomorrow who will do what you recommended and he thought was a possibility and as soon as everything I will contact you.
Again THANKS A MILLION
Parkave

Home Warranty Air Conditioning Repair

It starts when you have problems with a major appliance. You call the home warranty company and they send out a service company.
3 weeks ago we were told that our compressor was dead, since then we have called every couple of days with no clear answer. Finally we just called another company and got it fixed.
This is an all too familiar problem, Home warranties are pushed by real estate agents and others in the home buying process. The sellers receive a commission for closing a sale the home buyer is happy at the time because they are told that they receive this great coverage for a great low price (typically less than $250) so this is a win-win right, well at the time.
Then some time over the next year the customer has a problem, the warranty company answers the call right away and dispatches a local contractor to help. One would suspect that a nationwide company would hire a top shelf contractor, that is a bad assumption. Most reputable contractors charge rates which allow them to offer their employees fair wages with good benefits while making a 7-15% profit, these numbers don't work with home warranty companies. In order for them to make money they need to make minimum repairs and have those repairs done by low budget contractors.
This does not make them all bad most times any time you use your home warranty for any kind of repair you will get at least the value of what you paid so you should not be surprised when you get what you pay for.
The problem comes when customers expect to get a new unit worth $2500 when they bought a policy that cost them $250, that kind of math is what caused our current economic trouble.
Air conditioning repair especially causes quite a few problems in these situations. There are so many lower skilled contractors in the business and the insurers need to utilize these contractors to make their numbers work. This situation makes for some interesting customer interactions

What is that Noise

I've been hearing a loud whistle sound that comes from the outdoor part of my home A/C system. It seems to cool just fine but makes that noise when it shuts off. It doesn't sound like a belt slipping but more like a high pressure gas release of some sort. Is this something I need to worry about? (can I fix it?)

Sounds like you have a heat pump that is equalizing when it shuts off this is not unusual but the noise being annoying is a concern, one possibility is that your head pressure is very high. You need to check your outdoor coil and make sure it is clean and your outdoor fan is running. Hopefully you haven't had service work done recently and the system got overcharged. The other possibility is the reversing valve is not coming back all the way when the solenoid releases, this could be a serious problem turn your system to heat and make sure your heat pump works all right, this may alleviate the problem but if not and your heat works you can decide to live with the noise or replace the reversing valve.