11 May 2011

The Heater Debacle

Our furnace is possessed. People laugh when I say that, but it's the honest to goodness truth! It misbehaves when we're home, works fine when the repair guy comes, and then goes back to it's naughty ways when he leaves.

This appalling behavior has been going on for months.

At first the infractions were minor. The furnace (We should really name him, now that I think about it. Taking the time to yell at something that has a name is infinitely more satisfying then a good cursing out aimed toward the nameless object of “that thing.”) would cycle on, go of after a few minutes and then immediately come back on.

My writing chair (sounds so official, doesn't it?) sits next to the cold air return vent, and just through the wall from the furnace, so I get to hear it all the time. Over the past two or three months the suspicious behavior has increased. But the furnace is smart. It covers its tracks and never does the cycle on, cycle off, cycle on, cycle off then blow thing the first time it comes on. Never.

That's why when I called the landlord about it, and she had the furnace guy come in, he said it was fine.

Yeah, right. Put some effort into it buddy. He changed the filter and called it good.

Nope. Not good. It got worse. On, off, on, off, on, off, blow. Warm air was still coming from it, so we weren’t too worried, but I started to wonder if the crazy cycle would shorten the life span of the furnace.

This is a very important question, because the unit is also our central air conditioning in the summer. No warm air—I can live in a jacket. No cool air in the summer—kill me now.

I've bugged the landlord at least five times on this subject. The furnace guy came in, poked around and called it good. Twice. Then, after we mentioned the burning smell that comes from the thermostat area about once a day, he took the old thermostat off and put a digital one on. Yay!

It didn't work. The furnace wouldn't even come on for me yesterday. Kathryn sweet talked it so we didn't freeze, but then it started to short cycle again and the burning smell started and we turned it off this morning before we went to work.

I'm pretty sure the landlord hates us now. I called them this morning and told them the furnace was still broken. The furnace guy called me back—pissed by this time. I explained the situation and we arranged to meet at 4:15pm at my house.

Yeah, he wasn't happy when he got here. Of course the darn furnace didn't do its little “thing” the first time it came one. Duh, it NEVER does! So I made him wait. I had to be pretty persistent about it. I'm certain he thought I was being a dumb blonde. Little does he know I'm an expert at that, but this wasn't one of those times.

Finally, after thirty minutes of him and his assistant poking around the thermostat,the furnace it did it.

Huh, bad circuit board? I think that's what my dad said the problem most likely was. Should have listened to him. He's a genius.

Here's to dumb blondes and repairmen.

1 comment:

Lace and Books said...

I had some witty comment yesterday when I read this, but Blogger was down. *sigh* Now I can't remember it, but I do think that the proper application of explosives will fix any problem.

I would also suggest you do something nice for your land lord. It can get frustrating for them too - trust me I know I've watched my dad deal with people over the years and sometimes I was amazed at how my dad didn't get mad at the "stupidity" of the renters... Now I'm the renter and well...I hate calling him for things *laugh* Cuz I worry I'm making something out of nothing.