A major panick!

AmyMyBlueFront · Mar 16, 2017

On one of the coldest days my furnace decided to go south.. Work up at 2pm and it was quite cold..furnace shut down..I hit the reset and it turned on just to quit again..I know a BIT about them and after trying to fire it a couple more times I dedueced there was zero ignition..i could smell the fuel oil but looking into the hopper there was no flame.

Called work to tell 'em I wasn't coming in tonight and went on line to find a repair tech..i plugged in my electric "fireplace" to at least warm up the living room for the kids.

Finally found someone who could come TODAY...everybody else said no or no because I don't have a service contract with them.
They young kid came (nice guy) and also agreed the ignitor was bad so he had to run out and get a new one..
Didn't take no time to install ($260 for me

) and he said when it fires up,there will be SMOKE from all the un burnt fuel..and depending how many times I tried to re-start it ( about 8!) will depend on how much SMOKE will come out.

With in SECONDS of it firing up the smoke was so bad I couldn't even see Amys house..the girl across the street ran over thinking this place was on fire! And Amy refused to come out of her cage! I had to towel her and force her out,put her in a carrier and start my car...bb came right to me and he went in the other carrier.

Right now the smoke has cleared and I have heat ( opened all windows and doors)...it freaked me out

Jim

GaleriaGila · Mar 16, 2017

Oh my GAWD, Jim!

Oh, my GAWD.

Are you all okay???????

Kentuckienne · Mar 16, 2017

Always exciting at Uncle Jimmy's!

SailBoat · Mar 16, 2017

Fuel Oil Burners seem to run for near ever and then fail ugly. It is worth just replacing them every fifteen years regardless of whether they seem to be fine or not. Fifteen years takes several things into consideration: The industry commonly upgrades burners are in a seven to ten year cycle. When you need a new burner now, you have little to no choice of taking advantage of the newest technology and are faced with what is on-hand, regardless of how much dust the box has on it. The cost difference is commonly the same, because you are paying a premium for what they have available now! Something to consider when you cannot fall asleep.

Especially if your burner is 20+ year's old!

So very happy that everyone is safe, minus a couple of feathers.

That pot starting system is very simple and just plan works, right-up to the point that it doesn't. I have never hear of anyone not suffering the restart headaches you stated.

Again, very happy that everyone is safe!!

texsize · Mar 16, 2017

what a scare, I am glad everything worked out ok.

AmyMyBlueFront · Mar 16, 2017

GaleriaGila said:
Oh my GAWD, Jim!

Oh, my GAWD.

Are you all okay???????[/QUOTE

Thank you for your concern Ms Gail.. Yes,we fine...the house is smoke free and warm..Amy is on her chair next to me and The Beebs is sitting on my head on my wool cap

Jim

AmyMyBlueFront · Mar 16, 2017

SailBoat said:
Fuel Oil Burners seem to run for near ever and then fail ugly. It is worth just replacing them every fifteen years regardless of whether they seem to be fine or not. Fifteen years takes several things into consideration: The industry commonly upgrades burners are in a seven to ten year cycle. When you need a new burner now, you have little to no choice of taking advantage of the newest technology and are faced with what is on-hand, regardless of how much dust the box has on it. The cost difference is commonly the same, because you are paying a premium for what they have available now! Something to consider when you cannot fall asleep. Especially if your burner is 20+ year's old!

So very happy that everyone is safe, minus a couple of feathers.

That pot starting system is very simple and just plan works, right-up to the point that it doesn't. I have never hear of anyone not suffering the restart headaches you stated.

Again, very happy that everyone is safe!!

It was kind of my negligence too Steven,on not having the thing serviced,but I couldn't for see an electric failure coming, it works..or doesn't...lol..The furnace is not quite 15 yrs old ( My EX's husband has a HVAC company and he installed a new one for my Mom back then)
It does need a cleaning/tune-up..last time was a couple years ago my son did it for me. Hopefully it'll last the remainder of the season ( I have electric water heater so fuel oil isn't needed for that)
Again, thank you all for your concerns!

Jim

wrench13 · Mar 16, 2017

Hey Jim! Wish you guys were not so far away, you could all have piled into the car and stayed overnite while the house really clears out. Or I could have walked you thru repairing or replacing the ignighter . Oil burners , even today, are almost club and wooden axes simple. I spent 2 whole summers working for my Uncle CHarlie, cleaning and updating oil burners. Ignighters, nozzles, thermocouples and relays. Also, if you ever run out of hime heating oil, commercial diesel fuel from the gas station pump is essintially #6 heating oil with some additives, a 5 gallon can added to your fuel tank will get you throu a cold night until the truck comes the next day. Dont ask how I know. I think I got you beat for sheer dumbness though. I found out today that these fancy air filters I bought 5 months ago were running with the filter elements still in their protective plastic bags. For 5 months they have been running and filtering crap. Oh yeah, Geri had a good laugh about that. Salty too.

Kentuckienne · Mar 16, 2017

wrench13 said:
Hey Jim! Wish you guys were not so far away, you could all have piled into the car and stayed overnite while the house really clears out. Or I could have walked you thru repairing or replacing the ignighter . Oil burners , even today, are almost club and wooden axes simple. I spent 2 whole summers working for my Uncle CHarlie, cleaning and updating oil burners. Ignighters, nozzles, thermocouples and relays. Also, if you ever run out of hime heating oil, commercial diesel fuel from the gas station pump is essintially #6 heating oil with some additives, a 5 gallon can added to your fuel tank will get you throu a cold night until the truck comes the next day. Dont ask how I know. I think I got you beat for sheer dumbness though. I found out today that these fancy air filters I bought 5 months ago were running with the filter elements still in their protective plastic bags. For 5 months they have been running and filtering crap. Oh yeah, Geri had a good laugh about that. Salty too.

OK Wrench, you will get this then. I used to work for a Major Oil Company out west. Said company had a problem with a new unit. This is a giant metal thingie filled with small cement shapes coated with catalyst. But the column just wouldn't settle down. Wouldn't work right. Engineers double checked the specs, the type of catalyst, confirmed the right stuff had been loaded, etc. Finally in desperation they shut the unit down and went in to physically inspect. Found that yes, the column was packed with the correct catalyst, STILL IN THE CARDBOARD BOXES IT HAD BEEN SHIPPED IN. Seems someone forgot a crucial step: dump it out.

AmyMyBlueFront · Mar 16, 2017

wrench13 said:
Hey Jim! Wish you guys were not so far away, you could all have piled into the car and stayed overnite while the house really clears out. Or I could have walked you thru repairing or replacing the ignighter . Oil burners , even today, are almost club and wooden axes simple. I spent 2 whole summers working for my Uncle CHarlie, cleaning and updating oil burners. Ignighters, nozzles, thermocouples and relays. Also, if you ever run out of hime heating oil, commercial diesel fuel from the gas station pump is essintially #6 heating oil with some additives, a 5 gallon can added to your fuel tank will get you throu a cold night until the truck comes the next day. Dont ask how I know. I think I got you beat for sheer dumbness though. I found out today that these fancy air filters I bought 5 months ago were running with the filter elements still in their protective plastic bags. For 5 months they have been running and filtering crap. Oh yeah, Geri had a good laugh about that. Salty too.

LOL ( poke fingers in eyes!) too funny Al...10-4 on the diesel..I've had occasion for "emergency" fuel and used it..plus they add additives for anti-gelling.
What really stinks at this place is I have no basement. My oil tank is now in the garage ( back in 1951 when houses were built,tanks were under ground,and the original rusted out wayyyyy back...that was a costly thing for MOM..HAZMAT and all) so my oil lines run along the eves of the house,into the attic,then furnace room. One extremely cold winter the lines along the house FROZE UP ( I really ought to wrap them this summer

)
Was a major PITA..ended up going to a truck stop to get a couple gallons of "heat"...truckers use it to keep from freezing up and it works great..one gallon is good for 250 gallons of diesel,so now I add it to my tank when I get a delivery...haven't had a problem since

Jim

AmyMyBlueFront · Mar 16, 2017

Kentuckienne said:
wrench13 said:

Hey Jim! Wish you guys were not so far away, you could all have piled into the car and stayed overnite while the house really clears out. Or I could have walked you thru repairing or replacing the ignighter . Oil burners , even today, are almost club and wooden axes simple. I spent 2 whole summers working for my Uncle CHarlie, cleaning and updating oil burners. Ignighters, nozzles, thermocouples and relays. Also, if you ever run out of hime heating oil, commercial diesel fuel from the gas station pump is essintially #6 heating oil with some additives, a 5 gallon can added to your fuel tank will get you throu a cold night until the truck comes the next day. Dont ask how I know. I think I got you beat for sheer dumbness though. I found out today that these fancy air filters I bought 5 months ago were running with the filter elements still in their protective plastic bags. For 5 months they have been running and filtering crap. Oh yeah, Geri had a good laugh about that. Salty too.[/quote

OK Wrench, you will get this then. I used to work for a Major Oil Company out west. Said company had a problem with a new unit. This is a giant metal thingie filled with small cement shapes coated with catalyst. But the column just wouldn't settle down. Wouldn't work right. Engineers double checked the specs, the type of catalyst, confirmed the right stuff had been loaded, etc. Finally in desperation they shut the unit down and went in to physically inspect. Found that yes, the column was packed with the correct catalyst, STILL IN THE CARDBOARD BOXES IT HAD BEEN SHIPPED IN. Seems someone forgot a crucial step: dump it out.

Click to expand...

No shortage of ningcompoops,eh? lol..must have been some minimum wage guys responsibility lol.

Jim

BeatriceC · Mar 16, 2017

Yikes! Glad it all worked out in the end and everybody is safe.

A major panick!

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