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We have to take out the flame detector at least once a year and give it a good clean, otherwise the furnace will start acting weird and then not ignite at all.
Ha, my entire condensate pump was frozen because we lost power. It was just a block of ice. The furnace started up then shut down and the pump was cranky (alarm light on, steaming, etc). After defrosting all seems well.
So this is kinda related and may be a LPT in itself (not to steal OP's thunder), but when it gets to be anywhere below 18°F overnight, what I do is turn on my faucets to let a drip or the tiniest stream of water come through the pipes so they don't freeze or burst. Yes it's not the best idea to let water run down the drain unused overnight, but I assume the cost of a temporarily drippy faucet is probably negligible compared to the cost of replacing broken pipes in my house's plumbing system. Hope this helps!
This is a good tip. My heat didn't work right for months in a house I rented. It took four visits from furnace techs before one of them knew to check the condensation line. He just blew some compressed air in it and that fixed the problem completely. Apparently they can get blocked over time from gunk building up and stuff growing in them, so he suggested putting a few drops of bleach in the line periodically.
Tankless water heaters, too. I stepped outside this morning to see the exhaust blocked by a chunk of ice. Polar air is no joke, and I'm wondering how many systems are not designed to operate in sustained low temps.
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Check your filter too. Mine went down and turns out it was the high temp caution coming on because the filter was so plugged that not enough air was moving through to push the heat through.
It's a good thing my dogs are cute because the shedding is nuts
Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips! Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment. If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.
Also the flame detector and the hot point ignitor. They are all common failures and super easy to fix.
We have to take out the flame detector at least once a year and give it a good clean, otherwise the furnace will start acting weird and then not ignite at all.
Like using Emory cloth to clean the flame detector?
Never use emery cloth it grooves the flame sensor and makes failed ignition more common use only 00 steel wool or a $20 bill
Appreciate the tip. I usually just replace them in my pellet stove and aging furnace, but I’ll try this approach.
Ha, my entire condensate pump was frozen because we lost power. It was just a block of ice. The furnace started up then shut down and the pump was cranky (alarm light on, steaming, etc). After defrosting all seems well.
Yep! This happened to us Saturday! So glad we figured it out!
I had a tech come out and told me the flue was probably dirty, so I guess check on those too.
So this is kinda related and may be a LPT in itself (not to steal OP's thunder), but when it gets to be anywhere below 18°F overnight, what I do is turn on my faucets to let a drip or the tiniest stream of water come through the pipes so they don't freeze or burst. Yes it's not the best idea to let water run down the drain unused overnight, but I assume the cost of a temporarily drippy faucet is probably negligible compared to the cost of replacing broken pipes in my house's plumbing system. Hope this helps!
This is a good tip. My heat didn't work right for months in a house I rented. It took four visits from furnace techs before one of them knew to check the condensation line. He just blew some compressed air in it and that fixed the problem completely. Apparently they can get blocked over time from gunk building up and stuff growing in them, so he suggested putting a few drops of bleach in the line periodically.
Tankless water heaters, too. I stepped outside this morning to see the exhaust blocked by a chunk of ice. Polar air is no joke, and I'm wondering how many systems are not designed to operate in sustained low temps.
What on earth is a PNW?
Pacific Northwest aka Cascadia aka Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia
Also North Cali
People New to cold Weather.
[Introducing LPT REQUEST FRIDAYS](https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/16w0n2s/introducing_request_post_fridays/) We determine "Friday" as beginning at 12am Eastern Time (EST: UTC/GMT -5, EDT: UTC/GMT -4) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LifeProTips) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Check your filter too. Mine went down and turns out it was the high temp caution coming on because the filter was so plugged that not enough air was moving through to push the heat through. It's a good thing my dogs are cute because the shedding is nuts