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I had my furnace inspected


Dottleshead

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About $100.  It may have been a little high but I was able to ensure my furnace is running full strength.  I learned why I will have to replace my air conditioner if ever want to have it working again.  I learned why my furnace is blowing out max capacity even though it doesn't feel like it.  I learned why electric furnaces don't really have expiration dates. I learned why it's a good idea to vacuum out the dust after about 50 years.  I learned why my electronic air filter isn't operating and what I need to do to get it working again.  And the guy was able to identify the size and power of my heater, so that if I ever have to, I can replace the elements on my own. Plus, I am now able to show that it had been serviced so if and when I sell this place, I have documentation to indicate the last time it was serviced. He also agreed that even if I had a gas furnace (not possible since I don't have access to natural gas) or a heat pump installed, I wouldn't beat my current annual operating costs using my pellet stove and/or wood stove.

That was worth $100, right? Asking for my wife.

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5 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

Ok, this reminds me that you have wood pellet for furnace use.  Have you given that up?  Why?

No. I told the guy how much I pay annually for heat and he flat said even if I installed a heat pump at thousands and thousands of dollars, I wouldn't beat it. Pellets are king here. It's a long story but there are a few times during the year we use the furnace. I had reasons to believe it was not working optimally. I also had some moron tell me it was end of life... which is hilarious for an electric heater. But I mainly just wanted to know the state it's in so when we go to sell it 

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15 minutes ago, Dottie said:

No. I told the guy how much I pay annually for heat and he flat said even if I installed a heat pump at thousands and thousands of dollars, I wouldn't beat it. Pellets are king here. It's a long story but there are a few times during the year we use the furnace. I had reasons to believe it was not working optimally. I also had some moron tell me it was end of life... which is hilarious for an electric heater. But I mainly just wanted to know the state it's in so when we go to sell it 

Ok, you are confusing me.  Pellets are king and you use that, but you use electricity and it is cheaper, but you don't use it.  

Please unconfuse the confused.

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3 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Ok, you are confusing me.  Pellets are king and you use that, but you use electricity and it is cheaper, but you don't use it.  

Please unconfuse the confused.

No no no.  Pellets are king and they are cheaper.  But pellets must be fed to the stove.  And when you are away from the stove for a period of time after the all the pellet fuel has burned, the house goes cold.  But if you have your thermostat on the electric furnace set to, say, 64 degrees, then the electric furnace will kick on holding the temperature to 64 rather than, say, 58.  The delta from 64 to our desired temperature of 68 is a lot smaller and much easier to catch up when I refill the stove with pellets or I start a manual fire or both.  So I use my electric when I know I can't get home in time to refill the pellets.  It doesn't happen very often but there are a couple times a month that it does turn on.  Fortunately it doesn't happen very often. Otherwise, the time to heat my large house can be considerably longer if I just rely on both pellets and a standard fire.

It was during one of these times when I noticed the air kicking up from the furnace to be luke warm.  Since I hardly ever use it and it's even rarer that I'm around when it comes on, I had some concerns.  I also know when I sell this place, there's probably going to be some lazy fuckers who aren't going to want to deal with the manual labor of either a pellet or certified wood stove -- and they're going to want a fully functioning electric furnace.  And truth is, if I end up staying in this house longer than I think, I may become  that lazy fucker and just walk across the hallway and turn it on.  Better yet, I probably will have just programmed it to come on an hour before I get up.

As it stands now, my power bill is only about $40 a month -- even with the electric furnace kicking on as an auxillary backup once or twice a month.  I'm very happy with that.

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11 hours ago, Dottie said:

No no no.  Pellets are king and they are cheaper.  But pellets must be fed to the stove.  And when you are away from the stove for a period of time after the all the pellet fuel has burned, the house goes cold.  But if you have your thermostat on the electric furnace set to, say, 64 degrees, then the electric furnace will kick on holding the temperature to 64 rather than, say, 58.  The delta from 64 to our desired temperature of 68 is a lot smaller and much easier to catch up when I refill the stove with pellets or I start a manual fire or both.  So I use my electric when I know I can't get home in time to refill the pellets.  It doesn't happen very often but there are a couple times a month that it does turn on.  Fortunately it doesn't happen very often. Otherwise, the time to heat my large house can be considerably longer if I just rely on both pellets and a standard fire.

It was during one of these times when I noticed the air kicking up from the furnace to be luke warm.  Since I hardly ever use it and it's even rarer that I'm around when it comes on, I had some concerns.  I also know when I sell this place, there's probably going to be some lazy fuckers who aren't going to want to deal with the manual labor of either a pellet or certified wood stove -- and they're going to want a fully functioning electric furnace.  And truth is, if I end up staying in this house longer than I think, I may become  that lazy fucker and just walk across the hallway and turn it on.  Better yet, I probably will have just programmed it to come on an hour before I get up.

As it stands now, my power bill is only about $40 a month -- even with the electric furnace kicking on as an auxillary backup once or twice a month.  I'm very happy with that.

Thank you for the proper explanation.

Why is there not a pellet feeder that is automatic?

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I paid $115 several years back, but I never wanted the furnace inspected, I wanted to know why it would start to fire up then shut itself down less than a minute later and to have it fixed.  The technician checked everything and could find nothing wrong.  Then he looked at the exhaust pipe that ran from the forced air furnace to the chimney.  A morning dove had fallen down the chimney and worked it's way to the exhaust cage fan, and jammed it so it wouldn't spin when it died from the heat when the furnace kicked on. A sensor that picked up either the pressure or the lack of a spinning fan turned the furnace off.  I've had too more birds since.  Maybe this summer I'll get a cover for the chimney!

1105620609_FurnaceDeadBird-MourningDove640x480.JPG.f737b1541ef0200a1514b34aa0f21ba7.JPG

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1 hour ago, Randomguy said:

Why is there not a pellet feeder that is automatic?

I am trying to negotiate with 2 large biomass plants here in the PNW to provide direct, automatic delivering of their pellets directly into my hamper. But it's not going so well so far.  You wouldn't believe the prices the want to charge.  I don't know why they just don't contact Scotty on the Starship Enterprise and beam that shit over.  Easy-peasy.

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