I Fixed a Lingering Furnace Problem

I had mentioned in a previous blog entry that we had to call a service technician to repair our furnace.  He made a bunch of necessary repairs but we still had one intermittent recurring issue.  

I kept an eye on all the parts that the service technician replaced and I have to say that it is good that we called for service.  Some of the parts were cracked, deteriorated and corroded.  Those parts definitely needed to be replaced. 

The service technician was at our house one night and then the following day doing repairs.  It really hurts when you have to call for service during the night!

The day after his second day working on the furnace, we noticed some odd sounds coming from the furnace.  I was still feeling miserable so I was of no help.  I can barely think straight nevermind work on a furnace.  Sheila called the fuel company again to schedule service.  It would be a week before the service technician could fit us in again unless we wanted to pay the emergency visit fee again.  This problem, at the moment, could wait a week.

A few days later, I was feeling a bit better and decided to take a look at the furnace.  Sheila was looking over my shoulder as I was pointing out things.  I was thinking it might be this part or that part...  maybe electrical...  I checked all the electrical connections and everything appeared fine.  Then as I was pointing to the bleed valve, I touched the valve and noticed that my finger came back oily.  "Hmmmm..."

I wondered if that could be the source of the odd sound...  a tiny bit of air leaking into the line as the pump pumped oil into the furnace?  I put a wrench on the bleed valve and tightened it down snugly.  Then wiped the valve...  touched my finger to it again...  no oil on my finger.  So far, so good.

Knock on wood, but that was the latest issue.  Apparently the service technician didn't tighten down the bleed valve enough when he bled the line after working on the furnace.  A very tiny bit of air was getting into the line and causing the furnace to sort of skip or miss.  It would only happen intermittently and only for a short period.  I think some air was getting into the fuel line and then being shot into the chamber causing these little skips.  The furnace would never shut down but it didn't sound right.  So far, however, after tightening down the bleed valve everything seems fine.  

That part of the story is the good news. 

The bad news is that we still need a new furnace.  That is a big job so we'll be scheduling that for after the heating season.  It is a very old furnace that has been rebuilt a few times in the past 15 years so it isn't much of a surprise.  Even though it is not much of a surprise, it is still a major cost that is frustrating and painful.  

EDIT:  It turns out that I did not fix the furnace.  Well...  I did stop a slow drip but that was not the source of our problems.  Over the course of the following months, service technicians worked on figuring out what was wrong.  In short, many parts needed to be replaced.  They would replace a part or two...  it would run okay for a day or two...  then we'd have problems again.  The furnace is very old (1968) and in need of replacing.