HVAC Failure

[ChadAmberg]

I have to wonder if HVAC systems ever fail like during the day, in the middle of the week, when the parts stores are open. Or if they somehow know to fail Friday in the middle of the night, with no hope of getting parts for a couple days. Gonna be a little chilly in the house tomorrow.

[WETWRKS]

I think there is a specific line in the programming on the circuit boards that regulate when these things are required to go out. Probably is based on how much you can be charged for a super special (read expensive) service call.

[fitterjohn]

I’m my experience I get the call at 4:00 Friday with an hour drive to get to the account. Only to be told well wensday morning we noticed I wasn’t working. What did they say was wrong with it? You think the after hours call is expensive, you should see how much it costs to open a parts store after hours.

[ChadAmberg]

I’m my experience I get the call at 4:00 Friday with an hour drive to get to the account. Only to be told well wensday morning we noticed I wasn’t working. What did they say was wrong with it? You think the after hours call is expensive, you should see how much it costs to open a parts store after hours.

Oh I woke up yesterday morning to hear just a buzzing noise from the vents when the unit should have been running. Went down into the crawlspace, opened it up, and its the draft inducer. Seized up enough that it overheated and the little plastic "fan" on the outside of it had drooped and fell off. Ehh, it happens, I'll survive!

The only HVAC supplier in the Springs open on weekends is contractors only. So I have a new one coming from amazon tomorrow. No big deal and glad it's early enough in the season for this to happen that we can deal with a little chilly today. I'll just run the fireplace more, it does a good job keeping the chill out of most of the house.

I would love to replace the whole system. The return is undersized, so if I put a good air filter in there, the over limit switch goes off because it can't get enough air. The previous owner of the house did a lot of things himself, and unfortunately missed the boat on a few things that are going to end up costing me thousands to fix. If I had solar, I would just put in a couple mini splits honestly.

[Aloha_Shooter]

I feel for you. The first time I had to replace a water heater, it failed (actually had an electrical fire!) on a Saturday morning while I was getting ready for a party I was hosting late that afternoon. No choice but to suck it up for emergency call. The other time it happened here in COS in the middle of the summer so I was able to take my time and get a decently priced heater and installation from Lowe's, just took my showers at the gym and heated water on the stove for dishwashing.

[fitterjohn]

Oh I woke up yesterday morning to hear just a buzzing noise from the vents when the unit should have been running. Went down into the crawlspace, opened it up, and its the draft inducer. Seized up enough that it overheated and the little plastic "fan" on the outside of it had drooped and fell off. Ehh, it happens, I'll survive!

The only HVAC supplier in the Springs open on weekends is contractors only. So I have a new one coming from amazon tomorrow. No big deal and glad it's early enough in the season for this to happen that we can deal with a little chilly today. I'll just run the fireplace more, it does a good job keeping the chill out of most of the house.

I would love to replace the whole system. The return is undersized, so if I put a good air filter in there, the over limit switch goes off because it can't get enough air. The previous owner of the house did a lot of things himself, and unfortunately missed the boat on a few things that are going to end up costing me thousands to fix. If I had solar, I would just put in a couple mini splits honestly.


That’s pretty common for residential units not being able to use a good filter. I have had some where it will restrict the air flow enough to freeze it up. At least there are some places open for contractors down there. Last time I opened a parts store it cost 200$ to open for me to buy a 15$ part.

[ChadAmberg]

Amazon delivered the new part today and installed in 10 minutes. Works perfectly, just in time for... milder temps for the next week several days. Friday's gonna be damn cold though!

[fitterjohn]

now you know the secret to how easy hvac is.......

[00tec]

I had a faulty pressure switch on mine. Local company wanted 5 days and 2x the $ for the part. Ordered Amazon 2 day.

The day before it got here, I got pissed and smacked the pressure switch with the handle of a screwdriver. It has worked fine since. New part is sitting on the furnace nearly a year later.

[ChadAmberg]

now you know the secret to how easy hvac is.......

Well, some parts of it. Like, 25-30 years ago I helped my buddy do hvac work for a while. So I don't have a problem doing a lot of it, adding whole house humidifiers, basic ductwork, etc., I just don't want to mess with refrigeration since I never really did any of that before.

And let's not get into getting into, well, all the crap that are in crawl spaces, attics, etc in crazy temperatures. That work I'll gladly pay the pros for!

[Mazin]

Well whatever you guys do don't call premier out of brighton, fuck that dude.

[fitterjohn]

Well, some parts of it. Like, 25-30 years ago I helped my buddy do hvac work for a while. So I don't have a problem doing a lot of it, adding whole house humidifiers, basic ductwork, etc., I just don't want to mess with refrigeration since I never really did any of that before.

And let's not get into getting into, well, all the crap that are in crawl spaces, attics, etc in crazy temperatures. That work I'll gladly pay the pros for!

Lol I feel the same way about attics and crawl spaces. The only one I do is my personal one. I do systems on the roof. And if I had my way I wouldn?t even be working on those. Low temp refrigeration and inside chillers. Of course I?d like to just be working on controls from a nice office chair on my laptop.