Never thought retirement would be like this

maggiemae, I'm sitting here waiting for my second set of fake fingertips to dry, and typing with one hand. They are not easy to get off, btw. Might try Liquid Nails (as in hammer/nails) next time, or Superglue. I'll try memorizing a 3rd chord. :playful: That should take me the rest of the night. This is fun.:rolleyes:

Only one more night of cold weather.:) On the coldest night here, it got down below 13 F and the furnace quit overnight, so the drain tube going outside froze. I stuck it in a trash can inside the basement, and forgot all about it, until today. I ran down there and found 32 gallons of water, full right up to the rim. Whew!
 

Nancy, why would you have a drain tube going outside for a furnace? I thought that was for the A/C? Your system must be different from ours. But you really need to buy some of that insulating tubing to put around that drain pipe. I have covered all our pipes in the basement with that tubing after they froze many years ago.

Suppose to get up to 50 tomorrow...bring out the shorts! LOL
 
My furnace is natural gas. Gas puts off water when it burns, I think. :confused: It's just a little 1/4 inch tube.

Yes! I'm tired of the cold. Predicted high 54 F here. Bring out the iced tea. :hatlaugh:
 

We have a gas furnace too but no tubing coming out of it just a sump pump for the A/C electric side. But I know you have an older home and it may be different. Just glad you did not have any flooding issues. I was thinking today that Gas South (our supplier) was all smiles with this cold weather! Can't wait to get the bill next month! UGH!
 
I don't know why it would be different. Maybe yours evaporates the water?

My furnace is temperamental. It quits running if the temp gets below about 16. All you have to do is plug in a space heater and point it toward the furnace and it cranks right up. I found out by accident. No one can figure out what is wrong with it, because they have this fancy electronic equipment and they have to be there when it quits. No one can get out early enough in the morning to witness it. The service guys are beginning to think I'm just making it up.
 
Wait a minute....ours would not kick on one time because the "fan capacitor" failed and would not come on (had to look through old home repair receipts) that was in 2009. But then found a receipt where heat was not coming on in 2006 because "air in gas line". Just giving you some possible info. I don't want you to be without heat in this weather!
 
Thanks. It wouldn't be the capacitor, because it would never come on, I think. But air in the gas line sounds interesting. I'll read up about it. I'm also thinking improperly installed, or too small, air vent pipe---not enough up slope.

By the way, how do you find old receipts? You must be really organized. I wish I were.
 
Nancy, do you have a dehumidifier on your furnace, that would produce water? (most have a 1/4 inch water line going to the humidifier, for Summer use) I have never heard of a gas furnace having that problem.
 
Meanderer said:
Nancy, do you have a dehumidifier on your furnace, that would produce water? (most have a 1/4 inch water line going to the humidifier, for Summer use)
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Be careful what you ask. I *could* write pages about troubleshooting that furnace. :):playful: Good thing is, it rarely gets cold enough for the problem to occur.

I have a heat pump for AC, and natural gas for heat.

All I know is...there's a PVC pipe coming out of the furnace close to where the gas is burned. It goes down to a little pump. This pump comes on occasionally and pumps water out through the little tube and dumps it outside.

There is also a big thick plastic tube coming out from another place which goes into the same pump when the AC is on. Pump comes on and does its thing in the summer too.

Meanderer said:
... I have never heard of a gas furnace having that problem.
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Neither has anyone who works for the company that installed it, or so they claim. I should probably call a different place, but again it happens so rarely...
 
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Nancy, I'm clueless because I've only ever heard of a drain line for the a/c, not a gas furnace. However I'd like to recommend that you check out an HVAC forum. A few years back when we needed to have our system replaced, I joined a forum and got excellent input/advice from professional HVAC service guys. Just puttin' it out there. :D
 
Now I am gonna have to go down to the basement and check ours out! I do know the clear tubing going into the pump is from your A/c unit. That pulls the moisture out of your house when the A/C is running. Where does it pump out to? But I cannot imagine why the pvc pipe would be in the pump. And I do see the tubing coming out from the furnace side. Heat from your furnace causes dry heat and no moisture. Is that pvc pipe capped off at the bottom (the end that is inside the red tray)? Seems like something is being over loaded when the temps get too cold. Looks like a fairly new unit and the area around it is nice and clean. Do you change your filters every 30 days? Lord, I'm sounding like a HVAC Tech.....I am going to shut up now! LOL But this has stirred my interest and I am going to do some research! Can't have too much knowledge!
 
Maggiemae your second link sounds like it might fit. I'll have to reread it a few times to sink in. Still haven't found out what the symptoms are with air, or water, in the gas line. Gas comes from city lines.

Yes, it is a high energy efficient furnace. Plus...and here's the bad part....it has all kinds of safety devices. Translation: Trouble. They shut everything down at the slightest irregularity.

You really don't want to get me started discussing this furnace. When this first happened, I was troubleshooting it for weeks. I could write pages. A real snoozer.

Two more clues: 1) if the front door is off the furnace, the temperature can go lower, before it shuts down. 2) If I keep the heat up all night, it doesn't happen. It's when I turn the thermostat down for the night and it sits for a while not running, while the temp in the house lowers. Doesn't come back on.

Still think it might be inadequate venting. I did some calculations and pipe is on the borderline of being too narrow, and minimal up slope.

See, I'm already getting carried away. :rolleyes: Stop me now!!!

BTW, it is NOT a bad pressure switch. That's what the little lights indicate, and that was replaced with no effect.

Here's the bad part. I wouldn't get to test anything out until temps fall below ~16 again. May not happen until next winter. Didn't happen at all last winter.
 
Since, we are nearing the end of winter (fingers crossed), having it looked at would be at the bottom of my priority list. But after this discussion, I did learn that all furnaces are not created equal! LOL I just assumed they all vented out through a flue but I was certainly wrong. I learned something new and I will put that in my memory bank for now (if the memory holds out that long)! LOL
 
maggiemae said:
...I just assumed they all vented out through a flue but I was certainly wrong. ....
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Oh, but mine *is* vented out through a flue. That's what I'm calling a vent pipe. Except my pipe goes sideways across the basement ceiling and out the wall, instead of straight up. That's why I keep saying it's important to get enough up slope on the pipe. Maybe I'm not using the right terminology.

By the way, water, in the form of vapor, comes out that pipe also. How about that for confusing!? LOL!

I meant to add...any water that condenses in the vent pipe is supposed to drain back toward the furnace, and probably eventually out that little drain tube. :confused: :rolleyes::playful::eek:nthego:
 
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High of 71 F here today. :)

Things I've learned so far:

1. First big Georgia footabll game is at SC on September 8th. I'm ready. :playful:

2. Even though the days keep getting shorter until Dec 21st, the sunset here gets later in the day starting on December 1st---4 minutes later by the 21st. So next year I will celebrate Dec 1st, instead of the 21st. I rarely see a sunrise.

3. I have long fingernail beds! No matter how short I file my nails, they still hit the guitar strings first. I would have to build up huge calluses to pass the nails, or train fingernails to be shorter by over-trimming them. Ouch! Not looking good. I may have to wear PVC fingertips forever. :rolleyes:

Edited to add...

Forgot to update the property next door. Last week after the rain the back yard was a mess. Saturday (1/21) the new owner smoothed everything out with his tractor, and took out the dogwood tree. Looks like he's just preparing to plant grass, no new buildings, at least not soon. :) Looking good.

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Yes, looks like they are getting ready for grass/sod. Wish he would have kept the Dogwood tree. They are one of my favorites in the Spring!
 
How much is that dogwood in the window?
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So, the doorbell rings early this morning. Man wants to know if any of the cars parked out on the street belong to me. I explain they are mostly students who park and walk to class. He says they are going to move a house down the street. He takes off running to all the other houses to talk to them. Eventually police cars show up and most every car in sight on the street is gone now. Don't know if he was talking about a mobile home or a real house. Can't imagine why anyone would move a house down our street. I'll probably miss it when it happens.

No power lines or phone lines have been removed. Couldn't be much of a house.

Just talking to myself here....
 
Pappy said:
Could this be it?
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Could be, Pappy. There is no place to put a house bigger than that on our street, and to use it as a through street makes no sense, because the street 1 block up is extra wide. Maybe they got mixed up. :confused: Another puzzle. :playful:

Got curious and took a walk. House is sitting in the middle of the street three blocks up. They still have a choice to go a different way at this point.

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I'm done with it now. Got to get to work. :lol:
 
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