This "new year" sucks

[wrightz28]

Let's see, in order of events

1-furnace goes on the blink and decides it only wants to ignite half the burners = randomly cold house
2-it's a whopping 6 degrees
3-had to drive in today (refer to #1 and 2)
4-car didnt' want to start (refer to 2)
5-wiper gets stuck to windsheild, comes free in 3 seperate pieces (refer to 2)
6-in the heat of a good new years party, soon to be newly wed couple gets into a heated arguement and says wdding is off, my wife's passed out and I have to pick up the pieces, (Dr Phil I am not )
7-car drives in like it has 3 flat tires
8-wife decides to replace the bathroom floor 1 day before party = can of worms and newly found plumbing leaks
9-some genious decided to spray WD-40 at the clutches of the snow blower
10-snow blower ate my keys
11-snow blower regergitated keys all over the snow filled alley
12-only keys damaged (GTA), can you say VATS bypass?
13-expecting phone to ring any minute with a call from home (see 1)
14-for the second year in row, no hangover what so ever until the 2nd of the month.
15-house full of kids for 2 days straight
16-not able to drink a beer at work (see 1-15)

wrightz28 out (performing web search on a regulator for a bitchy furnace)

[RaeRae1]

Wow - that is a crappy list. I guess your starting with the gray cloud first eh? Silver lining to come later hopefully?

['97ventureowner]

Sounds like you need a prescription for some of these:http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=772026 (refer to post #8).

[wrightz28]

Sounds about right. Only thing that's bugging the hell out of me is the damn furnace snafu, which of course has to happen on the coldest week of winter thus far

['97ventureowner]

You, and probably dozens of others are having that problem, therefore all the repair guys are "busy", and "will get to you as soon as they can". It never fails when the coldest weather of the year hits, everybody's furnace starts acting up. Good thing it didn't happen on the weekend.
On a side note. Do you have your furnace serviced regularly? That can avoid problems that crop up at times like this. I learned a long time ago when something like this happened to me. Now I usually get my furnace (actually I have a boiler system, hot water heat,) serviced in the late summer or early fall when the service guys tend to be less busy. Sometimes they even run specials on cleaning and tune up. $79.95 spent then sure save a lot of money to have them come out now to diagnose and fix a problem when it usually costs more,(unless you have a service plan.)

[wrightz28]

Ahh, ever since having to be in one of those types of situations, I urrged myself not to have to rely on the repair 'pros' and learn it myself.

I service it the same, before initial fire up in the fall and then inspect/clean about mid winter. There's a handful of situations I've come to find as 'regular' or common problems and they are no biggie. This one however has me perplexed, but I think I may have found the cause. My problem is the last 3 burners furthest from the valve won't light 2 of of 3 cycle attempts. So I was tinking either a bum valve or weak gas flow.

WELL, come to find out after doing some research, that standard white teflon tape is a in gas lines and it breaks down over time and can clog the manifold passage wich seems to fit the bill as whoever installed the furnace apparently did not know this. I personally took note of it, and found it odd wanting to take all out and use loctite thread seaant as I have come to normally do.

Hopefully it will stay running until the seekend whne the temp rebounds to the 50's and I won't have to do a rush-rush job on it.

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by wrightz28

Ahh, ever since having to be in one of those types of situations, I urrged myself not to have to rely on the repair 'pros' and learn it myself.

I service it the same, before initial fire up in the fall and then inspect/clean about mid winter. There's a handful of situations I've come to find as 'regular' or common problems and they are no biggie. This one however has me perplexed, but I think I may have found the cause. My problem is the last 3 burners furthest from the valve won't light 2 of of 3 cycle attempts. So I was tinking either a bum valve or weak gas flow.

WELL, come to find out after doing some research, that standard white teflon tape is a in gas lines and it breaks down over time and can clog the manifold passage wich seems to fit the bill as whoever installed the furnace apparently did not know this. I personally took note of it, and found it odd wanting to take all out and use loctite thread seaant as I have come to normally do.

Hopefully it will stay running until the seekend whne the temp rebounds to the 50's and I won't have to do a rush-rush job on it.

Yeah, I'm a DIYer myself, but certain things I tend to shy away from when it comes to working with dangerous items such as natural gas. I have many friends in various occupations who I can rely on for assistance and to answer questions, so I rely on my "heating guy" to service my boiler. The tape incident is also another reason sometimes to have a professional do it, although in your situation it looks as though they need to learn more. I think I read or heard about not using teflon tape from This Old House. They have a good website for DIYers chock full of info on how to do things for yourself.
Geesh, if I didn't know you lived in IL, I'd say you live near me in Syracuse, NY. Right now it's about 7 degrees and is supposed to get even colder tonight and tomorrow, but by the end of this coming weekend it's supposed to be in the 50s.

[wrightz28]

Meh, we've warmed up to 16 at the moment: But, 54 forcast for Sunday.

I used to hate having to deal with gas and electric. BUT, as life has gone on and on a budget, calling someone out to come and just pull a $20 flame sensor out and give it a quick swipe with sandpaper and problem sovled, you get the point. Same reason how I started working on cars.

Still searching around.

['97ventureowner]

Plus, add to that the advent of the internet and sites like Google have become a DIYers best friend. You can diagnose and search for answers instead of relying on others and calling around ,looking through books, etc. There are even tutorials that help the novice to fix things whereas they couldn't without the help. I sure wished the internet was around 20 years ago when I was restoring cars and needed to find parts/answers. Plus with the internet it allows you access to network out and talk with others who are in the same situation, or have been there and can tell you how they fixed something or their experiences on message boards like this one.

[Earlsfat]

Why am I never invited to the festivities, Cochise? I sure coulda helpded you find some more rights words to express your frustrations...

For instance ... this might take a while...

[wrightz28]

You didn't answer your phone

[Earlsfat]

heh, you liar... You know, Cochise... you make me feel like the fat girl at the prom... alone and hungry.

[wrightz28]

Then who the hell did i call?

[stepho]

Originally Posted by wrightz28

Ahh, ever since having to be in one of those types of situations, I urrged myself not to have to rely on the repair 'pros' and learn it myself.

I service it the same, before initial fire up in the fall and then inspect/clean about mid winter. There's a handful of situations I've come to find as 'regular' or common problems and they are no biggie. This one however has me perplexed, but I think I may have found the cause. My problem is the last 3 burners furthest from the valve won't light 2 of of 3 cycle attempts. So I was tinking either a bum valve or weak gas flow.

WELL, come to find out after doing some research, that standard white teflon tape is a in gas lines and it breaks down over time and can clog the manifold passage wich seems to fit the bill as whoever installed the furnace apparently did not know this. I personally took note of it, and found it odd wanting to take all out and use loctite thread seaant as I have come to normally do.

Hopefully it will stay running until the seekend whne the temp rebounds to the 50's and I won't have to do a rush-rush job on it.

What a knuckle head (guy who installed your furnace). You have to use the yellow teflon for gas line... its a little more expensive, white teflon 1/2" is 99 cents and for the yellow gas line stuff i think its $2.59 for 1/2". I'm not positive on the gas teflon price we dont sell that much of it at my store.

come to think of it I dont even know that gas teflon is yellow... but it comes in a yellow container.

[Blackcrow64]

Originally Posted by Earlsfat

you make me feel like the fat girl at the prom... alone and hungry.

Those are the best ones to pickup sometimes!