Protect Your Investment: Furnace

In this new weekly feature, we'll help you protect your investment by keeping your home—and all its many systems and components—in good condition. Stay tuned for future installments.

Should your gas furnace falter or fail this winter, you might be able to fix it yourself without the cost and hassle of hiring a pro:

• If your forced-air heating system is delivering a low airflow, check the air filter on the furnace. A clogged filter could cut airflow to a trickle. Change the filter with the proper size and type.

• If the furnace has stopped working altogether, ensure that a circuit breaker or fuse has not cut power to the heating system. Also verify that any emergency-power switches, which often have a red-colored wall plate, are switched on.

• Determine whether the thermostat is malfunctioning. If you have an electronic thermostat that runs on batteries, try changing them. Learn more about thermostats and how they can cut your heating bills by up to 20 percent.

• If those steps don't work, call a heating contractor. Even with the higher efficiency of most new furnaces, it's generally more cost-effective to repair a furnace than to replace it. However, if a key component, such as the heat exchanger or control module, fails, you're probably better off replacing the furnace, especially if the unit is more than about 15 years old—furnaces typically last an average of 15 to 18 years.

Essential information: Read “Heating: Stay Warm Without Getting Fleeced” for expert advice on lowering your heating bills this winter, and keep your heating system in tiptop shape. Finally, be sure your carbon-monoxide and smoke alarms are working properly.

Comments

[Steve Schuman]

Another good preventative measure to protect the control modules is to install a hardwired appliance surge protector. They cost about $35-$40 plus installation and can save hundreds, not to mention being without heat for a while.

[Consumer Reports Reader]

Has anyone had any experiences good, bad or indifferent in taking up ConEd here in NYC on their offer to provide a free Dunkirk boiler on converting from oil to gas furnace? The model that seems to 'fit' this single family home with two occupants, based upon one plumber's assessment of the amount of steam collectively put out by the 8 radiators in the 60 year old house is a Dunkir PVSB-5D which according to Dunkirk's tech people puts out 379 sq feet of steam (150K BTU) against the 240 sq ft of steam the plumber thinks the radiators generate (@ approx 30 sq ft of steam per radiator)

[Boyd]

Here is a site that focuses on homeowners who have heating and cooling issues, and gives well researched advice on dealing with HVAC contractors. Many of the scams and less then honorable practices are uncovered giving the homeowner an edge when having to react to their HVAC problems.

www.askboyd.com

There are also specific guides to different HVAC do-It-Yourself projects in the DIY section. Also, make sure and get a copy of the "10 Tips to buying Heating & Cooling online" This is an un-biased report with loads of dead-on information.

Hope some of this information adds to this posting.
Thanks

[Chris]

The easiest way to protect your furnace is to regularly check, clean and change your furnace filters. By ignoring your furnace filter you are letting all the dust, pet hair and other household pollutants to accumulate and eventually block all air-flow to the furnace. Your furnace needs this air to cool of the motor and other parts that heat up. Eventually they will overheat and shut down, which can cause many other costly damages. Check http://www.iaqsource.com to get all kinds of furnace filters online and shipped to your house.

[Kay]

Is anyone familiar with reusable filters? Because of allergies and the old ductwork in my 100-year-old house, I like to use filters that are rated high for allergen screening, but would also like to try out reusable.

[Tom]

It would be useful to have a report on the effectiveness of the various types of furnace filters that are available. In particular, do the filters remove dust and pollen according to their claims, are electrostatic filters effective, and are washable-reuseable filters a good value.

[Jim]

these comments about filters are ridiculous.
the most common problem I have with forced air furnances is the IGNITOR goes bad.
The Ignitor is basically a heating element that is used in place of the old pilot light.
For the past 12 years I have had problems with them on every furnace I have had to deal with, usually they last 2 years tops and they always seem to fail in the dead of winter.
The last one that failed lasted only 1 year.
I now keep 2 spares on hand and while they are fragile, they are relatively simple to replace.
I keep spares because I once called for emergency service for an apartment and they came but did not have a replacement Ignitor in stock! I had to wait 2 DAYS! If you have a replacement one in stock and you call for repair and they say they don't have the Ignitor, you can hand them the spare and get your heat working again.

[Bruce]

I too would like to get some information and if possible specific brand recommendations relating to washable permanent intake filters for AC/Heater units. I would also like to find out how the blog works in terms of the fact that several other questions, virtually identical to mine have been posted and no one from CR has commented in response to these or any of the questions I have seen in the blog. What is CR's role in this blog, why no expert answers from CR staff? Am I missing something about the way CR's blog service
works?

[Tom]

I have a gas hot water boiler with different zones for heating. One of the zones does not appear to be heating properly. It never gets the temperature up to the thermostat setting. I have had it checked and they moved one of my thermostats to another location but that does not seem to have fixed the problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

[furnace filter]

I have been using a reusable filter in my furnace for the last 2 years and it does great. I don't know about the allergen screening, but it is very easy to maintain.

[furnace filter]

I have had a reusable filter for the last 2 years and it has done a great job. Maintenance is very easy. I don't know about the allergens it filters.

[Dean Leutscher]

- Can those of you who have seen good results with filters please post the specifics...brand, source, price, etc.?

I am particularly interested in MERV 14 - 20 filters - 4"/5" wide.

- Also, do you have any Web site recommendations for ordering them?

Thank you all for your contributions!

[Furnace Filters]

Using a high efficiency filter like a 5" return air grille filter will help protect your system much better than any 1" filter. More surface area means less pressure drop and lower operating costs.

[John]

When getting a Furnace filter it's definitely worthwhile to spend the extra money and get a high MERV rating. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value. Especially for people with allergies, you will notice a significant difference.

[Home Oil Burner Parts]

To use the oil burner, which is usually made from a ceramic material, you simply place a tea light candle at the bottom of the burner. You then pour your favourite scented oil (can be used ‘neat’ or more often blended with water or other aromatic oils) into the top of the burner to create a gentle or stronger fragrance as required. You simply light the candle and the fragrance then gradually evaporates and spreads around your room.

[Kelana]

A new oil furnace will run about $2000-$3000 in parts and probably $500-$1000 for labor depending on where you live. If the unit is not all that old some can have the heat exchanger replaced. If you do need the unit replaced I like ThermoPride they have been around for a long time and know how to make an oil furnace.