HELP! House furnace blowing cool air - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Fire · 01-09-2004, 08:37 PM

If anyone knows anything about houshold heating systems I need help- My house furnace ( its an attic gas fed model) has started blowing cool/ cold air instead of hot- Gas is on, and the main flame blower thing is lit, so have no idea what the hell is wrong- but it is the weekend and damn cold, so cant wait for monday to get a repair guy (or at least I don't want to) any help is greatly appreciated.....

torgone · 01-09-2004, 09:16 PM

Sounds like the hood control is shorted. Normally, when the thermostat calls for heat, the burner comes on (small flame turns to big flame). When the chamber warms to a certain point, the hood control turns on the fan to distribute the warm air. There are lots of different types of thermostats though, some of which have a switch to turn on the fan all the time. If you have a "fan" switch make sure it's on "auto". Make sure the temperature setting is above the current temperature, and the control is on "heat". Having said all that, if you're in a rental, call the landlord and get it fixed NOW! If you own, you should still be able to find someone who will come out now -for a price- but it should be a fairly quick and inexpensive fix. Good luck!

Yalaynia · 01-09-2004, 09:43 PM

We have a natural gas central air unit and it started acting up in the summer it would work one day and not at all the next. The times that it worked it was only blowing hot air. We called the company that put it in and they said it could be one of 2 things the computer or the grounding wire. If its the computer your looking at about 300 bucks or so to fix, and if its a grounding wire it could be the price of an hour visit from the repair company (unfortunately even though the job only takes about 10 to 15 minutes if it is just the wire they will still charge you a full hour). If you do have to get a repair man in to fix it, ask him to show you where the filter is if you do not already know its usually not hard might have to remove a few screws. Changing out the filter or cleaning it out every 3 months does help with air flow. Not to mention that if you have to call a repair man to do that they charge you about 60 bucks just to do a simple 5 minute job. I bought one of the air filters that you can just run under water and its got a 25 year warrenty for only about 10 to 15 bucks.

Fire · 01-10-2004, 11:07 PM

Thanks to all for the answers and advice- Had a friend with heating exp. manage to fix it this morning- something about it maybe being the thermocoupler?- anyway after taking it partly apart and reassembly- IT WORKS- said something may have rattled loose- whatever or however, for the time being it works, and have located distant family that does heating work for in case it breaks again-

01-09-2004, 08:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
Fire Warrior Smith Location: missouri	HELP! House furnace blowing cool air If anyone knows anything about houshold heating systems I need help- My house furnace ( its an attic gas fed model) has started blowing cool/ cold air instead of hot- Gas is on, and the main flame blower thing is lit, so have no idea what the hell is wrong- but it is the weekend and damn cold, so cant wait for monday to get a repair guy (or at least I don't want to) any help is greatly appreciated..... __________________ Thought the harder, Heart the bolder, Mood the more as our might lessens

01-09-2004, 09:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
torgone What's beyond psycho? Location: Still out there	Sounds like the hood control is shorted. Normally, when the thermostat calls for heat, the burner comes on (small flame turns to big flame). When the chamber warms to a certain point, the hood control turns on the fan to distribute the warm air. There are lots of different types of thermostats though, some of which have a switch to turn on the fan all the time. If you have a "fan" switch make sure it's on "auto". Make sure the temperature setting is above the current temperature, and the control is on "heat". Having said all that, if you're in a rental, call the landlord and get it fixed NOW! If you own, you should still be able to find someone who will come out now -for a price- but it should be a fairly quick and inexpensive fix. Good luck! __________________ "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

01-09-2004, 09:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
Yalaynia Insane Location: here but I wish I lived there	We have a natural gas central air unit and it started acting up in the summer it would work one day and not at all the next. The times that it worked it was only blowing hot air. We called the company that put it in and they said it could be one of 2 things the computer or the grounding wire. If its the computer your looking at about 300 bucks or so to fix, and if its a grounding wire it could be the price of an hour visit from the repair company (unfortunately even though the job only takes about 10 to 15 minutes if it is just the wire they will still charge you a full hour). If you do have to get a repair man in to fix it, ask him to show you where the filter is if you do not already know its usually not hard might have to remove a few screws. Changing out the filter or cleaning it out every 3 months does help with air flow. Not to mention that if you have to call a repair man to do that they charge you about 60 bucks just to do a simple 5 minute job. I bought one of the air filters that you can just run under water and its got a 25 year warrenty for only about 10 to 15 bucks. __________________ I couldnt think of anything to put here , but I guess anything would do

01-10-2004, 11:07 PM	#4 (permalink)
Fire Warrior Smith Location: missouri	Thanks to all for the answers and advice- Had a friend with heating exp. manage to fix it this morning- something about it maybe being the thermocoupler?- anyway after taking it partly apart and reassembly- IT WORKS- said something may have rattled loose- whatever or however, for the time being it works, and have located distant family that does heating work for in case it breaks again- __________________ Thought the harder, Heart the bolder, Mood the more as our might lessens