Furnace Maintanence Costs

Hi All,

I am currently having some troubles with the furnace at home. It doesn't seem to be generating any heat. The thermostat says "heat on" but only cold air comes out of the vents. I have tried turning the furnace on and off, replacing the thermostat batteries, but other than that, its out of my league.

I am ready to call someone to come take a look at it. I was just wondering what type of costs would I be looking at for a call, maintanence service, repairs etc. I would like to hear from people on RFD so I have a rough idea if the person is trying to take me to the cleaners.

Is there anything else I could try to "revive" the heat in my furnace?

Thanks all!

If your furnace is running i.e. it is blowing air through the vents and you set the thermostat to a higher temp than the current room temp, and you get no heat, then it sounds like you heat exchanger is shot. Don't know how much to fix, but I am assuming that it is not cheap.

Also check the breakers and switches. Most houses have 2 places in the house where the furnace power can be shut off.

Is your pilot light on? Turning the furnace on and off will do nothing if the gas flame is not on, or won't stay on. I would get yourself some furnace insurance pronto and put a sweater on for a few days, then make a claim

Go down and look at the actual furnace. Make sure that the doors on the front are properly closed and seated (some furnaces have an interlock to prevent the furnace from running)

Usually there is a "peephole" glass thing on the front that you can look through and see the burners. Turn the thermostat all the way up and see if you can see/hear the burners come on.

If not, its time to call the service guys ... cost will be anywhere from a low $80 to $100 for them to come out and find the easy/obvious ... to a dead furnace and its time to buy a new one.

Is your pilot light on?

my first thought too. When we moved into my last house the pilot was off. Can't remember why, but we ended up having to call the gas guy to get it lit again.
A service call...ie, cleaning and inspection runs from 90 bucks or so and up. call around if the pilot light doesn't fix the problem. If your furnace is old, you probably want a new one instead of repairing the old one if it comes to that. A guy at work just got a new one, and he had quotes from $2900 to 4300 for the exact same unit. call around.

Originally Posted by dolphie

my first thought too. When we moved into my last house the pilot was off. Can't remember why, but we ended up having to call the gas guy to get it lit again.
A service call...ie, cleaning and inspection runs from 90 bucks or so and up. call around if the pilot light doesn't fix the problem. If your furnace is old, you probably want a new one instead of repairing the old one if it comes to that. A guy at work just got a new one, and he had quotes from $2900 to 4300 for the exact same unit. call around.

My first thought too...subletted a house before and the furnace broke down, pilot light wasn't on. Those were some cold nights

Most recent furnaces don't use pilot lights. They have electronic ignition or whatever else it's called. If it's your case, just look to see if you can see a flame once the furnace is on.

The other post on furnace just remineded me I have not clean my heating vent this year.

I am a new home owner.

The last company I've used did a very lousy job.

Do anyone have a good company they can recommend for this?

Also, what kind of work should I expect from a cleaning?

Before you have your ducts cleaned, read a bit, like http://healthandenergy.com/air_duct_cleaning.htm and http://www.advancedenergy.org/buildi..._cleaning.html

I would take a look inside one or more sections of your ductwork and see if you really need it. It is a waste of money for MANY homeowners.

thought i would revive this very old thread since this just happened to my furnace.

we moved into a 10 year old house 3 months ago and had the ducts cleaned and changed the furnace filter and bought a programmable thermostat. Last night the furnace wasn't working and my husband changed the batteries and bought a new thermostat and changed it back to the old thermostat but the fan doesn't come on automatically and when you turn the fan on, it only blows cold air.

any recommendations on heating service guys? we checked homestars and airworks and buttons heating seem to have high ratings. does anyone else have anyone they would recommend that won't try to rip us off into buying a new furnace?

TIA!

If you have an older furnace, do a little googling.

If the pilot light is out, try relighting it. If it goes out right away its most likely a bad thermocouple. They are easy to replace and are under $10 at the hardware store.

I would guess you have done this, but just in case, have you cycled the power to the furnace? Ours gets screwed up if someone moves the thermostat button from heat to off to heat quickly. By turning the power off to the furnace, waiting a few minutes, turning back on the power, it resets the system and all is good. Hope it helps.

Originally Posted by superbooos

thought i would revive this very old thread since this just happened to my furnace.

we moved into a 10 year old house 3 months ago and had the ducts cleaned and changed the furnace filter and bought a programmable thermostat. Last night the furnace wasn't working and my husband changed the batteries and bought a new thermostat and changed it back to the old thermostat but the fan doesn't come on automatically and when you turn the fan on, it only blows cold air.

any recommendations on heating service guys? we checked homestars and airworks and buttons heating seem to have high ratings. does anyone else have anyone they would recommend that won't try to rip us off into buying a new furnace?

TIA!

Originally Posted by superbooos

thought i would revive this very old thread since this just happened to my furnace.

we moved into a 10 year old house 3 months ago and had the ducts cleaned and changed the furnace filter and bought a programmable thermostat. Last night the furnace wasn't working and my husband changed the batteries and bought a new thermostat and changed it back to the old thermostat but the fan doesn't come on automatically and when you turn the fan on, it only blows cold air.

any recommendations on heating service guys? we checked homestars and airworks and buttons heating seem to have high ratings. does anyone else have anyone they would recommend that won't try to rip us off into buying a new furnace?

TIA!

Unless there is fire in the furnace, you will always blow cold air when you select fan. When you turn the furnace on, the ignition (pilot or electronic) starts the fire burning, when a certain internal temperature is reached, the fan comes on to blow air through the heat exchanger (where it picks up heat) into the ductwork of the house.
Which part is not working? The furnace does not come on at a pre-selected temperature? It does not come on at all? The thermostat does not control the heat? The switch on the thermostat will not turn on the fan? The switch will not allow the furnace to come on? You have a new thermostat or just put batteries in the old one? Did you wire the thermostats properly?

Originally Posted by synaptech

I would guess you have done this, but just in case, have you cycled the power to the furnace? Ours gets screwed up if someone moves the thermostat button from heat to off to heat quickly. By turning the power off to the furnace, waiting a few minutes, turning back on the power, it resets the system and all is good. Hope it helps.

yup, we did this already with no luck.

well I dont know what your problem might be, but the only peice of advise I can give is to not try any of this "do it yourself" type stuff to try and fix your furnace (like lighting your pilot light for example)... Why risk so much, just call in a pro and they would know what to do.