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Author Topic: Home System Failures GALORE! Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 11-30-2003 08:50 AM                     This week has been a real lulu. Thanksgiving went without a hitch. Hope all of you got plenty of rich food and stuffing. Friday morning I woke up to a cold house. 25 degrees outside and 45 inside. PLUS the phone line had so much noise on it that I couldn't hear the caller. Repaired the furnace. The little thermocouple on the gas pilot had failed... 2nd time in 4 years... they used to last forever! Phone Co. basically said that there was no problem with their systems, and that the problem is MINE and thats it. I had to disconnect all the inside systems from the line and hook up a small phone that I have to the posts to PROVE to the jerks at Ma Bell that the problem is NOT MINE. They STILL want to charge me to run a new line into the house. The one that is here is in excellent condition. They were working in the neighborhood the day that the noise started. I've been called at least 4 times by an automated caller from Bellsouth about this problem. (press 1 for yes, and 2 for no...) This is beginning to suck big time. THEN, The furnace dies again! It snowed Friday night with some nice cold gusts of wind. Really pretty at dawn when I woke up cold again. This time, the blower motor start capacitor failed. The motor was hot as heck when I felt it, so I hope that the failure of the cap didn't damage it. It started and ran normally when I replaced the cap. THEN: I get a call from the 'other half' saying that the hot water is cold. Will it ever end? It's a gas water heater. The thermocouple was bad here, too. I have a few spares that I bought for the furnace, so I had one on hand. Now we can bathe again. THEN: Was going to Home Depot / Lowes to get some extra thermocouples, and furnace filters. Got in the truck to start it, and heard a dull click when I turned the key. Dead battery? NO! Bad starter! Pulled the starter, and took it apart in my now-warm workshop. Bad brushes! Got into the Pontiac to go and get brushes, and the stuff from Lowes/Home Depot. Turn the key. No click NOTHING. Got out the jumper cables and hooked up to my oldest car which has no problems (yet) that I know of. As soon as the cables were hooked up, I realized that the interior light was left on in the car BY ME and thats what happened. I started the car and went out and bought the parts, and filters. I made it home in one piece! This is alot of stuff to have happen to anybody in a single holiday weekend. My reason for this rather talky and long post is this: I have always been able to diagnose problems with the HVAC, etc. I can only imagine what this weekend would have cost me if I had to call a repair person for each of the mishaps that happened. I will take this time to wish everyone at FilmTech a fantastic holiday season. PS: The phone will be fixed by 6pm on Monday. I'm not holding my breath... I need a nap.  |  IP: Logged Floyd Justin Newton Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 559 From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 11-30-2003 09:13 AM                     Just another typical holiday !! !!! FJN  |  IP: Logged Richard Thomas Film Handler Posts: 11 From: Trinidad, CO Registered: Aug 2003 posted 11-30-2003 09:38 AM                     Bruce, an amazing story! I also get days like this but not this year yet. I am stunned that two thermocouples went at once - reminds me that I need to get some as I have a hot water boiler system up here for heat at 8000 feet and below zero cold coming. I know they do not last any time at all these days. And you had a shot cap on the motor - wow. I hate it when this happens and it always does - just when I think I am set and it is the coldest and the road is deep in snow. Thanks for making me remember that this happens. By the way how did you test the thermocouples without subbing them out? Did you heat them and put a meter on them, or?  |  IP: Logged Ken Layton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1452 From: Olympia, Wash. USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-30-2003 11:51 AM                     I had a friend whose motor 'run' cap shorted! That made the motor very hot indeed, but it was discovered in time that no motor damage occured. The bad cap was a GE, but our local supplier had YORK brand which worked just fine and was cheaper than the GE.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 11-30-2003 02:53 PM                     Sorry to hear about the day from hell there. Fortunately you have the knowledge to check out and repair most of those issues yourself.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Stricker Master Film Handler Posts: 481 From: Calumet, Mi USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 12-01-2003 06:09 AM                     Things always go wrong at he worst time! Sorry to hear of all the difficulties.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 12-01-2003 07:09 AM                     The problems were not the real issue here! It is the cost for service that I was getting at. Back when I did HVAC service, I would charge around $80 to replace a thermocouple, and around $50 for the motor RUN (Thanks, KEN) capacitor. The jump-starts are awful when you have to call someone. The phone company admitted that the problems with my line were theirs. I have a new line AND a new line into the house with a network access port on the side of the house. My computer now connects at 32,000 instead of around 14,000 like it used to. I need to rewire in my basement to connect everything to the new access port. No problem for me. I bought some spare thermocouples Sunday. The new ones are real Honeywell brand, not Robertshaw like the old ones were. Maybe they will last. I didn't check the output on the old thermocouples. One had burned in half, and the other one looked fine. Just replaced 'em. I used to have a Honeywell tester for them, but it got away somehow. It's Monday morning. All is well here in beautiful--cold-- Western North Carolina. Gotta get ready for WORK This winter, I am gonna rebuild Holmes 8 #4. For those that dont know, a Holmes 8 is a portable 35mm sound projector. There's room for a Simplex or two here! Have a good day, folks!  |  IP: Logged

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