Furnaces and repair

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

Hi gang-

I am the proud owner of a roughly 10 year old Honeywell gas furnace (that powers hot water, not forced air).  Earlier this year the pilot went out, and after relighting it and not seeing ignition, i then decided to replace the thermocouple.  Again, it did not solve the problem, so i feel as though i am forced to obtain professional help.  Who here has had furnace repair from someone they trust?  Can someone please recommend some local plumber/heating repair shop?

Thanks a ton :)

(I looked for tags for "furnace" "plumbing" "heating" or "repair" and saw none. "Business services" and "home repair" also did not yield any recommendations that i could see.  If i missed one, i apologise, but i did go back well over a year.

Comments

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

IIRC: A bunch of years ago, my landlord had to have the furnace serviced. He hired a random plumber who screwed it up, and then he had nstar come out and do it.

He also bought an annual contract/warranty with them, which was enormously helpful when our furnace died at the same time as everyone else in the city since it had been so cold for so long. We got the repair guy first, so we didn't have to wait all weekend in the cold.

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

Can you provide the name of the random plumber so i don't accidentally use them? :)

Also, as mentioned below, i don't use NSTAR as a gas provider, so i doubt i can call them for service. Unless someone can clarify if they are allowed to provide service other gas companies' customers?

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Sadly, no...

I don't know if they'd do out of service, but you'd get the equivalent from your utility provider, whoever it is. I'd think.

NSTAR

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I would call NSTAR to look at that.

Re: NSTAR

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

I don't use NSTAR as my gas provider. Will they work "out of network"? Are they more cost effective than an indie dude? Are they more reliable?

Thanks!

Re: NSTAR

[ron_newman]

Then you should probably call your gas provider (Keyspan? National Grid? I didn't realize Somerville had more than one)

Re: NSTAR

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

News to me too!

Re: NSTAR

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

I'm not in Somerville, my friends.

And on behalf of all non-Somervillian Davis Squarians, i am offended you always forget about us ;)

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

My husband is local and he runs Dillon Plumbing & Heating. He is really slow right now and could use some work...the contractors he works with arent taking care of their subs right now. They are too busy buying up properties to care that they owe tons to all their help.


You can call and he will probably give you some advice at least on the phone :) The number is 617-319-5898.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I just called him actually to mention this posting I had made and someone might call possibly. I wanted to let you know that he said Honeywell really doesnt make boilers/furnaces...they make parts for them (most boilers use Honeywell parts). He said does it say "burnham, wel mclain" (not sure i spelled that right) they are fairly common in this area.

Have you checked the gas valve? It could be that.


Im bored here at work so I am relaying the message since I have so much extra time haha.

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

There is no separate gas valve to the furnace, and the pilot is lit, i have hot water, and my gas stove works. So if the problem is with the gas supply, is is somewhere after the pilot and main burner split. As you can tell, i've hit the limit on my expertise - i don't mind doing basic wiring on things like ceiling fans, but i believe a furnace to be something i should leave to the pros.

I don't have the manual upstairs with me, so might have read Honeywell on something else. My apologies.

I won't be able to call until Monday at the soonest, but time is of the essence so if your SO needs work i'll put him at the top of the list when i get back.

Thanks!

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I agree. My limitations are electrical and plumbing, luckily he takes care of one of them :)

He def could use some work...he is trying to find new contractors but these days its hard. A lot of the trades are hurting, unless they are in service areas. My SO does mostly remodels, gutting etc not unclogging toilets so its harder on us than on a company who specializes in service (people always need to spend on service work but they might wait to remodel the bathroom).

Anyways - Please feel free to call him on Monday. Estimates are free and his pricing is a bit lower as he doesnt have a lot of overhead VS some other companies.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

BTW, I just left voicemail with your husband regarding heating system work we need done, so please make sure he calls me back soon. :)

It's be great if it worked out. As I recall, I'm practically across the street from you.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

How soon would you need the work done? We actually just got home from the hospital...he had a small surgery today and will be unable to do heavy lifting for a certain period of time. I hope it could work out that he can do it but at the least he probably wont call you back until Monday as he is on medication and in bed for most the weekend.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I'm so sorry.

It's not an emergency or anything, but basically as soon as possible. The heating system is forced hot air, and there is a return register, but it is closed off and doesn't connect back to the furnace. Instead, the furnace sucks air in from the basement, which, well, sucks. So what needs to happen is installation of ductwork between the register (which is already down in the basement) and the furnace (~25'), so that the air actually cycles, or at the least, so that we stop spewing basement crap into the house.

(And as long as someone is here, a general servicing of the furnace would be good, too.)

[antimony.livejournal.com]

We use Peter Needham, and while he isn't the cheapest, he shows up on time, does great work, and is genuinely nice to work with.

http://www.peterneedhamelectrical.com/

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

I adore your username. We chem geeks gotta stick together. Someone should start a thread wherein we all describe why we each chose our specific chem geek usernames :)

Anyway, i will take your recommendation seriously. Money is secondary at this point to having the job done right and well.

Thanks!

[antimony.livejournal.com]

It's actually more a general-science-geek username, since I was 12 and taking freshman chem in high school when I first went on-line. Needed something gender-neutral and 8 characters or less (yes, this was a while ago). And my initials are SB.

[yttrai.livejournal.com]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Dillon Plumbing was able to help just fine. I was a little antsy given the timeline was getting tight, but he showed up as promised and checked everything out before declaring it electrical. Granted, i could have bought a multimeter and done some of that myself but i'm not trained in furnace repair, so the results would have been meaningless.

And then after i'd paid him and he'd gotten home (as far as i could tell from the background noise) he called to point out that some older boilers have a SECOND shutoff switch, located randomly somewhere else in the basement.

Naturally, that's what was wrong.

:GNASH:

I mean, i'm glad it got fixed, and i know a heck of a lot more about furnace repair than when i started, but seriously. A second override switch? All the way over THERE? Nowhere frakking near the furnace? And who the heck shut it off in the first place? It could have been me, but i didn't even know it existed.

Anyway, the next person to have furnace troubles, learn from my mistakes and hopefully diagnose the trouble yourself! And like i said, i appreciate all the advice.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I didnt realize you had replied. I am glad he was able to help diagnose the issue :) If the background noise was barking dogs then yep...he was home!