Fixed the furnace - Saved hundreds (1 Viewer)

[Tommy]

Got home from work tonight and the wife tells me that the furnace cycled on then right back off a few times. So I turned the thermostat up and waited for it to kick on. Sure enough, as soon as the flame lit, it shut off. Did a quick search with the symptom and found that 95% of the time its a dirty flame sensor rod. I followed a quick how to, turned the power off to the unit, removed the cover, one screw and pop it out. Cleaned it, put it back, and its back working again. If I called the local service company (Horizon) to come out, they would have charged me hundreds to replace a $13 part.

A few years back the AC condenser fan stopped working. They came out and wanted to charge me $550 to replace the bad part. I told him no thanks and went to the local HVAC supply store and bought the soda can looking dual run capacitor that was bad for $7. Maybe $150-$200 would of been reasonable for the service call, diagnostics, part, and 5 minutes of labor to install it, but not $550.

 

[72o]

Awesome...DIY fixes are so rewarding. Good for you for troubleshooting first.

 

[moose]

Had my car in for a quickie lube. They tell me my CV boots are leaking and they can replace them for xxx dollars. I took the car to my local mechanic. He puts it up on the hoist and says 'yep they are'. Pulls out a couple zip ties, puts them on and says, 'you're good'.

 

[slisk250]

...and now you can put those savings into future chip purchasing!

 

[mike32]

My furnace has shut off twice in the last month. I need to try this. Do you have a link to the video you watched?

 

[MrBo]

Same thing happened to me a few months ago, same solution - simple cleaning of the flame sensor solved everything. This is the video that helped me out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYwR9qL4lnk

DIY ftw!

 

[Tommy]

Same thing happened to me a few months ago, same solution - simple cleaning of the flame sensor solved everything. This is the video that helped me out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYwR9qL4lnk

DIY ftw!

The $5 bill guy. I watched that video. I used some 1500 grit sand paper instead. (didn't have any new $5s. lol)

 

[iblonger]

Youtube has saved me thousands on car repairs. But they do make things seem easier than they are More than once I have gotten half way through a job and thought "oh chit"!

 

[MrBo]

Same here except used emory cloth. I should add that while getting the flame sensor out for cleaning was very easy, getting it back in place can be difficult if it's one of the L-shaped ones and you can't see where it's going when you slide it back through. I had to unscrew the top plate to get a better look after getting it stuck somehow, but an extra 10 minutes of frustration is still better than overpaying a repairman.

 

[mike32]

Just cleaned mine. I used a hundred dollar bill, because that's how I roll. Hopefully will solve shutdown problem. It's working fine now.

 

[Ben]

2 buddies in the HVAC business - I've heard several stories of their companies taking people for $7-9k for new units (units where a true fair price might be $3-4k installed) when all they really needed was a minor $200 repair. And these are the "reputable" companies - all that means is they're better at not f*cking everything else up while raping you. DIY all the way (or call your buddy off the clock [emoji6]) if you can!

 

[Mental Nomad]

You didn't just save money - you also saved a used part that didn't need to be replaced. That means you didn't waste materials, and didn't waste the energy it took to make the part. And you didn't throw an old part into a landfill.

I think that's the worst part when people end up replacing furnaces (and other things) unnecessarily. It's a tremendous waste on so many levels.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

That's awesome you were able to fix it on your own and save a bunch of money. I did a similar thing last summer replacing my Air Conditioner. Thankfully my old neighbor was in HVAC so he charged my system after we had installed it.

Oh and this is what I thought of when I saw the title of this thread