Ask Me Help Desk - Furnace trouble!

I am new hear forgive me if this is not posted correctly but I am about to take a wrench and whack the heck out of my furnace!! Here is the history (briefly at any rate) Two days before Thanksgiving we finally decided to turn her on she is 12 years old, I believe the brand is Valiant (?) well she starts gushing black goo like I have never seem before and it puts out the pilot light. So I turn everything off, we are cool but OK. A week later after talking to some people it seems to be a good idea to give it a go again, I do and she runs beautifully! So we get three weeks out of oil that generally last 6! I keep my heat at 60, never higher! The hot water heater and furnace decide the have had it, on Christmas eve of course! We go a week with no heat or hot water. Then we get the money up have some oil and a repair guy out to bleed both (I had never done the W.H. before) it runs fine for two days, now we have oil, hot water but suddenly the heaters are not warming anymore! It is getting cold and I went down the reset button will not go down and the furnace is hot like it is running but the house is not being heated it also reads 20PSI on the gauge and I could have sworn that was always higher... I am at my wits end! Oh yes I have four children pregnant with a fifth but not afraid to learn anything new!

Fuel oil systems are high maintenance, and not for do-it-yourselfers, especially pregnant mothers (no offense). The best advice anyone could give you would be to call in a pro.

Oh yes I have four children pregnant with a fifth but not afraid to learn anything new!

I agree with KC13. It really sounds like your system needs a service and a good tune up. Yep it will cost to have that done but you will save $$$ on the oil bill since it will be running cleaner than it is now and that is where the savings come from. In this situation it makes no difference how tight money is at this time since you need heat. Call the owner of the oil company and tell him the situation. He might be the kind of guy that will allow you to pay for the service over a period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvac1000

Oh yes I have four children pregnant with a fifth but not afraid to learn anything new!

I agree with KC13. It really sounds like your system needs a service and a good tune up. Yep it will cost to have that done but you will save $$$ on the oil bill since it will be running cleaner than it is now and that is where the savings come from. In this situation it makes no difference how tight money is at this time since you need heat. Call the owner of the oil company and tell him the situation. He might be the kind of guy that will allow you to pay for the service over a period of time.

I appreciate the concern but I have already tried to call the oil company about a payment plan... and no they won't do it. I have called community action groups and the like there are no funds... I would have had some money but the day before the furnace started doing this... my brakes and rotors went in my car! The garage was able to do it right away but after the oil fill up and that I have $10 in the bank now. I had my furnace serviced every year but this one!! I am fairly confident that with direction I could do it. I rewired the phone system and redid the electrical in this house myself. I am not a stupid person I just have no experience with this type of problem I can bleed a furnace I can do most anything I know to disconnect the electric before working I have and electric reader to test lines and be sure no power is going through it. I would just like a suggestion someone I know I disconnected the box the reset button sits on and tried some things, but he said if those don't work it could be the control panel has fried.

While I do commend your willingness to learn I have to agree with both KC and hvac. I understand your situation and I am sure we hae all been in similar financial situations (Not sure why but people seem to think HVAC/R people are millionaires lol). You have to understand our concerns as to safety. Furnaces can be dangerous if you do not have the experience and , in my opinion, oil furnaces are even more so. That concern factored in with the difficulty of trying to explain over the internet makes it all the more difficult.

I am sorry but I am not into getting a pregnant lady hurt. There are many reasons your burner may not be working and it is impossible to give a course on oil burners in the space and time this board affords. My quick classes on oil burners takes about 6 and 1/2 hours to complete and that includes 1.5 hours of test time.

BTW No one said you are a stuipd person BUT I would be a stupid person if I tried to explain to you all the working of a oil burner and expect you to understand it in this small venue.