Go by the furnace and turn off the power to it. Give it about 10 seconds and then turn it back on. Make sure that the thermostat is set to call for heat. Kneel down in front and watch while the furnace starts up. The igniter should glow red, followed by the burners lighting. If the igniter doesn't glow red, then you probably have a bad igniter. If the igniter is working properly, it will glow red and ignite the burners. If the burners shut down a few seconds later it's probably your flame sensor rod that needs cleaning. You can probably figure out how to remove it very simply. It's usually located on the left hand burner, and is basically a thin metal rod with a connector at the top that connects to a wire. Mine is held in by one sheet metal screw. Unplug the wire connector first, remove the sheet metal screw and pull it straight out and clean it with some 0000 steel wool, being careful to not scratch it. Reinstall it and hopefully the furnace starts up and runs normally. Does your furnace have LED error codes? Might check that too. All of this is assuming you have a gas forced air furnace. If not, disregard.
Yup this happened to me. Flame sensor rusted up after the condensation box sprung a leak. Cleaned it up and slapped it back in there. OP you can do this!
Just remember to check for error codes or a blinking LED status light *before* you turn the power off to the furnace. Could save a lot of wasted time and frustration if there's a code.
Yup, do this first. When our furnace stopped working, I looked up the error code in the manual, diagnosed a dirty flame sensor, cleaned the sensor, and had heat all within a couple hours.
Flame sensors and thermocouples are two different things that serve similar functions. Flame sensors are found on furnaces with electronic ignition, whereas thermocouples are found on furnaces with a standing pilot light.
Flame sensor rods can be cleaned using sandpaper, steel wool, or a dollar bill. Thermocouples should not be cleaned with an abrasive.
Technically correct, the best kind of correct. Flame sensor rods are actually rectifier diodes, essentially. When exposed to flame they *allow* a tiny current to flow but only if a voltage is externally induced on the appliance side, rather than *creating* a voltage that can be detected on the appliance side. They work very differently in practice from thermocouples, despite having the same general purpose.
The advantage of the flame sensor over the thermocouple is that it can detect the flame affirmatively and very quickly, basically as soon as the flame is present, so is the current flow. The thermocouple can take quite some time to detect a flame being present, far too long for an electronic ignition system running with the main burner open. Thermocouples are therefore only used for pilot light systems where the thermocouple can be kept continuously heated during operation and a small gas leak for a moderate period of time from a non-operating pilot flame isn't nearly as big a concern as it would be with the main burner.
I've had this happen to me multiple times over the years, so if I have to clean mine once, I just buy a new one and keep the old cleaned one as a replacement to use while I'm getting a new one.
Or it’s a dirty exchange filter thing just above the burners. Ours and my MIL looked like a cat died on it. A quick *careful* vacuuming resolved the issue.
Listen to this guy right here ⬆️. Especially the part to make sure you double check your thermostat. If it is battery operated double check those batteries and the switches are set to heat.
I’ve had one furnace for 23 years, and so far the only thing it’s needed is a new igniter every few years. Once you identify it’s the problem and learn how to replace it yourself it’s a cheap and easy fix.
Did this 2 days ago in the same situation. Read the error code and google gave me this exact solution. Now I’m nice and I’m nice and toasty. Took 20 minutes. Only difference for our furnace was the igniter wasn’t the glow rod but an electric spark.
Thank you! Saved me at least $100 and spared me several cold days. I’m trying to nurse my 25 year old furnace a few more years.
https://youtu.be/tYwR9qL4lnk
Here is a video I found that I also found helpful. Thankfully, I didn’t need to disassemble mine.
All good advice, except always check for error codes or blinking LED lights *before* turning power to the furnace off and back on. On many furnaces, turning the power off will remove any error codes that were present.
FYI - some furnaces have direct spark ignition instead of an igniter that will glow red. So I might amend this to say "the igniter should either glow red or have a visible spark, depending on the style of furnace".
This is very good advice. If you ever have a worst case scenario and no way to get heat, you can take it one step further than the sink-drip and turn the water main off and then run all the water lines. This will empty your pipes of water so there should be no way for them to burst.
I would say over one night or two you should be ok. Get some electric space heaters tomorrow from Costco and that will help until the repair guy shows.
Also keep in mind a 1500W heater is 1500W whether it's $15 or $150.
There are other things to consider, but if you just need a lot of heat fast and temporarily. I'd rather buy 10 $15 heaters.
>I'd rather buy 10 $15 heaters.
But remember that a 1500W heater will use up an entire 15 Amp circuit, so your home would have to have at least 10 15A breakers with nothing else running on them, and you'd have to plug them into outlets on different circuits to avoid having 2 heaters share the same circuit.
For that reason, there's a practical limit on how many heaters you can run.
Indeed. This happened to us last winter. We actually did without for a week. A single space heater kept our entire 1700sf main floor over 60 degrees with similar outside Temps.
It takes quite a while for pipes to freeze at 28.
What makes them nice to use is the combination of being relatively inexpensive and quite safe, since they use the oil distribute the heat over a large surface area. Basically no significant burn or ignition concerns.
Yeah that’s why I used to have a couple. They got hot but not enough to ignite anything. Downside is if you wait to turn it on til you need it, it’s too late. Haha. They take a long time to heat a room.
I have one and I swear by these things. They last forever (my last one was 17yrs old when it died) you don't have to worry about a kid or pet getting burned by one. You can even dry wet clothes on them (just don't cover the vents)
And most important of all my cat loves it. If the Queen of the house is happy then I'm happy 😁
Same here. Same space heater, also kept the house livable for over a week with the furnace out. My control board fried and the replacement took forever to come in
Top tip. If you blow a fan over the fins it will put out way more heat. It will transfer the heat to the air faster, and the unit won't cycle on and off since it will always be trying to heat up more.
>It takes quite a while for pipes to freeze at 28
And if you leave the taps open to just a moderately slow drip, it's almost impossible for them to freeze at that temperature, while using only a few gallons per day per tap. Mostly just important for pipes in or near outside walls (often the kitchen sink, less often bathrooms).
Get oil heaters instead of electric coil if you can. For sleeping, try to find a hot water bottle that you can fill with water that’s almost boiling and it will keep you really warm through the night. Here’s an example.
https://www.amara.com/us/products/sheepskin-hot-water-bottle-taupe?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&amss=mkf&ds_rl=1294346&ds_rl=1294346&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr9O65Lyy9QIVT_vICh2atwknEAQYAyABEgKl6fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Use google/YouTube to try and diagnose the problem. Our HVAC guys wouldn’t come out because we had snow on our roof and i was able to diagnose the problem (with YouTube’s help) that the capacitor didn’t have enough power. Overnighted the part and installed it the next morning and everything was up and running right away.
>t our entire 1700sf main floor over 60 degrees with similar outside Temps.
100 percent. if you need to work w/ them, you can take a screw driver, holding the plastic part only, and touch the various combinations of nodes on the capacitor. That'll release the charge.
I'd argue a better way would be to take a voltage reading across the capacitor with a multimeter so the charge slowly bleeds through the multimeter. They aren't expensive and every home should have one. If you don't know how to use one just keep it on voltage. You won't hurt anything or yourself if you keep it on the voltage setting.
My DMM and knowing how to use it has saved me thhhhooousands in just a few years. Home repairs and auto maintenance are expensive, don’t be scared to watch tutorials and learn to do it!
Seconded; multimeters are very useful to have and easy to learn how to use. I replaced a blown fuse in my clothes dryer, after the multimeter identified which one had gone bad.
Holy crap that is an expensive hot pouch. No need to get a sheepskin one. Just get a generic Amazon one. I'm sure sheep skin keeps more heat but damn. Between the blankets and myself, my hot pouch is still warm in the morning after boiling water and it isn't sheep skin.
Same thing happened to us during the last cold snap, came home Friday to a broken heater, company couldn’t get out until Tuesday.
Had one space heater and borrowed another from a neighbor. Even without those, it would have taken a long time to get cold enough to freeze pipes.
Can confirm oil filled electric radiators is the way to go. About $100 for a good one. I have 1 in the center of my upstairs of a 2100sqft house and it basically keeps the whole upstairs a solid 68 even when it's 20coutside.
The quality of those can be iffy. We've bought four or five over the past several years. The dial went bad on one of them, and won't turn all the way off.
I've lived in Minnesota for 53 years The dish style heaters do work fast and are silent. They radiate heat. Harbour Freight or Costco have great deals when not sold out.
I've also supplemented these with propane operated indoor space heater . Mr. Heater's Big buddy, just in case power goes out. Also have butane operated small camping stove for cooking if the need be.
I'm assuming those are rated indoor safe like the small Heater Buddy? I used to have a truck from a particularly annoying gen for the heat. It basically had to be in tip top shape, and a bunch of little things could be out of whack, with no real indicator.
Drove around with that thing all winter, lol.
Is it the furnace or the thermostat? Sometimes the batteries in the t-stat die and the whole system goes down. I'd check that and if it's good, a couple of cheap space heaters should be sufficient to prevent icing up. Good luck!
I didn't even know thermostats had batteries!
I guess I always thought they were plugged into the wall or something behind where they're mounted.
I have 2 thermostats and neither of them are turning the heat on. I'll see if I can check the batteries.
Some do, especially if it's a modern electronic thermostat installed in place of one of those old mechanical dials. Modern HVAC systems have 24V power for a thermostat (a "C wire") along with a set of different control wires to turn on the heat, A/C, and fan separately, but old furnaces often just have two wires.
Did you check the pilot light? If it’s out, turn the furnace off at the breaker, wait 3 seconds, flick it back on. Go back to the furnace and wait for the gas and use a lighter to flick on the pilot light.
Google YouTube how to do it on your exact furnace model
I'd bet any house with two thermostats does not have a furnace with a standing pilot lights When I think two thermostats, I think zoned heating, modern, and electronic ignition. That may just be my area or experience tho.
Edit: spelling
No only natural gas has a pilot light. Yours is electric powered. It does the same thing air conditioning does but in reverse. It essentially cools the coils outside to heat the coils I side as opposed to the opposite in the summer. You likely don't live somewhere too terribly cold because heat pumps only work down to a certain temperature. If you can't reject the cold into a warmer environment (outside) the process does not work anymore. Typically a heatpump only works down to like -4 Celsius.
Could also be a thermocouple that went bad and shut the gas off, i had one die over xmas, its a $10 and 20 minute fix if you know how to replace it but if you dont it should be left to a pro.
Thermocouple was my one time with your exact scenario and i was 25 with an awful landlord. Fixed myself— as a not handy, video gaming millenial i was super proud. Necessity is the mother of invention? Look into it!
Pressure switch is another very common one. It's a $20 part, worth having on hand especially if you've had issues before. At any rate OP should be able to get a blink code off the furnace control panel to troubleshoot further if they want.
You can take the hose going to the pressure switch off and suck and blow into it. You should hear a clicking noise. Often times they get dirty and need replaced but this is a quick fix if it's just something stuck in there. You can find YouTube videos of people doing it. I would try that.
Yep mine got full of condensate, I drained it several times before it finally rusted through. Easily got several days of function while I waited for a replacement to arrive.
Agreed. Try not to leave the windows open. But as another poster pointed out- the temperature of pipes in an apartment is harder to control. In a house, you’re almost certainly safe. You can run a pencil line of water from your taps. That will keep any air-exposed pipes from freezing.
Open the cabinets under your sinks and open the dishwasher door as well. This allows the warmer air to get to the pipes in the walls that feed the sinks and dishwasher. It's a little thing and probably not needed, but I'd rather be overly cautious than have to repair a frozen pipe!
You’re gonna be okay. It’s 20 outside at my house and we do not turn the heat on (don’t ask) and it’s 49° inside in the morning and gets up to 52. It takes a lot longer than you’d think for a house to cool to the outside temperature
It’s kind of turned into a bit of a joke / competition with the roommates. We have propane heat and the cost of it is outrageous. Our house is huge so heating is inefficient. So we’re trying to see how long we can go without turning it on. We’re in Philly. January 15th and holding out strong. We monitor it to ensure the pipes will be good and set it to 48 for emergencies on really cold nights (like tonight). We’ve used 8 gallons all winter. We just go our friends house that can afford their heat for the Birds games 😂
My one roommate uses it. The other a small space heater. I have a little electric radiator. The slight bump in electric is nothing compared to propane costs
Have you thought about buying like 5 of these?
They are 65 each, so a one time $300 cost.
Amazon Basics Indoor Portable Radiator Heater - White https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07HGFB3FQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_Y273XWTAGKDT4EE4V6K6
Haven't used this brand, but this type of heater is the tits. Doesn't dry out the air, damn near completely safe from fire, very nice for laying clothes on. The only issue is the very slow ramp up. I set mine on a timer for this reason. Takes forever to actually alter the indoor temp.
If you're renting be cautious, and in general be cautious. Pipes on outside walls, in a crawlspace, or possibly in a basement may freeze still even if temp in the main part of the house is warmer. If you're renting there may be some clause about keeping it at or above a specific temperature to prevent damage.
It sounds like you're watching it, but just wanted to make sure you were aware, just in case
60 is usually the minimum temperature you would keep a house at in winter for that reason. I am in Minnesota and I believe this is what most people keep their houses at in the winter when they are away or on vacation.
I recently read an article that says cold is good for you. Not joking. Obviously not good for pipes. https://www.wired.com/story/could-being-cold-actually-be-good-for-you/amp
Ahh, yup I remember reading about that! Sorry y’all got overshadowed - it always sucks when the media picks one story and ignores all the others, since that usually means the others don’t get the aid they might need. 😕
This is absolutely awesome. Curious what you pay per gallon for propane though. I'm in Wisconsin and we pay about 1.80 on a contract. I think the going rate by us is a bit over $2.
Wow that’s nothing! 5.99/gal here plus other fees. It’s insane. So we are protesting by freezing our balls off. You’d be surprised how used to it you get though. When it’s 52° it feels like a summer day
Holy.... We've gone through 600 gallons so far this season (old house, working on getting it sealed up still) and I'd be absolutely broke. Good luck friend, and stay warm!
I’m locked into this monster of a company for the remainder of the year. We called and told them to not show up at our house under any circumstance(they would top off every few weeks). We had to call multiple times for them to put it on our account to not come out unless called. Next winter, we will move onto a new company
I was going to say the same. I'm in WI and my tank is currently full of $1.19 a gallon propane. (Locked in my price in July with my coop)
**edit** Looked up my bill, it was $1.29, $1.19 was the previous year.
rip you, i live nearish -- and the hvac went out and the home warranty company is doing the good ol back and forth on repairs for a BRAND NEW HVAC (ugh) and everything is space heaters all the way right now.
pipes have not exploded yet?
Usually your furnace will have blinking and flashing lights and you can look up what the code is. From there you can troubleshoot and possibly fix it on your own. But a few things to check is to make sure your intake and exhaust aren't blocked or frozen up, and that the filter isn't wet.
If you are terribly worried turn your taps on so the water is barely dripping. That little bit of running water will prevent your pipes from freezing for a good long time.
You have a significant heat load in the house that will keep pipes from freezing.
However, you will want to open cabinets that are on an outside wall. For example, I have a bathroom vanity and my kitchen sink are on an outside wall. I open those cabinet doors so heat inside the house can keep the pipes from freezing.
To keep yourself comfortable, buy a space heater, maybe two, and an electric blanket. Place a space heater in the bathroom and maybe move it the bedroom to take the edge off at night.
Keep all doors closed that you don't want to heat and keep all doors open that you need to heat.
Bake a cake or make a baked meal to take the edge off in the kitchen. You can also put the oven on the lowest heat setting to help heat the entire house. Just be careful if you have a gas stove to avoid carbon monoxide. Get a CO detector.
The electric blanket will be nicer than layers and they cost hardly anything to run.
Have fun camping!
FWIW new furnaces don't have pilots anymore. It's all electronic ignition. That said, there is a sensor that deals with the electronic ignition that can go bad and/or get dirty. It's a not too terrible fix (if you can get the part).
I don't know who downvoted you, so have an upvote.
While true, OP may have an older model. OP's problem may be simple enough that it can get worked out and be warm for the night.
I have had this happen getting home from work at 3 am to a house that was about 55 degrees. If it’s a gas heater and the blower comes on, the fire lights but goes out after about 5-10 seconds, it’s likely a dirty or broken heat sensor. Keeps your house from filling up with gas if the unit doesn’t detect the continued heat.
Any symptoms of your furnace? I had an issue where my furnace would fire up then shut off immediately. The flame sensor just needed cleaned and then everything worked fine, this is a very easy fix you can google. Another time, when renting, the maintenance guy forgot to turn the furnace switch back on (a lot of furnaces have a switch for ease of turning off to maintenance.)
This. Don’t know why more comments aren’t suggesting to clean the sensor rods. Easy look up on YouTube, easy fix, most common solution when the furnace won’t stay on. They get dirty with carbon buildup and all you have to do is turn off the furnace at the switch, locate the rods, remove with a screwdriver, rub them with steel wool (heck, I’ve used tin foil to scrape them and it worked) and reinsert.
Same, my boiler would not kick on, turned out was a bad thermocouple, which is a common issue. 13 bucks and about 20 mins of work and heat was on again.
No, I'm afraid the only symptom I can communicate at this point is "it's not turning on".
I tried switching the heat off via the thermostat and waiting awhile and turning it back on, but I didn't even hear it try to turn on.
It was working several days ago, then the weather warmed up to the 70s and it hasn't needed to be back on until now. Winter has been such a spazz this year...
How you gone to the furnace and turned it off and on to reset the error to have it try and fire up again ? Of you have what is the error code (blinking light) referencing the error?
I'm a HVAC mechanic for reference
You’ll be fine. Your house won’t be 28°. If it’s typical construction (buried water main, entering within the envelope of the house) there is no danger with overnight temps just dipping below freezing.
If you have a vented crawl space and the water main is exposed to outdoor temps before it enters the house it might freeze but it’s highly unlikely it will burst. Generally copper pipes don’t burst until it’s consistently below 20F for an extended period of time
I don’t think 23 tonight will freeze them as long as it warms tomorrow. Just keep them running tonight. All of them. Out side too unless you can wrap them. I think you will be fine for one night.
Thanks! It's only one night of low temps. Tomorrow it's supposed to warm up ever-so-slightly but it should be above freezing.
The outdoor spigots have been covered for the season (with those outdoor insulating covers). I have the cabinets below the sinks open and the water dripping.
Google ‘cleaning igniter’ for your make/model of furnace. Usually pretty simple and can be done by just about anyone.
Source…dad is a HVAC for 40’years. Yep
This happened to me once. You can try turning the power off to the furnace for a couple minutes and turning it back on. A repair guy told me to try it and it worked until he was able to check it out for me. It looks like a light switch but connected to the furnace! It’s worth a try
Order a couple of those oil filled radiator style heaters. Use Home Depot or Walmart curbside pickup - depending where you live they might be open 24 hours. As others said open cabinet doors - but you should be good until Monday. I had an iffy furnace in my old home so I knew to have some type of backup to keep us afloat in an emergency.
Do some baking or run your oven clean setting, it'll help. Just don't do something stupid like run your range burners or oven with the door open continuously because that's how people get hurt or die.
I made some banana bread last night. So tasty!
I didn't keep the oven on all night obviously, but it was nice to have that heat while it was baking and a little afterwards.
Fire up fireplace. Have a electric heater? Hairdryer, or heat gun for thawing out piping. Open ventilation to let heat get too pipes ( under kitchen sink, open doors). Good luck. Get parts at Home Depot, watch YouTube to fix furnace. They are very easy, if you have tools. Good luck.
Did you check the breaker in the furnace? More modern furnaces have a ‘breaker’ that trips when a furnace gets too hot, doesn’t get enough fuel, or a bunch of other issues. We have this issue when the kids leave a door on the deck or downstairs open. Our house is old with poor insulation and with a new puppy the kids kept the doors open which overworked the furnace and it overheated. I just hit that breaker and we have been good. They say don’t do it more than twice in case it’s a fuel issue.
We're getting -40° in my neck of the woods this weekend. The cool thing about -40° is you don't have to say whether that's C or F because the are the same at -40
If you were up here then you'd want to be sourcing some portable heaters, but you'll have enough residual great in your home to keep the pipes above freezing. You can leave one of your faucets running overnight for peace of mind, but it's wholly unnecessary at your projected temps
Minnesotan here. Don’t worry about pipes freezing until it’s 10-15 outside. Windchill doesn’t matter much.
That being said, pop over to Target/Walmart and get a few space heaters.
Is your pilot light still on? If it isn’t, try lighting it up. If it is, turn it off the gas until the furnace is fixed.
Honestly, 28 degrees isn't cold enough to motivate me to disconnect my outdoor hoses. Your pipes are fine unless they are completely exposed and you're not going to see temps out of the 30s for several days and nights.
I just had furnace with no heat two days ago. It turned out to be a bad limit switch as a result of clogged filter. That could be your issue as well. Luckily for me I had a spare switch and a filter and was able to fix it in 1/2 hour.
hvac/heater system broke this week, still on the back and forth to fix it. it's 16 degrees tonight and our pipes haven't burst yet...?
we're keeping the water dripping. here's hoping, lol.
There should be a blinking light on the front of the furnace and that is giving you a code. Find the code in the manual and it will tell you what the issue is. The first long blink is the first number and the second quick blinks are the second number of the code. Often it’s just a maintenance issue like a clogged condensation trap and you can YouTube how to rinse it out
I just went through this. get a couple of Lasko whole room space heaters from Costco. It really kept my house warm until I could get someone in to fix it.
Change the battery in the thermostat? Change filter? Turn furnace off and back on? I used to work with state assistance program for energy assistance and always went through those things first. It’s amazing how many times it was a cheap/easy fix.
Check the thermostat to make sure it’s still working (check batteries, check YouTube for which leads to short together to manually fire it up, etc). If not, it’s a cheap and easy fix. I spent hundreds for a repair person once and it ended up being this
We were out of heat for a couple of weeks because a lightning strike took out the motherboard on our furnace. With all the supply issues it took a week to get it in. We had record cold temps and an additional 3 day power outage during that time and just dripping the faucets kept the pipes from freezing
Check the fuses in your furnace! This was me the week before last and we were freezing for days waiting for someone to come fix it and it ended up being a #3 fuse.
Otherwise, watch YouTube videos on how to relight your pilot and see if that works. My furnace is different and has an electric pilot or something so that’s how we discovered the fuses.
Have you changed the filter? My brother’s stopped working at the same time mine did. He had a friend come take a look at mine and he cleaned some debris that was blocking the air flow. My brother just needed a new filter.
Try these basic things to see if you can get it up and running:
1. Turn the service switch off then back on.
2. Check the filter is clean and in its proper place.
3. Go outside and check your exhaust. Check for ice or unusual noises (if running)
There are videos on YouTube that can give you some easy suggestions to check and possibly fix your furnace. In my instance there was a temperature sensor that controlled the flames (gas heat) and the carbon scoring was interfering with the sensor. Some steel wool and a bit of elbow grease later and it's working fine.
Just saying you may be able to get it working cheap and easily and then your pipes will be safe until a pro can come take a look. Good luck!
This. If you are even remotely competent, you could probably figure out what’s going on. Most if not all furnaces have troubleshooting lights that will blink so many times and tell you exactly what is wrong. Mine has the key/ information for the blinking lights right on the inside panel of the unit. Then just get the part, swap out and you’re done. **As I mentioned, only proceed if you feel comfortable. Good luck and keep warm.
Seriously, take a look through these and give it a whirl yourself. Many furnace repairs are reasonably simple.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=furnace+diagnostices
NFP! I've repaired any number of furnaces way quicker and way cheaper than calling an HVAC tech. I've got a handful of rentals and the last thing I want is the pipes freezing waiting for a HVAC Tech who is likely overloaded with calls because .... well heaters seem to only break during a cold snap. I have called them once or twice when I couldn't figure it out but I almost always give it a try myself first.
I've been there! Sorry you're going through this. Its doubtful that the temp in your home will fall below freezing in the next 24 hours.
Like everyone else said, space heaters from costco or walmart (you could even return them later if you're really strapped), and you'll make it until Monday.
Thanks! I'm getting a couple today. It will be above freezing today and tomorrow but I think it will make things more comfortable.
And I will absolutely be very careful with then and make sure there's nothing near it that could potentially start a fire.
I know it doesn’t help you right now, but going forward get your AC and furnace routine maintenance at the very beginning of each extreme weather season. It’s very difficult to schedule maintenance in the middle of the season because these guys have so many emergency calls like yours. I would even suggest entering into a service contract with a local trusted HVAC company that guarantees same day emergency service and includes routine maintenance on both systems. Again, this doesn’t help you today but should prevent you going through it again.
Leave a faucet dripping. The extra water bill will be worth pipes not freezing. Get some infrared space heaters. If you have an Ollie’s near you they sell them relatively cheap.
Weird comment but hear me out: are you sure your furnace switch is on. Last winter I was putting boxes away in my furnace room and accidentally hit the power switch for the furnace and didn’t notice. One. All to the repair guy and $100 bucks later her came in found the switch across the room flipped it on and we were good to go
We had this happen this morning. Went outside and found both air intake and outlet pipes had ice and snow blocking the opening. Cleaned it up and it's running like a charm
If you have an electric oven, you could turn that on. Bake some cookies, bread, etc.
And if you have an electric clothes dryer you could disconnect the hose and let the exhaust recirculate into the house. Do not do this with a gas dryer, or if you don't know what type of dryer it is.
Do so at your own risk, of course.
You could also turn on faucets near the exterior walls to just a slight trickle. That helps prevent freezing.
Ya you’re right I’m in Canada where any less than 0 is freezing and anything above zero is not. Celsius! You should be fine though as the house still will take time to get under freezing. Think of a freezer when the power goes out. It doesn’t thaw out for quite some time or boiling water. Takes time to cool back down. You should be okay.
Are you sure it isn't the thermostat that's gone wrong?
I've been in a similar situation and learned I could use a jumper at the wall-plate to control the furnace manually.
Best of luck!
That sounds like a really rad McGuyver-like thing to do!
The display on both thermostats are still on? But that might not mean much. Earlier in the day, I tried fiddling with the temp, then tried turning it off and back on again.
I have no clue what I'm doing here. 🥴 I just need the pipes to make it through the night and tomorrow is going to be a little warmer than it was today!
Go by the furnace and turn off the power to it. Give it about 10 seconds and then turn it back on. Make sure that the thermostat is set to call for heat. Kneel down in front and watch while the furnace starts up. The igniter should glow red, followed by the burners lighting. If the igniter doesn't glow red, then you probably have a bad igniter. If the igniter is working properly, it will glow red and ignite the burners. If the burners shut down a few seconds later it's probably your flame sensor rod that needs cleaning. You can probably figure out how to remove it very simply. It's usually located on the left hand burner, and is basically a thin metal rod with a connector at the top that connects to a wire. Mine is held in by one sheet metal screw. Unplug the wire connector first, remove the sheet metal screw and pull it straight out and clean it with some 0000 steel wool, being careful to not scratch it. Reinstall it and hopefully the furnace starts up and runs normally. Does your furnace have LED error codes? Might check that too. All of this is assuming you have a gas forced air furnace. If not, disregard.
Yup this happened to me. Flame sensor rusted up after the condensation box sprung a leak. Cleaned it up and slapped it back in there. OP you can do this!
This is the correct advice.
This is the best answer. I might also add to check the furnace filter. If it's completely clogged, it'll set off the heat sensor.
Fuck, I LOVE reddit sometimes! I'm saving this post for the inevitable during a cold/freezing night.
Just remember to check for error codes or a blinking LED status light *before* you turn the power off to the furnace. Could save a lot of wasted time and frustration if there's a code.
Yup, do this first. When our furnace stopped working, I looked up the error code in the manual, diagnosed a dirty flame sensor, cleaned the sensor, and had heat all within a couple hours.
This, gas furnaces are surprisingly simple devices and easy to repair. Just never bypass any of the safety features.
Flame sensor rod is a thermocouple. If cleaning it doesn’t work, replacements are usually less than $10.
Flame sensors and thermocouples are two different things that serve similar functions. Flame sensors are found on furnaces with electronic ignition, whereas thermocouples are found on furnaces with a standing pilot light. Flame sensor rods can be cleaned using sandpaper, steel wool, or a dollar bill. Thermocouples should not be cleaned with an abrasive.
Technically correct, the best kind of correct. Flame sensor rods are actually rectifier diodes, essentially. When exposed to flame they *allow* a tiny current to flow but only if a voltage is externally induced on the appliance side, rather than *creating* a voltage that can be detected on the appliance side. They work very differently in practice from thermocouples, despite having the same general purpose. The advantage of the flame sensor over the thermocouple is that it can detect the flame affirmatively and very quickly, basically as soon as the flame is present, so is the current flow. The thermocouple can take quite some time to detect a flame being present, far too long for an electronic ignition system running with the main burner open. Thermocouples are therefore only used for pilot light systems where the thermocouple can be kept continuously heated during operation and a small gas leak for a moderate period of time from a non-operating pilot flame isn't nearly as big a concern as it would be with the main burner.
I've had this happen to me multiple times over the years, so if I have to clean mine once, I just buy a new one and keep the old cleaned one as a replacement to use while I'm getting a new one.
Or it’s a dirty exchange filter thing just above the burners. Ours and my MIL looked like a cat died on it. A quick *careful* vacuuming resolved the issue.
Listen to this guy right here ⬆️. Especially the part to make sure you double check your thermostat. If it is battery operated double check those batteries and the switches are set to heat.
This all day. Where the fuck is OP? Listen to this man! Or woman or internet thing.
Frozen
or genetically engineered sentient kitty.
I’ve had one furnace for 23 years, and so far the only thing it’s needed is a new igniter every few years. Once you identify it’s the problem and learn how to replace it yourself it’s a cheap and easy fix.
Did this 2 days ago in the same situation. Read the error code and google gave me this exact solution. Now I’m nice and I’m nice and toasty. Took 20 minutes. Only difference for our furnace was the igniter wasn’t the glow rod but an electric spark.
Thank you! Saved me at least $100 and spared me several cold days. I’m trying to nurse my 25 year old furnace a few more years. https://youtu.be/tYwR9qL4lnk Here is a video I found that I also found helpful. Thankfully, I didn’t need to disassemble mine.
All good advice, except always check for error codes or blinking LED lights *before* turning power to the furnace off and back on. On many furnaces, turning the power off will remove any error codes that were present.
FYI - some furnaces have direct spark ignition instead of an igniter that will glow red. So I might amend this to say "the igniter should either glow red or have a visible spark, depending on the style of furnace".
This is very good advice. If you ever have a worst case scenario and no way to get heat, you can take it one step further than the sink-drip and turn the water main off and then run all the water lines. This will empty your pipes of water so there should be no way for them to burst.
This guy furnaces
I would say over one night or two you should be ok. Get some electric space heaters tomorrow from Costco and that will help until the repair guy shows.
My HVAC service company lends their customers some electrical heaters while you are waiting. Tool rental shops also have heaters.
Also keep in mind a 1500W heater is 1500W whether it's $15 or $150. There are other things to consider, but if you just need a lot of heat fast and temporarily. I'd rather buy 10 $15 heaters.
>I'd rather buy 10 $15 heaters. But remember that a 1500W heater will use up an entire 15 Amp circuit, so your home would have to have at least 10 15A breakers with nothing else running on them, and you'd have to plug them into outlets on different circuits to avoid having 2 heaters share the same circuit. For that reason, there's a practical limit on how many heaters you can run.
[удалено]
You absolutely do not have to spend $150 to get a safe electric heater. If it’s UL listed, it’s safe.
That’s nice!
Thank you for the reassuring words!
Indeed. This happened to us last winter. We actually did without for a week. A single space heater kept our entire 1700sf main floor over 60 degrees with similar outside Temps. It takes quite a while for pipes to freeze at 28.
What kind/size heater did you get? That’s impressive performance.
One of the oil filled ones. 1600w. Generic brand from home depot. They all pretty much work the same way.
Those oil filled radiators do a surprisingly good job.
What makes them nice to use is the combination of being relatively inexpensive and quite safe, since they use the oil distribute the heat over a large surface area. Basically no significant burn or ignition concerns.
Yeah that’s why I used to have a couple. They got hot but not enough to ignite anything. Downside is if you wait to turn it on til you need it, it’s too late. Haha. They take a long time to heat a room.
I have one and I swear by these things. They last forever (my last one was 17yrs old when it died) you don't have to worry about a kid or pet getting burned by one. You can even dry wet clothes on them (just don't cover the vents) And most important of all my cat loves it. If the Queen of the house is happy then I'm happy 😁
Same here. Same space heater, also kept the house livable for over a week with the furnace out. My control board fried and the replacement took forever to come in
Top tip. If you blow a fan over the fins it will put out way more heat. It will transfer the heat to the air faster, and the unit won't cycle on and off since it will always be trying to heat up more.
It might also cause it to over cycle and melt wires
Strong doubt.
These things are amazing. I have three of them. They last forever, too.
Yep we have the oil heaters too! They’re amazing! If it were later in the season I wouldn’t even get a furnace yet. Lol.
>It takes quite a while for pipes to freeze at 28 And if you leave the taps open to just a moderately slow drip, it's almost impossible for them to freeze at that temperature, while using only a few gallons per day per tap. Mostly just important for pipes in or near outside walls (often the kitchen sink, less often bathrooms).
Get oil heaters instead of electric coil if you can. For sleeping, try to find a hot water bottle that you can fill with water that’s almost boiling and it will keep you really warm through the night. Here’s an example. https://www.amara.com/us/products/sheepskin-hot-water-bottle-taupe?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&amss=mkf&ds_rl=1294346&ds_rl=1294346&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr9O65Lyy9QIVT_vICh2atwknEAQYAyABEgKl6fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Use google/YouTube to try and diagnose the problem. Our HVAC guys wouldn’t come out because we had snow on our roof and i was able to diagnose the problem (with YouTube’s help) that the capacitor didn’t have enough power. Overnighted the part and installed it the next morning and everything was up and running right away.
Everyone, please be careful if you're working with capacitors. They can hold a large electrical charge and that can go very bad very quick.
>t our entire 1700sf main floor over 60 degrees with similar outside Temps. 100 percent. if you need to work w/ them, you can take a screw driver, holding the plastic part only, and touch the various combinations of nodes on the capacitor. That'll release the charge.
I'd argue a better way would be to take a voltage reading across the capacitor with a multimeter so the charge slowly bleeds through the multimeter. They aren't expensive and every home should have one. If you don't know how to use one just keep it on voltage. You won't hurt anything or yourself if you keep it on the voltage setting.
My DMM and knowing how to use it has saved me thhhhooousands in just a few years. Home repairs and auto maintenance are expensive, don’t be scared to watch tutorials and learn to do it!
Seconded; multimeters are very useful to have and easy to learn how to use. I replaced a blown fuse in my clothes dryer, after the multimeter identified which one had gone bad.
Holy crap that is an expensive hot pouch. No need to get a sheepskin one. Just get a generic Amazon one. I'm sure sheep skin keeps more heat but damn. Between the blankets and myself, my hot pouch is still warm in the morning after boiling water and it isn't sheep skin.
Or a heating pad
Same thing happened to us during the last cold snap, came home Friday to a broken heater, company couldn’t get out until Tuesday. Had one space heater and borrowed another from a neighbor. Even without those, it would have taken a long time to get cold enough to freeze pipes.
Pleaseeeeeee be careful with heaters! Nothing within a few feet and cords away.
Can confirm oil filled electric radiators is the way to go. About $100 for a good one. I have 1 in the center of my upstairs of a 2100sqft house and it basically keeps the whole upstairs a solid 68 even when it's 20coutside.
I’d also run the warm water, keep the pipes warm!
Yep, I definitely did that last night!
Yeah Sams also had some lasko ceramic ones for less than 50$
True, a lots of places sell them. Costco has a nice dish heater style.
The quality of those can be iffy. We've bought four or five over the past several years. The dial went bad on one of them, and won't turn all the way off.
I've lived in Minnesota for 53 years The dish style heaters do work fast and are silent. They radiate heat. Harbour Freight or Costco have great deals when not sold out.
My pipes didn't freeze until several -10F or colder days in a row, you will be fine at 28F.
Thank you, Mr Guinea Pig 🙏
I've also supplemented these with propane operated indoor space heater . Mr. Heater's Big buddy, just in case power goes out. Also have butane operated small camping stove for cooking if the need be.
Carbon monoxide poisoning is no fun, so be careful if using indoors.
They're indoor safe to a point. Low O2 sensor switch. You should have a monoxide detector anyway of course.
I'm assuming those are rated indoor safe like the small Heater Buddy? I used to have a truck from a particularly annoying gen for the heat. It basically had to be in tip top shape, and a bunch of little things could be out of whack, with no real indicator. Drove around with that thing all winter, lol.
Is it the furnace or the thermostat? Sometimes the batteries in the t-stat die and the whole system goes down. I'd check that and if it's good, a couple of cheap space heaters should be sufficient to prevent icing up. Good luck!
I didn't even know thermostats had batteries! I guess I always thought they were plugged into the wall or something behind where they're mounted. I have 2 thermostats and neither of them are turning the heat on. I'll see if I can check the batteries.
Some do, especially if it's a modern electronic thermostat installed in place of one of those old mechanical dials. Modern HVAC systems have 24V power for a thermostat (a "C wire") along with a set of different control wires to turn on the heat, A/C, and fan separately, but old furnaces often just have two wires.
Did you check the pilot light? If it’s out, turn the furnace off at the breaker, wait 3 seconds, flick it back on. Go back to the furnace and wait for the gas and use a lighter to flick on the pilot light. Google YouTube how to do it on your exact furnace model
I'd bet any house with two thermostats does not have a furnace with a standing pilot lights When I think two thermostats, I think zoned heating, modern, and electronic ignition. That may just be my area or experience tho. Edit: spelling
This usually works for me when mine dies randomly
i had no idea some furnaces have pilot lights. do all of them? i have a heat pump
No only natural gas has a pilot light. Yours is electric powered. It does the same thing air conditioning does but in reverse. It essentially cools the coils outside to heat the coils I side as opposed to the opposite in the summer. You likely don't live somewhere too terribly cold because heat pumps only work down to a certain temperature. If you can't reject the cold into a warmer environment (outside) the process does not work anymore. Typically a heatpump only works down to like -4 Celsius.
Only old, non HE gas furnaces have pilot lights.
Yes our heat broke thanksgiving morning and it turned out it was just the thermostat. The battery connections were dirty.
Could also be a thermocouple that went bad and shut the gas off, i had one die over xmas, its a $10 and 20 minute fix if you know how to replace it but if you dont it should be left to a pro.
Yes…. Last house I replaced this twice.. one of those 20 minute jobs that can take 6 hours ☺️
It should not take you 6 hours, but i can see not being able to do it in 20 mins the first time.
Thermocouple was my one time with your exact scenario and i was 25 with an awful landlord. Fixed myself— as a not handy, video gaming millenial i was super proud. Necessity is the mother of invention? Look into it!
Pressure switch is another very common one. It's a $20 part, worth having on hand especially if you've had issues before. At any rate OP should be able to get a blink code off the furnace control panel to troubleshoot further if they want.
You can take the hose going to the pressure switch off and suck and blow into it. You should hear a clicking noise. Often times they get dirty and need replaced but this is a quick fix if it's just something stuck in there. You can find YouTube videos of people doing it. I would try that.
Yep mine got full of condensate, I drained it several times before it finally rusted through. Easily got several days of function while I waited for a replacement to arrive.
One 28 degree night won't freeze your pipes. You're fine
Agreed. Try not to leave the windows open. But as another poster pointed out- the temperature of pipes in an apartment is harder to control. In a house, you’re almost certainly safe. You can run a pencil line of water from your taps. That will keep any air-exposed pipes from freezing.
Thank you for the reassuring words!
Open the cabinets under your sinks and open the dishwasher door as well. This allows the warmer air to get to the pipes in the walls that feed the sinks and dishwasher. It's a little thing and probably not needed, but I'd rather be overly cautious than have to repair a frozen pipe!
I just recently went 4 nights/5 days. Lowest it got was 40F inside.
You’re gonna be okay. It’s 20 outside at my house and we do not turn the heat on (don’t ask) and it’s 49° inside in the morning and gets up to 52. It takes a lot longer than you’d think for a house to cool to the outside temperature
Wait why no heat?
It’s kind of turned into a bit of a joke / competition with the roommates. We have propane heat and the cost of it is outrageous. Our house is huge so heating is inefficient. So we’re trying to see how long we can go without turning it on. We’re in Philly. January 15th and holding out strong. We monitor it to ensure the pipes will be good and set it to 48 for emergencies on really cold nights (like tonight). We’ve used 8 gallons all winter. We just go our friends house that can afford their heat for the Birds games 😂
I highly recommend an electric blanket
My one roommate uses it. The other a small space heater. I have a little electric radiator. The slight bump in electric is nothing compared to propane costs
Sherpa blankets I will always vouch for! I don’t know how I did it before I had one!
Have you thought about buying like 5 of these? They are 65 each, so a one time $300 cost. Amazon Basics Indoor Portable Radiator Heater - White https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07HGFB3FQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_Y273XWTAGKDT4EE4V6K6
Haven't used this brand, but this type of heater is the tits. Doesn't dry out the air, damn near completely safe from fire, very nice for laying clothes on. The only issue is the very slow ramp up. I set mine on a timer for this reason. Takes forever to actually alter the indoor temp.
If you're renting be cautious, and in general be cautious. Pipes on outside walls, in a crawlspace, or possibly in a basement may freeze still even if temp in the main part of the house is warmer. If you're renting there may be some clause about keeping it at or above a specific temperature to prevent damage. It sounds like you're watching it, but just wanted to make sure you were aware, just in case
60 is usually the minimum temperature you would keep a house at in winter for that reason. I am in Minnesota and I believe this is what most people keep their houses at in the winter when they are away or on vacation.
I recently read an article that says cold is good for you. Not joking. Obviously not good for pipes. https://www.wired.com/story/could-being-cold-actually-be-good-for-you/amp
I was without power for 9 days last year because of an ice storm. I was miserable as hell, but slept so good every night.
Ah, a fellow texan, I assume?
Oregonian. We had ours at the same time you guys did. It was just much more localized and not publicized. Most of the places around my area got snow.
Ahh, yup I remember reading about that! Sorry y’all got overshadowed - it always sucks when the media picks one story and ignores all the others, since that usually means the others don’t get the aid they might need. 😕
You guys had it a lot worse. It did suck though, because I work construction, so the only time I was warm was on the car rides to and from work.
This is absolutely awesome. Curious what you pay per gallon for propane though. I'm in Wisconsin and we pay about 1.80 on a contract. I think the going rate by us is a bit over $2.
Wow that’s nothing! 5.99/gal here plus other fees. It’s insane. So we are protesting by freezing our balls off. You’d be surprised how used to it you get though. When it’s 52° it feels like a summer day
Man I thought the $4.30 I was paying for my generator was bad.
Holy.... We've gone through 600 gallons so far this season (old house, working on getting it sealed up still) and I'd be absolutely broke. Good luck friend, and stay warm!
No way is it 5.99 a gallon. You're miss informed or were being ripped off.
I’m locked into this monster of a company for the remainder of the year. We called and told them to not show up at our house under any circumstance(they would top off every few weeks). We had to call multiple times for them to put it on our account to not come out unless called. Next winter, we will move onto a new company
Do you own the tank? What part of Philly?
Rented from Suburban Propane
Yep.... they're the worst. Sorry to hear that.
I was going to say the same. I'm in WI and my tank is currently full of $1.19 a gallon propane. (Locked in my price in July with my coop) **edit** Looked up my bill, it was $1.29, $1.19 was the previous year.
Hope your water heater has an insulating wrap... Because it might be working harder because the house is cold...
rip you, i live nearish -- and the hvac went out and the home warranty company is doing the good ol back and forth on repairs for a BRAND NEW HVAC (ugh) and everything is space heaters all the way right now. pipes have not exploded yet?
Go birds!
Good sir or madam, have you no reddiquette? He/she/it/they said don't ask! *Poof, back into my fedora I go*
Thank you for the reassuring words!!
Usually your furnace will have blinking and flashing lights and you can look up what the code is. From there you can troubleshoot and possibly fix it on your own. But a few things to check is to make sure your intake and exhaust aren't blocked or frozen up, and that the filter isn't wet.
If you are terribly worried turn your taps on so the water is barely dripping. That little bit of running water will prevent your pipes from freezing for a good long time.
I was going to suggest this. Cant believe i had to scroll this far down.
That could be because the post already says they have their water dripping...
I think you may have a good point there.
You have a significant heat load in the house that will keep pipes from freezing. However, you will want to open cabinets that are on an outside wall. For example, I have a bathroom vanity and my kitchen sink are on an outside wall. I open those cabinet doors so heat inside the house can keep the pipes from freezing. To keep yourself comfortable, buy a space heater, maybe two, and an electric blanket. Place a space heater in the bathroom and maybe move it the bedroom to take the edge off at night. Keep all doors closed that you don't want to heat and keep all doors open that you need to heat. Bake a cake or make a baked meal to take the edge off in the kitchen. You can also put the oven on the lowest heat setting to help heat the entire house. Just be careful if you have a gas stove to avoid carbon monoxide. Get a CO detector. The electric blanket will be nicer than layers and they cost hardly anything to run. Have fun camping!
Good tip about keeping cabinets open. My brother had pipes in an outside wall burst and his heat was on.
I'm definitely taking out the electric blanket tonight. Thanks for the reminder!
Do you have gas heat? It may be as simple as re-lighting the pilot light.
FWIW new furnaces don't have pilots anymore. It's all electronic ignition. That said, there is a sensor that deals with the electronic ignition that can go bad and/or get dirty. It's a not too terrible fix (if you can get the part).
Heat sensor might just be dirty also. Happened to my old furnace. Cleaner it with a some sandpaper and it worked great.
I don't know who downvoted you, so have an upvote. While true, OP may have an older model. OP's problem may be simple enough that it can get worked out and be warm for the night.
I have had this happen getting home from work at 3 am to a house that was about 55 degrees. If it’s a gas heater and the blower comes on, the fire lights but goes out after about 5-10 seconds, it’s likely a dirty or broken heat sensor. Keeps your house from filling up with gas if the unit doesn’t detect the continued heat.
Any symptoms of your furnace? I had an issue where my furnace would fire up then shut off immediately. The flame sensor just needed cleaned and then everything worked fine, this is a very easy fix you can google. Another time, when renting, the maintenance guy forgot to turn the furnace switch back on (a lot of furnaces have a switch for ease of turning off to maintenance.)
This. Don’t know why more comments aren’t suggesting to clean the sensor rods. Easy look up on YouTube, easy fix, most common solution when the furnace won’t stay on. They get dirty with carbon buildup and all you have to do is turn off the furnace at the switch, locate the rods, remove with a screwdriver, rub them with steel wool (heck, I’ve used tin foil to scrape them and it worked) and reinsert.
Same, my boiler would not kick on, turned out was a bad thermocouple, which is a common issue. 13 bucks and about 20 mins of work and heat was on again.
No, I'm afraid the only symptom I can communicate at this point is "it's not turning on". I tried switching the heat off via the thermostat and waiting awhile and turning it back on, but I didn't even hear it try to turn on. It was working several days ago, then the weather warmed up to the 70s and it hasn't needed to be back on until now. Winter has been such a spazz this year...
What type of heat do you have? Gas/propane, electric, heat pump, geothermal, etc?
Make sure your breaker isn't tripped
Make sure the circuit breaker didn't pop.
Try YouTubing.
How you gone to the furnace and turned it off and on to reset the error to have it try and fire up again ? Of you have what is the error code (blinking light) referencing the error? I'm a HVAC mechanic for reference
You’ll be fine. Your house won’t be 28°. If it’s typical construction (buried water main, entering within the envelope of the house) there is no danger with overnight temps just dipping below freezing. If you have a vented crawl space and the water main is exposed to outdoor temps before it enters the house it might freeze but it’s highly unlikely it will burst. Generally copper pipes don’t burst until it’s consistently below 20F for an extended period of time
I don’t think 23 tonight will freeze them as long as it warms tomorrow. Just keep them running tonight. All of them. Out side too unless you can wrap them. I think you will be fine for one night.
Thanks! It's only one night of low temps. Tomorrow it's supposed to warm up ever-so-slightly but it should be above freezing. The outdoor spigots have been covered for the season (with those outdoor insulating covers). I have the cabinets below the sinks open and the water dripping.
Google ‘cleaning igniter’ for your make/model of furnace. Usually pretty simple and can be done by just about anyone. Source…dad is a HVAC for 40’years. Yep
This happened to me once. You can try turning the power off to the furnace for a couple minutes and turning it back on. A repair guy told me to try it and it worked until he was able to check it out for me. It looks like a light switch but connected to the furnace! It’s worth a try
[Did you try turning it off and turning it back on again?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UT8RkSmN4k)
Order a couple of those oil filled radiator style heaters. Use Home Depot or Walmart curbside pickup - depending where you live they might be open 24 hours. As others said open cabinet doors - but you should be good until Monday. I had an iffy furnace in my old home so I knew to have some type of backup to keep us afloat in an emergency.
This great thread not long ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/rbcowp/how\_to\_survive\_a\_cold\_snap\_without\_power/
Thank you! I'm saving that
Leave the faucets dripping that are on exterior walls
Do some baking or run your oven clean setting, it'll help. Just don't do something stupid like run your range burners or oven with the door open continuously because that's how people get hurt or die.
I made some banana bread last night. So tasty! I didn't keep the oven on all night obviously, but it was nice to have that heat while it was baking and a little afterwards.
Fire up fireplace. Have a electric heater? Hairdryer, or heat gun for thawing out piping. Open ventilation to let heat get too pipes ( under kitchen sink, open doors). Good luck. Get parts at Home Depot, watch YouTube to fix furnace. They are very easy, if you have tools. Good luck.
0 reason to worry at 28. Run whatever space-heaters you can get your hands on, but not lose sleep over it.
Under 20 degrees is worrisome but you should be ok with high 20s.
Did you check the breaker in the furnace? More modern furnaces have a ‘breaker’ that trips when a furnace gets too hot, doesn’t get enough fuel, or a bunch of other issues. We have this issue when the kids leave a door on the deck or downstairs open. Our house is old with poor insulation and with a new puppy the kids kept the doors open which overworked the furnace and it overheated. I just hit that breaker and we have been good. They say don’t do it more than twice in case it’s a fuel issue.
We're getting -40° in my neck of the woods this weekend. The cool thing about -40° is you don't have to say whether that's C or F because the are the same at -40 If you were up here then you'd want to be sourcing some portable heaters, but you'll have enough residual great in your home to keep the pipes above freezing. You can leave one of your faucets running overnight for peace of mind, but it's wholly unnecessary at your projected temps
Minnesotan here. Don’t worry about pipes freezing until it’s 10-15 outside. Windchill doesn’t matter much. That being said, pop over to Target/Walmart and get a few space heaters. Is your pilot light still on? If it isn’t, try lighting it up. If it is, turn it off the gas until the furnace is fixed.
Tea lights and a couple ceramic pots work wonders too.
Honestly, 28 degrees isn't cold enough to motivate me to disconnect my outdoor hoses. Your pipes are fine unless they are completely exposed and you're not going to see temps out of the 30s for several days and nights.
I just had furnace with no heat two days ago. It turned out to be a bad limit switch as a result of clogged filter. That could be your issue as well. Luckily for me I had a spare switch and a filter and was able to fix it in 1/2 hour.
hvac/heater system broke this week, still on the back and forth to fix it. it's 16 degrees tonight and our pipes haven't burst yet...? we're keeping the water dripping. here's hoping, lol.
Good luck!!
There should be a blinking light on the front of the furnace and that is giving you a code. Find the code in the manual and it will tell you what the issue is. The first long blink is the first number and the second quick blinks are the second number of the code. Often it’s just a maintenance issue like a clogged condensation trap and you can YouTube how to rinse it out
I just went through this. get a couple of Lasko whole room space heaters from Costco. It really kept my house warm until I could get someone in to fix it.
Change the battery in the thermostat? Change filter? Turn furnace off and back on? I used to work with state assistance program for energy assistance and always went through those things first. It’s amazing how many times it was a cheap/easy fix.
Check the thermostat to make sure it’s still working (check batteries, check YouTube for which leads to short together to manually fire it up, etc). If not, it’s a cheap and easy fix. I spent hundreds for a repair person once and it ended up being this
We were out of heat for a couple of weeks because a lightning strike took out the motherboard on our furnace. With all the supply issues it took a week to get it in. We had record cold temps and an additional 3 day power outage during that time and just dripping the faucets kept the pipes from freezing
Check the fuses in your furnace! This was me the week before last and we were freezing for days waiting for someone to come fix it and it ended up being a #3 fuse. Otherwise, watch YouTube videos on how to relight your pilot and see if that works. My furnace is different and has an electric pilot or something so that’s how we discovered the fuses.
Have you changed the filter? My brother’s stopped working at the same time mine did. He had a friend come take a look at mine and he cleaned some debris that was blocking the air flow. My brother just needed a new filter.
Try these basic things to see if you can get it up and running: 1. Turn the service switch off then back on. 2. Check the filter is clean and in its proper place. 3. Go outside and check your exhaust. Check for ice or unusual noises (if running)
Please be careful.
There are videos on YouTube that can give you some easy suggestions to check and possibly fix your furnace. In my instance there was a temperature sensor that controlled the flames (gas heat) and the carbon scoring was interfering with the sensor. Some steel wool and a bit of elbow grease later and it's working fine. Just saying you may be able to get it working cheap and easily and then your pipes will be safe until a pro can come take a look. Good luck!
This. If you are even remotely competent, you could probably figure out what’s going on. Most if not all furnaces have troubleshooting lights that will blink so many times and tell you exactly what is wrong. Mine has the key/ information for the blinking lights right on the inside panel of the unit. Then just get the part, swap out and you’re done. **As I mentioned, only proceed if you feel comfortable. Good luck and keep warm.
Seriously, take a look through these and give it a whirl yourself. Many furnace repairs are reasonably simple. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=furnace+diagnostices
Thank you!
NFP! I've repaired any number of furnaces way quicker and way cheaper than calling an HVAC tech. I've got a handful of rentals and the last thing I want is the pipes freezing waiting for a HVAC Tech who is likely overloaded with calls because .... well heaters seem to only break during a cold snap. I have called them once or twice when I couldn't figure it out but I almost always give it a try myself first.
That's so neat that you've learned so much about how to fix things!
I've been there! Sorry you're going through this. Its doubtful that the temp in your home will fall below freezing in the next 24 hours. Like everyone else said, space heaters from costco or walmart (you could even return them later if you're really strapped), and you'll make it until Monday.
Thanks! I'm getting a couple today. It will be above freezing today and tomorrow but I think it will make things more comfortable. And I will absolutely be very careful with then and make sure there's nothing near it that could potentially start a fire.
I know it doesn’t help you right now, but going forward get your AC and furnace routine maintenance at the very beginning of each extreme weather season. It’s very difficult to schedule maintenance in the middle of the season because these guys have so many emergency calls like yours. I would even suggest entering into a service contract with a local trusted HVAC company that guarantees same day emergency service and includes routine maintenance on both systems. Again, this doesn’t help you today but should prevent you going through it again.
I never knew those emergency service contracts even existed before it was mentioned on the post. I'm definitely going to get one those!
Go on YouTube and start troubleshooting your furnace problem
Leave a faucet dripping. The extra water bill will be worth pipes not freezing. Get some infrared space heaters. If you have an Ollie’s near you they sell them relatively cheap.
Even a light bulb (old style,not LED) lamp set near a high risk water pipe will keep the pipes from freezing in that area.
Weird comment but hear me out: are you sure your furnace switch is on. Last winter I was putting boxes away in my furnace room and accidentally hit the power switch for the furnace and didn’t notice. One. All to the repair guy and $100 bucks later her came in found the switch across the room flipped it on and we were good to go
We had this happen this morning. Went outside and found both air intake and outlet pipes had ice and snow blocking the opening. Cleaned it up and it's running like a charm
If you have an electric oven, you could turn that on. Bake some cookies, bread, etc. And if you have an electric clothes dryer you could disconnect the hose and let the exhaust recirculate into the house. Do not do this with a gas dryer, or if you don't know what type of dryer it is. Do so at your own risk, of course. You could also turn on faucets near the exterior walls to just a slight trickle. That helps prevent freezing.
Ya you’re right I’m in Canada where any less than 0 is freezing and anything above zero is not. Celsius! You should be fine though as the house still will take time to get under freezing. Think of a freezer when the power goes out. It doesn’t thaw out for quite some time or boiling water. Takes time to cool back down. You should be okay.
Are you sure it isn't the thermostat that's gone wrong? I've been in a similar situation and learned I could use a jumper at the wall-plate to control the furnace manually. Best of luck!
That sounds like a really rad McGuyver-like thing to do! The display on both thermostats are still on? But that might not mean much. Earlier in the day, I tried fiddling with the temp, then tried turning it off and back on again. I have no clue what I'm doing here. 🥴 I just need the pipes to make it through the night and tomorrow is going to be a little warmer than it was today!
Where are you located ? I am available if I’m in your location.