Oil heating furnace not working, anyone else?

[westseamike]

Wanted to see if any other people in West Seattle are finding their oil heating furnace not working. We just got back from a week in Hawaii and luckily our friends that were checking on our cat kept a close eye on him. The furnace has not worked since Saturday night or Sunday morning, they checked on him on Sunday and said it was getting pretty cold so they tried to turn up the heat. Problem is the furnace was not working, the fan was. So the house was 42 degrees when we got home late tonight. Our cat is fine and sleeping right ontop of us bundled in blankets, but our fish died in the cold water (he lived a long life for a Beta fish though).

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[Erik]

mike – My oil furnace stopped cranking heat saturday night also. I’ve been using the wood pellet stove to keep warm till we thaw out.

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[Ken]

This was posted on fridays main page. It might give you a clue or not.

My wife and I came downstairs this morning to find that the furnace had shut off and the thermostat was blank (no power). I assumed that the thermostats had gone bad and needed to be replaced. I started calling around to purchase one. I called and spoke with Murphy at Brennan Heating and Air Conditioning. He suggested that I check the condensate line for the furnace. (The condensate or water is the result of combustion and may be set up to drain on the exterior of your home). Murphy explained that the condensate would freeze in the line and the backup of condensate/water would activate a sensor or switch which prevented the furnace from entering the heating cycle. After checking the line at his suggestion and spending 30 seconds with my wife’s hair dryer blowing warm air into the line, my furnace was back up and running. Again, while I hope no one else is having this problem, Murphy did say that a large number of their service calls during this cold snap could be attributed to this. He probably saved us the money I would have spent on the

thermostat and a service call.

https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=12856

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[MargL]

I’m just a little worried about running out of oil with all the heat cranking we’re doing. Not sure the last time we had a fill-up. Time to call Rossoe!

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[Erik]

Ken – thanks for posting that.

Took the cover off the furnace in the basement and used the blow dryer to warm everything up.

Now I have warm oil heat.

Yay!

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[gowsea]

Our oil furnace is also not working. Does anyone know a good service/repair company who can come and look?

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[Homer]

Hi all,

Not an oil furnace but my gas one quite on me a little bit ago. Fan still worked and so did everything but it wouldn’t ignite the gas. Not sure if this is the same reason yours isn’t working but heard that this is the number one cause: the igniter.

I tried Genesee Oil and Heating before but they were TERRIBLE! They should have checked my igniter to see if it’s about to go and I would have been able to buy it in the summertime and not deal with it when there’s 10 inches of snow and ice out. Who I went with this time around was the best and I won’t go anywhere else again. It was Ballard Natural Gas Service (http://www.ballardnaturalgas.com/index.html) They are wonderful to deal with and even helped me for free over the phone! That and all their techs are fully trained and qualified as furnace repair techs so their not just high school kids that go through 2 days of quickie training. They are so nice and knowledgeable, I will never go anywhere else!

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[cruiser]

gowsea,

I highly recommend Bob Elder,call him on 206 459 3765. He may well be able to help you over the phone

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[Dunno]

Cruiser,

I use Bob Elder for my oil furnace too. He’s old school and very reasonable. Last time mine quit it was a lack of Oil in the tank. Bob got a good laugh!

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[cruiser]

Yip, a real nice fella. By the way I also recommend Seelig Fuel for your oil,always cheaper by c 10% when I go looking

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