We have a gas forced-air furnace. The blower v-belt broke tonight. Oops. I'll get one as soon as the stores open; but, in the meantime, in case anyone is up: can I run the furnace w/o the blower, like an old gravity furnace? Or, to put it more precisely, how long can I run it that way?
Thanks, G
Dont, if you can get it repaired it should not run without the blower.
I'd not do it as it can overheat the heat exchanger even with a high limit switch. OTOH, I'd be tempted to rig a fan somehow to get me through the night.
Him just asking that question, shows he thinks unsafe and should not even touch his old clunker furnace. One night, electric blanket and a hat could have him dreaming its summer out he will be so warm.
Hot water bottles (electric kettle) all round; and snuggle with extra blankets or coats on the bed! Can be fun! :-)
Heat rises cold air falls back down the cold air return.. If it's in the basement it should be fine. Remove the filter to enhance air flow. The burner is controlled by the heat exchanger temperature. If it's a mobile home forget it. Heat would have to go down then up and hot air don't flow that way.
Better half's Nylon panty will do, LOL.
Hi, Really? I better unplug blower then, to save electricity. I hope you're joking, Eh?
Do not run the furnace without the blower. It will quickly overheat and trip the high temp limit switch, which will shut off the furnace. But each time you do that you stress the heat exchanger and run the risk of cracking it.
Besides, with the limit switch killing it in a few mins, I doubt you'd get enough heat to make any real difference.
He didn't ask for efficiency, he just wants some heat.
Thanks to all. I got a belt at 7:00, back in business. I just boiled some water on the stove, with a fan blowing out from the kitchen to spread the heat around. It didn't get as cold as I thought it would.
G
As usual ransley, you are most likely wrong again. It has a belt drive blower so it is most likely a very old furnace. Probably something like an old Williamson or one of the other Behemoth furnace. You can run those day and night without a belt and not hurt those plate steel heat exchangers. Ive seen them glowing cherry red and still not hurt the heat exchanger one bit. Probably has the old Honeywell limit that you can almost burn with a propane torch and not hurt it either. If it were a modern furnace, forget it. When will you ever get it right, ransley? Bubba
I love stories that have happy endings. Glad it worked out OK
That's what a WIFE is for.
Im "most likely wrong" only a fool like you would give out public info that could be harmfull. No pro I know of would just guess on what he has and say something possibly unsafe is OK. And if I said go ahead, you would pick the opposite side, just for for a stupid fight, are you that lonely bubba, what no friends or family to kick anymore. Althvac is your home, you are a hvac pro, go where your types are and stay there.
Again did you help the guy, no. And this aint paying you either.
I've got 4 old Bryant furnaces in my apartments. Last year a tenant ran one of the furnaces for 2 months during heavy heating season with the blower drive belt off. Gravity air flow and the upper limit switch must have saved the day. As you say, the old furnaces seemingly can go indefinitely this way.
The upper limit is one of those surface mount thermo-disk types, basically the same as a water heater thermostat. Since those go through thousands of operational cycles, I guess these upper limit switches can too.
I went over to do a non-related repair, heard the furnace burner on and never heard the blower. The motor mount had loosened, the motor shifted and the belt slipped off the pulley. After 5 minutes I had the problem solved.
I asked the tenant about it and she said "Oh, it's always been that way. The place is just very slow heating up."
I gotta get out of this rental biz....
Doug
That's been my experience, the customers I've talked with. Not enough heat output to make it worth the risks.
I hope you bought two belts, and left the spare laying on the floor inside the furnace housing (or hung on a nail near the furnace). For next time.
Glad you found an alternate heat source.
If the wife unit has any pantyhose, see if she'll donate and old pair to the cause. Same as a "field repair" of a broken fan belt on your car.
nate
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